Haikou World Open Preview

It's already been an eventful start to all things surrounding the Haikou World Open which starts on Monday with the Last 64 at the venue (and some wildcard matches) with the format of best-of-9 frames until the semi-finals which are the obligatory best-of-11 frames and the final next Sunday which is a best-of-19 affair. In the first 2 years of this event being staged there has been some controversy or problems of some kind as Mark Allen has won the event both years it has been held. Last year the story was that a lot of players cues and baggage and cues went missing, as Andrew Higginson lost to a wildcard without his cue, Ricky Walden had to borrow Stephen Maguire's cue and clothes (which were far too big), and Matthew Stevens saw off both David Gilbert and Shaun Murphy without his own cue, coming from behind in both games before eventually losing in the final once he'd got his cue back.


This year though the thing seems to be car crashes and dodgy taxi drivers who drive too fast and don't have seat belts in the back. Craig Steadman was the first to be involved in one, posting a photo on Twitter of a badly mashed up vehicle, but quickly reassuring snooker fans that he got out with just a few scratches, while Kurt Maflin now has a sore neck and shoulders having been involved in a car crash with some poor taxi driving at the centre again. I'm hoping World Snooker can find the players a safer way of getting around, having had 2 warnings already, a third could be fatal so I'm praying that we won't have to hear about any more of it.


Off table matters aside, let's have a look ahead to on table matters this week:

Quarter 1

Last 64 Draw: (picks in bold)


Mark Allen Vs Mike Dunn
Yuan Sijun Vs Mark Williams
Ken Doherty Vs Barry Pinches
Alfie Burden Vs Ricky Walden
John Higgins Vs Alex Davies
Aditya Mehta Vs Michael White
Matthew Stevens Vs Yu De Lu
Sanderson Lam/Chen Zifan Vs Judd Trump


In this quarter we have the twice defending and only Haikou World Open champion Mark Allen, this years UK Championship semi-finalist Ricky Walden, Championship League champion Judd Trump and John Higgins that are all well capable of winning the quarter this week as well as the title itself. The welsh pair of Matthew Stevens who was a runner-up in Haikou last year and Mark Williams both have outside chances of winning the quarter, but in one filled with such quality it will be tough for them unless they can re-find their best form.


In terms of tour survival at the end of the season, Mike Dunn could do with a win, but has to start up against Mark Allen, while Barry Pinches also needs a win or two this week, but could have easier matches, but also much tougher ones than his Last 64 opponent Ken Doherty.


In terms of winning the quarter, the only in form man in the entire quarter is Judd Trump who played very well last week to win the Championship League and he seemed to be continuing on from the German Masters where he re-discovered his best and reached the final. If he's at his best again here this week, I can't see anyone beating him from this quarter, though you can never right off John Higgins who beat Trump in the recent Welsh Open and Mark Allen who hasn't yet lost a match in Haikou, but hasn't been at his best in the big events this year so far.


Quarter Winner: Judd Trump

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (picks in bold)
Stephen Maguire Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Craig Steadman Vs Andrew Higginson
Ryan Day Vs Michael Wasley
Tian Pengfei Vs Graeme Dott
Shaun Murphy Vs Jimmy White
Mark King Vs Cao Yupeng
Xiao Guodong Vs Pankaj Advani
Ding Junhui Vs Li Yan


This quarter sees the likes of 4 times ranking winner of the season so far Ding Junhui, Gdynia Open champion Shaun Murphy, Scottish duo Stephen Maguire and Graeme Dott as well as Shanghai Masters runner-up Xiao Guodong and German Masters semi-finalist Ryan Day. It looks like a very tight quarter and an incredibly tough call, particularly with 2 massive home favourites due to meet in the Last 32.


There are other matters to think about though, with a lot of players in this section looking for a win to boost their money ranking positions. Jimmy White is still in a good position in the top 64 for now, but a win against in-form Shaun Murphy wouldn't be sniffed at by him. Meanwhile, Tian Pengfei, Li Yan, Craig Steadman, Michael Wasley and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh are all in need of wins if they are to keep their tour places, but none of them seem to have easy draws at all.


In terms of winning the quarter, you have to favour Ding Junhui who has won 4 ranking events this season and made the final of the Welsh Open recently as well, and he has been far and away the most consistent player only really failing in the Masters of late when he was beaten in the first round by Shaun Murphy. Speaking of Shaun, he'll be looking forward to this event and he's in good form having made the semi-finals of the Championship League, only being denied by some Trump brilliance, and when he won the Gdynia Open he received a huge boost of confidence which could spur him on to winning a full ranker very soon. Maguire meanwhile will fancy his chances of making at least the quarter-finals and he's been lacking a title this season so this could well be his week if he can play well. However, seeing how good Ding is on a regular basis and how much better he is now than 99% of the players on tour, it is so tough to see past him winning every event.


Quarter Winner: Ding Junhui

Quarter 3

Last 64 Draw: (picks in bold)


Mark Selby Vs Anthony Hamilton
Noppon Saengkham Vs Gerard Greene
Liang Wenbo Vs Scott Donaldson/Lin Shuai
Adam Wicheard Vs Mark Davis
Rod Lawler Vs Robert Milkins
Alan McManus Vs Martin Gould
Dominic Dale Vs Michael Leslie
Stuart Bingham Vs Steve Davis


This quarter sees the likes of UK and Masters runner-up Mark Selby, recent Asian Tour 4 winner Stuart Bingham, another Asian Tour Winner Liang Wenbo, shoot-out champion Dominic Dale, Mark Davis, Robert Milkins and Championship League runner-up Martin Gould.


For me though, only 2 of those players are in any kind of form to win this quarter and they are Stuart Bingham and Mark Selby. Mark Davis and Robert Milkins are both in very poor form at the moment and as good as they may be, I can't see either having significant runs this week. Mark Selby though has been playing ok of late without winning the big titles that he is after, and he will be desperate to get a win before the end of the season after a very lean year by his standards. Having made the UK and Masters finals, and more recently the Welsh Open quarter-finals, there are signs there that he could have a good week and return to some better form. Stuart Bingham meanwhile, having just won the Asian Tour event 4 yesterday, he will really fancy his chances of victory this week and it would be good to see him return to his best form after going missing for a few months snooker wise since making the UK semi-finals and the final of the Champion of Champions.


Quarter Winner: Mark Selby

Quarter 4

Last 64 Draw: (picks in bold)
Barry Hawkins Vs Matt Selt
Mark Joyce Vs David Morris
Ali Carter Vs David Gilbert
Kurt Maflin Vs Joe Perry
Marco Fu Vs Anthony McGill
Nigel Bond Vs Michael Holt
Tom Ford Vs Rory McLeod/Zhao Xintong
Neil Robertson Vs Jamie Jones


Again this quarter is packed with brilliant players, including UK Champion Neil Robertson, Australian Open champion Marco Fu, recent Welsh Open semi-finalists Joe Perry and Barry Hawkins, as well as Ali Carter. So some brilliant players in good form ahead of this one and it's going to be tough to call this quarter.


Neil Robertson has been in good form all season, but has just gone off of the boil in the last month or so, and the last week off may help him or it may not if he has just rested and not put enough practice in, which may be why he has struggled in the last month anyway. Barry Hawkins meanwhile, had had a very lean year since his world championship final last season, and it was good to see him play well again in Wales to make the semi-finals, and with some time off since then I think he'll be able to carry on his form into this event with no problem. Joe Perry played well in the Welsh Open to reach the semi-finals and give Ding a run for his money, but than he had to go straight from there to the Championship League finals where he struggled and finished bottom of the 7 man group, and with a short turnaround before this and a tough first round game, it will be interesting to see what form he is in. Marco Fu has been consistently inconsistent and unpredictable all season, following good performances up with poor ones, and poor ones up with brilliant ones. At the Welsh Open he made the quarter-finals with some good performances, but he has been knocked out in the opening round at the venue a couple of times already this season to players he should be beating in his sleep, so anything can happen with Marco.


As I say it's a tough call, but I think there's one man that's in slightly better form coming to Haikou than everyone else in this quarter.


Quarter Winner: Barry Hawkins


Tournament Runner-up: Ding Junhui


Tournament Winner: Mark Selby


Whatever happens, I hope it will be a very enjoyable week of snooker, without anymore classic Haikou off-table incidents to report and i'll be back throughout the week with daily updates on results and previews of the upcoming rounds.

Top Trump wins Championship League

Judd Trump scooped the Championship League title last night with some great performances especially on the 2nd day. On the day he beat Martin Gould 3-2 from 2-0 down and lost 3-2 to Shaun Murphy in his final 2 round robin games, to finish 4th in the group by 1 frame or Ricky Walden, and play Shaun Murphy again in the semi-finals, after Murphy topped the group having only lost his first round robin game on Wednesday.


The other semi-final saw Stephen Maguire, who finished 2nd in the group with 4 wins from 6, but losing a little momentum from losing his final group game 3-2 to Ricky Walden who finished 5th, take on Martin Gould who finished 3rd with 3 wins from 6 after wins against Walden and Perry on day 2 saw him into the semi-finals.


The semi-finals didn't go according to the round-robin form book though, as 3rd place finished Martin Gould thrashed 2nd placed Maguire 3-0 in the semi-finals to avenge his 3-2 defeat in the group stages. He then played Judd Trump in the final after he avenged his defeat from just a couple of hours before 3-2 against Shaun Murphy. Having led 2-0, Shaun battled back well to force the decider well, but Judd potted some amazing balls in the decider and Shaun Murphy didn't really have a chance, as Judd took the win.


Martin Gould was completely outplayed in the final as Judd started off with a break of 119 to take the opening frame, and then early breaks of 36 and 34 were enough to put Trump 2-0 in front and 1 frame from the title. It looked like Trump would get there in the 3rd, as a break of 64 put him 58 points ahead with 59 on, but a superb 59 clearance from Martin Gould kept him in the match at 1-2. However, Judd Trump won in style in the 4th frame as a break of 109 gave the 24 year old the Championship League top prize for the 2nd time in his career and a place in next seasons Champion of Champions.


Judd played very well on the last day, and played with maximum professionalism throughout the day, particularly in his final group game with Shaun Murphy, where both players have to be given credit for giving it 100% despite both players already being through. It seemed like he was back to his best, and if he can carry that through to China then he has every chance of victory in the Haikou World Open next week.


I'll be back to preview that tournament over the weekend and I'm looking forward to it already.

Championship League Winners Group: Day 1 round-up

The Championship League winners group is looking very tight after the first day, with 4 players locked on 2 points from their opening games, while Stephen Maguire has had a decent day, with 3 points from his first 4 games, while Joe Perry is in trouble with 0 wins from his first 3 games, while defending champion Martin Gould has had 1 win from 3 games, though given the amount of frames he's won he still has a great chance.


Let's have a look at today's results then:


Ricky Walden 3-1 Joe Perry
Stephen Maguire 3-2 Judd Trump
Martin Gould 3-2 Shaun Murphy
Ricky Walden 3-0 Ryan Day
Judd Trump 3-2 Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy 3-1 Stephen Maguire
Ryan Day 3-2 Martin Gould
Judd Trump 3-1 Ricky Walden
Stephen Maguire 3-1 Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy 3-0 Ryan Day
Ryan Day 3-0 Judd Trump
Stephen Maguire 3-2 Martin Gould


Just a reminder of tomorrow's remaining round-robin games:


Ricky Walden Vs Martin Gould
Joe Perry Vs Shaun Murphy
Stephen Maguire Vs Ryan Day
Judd Trump Vs Martin Gould
Joe Perry Vs Ryan Day
Ricky Walden Vs Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy
Joe Perry Vs Martin Gould
Ricky Walden Vs Stephen Maguire




Now for the table after proceedings on Day 1:


Maguire: Played 4  Won 3  Frames won 10  Frames lost 8  Points 3
Murphy: Pld  3  Won 2  Frames won 8  Frames lost 4  Points 2
Trump: Pld 4  Won 2  Frames won 8  Frames lost 9  Points 2
Walden: Pld 3  Won 2  Frames won 7  Frames lost 4  Points 2
Day: Pld 4  Won 2  Frames won 6  Frames Lost 8  Points 2
Gould: Pld 3  Won 1  Frames won 7  Frames Lost 8  Points 1
Perry: Pld 3  Won 0  Frames won 4  Frames Lost 9  Points 0




It all looks very close and a touch confusing, and there isn't really any easy games for me to really rate who has the best chance of making the semi-finals. Normally in these circumstances you'd say that Maguire should be through, already having 3 points, which is usually enough, but with 4 players on 2 it could be a lot closer if he doesn't get another win tomorrow. Murphy and Walden obviously have slight advantages over Trump and Day who are all on 2 points, with Shaun and Ricky having an extra match tomorrow to get the 2 wins they'd need to be certain, with Murphy looking in the best situation if he could get 1 more win tomorrow and not lose too heavily in his other 2 matches, though he won't be looking at it like that. Martin Gould will need at least a couple of wins from his 3 remaining games and looking at how many frame wins he's got already, while Joe Perry really needs to win his remaining 3 group games and hope other results go his way.


As I've already stated it all looks incredibly close for tomorrow to see who gets into the semi-finals but once it's all sorted out, the likes of Maguire and Murphy (with 2 centuries today) looked to have been playing well today and I think they both have very good chances of winning, while there a few outsiders who can also go on and win it. Whatever happens it makes for a very exciting ending to Championship league snooker at Crondon Park in 2014.

Championship League Winners Group 2014 Preview

Today and Thursday see the culmination of what will be 16 days of snooker in total at Crondon Park in the Championship League. The event is broadcast on the internet only, on the World Snooker and usual betting streams, and the format has seen 7 groups of 7 players with the winner making up a 7 man strong winners group. The men involved in the winners group are: Ricky Walden, Joe Perry, Judd Trump, Stephen Maguire, Shaun Murphy, Martin Gould and Ryan Day.


Here are the fixtures for the round robin games:


Wednesday 5th March:


Ricky Walden Vs Joe Perry
Judd Trump Vs Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy Vs Martin Gould
Ryan Day Vs Ricky Walden
Joe Perry Vs Judd Trump
Stephen Maguire Vs Shaun Murphy
Martin Gould Vs Ryan Day
Ricky Walden Vs Judd Trump
Joe Perry Vs Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy Vs Ryan Day
Judd Trump Vs Ryan Day
Martin Gould Vs Stephen Maguire


Thursday 6th March:


Ricky Walden Vs Martin Gould
Joe Perry Vs Shaun Murphy
Stephen Maguire Vs Ryan Day
Judd Trump Vs Martin Gould
Joe Perry Vs Ryan Day
Ricky Walden Vs Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy
Joe Perry Vs Martin Gould
Ricky Walden Vs Stephen Maguire


Semi- Finals:
Group Place 1st Vs Group Place 4th
Group Place 2nd Vs Group 3rd


The Final




Here's what I make of the chances of the 7 players battling out for the title of 2014 Championship League winner and a place in the 2014 Champion of Champions:


Ricky Walden: Ricky was the winner of the first group, playing some decent snooker, but nothing special and I did wonder at the time how he won the final against Judd Trump. His form has been nothing special since then with a quarter-final at the Masters and a Last 16 at the Welsh Open in the only 2 tournaments he's been in since. Looking at the other players in the group and some of the momentum they'll be bringing in with them, it's hard to see Ricky making the semi-finals, especially as he could be a touch short on match practice and will need a good start.
Predicted Finish: 6th in the group


Joe Perry: Joe was the winner of group 2 in a very impressive group performance only losing 1 group game, before getting a decent semi-final win and beating Trump 3-0 in 30 minutes in the group final. He's played very well all season and has backed that up recently by making the Welsh Open semi-finals and the German Masters quarter-finals, losing on both occasions to Ding Junhui. I think Perry is certainly a dark horse for the win this in the next couple of days, having been in good form all season and starting to beat some of the best players again.
Predicted Finish: Losing semi-finalist


Judd Trump: Judd was the winner of group 3, having also been in the finals of groups 1 and 2, and he's played some decent snooker in the last month or 2, and hasn't played particularly badly all year, but he seems to have been lacking a bit of the cutting edge he had around a year or two ago, and also lacking a large portion of luck this year. If the luck could just turn Judd's way for the next couple of days, it could kick start his season with 4 ranking events still to play, and if he could gain some confidence here, he could use it to go on and win a big one. He made the German Masters final at the start of February and had it not been for some Ding brilliance he could well have taken the title there. I think he'll go far this week.
Predicted Finish: Group Winner


Stephen Maguire: Stephen won group 4 of the Championship League at his first attempt, avoiding the same embarrassments of last year when he played on 6 groups only not to make the winners group. Maguire's been playing ok but not great recently, though he was suffering from back problems in Wales last week where he was knocked out in the last 16. If he has been able to recover enough to get some good practice in for this one then he has every chance of winning this, though things could crash and burn for him if he hasn't been able to shake off the pain of last week.
Predicted Finish: Group runner-up


Shaun Murphy: Shaun won group 5 of the Championship League about a month ago, just a couple of days after winning the Gdynia Open. Shaun is probably one of the form men of this group, though he hasn't made it past the Last 16 in a full ranking event this season, and after a surprising Last 32 defeat at the Welsh Open from 3-1 up, he will want to put all that behind him with a good performance. Shaun's been working hard ahead of the month of snooker, but he won't just be regarding this as match practice, he'll by trying 100% for the win. I'd be slightly surprised if he didn't make the group semi-finals.
Predicted Finish: Losing group semi-finalist


Martin Gould: Martin group 6 of the Championship League, and is the defending champion from last year so he clearly is a big fan of the short format at Crondon Park. However, I was pretty surprised when he won group 6 after playing pretty badly all season, and then he followed it up with a loss in the China Open qualifier and a Last 64 loss in the Welsh Open, so he is clearly struggling and with a winners group full of top players, he might not be able to turn things around in the next 2 days.
Predicted Finish: 7th in the group


Ryan Day: Ryan was the winner of group 7 just yesterday, and has played pretty well in the 4 groups he was involved in. Often the group 7 winner has been able to take some of their momentum into the winners group and have a good run, and I wouldn't be surprised if Day managed this as well, especially as he has been playing some decent stuff away from Crondon as well, making the German Masters semi-finals. I think he has a great chance of making the semi-finals, but unfortunately so does everyone else in the group, so it will be very tough for the Welshman.
Predicted Finish: 5th in the group




Anyway, whatever happens it will be a good couple of days of snooker at Crondon Park, and I'm looking forward to watching as much of it as I can unfold on the streams as the Championship League is one of my favourite little events for some strange reason.

Prince of Wales Ronnie O'Sullivan has broken the back of the snooker system

Ronnie O'Sullivan won the Welsh Open title last night for the 3rd time beating 4 time ranking winner of the season so far Ding Junhui 9-3 in the final.


Ding was nowhere near his best in the opening session having several chances to win several of the frames, but he couldn't seem to take any of them, going from a position where he could have been at 4-4 had he taken his chances, to 1-7 down after the first session of 8 frames, and Ronnie (who'd made a couple of 90 breaks) only 2 frames from taking the title. The final session started off with Ding Junhui showing us how close the final could've been had he taken his first session chances making 2 centuries to close the gap to 3-7. He had another chance in the next to steal the frame from Ronnie, but he couldn't take it and O'Sullivan put himself a frame from victory at 3-8. Ronnie O'Sullivan then went on and won the match in only a way that Ronnie O'Sullivan could win a match and a tournament, with a maximum 147 break. It showed how sublimely Ronnie had been playing and brought the roof off of the Newport Centre, especially when he had to play the last red left handed, from the right side cushion in the top half of the table, and play a deep screw shot to get back on the black. Despite playing the black left-handed he played the shot to perfection, and better than 99% of tour players would have played it with their "stronger hands".


It showed the genius of the man that is Ronnie O'Sullivan, who many people now believe is currently the best British sportsman, which begs the question as to how this man (who is the best player by a country mile in his chosen sport) was not nominated for sports personality last year, and if he doesn't get nominated this year I think there will be an even bigger up roar than there was last year. However, Ronnie's performances in Wales this week also show how he has mastered the snooker system to his advantage, something that no other player on tour has been able to do. Ronnie does a fantastic job of picking and choosing his events to ensure that he is not only fresh when it matters, but so that he is happy in himself and able to find a balance between his snooker, his family and social lives. In fact you could see yesterday in the Welsh Open final that he was probably the happiest he has been playing snooker, and enjoying playing the game, more than he has done for many, many years. What Ronnie does is play some of the smaller PTC events in Europe, whilst making sure that he is fresh and ready for the big UK events like the UK Championship, Masters, Welsh Open and the World Championship. Meanwhile, while Ronnie has his feet up at home or is out for a nice relaxing run, the rest of the snooker players are slogging their guts out travelling here, there and everywhere to win a race that has this season become about coming 2nd place to either Ronnie, Ding or Neil Robertson. Are the very top players benefiting from playing every week? In most cases the answer is no! Only on a few occasions do you see players play themselves into good form, and that mostly still comes from their hard work and dedication off of the table. With players playing so much though, do they put in enough practice? In some cases the answer could again be no. Having won 3 ranking events prior to Christmas, Ding Junhui was so tired by the UK Championships, that after that he went home to China and had 2 weeks complete rest and came back for the Masters terribly unprepared and lost in the opening round. The same thing happened to Neil Robertson before last seasons World Championship, having won the China Open to not practice as much as he knows he should have and (you guessed it) lost in the opening round. So out of the top players in the world, there really is only one player that has it right and that is Masters, Welsh Open and Champion of Champions winner Ronnie O'Sullivan.




Just a final grumble from me on this event now. I'm starting to get a little bit sick and tired of watching every event and seeing a few things. Firstly, I'm sick and tired of seeing the same players play every game on the TV table, regardless of who they are playing, before they get knocked out. The Welsh Open personified this with only having 1 TV table from the Last 64 to the Final, with Barry Hawkins being able to get to the semi-finals without actually being on TV for 1 minute of his campaign. TV companies need to find some sort of rotation policy so that regular fans aren't stuck with seeing the same names day in day out on the Televised table(s). Another grumble, this time about table conditions. I'm sick and tired of seeing the same poor table conditions at every event, without anything seemingly being done by the governing body to get it sorted despite research being done left, right and centre to find the cause of kicks and bad bounces, and the BBC even showed a feature at The Masters with Shaun Murphy having done extensive research in to what causes kicks, yet still slow progress is being made. In fact the main table was even seen to have a slight roll on more than one occasion in the semi-finals which wasn't being caused by finger marks. Finally, to bring the rant to a close, I'm going to just say a few words on the format. It's shocking that a respected world ranking event in the UK has to be played over a best-of-7 frames format from the Last 128 to the Last 16 with the quarter-finals being best-of-9 frames. This is really only for one reason and that is to fit it all in, with 4 tables and a roll-on roll-off system also being deployed. To me, until the semi-finals it really did feel like we were watching a slightly higher market PTC event, and when the Welsh Open is moved to Cardiff next year I hope they have a serious think about the format and structure of the event.




Other than that I really enjoyed a good week of snooker, and I'm now looking forward to the next thing on the snookering agenda which is the Championship League winners group on Wednesday and Thursday.

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui set up "dream" Welsh Open final

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui were able to set-up a magnificent Welsh Open final, and the final I predicted before the tournament even started, with brilliant performances in their respective semi-final matches yesterday.


Barry Hawkins started off with a century in his semi-final against Ronnie yesterday, but then had to suffer as O'Sullivan won 2 frames on the black with sublime clearances and made 3 centuries as a helpless Barry Hawkins had very few chances and suffered a 6-2 defeat.


Ding Junhui was also in superb form though in his match with Joe Perry today, dominating the early stages of the match to go from 1-0 down to 1-3 ahead at the interval. Perry soon put Ding under pressure though with 2 good frames to level at 3-3, before Ding Junhui took control again with a 2 superb breaks of 55 and 88 to move 5-3 ahead, before a 69 from Perry made it 4-5. Then we saw one of the better breaks of the tournament as Ding pulled off several pots when many players would have played safe, to keep the break going as he went on to make a match winning total clearance of 118.


Yesterday's semi-final results:
Ding Junhui 6-4 Joe Perry
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-2 Barry Hawkins




Final Preview:


Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Ding Junhui - Ding Junhui and Ronnie O'Sullivan have been a cut above every other player not only this week, but throughout the season as Ronnie has won the Masters and the Champion of Champions so far this season of the selected events that he has entered, while Ding Junhui has entered much more, and won 3 ranking events in a row earlier in the season taking the Shanghai Masters, Indian Open and International Championship titles, before winning his 4th of the season last month at the German Masters. Both have pulled out sublime snooker this week, that I believe only these 2 players can produce, which makes this final an even bigger prospect. Both have been brilliant when they needed to be, with Ding making 2 centuries to come from 4-2 down to beat Joel Walker 4-3 in the quarter-finals and going up another couple of gears from 3-3 in the semi-finals to win 6-4. As for Ronnie, he hadn't been at his sublime best all week, but hadn't needed to be until last night when he went up about 3 gears sensing the threat that Hawkins could produce, and ultimately leaving him helpless as O'Sullivan produced the snooker of the week. We all know the benefits that Ronnie has been able to reap by skipping events this year, but Ding has also been quite tactical, missing the Championship League events and the last Euro Tour event, making this his first event since he won the German Masters. Ronnie has been playing some of the best snooker of his career at the moment, and I think only  highly improved Ding Junhui both tactically and mentally can get anywhere near him, and if he can put O'Sullivan under pressure we will have a real game on, which Ronnie hasn't really had all week. I predicted this final at the events start, and then tipped Ding to win it back then, and I believe he could pull off what many would consider an upset today, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me.


Prediction: 9-7 to Ding Junhui


Whatever happens it will be a really entertaining final to end this good week of snooker from the Newport centre in Wales. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I will.

Ronnie breazes past Higgins to make semi's, comeback Ding beats young Walker

Ronnie O'Sullivan thrashed a very below par John Higgins yesterday afternoon to ease his way into the Welsh Open semi-finals in Newport, where has set-up a repeat of the World Championship final with Barry Hawkins, who played some sublime snooker to whitewash the man that ended the last Welsh hopes - Marco Fu.


The first semi-final this afternoon though will see Joe Perry, who beat an under performing Mark Selby 5-1 yesterday evening whilst also playing pretty well himself. He'll be up against Ding Junhui, who is searching for his 5th ranking title of the season, after Ding came back from 4-2 down against impressive young Joel Walker, making consecutive centuries in frames 8 and the decider to win the match.


Quarter-Final results:


Ding Junhui 5-4 Joel Walker
Joe Perry 5-1 Mark Selby
Barry Hawkins 5-0 Marco Fu
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-1 John Higgins


Semi-finals Preview: (Picks in bold)


Ding Junhui Vs Joe Perry - Both players have played well and had some good victories this week, Perry has had the much tougher route so far beating Stevens and Bingham in deciders and thrashing a very below par Mark Selby who gave him lots of chances. One thing Perry won't get a lot of today is chances, just as many players have found out this season, including Joe in the German Masters quarter-finals. Ding has been scoring well all year, and again this week digging in when he's needed to and showing his class in times when things haven't looked so good. I fancied him to win the event before the start, and think he can go and finish it off now.
- I'm going for 6-3 to Ding Junhui as my correct score tip.


Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Barry Hawkins - Much like the 2013 World Championship final when these 2 met, I think this match will be a lot closer than everybody thinks it will be. Barry Hawkins has played really well in his last 3 matches, especially last evening when he made very light work of a tough opponent in Marco Fu, making 2 centuries along the way, and his good scoring has been a feature of his Newport week so far. Ronnie hasn't really needed to be at his best so far this week, but has still looked very good without being at his absolute best. Barry will offer O'Sullivan his biggest test so far by far, and I think this will be a high quality, entertaining and close match. 
- 6-4 to Ronnie O'Sullivan is my tip.




One thing you can guarantee is that whoever todays winners are, Sunday's best-of-17 final will be a very entertaining contest.