Gunnell so close in Open
Frustration was the buzz word for Shropshire's Adrian Gunnell as his interest in the Welsh Open was ended at the first round stage. Frustration was the buzz word for Shropshire's Adrian Gunnell as his interest in the Welsh Open was ended at the first round stage. The 35-year-old Telford cueman went down 5-3 to Hong Kong's Marco Fu at the Newport Centre yesterday. But it could easily have been a different story with Gunnell leading 3-2 at one stage and missing a tricky final yellow to take the sixth. Fu took full advantage to level at 3-3 before claiming the next two frames to book a second round meeting with home hope Mark Williams. Read the full story in today's Shropshire Star
The 35-year-old Telford cueman went down 5-3 to Hong Kong's Marco Fu at the Newport Centre yesterday.
But it could easily have been a different story with Gunnell leading 3-2 at one stage and missing a tricky final yellow to take the sixth.
Fu took full advantage to level at 3-3 before claiming the next two frames to book a second round meeting with home hope Mark Williams.
"It was frustrating because it was a game I could have won," he said.
"Every frame that Marco won, I led by 30 or 40 points but I don't think the balls split well for me all night.
"I didn't play badly but I would have preferred to have played poorly and won than put in a decent performance and lose."
Gunnell now plans to take a week's complete rest from practice before starting preparations for his World Championship final qualifying match against Stuart Bingham in the second week of March.
"I've had a nightmare with tips in the last week and gone through 12 of them - eight of them in two days," he said.
"I will try and get that sorted out and have a bit of work done on my cue and then knuckle down and get ready for the Worlds."