UK Championships Last 32: Selby OUT, Hawkins stunned by Bond

We're down to 32  in York after a thrilling weekend of snooker at the UK Championships. Mark Selby was the first casualty on Saturday afternoon as the world champion lost his Last 64 clash 6-4 to Ireland's David Morris which now means Mark drops to 3 in the rankings and the 2nd seed is gone from the draw. That evening was when the real drama unfolded though with Barry Hawkins seemingly cruising into the Last 32 at 5-0 against Nigel Bond until the man that's introduced to the arena as having a "license to thrill" produced some thrilling late night drama by winning all of the last 6 frames to beat Hawkins 6-5 in one of the best comebacks this competition has ever seen. Elsewhere things were much easier for Ding Junhui, Judd Trump, Marco Fu and Mark Williams as they all cruised into the third round of the draw. Neil Robertson survived a scare against Kyren Wilson as he came from 5-4 down to beat Wilson 6-5 and make it into the Last 32 while Ricky Walden also came through a decider in his match with Robbie Williams. Finally, last night Ronnie O'Sullivan struggled with his snooker in a 6-3 win against Peter Lines but he did look fine with his ankle walking round the table perfectly fine and not putting his foot on the foot stool between visits to the table, while Shaun Murphy seemed to struggle a little against Robin Hull despite winning 6-3 and he was getting visibly frustrated at times in the match.

Here are all of the Last 64 results in full:

Neil Robertson 6-5 Kyren Wilson
Peter Ebdon 6-1 Kurt Maflin
Robert Milkins 6-0 Marcus Campbell
Graeme Dott 6-4 Anthony Hamilton
Joel Walker 6-3 Tom Ford
Stuart Bingham 6-3 Alfie Burden
Ken Doherty 6-4 Michael White
Ricky Walden 6-5 Robbie Williams
Nigel Bond 6-5 Barry Hawkins
Anthony McGill 6-4 Igor Figueiredo
John Higgins 6-4 Jamie Cope
Matthew Stevens 6-3 Gerard Greene
Matt Selt 6-4 Xiao Guodong
Rory McLeod 6-5 Zhang Anda
Ben Woollaston 6-3 Tony Drago
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-3 Peter Lines
Ding Junhui 6-2 Jimmy White
James Cahill 6-4 Andrew Higginson
Joe Perry 6-1 Mike Dunn
Mark Davis 6-4 Liam Highfield
Fraser Patrick 6-4 Ryan Day
Judd Trump 6-1 Aditya Mehta
Rod Lawler 6-5 Martin Gould
Mark Allen 6-0 Luca Brecel
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Robin Hull
Jack Lisowski 6-4 Liang Wenbo
Marco Fu 6-1 Lu Haotian
Dechawat Poomjaeng 6-3 Michael Holt
Mark Williams 6-0 Jimmy Robertson
Stephen Maguire 6-4 Yu DeLu
David Gilbert 6-2 Mark Joyce
David Morris 6-4 Mark Selby


Plenty of results there going against the odds with a few top seeds exiting the tournament, but will more suffer the same fate in the Last 32? Well lets have a look at the draw and what we can expect in round 3.

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)

Neil Robertson Vs Peter Ebdon
Robert Milkins Vs Graeme Dott
Stuart Bingham Vs Joel Walker
Ricky Walden Vs Ken Doherty
Anthony McGill Vs Nigel Bond
John Higgins Vs Matthew Stevens
Matt Selt Vs Rory McLeod
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Ben Woollaston
Ding Junhui Vs James Cahill
Joe Perry Vs Mark Davis
Judd Trump Vs Fraser Patrick
Mark Allen Vs Rod Lawler
Shaun Murphy Vs Jack Lisowski
Marco Fu Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng
Stephen Maguire Vs Mark Williams
David Gilbert Vs David Morris


A thrilling weekend of snooker then and it's certainly set up a brilliant week of snooker now from the Last 32 starting today down to the final on Sunday and I have absolutely no idea at this stage who's going to win this tournament because there are still so many big names left and plenty of potential upsets as well before this week is done. I'll be back at the same time on Wednesday to look ahead to the Last 16.

UK Championship Last 64 Update: Carter OUT, Ronnie threatens to withdraw through injury

Ronnie O’Sullivan threatened to withdraw after the opening round of the UK Championships in York, after playing through the pain in his 6-2 win against Daniel Wells after breaking his ankle on one of his runs during the build-up to the event. Meanwhile, Ali Carter was the only one of the top 16 seeds to be knocked out at the Last 128 stage as he lost to Zhang Anda 6-5. In form Shaun Murphy had to recover from 3-1 down against James Wattana to get into the Last 64 with a 6-3 win. All of the other top seeds made it through without incident, with Mark Selby, Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui not dropping a frame. There were notable wins for youngsters James Cahill (who beat Mark King 6-0), Joel Walker (6-1 against Alan McManus) and Liam Highfield (6-3 over Jamie Jones).  

Here’s a look at the first round results in full:

Last 128 Results:

Robert Milkins 6-0 Michael Leslie

Marcus Campbell 6-4 Scott Donaldson
Graeme Dott 6-2 Alexander Ursenbacher
Anthony Hamilton 6-5 Craig Steadman
Tom Ford 6-4 Barry Pinches
Joel Walker 6-1 Alan McManus
Stuart Bingham 6-0 Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
Alfie Burden 6-4 Chris Wakelin
Michael White 6-2 Cao Xin Long
Ken Doherty 6-2 Mitchell Mann
Ricky Walden 6-2 Steve Davis
Robbie Williams 6-4 Sam Baird
Barry Hawkins 6-1 Ashley Carty
Nigel Bond 6-3 Stuart Carrington
Anthony McGill 6-4 Michael Georgiou
Igor Figueiredo 6-4 Fergal O’Brien
John Higgins 6-2 Lee Walker
Jamie Cope 6-2 John Astley
Matthew Stevens 6-2 Allan Taylor
Gerard Greene 6-2 Vinnie Calabrese
Xiao Guodong 6-1 Ian Glover
Matt Selt 6-0 Hammad Miah
Rory McLeod 6-2 Ian Burns
Zhang Anda 6-5 Ali Carter
Ben Woollaston 6-4 Michael Wasley
Tony Drago 6-4 Dominic Dale
Peter Lines 6-4 Joe Swail
Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-2 Daniel Wells
Ding Junhui 6-0 John Sutton
Jimmy White 6-2 Dave Harold
Andrew Higginson 6-3 Tian Pengfei
James Cahill 6-0 Mark King
Joe Perry W/O Liu Chuang
Mike Dunn 6-2 Andrew Pagett
Mark Davis 6-2 Jak Jones
Liam Highfield 6-3 Jamie Jones
Ryan Day 6-1 Lu Chenwei
Fraser Patrick 6-4 Jamie Burnett
Judd Trump W/O Rouzi Maimaiti
Aditya Mehta 6-4 Alex Davies
Rod Lawler 6-5 Alex Borg
Martin Gould 6-4 Lee Page
Luca Brecel 6-1 Noppon Saengkham
Mark Allen 6-2 Eden Sharav
Shaun Murphy 6-3 James Wattana
Robin Hull 6-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Liang Wenbo 6-3 David Grace
Jack Lisowski 6-1 Chris Melling
Marco Fu 6-4 Ahmed Saif
Lu Haotian 6-4 Cao Yupeng
Dechawat Poomjaeng 6-2 Andrew Norman
Michael Holt 6-1 Zak Surety
Mark Williams 6-1 Steven Hallworth
Jimmy Robertson 6-1 Zhou Yuelong
Stephen Maguire 6-2 Lu Ning
Yu De Lu 6-2 Oliver Lines
Mark Joyce 6-2 Ratchayothin Yotharuck
David Gilbert 6-4 Elliot Slessor
David Morris 6-4 Li Hang
Mark Selby 6-0 Oli Brown
Neil Robertson 6-0 Joe O'Connor
Kyren Wilson 6-5 Gary Wilson
Peter Ebdon 6-5 Ross Muir
Kurt Maflin 6-1 Chris Norbury

Now that we’re into the last 64 it’s time for the TV coverage as the BBC step in for their first event of this season. It has to be said the coverage doesn’t look great from the schedule with the evening sessions only being on the Red Button until semi-finals Saturday. There should still be a few intriguing games for them to cover over the course of the next couple of days in the Last 64 as we get well into the tournament now. We’re free of the morning session for the Last 64 with 8 tables in operation for 1pm and 7pm sessions on both days.

This is some of what we can expect in the UK Championship second round:

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in bold)

Neil Robertson Vs Kyren Wilson
Peter Ebdon Vs Kurt Maflin
Robert Milkins Vs Marcus Campbell
Graeme Dott Vs Anthony Hamilton
Tom Ford Vs Joel Walker
Stuart Bingham Vs Alfie Burden
Michael White Vs Ken Doherty
Ricky Walden Vs Robbie Williams
Barry Hawkins Vs Nigel Bond
Anthony McGill Vs Igor Figueiredo
John Higgins Vs Jamie Cope
Matthew Stevens Vs Gerard Greene
Xiao Guodong Vs Matt Selt
Rory McLeod Vs Zhang Anda
Ben Woollaston Vs Tony Drago
Ronnie O’Sullivan Vs Peter Lines
Ding Junhui Vs Jimmy White
Andrew Higginson Vs James Cahill
Joe Perry Vs Mike Dunn
Mark Davis Vs Liam Highfield
Ryan Day Vs Fraser Patrick
Judd Trump Vs Aditya Mehta
Martin Gould Vs Rod Lawler
Mark Allen Vs Luca Brecel
Shaun Murphy Vs Robin Hull
Liang Wenbo Vs Jack Lisowski
Marco Fu Vs Lu Haotian
Michael Holt Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng
Mark Williams Vs Jimmy Robertson
Stephen Maguire Vs Yu DeLu
Mark Joyce Vs David Gilbert
Mark Selby Vs David Morris

 

It should be a nice weekend of snooker and set things up nicely for a cracking week of snooker ahead as things move on fast with the Last 32 from Monday. I’ll be back early doors on Monday with a quick look ahead to those Last 32 matches.

FERGAL O'BRIEN INTERVIEW

In the last of my three interviews for the UK Championships I get a few thoughts and feelings from Fergal O'Brien who starts his campaign tonight against Brazilian Igor Figueiredo. Fergal speaks about his poor record in fairly recent years at the UK Championships, the position of Irish Snooker, whilst also looking back on his career so far and what he can still achieve in the game.

Here's exactly what Fergal kindly had to say to me, written ahead of last weekends Ruhr Open:

Hi Fergal, You’ve lost in the Last 32 of the UK Championships in both of the last two seasons, while struggling badly in the qualifying draw before that. Do you think you could’ve done better in this event in recent years and do you think you can do better this season?

My record in the UK championships is disappointing. I think I have only made the quarter finals once and as you said for a good few years I didn't even qualify. Hopefully I will make up for the lean years this year. I like the tournament I like the longer matches and I like York but as yet that hasn't resulted in great performances.

This season you’ve got Brazilian Igor Figueiredo in the Last 128. Have you ever seen much of Igor in action and what do you think you can expect from that match?

I played Igor a few years ago in a qualifier in Sheffield and while I won 5 1 it wasn't easy so I'm looking forward to playing him again. I have had a good start to the season after a good season last year. I have been practising hard the last 2 weeks so hopefully it will pay off.

Last season of course was the first year of all 128 guys playing at the venue under the flat draw. Knowing that you played in the sports hall for a couple of your games last season, how big a difference was there playing in the sports hall compared to the main arena and do you think this damages the tournament in any way?

I prefer the flat 128 draw with everybody at the venue. I didn't mind playing in the sports hall for my first 2 matches while I know Mark King who I played wasn't happy with the set up. I prefer playing in the main arena but I am sure we'll get used to open plan areas like other qualifiers and PTC events.

Your best performance of the season so far was a run to the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters where you lost 5-0 to Mark Selby. Were you pleased with your efforts that week or slightly disappointed that you couldn’t progress further or put up a better show in that match?

I was happy to get to the quarter finals in Shanghai my first in a while and my best run in China so progress there but yes I was disappointed not to play better against Mark.

In the Last 16 of that tournament you overcame you overcame the wildcard sensation Zhao Xintong 5-3. What did he look like up close, do you think he has a bright future in the game and is it unfair that he should continually be given a place in the wildcard round?

Zhao Xintong is a fabulous prospect, fearless potter and very natural he played well at the start but made my experience count at the end. He has every chance of having a great career if he works hard. I have been against any wild cards in overseas events for years and think they are unfair period the sooner they're gone the better.

Your best performance for some time came in at the Gdynia Open in February where you lost in the final to Shaun Murphy. How pleasing was that week for you, and was it more pleasing that it took some brilliant form from Murphy to beat you there?

I was delighted to get to the final in Gdynia in February. I didn't play my very best but battled well and came from 3 1 down to beat Dominic Dale and Tony Drago. I knew I had to make the quarter finals to make the PTC finals so I was pleased to do well under pressure. I had chances against Shaun but didn’t take them and he played better. Hopefully I will win the next final I'm in.

You’re still going strong in the rankings at No.28 (at the time of writing) with a highest professional ranking of 9 in the past. Do you think that you still have the game to get back into the top 16, or is this as good as things will get for you now?

I definitely believe I will make top 16 again as I feel I'm improving practising hard and I run 5 times a week so am one or the fittest on tour and am still hungry to add to the the British open title of 1999. I don't want to stand still in the rankings I want to move up. I feel I am a better player than when I was in the top 16 before and while standards have improved I believe my best is good enough.

In 2001 you made the final of the Masters at the old Wembley Conference Centre where you lost out 10-9 to the great Paul Hunter. Do you look back on that final with a general fondness, simply for being a part of it?

I was very disappointed to lose the Masters final in 2001 to Paul as I was 7 3 up and also had chances in the decider but looking back I am glad to have been part of such a classic match and obviously can't begrudge Paul the win as this helped cement his legend along with other victories before his tragic death in his prime with a young wife and daughter left behind.

Can you give us an insight into what it is that makes Fergal O’Brien tick away from the snooker table? What things in life are the most important to you?

Away from snooker I love spending time at home with my wife and daughter. I'm away so much it's great when I'm back home. As I said I love running. I joined Lucan Harriers 5 years ago and wish I had years before that. There's a great bunch of lads and we have a great laugh while challenging each other. I also like having my friends around a few times during the year for poker and support Manchester United which hasn't been as much fun as usual the last 18 months!

You’ve been flying the flag for Irish snooker amongst a host of other players for some time now, but where does the future of Irish snooker stand right now? What young Irish players should we be looking out for in the future in your opinion?

It is disappointing that there are only 3 Irish players on the tour and Ken and I have been trying to fly the flag for 25 years or so. Josh Bealieu is a good kid with talent who has a chance to make it and PJ Nolan the Irish national coach who I work with has told me there are some talented juniors on the scene so hopefully they will make the breakthrough over the next decade.

The most recent big tournament to feature in Ireland was the PTC Finals in Galway, but since this was moved last season there is no tour snooker coming to the Irish shores. Do you think it’s a must that tour snooker returns to Ireland in order for more young players to come through?

It is an awful pity that there are no tournaments in Ireland even a PTC as this would really help promote the game here and give encouragement to juniors. Having said that I am really looking to playing in the legends event in Goffs on 29&30 December - Ireland v England should be great!

Finally, at the age of 42, how many years do you think you have left in your career or are you aiming to keep going as long as you possibly can? How many years do you think you can continue at your current standard?

Even though I'm 42 I still feel there are great things I can still achieve and using Steve Davis and Phil Taylor as inspiration I definitely think I have at least 10 more years in me.

 

I'd like to thank Fergal for taking the time out of his UK Championship preparations to do this interview for my blog and I hope you've all enjoyed reading it.

 

I'm hoping to get a few more interviews for the blog in the near future, but immediately it's all eyes on the UK Championships in York and my next update from the tournament will be on Friday to sum up how everything's been going in the first round ahead of the beginning of the Last 64 and TV Coverage on Saturday.

MARK KING INTERVIEW

Today sees the second day of action in the first round of the 2014 UK Championships and amongst those in action is Essex's Mark King who takes on James Cahill this afternoon. Mark was kind enough to take some time out of his preparations for the tournament by giving me some very interesting thoughts on some moments in his past, his relationship with Ronnie O'Sullivan and certain aspects of the set-up for the tournament as it was last year and is again this year in York.

So, without any further delay this is what Mark had to say before last weekends Ruhr Open:

Hi Mark, it seems like it’s been a tougher start to the season for you so far, but what sort of a place do you think your game is in heading into the UK Championships?

Yes I agree it's been a tough start to the season and to be honest I haven't put in the work.

In last year’s UK’s you lost in the Last 64 to Fergal O’Brien, but the year before you made it into the Last 16 under the old structure before losing to Luca Brecel 6-4 from 3-0 ahead. Did it feel like you’d missed a massive opportunity to go deeper in that event after that loss?

Yes when I lost to Luca it was a tough match to lose and I was in total control and my temperament let me down.

You’ve got a really tough opener this year against James Cahill who seems like a really good young talent. How much have you seen of James in the past and how do you expect this match to go?

James Cahill is a great prospect and one of the toughest draws in round 1, we played in a tournament earlier in the year in Vienna and I won 3-2 but I know it will be tough in York. I will let you decide who will be the victor!!!

You had a strong opinion last year on the fact that matches were being held unequally between the main arena and the sports hall that was backstage and certain other aspects of the format. What do you make of World Snookers decision to keep things the same this year, and do you think having all 128 players at the venue of a big ranking event really works?

I think obviously that there will be mistakes made when changing structure and format so it's no surprise that matches are being held over for the big guns. Only thing I'm disappointed in is that Barry Hearn said that he wanted to let the new blood be seen on TV and give others a chance, but that has not happened at all. I played in the back of the Barbican against Fergal last year and I tripped over the TV cables during the match and obviously was very angry and annoyed as I pay the same entry fee as Ronnie and Ding etc. I think 128 at UK venues is fine but I'd like to see 32 or 16 in All China events and oversees.

You’ve had a disappointing start to the season so far, qualifying for only one of the four ranking events which (the Wuxi Classic). Is there anything that you could put this down to or is it purely and simply being on the end of good performances from your opponent?

The disappointing start is all my own fault and as I said earlier. I haven't put the work in and it’s my just deserve. I played Zak Surety and he played very well and thoroughly deserved to beat me in the last China event.

You’ve performed better on the European Tour this season with a run to the Last 16 in Bulgaria and a the Last 32 in Latvia putting you 19^th on the Order of Merit with the top 24 qualifying for the tour finals. Having never qualified for the Players Championship Finals, how much would you love to end that run this season?

The APTC’s and EPTC I have played better in and nicked a few more matches in these events and felt that I have hit the ball better and relaxed a little more. I think it would be awesome to make the grand finals as I've never reached this before and feel I need to start improving in all tournaments to progress back up the rankings.

You’re ranked at 30 in the world at the time of writing, having been ranked as high as No.11 at one stage competing a number of times in the Masters over the years. Do you still believe you can reach these heights again in your career or are your best days over?

If I'm totally honest with myself I'm on the back 9 of my career but when you see people like Mark Davis and Joe Perry still doing good stuff as Mark’s a little older than me and Joe is a year younger I think and it gives me a lot of drive and determination to get back to The Masters and achieve good things again.

There’s been a lot of talk (especially on Twitter) about all of the changes that have been going on recently, particularly to hold certain players matches over to the venue stages of an event and with format changes at events like the UK Championships in recent years. Are players right to have their say and question Barry Hearn or is it a case of getting on with things on the table?

To be honest as I've stated before with all the holdover matches, it's not right I think but TV have a big say and Barry Hearn has a bigger say (51% of the game).

In your career to this point you’ve reached the finals of two ranking events, the 1997 Welsh Open and the 2004 Irish Masters. Do you look back with happiness that you reached these two finals or disappointment that you couldn’t kick on and win one of those titles?

I feel that I have under achieved in the sport and have great memories in the Regal Welsh and The Irish Masters, but to be honest I played Hendry in the first one and had the sorest backside ever after the thrashing he gave me 9-2 but I learned a lot and he was awesome. The 2004 Irish I had a better chance playing Ebdon but just was not good enough on the day.

It’s 10 years now since you entered the ring to take on Quinten Hann. How do you look back on those events in your life now? Do you think that was good for the game at the time to settle those differences in that way and would you do it again if another tour pro got rubbed you up the wrong way?

The Quinten Hann boxing was great I thoroughly enjoyed getting beaten up for 6 long minutes and gotta say it's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life and lots of respect goes out to all the boxers in the world. It’s the toughest sport I know.

It’s no secret these days that you have suffered from a crippling gambling addiction and have attended Gamblers anonymous. Do you think this comes as a part of the snooker culture and would you be able to recognise the signs of a gambling addiction in other players to be able to intervene?

Gambling is massive in snooker halls and just they co inside with each other. There are a few players with gambling problems on the circuit but until they admit they have a problem they will keep doing there hard earned money. I attend a GA meeting at least once a week and will do this every week until I die.GA has saved me my marriage and my family in general. My wife knows that Wednesday night is GA night and that comes before anything as without GA I don't have a family.

It was at the UK Championships in 2005 that Ronnie O’Sullivan famously put a towel over his head when sat in his chair against you. At what stage did you notice this and did it annoy you at all?

The Ronnie towel thing was I think just embarrassing for him and a little disrespectful to me but at the time I just thought obviously I was playing well and he didn't like it so was trying to put me off I suppose. At the time I think as well he had a lot of demons in his head and a bit Jekyll and Hyde syndrome.

Ronnie commented in his book published last year that “there’s nothing good” about watching you play and calling you a “hacker” with “no touch”. Did anyone make you aware of those comments and were you aware that other players thought about you in this way?

The whole thing in his book is a lot deeper than a page in his book, we've had a lot of history together and not quite seen eye to eye, I think as a snooker player he is a genius and has more talent in his little finger then I have collectively, but the thing with me is what you see is what you get. Plus slagging people off in his book sells more books. I think I could write a whole book on our history and our families colliding.

With a wife and three kids, how hard is it for you to go away travelling the world playing snooker and does this make it hard at all for you to motivate yourself for matches and tournaments, preferring to be at home with your family instead?

My family are the most precious thing in my life and I love spending quality time with them, but tournaments means cash and without cash we don't eat or have holidays so it's important to me to keep earning cash. I am away a hell of a lot and that's what keeps our marriage fresh as I think if I had a 9-5 job Sally would do my nut in and I'd probably do hers in too.

At the age of 40 do you still have hopes of winning a big tournament and climbing back up the rankings or would you settle for what you’ve already achieved in your career?

If I never thought I could still achieve good thing in snooker I would seriously think of giving up and doing something else, I like to think I am still capable and I just need to practice a bit harder and keep smiling.

 

Some very interesting views there from Mark and I'd like to thank him for taking the time out of his busy schedule to give them, and I'd also like to wish him all the best for the rest of the season.

 

I'll be back very soon with the last of my three UK Championship interviews so keep your eyes open for that one, as it should certainly be a good one.

MICHAEL HOLT INTERVIEW

As the UK Championships get underway today, and Michael Holt begins his campaign on the opening day against Zak Surety in the Last 128 round in York, I've got a very interesting interview with Michael that was written ahead of last weekends Ruhr Open in Germany. In the interview Holty talks about his career to date and where he honestly feels he is at, his hopes for this years UK Championships and his biggest passion away from the game.

This is exactly what Michael had to say:

First up Mike, how’s your game feeling ahead of the UK Championships this coming week?

Ok. I didn't qualify for Chengdu so had a few weeks off. I also moved clubs so sorted that out. Been back practising a few weeks now so looking forward to getting back on the match table.

In last year’s UK Championships you lost out in a Last 32 decider to Mark Allen, was it disappointing to lose in that fashion having come back from 3-0 and 5-3 down?

It’s always disappointing to lose whatever the score. I think I was a bit unlucky in the decider if I remember? Didn't really get a chance. It happens sometimes, you move on...

It’s Zak Surety first up for you this year Mike, what are your thoughts on that match and how far do you think you can go in this tournament?

I'll treat it like any other match. All I can do is try my hardest on every shot, that’s what I will do. I don't know much about Zak but he's on the main tour so must be able to play. All I can do is concentrate on myself though. As for the tournament as a whole, I believe I’m good enough to win it. I’m obviously and rightly a massive outsider but if you go on a run and your get some momentum you never know...

It’s the second year of the flat draw for the UK Championships, how do you think it worked last year with 4 tables in the main arena and 4 tables in a sports hall back stage in the early stages? Did the format really seem as fair as World Snooker were hoping for?

I was lucky last year and played all my matches in the main arena. Not sure it how it will work out this year. I obviously don't want to be in the sports hall, it’s like a PTC! Not the UK championships, our second biggest event. It proves my argument against going to a flat draw, we haven't the venues to do it properly. Sometimes the theory doesn't match up with the practice, this is a good example.

So far this season your best performance has been a run to the final of the first Asian Tour event, were you happy with that or disappointed not to have gone on and won the tournament?

I'd rather have won it but you can't be too disappointed to losing to Ding, he's brilliant.

The Shanghai Masters has been a good event for you in the last 2 seasons, with a semi-final appearance losing out to Xiao Guodong before making the Last 16 this season before losing out to Mark Selby coming back from 3-0 down to get to a point where you could’ve led 4-3. Do you feel like you should’ve gone on further on those two occasions?

I was gutted to lose both matches. The first one against Xiao broke my heart, genuinely believed it was my time. Felt comfortable for a change and confident I would take my chance if I got it. Against Mark losing that 7th frame was massive obviously. I had a big bounce of a cushion getting out of a snooker which left him a free ball....he cleared up like Mark does. I still may have not won but that turned the tide and he won the next frame to win. I was happy how I got back in the match though, he started flawlessly, I was 3-0 down without getting a shot. Really dug in and played some good stuff to get back in it so there were positives even though at the time they meant nothing.

You’re now at No. 23 in the world and have been an established top 32 player for some time now with a career high ranking of 20. Do you still have high hopes of breaking into the top 16?

I do yeah, my main goal is to win a major event and with the prize money being so top heavy this would probably get me in there. The rankings have been devalued anyway now which is a shame, the top 16 a few years ago was huge but now it’s only important for the masters and the world championships.

Do you think it’s much easier now to climb up the rankings now that we’re on a flat draw in most tournaments on a money ranking system that means one really good tournament for someone around the top 16 like you could propel you into the top 16?

The way the money is structured one run can get you up quickly but at the end of the day whatever system you have the same players will be at the top and the bottom. Whatever system is in place if you win matches you'll be alright. Simple as that.

You’ve won a couple of the minor ranked Players Tour Championship events in the past which puts you right up there amongst the best on that front, but are you still hopeful of winning a full ranking event?

PTC wins are great but I’m under no illusions, they're nowhere near full ranking events. I want a major, it’s my main goal. I’m working as hard as ever to make it happen. Less hope more work. I’ve very rarely played well as a professional. In fact I don't think I could have done any worse as a professional if I had tried. Up to this point my career has been a complete failure, very disappointing. It drives me on to work harder though.

I mentioned there about the PTC events being classed historically as minor ranking events. Do you think the playing field should be levelled and these events simply being classed as full ranking events?

Not really, they aren't. You win multiple matches in one day which means the pressure doesn't really get time to build. It’s over so quick. In a major you could be there for a week, this gives loads of time for you to realise what you might achieve and this can cause players form to dip and they lose. To keep your level up for a week is so much harder than 2 days.

In the past it could be said that you’ve had trouble controlling your emotions on the table (they don’t give you the nickname the Hitman for nothing) but do you feel like you’ve matured now as a snooker player and you can ride on through those tougher times now?

It’s a myth! My nickname was given to me by the compare Alan Hughes when I got to my first venue, it had nothing to do with me punching a table. I obviously have since and people have made the link but it was just coincidence really. I have matured, my temperament or attitude has improved so much. I also believe it’s better than I’ve ever been given credit for. I’ve been in the top 32 for 10 years? Do people think this would be possible if I was constantly collapsing and losing matches I should win? No chance. I have lost matches from in front but so has everyone. I think the problem I've got is because I've never achieved anything so not given people or journalists anything else to talk or write about. I'd like to gamble that my decider win/lose stat is very good? Not sure where I'd find that stat?

There may be a lot less of it now being a snooker player in the modern day, but what things are most important to you away from the game? What are the things that make you happy in life?

Friends and family. They are so important to me, It’s the reason I’ve never left Nottingham. We've had some tough times as a family and we've all helped each other through it.

Having spoken to you privately in the past about weight loss and personal fitness I know that it’s incredibly important to you. How important would you say health and fitness is in the game, should more players focus on their fitness and how much time do you spend working in the gym?

It is. It’s my biggest passion away from Snooker. Diet is so important for health, its seems a no brainer to me but people really are clueless to what’s good and bad to eat. So many people think they're being healthy but aren't. To me as someone who is passionate about it, it seems incredible that people aren't interested to find out what’s healthy and what isn't.  Then they moan when there body starts to fail on them. I think it’s important especially as you get older, some of the young lads get away with it but if they're not careful it will catch up with them. I train 5 days a week, absolutely love it!!!!

Finally Mike, you’re 36 now which seems to be the age where a lot of players are playing their best snooker these days. How many years do you think you have left as a player, what are your hopes for the future and are we yet to see the best of Michael Holt?

As long as my level doesn't drop I’m not going anywhere for the time being. I’m doing a business degree at the moment for when I’m done. At the moment though I’m 100% committed to achieving my goals at snooker. We shall see...

 

I'd like to thank Michael for taking the time out of his preparations to provide all of these interesting views for my blog and I hope you enjoyed reading what he had to say.

 

As the UK Championships get well underway now, you can expect a couple of more interviews to be on the blog in the coming days, as well as my round by round updates from the tournament.

UK Championship Preview

It's that time of the season where we get the first of the three Triple Crown events on the BBC as it's all eyes on the York Barbican for the next couple of weeks for the UK Championships. As it was with last years event we have 128 players at the venue starting from tomorrow, with TV coverage starting up on Saturday with the Last 64 until the final the following Sunday so it's a huge feast of snooker we have ahead of us. Format wise there has been one change for this year and that is the shortening of the semi-finals to Best-of-11 frames from Best-of-17 frames, while the rest remains the same as last years.

The defending champion is of course Neil Robertson, but can he defend his crown? Well there are a lot of players that will have a say about that including Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Selby, Ding Junhui, Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy to name just a few. It's going to be a hugely competitive tournament as always and I can certainly see plenty of surprises coming our way over the next couple of weeks.

Now it's time for me to take a look at the draw and determine where these shocks will come from:

Quarter 1

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)

Neil Robertson Vs Joe O'Connor
Kyren Wilson Vs Gary Wilson
Kurt Maflin Vs Chris Norbury
Peter Ebdon Vs Ross Muir
Robert Milkins Vs Michael Leslie
Marcus Campbell Vs Scott Donaldson
Graeme Dott Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Anthony Hamilton Vs Craig Steadman
Tom Ford Vs Barry Pinches
Alan McManus Vs Joel Walker
Alfie Burden Vs Chris Wakelin
Stuart Bingham Vs Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
Ken Doherty Vs Mitchell Mann
Michael White Vs Cao Xin Long
Robbie Williams Vs Sam Baird
Ricky Walden Vs Steve Davis

Neil Robertson as the defending champion in York will be motivated to try and defend his title with victory again in a couple of weeks time, but as you'd expect that is a very tough ask. Neil is coming back into some of his better form in the last month though, but he's still not quite at his best. Making the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions took a big effort against Ricky Walden in the group finals, while to get into the Ruhr Open quarter-finals last weekend he didn't really have to play his best snooker. I still think he'll make the latter stages in York, but for me he's not in the form right now to defend his title.

Stuart Bingham has played some very good snooker at times this season and will surely be feeding off memories of his run to the semi-finals of this event last season. Stuart won the Shanghai Masters earlier in the season and has followed this up with yet another Asian Tour title. When he's on top of his game Stuart is always a tough opponent and a big title contender and I think eventually he will win a big ranking title in the UK which is the only thing missing from his CV.

Ricky Walden is in a similar boat to Stuart Bingham in that he's just a big UK ranking title away from a near complete CV, especially after winning his 3rd ranking title in Asia earlier this month at the International Championships in Chengdu. Ricky is a fine player when he's at the top of his game which he certainly was in Chengdu when I was thrilled to see him take such a big title. Having made the UK Championship semi-finals in both 2011 and 2013 he knows what it takes to have a brilliant run in a UK event and as a former World Championship semi-finalist he certainly has the credentials to go on a win a BBC major very soon.

Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson

Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)

Barry Hawkins Vs Ashley Carty
Nigel Bond Vs Stuart Carrington
Fergal O'Brien Vs Igor Figueiredo
Anthony McGill Vs Michael Georgiou
John Higgins Vs Lee Walker
Jamie Cope Vs John Astley
Matthew Stevens Vs Allan Taylor
Gerard Greene Vs Vinnie Calabrese
Matt Selt Vs Hammad Miah
Xiao Guodong Vs Ian Glover
Rory McLeod Vs Ian Burns
Ali Carter Vs Zhang Anda
Ben Woollaston Vs Michael Wasley
Dominic Dale Vs Tony Drago
Peter Lines Vs Joe Swail
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Daniel Wells

Ronnie O'Sullivan seemed to be in unbeatable form on his way to winning the Champion of Champions earlier this month. When he is in that kind of form no-one will be able to beat him, which makes him a very dangerous prospect and a clear favourite for the tournament. Ronnie always brings his best to these tournaments in the UK and when he's motivated (which you can guarantee he will be this week) he's going to be a very tough man to overcome and it will take some flawless snooker from someone else to stop him.

Barry Hawkins has been struggling for form of late with early exits in a lot of events since the early stages of this season. He bowed out in the Last 32 of the Shanghai Masters and the International Championships both to Mark Williams. He also exited at the Last 128 stage last weekend in Germany to Craig Steadman and doesn't seem to be in any kind of form coming into this event. On his day he's always a tough player to beat, but he needs to find some form or some inspiration or looking at the other guys in this section he could well face another early exit.

Ali Carter will be playing his first ranking event this week for 11 months having last competed in a ranking event at the World Championships. He has competed though this season, fairly recently since his battle with lung cancer, winning the General Cup in Hong Kong (an invitational event) and he also got invited to the Champion of Champions where he suffered a first round exit to Neil Robertson, though Carter said that he was happy just to be back competing after his toughest battles yet and we were all happy as snooker fans to see him back out on the green baize. Ali will not just want to be showing up this week, having been working hard he'll want to have a good run in York this week like all of the other top players, and although tournament victories may be a long way off for Carter, a run to even the Last 16 would do his confidence plenty of good.

Quarter Winner: Ronnie O'Sullivan

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)

Ding Junhui Vs John Sutton
Jimmy White Vs Dave Harold
Mark King Vs James Cahill
Andrew Higginson Vs Tian Pengfei
Joe Perry W/O Liu Chuang
Mike Dunn Vs Andrew Pagett
Mark Davis Vs Jak Jones
Jamie Jones Vs Liam Highfield
Jamie Burnett Vs Fraser Patrick
Ryan Day Vs Lu Chenwei
Aditya Mehta Vs Alex Davies
Judd Trump W/O Rouzi Maimaiti
Rod Lawler Vs Alex Borg
Martin Gould Vs Lee Page
Luca Brecel Vs Noppon Saengkham
Mark Allen Vs Eden Sharav

Ding Junhui comes into this event having had several long waits between tournaments and I'm still trying to work out whether that is good news for him or not. The truth is, it all depends how much work he's been putting in on the practice table. If he's been putting the hours in I'm sure he'll be a top contender for the title in the next couple of weeks. What worries me with Ding is that he admitted after his first round Masters exit to Shaun Murphy in January that he hadn't been putting the work in, and I thought before the start of that tournament that he wouldn't have been working hard over Christmas which is a major worry for him. What it could demonstrate is a lack of motivation to improve as a snooker player and continue to win these big events in the UK.

Judd Trump comes into the UK Championships in top form having made the final of the Champion of Champions earlier this month, while last weekend he made the semi-finals of the Ruhr Open (where he led 3-0 until a classic Shaun Murphy comeback saw him off) and he appears to be back playing some of his very best snooker, the sort of snooker he played when he made his breakthrough in 2011. If he can continue to play this sort of snooker again he'll be pretty unstoppable and certainly a dangerous player to deal with. A bet on Judd to win one of the majors this season will probably bring some returns. 

Mark Allen as a runner-up in 2011 and a quarter-finalist in this event last season is a very strong contender to do well again here after the season he's had so far. Mark was the runner-up at both the Shanghai Masters and the International Championships as well as making the final of the first Euro Tour event in Riga and winning the Paul Hunter Classic which was the second ET of the season. He may have a very tough quarter here but if he can produce some of this early season form in York he's well capable of coming through and making it into the latter stages.

Quarter Winner: Judd Trump

Quarter 4

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs James Wattana
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Robin Hull
Jack Lisowski Vs Chris Melling
Liang Wenbo Vs David Grace
Marco Fu Vs Ahmed Saif
Cao Yupeng Vs Lu Haotian
Michael Holt Vs Zak Surety
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Andrew Norman
Jimmy Robertson Vs Zhou Yuelong
Mark Williams Vs Steven Hallworth
Yu De Lu Vs Oliver Lines
Stephen Maguire Vs Lu Ning
David Gilbert Vs Elliot Slessor
Mark Joyce Vs Ratchayothin Yotharuck
David Morris Vs Li Hang
Mark Selby Vs Oli Brown

Shaun Murphy comes into the UK Championships as the man in form right now after winning the Ruhr Open last weekend to win back to back European Tour events. He won the event in Germany beating Robert Milkins in the final making a maximum in the second frame of that match, having already missed 2 opportunities on the final colours earlier on the final Sunday, as well as several other attempts if his account of things is anything to go by. What's his recent success down to? A lot of hard work on the practice table, particularly last week with his coach Chris Henry. When he's on fire Shaun is a very hard player to put out, and if he can sustain his good form for a full week rather than just a weekend, which is all that is required at the European Tour events, he will be one of the main contenders for the title this year. In my view Shaun is bound to win another of the BBC majors again very soon, whether it will be this week is another question entirely.

Mark Williams has been in pretty good form coming into this event, and I consider him to be very much a strong dark horse for the title this week. He comes into York with a run to the semi-finals of the International Championship in late October, while last weekend he made the quarter-finals of the Ruhr Open before running into the steam train that was Shaun Murphy. After some hard work both on and off of the table it seems like Mark Williams is well and truly back close to playing his best snooker, and we all know how dangerous he can be on his day. I dare say the bookies will have some good odds on him to win this event so a bet on him to make the final at least might not be far off.

Mark Selby is a man that comes into this event as a new father with his wife giving birth to their first child Sofia Maria Selby just a couple of weeks ago which is always going to make practice and preparation tough ahead of this event. Mark's form has been hot and cold since he won the World Title in May and he's not really had much to shout about on the table in the last couple of months. With his gritty nature, Mark is always a strong contender for every event he enters, though with all of these things going on in his personal life it's hard to say how he will come into this tournament and he has a lot of tough players standing between him and a way out of this quarter and into the semi-finals.

Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Tournament Runner-Up: Judd Trump

Tournament Winner: Ronnie O'Sullivan

Whatever happens over the next couple of weeks it will be great to watch the first major of the season play out and whoever the winner if I'm sure they'll be a worthy one. Now it's time to sit back, relax and enjoy some quality snooker. I'll be back on Friday to have a look ahead to the Last 64 matches in York.

A day in the life of... the commentator with Neal Foulds

In a first for my blog today we have a "A day in the life of" piece detailing the average day of the snooker commentator, with all of the jobs that have to be done for the commentators away from the microphone, and what life is like for the average commentator. I was incredibly pleased that my favourite commentator out there right now in Neal Foulds agreed to write such a piece for the blog, while working for ITV on the Champion of Champions event won by Ronnie O'Sullivan last week in Coventry.

In this piece Neal gives a great insight behind the scenes at the Champion of Champions in Coventry, focussing particularly on Friday 7th November when Robertson played Carter and Walden played Allen before Robertson played Walden in the evening. He also offers some entertainment when it comes to a missing suit, which will hopefully turn up for him at some point.

So, this is what Neal Foulds was up to on Friday November 7th and throughout the week in Coventry:

Yesterday was a rest day in the Champion Of Champions snooker at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry to allow ITV4 to cover Europa League football. Today sees the concluding pool of 4 players and by the time we go off air tonight at 10.15pm we'll know who will join Ding Junhui, Judd Trump & Ronnie O'Sullivan in the weekends semi-finals.

 It's 9am and I'm down at breakfast, the beauty of this event is that there is a new batch of players here every day. On Monday John Higgins was tucking into breakfast with Dominic Dale as I arrived. Dominic (aka the spaceman) was very proud of his new eBay purchase. It's the wristwatch worn by Steve Davis throughout the halcyon days of his career. Apparently Steve recently found it in a drawer, battery dead and promptly put it up for sale. I assume he knew the batteries are replaceable!!

Anyway, John and Dominic lost their opening matches the same day. John to an in form Barry Hawkins and in Dom's case the Davis Ebel watch didn't bring about any old magic as Dom was beaten by Ding.

Tuesday's breakfast room saw none of the players in attendance, World Champ Mark Selby lives less than an hour away & there is no sign of Stephen Maguire, Judd Trump or the watch-less Steve Davis. The Nugget eventually arrived only a few minutes before his match as his train to Coventry was delayed. I was a little surprised he travelled here on the train in the first place.

It's great to see Steve play again though, his defeat by Selby was closer than the 4-1 score line suggests. Steve is and will always be a snooker legend and has never changed since I first met him 40 years ago playing in the British youth championships in Neasden in London. Oddly enough his first round opponent that day was Tony Meo, another brilliant player.

Wednesday saw Ronnie O'Sullivan at the breakfast table, chatting to WSA chairman Jason Ferguson. The Rocket looked lean & mean and says he needed to lose some weight. A light breakfast ensued. If Ronnie needs to lose weight what does it say for the rest of us?

He later breezed through his matches beating Stuart Bingham & Marco Fu with the loss of only 2 frames all day. The Rocket being launched into action on November 5th leads to too many options for media headlines. I'll leave you to work out the possibilities but the worst pun I heard was that nobody could hold a (roman) candle to him all day!!

Anyway back to today.

No players down at breakfast this morning but Clive Everton is up and about, I've never got to breakfast before him in a morning! I've also never made it into the commentary box without him already being in there as he prepares for his opening line. An old pro.

Alan McManus is here too, combining practise with research for today's game. Alan is very organised and writes everything down. He has already been out for a run around the outer perimeter of the Ricoh Arena.  I’m really enjoying listening to Alan's commentaries this week.

In contrast I have just got up and walked straight down here, no early morning run and no notepad!! Also a grey suit I put into the hotel cleaning services 3 days ago seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. At reception they have no record of it being put in to be cleaned? Did I dream it?

Anyway Mark Johnston-Allen sits down opposite me, a former pro who has the record of beating Stephen Hendry 3 times in as many matches. MJA is the MC this week. I've told Jill Douglas to reference Mark as "giant killer" this week. Lovely bloke is Mark, although he appears a little bleary eyed this morning. Yesterday being a day off, I think Mark enjoyed himself at the bar!!
We've got all the stats ready for today. Neil Robertson is playing Ali Carter, a repeat of last year’s quarter final in Coventry. Robbo won 6-5 that night, lots of water under the bridge since then. It's great to see Ali back in good health after an awful past 6 months.

The other match is a repeat of the final of the international in Chengdu only last Sunday. Ricky Walden beat Mark Allen 10-7 that day. In case you were wondering it's 9036 miles from Chengdu to Coventry although I doubt you were!!

I'm asked to do an interview with Ali Carter at midday. Looking forward to it as it's great to see him back. Ali arrives a bit late, and somewhat flustered. Turns out aside from his other issues he has forgotten his dress suit. I hope he didn't put it into be cleaned!! I have a nice chat with Ali and wish him luck.

Great introductions by Mark Johnston-Allen  at the start of the match, Ali's walk-on to a standing ovation is really something. I look over at my colleague Jill Douglas who has a few tears in her eyes. MJA is wearing a suit suspiciously like the one I have lost. On a similar note Ali is wearing Ricky Walden's suit but changes it after the first frame as his own clobber arrives in Coventry.

As I write this the early signs are that Neil is doing a professional job and has hardly missed a ball in leading 2-0.

Now the session is finished. Two whitewashes Robertson 4-0 and Walden defeats Allen 4-0.

The session ends early (around 4pm) so Jill, Alan and I have an hour to fill with chat and highlights before we tuck into dinner. The food is laid on by the hotel for the ITV crew, the description of "traditional lamb hot pot, rosemary roast potatoes and seasonal vegetables" sounds fine but the portions are so small they are almost non-existent. I am hungrier after the meal than I was before it.

I'm booked to interview Neil Robertson for 6.15pm ahead of the evening session where he now meets Ricky. When Neil arrives he is in work mode, polite and easy to speak to but one senses he is in the zone for his match to follow. One thing in particular that Neil says interests me, he says his thoroughly ruthless victory over Ali was to show him respect. Not take the match lightly in any way. I like that comment. Snooker is a tough game on the table and has to be played that way.

Another good session of play tonight. Great commentary from Clive and Alan tonight and Robertson is too strong for Walden. Ricky looked tired at the end, perhaps his body clock is still in Chengdu.

A swift beer after the game and off to bed. All things considered a good day and despite no world champion in the semi-finals, a top class line up for the weekend.

The sponsors and ITV seem very happy with things so far. Apart from the disappearance of my suit all is good for me too as I sign off. Well not quite all good, my night’s sleep is broken by a security alert announcement at 5.30am. At that time you know it isn't a drill. A further announcement is made 5 minutes later to disregard the previous one.

Seems that there might be a few bleary eyes on Saturday morning.

I really enjoyed reading such behind the scenes views from Neal Foulds and I'd like to thank him for taking part in this feature from my blog, and hopefully i'll have more like this in the future. The snooker tour now has a bit of time off ahead of the Ruhr Open next weekend and then the big end to the year with the UK Championships in York and there will be a lot of build-up on here ahead of that one starting on Tuesday 25th November.

O'Sullivan and Trump to contest Champion of Champions Final

The Champion of Champions final today at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry will be played out by Ronnie O'Sullivan and Judd Trump in their first meeting since the 2013 World Championship semi-finals. Ronnie overcame Ding Junhui while Trump beat Neil Robertson on a day of fantastic snooker, and with a final like this it should be another great day of snooker to come today in this best-of-19 final. It will be interesting to see what the arena is like noise wise for the afternoon session of the final with Coventry playing an FA Cup tie at home this afternoon also. On Wednesday night fireworks could be heard clearly from inside the arena, and a noisy football crowd can certainly turn the volume up a few notches, though it shouldn't really affect the players.

Back to yesterdays action and Ronnie O'Sullivan saw off Ding Junhui in the afternoon semi-final. Ronnie won three of the first 4 frames to take a 3-1 mid-session interval lead but at this stage O'Sullivan hadn't made a break above 50 and the highest break of the match so far was a 51 from Ding. The Chinaman started to get going after the break and came out firing with breaks of 88 and 111 to square the match up at 3-3. What was Ronnie's response? Well it was a big one as he went back in front at 4-3 with a break of 105. Ding stuck in there and levelled again at 4-4 to keep the pressure on Ronnie, but he handled it in style winning the last two frames with breaks of 91 and 125 to wrap up the match in superb style with two more sublime breaks.

With Ronnie into the final then, it was Robertson and Trump who were going head to head in the evening for the right to join him in the final. Neil Robertson took the opening frame of the match with a run of 65 while Judd dominated the second frame to make it 1 apiece. Both of the next tow frames were close with Judd winning frame three on the black before Robertson gave him a scare before the interval by getting close to making the two snookers he needed on the pink, but at the break it was 3-1 to Trump. It was a hard fought match after the mid-session interval, but incredibly gripping. Robertson pulled a frame back at 2-3 only for Trump to retake his two frame advantage at 4-2. Neil dominated the seventh to close the gap again but a 56, Judd's highest break of the match, in frame eight put him a frame from the final at 5-3. The Australian wasn't going away though, and he put the pressure on Trump with a sublime 117 to close to within a frame at 4-5. Judd made a break of 51 in the tenth frame but that wasn't quite enough for him to seal it and the frame went down to the colours. There was some fantastic safety played by both players on the pink and black, with Robertson hardly getting a sight at either ball with a pot on either taking us into a decider. Eventually, after a few missed long attempts at it, Judd stroked in a long black and booked his place in the final after winning a hard fought semi-final 6-4.

Final Preview:

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Judd Trump - This should be a cracking final between two players that have exactly the same attacking, quick, heavy scoring style of play and they will both set out to entertain over this beat of 19 today. Judd breezed past Stephen Maguire and Mark Selby playing some of the best snooker I've seen him play in a very long time, but as I said in my preview of the semi-finals, the three days he had off killed that momentum and he relied heavily on his improved safety game to put Neil under pressure because at times Trump missed some blacks off of the spot which Robertson didn't punish him for but Ronnie certainly will today. The other worry for fans of Judd is that he says he lost his confidence through the Neil Robertson match and that he wasn't confident for this final against Ronnie. If O'Sullivan heard that and watched Judd's head go down against Neil he'll be rubbing his hands. Trump can't afford to show Ronnie any kind of weakness early in this match, because frustration and this lack of confidence certainly came across last night and if it does today Ronnie will walk all over him like he has hundreds of opponents in the past. Ronnie however will be extremely confident given his performances on Wednesday against Stuart Bingham and Marco Fu, as well as the way he carried himself yesterday and responded when Ding put him under heavy pressure as Stuart did on Wednesday. Sometimes pressure would get to Ronnie but this week he certainly seems to have responded and found strength from these positions. He's been inspired by a venue he enjoys and big crowds in support of him this week and I think that will push him on to defending his Champion of Champions title.

Prediction: Ronnie O'Sullivan to win 10-6


It's been another really enjoyable week of snooker this week and I've had great fun watching it all unfold and I'm really looking forward to seeing what today's final produces. I've got a couple of nice pieces to come over the next few weeks on the blog, while there is a near two week break after this until the European Tour 4 Ruhr Open.

Down to 4 in Coventry

It's semi-finals time at the Champion of Champions in Coventry after the final group was played out yesterday. The day started off with a brilliant ovation for Ali Carter (in Ricky Walden's waistcoat after forgetting his) on his full return to snooker after treatment for lung cancer as he took on Neil Robertson. It wasn't to be for Carter in terms of a winning return though as Neil Robertson got the job done comfortably with breaks of 50, 106 and 111 on the way to completing a 4-0 whitewash and getting into the group final. Neil was joined in the group final by Ricky Walden after he continued where he left off in Chengdu, by beating Mark Allen again, 4-0 this time after Mark really didn't get going. Walden looked to be in good rhythm again with breaks of 53, 57, 58 and 86 on the way to that victory and it was going to be a very interesting group final with Robertson. The first six frames of the match were shared as Walden made breaks of 87 and 61 while Neil Robertson had breaks of 59, 64 and a new tournament highest break of 134 to see it at 3-3. Neil Robertson then won a large safety battle on the black in the next frame after Ricky missed a tricky frame ball pink to the middle earlier in the frame and that made it 4-3 to the Australian. From there tiredness just caught up with Walden as Neil seemed to be taking an exceedingly long time over shots and it was Robertson who won the final two frames of the match to take a 6-3 win.

Group 3 semi-finals:

Neil Robertson 4-0 Ali Carter
Ricky Walden 4-0 Mark Allen

Group 3 Final:

Neil Robertson 6-3 Ricky Walden


What that now means is that today's semi-finals will be contested over the best of 11 frames between Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui in the afternoon and then Neil Robertson and Judd Trump in the evening, in what has the potential to be a day of snooker that could produce a couple of classic matches. They're looking like two very tough matches to call and I'm looking forward to watching both games unfold today.

Semi-Final Preview: (Picks in bold)

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Ding Junhui - Ronnie O'Sullivan played brilliantly on Wednesday to defeat Stuart Bingham and then an under par Marco Fu in group 1 and I'm sure he'll continue that form today in a match he'll very much be pumped up for in front of a brilliant Coventry crowd this week, in what he says is already one of his favourite venues. Ronnie just loves these big UK events and he always seems to come to them playing his best when he's in the right frame of mind and he seems to have a very good mind-set again this week, so I expect some big Ronnie O'Sullivan entertainment this afternoon. He also has the head to head massively on his side having thrashed him in their recent Welsh Open final in February while Ronnie also won their meeting in last years Group final 6-5 coming from behind there. Ding Junhui played some decent snooker on Monday, but he'll need to improve if he's to beat Ronnie today. Having had four days off since he just got over the line on Monday evening against Barry Hawkins, he should've put in some hard practice and be well prepared for this match so it should be a close one.

Neil Robertson Vs Judd Trump - The thing I like about this match is that it's an incredibly tough match to call. Judd Trump played some amazing snooker on Tuesday, some of the best I've seen him play in a long time so he'll be very confident coming into this after the thrashings he handed out to Maguire and Selby in Group 2. Judd though is very much a momentum player in my opinion and when he gets on a roll he'll stay there for a while, but then may struggle to pick such a high level up again straight away for the next tournament perhaps. Where that comes in here is because Judd has had a full 3 days off and will now want to pick up straight from where he left off on Tuesday but that's a very tough ask and would mean that he'd have needed to put in some seriously hard practice to try and maintain that momentum. Trumps problem will come if he doesn't start well and he begins to get frustrated, like he has done on several of the occasions he's exited in the early stages of ranking events over the last year or so. Neil Robertson meanwhile would've been fresh coming into yesterday and now gets the opportunity to pick his momentum from yesterday (where he made 3 centuries) straight up again today and really push Judd from the very opening frame. Neil did a professional job on Carter and Walden in group 3 and when he's in that sort of mood he doesn't care about his opponent. Neil did a similar job in the final two sessions of the pairs World Championship clash earlier this year and Judd became very frustrated with how slowly Neil was playing, so he needs to deal with those feelings better this time around. The head to head with these two guys is very equal with the players trading blows fairly equally with each one seeming like a revenge match. Today I have the feeling that Neil knows how to get under Trump's skin and he's going to set out to do that from the very first shot.


As I said earlier these should be two very close matches and I'm really looking forward to watching the coverage this afternoon on ITV4 (which has been superb once again this week) and whatever happens in today's games it will be an exciting final tomorrow and i'll be back in the morning to preview that game and look back on these semi-finals.