Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan will play for the title of Champion of Champions after Stuart Bingham overcame Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Neil Robertson in the semi-finals in Coventry. The standard in the latter of those 2 matches was top class again, and provided some more great entertainment for a packed crowd at the Ricoh Arena. That actually brought Neil Robertson and Ronnie O'Sullivan onto a good point in the ITV studio, that there should be more of these types of events in the UK, and that they only get a real buzz from playing the best players in the big venues, rather than the PTC's.
Anyway, here's a round-up of the semi-final action:
Stuart Bingham 6-4 Mark Selby - Stuart Bingham beat Mark Selby in what turned into a fairly scrappy match, to book his place in the final. Stuart played really well, and scored nicely for the most part of the match, and thoroughly deserved his win. Bingham started brightly with a break of 74 to take the opening frame, before breaks of 35 and 36 by Selby levelled the match at 1-1. The next frame was a fairly scrappy, and Stuart needed 3 chances to take it and move 2-1 in front. However, "Ball run" was soon in full flow again making a break of 73 to lead the match 3-1 going into the mid-session interval. After the break, Stuart resumed from where he left off with a break of 40 helping him on the way to a 4-1 advantage. Selby needed to fight back, and he did so in his true fighting fashion. A break of 48 helped him get the score back to 4-2, before he truly grinded out the seventh frame to make it 4-3. Then in frame 8 Selby started to get into full flow making a break of 73 to equalise at 4-4. Bingham didn't buckle under the pressure though, needing a couple of chances to seal the ninth frame, but when he eventually did, it was looking good for a Bingham win at 5-4. This time there was to be no fight back from Selby, as Bingham won the frame he needed with a break of 56 to give him a 6-4 victory and a spot in the best-of-19 final.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5 Neil Robertson - This match was another classic, between 2 guys that already been involved in classic best-of-11's already this week. The standard was great, and the match was gripping from start to finish. The match started off well for the Australian, who made breaks of 43 and 48 to go 1-0 ahead, and looked like doubling his lead on 50 in the next. However, he couldn't finish the job off, and Ronnie completed a brilliant steal of 56, with a certain shot of the week contender to split the last red from the black., levelling the match at 1-1. That got Ronnie into his stride and he was swiftly 2-1 in front with a break of 52. Robbo needed to win the last frame before the interval, and with the help of a break of 39 he did so to make it 2-2 at the break. That gave the momentum back to Robertson, who took advantage in the fifth. An early 59 proving enough to win the frame and move 3-2 ahead. Neither player could get away though at this stage, and Ronnie was soon level once more at 3-3 thanks to a break of 54. A run of 70 in the next put the Rocket ahead once more, before he doubled his lead with the first century of the match (a 103) in the eight frame. Robertson didn't give up though, making a very gutsy 80, to get back into it at 5-4. The match really deserved the decider, and the crowd were lucky enough that Robertson could give them a tense finish, a break of 125 sending us into a 1 frame shoot-out for a place in the final. There wasn't a lot that the Aussie could do about what followed, as Ronnie was able to get in after a Robertson foul, and he never looked back knocking in a 119 break to win the frame and the match, and go into the Champion of Champions final.
Final Preview:
Stuart Bingham Vs Ronnie O'Sullivan - Both players have played very well all week in getting to this final, but I would have to say that O'Sullivan has played the better snooker in the event as a whole. Having played his group on Friday, Ronnie also has a lot of momentum behind, with 3 good wins in 2 days coming into this. Bingham has only really been tested once on the way to the weeks finale, and that was by Selby yesterday. Even though Bingham responded well, he still hasn't come against someone that will score very heavily and really punish his mistakes in full. Another thing worth noting about this match, is that Bingham's record against Ronnie is pretty dire, and we only need to go back to April when they last played over a longer format, O'Sullivan beating Stuart 13-4 in the World quarter-finals. One thing that is noticeable this week with Ronnie is that he wants to win, and he is up for the fight, and when he's like that he's almost unstoppable.
Predicted Winner: Ronnie O'Sullivan
Whatever the final outcome, it has been a really great, entertaining week of snooker and probably the best of the season so far. Barry Hearn take note.
No comments:
Post a Comment