Oscar had defied all logic progressing so far as one Welshman after another fell by the wayside. The Welsh contingent started well as seven of the original 14 starters were still in it by the first round proper..
Round One:
Craig Reynolds went through after a nervy decider with Phil Craig from Scotland, but Paul Hawkins was bashed up by John Columb who did not miss a shot. Paul said afterwards "I broke and failed to pot, so he was clearing his own and my break frames with me not playing any other shot. Having broken twice and playing no other shot, I was 5-0 down, not a good start". Neil Blake was the seed in this section so had a bye through to the next round.
Ryan John breezed through with an 8-4 victory over Yulan Govender whilst Julian Wilde beat fellow countryman and tour number two, Warren Hodgeson in another decider, whilst Keith Jones, debatably our best chance of the title, went out to a former world champion, England's Daz Ward (who went out 8-5 to world number two, Carl Morris in the next round)
Last 32
The first casualty of this round was none other that the holder himself, Chris Melling who went out to Cardiff based Pat Holtz. Craig Reynolds went down at this stage to the South African Mikey Alexandrou 8-3 and Ryan John went out to Ramesh Gokhul from the West Indies.
Julian was quietly easing through, however, with an 8-6 win over moustached Australian, Russell Youlton. Rob McKenna, the popular Scottish twice world champion, based in Cardiff also went through, with an 8-5 victory over Akim Benheik the frenchman that took out Tony Drago in the previous round. Lastly, Neil Blake, seeded eight in the event but still having not won a frame since being seeded went out to Travis Crawley another Australian.
Last 16
So Julian was the last Welshman left at this stage. Nick Jones, a few others and I sat with him before the match and he was very relaxed and ready for the challenge. He had already won a grand and he was one game from the TV stages but he had a very tough opponent in the form of Phil Harrison and most neutrals were expecting a walkover for the English regular..
Julian got the opener after Harrison ran out of position on the final ball, Wilde doubling into the opposite corner. This proved to be the theme of the match as Julian kept nicking frames to catch Phil up but Phil was always ahead. Harrison eased ahead in the latter stages and got himself into a 7-5 lead, needing just one more. Wilde pulled off another burglary to bring the gap back to one. Harrison broke but was unable to finish and a nervy tactical battle developed. In the end, Julian pulled off a couple of monster shots to win the frame, cutting in a thin yellow off a red with the white millimetres from the object ball and potted a nervy thin double back into a corner pocket to set up a decider with Julian to break..
Oscar broke and potted leaving the reds looking plum for a roll in and we were sitting on the edges of our seats, but we could not see that the starter in the middle was not as easy as it looked. Julian took yellows to our surprise (at the time) starting with a plant along the top rail, which he made well. He continued on this line but on the second to last yellow the white overan leaving it a touch awkward and he was unable to avoid snookering himself. As a result, Phil was able to step up to the table and win the frame for the TV slot..
Unlucky to Oscar but hats off to him too - he battled bravely and did himself and Wales proud..