UAE's Shehab rallies to seal pre-quarters spot

Dubai: Mohammad Mustafa Shehab proved his class when he came from behind to beat Nigel Bond 6-4 for a place in the pre-quarterfinals of the SangSom 6-Red World Grand Prix in Bangkok yesterday.

Shehab's compatriot Mohammad Al Joker, who lost four of his five group games, failed to make the knockout stage and was sent packing on Thursday.

The UAE No 1, who was the runner-up in Group E, has been in fine form throughout the tournament. However, the pressure began to show in yesterday's round-of-32 match against Bond. Shehab let his English rival through after playing a tight first frame, which Bond won 41-34. But he got right back into it and blanked Bond 47-0 to level at one apiece.

Bond then stepped his game up a few notches to take a 3-1 lead. He won the third and fourth frames 42-26 and 43-20, respectively, but made a few errors in the fifth that handed the momentum back to Shehab, who raced away to 4-3, by winning the next three frames 46-0, 44-20 and 50-11. Shehab sat and watched as Bond won the eighth frame 70-0 to make it 4-4, but it was the Emirati who would have the last laugh as he potted with pinpoint precision to win the next two frames 45-33, 59-6 for a spot in the last 16.

Shehab was expected to face England's Judd Trump in the pre-quarterfinal late last night, the latter having booked his last-16 spot with a 6-1 win over Peter Ebdon.

England's cueists enjoyed a field day at Bangkok's Montien Riverside Hotel, with seven players making the pre-quarterfinals. In two all-England matches, Mark King takes on Michael Holt, while Ricky Walden faces Jimmy White.

Welshman Mark Williams meets another world champion in Ken Doherty of Ireland, while Stuart Bingham of England locks horns with home favourite Issara Kachaiwong.