Q School Event 1 Round Up

The first event of Qualifying School is over and the first 4 of 8 two year tour cards for the professional tour have been handed out to the winners as Sydney Wilson, Rhys Clark, Eden Sharav and Daniel Wells have put themselves on the road to realising their potential. Meanwhile, event two is underway and that will conclude on Monday with four more players picking up tour cards to all but complete the tour line-up for the 2015/2016 snooker season, with just a couple of extra additional spots to fill.

It's incredibly tough to tell who is going to end up coming through those with so many good amateur players and former professionals playing for so few spots which makes it all the more exciting as the final day of event one showed. Rhys Clark was taking on Leo Fernandez in the final round while Sydney Wilson played Chen Zhe who was on tour himself only a season ago, while Eden Sharav played a high quality affair with Adam Duffy, who was in the same boat as Chen and Daniel Wells who had also only been off of tour a season beat Alexander Ursenbacher who was still a professional.

Courtesy of Colin Bell here are match reports from all of the tour card matches from Tuesday morning:

Rhys Clark 4-1 Leo Fernandez -
This wasn’t a very startling match, in the opening frame, a few small breaks from Leo, however Rhys responds with a 38 and nice 63 to take the opening frame 1-0. In the next frame Rhys was in control, starting off with a 25 and then completing the frame with a 59 to lead 2-0. A couple of small breaks from each player in the next, Rhys takes a lead, but can only allow Leo back when he’s 61 behind with 59 left on. Leo tries for snookers but fails and it’s soon 3-0. The closest frame was next, Leo starts off with a 44 break before playing safe, Rhys plays a good snooker between blue and pink, two misses from Leo gives Rhys a chance. With a frame winning chance Rhys misses a black and gives Leo a chance to pull one back which he does to move only 3-1 behind. A 39 comes from Leo early in the fifth, a few points follow for both players. Leo then gives Clark a chance before Rhys misses a double. It then looked like Leo could claim another frame but he was unable to capitalise. Once Rhys was given another chance he finished off the match to claim a 4-1 win. A very reserved celebration from Rhys, but smiles all over his face as he’s on the main tour after a 3^rd attempt at Q school.

Sydney Wilson 4-1 Chen Zhe -
In the opener a 38 from Chen was followed by 37 in response from Sydney, but Wilson lets Chen back in and finishes off with a 55 to win the first frame and go 1-0 in front. Sydney starts off with a good lead in the next, but on a break he misses and gives 7 away. Chen gets in next before fouling himself letting Sydney back in. A nice yellow secures the frame for him levelling at 1-1. After a few small breaks and a bit of safety play from both players, the black ends up over the left corner pocket with many reds surrounding it in frame three, each player trying to force an error. Sydney makes the error potting the black, but Chen is unable to capitalise on the opportunity. After further chances for both, a cracking green from Wilson puts him into the lead 1-2. The next frame sees early chances for both yet again, Sydney comes through in the end with a 30+ break to go within one frame at 1-3. In the next, a nice long red from Wilson gets him in but at 23 he falls out of position, a few more points are added to go 59 ahead with 51 on the table and Chen is unable to get the snookers he needs to prevent a brilliant 4-1 victory for Sydney Wilson. Sydney Wilson (the first one through on the day) is quickly congratulated by a good crowd of fellow players and supporters.

Daniel Wells 4-1 Alexander Ursenbacher -
The first frame exhibits a few missed chances for both players, prior to Alex getting an opportunity but after missing a red to the corner, Dan completes what he needs to, to lead 1-0. A 36 from Alex starts frame two, before he runs out of position. Wells then follows up with a couple of breaks but is out of position on the last red and he gives a chance to Alex, yet he’s unable to capitalise and a long yellow secures the frame for Daniel at 2-0. In the next, a small break from Alex starts things off but a response of 63 from Wells essentially puts him to within one frame leading 3-0. Alex starts off the next frame with a good long red, but runs out of position very quickly, and after a few more points are scored Wells is in the lead in the frame he needs. Alex manages to clear the colours forcing a re-spotted black and he wins it to pull one back and stay in the match 1-3 adrift. In the next it is Wells though who has his chance to win it, and given his opportunity he makes a superb 120 break and at the winning point he gives a fist pump to his dad and is through Q School again with an impressive 4-1 win.

Eden Sharav 4-3 Adam Duffy -
This match was one of a very high standard. In the first frame, there was a lot of safety play before the first ball was potted, but it was Eden who did and went on to make 103 for a 1-0 advantage. In the second frame it was one-sided again but this time it was Adam who makes a century to level at 1-1. In the third, once again there’s a lot of safety in the beginning, although Eden makes the first mistake yet Duffy isn’t able to capitalise and Sharav makes a tidy 83 to lead the match again at 2-1. In the fourth we had the tightest frame of the match, a 35 break to start off with from Sharav, then trailing by 47, Adam gets back into the frame, but Sharav lays a good snooker by and Duffy gives away severla points, and Eden nicks the frame from the blue to go one away at 3-1. Duffy doesn’t go away though and sticks in there making a good response, with a 93 followed by a 70 to force a decider in very impressive fashion. By this time this is now the only match waiting to finish and the small crowd gathers to watch. The early frame points are shared between both players, with Eden taking a small early lead. A few chances are missed as you’d expect with the pressure of the situation. Then Eden manages a good snooker behind the green close to the baulk cushion, by which Adam is perplexed and is unable to get out of easily, conceding 12 points and then allowing Eden to finish off the match potting the final red and the Scot is visibly happy as he is on the tour for the first time with a hard fought 4-3 victory.

Meanwhile here are Colin's final thoughts on what was an eventful first round of Q School and the overall feel of things:

"So there you have it, two Scots, a Welshman and an Englishman on tour, show the UK still very much dominating Q School. In general there was a pretty high standard and all of those guys deserved to be on tour again or for the first time. There was a professional feel to the tournament and with experienced world snooker personnel looking in every now and then it was all carried out properly and orderly.

There seems to be mixed opinions about whether the Q school format is an acceptable way for people to get on tour, the main one being whether it should be seeded, with it being very random how the players are assigned. However other players enjoy Q school, as even if you don’t get on the tour and you are high on the Order of Merit you will get regular chances to play in some of the tournaments. Also, after being knocked out in Event 1 should there be a re-scheduling in Event 2? It’s hard to say if best of 7’s with up to 6 matches being played over a week is the best system?

All in all I was impressed with the venue and the organisation and seeing the emotions of those winning and losing was interesting to watch. This was the first time for the Q school to be held in Burton, and from many of the players it was positive much preferred than the Cubicle set-up in Sheffield. Well done to Rhys Clark, Eden Sharav, Sydney Wilson and Daniel Wells and good luck to all those taking part in Event 2 of Q School." 

 

I think that is a fair assessment of things after event one and the set up in Burton appears to be popular with many, although last round defeats didn't seem to go down too well with Adam Duffy who seemed to be hinting at offensive comments towards Eden Sharav indirectly. Other than that there was no real controversy and everything was played out in good spirits so i'm looking forward to event two producing similar. Also, I would just like to thank Colin Bell again for his match reports and opinions on the first event, and I hope you've all enjoyed reading them.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Murphy and Bingham to contest final

Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham will contest the final of the 2015 World Snooker Championship after victories of varying difficulty in the semi-finals over the last three days. After a gruelling 15 days of action at the Crucible theatre, just two remain and we certainly have a final between the two best players in this tournament, as they've shown through their results, and now of course the world title is at stake and the £300,000 winners cheque which would certainly change Stuart Bingham's life, just as Shaun's was when he won the title in 2005.

Back to the semi's though and it was Shaun Murphy that had it much the easier of the two as he beat Barry Hawkins. Barry was unable to shake off the hangover of a long quarter-final from the night before and Shaun Murphy ran all over his mistakes and took a 6-2 end of first session lead with two centuries along the way. Several breaks of 70+ and a couple more centuries in the second session on Friday morning saw Shaun run riot yet again as he won the session 7-1 to go 13-3 in front, just four frames from victory with two sessions left. Barry played much better on Friday evening and dug in brilliantly to take 4 frames running from 14-3 to 14-7 before winning the last of the session after yet another Shaun Murphy century break (his 11th of the World Championship and 50th of the season meeting his own personal target) giving Murphy a 16-8 end of session lead, needing just one more for a place in the final. He didn't get a chance in the opener on Saturday afternoon, but when he did he took it and cleared to get into the World Championship final for the third time with a 17-9 win.

Things were much more closely fought between Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump. Stuart took the honours in the first session on Thursday evening, just as he did with Ronnie O'Sullivan two days before, as Judd Trump appeared to have lost his spark from his quarter-final with Ding Junhui, and Bingham went 5-3 ahead. The next session was squared after Judd Trump was able to win the final frame from 9-6 behind and make sure he was only two behind coming into the remaining two sessions on Saturday. First up on Saturday morning, Judd Trump won the first two frames to level at 9-9, but from there Stuart responded perfectly to take all of the next four and lead 13-9 with two frames left of the session. Frame 23 looked key at the time as Stuart was in total control of it until giving away 36 points in fouls on the yellow, before eventually sticking the pink up to lose the frame, and a good break by Judd Trump in the final frame meant that he was still able to square the session to only trail by two coming into the final session 11-13 adrift. Judd took the first of the session but as he closed to within one of Stuart, he'd go two clear again and this pattern continued until Bingham was one away from the final at 16-14. From there Bingham didn't really have a clear cut chance to win before the match went into a decider at 16-16. Stuart had a good chance in the decider and after some tentative safety from both players with Stuart leading by around 37 points, Bingham took on a plant along the black cushion and once that went in he was able to do enough to win the match and get into the final a 17-16 winner.

Final Preview:

Shaun Murphy Vs Stuart Bingham - This is the moment we've all been waiting for. The World Championship Final. The moment that players can wait a lifetime to get into and that is no truer than in the case of Stuart Bingham. If you thought he got emotional after his win against Ronnie O'Sullivan to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship for the first time ever, then he was even more emotional after beating Judd Trump to reach his first ever World Final. His run is very reminiscent of Barry Hawkins in 2015 where people continually wrote him off round by round before eventually he reached the final where Ronnie O'Sullivan was too strong for him, but again that final wasn't the walkover that many people expected, and I think this one will be very close too. Stuart dealt very well with the occasion in the semi-finals in his first appearance at the one table set-up in Sheffield and if he can settle down early in the final he has every chance of lifting the trophy. The key thing for him will be if he goes behind after the first session, how he can deal with this. In his games with Trump and O'Sullivan he was able to get in front early and then hold it together when his opponent was coming after him, as neither Trump or O'Sullivan threatened to breeze off into the distance. If Bingham is to win he will need to play as well as he did in parts of the semi-finals and the final session of his quarter-final, because he can't rely on Shaun Murphy playing badly, like Ronnie, Judd and Graeme Dott did early in their previous matches.

As for Shaun Murphy, this is his third World Championship final after of course winning in 2005 and finishing runner-up to John Higgins in 2009. The semi-final was Shaun's first game on the one table set-up since that 2009 final, but he does know how to deal with these occasions having been in them before, unlike Bingham, and of course his coach Chris Henry also has World Championship pedigree having coached Peter Ebdon to his 2002 world title. For me Henry is the best coach in the world, as much for working so heavily on the mental side of the game, which has helped Shaun massively in order to believe in himself once again and play his best, most confident snooker ever. The key between Murphy and Bingham's runs to the final is that Shaun has got in front early on, and kicked on from these positions with superb snooker to win most games virtually within two sessions, which was even the case in the semi's effectively at 13-3. This has saved a lot of physical and mental energy for Shaun, while Stuart has reel had an emotional rollercoaster to get here and that could make the difference early on in the match if Murphy can settle down quickly as this is where he has done his damage previously. When tested, as Shaun was against Anthony McGill, he has remained confident and positive with the nature of his play, as this is his natural game and the most natural way he knows of winning snooker matches and snooker tournaments. The Masters where yet again Shaun was able to blaze into early leads in most matches, gave him a lot of confidence that he can still win big tournaments and compete at the very top with players like Selby and Neil Robertson who are of a similar age to Shaun, and he felt that they were taking off into the distance. Snooker is very much a game of confidence and belief and the Magician has it in stacks right now, which is why he has played world beating snooker so far in these championships and been playing the snooker of a World Champion, and stomping around the table like a World Champion. In Shaun's mind he will be very focussed and more determined than ever to finish the job, making up for all of the final and semi-final losses of years gone by.


Prediction: Shaun Murphy to be the 2015 World Champion with an 18-14 win


Whoever the World Champion is here it's been a fantastic World Championships and one that will certainly be unforgettable for Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham, but who will come out on top? Well, no matter who it is they will be supremely deserving of their place in the history books and the title that everyone dreams about winning.

Thank you very much for reading the blog over the last few weeks of the World Championships and i'll be back with one final blog after the championships are over to review all of the action.