England’s Mark Royal was up against the young gun of Connor Cinato in the first evening match here and it was a match where Royal just did not let the young gun settle. Royal opened up with a single and a double, Cinato resorted to timing shots and managed a double on end 3 but it was superb bowls from Royal that netted him a further treble and a single to go 7-2 up by the 5th end.Cinato was playing fairly well and managed to grab a double on end 6, but again Royal swiftly denied and took a further double on end 7. Cinato tried all ways to catch up but all he could get from Royal was a further two singles and it was Royal that took the first set 9-6.
Into the second set and Cinato was determined to get this one and with a mixture of draw, running and timing shots he managed to hold out Royal totally and cleared the second set without dropping a single end. Cinato took the second set 0-10 and forced the much needed tie break. Into the tie break and Cinato’s deadly fire ran out of steam as Royal played highly strategically and took both opening ends to take the tie break and match.