WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Selby OUT as we reach the quarter-finals

Mark Selby fell to the Crucible curse as in the Last 16 of the World Snooker Championships. The defending champion was the first to play and conclude in the last 16 and he was up against young debutant Anthony McGill. The first session was shared at 4-4, but it was on Friday morning when the Scot took control to lead 10-6 and eventually he closed the match out at 13-9. Meanwhile, Barry Hawkins came from 9-6 and needing snookers to avoid 10-6 at the end of the second session to eventually reel off five frames in a row against Mark Allen to win 13-11. Ding Junhui also made a superb comeback in session two of his match against John Higgins as John led 5-1 at one stage of session one, before Ding went on to win the final two frames of that session and won the second session 6-2 to lead 9-7. From there Ding was able to cross the line 13-9. The remainder of the last 16 ties were pretty comfortable as Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham both went through comfortably after commanding the early sessions on the way to 13-5 wins, while Judd Trump won the first two sessions against Marco Fu 5-3 before winning 3 of the 5 played in the final session to get through 13-8. Finally, Neil Robertson and Ronnie O'Sullivan finished off what was a very quiet second Monday at the Crucible (some would say the calm before the storm) as they each recorded their own 13-5 wins, with Neil Robertson's being completed by a tournament high break so far of 145 which overtakes the 143 that he made in round one.


Last 16 Results:

Anthony McGill 13-9 Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy 13-5 Joe Perry
Barry Hawkins 13-11 Mark Allen
Neil Robertson 13-5 Ali Carter
Ding Junhui 13-9 John Higgins
Judd Trump 13-8 Marco Fu
Stuart Bingham 13-5 Graeme Dott
Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-5 Matthew Stevens


This has surely set up one of the strongest ever quarter-final line-ups in Crucible history with 6 of the top 8 in the world through to the last 8, joined by the 10th seed and an up and coming Crucible debutant who is now steaming up the rankings. So, I expect the quarter-finals to be very tense affairs, even if they aren't all close to deciding frame finishes

Quarter-Finals Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Anthony McGill - This should be a very interesting match between the one qualifier remaining in the tournament in Anthony McGill, and a Shaun Murphy that is searching for his second world title after winning his only title in 2005 as a qualifier. The first thing to point out here is that Anthony McGill has really been through the mill so far in this tournament. After winning his final qualifier 10-9, he then showed good bottle to beat Maguire 10-9 having previously led 9-5, before knocking out the defending champion in another tough game, which is what you always expect against Mark Selby. He's been very relaxed and playing with a smile on his face with very little fazing him, but in my view you can't go into a World Championship with a view to winning and not let some of this change. At some stage in the match I think things will start to get to Anthony and that is simply because of the type of player he is playing in Shaun Murphy. Shaun has bullied his opponents into submission so far, almost making them surrender at a very early stage in the match and whether his opponents lack of ability to get anything going in matches so far is a direct result of his intimidating attacking style and heavy scoring is a different question. What I do know is that Shaun Murphy will be confident going into this match in his ability and how well he is playing, but also well aware of how good Anthony is, but this won't change the way he approaches the game. He will still take on anything he fancies getting and continue to play these attacking shots in order to win frames in one visit once he's in. For me, if Shaun can stay focussed he will continue to win frames in one visit, but also to steal the frames from behind which he has in both games so far, and these frames are the key to winning sessions, and matches.

Neil Robertson Vs Barry Hawkins - Here we have the battler of the left handers and one that promises to be great between the fourth and fifth seeds in this World Championships. Starting with Barry Hawkins, here is a man that doesn't know when he's beaten in this tournament over the last three years. This season he's already had to battle hard in both rounds. In round one things were made very difficult for him by Matthew Selt as Matt made it 9-9 from 9-4 only to lose that game in the end. Barry then had a fight on to win the last 5 frames from 8-11 to win 13-11 against Mark Allen. My worry for Hawkins is that Neil Robertson is playing altogether too well to fall into these holes as Hawkins doesn't appear to do anything spectacular apart from dig in. His performance in the second session against Allen was the only time he really scored well and won frames in one visit, and his safety play isn't good enough to undo Robertson. Neil meanwhile has been very comfortable in beating Jamie Jones and Ali Carter, making centuries for fun as usual (7 of them so far) and the two highest breaks of the tournament so far with a 143 and 145. His hard work and practice are really making him sharp and he looks incredibly focussed for this event and it's hard to see anyone beating him that can't win as many frames in one visit as he can, and I don't think that Hawkins is really 100% with his game still to do that and put pressure on Robertson.

Ding Junhui Vs Judd Trump - This last 8 tie in my opinion is the tie of the round and could be the best match of the World Championships so far between the third seed and the sixth seed. Starting with Ding Junhui, he needs to get a good start in this match you feel after the last couple of matches he's played in this tournament. Ding started off awfully against Mark Davis losing the first four frames before battling back from 4-0 and 5-3 to win 10-7 playing some excellent snooker and looking a lot fresher and more relaxed after what's been a short season for him and one which has put little expectation onto him for the World's in comparison to last year where many expected it would be his year. Again against John Higgins he showed he can battle back in matches but not by grinding his opponents out like some players, but just by knuckling down, focussing, and scoring heavy when in amongst the balls. Judd Trump though has been tested by Stuart Carrington and Marco Fu, but like Robertson and Murphy, he's stolen frames at key times and put his opponents in trouble early, and reaped the benefits later on in the match. He's scoring as well as always, and not playing as many reckless shots as he did in previous years when he turned up here, but you still fancy him to throw one or two in, but as long as they don't become a regularity like they were and he continues to stay with a strong mature head and battle his way out of tough positions with hard match play and great safety then he is one of the favourites for this tournament because of the quality of his all round game.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham - Finally, Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan meet yet again, two years on from Bingham's 13-4 defeat at this stage of the World Championships, and only a couple of months since Stuart's 6-0 loss to Ronnie at the World Grand Prix. The head to head is actually pretty odd between these two players because, although the same result of an O'Sullivan win is the same, in some matches Bingham pushes Ronnie hard as we've seen at the last couple of UK Championships, beating him in 2013 in fact, but getting thrashed in others like we saw at Llandudno and here in 2013. Stuart hasn't really had to play at his best yet in these World Championships, struggling in the first session of his round one match with Robbie Williams, before Robbie struggled in session two, and then Graeme Dott didn't turn up at all in round two making things very comfortable for Stuart. That means Stuart needs to knuckle down and start playing some of his better snooker, especially in the early parts of the match. If Bingham is in it after the first session on Tuesday afternoon, the scheduling of the match makes the back end of the second session crucial as the final two sessions of the match are played consecutively on Wednesday afternoon and evening which makes things very tough for both players. Stuart may not have been winning frames in one visit, but if he could start he'll be putting a load of pressure on Ronnie who hasn't been put under any in this event so far. Both Craig Steadman and Matthew Stevens missed too many easy balls to capitalise on a Ronnie O'Sullivan who seems to be taking every single one of his misses to heart and punishing himself either by hitting himself on the head, or releasing the anger on his cue by smashing it on the table or by making obscene gestures with it. Stuart unfortunately though is one of those players that brings the best out of Ronnie (which is unfortunate as I say if you are one of those players) and when Ronnie has been focussed he has still been knocking in the big breaks, but this match is all about whether Bingham can get him under the cosh early and make him feel frustrated.


Now that we've just a week until the World Champion will have been crowned things are really starting to hot up as these games are played over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday before the semi-finals starting on Thursday afternoon. It still looks to me like the most open championships in a very long time and I still can't pick a certain winner, because there certainly isn't a stand out player with so many playing well. I'll be back on Thursday morning ahead of the semi-finals to round-up what's taken place in the last 8 and preview those upcoming two games.