December’s main event was the UK Championships in York and
one of the headlining points from the event in York was all of the shocks that
took place with the runs of guys like David Grace, but the moment I have chosen
as my moment of the month for December is the run of Liang Wenbo to make the
final, break into the top 16 and grab a place in the Masters.
On December 1st he played his stable-mate and
practice partner Judd Trump in the events Last 32 after coming through two easy
matches in the early rounds. However, he didn’t have much chance in the early
stages as Judd didn’t let him score a single point in the opening three frames
as he went 3-0 behind. His response in frame four was to build a break of 78
and just about stay in it, 1-3 behind at the interval. A break of 67 put Trump
4-1 ahead and you felt that there was no way back for the Chinese player. Judd
started to relax though and made a few crucial errors to hand Wenbo chances. A
break of 54 was Liang’s best in the three frames in succession that levelled
the match at 4-4. A run of 62 was the key in frame nine to make it four in a
row and put him 5-4 in front, and from Judd’s body language you could sense
that that was that. Wenbo needed plenty of chances to win the match, but when
he eventually did win it on the colours there was a loud outburst of “come on”.
Next up in the Last 16 a couple of days later he took on Tom
Ford in a massive opportunity for both players to make it through to a major
quarter-final. Tom Ford won the opening two frames of the match but then Wenbo
found his game with runs of 122 and a 67 to follow that and level the match at
2-2. Ford then came back after the mid-session interval with runs of 86, 58 and
92 on the way to forging a 5-3 lead and moving one away from the
quarter-finals. Once again, Liang headed down the comeback trail with runs of
88 and 53 to force an eleventh and deciding frame. Once again we he pushed over
the winning line, there was a celebration just to show how much all of this
meant to Liang with a 6-5 winning putting him into the quarter-finals.
After their Last 16 match, Ford described Wenbo as boring which
I would like to think was the inspiration behind his quarter-final performance
against Marco Fu. You would never describe Liang as boring with all of his
antics but also with how he can entertain you with his high scoring which he
demonstrated at the start of the quarter-finals. He started with three century
breaks of 106, 132 and 136 to lead the match 3-0 and Marco had hardly put a
foot wrong. Liang was in again and looking to score big but a miss on 49 denied
him the chance of four successive centuries, and Marco took advantage with a
break of 64 to go into the interval only 1-3 behind. Fu won the next as well,
but when Wenbo went 5-2 ahead it looked for all money that he was cruising into
the semi-finals. Marco though had other ideas as Liang struggled to get over
the line and he won three on the trot to force a deciding frame. Yet again
though, Wenbo was dominant in the deciding frame and another big celebration
followed with a “come on” putting him into the last 4.
His opponent in the semi-finals was David Grace who was
seeded outside of the top 64 before the tournament began, but the pressure was
all on Liang Wenbo as both the favourite to now get into the final, and of
course with the pressure of getting into the top 16 if he won this match on his
shoulders, with this event being the last before the cut off for the Masters.
Both players looked incredibly nervy, particularly in the lengthy opening frame
that went to Liang. It was Grace that settled better thereafter winning the
next three frames to forge a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval. Wenbo
settled after the break with a 110 helping him on the way 2-3 but Grace pulled
two clear again at 4-2. From there Wenbo was dominant as David could only
manage single figure scores in the next two frames, and a run of 50 from Wenbo
was fantastic in putting him 5-4 up. The drama unfolded in frame ten when Grace
missed the final pink to the middle to force a decider and Wenbo potted pink
and black followed by a big celebration as he jumped around with the joy of
what he had just achieved.
The best bit for me was when Liang was interviewed after his
games and you could see how excited he was to have made into the Masters. He’s
certainly been working hard on his English but you certainly didn’t need words
or translations to see how excited and happy he was after all of his amazing wins
and to hold his nerve in so many big moments was astonishing. For that reason
he is my final nominee for Moment of the Year as December’s moment of the
month.
Come back tomorrow for my final countdown and the big reveal of my Moment of 2015.
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