Scottish Open 2020 LIVE – Mark Selby in action after Covid test issues cause delay

ByDaniel Harris

Updated 07/12/2020 at 20:44 GMT

Scottish Open 2020 LIVE - An epic UK Championship only finished in the early hours of Monday morning but we are back at it in Milton Keynes and that means Judd Trump's match scheduled for 7pm today has been moved to tomorrow and a new order of play will come out. Covid test delays mean Mark Selby's match has also been put back.

Mark Selby

Image credit: Eurosport

Right, that's us for the day

Thanks for your company on this strange and truncated day - join us again tomorrow!

Selbz speaks

Scottish Open

'I'm too old for his antics' – How Selby and O'Sullivan became best of enemies

14/12/2020 at 23:30

When they said the results weren't in this morning, he assumed they'd be there by 1, but instead he spent the afternoon chatting away. You do all your preparations right, have a sandwich, and then you're not going on and you get hungry again, he says. However do they cope.

Otherwise, he says Yuan made a good break in frame four, but after he snatched frame three he knew it was his to lose. He says he knew Yuan was a good player and thinks his mannerisms around the table are similar to Ding's. But he thinks Zhou Yuelong is currently the best of the Asian up-and-comers.

Around the tables

Ding 4-0 Davis M (finished)

Pinches 2-2 Brown

Yang 2-2 Jones D

Selby beats Yuan 4-1!

Selby was too good and by far - he plays Nigel Bond next - but Yuan has some talent. Look out for him.

Selby 3-1 Yuan (73-42)

Mark runs out of position with Yuan needing a snooker, so craftily knocks the black safe in case he gets it. We'll now have a chase for the yellow; if Mark gets it, we're done.

Selby 3-1 Yuan (72-42)

Yuan's long-potting has been good tonight, so he's well within his right to have a hack at another. But when he misses and leaves it, he knows that might be match over. Selby only needs red, black and yellow, but he overhits a positional shot that means he can't pot the final red along the cushion. so he lays the snooker, white near the top cushion, red just off the bottom, Yuan misses and it inadvertently lays a snooker himself, giving Mark a free ball. That could not have gone worse.

Selby 3-1 Yuan (53-42)

This is really good stuff from Yuan, his cannon into what remains of the pack working very nicely. But then he doesn't leave a good angle on the black to start clearing the tricky reds on the top cushion - youth for you - only to sink one with a lovely pot - also youth for you. But he can't get at any others, so we'll have safety exchange in pursuit of the final two reds

Selby 3-1 Yuan (53-6)

Mark takes on a red, gets a double-kiss, and leaves it for Yuan! This is a decent chance to close to within one; can he take it?!

Selby 3-1 Yuan (23-0)

The only games with clearance to be played are those currently in progress, so when this is done, that might be it for the night ... or after a wait, there might be a load more to start and finish who knows when. Either way, there's a significant backlog to get through ... but this one isn't finished yet! Mark jawses a difficult red, but somehow leaves nothing - there are eight reds left - and we're back playing safety.

Selby 3-1 Yuan (23-0)

A protracted safety exchange to start frame five, then the Jester allows Yuan in; but as in frame one, he quickly makes an error that allows Mark the benefit of his own error. This might be the end.

Around the tables

Ding 4-0 Davis M (finished)

Pinches 1-2 Brown

Yang 1-1 Jones D

Selby 3-1 Yuan

122 and the frame, Yuan Sijun! Well played young man!

Selby 3-0 Yuan (0-58)

Yuan overruns off the black, but has recovery pot available into the green pocket - a blind pocket for him - and it's there! Excellent pot!

Selby 3-0 Yuan (0-34)

Yuan gets himself in and he looks a decent player, as he did against Trump a few weeks ago. He's got loads of character and attitude too - he's not been cowed at all when playing the big names.

Around the tables

Ding 4-0 Davis M (finished)

Pinches 1-2 Brown

Yang 1-1 Jones D

Selby 3-0 Yuan

A tremendous clearance of 46 steals a frame that Yuan must've thought was his, and the Jester from Leicester only needs one more.

Selby 2-0 Yuan (48-52)

Before very long - Yuan foul-misses once - Selby is back at the table, and rousts a very nice red down the rail. But the bounce of the cushion is a tad springy, so it takes a delicate one on the pink to get up for the yellow. That goes into the green pocket, allowing him to drop in behind the eponymous, which is on the baulk rail. A lovely pot sinks that, and the hard work here is largely done. But the black is one the top cushion, and if Mark can't sink it, Yuan can tie if he does.

Selby 2-0 Yuan (0-52)

But on 52, Yuan misses a not especially difficult red, and there's plenty left on the table for Mark's delectation. He begins with a very acceptable cut, and the mood he's in, it'll soon be 3-0. But just as I type that, he runs out of position and sticks Yuan tight on the bottom cushion. Of course he does.

Selby 2-0 Yuan (0-43)

Yuan goes into the pack off the blue only to knock the black onto its own cushion, with the pink already out of commission. Still, he's got plenty of loose reds and a route up to the blue; this a frame-winning opportunity.

Selby 2-0 Yuan (0-9)

A poor break from Yuan gives Mark a long red to shy at - he misses and leaves it, so Yuan gets to work. He's got a lot of confidence, and is here to attack.

Around the tables

Ding 3-0 Davis M

Pinches 1-1 Brown

Yang 1-0 Jones D

Selby 2-0 Yuan

Selbz looks extremely focused out there and I don't imagine Yuan is long for this competition.

Selby 1-0 Yuan (70-4)

No it won't ... yet. A poor positional shot from Selby leaves him a difficult long red to the green pocket and he misses it, so we have a bit more chasing. There are three reds on cushions at this point, making Yuan's task even harder, and after he tries in vain to develop them, he concedes.

Selby 1-0 Yuan (65-4)

He is. Yuan leaves him a long one which he expertly clips home, before nuzzling up against the brown. Yuan then misses his chosen red, hitting on his second go but leaving it over the middle. Selby drains it but can't add many points, except it doesn't matter because Yuan narrowly misses a long red and that'll be that.

Selby 1-0 Yuan (40-4)

No he can't. He instead plays safe and leaves a red for Mark, who looks mustard to get out of here. He's cueing really nicely, but when he goes into the pack off the black, ends up in amongst them and decides not to take on a tricky pot to the middle. playing safe and trusting that he'll soon be back scoring points. I'm pretty sure he's right.

Selby 1-0 Yuan (0-4)

I've just noticed that Mark has a little pouch hanging off his belt in which he keeps his chalk. Practical and stylish. Anyway, a double-kiss leaves a red over the yellow pocket; Yuan sinks it, but can he make it count?

Around the tables

Ding 1-0 Davis M

Pinches 1-0 Brown

Yang 1-0 Jones D

Selby 1-0 Yuan

The cue-ball control in this break is excellent - at no point does Selby have to play a difficult shot. If Yuan didn't know before, he knows now: his opponent knows his way around a snooker table, a run of 76 more than enough to clinch the frame.

Selby 0-0 Yuan (39-6)

Selby expertly removes balls - he's in pretty decent nick - and this will soon be the lead.

FYI

Neil Robertson, UK champion, is having the week off and rightly so - he looked absolutely done-in last night. Lei Peifan gets a bye to round two.

Selby 0-0 Yuan (1-6)

Yes, it's another late night for the staff - changing over the decor at 1am must've been a right nause last night, but they've got to go again tonight. In the meantime, Yuan gets in first but then takes on a yellow with the rest to keep the break going, only to miss and leave a red ... that Selby misses. These lads have been sitting about waiting to play all afternoon, so it might take them a while to get going. As we see when Yuan clatters the pack off the black and leaves Mark the table. I guess his tactic is to take stuff on and open stuff out, because if it gets tactical, he loses.

Right! Selby v Yuan is on!

There'll be a lot of matches played tonight at we've got to catch up what we missed this afternoon. My guess is that on the main table, we'll have this one, then Kyren Wilson v Simon Lichtenberg, the probably another match after that.

Thanks for your company

That concludes our live coverage for the afternoon session, if all's well with the test results we'll be back with you for the evening session at 6.45pm. Cheers, and see you later.

Matthew Stevens is through to the second round

In his post-match interview with Andy Goldstein and The Whirlwind, Stevens concedes that today 'wasn't pretty'. He's in the next round though, while the out of form David Gilbert is heading home.

A quick update on the situation regarding the remainder of this session and tonight: we're still awaiting the COVID-19 test results that were due this morning, so as things stand we'll be back with live coverage for the evening session.

Gilbert 3-4 Stevens

Just like that, it's over. Gilbert adds seven, but can't cut in the blue that he needs to keep away from requiring snookers. The white settles in the middle of the table and even though Stevens still has to pot a red with the rest to the bottom left, a frustrated Gilbert concedes the frame even though he's 47 behind with 43 left on the table. That's frame and match to Stevens.

Gilbert 3-3 Stevens (4-58)

There are now four reds left, as Stevens clips a thin one into the bottom left. There's nothing to go at in baulk though, which is where he's left the white, so he tucks Gilbert in behind the brown on the side cushion. From there Gilbert makes a hash of his attempt to drop deadweight on a red near the bottom left, and rolls straight into the black. For his second attempt he goes off two cushions in baulk, and sends the white straight into the bottom left. Stevens only needs one more red for the match, but from the D he can't drive one into the bottom left and he sticks it up over the right middle. Now then, David; what can you do here?

Gilbert 3-3 Stevens (4-46)

Stevens plugs a red as a shot to nothing, before putting the yellow safe. He gets the next chance too, as Gilbert leaves him in the middle of the table and with a red into the bottom right. He drops that in, but the white comes off the side cushion and drifts straight into the left middle. That's careless from Stevens, who will kick himself if he's not still in this tournament in half an hour's time. There's five reds left on the table, so plenty of scope for Gilbert to get right back in this.

Gilbert 3-3 Stevens (0-45)

The black is out of commission near the bottom cushion but Stevens is knocking together a potential match-winning contribution here using blue and pink. On the cusp of a half century however Stevens has only gone and snookered himself on the pink! That was sloppy, and any other colour is too fraught with risk so he plays the white safe into baulk and puts the brown safe. Gilbert's still in this.

Gilbert 3-3 Stevens (0-20)

It's a tense safety exchange in a final frame decider here - we haven't had one of those for ooh, fifteen hours - and Gilbert blinks first, catching a red on his way back to baulk to leave Stevens an easy starter to the left middle.This is a chance, because there's a pile of available reds to go at. It's 20 and counting so far.

Gilbert 3-3 Stevens

Well done Dave Gilbert! That was a tremendous break under pressure, and we've got ourselves a decider; I've not a clue who's going to win it. This game.

Gilbert 2-3 Stevens (68-0)

Oh dear. Dave goes into the pack off the blue and winds up on nowt. But he still leaves Matthew needing a snooker.

Gilbert 2-3 Stevens (58-0)

It's a terrific break is this, but then Dave plays his first poor positional shot, underhitting a red that prevents him from going into the pack off the blue and leaves a difficult next ball. He gets it down but is pretty straight on the black and it's not easy to see what the shot after that will be. Down it goes, and he thinks there's a red on to the middle ... and there is! He's nearly there!

Gilbert 2-3 Stevens (30-0)

As I was saying, Dave quickly ensconces himself at the table - by way of a great long red - on which are a fair few easy points. I feel bad for writing this, but I'm waiting for him to miss an easy ball; I'm nervous with it.

Gilbert 2-3 Stevens

Matthew can't quite make it a century, falling down on 92, but He knows he's going to win this and, depressingly, so does Dave.

Gilbert 2-2 Stevens (0-70)

I've seen Matthew look better at the table, but he looks to be doing just about enough here, wobbling in the black to leaver Dave needing snookers.

Gilbert 2-2 Stevens (0-37)

Dave does not look happy, poor fella - he's a really good player but is missing pots you can barely believe. And Matthew isn't going to show him any sympathy, drilling home a fine opening red. Though he can't build on it, he does get the next chance and the reds are spread with the black going to both corners. This is a decent chance.

Gilbert 2-2 Stevens

It looks bleak for Dave now. Though it's all-square, he's coming to the table expecting to miss, and Matthew, who's also played poorly, looks in just about good enough nick to take advantage.

Gilbert 2-1 Stevens (0-57)

Oh dear oh dear. Stevens misses a red and leaves Dave everything ... but he misses an easy red, and he'll not get a shot at redemption in this frame.

Gilbert 2-1 Stevens (0-57)

Is he going to do it again? Matthew gets back to the table and cues nicely through a run of 30; he needs three more reds, and there are three more loose ones on the table. But he overruns off one of them so has to go into the pack off the black; the outcome is suboptimal but not terminal, and he does well to resolve the situation.

Gilbert 2-1 Stevens (0-13)

Dave will be feeling rank, because he knows he's out of form and he missed two easy balls that would've put him three up with four to play. Instead, he's in a scrap. And it really is a scrap, both players missing easy balls before Stevens, who's been playing well recently, earns a few points then miscues a blue and expresses suitable disgust with his behaviour.

Gilbert 2-1 Stevens

Lots of errors in that frame, but Stevens takes it, eventually.

Gilbert 2-0 Stevens (17-64)

But no! Matthew clouts a pink towards the top right with lots of side to get position and misses the pot! Dave should tax him for that - and if he does he's nearly through - but he misses a simple black! Now it will be 2-1.

Gilbert 2-0 Stevens (9-56)

But Dave then smacks the pink straight into the far middle jaw, and that ought to get Matthew on the board.

Gilbert 2-0 Stevens (9-48)

Matthew salves his pain by getting in first in frame three, even sinking a pot with his disliked rest. But on 42 he takes a while to plan his next few moves, sticking a red into the corner and coming up for the blue, ignoring a plant into the middle. He takes both well, playing for a red down the cushion, and doesn't give it quite enough pop. So it stays over the pocket and Dave sees it away, but opts not to go into the pack immediately, instead sorting out the aforementioned plant which develops another red. Well played.

Around the tables

Holt 4-1 Greene (finished)
Zhou 4-1 Lines (finished)

Gilbert 2-0 Stevens

That will sting Matthew hard. He's got a lot of work to do and not all that long in which to do it. Though he did come back from 2-0 down in the first two rounds of the NI Open, he wasn't paying a player as good as Dave.

Gilbert 1-0 Stevens (64-47)

A mistake from Matthew leaves the yellow over the centre, but means Dave needs to go up the table then back to baulk for the now-difficult green. It's not happening, so another chase commences and Matthew quickly knocks the black safe - but neither man will need it, assuming there are no fouls. And it's Matthew who makes the next error too, leaving the green, and that will absolutely be 2-0.

Gilbert 1-0 Stevens (50-47)

The yellow proves a step too far for Dave, who puts the length of the table in between it and the white and takes four points when Matthew, trying to catch it thin, misses it altogether. But he can't parlay that into anything, and the chase for it resumes - of the colours, only the pink is awkward, so whoever pots this should be set.

Gilbert 1-0 Stevens (39-47)

Matthew looks pretty good in removing balls ... until he misses a simple pink. Aaaargh! This presents Dave with an opportunity to steal, and if he takes high-value colours, he won't need the pink, which is just below the baulk line. But the yellow is close to it and even closer to the side cushion, so there's a stack of work still to do.

Gilbert 1-0 Stevens (14-15)

But his next safety offers Matthew a tricky starter - he nails it - before hauling the white up to the baulk cushion. Dave takes the easy option in response, rolling into the pack ... and is punished for so doing. Matthew accepts the proffered starter and this time he's soon on the black, which is available to both corners.

Gilbert 1-0 Stevens (14-0)

Dave is in again - you can almost see the confidence gently increasing, like the power on a computer-game character. But faced with a plant, he catches the knuckle - he needed to be right behind them to make it work properly - and he's back to performing wry looks, though he's not left anything.

Around the tables

Gary Thomson 2-4 Nigel Bond (finished)
Akani Songsermsawad 4-2 Ian Burns (finished)
Holt 3-1 Greene
Zhou 3-1 Lines

Gilbert 1-0 Stevens

A break of 75 is plenty for Gilbert, who'll be feeling much better about himself.

Gilbert 0-0 Stevens (36-9)

But he's quickly back at the table accumulating points - things can change so quickly. The way the reds are spread, he's got a good chance of clinching the frame at this visit, and he's starting to flow.

Gilbert 0-0 Stevens (1-9)

Gilbert, who reached the world semis the year before last, is 12 in the world and Stevens is 35, but Stevens is in better form and, when it comes down to it, the better player - he's just finding his way back after a tough time. Anyhow, he gets in first, then clips the knuckle trying to guide a pink into the middle, and though he leaves an easy starter for Gilbert, he doesn't fancy any of the colours - which is to say his confidence is on its arse.

Ch ch changes

We can't start Selby-Sijun until the test results have come in, so David Gilbert v Matthew Stevens will be on the match table, followed by Allen v White, and when the original encounter is good to go, that'll be in a cubicle.

Essentially

More news as I get it.

We're now watching Eurosport's excellent Ronnie O'Sullivan doc

If you're near a screen, I insist you turn it on. But in terms of play, we're probably a minimum of 20 minutes away - the hope is that we watch part 1 and then get underway, but that won't necessarily be the case.

Jimmy has nipped off

H'es got a practice table booked prior to his match with Mark Allen that was meant to start at 2pm.

There's a delay

We're still waiting for the results of everyone's corona tests to come in.

Selby is, of course

The defending champion.

Yuan Sijun

Can play. He's 53 in the world, but he led Trump 3-0 in the English Open, and though he then lost four straight, you don't get to that point if you can't properly play.

Selby tells Eurosport

That having his family with him is really helping him keep perspective. He says his young daughter was doing her colouring, looked up to see him pot her red, said "Get in my son" and then went back to it. Lovely stuff.

This afternoon

We'll be focusing on Selby-Sijun and then, if it's still going, Allen v White J (also of Eurosport).

Interesting

Another great result for Ricky Walden - Pang Junxu had a good week last week, but his this week is over already. But the big shock is Stephen Maguire's battering by Zak Surety - and let's not sleep a great win for Alan McManus of Eurosport.

Morning behaviour

Gary Thomson 2-3 Nigel Bond
Ben Woollaston 4-1 Amine Amiri (finished)
Mark Joyce 4-2 Xu Si (finished)
Akani Songsermsawad 3-2 Ian Burns
Alan McManus 4-2 Xiao Guodong (finished)
Pang Junxu 0-4 Ricky Walden (finished)
Stephen Maguire 1-4 Zak Surety (finished)
Yan Bingtao 1-4 Jak Jones (finished)
Holt 1-0 Greene
Zhou 0-0 Lines

At least

Judd doesn't have to turn up this evening - his match has been shoved to tomorrow. He looked extremely haunted at the end of last night's final, though I confess I wanted Neil to win because I felt like he wanted and needed it more. I also think snooker needed it more - a dominant champ is great for the game, but a rivalry is even better.

Hello! How is everyone?

I'm not sure I've recovered, never mind Judd Trump and Neil Robertson, but goodness me, we appear to be back again.

Judd Trump: I bottled it, simple as that

Judd Trump said that he “bottled it” after Neil Robertson edged a tense final-frame decider against the world number one to win a third UK Championship title.

The 31-year-old Bristolian had looked odds on to seal the title as he set about the colours in the final frame but uncharacteristically missed a presentable – if not easy – final pink as the pressure ratcheted up at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes deep into the night.

The Australian would steal in to sink the pink and seal a third UK Championship success, leaving Trump to rue an opportunity missed.

“It was an epic battle really,” began Trump.

It is tough to take and I just bottled it in the end – simple as that. I had an easy brown to screw back but I tried to stun it just because I was under pressure and I ended up messing up. The pressure got to me, I would never miss from there normally. It was such a slog that I was just trying too hard.

“It probably made for good viewing but for me it was devastating.”