WHAT A PERFORMANCE !!! ｜ Megan Proctor vs Joe Prince｜ UP Champions League 2025 - W4 , Match 3

Megan Proctor stays out there, Joe Prince, her next opponent. Not much time by way of recovery for Megan Proctor. Just has to try and put it out of her mind. Hopes on the next frame. Of course it's very easy to tell yourself all those things. Yeah, very difficult though isn't it, because we've seen it so many times where players just kind of have things happen each match and you take it into the next match and the frustration builds. But you've got to tell yourself you're still very much alive. Both of these players have got to do that. Joe's had longer to think about it. You win your next two games and you put yourself in the mix and you never know what happens fairly regularly. Players losing their first match and going on to make it through. It's not the end. You lose your first two, you are done. First shot from Joe has just put himself in a spot of bother here on the left-hand side. 8-ball still drops in obviously, but the yellow is now guarded by the 8-ball, making it a tricky ball. This is a tough out because of that now. Joe will be very disappointed by the level he played at in that first match. Losing is one thing, but he let his level dip below what we're accustomed to seeing from him. This is the shot. Just don't see how you get good on it. Middle of the table. Take a thin cut. That's brilliant. It's about as good as you can get on it. I'm thinking you're going to get middle of the table and guarantee yourself a shot, but he's played for as perfect as you can be. That was as pinpointed as you can be in that situation. It's still very tough. Very, very good. That was high tariff. To be honest, the way he played in the first match, the layout he had there after knocking that 8-ball where it is, I did not think he'd get out. Brilliant from Joe Prince there. Very, very good indeed. Yes, and more pain for Meg, isn't it? I was just thinking actually when you were talking about how Joe Prince sort of dropped his level a little bit in that opening match, I almost thought, conversely, I think Meg will be really pleased with how she played. He didn't really do anything majorly wrong. Hung in there and has come within a second of claiming a really, really great victory. Tough, tough way to lose it, but she can take a lot of positives with how the actual match went. Yes, there was a lot to be positive about. Hard to tell yourself that when you're sitting there still thinking about the buzzer beater that went wrong and you're 1-0 down and you've not touched the table other than the dry break. Joe Prince's break is not quite fired yet. He's flying into the pack at max speed, but he's losing control of the cue ball. The last one, the cue ball went off the table. This time it's straight into the side pocket, but you can see the power in it is enormous. Because of that, he's splitting them far and wide. Reds aren't bad. That was a bold first shot. A shot that didn't need to be played at first glance. I thought you could just put the cue ball on the one that was nearest the top right cushion and then play back out for the other one past the yellow, but decided to play the plant and that plant has given Joe just a fabulous opportunity. Quite a nice, cute way of playing that shot as well. A lot of players just play the plant there and then sometimes the red sticks behind the yellow and you're cursing yourself because you've got no access to it. Played it using the yellow, making the game simple. When you take the one on the bottom cushion that's guarded next or last, it might have to be last as he can force it. Could hold on the yellows. A tiny little shot, but he's tricky to get on the next one. Yeah, I'm not convinced by that as a choice. Oh, he's got enough. He's fine. He can force this. That's a lovely shot. Forced it with just rakes of left-hand side and then it hits the cushion and just dies. That was lovely. And he could do that because that's all he could see on the cue ball. If he could see the centre of the cue ball, he wouldn't have played it that way, but because he knew he couldn't, he overhit it on purpose. That was a really nice shot to watch. The 8-ball and right centre after judging it was a little bit too tight for bottom right and this is an excellent start from Joe Prince. That's two very, very good clearances, back-to-back, to pile on the pain for Megan Proctor. It's a bit more like it from Joe, isn't it? It's a bit more what we thought we'd see in his first match. Yeah, agreed. He just made a stack of mistakes in the first match. I say a stack, I mean, let's take nothing away from Simon Fitzsimmons. He played great, other than one misplot in the opening frame. He did his next four visits to the table, so it was very small margins for Joe, but he was making more mistakes than we're used to seeing. Probably should have gone 2-0 up and was 2-0 down and never saw the table again. A dry break again for Meg. It's a tough spot to be in right now. Nice layout here, but one problem, whichever colour set, but that's what players do. Took on a harder pot because it was a good angle to develop the one problem ball he had on reds. Just played it perfectly. Lovely shot. Now it's pick your route. Right above the eight ball. Assume that goes bottom right. If not, that's just half a problem, but it goes bottom right. I mean, it really is just routine, as routine as it gets. Just left that slightly loose positional shot, the one before, which meant that he had to drop it in dead weight, which means he goes slightly too far, but that's just beautiful use of the pocket. Potted out as thick as he possibly could to kill the cue ball, and it just shows you how much you can use the pockets. Actually pinched it so much that he was looking for straight in, and he had just above or just below, which went really good. Oh, this is brutal, I have to say. Joe Prince has come out playing like a man possessed after being whacked 4-0 in that first match. And the poor victim on the other side of the arena is Megan Proctor, who was within a thimble from being in the next match and not even being sat in that chair. Yeah, being in the driving seat. It's amazing how quickly he can turn around as well. Welcome to the Champions League and all that. It really is a tough school. Can Joe find his break? That's what he's going to need to do if he really wants to compete tonight. Yeah, two of these finishes off the break have come off of Megan's. Yeah, he's done both Megan's breaks in the match. That's better. Oh, that's the one, golden break. It's dry. I mean, the one thing you can say is, I can't believe it's not a golden break, because that 8-ball looked in from the moment it started moving. But then, how on earth is that break dry? It sits so well. The game just drives you mad. I mean, absolutely mad as well. I'm not sure Joe Prince can break better than that. He's hit that so beautifully. I'm not sure about this from Megan. Do you want to knock that 8-ball safe? Yeah, I don't know. I'd need to see the layout of the whole table again. I was too busy just in disbelief on the Joe break to really analyse it. But were yellows the set there? Two shots in, reds are better. Or they were until, well, they still are, aren't they? Well, you'd rather be reds right now than Joe Prince is. Well, it's just that the yellow in the top left-hand corner, which obviously has been moved now because of the 8-ball, and the one left centre, which Meg had to use the jaw and the 8-ball to make, were just tough. Whereas the reds all could have, I know they were all in each other's way at the top, but a series of controlled shots or a plant or two in the middle, I think there was a finish there, but I didn't see the starter. As I say, I was still in absolute disbelief on the Joe Prince dry break. Interesting decision here from Joe. I might have been tempted to play up the table there. I like the way he's got a pass at that. Yeah, if you don't land good here, and that's an excellent shot. I mean, that really is. Even if he lands on the break line there, it's so hard to get out. That was such a good shot at the table. I think he could have got back up for these two a lot earlier in the visit, and that one over the bottom left would have been no problem last ball, but great execution from Joe. Megan's waving the red flag. It's all over. A great performance, that, from Joe Prince. Megan Proctor did not do a whole amount wrong in going 3-0 down there, but a brilliant performance from Joe Prince, showing us what he's capable of, and right now, he is back in the hunt in the Champions League.