Yesterday's quarter-finals started off with a still disappointed John Higgins beating his fellow Scot Stephen Maguire by a convincing 5-1 scoreline, which certainly flattered Higgins. John didn't play all to well and had to rely on bits and pieces breaks in the 30's to put Maguire under pressure, and a very handy run of the ball in John's favour compounded Maguire's frustrations, and while it could have been much closer it was still Higgins who was the first into the semi's. Next up in the afternoon, Mark Williams hoped to keep the Welsh flag flying in his quarter-final against Marco Fu. Marco did very little wrong in the opening four frames, yet he found himself 4-0 down as Mark made two centuries and two other big breaks to go into the interval a very happy man. Marco threatened to make it close at one stage when he came out from the break with a century and was 30 points ahead in the sixth before Williams made a very composed clearance to seal a 5-1 win.
In the evening, Luca Brecel and Ricky Walden played on the televised table, with Gary Wilson and Ben Woollaston the unfortunate pair who played the only quarter-final which wasn't televised. Ben Woollaston recovered from 2-1 down in that match to see of Wilson's challenge with a handsome 5-2 win. Meanwhile, on the TV table Ricky seemed to be in good rhythm in the early stages and with a high break of 98 he took a comfortable 3-0 lead. The match may well have turned as we went into the break though as Walden missed what could only be described as a half chance to steal the fourth frame from Brecel, but Luca won it and made it 1-3. From there Walden really collapsed, having several chances in most frames from there but he didn't really threaten to put another frame on the board and in very unlikely fashion, a fired up Luca Brecel beat Ricky Walden 5-3.
Quarter-Final Results:
Mark Williams 5-1 Marco Fu
Ben Woollaston 5-2 Gary Wilson
John Higgins 5-1 Stephen Maguire
Luca Brecel 5-3 Ricky Walden
Semi-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Williams Vs Ben Woollaston - This semi-final in the evening is certain to bring in yet another big Welsh crowd, who hope to cheer their home favourite into another ranking event final. Mark Williams has played very well at times this week, but particularly in his match against Marco Fu yesterday and if he can keep that form up I think he'll take some stopping this weekend. His relaxed and laid back nature never really seems to see him get too frustrated if things aren't going his way, which they haven't done in large periods of the last couple of years until this season. An International Championship semi-final decider defeat to Mark Allen would've made him more determined to come back stronger and that's what he's done this week and showed some more of the gritty determination and top form that he showed during the International, and to be honest I'd convinced myself he was going to win that week. Ben Woollaston may be in only his first ranking event semi-final, but he is certainly a formidable opponent here for Williams. He's been cueing well this week and will be full of confidence after reaching the Championship League semi-finals putting him in a match sharp position for this week, and it was only a couple of months ago in Lisbon that he made his first professional maximum break. Mark just has that little extra experience here though, and even though both will be confident and this will surely be close, I think Mark will just edge this.John Higgins Vs Luca Brecel - I've gone against John Higgins in a lot of his matches already this week, simply because of the inconsistencies he's showed in tournaments and even within matches in the last few months. Yesterday he was poor against Maguire and struggled for large parts of the match to make breaks that totalled much more than 30. However, his good safety play, and the pressure he was able to put on Stephen by taking a 30 or 40 point lead early in every frame proved enough to see him through, but he's going to have to improve for his match against a much more patient and mature Luca Brecel. Luca's turnaround this week is simply through the extra work he's done on the practice table, but also on the mental side of the game with Chris Henry. Luca has always had the potential to be a big star in the game, and he needs to start showing it consistently. He seems to have matured, but also grown in belief and confidence that he can perform on the big stage. When Luca reached the 2012 UK quarter-final and twitched a couple of shots at match ball, that seemed to kill his confidence and belief but also take away his motivation when things did become a struggle, but now we're really starting to see what this boy is made of, but what has impressed me is his determination, the same determination that Shaun Murphy and Peter Ebdon (another couple of guys who've worked with Henry) have in huge amounts. Once you change that mind set, it is both easy and very tough to sink back into old ways. There will be times when you have a set back and start losing a little belief, but once you've seen a transformation in your mind set it is very tough to go back to old ways, because of the fact you know exactly what it was like before. However, John will be determined himself to prove his critics wrong now he's in the last four, and right all the people that have said he'll never win another ranking event or get back to his best, and that could be a deciding factor in what's set up to be a very close contest today.
I'm expecting a gripping day of action in these best-of-11 frames semi-finals and two worthy winners to come back tomorrow and contest what should be a very good feast of snooker over the best-of-17 frames. Yet, even though we're down to only 4 players remaining in this tournament, I can't yet call a winner of this event. When we know the final line-up, i'll certainly have a go then.
No comments:
Post a Comment