GRAEME Dott did not know whether to laugh or cry after he reached the semi-finals of the Masters for the first time in 11 attempts despite still playing well below the sort of form that once earned him a world title.
He was not made to work particularly hard for his win as he destroyed Judd Trump, the pre-tournament favourite, 6-1. Trump, the world No.2, was way below his best as the Scot coasted into a 4-1 lead despite a highest break of only 36. Then, with Trump all but throwing in the towel, the world No.12 took full advantage to rattle in breaks of 54 and 111 and seal an easy win.
The 35-year-old admitted that Trump's below-par performance had unsettled his rhythm. "It's good to have won but I never really felt I was winning easily," he said. "Both of us were struggling and I just happened to be pinching the scrappy frames and built a bit of a lead.
"The fact that Judd was off his game put me off a bit. I went out there expecting to have to be so careful because he normally punishes you but, when he started missing, suddenly the pressure came on to me to make sure that I didn't let those opportunities go to waste. So, it can be off-putting."
Although he may not be the player he was when he won the biggest title in the game back in 2006, Dott can see signs that his best game might be returning.
"Things are slowly coming together for me," he added. "My cueing was a big improvement on my match with Stephen [Maguire] in the first round but there's more work to be done."
Trump has not looked himself since he won the International Championship in China last autumn. He was knocked out of the UK Championship in the first round but it is hard to recall a poorer performance from him since he rose to prominence at the 2011 World Championship.
n British Eurosport is the Home of Snooker, showing 19 events this season, including the World & UK Championships, the Masters and all ranking events. Available on Sky (410/411) and Virgin Media (521/525) or online/on mobile via eurosportplayer.co.uk
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article