Bash Maqsood 5-3 Troy Brett
Bash Maqsood came back from 3-1 behind to defeat Troy Brett 5-3 in the last 16 of The Snooker TV Masters.
Frame one saw a cagey start from both players. Brett managed a 29 break whilst Maqsood replied with a 23. Brett missed a brown when on a break and Maqsood surprisingly conceded when 37 behind and 43 on the table. He miscalculated and he had already conceded before he realised.
Maqsood produced a nice 47 break in frame two and Brett conceded with the scores on 61-22. Modest breaks of 22 and 17 from Brett was enough for Maqsood to concede frame three.
With Brett leading 2-1 Maqsood really needed to win the fourth frame to level things up going into the mid-session interval. Brett had other ideas though as he opened with a run of 23. Maqsood replied with 22 but Brett had a knock of 21 to extend his lead. Maqsood missed the green and Brett fluked it! Maqsood then laid a good snooker on the brown and Brett missed it twice to leave the score at 49-40 in Brett’s favour. Brett then potted brown and blue to leave Maqsood leaving a snooker and Brett went on to pot the pink to take a 3-1 lead into the interval.
The interval seemed to do Maqsood good as he knocked in a superb 92 break in the fifth frame. There was a possible 135 on the table but he missed a relatively simple red, no doubt to the relief of Chris Keogan who remains on course for the £100 high break prize with his 106.
Brett opened frame six with a 25 break but Maqsood hit back with two breaks of 16 and a 22. This left Brett trailing by 24 points with 35 left on the table. Brett laid a good snooker on the last red and Maqsood missed the escape by a whisker. There was now just 20 points in it but Maqsood fired in a 24 break to take the frame and level the match at 3-3.
Brett opened frame seven in style with a run of 49. There was a possible 139 on the table but he missed an easy black off the spot. This was probably the best frame of the match. Maqsood made breaks of 8 and 15 to give himself a glimour of hope before Brett had a run of 8 which included an audacious double on the last red. He now led by 34 points with just 27 on the table. Maqsood laid a snooker which Brett escaped from only to see the white go in off. There was now 30 in it and Maqsood laid another snooker. Brett hit the black this time meaning there was now only 23 in it with 27 on the table. Maqsood potted the yellow but left the green over the bag. Unfortunately Brett potted the green and followed it in with the white! Brett’s lead was now just 17 points. Maqsood potted the green and laid a snooker on the brown. Brett got out of the snooker but the brown cannoned the pink into the pocket – so unlucky! Maqsood rubbed salt into the wounds by potting brown to black to take the frame and lead 4-3.
There were no big breaks in frame eight. Maqsood seized the initiative to lead by 33 points going into the colours. Brett fluked the yellow, potted the green and laid a good snooker on the brown. Maqsood managed to escape the snooker but Brett potted brown and blue before trying for a snooker on pink. He couldn’t quite get one though and Maqsood potted the pink to seal a terrific comeback and set up a quarter-final clash with Ant McMahon.