Liu Song stumbles to defeat

Given the way Liu Song played, he should have beaten Issara hands down, but that was not the case at the Khum Suphan Hotel.

The Chinese player first had a run of 75 points in the second frame and then went on to erase the highest break of 122 set by Thai ace Ratchapol Pu-Ob-Orm on Monday, knocking home a total clearance of 140 in the fourth to level the frame scores at 2-2.

There was more in store as Liu Song went on to record another mesmerising clearance of 122 points in the fifth to go one frame ahead, but Issara did well to catch up with his rival by grabbing the sixth frame.

In the deciding frame, Issara raced to a 57-6 lead when he miscued a pot on the red, leaving the game wide open for Liu Song. The Chinese professional had all the chance of winning the frame and with it the match. He looked well on course with a break of 31, but in gross contrast to his performance earlier in the match, Liu Song missed a simple pot on the black, allowing Issara to sweep the last yellow, green and brown balls off the baize to move into the quarter-finals.

"Don't ask me how I won the match, because I myself don't know," Issara said. "Liu Song was simply amazing today, and I wasn't able to produce my best.

"It is always the same story with me in my opening matches. I am always nervous and have never been able to produce my best in these games. Hopefully, I will do better in the rest of the tournament."

Liu Song said, "I can't believe that I missed that black. It was one of those days when you do everything right, but still can't win the match. I played very well throughout the match, but just that one miss cost me everything."

Later, Ratchapol, known as James Wattana in international circles, played with confidence to hand a 4-0 whitewash to former Asian champion and Thailand No 2 Anan Terananon to qualify for the quarter-final.

Frame scores:

Tuesday's round of 16 matches: Praprut Chaithanasakul b Mana Upraphai 4-1 (67-50, 81(56)-0, 59-38, 53-65, 60-38); Phaithoon Phonbun b Surathep Phoochalam 4-3 (1-99(99), 34-53, 67-24, 82-25, 57-70, 67-16, 60-48)

Yesterday's round of 16 match: Issara Kachaiwong b Liu Song 4-3 (59-27, 75(75)-27, 73-1, 0-140(140), 0-122(122), 74-30, 66-37)