Bingham was the first man through today in battling fashion against Joe Perry. Perry was dominant early on against the world champion and surged into a 3-0 lead as Bingham looked quite poor on the whole. Taking an important fourth frame prior to the mid-session interval proved the turning point as he then followed it with the first two after the break to level up the match at 3-3. The seventh looked key at the time as Bingham missed on 60 when looking certain to go 4-3 ahead, and Joe stepped in with 62 before missing the final black to win the frame. However, he had another chance from range a few shots later and potted a stunning long black to regain his lead. Bingham was back level with a run of 97 but a 53 from Perry put him one away at 5-4. From there though he did not score another point in the match as Bingham forced the deciding frame and went on to win it with a magnificent run of 69.
Shaun Murphy followed with a total domination of Ding Junhui in the evenings semi-final. Despite falling 3-2 behind at one stage, Shaun could easily have won four of those five frames. In the third he went in-off on the black trying to around for the yellow which would have put him 2-1 ahead and in the fourth he made a 110 break snookering himself on the last red when searching for a 145 break. Ding then made a break of 66 to win the fifth after Shaun missed a great chance. From there though the Magician really stepped up. After getting in front for the first time at 4-3 with two straight frames he rattled off the final two with runs of 88 and a 66 in the ninth to run out an easy 6-3 winner in the end.
Semi-Final Results:
Stuart Bingham 6-5 Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Ding Junhui
Final Preview:
Shaun Murphy Vs Stuart Bingham - Here we are then, the final of the World Grand Prix and what a final we have in prospect. Not only is it a repeat of the world final but it is the first time that either player has made it into a ranking event final since then or really even threatened to make one. Starting with Stuart Bingham, he really has had to battle hard this week and has fought his way back into form, every credit must go to him for that. Against Gilbert he started to look more lively and then he got a big win against Trump when both were feeling unwell. Against Ryan Day he had to battle again but made four 60+ breaks in the match to win it which was a sign of quality and his fight back against Perry was superb. He will be determined to show everyone what he can do and get a title under his belt while he still reigns as the champion of the world.Then there is Shaun Murphy. He seems to have gotten his confidence back. For the route he has had playing Michael White (fighting for his top 16 place for the World Championships), Martin Gould (the in-form man of the last month), Liang Wenbo (again fighting to be a Crucible seed) and Ding Junhui (also fighting to get back into the top 16) to only drop four frames is outstanding. This time against Bingham he is very much the hunter, the challenger to the throne and very much after some satisfaction. He will want to make Stuart feel exactly what he felt in the weeks after losing that narrow Crucible classic because it was a hard one for Murphy to get over. Now is the time to channel that frustration onto the table and not just beat Bingham but bash him up all over the table. He is certainly back playing the snooker that he displayed last year in Sheffield but will not be underestimating Bingham and neither will I. This is sure to be another closely fought contest.
Prediction: Murphy to win 10-7.
After a fantastic week of snooker that has seen a few classic encounters, this final is the fitting end to another good tournament that has been well hosted by the ITV and the usual suspects like Alan McManus, Neal Foulds and Clive Everton and the addition of Phil Yates to the team too. It sets things up brilliantly for the Players Championship finals which will again be on the ITV starting on March 22nd.
No comments:
Post a Comment