Mark Joyce: This is a tough old game!
Mark Joyce reckons being a snooker player is harder than ever after booking his place in the third round of a tournament for the first time this season.
The Walsall potter beat world No.34 Ben Woollaston 4-2 at the Scottish Open to improve on his runs to the last 64 at the UK Championship and English Open.
Joyce, the world No.57, will face either three-time world champion Mark Selby or veteran Nigel Bond in the last 32 and says the professional tour has never been more competitive.
The 37-year-old said: “It’s that tough now to get anything going in a tournament, because everyone is playing well.
“There are no easy draws anymore – you’ve got to play well and have a little bit of run of the ball.
“Every game is a tough game and at this level it doesn’t really matter [who I play]. You get your chances whoever you play, whether it’s Judd [Trump] or whoever. You’ve got to take them – that’s the difference. I played much more solid. I didn’t give him any freebies. That’s what you’ve got to do at this level.”
Joyce, who qualified for the German Masters with wins over Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sohail Vahedi, knocked in breaks of 87, 67 and 50 against Woollaston to win two matches at the same knockout tournament for the first time this season.
The West Midlands player beat China’s Xu Si in the first round and is now bidding to reach the fourth round of an event for the first time since last season’s Riga Masters, where he finished runner-up to Yan Bingtao.
