Bingham Victory Sets up Grudge Match

Stuart Bingham moved into the quarter-finals of the 2011 Australian Snooker Goldfields Open to set up a grudge match with rival Mark Allen.
 
Bingham defeated Tom Ford 5-0 at the Bendigo Stadium in Bendigo, Victoria and now meets Allen, who earlier defeated Marcus Campbell 5-1.
 
Allen and Bingham have not hidden their dislike for each other after Bingham reacted angrily to post-match comments from Allen when they last played - in December 2010 in the quarter-finals of the UK Championship, a match Allen won 9-7.
 
"There's a bit of history between us. We don't get on," said Allen.
 
"He said about getting revenge on Ding for his Crucible defeat but it would be nice to send him back where he belongs.
 
"He doesn't like me because I told the truth in a press conference that he has no bottle and as he threw away a match at the World Championships after leading 12-9 I think that showed it.
 
"It was great he did because that let the legend that is Stephen Hendry stay in the top 16 and I would rather see Hendry in the top 16 than Bingham."
 
Bingham believed Allen was trying to get a psychological advantage ahead of their quarter-final clash, which will take place on Friday at 1pm local time (nine hours ahead of English time).
 
"I can't wait to play this match," admitted Bingham. "He said a few words after the UK Championship which were a bit out of order and I've been waiting for this match for a while.
 
"He said I've got no bottle and he thought he was never going to lose to me. I will definitely be up for it.
 
"But I don't care what he thinks. It will give me more pleasure to beat him.”
 
Home hopes of glory were dashed in the evening session as Australia's Neil Robertson, the 2010 World Champion, suffered a shock defeat against world number 30 Dominic Dale.
 
Dale was 4-2 ahead but Robertson fought back for 4-4 before Dale got the snooker he needed in the last frame to win 5-4.
"It was definitely the match of the tournament so far," said a dejected Robertson. "It's just one of those disappointing things. He made a great snooker with the pink and black left on the table.

"I thought I played good in the match but had a bad patch - it's just one of those things and in sport sometimes you get bad breaks.

"You have to hand it to Dominic and he played very well. When I was getting in the balls I was scoring well.

"The crowd were absolutely terrific and they gave me a great ovation. I'm really disappointed for them."

Elsewhere on day four Mark Williams beat David Gilbert 5-2, Mark Selby beat Mark Davis 5-3 and Ken Doherty fought back from 4-1 behind to defeat Liang Wenbo 5-4.
 
Live coverage is available on FOXSPORTS from 1-5pm and 7.30-11pm daily in Australia. The programmes are also broadcast on Eurosport across the UK, Ireland and mainland Europe.
 
For full reports on all of the action, visit the official website www.worldsnooker.com.
 
 
2011 AUSTRALIAN SNOOKER GOLDFIELDS OPEN
BENDIGO STADIUM, BENDIGO, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA
DAY FOUR RESULTS
 
LAST 16
David Gilbert 2-5 Mark Williams, Marcus Campbell 1-5 Mark Allen, Tom Ford 0-5 Stuart Bingham, Mark Selby 5-3 Mark Davis
 
DAY FIVE FIXTURES
QUARTER-FINALS (BEST OF NINE)
1pm: Matthew Selt v Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen v Stuart Bingham
7.30pm: Mark Selby v Ken Doherty, Dominic Dale v Mark Williams