Due to our regular reporter, Dan Suh, covering the Brentford vs Fulham match in West London, this week saw junior reporter, Andy Curzon, pick up the slack for the 2nd week in a row with this week's MNT match report.  Big thanks to our favourite Banker, but the Destroyer will return next week.

‘twas a cold and stormy night, March 6th 2023, where the clouds parted for 24 buddy cueists to try Tooting’s tables in a Multiball feast (where the winner of the lag chooses between 8, 9, and 10 ball), leaving 8 prelim rounds and 8 with a bye to the last 16.

Andrew Phan smoked Oscar Li right off the bat, 5-2, and Saman re-met Cedric Huang (who he toppled 7-5 last Monday), this time summoning his might to crack through Cedric’s shell, 5-4. On the Brunswick, Henri Linnainmaa was up for another marathon, scuttling ahead 2-0 against Andy Banks after two toughly fought first frames. They shared the next 4 and Andy whistled past the grave, reverse dishing to take it to 3-4 and break and running for 4 a piece. But Henri was left unphased, hammered home a nifty clearance after receiving ball in hand on the last rack, taking no prisoners.

Jim took the lead against a previously forlorn Jenkins, but waking up 3-1 down, Dan took advantage of Jim’s consistently lazy white ball position to seal the deal, 5-3. Marc Harris, or Marcus Aurelius to his friends, battled through a slow-starting Mr. Altes, to go 3-1 up as Rod’s brow began to dampen.  But as we’ve seen before, when his back is against the wall Rod’s a sick puppy, and he cleaned the plate in the 5th to take himself one behind. What was that advice about not cornering wolves? The 6th frame was a tense to-and-fro, ending with Aurelius facing a reverse cut double black into the middle and a 9 in the middle of the table to go 4-2 up. He lined up the shot…got down…got up again…and down…peppered, and sweetly stroked the 8 ball off the cushion into the heart of the middle pocket. The white was left in the jaws of the corner pocket leaving a hampered just-off-straight 9 ball to go on the hill. 

But he dogged it, he did! Short side.

Don’t we all.

And Rod steamrollered his way through to the finish line, winning as he did, 5 racks to 3. Martinho Correia took on Joe Granville in quite a defensive tussle. Both had their chances, and Joe did a couple of good finishes, but ultimately experience won out and Martinho progressed 5-3. Sunny Boy milked Ranj 5-1 in a match Ranj’d probably want to put well behind him, but that’s what the top players are doing to anyone not in the zone these days. No holds barred.

And the final first round saw Gabriel snipe Cip 5-3, cementing another win in their close rivalry. The last 16 saw Phan squeeze the juice out of Freddie Yang, 5-3, Gabriel bludgeon Glen Hargreaves 5-1, Muhammed “He’s the Greatest” Ali ran riot with the mighty Saman, 5-0, and the Hammer continued his winning ways by beating Khan 5-2.

Dan the Jenkins pulled his socks all the way up this week and secured his place in the last 8 with a win over newcomer, Bond Bui, 5 racks to 3.

Rod decided he wasn’t sluggish enough out of the blocks against Marc and gave away three of the first four racks against Ali Haidery, once again tunnelling on back to take the final four and win 5-3. Konstantin found himself up the creek without a paddle against The Master Correia, losing 5-2, as Martinho continues to climb towards his old best level. And finally Sunny Boy KO’d Tomasz Jedlicki 5 racks to 2. 

The last 8 saw Gabriel continued his winning ways, slaughtering Andrew P 5-1, As Rod crushed Jenkins by the same scoreline, and Martinho was frozen out by Sunny 4-2, leaving Henri and Ali to battle an intense one for the 4 th semis spot. Ali had his chances, but Henri once again showed his mettle under hill hill pressure, prevailing 5-4.

But he couldn’t continue this grit into the semis as Gabriel, arguably the most consistent player of the past few months, melted him into the walls, 5-1. Ever since losing second round hill hill on January 16 th 10 ball MNT to Andy Banks from 3-2 up (in a race to 4), Gabriel has pretty routinely found himself in almost every semi or final, and tonight was no exception. 

But this wasn’t a bother to Rod Altes! He put his No more Mr. Nice Guy face on, nestling down into his semi against Sunny, winning 4-2, and then made light work of a stunned Gabriel in the final, 4-0.

Well Rod’s certainly taking advantage of this time off from Ram and Tash, rocketing back into 2 nd in the long-term MNT rankings. The question is, will Ram be able to take this Altes heat when he returns from Rio? Find out in time every Monday evening at 7pm, sharp!