Official Fergal O'Brien Website
Shanghai Masters Qualification
I was delighted to qualify for the Shanghai
Masters.
This was the first ranking event on the calendar and it was important to get
off to a good start.
In my first match I beat Paul Davies 5-4. Paul had beaten me in the first
match of last season
so it was a tough battle and one that
has set me up for a good season.
My next match was against Barry Hawkins and
this was a tough match again.
I had played Barry twice since March, when he beat me in the semi-finals of
the Kilkenny Masters
and then I played him again in the first televised round of the World Championships
when I won a very close match, 10-9.
I stayed on in Pontins to play in the pro-am,
for match practice, directly after the qualifiers.
I have been practicing hard and played in another Pontins pro-am last weekend.
I lost at the last 16 stage 4-2 to eventual winner Joe Perry, but it was great
match practice again,
having played Mick Judge and Martin Gould to get that far.
I travel to Shanghai, via London on August
1st.
My first match will be in the wildcard round, on Monday Aug. 6th at 7.00am,
Irish time.
If I win that match I will face Steve Davis for a place in the last 16 of
the tournament
on Tuesday Aug. 7th at 12.30pm Irish time.
It has been a great start to the season so
far, and this comes on the back of a good season last year.
I started the 2006/2007 season at number 46
in the rankings and have moved up to number 37 for the start of this season.
Added to this I am well inside the provisional top 32 at this point of the
season.
This is a measure of how hard I have been working towards my goals and objectives
and where I see myself going
over the next couple of seasons, back into the top 16.