It's time for the second part of the review of the 2017/2018 snooker season and in this edition we look at when the season really started to heat up with big money events in China, the first two Triple Crown events, two more home nations events as well as the Champion of Champions which continues to grow in popularity.
When we left things after part 1, the players were about to head off to Daqing for the International Championship. This was one of the first weeks when the world number one looking like he was in any kind of form. Before we get to Mark Selby though, this was also a huge breakthrough week for Yan Bingtao. It started for the young Chinese sensation when he dismantled recent English Open winner Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 and he certainly kicked on from there. Next up he took care of Ricky Walden 6-4 and then saw off in-form Jack Lisowski by the same scoreline to make it into the quarter-finals. There he faced former champion and second seed John Higgins and after the way he overcame O'Sullivan earlier in the week, he saw off the Scotsman just as impressively with a 6-2 win. In his first ranking semi-final, things did not go as he would have hoped and he eventually fell 9-2 to Mark Allen.
There was also a first for Kyren Wilson as he made a 147 in his 6-5 defeat to Martin Gould in the last 32. It was Wilson's first in professional competition, though Gould ran out victorious on the way to the semi-finals where he lost out to Selby. The defending champion got off to a decent start in Daqing beating in-form Cao Yupeng 6-4 and following that with victory over Tom Ford by the same score. Next for Selby was a big last 16 tie with Mark Williams where he picked up another 6-4 win. There was much more comfort for him in the quarter-finals as he ended a good week for Robbie Williams (who had beaten Joe Perry and Neil Robertson) taking him down 6-2, before 9-3 win over Gould that saw him breeze into the final.
In the final, Selby stormed ahead once more winning the opening session 6-3 and extending that lead to 8-3 at the start of the final session. Allen did not give up though and got the score back to 8-5 before Selby got to within one of the winning line. A further spell of consecutive frames for Allen (who had come through three deciding frames on the way to the final) got him back to 9-7 behind but he was unable to put any more pressure on, as Selby eventually crossed the winning line. An excellent title defence and more dominance in the longer format from Selby, as he would display again in China later on in the campaign.
From China, the next stop on tour was Coventry for 16 tournament winners of the past 12 months to compete for the coveted Champion of Champions crown. Anthony Hamilton was the star of the opening day. The 2017 German Masters champion had been suffering with injury issues and was short on results in the early part of the season, but his run in Coventry would have been a huge boost for him. He was good enough to beat Ding Junhui 4-2 in the opening match of the tournament, while Ryan Day saw off Barry Hawkins by the same scoreline to set up their evening quarter-final meeting. Day was still heavily fancied for that one and took a 4-2 lead in the match before collapsing and losing each of the final four frames to Hamilton who booked his spot in the last four.
Joining him there was Ronnie O'Sullivan who made very light work of his 'group' on Thursday. Starting with a 4-1 win against Neil Robertson he then faced another meeting with John Higgins after he came through an all-Scottish clash with Anthony McGill a 4-0 winner. Many expected another epic battle between O'Sullivan and Higgins but it turned into a very one sided affair, O'Sullivan was ruthless in taking out the defending champion 6-0. He continued this ruthless play against Hamilton to record a 6-2 win and book his place in yet another Champion of Champions final, while also chalking up his 900th century in the process. A phenomenal achievement from the four time World Champion, and there were plenty more centuries to come as the rest of the season progressed.
The week though belonged to Shaun Murphy. Having qualified every year for this event, he remained without a win as returned to the Ricoh Arena for the 2017 edition. That Champion of Champions duck was broken when he saw off Northern Ireland Open winner Mark King in the opening round. The same evening, he doubled his wins tally by overcoming Michael White and avenging his Paul Hunter Classic defeat from August, coming through 6-4. Meanwhile, Murphy's semi-final was another repeat, this time of his China Championship final loss from August. Luca Brecel overcame Judd Trump and Mark Selby to make the semi's and was in superb form as he took a 3-1 lead in the contest. Brecel would soon find himself 4-2 up but it was at this stage that Murphy forged his fightback. Four consecutive frames put the Magician into the final with a superb 6-4 win.
When the final came around, not many people were giving Murphy much chance against O'Sullivan but he quickly set about proving them all wrong. Despite falling 2-0 down, Murphy then went 4-2 ahead and one a couple of crucial black ball frames in the session to take a 5-4 end of session. Then in the evening, the first three frames all went to Murphy as he extended his lead to 8-4 and then at 9-5 it looked like being a bit of an early night. O'Sullivan had other ideas though as he clawed it back to 9-8 and then had a chance to force a final frame decider. A crucial miss on the green into the middle pocket cost O'Sullivan though and Murphy held his nerve to take the title, in what proved to be the first of three O'Sullivan Vs Murphy finals in the 2017/2018 season.
O'Sullivan did not spend long licking his wounds though as he set off to the Shanghai Masters, and set about running through the field. Once he arrived in Shanghai, O'Sullivan was quickly in full flow starting with a 5-2 win over Gary Wilson that also featured the tournament high break of 144. Later that day, he took out Joe Perry 5-1 to book his spot in the last 16. Another routine win followed, whitewashing Barry Hawkins 5-0 and then defeating Mark Williams 5-1 to reach another semi-final and another meeting with John Higgins. With memories of the previous week's whitewash very fresh in the memory, Higgins will have been delighted to win the opening frame, though things quickly went downhill and O'Sullivan secured a 6-2 win.
Another of Ronnie's great rivals awaited in the final in Judd Trump in what promised to be a mouth-watering match-up. Those hopes were short lived though when O'Sullivan ran out in to the distance, taking each of the first seven frames before Trump managed to rescue things slightly and end the session just 7-2 behind. Ultimately, O'Sullivan took no more than four frames of the evening to secure the title and a 10-3 drubbing of Trump, dropping just nine frames on the way to his 30th ranking title. Meanwhile, it was another good week in Shanghai for Trump despite losing in his third final at this event. It was also a good week for Trump's close friend Jack Lisowski. The pair met in the semi-finals in what was Lisowski's first ranking event semi-final and a high point of a very good season for the young man as he rose into the top 32.
The air miles continued to clock up for the players as just two days after the conclusion in Shanghai, the Northern Ireland Open began in Belfast. All eyes were on Ronnie O'Sullivan given his form, and the fact that he was the man on the hunt for the £1 million bonus for winning all four home nations events, after his victory at the English Open. Those hopes were ended by Elliot Slessor at the last 32 stage when O'Sullivan lost out 4-1, running out of steam after his exploits over the weeks previous.
Judd Trump also ran out of steam and patience in his last 128 loss to Stuart Carrington. He conceded the match at 3-2 behind when it was still mathematically possible to win the game. Shaun Murphy, Barry Hawkins and Kyren Wilson were also among the top seeds to lose in round one, while Ali Carter, Stephen Maguire, Liang Wenbo and home favourite Mark Allen were among the last 64 losers. Defending champion Mark King fell to Yan Bingtao (who had also taken down the defending English Open champion) in the last 32, along with John Higgins, Neil Robertson and Anthony McGill meaning all of the top 14 seeds for the event had exited prior to the last 16.
One of the higher seeds left was Ryan Day, but he became the latest victim for Yan Bingtao losing 4-3 there, but the highest remaining seed Mark Williams held strong to beat David Gilbert 4-2, Mike Dunn 5-1 and Elliot Slessor 6-2 in Slessor's maiden ranking event semi-final in order to clinch his spot in the final. Yan Bingtao would end up being Mark's final opponent after further victories 5-4 over Robert Milkins and 6-2 against Lu Haotian. Lu had also had an impressive week to make it into his very first ranking event semi-final, the highlight of a fantastic season on his return to the tour.
Yan though was in his first final, the youngest player ever to reach a ranking event final, and aiming to take Ronnie O'Sullivan's record as the youngest ever ranking winner. Williams meanwhile was aiming for his first ranking title in over 6 and a half years, while his wife was ill in hospital. Yan made the faster start winning the opening session 5-3 and then extending that lead to 6-3 by starting the evening with a sublime 137 break. Williams was never going to give in though, and took three straight frames to level the match at 6-6 before Yan took the lead again at 7-6. Williams levelled once more at 7-7 only for Yan to go one from victory at 8-7. Chances came and went for the youngster in the final two frames and ultimately it was the Welshman who took a victory that meant the world to him and his family.
The early exits of some of the top seeds in Belfast did give them slightly longer to prepare for the first Triple Crown event, as it was soon time for the UK Championships in York. Straight off the bat though there were two upsets as Ding Junhui lost 6-5 to Leo Fernandez and Jimmy White overcame Ali Carter in the last 128, before the BBC cameras had even arrived. The surprise exits continued into round two as defending champion Mark Selby was taken out 6-3 by Scott Donaldson, who had not won a match this season prior to arriving in York.
Shaun Murphy survived a big second round scare though to overcome Liam Highfield 6-5 and from there he went from strength to strength just as he had done in Coventry. A good performance followed to beat Jimmy Robertson 6-3 in the last 32 before 6-1 thrashings against Ricky Walden (who has beaten Kyren Wilson a round earlier) and Mark King (who has beaten Luca Brecel and John Higgins) put him into the semi-finals. Joining him there was Ryan Day who in the process had booked his place in January's Masters, at the expense of players like Neil Robertson. Deciding frame wins against Mark Williams in the last 32, Li Hang in the last 16 and Mark Joyce (who had sent Neil Robertson home at the last 32 stage) put him in the semi-finals. Murphy though was in fine scoring form in the last four and came through quite comfortably to book his place in a fourth final of the season.
Once again the man he would face in that final would be the other in-form man of the first half of the season, Ronnie O'Sullivan. The Rocket had a fairly easy route to the last 16, but was very nearly defeated at that stage by Akani Songsermsawad. Akani led 2-0 and 4-2 before being pegged back to all square at 4-4. A century put the Thai back in front though but for a freak foul when he was clearing in the tenth, he surely would have gone on to send O'Sullivan home. The bookies favourite went on to win 6-5 and then saw off Martin Gould and Stephen Maguire to get through to the big finale.
It was always pretty close in the first half of the match, with Murphy opening up with a century and then recovering from 4-2 down to end the first session 4-4 after stealing the final frame on the black. A run of 80 from Murphy followed a 75 from O'Sullivan to have the match level again at 5-5, but from there O'Sullivan showed why he had won this title five times previously. Breaks of 104, 76, 103, 86 and 59 gave O'Sullivan the next five frames in succession as he moved through the gears, defeating Murphy 10-5 on the day.
There was no time for rest or reflection after the season's first Triple Crown event though, as the third home nations event - the Scottish Open in Glasgow - began the very next day. This week will always be remembered, as much for the winner, as it will for what might have been for Cao Yupeng.
Cao had started the season incredibly low in the rankings but was soon on the move when he qualified for all of the early season events, making the last 16 at the World Open and the semi-finals of the European Masters, and for me he is one of the underrated players of the season for what he achieved. In Glasgow, Cao could not have made a more perfect start than the one he did. In the last 128 he whitewashed Andrew Higginson as well as making a maximum 147 break in the third frame of the match.
That set out an early marker, though it was not plain sailing in the next round as he saw off Allan Taylor in a deciding frame, before doing the same against Daniel Wells in the last 32. By the last 16 stage, only five top 16 players were left in the tournament and an opportunity looked like it could present itself for one of the players. With a 4-0 win over Tom Ford, Cao made sure he was still in the hunt on quarter-finals day. Again he had to come through a tight match, having led Ricky Walden 3-0 he was pegged back to just 4-3 up before getting over the line 5-3. The semi-finals was when he produced his biggest shock result of the week, defeating the second seed Judd Trump. Cao led 3-1 early on in the match, before Trump pegged him back to 3-3 only for Cao to move in front again 5-3 and ultimately come through 6-4 to set up a final meeting with Neil Robertson.
Robertson had not made it to a semi-final of a full ranking event for over 14 months prior to events in Glasgow, where he overcame Rod Lawler, Liam Highfield, Chris Totten and David Grace to book a place in the quarter-finals. There he faced Xiao Guodong, who had already beaten defending champion Marco Fu, and Xiao gave Robertson a very tough test before Robertson ran out a 5-4 winner. In the semi-finals Robertson faced the home favourite John Higgins who was looking to go one better than 2016 when he was defeated in the final by Fu. However, two centuries in the opening four frames from the Australian helped him move into a very strong 4-0 lead over Higgins. Never one to give up, the four time World Champion then won the next three to close the gap to just one at 4-3, but a break of 70 in the next gave Robertson further breathing space before he crossed the line 6-3.
Many expected Robertson to be the runaway winner against Cao, who was in his first ranking final, but things never looked like being simple in the opening session which Cao won 5-3. That lead was extended to 6-3 and then 8-4 with Cao one frame away from victory before the eventual collapse came. Robertson took the next two pretty comfortably, but Cao then had chances and missed match ball black to win 9-7, a miss from which he never looked like recovering as Robertson went on to win the decider with ease, clinching a very emotional 9-8 win.
It was still a week too late for Robertson to book his place in January's Masters at the Ally Pally though, where many expected the in-form Ronnie O'Sullivan to surge to the title once more after taking the title in 2016 and 2017. This looked even more likely after O'Sullivan whitewashed Fu 6-0, with Fu soon after declaring that he would not play again until the World Championships to recover from eye surgery for a problem that had hampered the first half of his season. There was also a big first round exit for second seed Mark Selby as he relinquished a 5-3 lead to lose 6-5 to Mark Williams. Both Williams and O'Sullivan would fall in the quarter-finals by a 6-1 scoreline to the two eventual finalists.
For Williams, it was Kyren Wilson that took care of business after beating former runner-up Barry Hawkins in round one, while Williams failed to recreate his good form from the previous. O'Sullivan meanwhile blamed 'low magnesium levels' for his poor performance and subsequent exit to Northern Ireland's Mark Allen who was in fine form and suddenly emerged as one of the big favourites having already beaten Luca Brecel in round one.
In the other quarter-finals, John Higgins was also a 6-1 winner against Ryan Day. Day had come from 3-0 adrift to beat Ding Junhui 6-4 but there was to be no comeback as he lost to a dominant Higgins, who had beaten fellow Scotsman Anthony McGill 6-4 in round one. Judd Trump completed the line-up for the semi-finals after a 6-4 victory in a great quarter-final with Shaun Murphy. Murphy had beaten Ali Carter 6-4 in round one and he recovered from 4-2 behind to level at 4-4 with Trump who had overcome Liang Wenbo 6-4 in the first round. The finish from Trump in this match though was sublime with back-to-back centuries booking his semi-final place.
There he would take on Wilson and again he marched out into a big early lead, moving 5-2 in front before things began to unravel. A few ambitious shots would come back to haunt Trump in the closing frames as Wilson made breaks of 57, 111 and a deciding frame 72 to stun Trump and book his place in a third final of the season with this 6-5 victory. In the other semi-final it was Allen who saw off Higgins despite two centuries from the Scotsman, as Allen secured a 6-3 win.
That meant that we would have a new name on the Masters trophy, and a first time winner of any of the three Triple Crown events. Allen had previously been to the 2011 UK final, but Wilson was in his very first Triple Crown final. It always shaped up as a tight match and that became the case as the match was level at 4-4 after the opening session of play. Allen did start to build a lead in the evening though as he moved 8-5 ahead, only for Wilson to show impressive fight again and drag it back to 8-7. Allen showed fantastic bottle at the end though with breaks of 69 and 71 getting him over the line 10-7.
His first full tournament as reigning Masters champion came in Berlin at the German Masters, where attentions turned back to the class of '92. Before attention turned to Mark Williams though, there were a few surprise first round exits to contend with. Second seed Mark Selby was beaten for the second time this season by Xiao Guodong, while defending champion Anthony Hamilton continued to look out of form in his 5-1 exit against Jimmy Robertson. Masters champion Allen also suffered a last 32 exit at the Tempodrome, criticising the venue set-up after his 5-4 loss to Matthew Selt.
This was also a week of resurgence for a former World Champion in Graeme Dott. He came from behind to take down Barry Hawkins in round one, before holding on to beat Mei Xiwen 5-4 in the last 16. Then in the quarter-finals he found himself 4-0 down and in all sorts of trouble against Xiao Guodong, but the fight and determination that Dott possesses came through and he fought all the way back to defeat Xiao 5-4. His semi-final opponent was the in-form Shaun Murphy who was eyeing a fifth final of the season when he took on Dott after a late night win against Ryan Day in the quarter-finals. Murphy had to keep pegging Dott back but would eventually lead for the first time at 4-3. Dott's response was to produce two sublime clearances to come back and lead 5-4 before finishing with an equally brilliant break of 121 to book his place in his first ranking final in nearly eight years.
Ultimately it was Williams that ended Dott's brilliant run. In the first three rounds in Berlin, Williams overcame Fergal O'Brien and Matthew Selt before ending Jimmy Robertson's career best run in a ranking event at the quarter-final stage. Then over the weekend he was in sensational form. First was the 6-1 thrashing of Judd Trump, who had now lost in the semi-finals for the third big tournament in a row. Things were just as simple for Williams in the final as he won the first session 7-1 against Dott, finishing off the session with a break of 110. Then in the evening the Welshman soon took care of the two frames required for victory, winning 9-1 and clinching a 20th ranking title. Dott though should be very proud of his efforts in Berlin but Williams was very clearly showing the signs of what would follow at the season's end.
That's it for part 2 of the 2017/2018 snooker season review. Coming up in the final part will be reflections on the World Grand Prix, Welsh Open, Gibraltar Open, Players Championship and the two biggest money events of the season at the China Open and of course the World Championships from the Crucible.
No comments:
Post a Comment