Snooker: World Championships - Ronnie Triumphs

Well my prediction of a close final fell by the waste side. At least the match went to the final session! There wasn't really any fantastic snooker in the final and it was a bit of a breeze for Ronnie in the end.

Carter was simply mentally exhausted, he had nothing left in the tank after great wins over Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy, Peter Ebdon and Joe Perry. And of course the amazing maximum that he made the day after Ronnie made his.

It's been an excellent championship this year and Ronnie fully deserves his win, he's been totally focused for the full 17 days and hasn't looked in any danger in any of his matches. The final session against Williams was awesome with very high breaks and his record breaking 9th maximum, the way he simply blew away 7 times world champion Stephen Hendry, nobody can say any other player deserves the title.

Before his talk of retirement in the interview after the final, he did say he wants 4 or 5 world titles. Ronnie won't be retiring just yet, he's too good at the moment and the joy on his face was plain to see after winning and after his maximum. It will be interesting to see his reaction after the disciplinary action against him in the summer for his lewd comments in China though. But once he gets through and over that, he'll be fine and he'll be back.

This win puts Ronnie in the same league as only 2 other players, Steve Davis and Stephen Hendry, as players that have won 3 or more world titles at the Crucible.

The following are some of the moments that stand out for me in this years' tournament.

The sheer number of attempted maximums by several different players as well as Ronnie's and Ali's maximums. There could have easily been 3 or 4 this year, the standard of break building was so high despite the record number of centuries in the tournament not getting beaten.

The young 17 year old Chinese player Liu Chuang. For a player so young, his all round game and potting was excellent. He won something like 5 qualifying matches to get to the Crucible and took 5 frames off Ronnie in the first round. He looks quality and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him in the future. Could he be better than Ding?

Liang Wenbo, what a star! He beat Doherty convincingly in the first round and was involved in a Crucible thriller against Joe Swail in the last 16. To win that match against Joe, who is one of the best Crucible match players in the game, shows the guy has real nerve and talent. Again, one for the future.

Jamie Cope and Mark Allen were excellent and it was only their inexperience that let them down. We should be seeing a lot of Mark Allen next season as getting to the Crucible was enough to earn him his top 16 place. Allen is a fantastic break builder as is Cope, and Cope is a devastating single ball potter.

It's great to see Mark Williams and Stephen Hendry playing good snooker again. Even though Williams has dropped out of the top 16, I think he will qualify for many of the tournaments next season and hope to see him back in the top 16 soon!

For me the biggest disappointment was Ding Junhui. He fell over the line against Marco Fu in the first round and barely turned up at all in his match against Hendry. I think Fu would have given Hendry a better match. It was Ding's chance to be the youngest ever world champion but he was just nowhere in the tournament. I hope his match play and temperament improves next season, because when on form, he's just a joy to watch.

From the top 16 we've lost Williams, Doherty, Lee and Davis. The biggest surprise is Doherty, a couple of years ago he was provisionally ranked number 1, and now he has to qualify for all events next season.

King, Fu, Allen and Perry come into the top 16. A big surprise for Allen as he thought he wouldn't make it after getting beat in the first round by Hendry. I saw this guy play in the 2004 European Amateur championships in Austria when I was playing there and he's such a huge talent, a great player to watch.

I'll keep on posting through the summer so don't forget to add greenbaize to your feed reader by clicking here or any of the icons on the right for the favourite reader of your choice.

Congratulations Ronnie O'Sullivan on a great performance!

Snooker: World Championships - Another Thriller

As most people expected, the Ding Fu battle turned out to be another tight 10-9 thriller. Another great, high quality first round Crucible match where Ding took an early 5-1 lead and looked like he was going to dominate. Fu then took the next 5 in a row with breaks of 78, 103, 100 and 96. From then on it was very tight high quality snooker all the way to the finish with Ding making a break of 76 in the final frame.

Both Ding and Fu looked like they could win the World Championships this year. I thought Fu looked really solid and Ding made a few too many mistakes. Ding could have wrapped the match up 10-7 or 10-8, either way, it could have been anybody's match but Ding was victorious in the end.

With this been such a tough opener for Ding, he might find the next round a little easier, but definitely still needs to keep his concentration on not lose his head. It still looks like he can lose it at any time if things don't go right for him. I would love to see Ding win the World Championships this year and beat Hendry's record as the youngest ever winner, but I still fancy Murphy or Maguire a little more, especially Murphy who's got such a great temperament.

The biggest shock of the day was Mark King beating Mark Selby 10-8. I didn't see much of the match but there were 3 centuries and 9 other breaks over 50, so it looked like a high quality match. Mark King made two of the century breaks. This is a big win for Mark King and is obviously looking in good form for the tournament. Selby will be disappointed after having such a good season, but it doesn't look like he threw the match away.

Earlier today Mark Williams thrashed Mark Davis 10-3 in his first round match and Dott started his campaign against Perry. It's good to see Dott at the Crucible after revealing that he's been suffering from depression. More can be read about that here. The first session ended 5-4 to Perry.

Tomorrow, ....Ronnie! :o)

Snooker: World Championships - One Comeback Too Many

Last night David rolled back the years to recover from 8-3 down to 8-8 against Bingham. At one point it looked like it was going to be another remarkable recovery along the lines of Houdini Hendry and Ebdon the Grinder, ...or at least another 10-9! It wasn't to be, Davis missed a mid range final black when at 8-8, left it over the pocket and Bingham took the frame to lead 9-8, he then took the next one to win the match 10-8. It was a great match though, a thriller along the lines of Ebdon vs Cope and Hendry vs Allen.

Among today's matches are Selby vs King and the long awaited Ding vs Fu.

I think Ding needs to win this match to get his snooker aspirations back on track, he was beaten soundly by Fu earlier in the season and hasn't won a tournament for quite some time. This is of course Ding's last attempt to become the youngest ever World Champion and beat Hendry's long standing record. I'm expecting a very good match here, and if Ding's the quality he's supposed to be, he'll have forgotten about Fu beating him and put things right with a win.

Selby vs King plays to a finish this morning, currently it's locked at 5 frames each. Remember King knocked out Jimmy White in the final qualifying round, but don't let that influence who you're supporting in this match! :o)

Snooker: 2008 World Championship Draw

Here's the draw for the 2008 World Championships:

Ken Doherty Ire v Liang Wenbo Chn
John Higgins Sco v Matthew Stevens Wal
Ali Carter Eng v Barry Hawkins Eng
Ding Junhui Chn v Marco Fu HK
Mark Selby Eng v Mark King Eng
Peter Ebdon Eng v Jamie Cope Eng
Neil Robertson Aus v Nigel Bond Eng
Steve Davis Eng v Stuart Bingham Eng
Ryan Day Wal v Michael Judge Eng
Ronnie O'Sullivan Eng v Liu Chuang Chn
Mark Williams Wal v Mark Davis Eng
Graeme Dott Sco v Joe Perry Eng
Shaun Murphy Eng v Dave Harold Eng
Stephen Lee Eng v Joe Swail NI
Stephen Hendry Sco v Mark Allen NI
Stephen Maguire Sco v Anthony Hamilton Eng

Amongst the noticeable draws are Higgins vs Stevens. Stevens couldn't have wished for a tougher draw as he's in serious need of ranking points, at least he made it to the Crucible.

Ding Junhui and Marco Fu have to face each other in the first round. Marco has to fancy his chances after getting the better of Ding in the big matches this season. Ding needs to win the World Championship this time round to beat Hendry's record of the youngest ever winner. With his form this season, I can't see him doing it.

The new young 17 year old Chinese sensation, Liu Chuang, plays Ronnie. Ronnie has already beat Chuang in the season opener and Chuang couldn't have asked for a more testing first round match. I don't think I've seen Chuang play before to I'm looking forward to seeing this match. It's worth pointing out that Chuang beat Dominic Dale in the final qualifying round, a great achievement as Dominic has won a ranking event this season.

Mark Selby is to play the man who beat Jimmy White, Mark King. Selby has had an amazing season so far and had a brilliant tournament last year getting to the final against Higgins. Could this be Selby's year!?

Snooker: Fu Interview

Check out this excellent Marco Fu interview here!

Snooker: Master Final Preview

The Masters trophy will have a new name on it this season when Stephen Lee and Mark Selby battle it out in the final today.

This year has seen some great matches, many of them close and some surprises too. I rate Mark Selby very highly but it still has to be said that it's a bit of a surprise to see him in the final as it it with Stephen Lee. It's probably more of an achievement for Stephen Lee to be in the final as his season hasn't been that spectacular.

But Selby has been pretty solid all season and has had 3 6-5 victories to get him into the final. All cracking matches. Selby had a great comeback victory against Maguire and held on really well against Doherty who has been playing some good snooker in this tournament. Doherty was coming back strongly against Selby and you could see Selby's delight as he banged the table after potting the important red that took him into the final.

Lee's first match was a 6-5 win as well against Graeme Dott, another classic match. His quarter final and semi final victories seemed to be much easier though against Ebdon and Fu. Ebdon collapsed and was chasing maximums when he should have been concentrating on securing the frame and Fu didn't show the form that earned him victories against Davis, Robertson and Ding.

Lee is looking to get some revenge over Selby after Selby beat him in the World Championships. Lee was well ahead in that match too. I hope today's match will be a classic, ...but I don't think it will be! :o)

Snooker: Ding Gets the Better of Higgins

Ding Junhui is back! In a ding dong battle with Higgins, Ding fought back from 3-1 down to level at 4-4. Higgins was playing reasonably well and knocked in breaks of 71, 73 and 62. But his cuing action let him down a couple of times as he seemed to hit across the ball. Ding took full advantage with breaks of 74, 54, 135, and 96. The last 2 frames went to Ding for him to win 6-4.

Once again Ding looked great when when in amongst the balls and the beat Higgins in the Masters is a yet another big scalp for Ding. He plays Marco Fu in the next round.

Dott managed to blow a 5-3 lead against Stephen Lee in the other first round match yesterday. Dott's game seemed to disintegrate a little only for him to get it back at 5-5. In the last frame Dott made a great break of 61 and was looking favorite. But he then let Lee in and he came back with a magnificent 64 break to win the match 6-5

Graeme Dott blamed the defeat on a bad bounce off the cushion when when on 61. But surely he can't take anything away from Stephen Lee's break when under immense pressure.

Snooker: Doherty And Fu Through

Doherty rolled back the years yesterday with a great win over Mark Williams. I fancied Williams to win this one as he looked to be getting some form back in the UK Championships. But it wasn't to be, Doherty was playing some of his best snooker in years to paddy power past Williams 6-2.

Williams went 2-0 up and was looking good with breaks of 118 and 69 but Doherty hit 6 of the best with breaks of 101, 89, 53 and 68. It great to see Doherty back on form again.

Williams is pretty negative about his future. He doesn't want to be playing in the qualifiers at Prestatyn next season and has said that if he's not in the top 32 he "probably won't stick around". This would be a sad loss for snooker. He's still a great player to watch and I still think he has a lot to give.

The Robertson Fu match was a cracking, long hard fought match. So much so, ...it made me late for work this morning. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! Like the Doherty Williams match, Robertson started out the strongest with breaks of 63 and 118. Robertson looked in really good form. But Fu showed then showed why he's won a ranking event this season and really got into some great break building of his own winning 4 frames in a row with breaks of 89, 71, 69 and 100.

Robertson had to dig really deep to stop Fu in his tracks but managed to win the next 2 to take it to 4-4. The next 2 were shared in what was turning out to be a great tactical game and so it went to the decider. The last frame was very cagey and could have gone either way, but Fu managed to win it on the final black. It was a really good match, ...one for the purists Clive Everton said.

Snooker: Former World Champion Number 3 Out on Day 2

Yep, now Hendry is gone. I thought it was going to be a win for Selby rather than a really tough hard fought win! I didn't see the match live so it's difficult to comment on the performance of both players. From what I saw of the highlights and what I've read elsewhere, it looks like the match was a scrappy affair with Selby stepping up a gear when he was 5-3 down to come back and win 5-6. It's a great victory for Selby and another demoralising defeat for Hendry. Hendry will bounce back, he doesn't know when he's beaten. I still fancy him to win at least 1 more ranking event.

Davis was also beaten 6-2 comprehensively by Marco Fu. Davis was very unhappy with his performance and said that Marco would need to up his game in the next round. Marco agreed in his interview, actually he said this before Davis mentioned it, typical Davis diplomacy! ;o) There were some interesting quotes from Davis after the match:

"The end result was that I played rubbish."

"Who knows if this is going to be my last Masters because I might drop out of the top 16 by the end of the season."

"I'd prefer to qualify for the Masters by right, but if I get an invite I won't refuse it. I'll think about my career in the summer."

Ebdon is one of the former Wrold Champions through to the next round. Ryan Day will be very disappointed with his performance, he missed some really easy balls.

Snooker: Masters Preview

One of my favorite tournaments starts on Sunday, the Masters. Staged in London at the Wembley Arena, the tournament has always seemed to exude class and glamor. For over 20 years it was staged at the Wembley Conference Center which has witnessed some unbelievable Masters snooker. With great crowds exceeding 2000, the atmosphere can be electric for one player and demoralizingly daunting for the other as Ding Junhui unfortunately found out the hard way last year. The crowds can destroy players long after the tournament finishes, more so it seems here than any other venue, ....again, as Ding Junhui found out last year!

Gold always comes to mind when I think of the Masters, probably because of the years it was sponsored by Benson & Hedges. Flowers! With flower beds flanking the table on either side. Jimmy White and Kirk Stevens dressed up sharp in their shiny white suits, and who can forget Kirk's fantastic maximum! The one table situation and top 16 only invitation format (with the exception of a couple of wildcards which are Marco Fu and Barry Hawkins this year) seems to add that extra prestige to the tournament.

As a huge fan of Stephen Hendry when I was younger, I never missed a match, and there were a lot of matches to miss! Hendry, almost 6 years unbeaten at Wembley, won in his debut season in 1989, went on to win 5 consecutive titles and eventually lost in 1994 in the final, ...in the final frame, against Alan McManus. I was distraught, as I'm sure Hendry was too. McManus was the first player to win the current trophy, the previous one having been given to Hendry for winning it for the previous 5 years.

Another player that was almost single handedly destroyed by the Masters was Mike Hallett. Now a regular commentator on Eurosport, in 1988 he was thrashed by Steve Davis 9-0 in the final, ...yes, whitewashed in the final. Mike probably thought that it couldn't get any worse until 1991 where again, he got to the final. Hallett was playing Hendry, playing well and led 7-0 and 8-2. He only needed one more frame to take trophy away from Hendry who had won the 2 previous seasons. It was not to be, Mike's game abandoned him and Hendry staged a brilliant comeback to win 9-8! If I remember rightly, that wasn't the last of the disappointments for Mike that evening, upon returning home with his wife, their house had been burgled. Talk about getting kicked while you're down!!

Back to the present and hopefully Ding will not succumb to the Masters' demons, who can forget his magnificent maximum last year. That gave him the record for the youngest player make a televised maximum! He hasn't had a great season so far but he's so talented and looks so good amongst the balls that I really want to see him do well. However, it's going to be tough for him at the Masters this year, his first round match is against current world champion John Higgins who also hasn't had a great season so far. They both have something to prove and I think this will be a classic match.

The wildcards, Marco Fu and Barry Hawkins are playing Steve Davis and Ryan Day respectively, I expect these to be tough matches too. The Masters' great, Hendry, is playing Selby who is playing some brilliant snooker and is flying up the rankings. I think Selby is going to carry on his great form and beat Hendry in his tournament, unless Hendry can find some divine inspiration.

Two out of form players, Doherty and Williams are matched up in the first round and I think this will be a tight scrappy affair. Doherty thinks his newly born son will give him inspiration at the Masters and he thinks he can go on and win it! Williams looked to have found some of his old form in the UK championship before Christmas and I fancy him to beat Doherty, ...just!

The biggest match-up of the first round has to be Ronnie O'Sullivan vs Stephen Maguire, provisionally ranked numbers 1 and 2 in the world! Maguire won't want Ronnie destroying him again so I think this could be a lot closer than the UK final.

Spare a thought for Jimmy White who will miss his first Masters for many a year. Currently he's not on form at all and struggling to stay on the main tour next year. I dare say his fans will miss him as much as he will miss Wembley! And while on that note, ...don't forget 3 times Masters winner Paul Hunter. Who can forget his constant Plan Bs!!! Personally, I think he used to plan to be way behind after the first session on purpose!!! ;o) May he rest in peace.

All in all, I'm quite looking forward to Sunday, let's hope Wembley can produce some more magic!!

Snooker: UK Championship Results

Mark Williams played some solid snooker against Mark Allen to come back from 5-1 down to 5-3 at the end of Monday's play. Yesterday, Williams took control of the match to win 6 frames in a row to beat Mark Allen 9-5. It's good to see Mark back. He can have a quirky style and generally plays exciting snooker. He will play Maguire in the last 8.

Ronnie steamrolled Mark King 9-1 in a match where King didn't really take his chances. In the quarter-finals Ronnie will play Jamie Cope who beat Barry Hawkins in a very tense affair by 9 frames to 8.

Mark Selby will play Marco Fu and Shaun Murphy will play Ding Junhui. The matches of the quarter finals would have to be Ronnie vs Cope and Murphy vs Ding.

Snooker: Ranking Event Catch-Up

Apologies if you read my blog and expect reports immediately after matches/standard ranking events. Unfortunately I have to work for a living so I can't produce content as often as I would like to! Be sure to add my blog to your feed reader using the links to the top right of this page and you'll see immediately when new content is available.

We are already into our 4th ranking event of the season (the UK Championship) and the first 3 events have produced 3 surprise winners. Last year was an open season producing 6 different winners from the 7 ranking events. Neil Robertson was the only man to win more than one ranking event and many of the big names including Hendry, O'Sullivan, Davis, Doherty and Maguire could not manage a ranking event victory.

Our winners so far this year have been Dominic Dale with the Shanghai Masters, Marco Fu with the Grand Prix and Stephen Maguire with the Northern Ireland Trophy. All 3 winners have played exceptionally well to win their respective tournament which goes to show the kind of standard we're now getting from tournament to tournament. I've already talked about the Shanghai Masters and Grand Prix, but haven't said anything about Maguire winning in Northern Ireland.

Maguire played solid snooker throughout the even to take his first title since 2004. He must be delighted to back into the winner's circle as he had a serious dip in form throughout 2005 and 2006. Fergal O'Brien was a shock finalist but played some great snooker to get there; particularly against John Higgins where he was 4-3 down but knocked in 2 centuries to win 5-4.

Ronnie O'Sullivan had a moment of brilliance in a record breaking match against Ali Carter. He knocked in 5 centuries including a maximum, a feat that will be difficult to equal.

Now we're already onto the UK Championships, the second biggest tournament in the game. The shocks continue with Hendry, Ebdon and Doherty already out, ...and in an even bigger turn of events, Mark Williams has made it through to the next round! :o) At this moment in time, Higgins is 5-3 down to Jamie Cope but there's still a long way to go in these longer, first to 9 matches.

Hendry looked to get well beaten by new up and coming super star Mark Allen. Hendry seemed miffed in the interview, he thinks his game is great but his confidence is gone. Mark Allen was extremely happy with his win saying he "had just beaten my childhood hero!" I think Mark Allen will go a long way, I was at the 2004 European Championships in Austria when Mark Allen took the title and he certainly looked first class back then.

The Ebdon vs McCulloch match was a real tense affair. McCulloch was 5-0 down and came back to win 9-8. He was 8-7 up but Ebdon leveled with a good break. McCulloch showed great determination and nerve to knock in an 80+ break in the decider.

Could we have a differerent winner for each tournament this season, I'm looking forward to finding out.

Snooker: Marco Fu Defeats Ronnie in Aberdeen

It's amazing to think that a player of Ronnie O'Sullivan's ability hasn't won a ranking tournament since the 2005 Fáilte Ireland Irish Masters. That season was a reasonable season for Ronnie also winning the totesport Grand Prix and the Welsh Open, making up a trio of ranking events. He was probably feeling pretty good (by his standards of feeling good) because he'd won the World Championships the season before.

But it's worth noting that the tournament after the Welsh Open was the Malta Cup, a tournament he decided not to compete in. And the tournament after the Fáilte Ireland Irish Masters was the China Open, a tournament he decided not to compete in. Way back then the prize money was low and snooker was at a low point. I seem to remember Ronnie saying something along the lines of, why bother traveling to these events when you can only win a few thousand pounds? The fact that he'd won the previous respective tournaments might have had an impact too.

A couple of years on, and Ronnie still hasn't won a ranking event. He missed the Shanghai Masters earlier this season due to medical reasons, decided to skip the Pot Black Cup a couple of weeks ago because he fancied a run, and Marco Fu defeated him in the final on Sunday in the Grand Prix at Aberdeen.

It was a great final. Fu played excellent snooker to win and his 60 clearance in the 14th frame could be hailed as one of the greatest clearances of all time! I, for one, certainly thought that Fu could not clear the table in one visit. Ronnie had just knocked in a nice 58 but then broke down. Marco came to the table with at least 3 reds near cushions in the baulk area. For me it was a case of potting a few balls, running for cover and keeping the game tight. But Fu just kept on potting them, ball after ball, great pot after great pot, and my jaw was touching the floor as final black dropped.

This was Fu's first ranking event and makes him the third Asian player to win a ranking event, following in the footsteps of the great James Wattana, and more recently, the temperamental Ding Junhui. Marco Fu was very modest in his victory, saying that it meant more to him because he had beaten Ronnie in the final. Remember he also beat John Higgins earlier in the tournament, Fu has great records against these top players and is a player that should probably be in the top 16. Beating Ronnie and Higgins on the way to capturing a main ranking event would delight any top professional so you can understand how delighted Marco Fu is!

There are 5 more ranking events this season, can Ronnie get this curse off his back of not winning a ranking event since 2005? Marco is looking in good form. Could he win the World Championships this year. He narrowly missed the final in 2006 getting beat by Peter Ebdon by 17-16. Some people think it's Ding's year, becoming the youngest ever world champion but I think his temperament is in pieces after Ronnie demolished him in the Masters at the beginning of this year. Already we've had 2 unexpected champions this season in Dominic Dale and Marco Fu, what more will this season bring.

I'm looking forward to the second biggest tournament on the calendar in November, the Maplin UK Championships.

Snooker: New Season Blasts Off Without Rocket!

The season is under way with the Shanghai Masters. Already there's a little bit of controversy with - guess who - yes, our friend Ronnie O'Sullivan. A statement on Ronnie's official website says that he has injured his back. This looks like a legitimate complaint so nobody's really in a position complain. Although I'm sure the paying public are not too pleased and my natural cynicism is throwing a few doubts my way!!! How many of you have got your doctor to write you a not-entirely-true doctors note and how many times as Ronnie stated publicly that it's pointless travelling all the way to China for a tournament?

The statement reads as follows:

"We regret to inform you that Ronnie has had to withdraw from The Shanghai Masters, this is due to a back injury sustained while training. He has been advised by his doctor not to travel as sitting on a plane for several hours and stretching over a snooker table will significantly delay his recovery and he feels that he wouldn't be able to give the tournament 100%. The injury occurred several days ago and although Ronnie hoped that he would recover in time to appear in Shanghai he informed us this afternoon that this is not the case and he is unable to attend."

Moving on to the snooker, Monday saw 8 wild card matches with 8 Chinese players competing against 8 of Europe's "regular names". There were 3 shocks with Yu De Lu defeating Mike Dunn, Xiao Guadong defeating Michael Judge and Yang Qintainn defeating Scott Mackenzie.

The first round included a few tricky matches with Higgins having to play Jamie Cope, Stephen Lee vs Marco Fu, and Dave Harold vs Ebdon. Unfortunately I'm not getting to see many of the matches due to work commitments. I saw some of the wild card matches on Eurosport yesterday evening but none of them (that I saw) were particularly spectacular.

Feel free to comment on this blog if you see any of the matches, ...I'll add a few more posts as the tournament progresses.

It's great to see the snooker under way again! :-)