Snooker News

At Haikou World Open Qualifiers, Barnsley, England

[QR1] Pankaj Advani (IND,66) bt (A) Mitchell Travis (ENG) 5-2 (71-29, 53-48, 0-71(58), 72-33, 54-67, 67-28, 67-16)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,66) vs Xiao Guodong (CHN,26)

I was hoping easier passage to main-draw for Pankaj but amature player Travis stretched Pankaj ... Pankaj needed to play well to beat Travis ... So he is join Aditya at Haikou World Open ... Pankaj having tough match against local favorite and top-25 type player Xiao Guodong in the first round.

Snooker News

At Haikou World Open Qualifiers, Barnsley, England

[QR1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Jak Jones (WAL,122) 5-2 (71-51(50), 67-20, 76(76)-0, 5-82(82), 82-5, 54(54)-65, 79-30)

After qualifying for prestigious German Masters Aditya continues with his good run ... He is qualify for Haikou World Open, which will be play from 10th to 16th March 2014 at Haikou, China, beating Wales player Jak Jones ... After losing the first 3 frames Jak tried fight back but Aditya kept focus and completed victory ... In man-draw of Haikou World Open he is playing another Wales player, WR #32 Michael White.

Snooker News

At German Masters Qualifiers, Barnsley, England

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) l Mark Selby (ENG,2) 1-5 (65(53)-45, 67-45, 71-22, 34-51, 79(79)-8, 115(115)-1))

Pankaj gave decent performance against WR #2 Mark Selby ... First 4 frames were closely fought but after losing 4th frame Selby showed his class ... So with that Pankaj fails to qualify for German Masters ... So only Aditya is in the main-draw.

Snooker News

At German Masters Qualifiers, Barnsley, England

[QR] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) vs Mark Selby (ENG,2)
[QR] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Li Yan (CHN,83) 5-0 (64-51, 66(61)-42, 68-0, 62-48, 86(68)-1)

[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) vs Joel Walker (ENG,86)

Aditya qualified for German Masters, which will be played from 29th January, 2014 to 2nd February, 2014, with comfortable win over his Chinese opponent Li Yan ... Aditya will face Britisher Joel Walker in the first round of German Master.

But Pankaj having really tough match to qualify for German Masters .. He is facing fromer WR #1 and current WR #2 Mark Selby in the qualifying round.

Snooker News

At £700K UK Championship, York, England

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) l Tian Pengfei (CHN,64) 1-6 (10-76(76), 73-44, 24-78(61), 49-68, 6-65(64), 8-73(54), 30-77)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) l Robbie Williams (ENG,70) 2-6 (25-81, 16-53, 65-17, 61-68, 21-73, 10-73, 52-50, 0-66(58))

Pankaj failed to produce challenge to his Chinese opponent ... Tian scored comfortable win against Pankaj losing single frame.

Aditya also lost his match against young Britisher ... In this match Aditya failed to score substantial break and Williams take advantage of it ... I m feeling that our players r still struggling to adjust with speed of cloth in Britain.

Snooker News

At €129K Euro Tour 7, Antwerp, Belgium (14-17 Nov 2013)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) bt James Silverwood (ENG,A) 4-0 (77(54)-20, 69-0, 127(126)-0, 58-50)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Michael Leslie (SCO,94) 4-3 (78(77)-17, 88-53, 25-68, 50-76, 55(53)-6, 1-80, 71(54)-39)

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) l Rory McLeod (ENG,45) 2-4 (0-98(63), 38-79(70), 68-1, 56-49, 0-80, 4-96(74))
[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Ryan Causton (ENG,A) 4-1 (62-9, 72-13, 77-42, 31-75, 75-57)

[R3] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Alfie Burden (ENG,46) 4-3 (46-74, 115(81)-0, 8-81(63), 69(55)-0, 72-32, 45-79(53), 65-37)

[R4] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) bt Mark J Williams (WAL,18) 4-2 (7-75(70), 60-68, 92-12, 93(53)-16, 69(63)-8, 60-2)

[QF] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) l Jack Lisowski (ENG,39) 0-4 (14-70(54), 6-63, 16-69(52), 27-82))

Really happy to see our players r showing consistency on snooker pro-tour ... Aditya responded well after his bad Euro tour 6 ... He reached in the quarters before losing one-sided match against Lisowski but before that he scored exciting win over former WR #1 and double World champion Mark J Williams ... In that match against Mark after losing first 2 frames Aditya made strong back and won next four frames.

Pankaj also showed consistency ... He won the first round before losing the second round against Rory McLeod.
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At £100K Euro Tour 6, Gloucester, England (7-10 Nov 2013)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) bt Sydney Wilson (ENG,A) 4-0 (84-19, 132(132)-0, 70-23, 92(84)-40))
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) l Zhang Anda (CHN,77) 3-4 (87-12, 39-65, 57-67, 87(58)-23, 67(56)-55, 43-63, 9-65(50))

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) bt Gerard Greene (ENG,59) 4-1 (65-62, 0-68, 74(74)-4, 68(68)-0, 86(56)-0))

[R3] Pankaj Advani (IND,67) l Michael Holt (ENG,20) 3-4 (45-65, 69-62, 24-75(56), 69-41, 35-102, 69(53)-39, 44-58(58))

Pankaj scored couple of good wins before losing close match against top-20 British player Michael Holt.

Snooker News

At £625K International Championship, Chengdu, China

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,69) l Dave Harold (ENG,55) 4-6 (33-69(54), 5-64, 60-14, 29-108(104), 66-1, 0-79(54), 30-77, 64-10, 76-7, 3-70)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,63) l Rod Lawler (ENG,57) 3-6 (61-27, 60-81, 71-43, 0-78(54), 57-19, 38-75(68), 0-88, 0-103(103), 8-66)

Pankaj failed to scored single substantial break and he lost against Britisher Dave Harold in close match ... After 2-5 down Pankaj tried fight back winning next two frames but Dave won 10th frame for a victory.

Aditya started with his defensive style and won the first frame despite scoring a single 15+ break ... Rod made strong comeback winning the next frame ... Both players shared next 4 games to remained 3 frames all ... But Rod scored 2 fifty breaks in 4th and 6th frames ... Rod was looking more comfortable on the board ... In 7th frame Rod scored 2 forty plus break for winning it comfortably ... After that Rod scored 1st hundred break of the match for winning it comfortably ... From 6th frame Rod gathered momentum and won 9th frame with short but decisive breaks for comfortable win over Aditya ... Frankly I was expecting better results from Pankaj and Aditya after their great run in Indian open but it seems our players struggled to adjust the speed of the table in China.

Snooker News

At £300K Indian Open, New Delhi, India


Final
Aditya Mehta (IND,72) l (4) Ding Junhui (CHN,4) 0-5 (36-76(52), 0-87(81), 0-107(107), 1-93(93), 1-116(100))

History was already created but I was hoping for icing on it with the title win for Aditya ... The final was anti-climax and Chinese Ding Junhui had a different idea ... In the final he totally outperformed Aditya and won the title convincingly ... Junhui won the best of 9 final by 5-0 ... He scored two century and three fifty+ breaks ... Aditya managed to won only 38 points in the final and in that he won 36 points in 1st frame, that shows us dominance of Junhui ... Still creditable performance by Aditya, who reached in the final which gave him £25,000 prize money and importantly 4000 ranking points ... Pankaj Advani also won £9,000 prize money and 2,500 points from this ranking tournament.

Snooker News

At £300K Indian Open, New Delhi, India

[SF] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) bt (5) Stephen Maguire (SCO,5) 4-3 (84-0, 137(81)-0, 132(132)-0, 0-72(68), 10-53, 6-67(61), 67-45)

[F] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) vs (4) Ding Junhui (CHN,4)

Aditya is in the final of Indian open with another thrilling win over top-5 player Scottish Stephen Maguire ... Aditya played exceptionally well and didn't give chance to Stephen on the table in first few frames ... Stephen Maguire failed to score a single point in first 3 frames on his visit ... Aditya won the first frame with substantial small breaks ... In the second frame he scored 81 points break for winning this frame ... Aditya continued with his good form and scored this match's only century break and take 3-0 lead ... At this point it was looking like Aditya was going to steamrolled Stephen Maguire in one-sided match ... But Stephen used all his experience and then played very tactical game on the table ... He started to gave very few chance to Aditya and suddenly Aditya was under pressure ... Stephen won 4th frame with 68 points break ... In 5th frame both players played with very safe approach and again Stephen won this low scoring frame ... Stephen was looking dangerous and he was successfully kept Aditya under pressure ... Stephen scored 61 points break in 6th frame and catch Aditya 3-all ...In the final frame momentum was with Stephen but Aditya kept his nerve and waited for opportunity ... Whenever Aditya got opportunity he was building small breaks to open up the lead ... His this strategy worked wonderfully and that put extra pressure on Stephen ... Aditya kept lead throughout this frame for his first final of ranking tournament of pro-tour ... In the final he is facing Chinese sensation WR #4 Ding Junhui, who is already win 2 tournament in 2013 including big Shanghai Masters.

Snooker News

At £300K Indian Open, New Delhi, India

[QF] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) bt Pankaj Advani (IND,70) 4-3 (29-70, 70-0, 68(51)- 82, 58-43, 65(55)-24), 45-66, 72-0)

[SF] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) vs (5) Stephen Maguire (SCO,5)

Aditya become first Indian to reach in the semi-final of big snooker professional ranking event ... He defeated compatriot Pankaj Advani in exciting match which lasted more than 5 hours ... This match was played with lot of passion, both players started with attacking game ... Pankaj won the first frame making less mistakes ... From the second frame both players played highly tactical and safe game ... Aditya won this frame with timely small but significant breaks ... In the third frame Aditya scored first 50 break of the match but he made silly mistake and after that Pankaj produced superb comeback when he was more than 40 points behind ... In end both players playing safe shots and wasn't giving chance to their opponent ... In end Pankaj won this an hour long frame ... The fourth frame was against very complicated and tactical ... This closely fought frame won by Aditya and made score 2-all ... In fifth frame Aditya scored his second fifty break and this time kept advantage to won this frame ... First time in the match Aditya take lead 3-2 ... Sixth frame was another closely fought and Panakj used his all experience to won in the end to made it 3-all ... In the final frame Aditya played flawless snooker and didn't give any chance to Pankaj and scored timely couple 30s for deserving win ... Next he is facing WR #5 Scottish Stephen Maguire.

Snooker News

At £300K Indian Open, New Delhi, India

[R3] Pankaj Advani (IND,70) bt Stuart Bingham (ENG,12) 4-3 (99(53)-26, 1-117(117), 80(67)-15, 69(53)-16, 11-72(72), 8-119(119), 86(86)-30)
[R3] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) bt Mark J Williams (WAL,18) 4-2 (34-65, 79(54)-21, 85(66)-0, 45-74, 63-49, 70-41)

[QF] Pankaj Advani (IND,70) vs Aditya Mehta (IND,72)

Dream quarter-final for inaugural Indian open for Indian fans, Pankaj vs Aditya ... Both won their respective matches in contrasting style.

Pankaj's match against Stuart was free flowing as both players were scoring big breaks ... In this match Pankaj scored four 50+ breaks and other hand Stuart scored 2 century and 1 fifty breaks ... Pankaj started with winning 1st frame with 53 points break ... Stuart responded with century break and won 2nd frame ... In 3rd and 4th frames Pankaj scored 67 points and 53 points break, those helped him to won these frames ... Stuart tried fightback from 1-3 down as he scored 72 points break for winning 5th frame ... Immediately in next frame Stuart scored another big century frame and take match into the decider, 3-all ... Pankaj rose to occasion scoring 86 points break, his biggest of the match, and completed victory.

Before this match Aditya faced Mark Williams three times on the pro-tour and all three times he lost against Mark so Aditya started this match underdog ... This match wasn't free flowing scoring like Pankaj-Stuart match, in this match Aditya and Mark played tactical game ... Only two 50+ breaks scored in this match and both those breaks scored by Aditya ... Mark started positively and with substantial small breaks he won 1st frame but Aditya responded strongly ... He scored 54 points break to won 2nd frame and then scored another 66 points break in 3rd frame to take 2-1 lead ... Mark won 4th frame with small breaks ... 5th frame was very close which Aditya managed to win and he kept that momentum in next frame ... Aditya won 6th frame with small breaks and completed his first win over Mark Williams.

Snooker News

At £300K Indian Open, New Delhi, India

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,70) bt Mark Allen (ENG,11) 4-2 (48-72, 81(55)-0, 92(71)-5, 45-87, 60-42, 73-27)
[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) bt Hammad Miah (ENG,99) 4-1 (20-97(97), 74-2, 69-27, 68(67)-0, 69-60)

[R3] Pankaj Advani (IND,70) vs Stuart Bingham (ENG,12)
[R3] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) vs Mark J Williams (WAL,18)

Aditya failed to produce his regular game on the table and Hammad take advantage of it winning the first frame with big 90+ break ... From the second frame Aditya recovered and played short effective breaks to won next four frames ... In this match Aditya managed only single fifty break and couple of 40s breaks ... So despite struggling with his putting Aditya won this match but he need to produce A+ game in the third round as he is facing Wales player Mark J Williams, who scored upset win over WR #2 Mark Selby.

Pankaj played exceptional match to bear North Irish WR #11 Mark Allen ... After losing the first frame Pankaj fought back and won next two frames with couple of 50s breaks ... Allen won 4th frame to made it 2-all ... After that both players fought hard but Pankaj counted more on visit with small significant breaks and completed victory ... Next he is facing WR #12 Stuart Bingham.

Snooker News

At £300K Indian Open, New Delhi, India

[R1] (Q) Dharminder Lilly (IND,A) l (2) Mark Selby (ENG,2) 0-4 (37-58, 13-88, 0-107(88), 23-62))
[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,70) bt Marcus Campbell (SCO,27) 4-1 (97(74)-18, 65-49, 59(52)-63, 134(134)-4, 59(52)-19)

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,70) vs Mark Allen (ENG,11)

Pankaj scored comfortable win over top-30 Scottish player Marcus Campbell ... In this match Pankaj scored one century and three fifty breaks ... Next he is facing top-10 Northern Ireland player Mark Allen.

Other hand Mark Selby defeated Lilly convincingly in their match.

Snooker News

At £300K Indian Open, New Delhi, India

[R1] (Q) Dharminder Lilly (IND,A) vs (2) Mark Selby (ENG,2)
[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,70) vs Marcus Campbell (SCO,27)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) bt Peter Ebdon (ENG,30) 4-3 (66(50)-48, 69-51, 8-91, 122(122)-1, 32-81, 73-85, 131(127)-0)

[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,72) vs Hammad Miah (ENG,99)

Excellent start for Aditya as he started with close win against 2002 World champion Peter Ebdon in thrilling match ... Aditya started confidently and won 1st fram with 50 points break ... He continued with his momentum and won next fram also with small breaks ... Peter fought back and scored couple of 30s/40s breaks and won 3rd frame ... Aditya scored 1st century break of the match for winning 4th frame ... At this time Aditya was leading 3-1 but peter kept fighting ... He won next two frames and in that in 6th frame Peter was down 32-73 and he fought back to won next 53 points to made it 3-all ... In the final frame Aditya kept his cool and scored another big century break of 127 points to enter in the second round ... Next he is facing another British player Hammad Miah.

From wild-card round only Dharminder Lilly managed to joint Aditya and Pankaj as Lilly received walkover from his opponent ... Lilly is facing WR #2 Mark Selby in the first round ... Other hand Pankaj is facing top-30 Scottish player Marcus Campbell.

Snooker News

At European Tour Event Four, Fürth, Germany (22-25 Aug 2013)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) bt Allan Taylor (ENG,118) 4-0 (69-45, 76-29, 88(68)-2, 76(57)-42)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Tony Drago (MAL,82) 4-0 (87(73)-0), 66(49)-6, 66(65)-49, 84(52)-2)

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) l Jamie Jones (WAL,41) 2-4 (29-71, 67-19, 24-79, 76(66)-49, 5-97(79), 17-62)
[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Alan McManus (SCO,43) 4-0 (69-8, 124(62)-1, 65-55, 57-19)

[R3] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Anthony Hamilton (ENG,36) 4-2 (69(69)-68(68), 61-1, 87(59)-0, 56-64, 0-92(92), 66-58)

[R4] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) l (3) Mark Selby (ENG,2) 1-4 (15-76(63), 21-91, 72-13, 19-58(56), 17-68(63))

Aditya repeated Pankaj's performance in Euro tour 4 tournament where he reached in pre-quarter final ... Aditya scored good fighting win and gave decent fight to current WR #2 Mark Selby in his loss in the fourth round ... In recent interview Aditya told that he set goal of improving his current ranking inside top 50 at the end of year and his desire to crack top 16 in his career ... I feel this is realistic goal.
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At European Tour Event Three, Doncaster, England (14-17 Aug 2013)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) bt Peter Ebdon (ENG,28) 4-3 (14-112(112), 1-95(59), 64-15, 74-16, 33-71(61), 71-39, 67-12)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Nigel Bond (ENG,44) 4-3 (91-20, 46-70, 68(51)-12, 82(82)-31, 6-106(59), 39-80, 110(68)-1)

[R2] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) bt Ian Burns (ENG,66) 4-0 (85(57)-5, 61-44, 66(57)-7, 54-21)
[R2] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) l (2) John Higgins (SCO,6) 0-4 (42-77, 12-75(70), 64-68, 7-72(64))

[R3] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) bt Rory McLeod (ENG,46) 4-0 (100(48)-22, 75(52)-46, 63-22, 76-40)

[R4] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) l (1) Mark J Williams (WAL,15) 0-4 (43-86(68), 26-69, 51-67, 21-78)

In the first round Pankaj produced superb comeback win from 2-3 against Peter Ebdon ... In the fourth round he lost top-seed Mark J Williams.

Snooker News

At Indian Open Qualifying, Doncaster, England

[Q1] Pankaj Advani (IND,73) bt Matthew Selt (ENG,51) 4-0 (62(62)-53(53), 74-47, 70(54)-01, 72(65)-00)
[Q1] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) bt Xiao Guodong (CHN,37) 4-2 (61-17, 73(48)-36, 117(104)-09, 01(68)89, 0-(105)105, 60-25)

[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,73) vs Marcus Campbell (SCO,29)
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) vs Peter Ebdon (ENG,32)

Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta created history by qualifying for the Indian Open 2013, a major professional ranking event to be held in New Delhi for the first time from October 14-18 ... Pankaj defeated Matthew Selt comfortably to qualify this prestigious event ... In the first round he will facing Scottish Marcus Campbell.

Aditya started well against his top-40 Chinese opponent Guodong and won first 3 frames, in that he managed one century break ... But after that Guodong made excellent fightback and won next two frames with big breaks, he also scored century break in 5th frame ... In 6th frame Aditya played tactical game on the board and completed win with small breaks ... In the first round Aditya will face Britisher Peter Ebdon, 2002 World champion.

Snooker News

Snooker News
At the World Games Cali 2013, Colombia


Gold Medal match
Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Wenbo Liang (CHN,32) 3-0

Gold - Aditya Mehta (India)
Silver - Wenbo Liang (China)
Bronze - Dechawat Poomjaeng (Thailand)

Aditya created history after winning Gold medal at ongoing World Games at Colombia ... This is our best performance as before this we won only one medal at World game and that was also in inaugural event at Santa Clara, California, United States in 1981 ... At that time legendary Prakash Padukone won Bronze medal in Badminton.

In the final Aditya defeated higher ranked Chinese opponents in straight three frames and won deserving Gold medal ... Deserving yellow medal for Aditya as he defeated two pre-tournament favorites en route to title win.

Snooker News

At the World Games Cali 2013, Colombia

Men's Snooker
[R1] Pankaj Advani (IND,74) bt Ajeya Prabhakar (USA,UNR) 3-1
[R1] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Luis Lemus (GUA,UNR) 3-0

[QF] Pankaj Advani (IND,74) l Dechawat Poomjaeng (THA,67) 1-3
[QF] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Joseph Perry (ENG,20) 3-2

[SF] Aditya Mehta (IND,73) bt Dechawat Poomjaeng (THA,67) 3-1

Gold Medal match
Aditya Mehta (IND,73) vs Wenbo Liang (CHN,32)

The World Games are an international multi-sport event for sports that are not currently contested in the Olympic Games ... In Snooker 16 players participated with mixture of professional and amateurs ... From India Aditya Mehta and Pankaj Advani participated in this World Games ... Before tournament start 3 players were considered as favorites; WR #20 Joseph Perry, WR #32 Wenbo Liang and WR #44 the defending champion from last World Games Nigel Bond.

Pankaj defeated American #2 player Ajeya Prabhakar in the first round but he failed to kept his momentum against his Thai opponent ... Thai Dechawat Poomjaeng defeated Pankaj in four frames, 1-3.

Aditya started with convincing win over Luis Lemus, 3-0 ... In the quarter final he faced tournament's favorite Britisher Joseph Perry ... Perry won the first frame but Aditya won the second frame ... Perry comfortably won the third frame to lead 2-1 and in fourth frame Perry take comfortable lead ... Aditya fought back and won this tight fourth game and then in decider frame Aditya take control and completed victory after 50+ points break, 3-2 ... In the semi final he faced Thai Dechawat Poomjaeng, who defeated Pankaj in previous round ... Aditya played solid game and completed victory in four frames ... For Gold medal he is facing Chinese top-35 player, Wenbo Liang.

Snooker News
At £1.1M World Championship 2013, Sheffield, England

[QRd 6] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) l Alan McManus (SCO,49) 9-10 (58-29, 42-70, 16-61, 77-60, 45-75, 92-0, 25-55, 67-14, 69-0, 80-17, 15-105, 21-65, 71-30 32-72, 13-53, 1-119, 56-32, 90-30, 46-56)

Heart breaking loss for Aditya against Alan McManus in the qualifying ... In last 3 games Aditya fought back winning two but lost close decider by only 10 points.

Snooker News
At £1.1M World Championship 2013, Sheffield, England

[QRd 5] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) bt Daniel Wells (WAL,85) 10-7 (83-39, 43-56, 0-81, 73-17, 83-43, 17-107, 13-72, 70-37, 36-77, 76-10, 71-50, 80-0, 33-67, 48-80, 75-15, 94-0, 66-7)
[QRd 5] Pankaj Advani (IND,72) l (A) Joe Swail (NIR) 8-10 (37-77, 14-82, 0-78, 78-12, 36-67, 64-50, 100-18, 59-44, 18-57, 83-15, 64-23, 64-48, 1-67, 51-70, 34-62, 59-17, 50-78, 25-72)

[QRd 6] Aditya Mehta (IND,74) vs Alan McManus (SCO,49)

In World Championship fifth qualifying round Pankaj lost close match against an amateur Northern Irish player, Joe Swail ... Other hand Aditya managed to win his match against Wales player, Daniel Wells ... Next he is facing former top-10 Scottish Alan McManus.