Drago spoils Walden debut

Tony Drago set up a match with world champion Peter Ebdon on Wednesday by knocking Ricky Walden out of the British Open at Telford yesterday.

Former IBSF U-21 world champion Walden, from Flintshire, is clearly a name for the future but he showed some signs of nerves on his ranking event venue debut and went down 5-2 to the Maltese player.

Drago, who made his first ever 147 break at the recent Benson and Hedges Championship, was not in full flow but his extra experience proved decisive. The first four frames were shared, then breaks of 65, 44, 33 and 32 were enough to seal the match for Drago.

"I was not at my best today but it is nice to win when you are not playing so well," said the world No.28.

"Ricky is definitely a good player but it's understandable that in his first match at this level he didn't play as well as he can.

"I played Peter Ebdon at the UK Championship last year and it was a great match - I was 8-4 down and I kept going but in the end I lost 9-7. If you don't look forward to playing the world champion then there is something wrong with you."

Ali Carter, who beat Stephen Hendry in their first two meetings then lost the third at the Regal Scottish last season, set up another tie with the seven-times world champion with a 5-3 win over Mark Davis.

It was high-quality snooker before the interval as Carter made 50 and 109 and Davis 65 and 53.

The Essex player, who reached the quarter-finals of last season's British Open, then took three of the four frames after the interval with a top run of 75.

Other results: S. Davis bt Greene 5-3; Dale bt Haneveer 5-3; Morgan bt Bond 5-2; Small bt Lines 5-0; Judge bt Walker 5-2; Carter bt M. Davis 5-3; Helgason bt Harold 5-0.