Mark Selby won group 2 of the new Champion of Champions event in Coventry with wins against Shaun Murphy and then Stephen Maguire, after Maguire beat John Higgins in his group semi-final. The format looked good, as did ITV's commentary team of Everton, Foulds and McManus.
All good on day 1 then, so let's have a look back on what happened:
Mark Selby 4-2 Shaun Murphy - Mark Selby completed a fine victory in the first group semi-final against wildcard Shaun Murphy. Murphy didn't do a lot wrong in the match, and the signs are fairly good for him ahead of the UK Championship, but Selby was always going to outplay him on the safety front, and managed to carve out enough opportunity's to win the key frames. Shaun took the opening frame and looked good, making a break of 69 that didn't really look on when he came to the table. Selby worked Murphy down in the next frame with some superb safety play, making himself 2 good chances to eventually take the frame a square the match. He needed a couple of chances in the next frame as well, but his excellent safety play presented them and a break of 55 put Selby 2-1 ahead. Mark then made a break of 58 in the next frame to put himself 1 frame from the group final at 3-1. As I said, Murphy hadn't done a lot wrong until this point, and he managed to take advantage of the chances he was given in the next frame, and with the help of a break of 47, he managed to reduce his deficit to 3-2. 1 poor positional shot, followed by a poor safety shot from Shaun in the sixth frame was all it took to let Selby in, and after a good positional shot to get onto the black, Selby made a nice break of 66 to seal the 4-2 win.
Stephen Maguire 4-3 John Higgins - This was a good match between 2 players that both played very well and kept up a decent standard through most of the match, but Stephen Maguire just played the slightly better snooker of the 2 and did enough for victory. Higgins was the man that made the good start, taking the first frame with a break of 59. Maguire hit back in the next with the first century of the tournament, making a 125 to level the match. Higgins needed a couple of chances in the third frame but he managed to do enough to put himself 2-1 in front. Maguire levelled again though with a nice break of 92, before a nice clearance of 99 from Higgins put the former World Champion 3-2 ahead and 1 frame from the group final. However, both players missed some easy balls in the sixth frame, and it was Higgins that made the last mistake as Maguire capitalised with a break of 52 to force the decider. Higgins didn't really get a chance in the decider as Maguire managed to get in and leave Higgins needing snookers with a break of 66, which was eventually enough to give Stephen the match and a place against Mark Selby in the group final.
Mark Selby 6-3 Stephen Maguire - The group final began only 90 minutes after Maguire won his group semi-final which was never going to be ideal, while Selby had had time to go home between matches, living only 20 minutes from the venue. However, this didn't really show in the standard, as it was a very scrappy start to the match, but it was Maguire that did enough to win it and take an early lead. Selby squared the match immediately, taking the second of his chances to pretty much seal the frame. Mark started to look a lot better in the third frame with a lovely break of 113 putting him in front for the first time. Selby was in control of the next as well, and looked for a time like he would go 3-1 up at the interval, before a clearance of 52 from Maguire levelled the match at 2-2, and gave Maguire a much needed boost. This boost showed after the break as well, as he went ahead again at 3-2 with a nice break of 77 winning him the frame in one visit. This 1 visit snooker continued from Selby this time, as the "Jester" equalised again with his second century, a 103, making it 3-3 and looking like the match could go the distance. However, Selby began to control proceedings going 4-3 in front with a break of 77, before Stephen missed a simple red early in frame eight, gifting a chance to Selby, which the world No.2 made into a 117, and his 3rd century break, to go 1 from victory at 5-3. That frame ended up being the next, as Selby was able to grind Maguire down, needing and getting 2 or 3 chances to take the match out, but he did in the end, booking his semi-final spot with a 6-3 win.
It's over to group 3 on Day 2 of the Champion of Champions cup, with the likes of Trump, Fu, Bingham and Walden playing for a place in Saturday's semi-finals. Here's a link to my preview of this and all of the other groups:
cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/champion-of-champions-preview.html
A very entertaining start to this event then, matched with some good coverage by ITV4, bodes well for the rest of the week, which should be just as entertaining, as long as the rest of the guys can keep up the standard set by Selby and co. on the opening day. I'll be back tomorrow to review the second days play.
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