Ronnie O'Sullivan fought back from the brink in his group final with Ding Junhui, after he thrashed Mark Davis earlier on and Ding Junhui beat Barry Hawkins. It was the second night running that the group final was a classic, and a packed house at the Ricoh Arena was treated to another great standard, but also a very tense match.
So, great stuff again in Coventry. Let's have a look back at the action:
Ding Junhui 4-2 Barry Hawkins - Ding played fairly well in beating Barry Hawkins who wasn't at his best in the match. Ding took the opening frame with the help of a break of 63. The second frame was nothing to write home about, a very scrappy affair which eventually went the way of Hawkins to level the match. It didn't affect Ding though as he took the next frame with a break of 67 to edge in front again at 2-1. Hawkins looked better in the next frame, squaring the match again with a well made 76. Ding stepped up a gear in the fifth frame with a break of 104 to put himself 3-2 in front, and 1 away from the evening's group final. When Hawkins broke down on 40 in the sixth frame, Ding managed to get in and make a break of 61 to win the frame he needed and take out a decent 4-2 victory.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-0 Mark Davis - Ronnie O'Sullivan whitewashed a poor Mark Davis in the second group semi-final. O'Sullivan played some decent stuff, and certainly got better as the match went through, while Davis couldn't get into the match at all. After a fairly scrappy start in the first, Ronnie was able to get in and make a break of 69 to go 1-0 up. The Rocket needed a couple of chances in the second frame, but any mistake he made went unpunished as he was able to get in and make a break of 54 to double his advantage. Then O'Sullivan began to turn on his scoring style, moving 1 frame from victory with a nice break of 101. It didn't take Ronnie long to seal the match, after Davis left the door open again for O'Sullivan to score, and he knocked in a break of 130 to book his place in the group final against Ding Junhui.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5 Ding Junhui - Ronnie O'Sullivan fought back from 3-0 and 5-3 down in style to beat Ding Junhui in this highly anticipated group final and book his place in the semi-finals against Neil Robertson. The match didn't get off to a brilliant start with Ding eventually taking the opener with a break of 53, but he did look solid in doing so. That advantage was soon doubled, with the Chinaman knocking in a break of 66 which practically sealed the frame. The next frame took a couple of chances for Ding to get over the winning line, but he did so and put himself into a commanding 3-0 lead. Ronnie needed to win the last frame before the interval, and a 53 set him along the way to doing so and reducing his deficit to 3-1. Ronnie was a lot better after the break, with breaks of 63 and 50 pulling the score back to 3-2 and putting a lot of pressure on China's No.1. He responded by going 4-2 ahead in the next frame taking a couple of good chances to do so. The pressure was back on the Rocket, but he didn't shy away, thriving on it making a brilliant 98 that deserved to be a century, and making the score 4-3. Ding showed a bit more of his mental strength in the next though, staying strong under increased pressure from Ronnie, making a break of 91 to go 5-3 and 1 frame from the semi-finals. Breaks of 47 and 36 from the World Champion reduced the gap to 1 frame, before a break of 55 forced the decider. The decider was a tense affair that swung left and right, Ding getting in first but only making 50. Ronnie got in next and countered with a break of 63, before he missed match ball blue after potting a trickier brown. After a few safety shots on the blue, both players missed chances to pot it, before Ding missed a second time and gave Ronnie a simple enough blue to clinch the match and a dramatic 6-5, sending him onto the semi-finals.
Semi-Final Preview:
Mark Selby Vs Stuart Bingham - The first semi-final sees the winners of the first 2 groups on Tuesday and Wednesday, Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham. A few things are leaning me towards Selby for this one, after he played very well on Tuesday and won the Antwerp Open last weekend, and sort of has a home advantage, living only 20 minutes from the venue. Bingham though, played very well himself on Wednesday, but didn't really have a challenge in either of his matches, so this will be his first test of the week. However, Stuart has also said that he likes the way the table is playing this week, and it could be tailor-maid for a Bingham victory on Sunday. However, I just think that Selby is playing better at the moment, and even though it should be a very close match, I think that Mark will be able to do enough to win it.
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Neil Robertson - This has the makings of a classic match written all over it with two of the games big hitters and great break builders of the modern game facing off for a place in the final. Both players played very well in their respective groups on Thursday and Friday, and have been fighting hard as well as scoring well, with both players producing good comebacks at some point during the group stages. Neil does have a bit of recent wood on Ronnie, beating him in the ET6 event, but that counts for nothing in a best-of-11 on the big stage under immense pressure. However, I did tip Ronnie and Neil to win their groups at the start of the tournament, before then predicting that the Aussie would go on and win the event on Sunday evening. Therefore, from what I've seen so far I see no reason to change that prediction, and think that, while it will be another very close contest, that Robertson will just knick it and go through to the final.
Whatever happens, it should be an absolutely classic weekend of snooker to go with the great week of entertainment that we have already seen this week. I'm really looking forward to watching how things unfold over the weekend and who takes the £100,000 winners cheque on Sunday night.
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