Moment of the Month - February: Shaun Murphy Gdynia Open win with 147

It's time for day 2 of my moment of the month countdown which is all building towards my big reveal of the Moment of 2014 on 2nd January. Today we go back to February to have a look back on Shaun Murphy's win at the Gdynia Open with a 147 on the same day. What a moment it was!!!


This moment came on Sunday 9th February when Shaun Murphy managed to win his first tournament since the 2011 Brazil Masters and his first event of any kind of ranking importance (this being a minor-ranking event) since the 2011 PTC Grand Finals. This win also secured that Shaun would be at the PTC Grand Finals for the first time since he won it back then. This moment was incredibly special to Shaun Murphy because he'd been working so hard over the season to this point, without anything to really show for it in terms of victories or even a good tournament. Despite making the Masters semi-finals he was incredibly upset with his performance and suggested that his time of winning tournaments was done and that he may have to look for something else as well as snooker. So to then come into this event with low expectations, and win it with some really really good snooker was amazing for him and this probably meant as much as any of his 4 full ranking titles.


He came into the final day, having played his opening 3 matches to get to the Last 16 on the Friday, with good wins against Jamie O'Neill, Stuart Bingham (making 2 total clearances to go 2-0 up in that match) and Tian Pengfei. He'd played well on that day, and with some big names not entering this event, and a few others getting knocked out early, or showing generally poorer form, I really fancied Shaun's chances of winning the whole thing going into the Sunday.


He started off on an outside table against Jamie Jones, quickly going 2-0 up in that match, before being pegged back to 2-2 after 2 good breaks from Jones. Jamie led by 38 points early in the 5th after a break of 49, but Shaun Murphy hit back with a 48 clearance to move 3-2 up. Shaun then produced the first magic moment of the day to win the match 4-2, knocking in his 2nd 147 within a month (having made one in January at group 2 of the Championship League) and then exchanging high fives with the crowd, and presenting his 147 chalk to a young fan.


As tense as things became for Shaun was in the quarter-final as he took up residence on the Televised table, this time for a match with Stephen Maguire. After the first frame could've gone either way, but eventually went the way of the Scot, Murphy won the next 2 to go 2-1 in front with a high break of 51. Maguire levelled again with a break of 98 before a 42 and a 37 in the next put Stephen one from victory at 3-2. Murphy's response was to make the first century of the match, a superb break of 128 to force a decider. The decider was very scrappy and tense, but an early break of 43 from Shaun eventually turned into enough to win the match 4-3 and move into the semi-finals.


Possibly the best match of the week for Shaun was his match against Matthew Selt, as his cue ball control throughout the match was immaculate and his long pot was excellent as it had been all week. Nice breaks of 95 and 79 put Murphy into a very quick 2-0 lead, before a good break of Selt's own (a 71) got him back into the match at 2-1. He wasn't back into it for long though with runs of 54 and 77 putting Shaun into the final with a 4-1 win.


In the final he met a very tough opponent in Ireland's Fergal O'Brien and the first frame of the match was very scrappy, and lent itself more to Fergal's slower tactical style than Shaun's style, and particularly the attacking style that had come off for him so well this week. However, with terrific pots on the brown and blue, Murphy put himself 1-0 in front in the Gdynia Open final, before breaks of 75, 65 and 63 put Murphy 3-0 ahead of O'Brien who'd only had the odd chance himself, but was still 1 frame from defeat. Fergal kept on fighting though, and needed 3 chances to win the 4th frame, which he eventually did to keep in it at 1-3. Shaun Murphy finished off though in true champions style with yet another century, a 103 this time to win the match 4-1 and take the 2014 Gdynia Open title.


After the match, Shaun was very complimentary about Fergal O'Brien, saying that he always gives 100% on every shot and that he is a role model for all young snooker players. He also thanked his manager, coach Chris Henry and all of his family for being there through tough times on the table, and for keeping him going. It was really great to see Shaun Murphy win the title though, and I for one will say that he truly deserved it for being a great ambassador for the sport, showing that lots of hard work on and off of the table does eventually come good.


Well done to Shaun Murphy there in February for that one, and be sure to come back tomorrow to find out what was my moment of the month for March.

Player of the Month - February: Ding Junhui

It's day 2 of my feature looking back at the best players of the year, and today we have February's Player of the month who is Ding Junhui. Here are my thoughts on how Ding went all the months ago and throughout the last season or so:


Ding's February looked pretty formidable starting on the 1st of the month with a good win in a classic semi-final of the German Masters against Ryan Day, before winning the event and securing his 4th ranking title of the year with a truly superb performance to beat Judd Trump in the final. He then came back at the back end of February for the Welsh Open in Newport and by the time February was out Ding had reached the semi-finals, and he ended up losing in the final on March 2nd. One of the performances that showed how far Ding has come this year, was actually his quarter-final win on the last day of February 5-4 against young Joel Walker having been 4-2 down.


Ding had gotten to the Welsh Open quarter-finals with wins against Gary Wilson, Jamie Cope, Ben Woollaston and Scott Donaldson and he'd played pretty well, but had only really been put under any kind of pressure by Woollaston, so he knew this would be a new test. Ding got out of the blocks well with a 74 in the opener, but Walker showed some of what he was made of in the next with a 78 to level the game up. A 64 in the third gave Ding the advantage again, before Walker squared the contest at the mid-session break taking a scrappy frame. Joel looked really good after the interval with breaks of 74 and 101 to put himself 4-2 up and 1 frame from victory. The 19 year-old had chances in the 7th frame to win the match, but a break of 52 helped keep the Chinaman in the match, and a missed long red from Walker in the 8th led to Ding forcing a decider with a 139 total clearance. The former Welsh Open champion, showed what he's made of in the decider, as he has done many times already this season, with a run of 104 making consecutive centuries for Ding Junhui to win the match.


I think that has been the difference with Ding Junhui in the last season or 2 and that has been his ability to dig in in difficult situations, and play some of his better snooker under pressure. In times gone by his head might have dropped when he was behind and things weren't going his way, and on occasions that still happens but nowhere near as often as it used to. At the end of the day, this is the difference between him winning the Shanghai Masters, Indian Open, International Championship and the German Masters and ending up with lots of Last 16, quarter-final and semi-final appearances like some other players I could think of. At the end of the day, as a lot of wise players say, snooker (and a lot of sports) are all about the six inches between the ears.


We can also see though, how much work Ding Junhui has put into his game to start performing so consistently, and reel of a number of frames against any player at any time with some sublime snooker. If any proof was needed of this it is when Ding beat Judd Trump 9-5 on February 2nd in the German Masters final. Ding Junhui found himself 4-2 down with 2 frames left of the afternoon session, before making breaks of 51 and 81 to make it 4-4 going into the evening session, leaving Trump probably a touch disappointed. From this point, Ding Junhui played some absolutely stunning snooker barely giving Trump a chance, and turning an even game of snooker, into a massively 1 sided affair within about 1 hour or so. Runs of 125, 101 and 72 left Judd Trump 7-4 down and 2 frames from defeat having not even potted a ball in the evening session. Trump was soon feeling the pressure and then at 8-4 down and only a frame from defeat the game was up and Ding Junhui had broken the back of yet another match in his amazing season.



Not only is Ding Junhui my player of the month for February, but he is already a strong candidate for my player of 2014. But who will the other candidates be? Don't forget to come back tomorrow to find out March's Player of the Month.

Classic Matches of 2014 Coutndown: 11th Place: Ding Junhui Vs Joel Walker

It's day 2 of my 12 days of Christmas, classic matches of 2014 countdown and in 11th place for us today we have Ding Junhui Vs Joel Walker from the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open on Friday 28th February. On paper, Ding Junhui should've been a comfortable winner you'd think, but matches are played and won on paper...

Ding Junhui Vs Joel Walker:

This was the biggest match of Joel Walkers career so far but it didn’t get off to a great start as he left a long red on for Ding Junhui who duly made it, landing on the pink to give him the first scoring chance of the match. He made the most of this chance making a very well worked 74 to take the opening frame and move 1-0 up. A brilliant safety shot earned Ding Junhui the first chance in the second frame, as Walker left an easy red on from the snooker Ding was able to lay. However, he missed the black on 1 and left a good chance for Joel to get his hand on the table at the business end for the first time in the match. Walker settled in immediately and soon made it into a clear cut chance with a 78 to level the scores at 1-1.  A missed 3 ball plant at the beginning of the third left Joel Walker a chance with a red over the corner pocket and the black available, so he’d have been hoping to get some useful early points. The young man had gotten to 32 before leaving himself badly hampered on a tough red which he missed and left for Ding, but he could only make 10 before being forced to play safe. After an elongated period of safety and a miss from either player, it was Joel that had the next chance, though he missed a simple red to the middle and handed that chance back to Ding. A 62 this time for Ding was plenty for him to regain his lead at 2-1. A missed long red from Ding early in frame four gave Walker an opening to make some early points, but a cannon on 22 went wrong for him and left him a very tough pot to the top corner pocket which he missed and left over to the middle for China’s No.1. Position from the red was tough and he was only left with a tricky black into the left middle which he just overcooked. A poor snooker escape shortly after from the young man left Ding another chance to build a lead in the frame, but only a further 7 was added before he missed a testing yellow, although he wasn’t made to wait long for his next opportunity, but again very little was added before he screwed in off in the middle pocket. From that ball in hand, Walker knocked in a smashing long red, landing on the pink, but it was only a red and pink that he could pot before missing again. The next opening fell to Ding, and it looked like a good opportunity to win the frame at that visit, until he over hit position on the final red and missed a very thin cut. The safety battle on the final red became of key importance, especially to Joel who was already 12 points behind. It was the former Welsh Open champion who knocked in the final red but he failed to get on a colour for position on the yellow and played safe. After Joel was left a chance at the yellow to the middle a superb clearance followed with super pots on the green and black particularly squared the match up going into the mid-session break at 2-2.

Following the mid-session break I was Joel Walker who had the first real chance after Ding Junhui missed an already tricky red thanks to a crunching kick. It soon looked like being a very fruitful visit to the table and that’s exactly what it was as a break of 74 from young Walker saw him take a 3-2 advantage in this brilliant quarter-final. An incredibly well picked out long red got Walker back in straight away in frame six with what was already a very good chance to score heavy with the reds spread. Once in prime position it looked like being another frame winning break as Joel started gaining in confidence, and it was a very impressive century of 101 that put him two frames in front and one more from the semi-finals at 4-2.

Needing one further frame for victory Walker knocked in another confident long red to get in again in frame seven, but on 9 he failed to get through the reds and back onto the black when going into the pack off of another red, and was forced to head up the table for safety. Joel had the next chance as well when Ding left him an easy red to the middle, but he only added 8 before missing a red with awkward cueing. The Chinaman played a solid red to the middle, playing for the pink and all of a sudden things were looking very inviting for him to make a big break and pull a frame back. However, he couldn’t land nicely on a baulk colour on 8 and he missed the green with the rest, but when Walker returned the favour, Ding was straight back to the table with another great frame winning chance. This time around he made the most of that opening as a contribution of 52 looked like it would be enough to win the frame, until he potted the black and went in off leading by 36 now with 43 on the table. Walker potted the penultimate red with the black to cut the deficit to 28 with 35 on the table, which meant that the frame was heading to an important battle on the final red. That was until Ding cooked up a clever double to the top corner, pulling a frame back to 3-4. A bit of comedy started frame eight off as Ding Junhui was lining up a safety shot when he marginally nudged the cue ball which was glued to the top cushion, and Walker asked to have him put back resulting in some laughter and referee  Leo Scullion duly touching the cue ball “back into place”. It was Ding that had the last laugh though as Joel left him in after a long attempt. Like all good champions, the 2012 Newport champion needed to find an extra gear and bounce back to get back into the match and push the pressure back onto to Joel. Once into the pack on 58 he looked like doing exactly that and forcing the deciding frame and a superb ton of his own, a 139, completed the fight back, and sent the match into a decider at 4-4.

Joel Walker potted the first ball of the decider but he wasn’t nicely on a colour and missed a tough green to pass the early chance back to his opponent. Once in and around the black spot it looked like a good opening for Ding Junhui to take a sizeable advantage in this final frame. After potting a tough black to move the break along to 53, he was back in perfect position and the reds were nicely position for Ding to win frame and match here and now. It wasn’t much longer until he was over the line and Ding finished off in style with consecutive centuries as a break of 104 this time saw him into the Welsh Open semi-finals with a 5-4 victory over Joel Walker.

 

Another amazing comeback from Ding Junhui there in February, and he is one man that always seems to find himself in these amazing matches, but all credit to Joel Walker for playing his part and having a great tournament that week in Wales. What other players are we going to have on our list? Well come back tomorrow for day 3 of the countdown to find out who will take 10th place.

Moment of the Month: January: On song Dale wins Snooker Shoot-out

As with the Player of the Month/Year feature the Moment of the Month feature is another new one for the blog as I countdown the best moments of the year over the next 12 days on a month by month basis before deciding moment of the year from the 12 candidates on January 2nd.

To get us underway then... here is the moment of the month for January:

The Snooker shoot-out always provides some good fun and laughs in Blackpool in late January, giving something different to the snooker tour with an entertaining weekend of 10 minute matches under a strict shot clock in front of boisterous crowds, who lap up every single minute of action every year, as well as giving the players a welcome break and a relaxing three days playing the sport they love – in a completely different way.

In January 2014 it was the turn of Dominic Dale to join in the fun as he won the snooker shoot-out with victories over Fergal O’Brien, former champion Barry Hawkins, Mark Allen, Andrew Higginson, Ryan Day and finally Stuart Bingham before singing at the end as was as earlier promised by Dominic to Andy Goldstein the Sky Sports Presenter some Frank Sinatra.

The weekend certainly brought a smile to Dominic’s face who was enjoying every minute rushing around the table, and laughing in his post-match talks on air with Andy Goldstein, before singing a small snippet of Sinatra at the end which certainly brought a smile to my face and probably many more snooker fans. At the end of the day that’s what these moments are all about, putting a smile on the faces of the fans and giving them something different and something extra on top of the rigorous competition of ordinary tour snooker which is on the TV, which is why Dominic Dale’s shoot-out victory with bleach blonde hair and Sinatra performance at the end is my moment of the month for January. 

 

As I say, come back tomorrow to find out February's moment of the month as decided by myself, and every day until the winner is chosen from the 12 candidates on January 2nd!

Player of the Month: January: Ronnie O'Sullivan

This is another new feature for the Christmas period where I go back through 2014 month by month looking at who the best players were in each period, before deciding on the Player of the year which will be announced on the 2nd January, after the day by day revealing of the player of the month winners. As with my classic matches the winners have been decided based on my opinions, and to set the scene a player can only win one individual month so there will be 12 different candidates for the player of the year.

Here are my thoughts on January's player of the month:

As the New Year rolled in, so did the prestigious Masters event at the Alexandra Palace which saw the top 16 do battle for the second triple crown event of the 2013/2014 season. One of the men to beat that week was always going to be world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, but the Rocket was in a mean mood on this particular occasion playing some truly sensational snooker in London. On his way to winning the title, O’Sullivan only lost 7 frames in total, with comfortable victories against Robert Milkins, Ricky Walden, Stephen Maguire and again in the final against Mark Selby. Over the course of the Masters week there wouldn’t have been a player in the world who could have beaten Ronnie and you could say that is some of the best snooker he’s ever played at times, especially in the match against Ricky Walden who did next to nothing wrong in a match where he was whitewashed.

Is Ronnie now entering his prime? His performances in tournaments since this event would suggest so, winning February’s Welsh Open before coming into the 2014/2015 season with a win in Coventry at the Champion of Champions and in York at the UK Championships. As 2014 comes to a close, Ronnie needs only 2 more centuries to equal Stephen Hendry’s centuries record and 3 more to beat it, and you certainly wouldn’t bet against him doing so at the Alexandra Palace in early January as he defends the Masters title he won in such style this year.

The top performances from Ronnie at the Masters have to be against Ricky Walden where he broke the unanswered points record racking up 556 points without reply, but Walden certainly didn’t play badly. Breaks of 79, 88, 72, 134, 77 and 56 were testament to that fact that it was all Ronnie in a match that lasted under an hour of playing time.

The final was the match that really earned him the title of January’s player of the month though as he totally dominated and demolished his great rival Mark Selby. Mark was never in the match in the opening session of the match finding himself 5-0 down early doors as Ronnie managed breaks of 97, 70, 96, 45 and 47 to not entirely shut Mark out, as Selby did have a chance in the fourth frame, but otherwise there was little for the Jester to go at, so he couldn’t really feel to down with himself. Mark was eventually on the board winning the sixth and he had chances in both the seventh and eighth frames but lost them both to trail 7-1 in the final, with Ronnie only needing a further 3 for victory. A break of 90 put O’Sullivan just two away at the start of the evening session at 8-1, though Selby did win himself the next two frames to make it 3-8 with a top break of 67. O’Sullivan went one away by winning the twelfth after had an early chance. Another 67 got Mark a consolation frame in the thirteenth, but the Rocket wrapped up the title and a 10-4 drubbing of Mark Selby thanks to a contribution of 72 in the last.

When he turns up and plays well as he did on this particular week O’Sullivan is unplayable and absolutely dominant, while he honestly believes that the snooker he is playing right now is some of the best snooker of his career, and who are we to argue?

 

Be sure to come back to tomorrow to find out February's player of the month as I reveal the next player in contention for player of the year, which will be announced on January 2nd, so come back for that one as well!

Classic Matches of 2014 Countdown: 12th Place: Ricky Walden Vs Barry Hawkins (2014 Masters)

After a very enjoyable time creating this feature for the Christmas and New Year period last year, it's time for the return of my 12 days of Christmas, Classic Matches of 2014 Countdown. As with last year the qualification period for matches was from the start of the 2013 UK Championships until the end of the 2014 Ruhr Open. As with last year the matches and the order has been decided by myself based on my own individual enjoyment watching the matches unfold originally.

In 12th place this year, kicking off the countdown we take a trip back to the Dafabet Masters on Wednesday 15th January when Ricky Walden took on Barry Hawkins in the Last 16, and before the match started it looked like being a very close one and so it proved...

Ricky Walden Vs Barry Hawkins:

This Masters Last 16 tie started out with both players missing a couple of chances at long reds and tricky shots, which is always expected at the start of a tough match with some early nerves flying about. It was Ricky Walden who gained the first chance after his opponent went in off playing a safety at the bottom end of the table with reds on in baulk. He only made 6 from it though missing a tricky red to the middle, leaving Hawkins right in. Barry soon made the most of what was a very good early chance, turning it into a frame winning one with a break of 85 to take a 1-0 advantage.  A loose escape early in the second left Walden the first chance to score, but again he was left with a tough shot early on in the break and he could only make 8. From that miss Barry was left a mid-range shot which he stroked in confidently to give himself a good early scoring chance. On 7 he left himself a good angle on the green to get into the pack and he did so confidently to make it an excellent opportunity for 2-0. However, he went into the pack again from the pink, failing to fall on a red, so he was forced into a safety just making 21. A sloppy safety from Ricky gave Hawkins a second chance soon after, with the reds nicely placed for him to double his lead. A timely fluke with the lead only 26 kept things ticking along in the break, and soon the lead had been doubled with a contribution of 57 proving enough for 2-0. A solid long red from Barry gave him another nice opening to score some early points in frame three. He was into the reds on 40 and after spreading them nicely it was all looking very inviting for a 3-0 Hawkins advantage. A three frame advantage it was for the left hander thanks to a magnificent total clearance of 132. An early plant gave the first chance of a vital frame 4 to Ricky Walden who desperately needed to win this frame and get on the board. An early 50 gave Walden control of the frame, though it could’ve been more had he not over hit position from the blue to the next red. With this cushion Walden took on a tough red to the middle but once it went on you expected him to win the frame until he missed the following blue off of the spot thanks to a huge kick. This left Hawkins a chance being 52 behind with 67 on and when he played a fantastic split of the 2 reds near the bottom cushion, he had the opening right there to pull off a fantastic steal and go into the interval 4-0 ahead.  Ricky was let off when Hawkins missed the penultimate red to the middle, but with a miss of his own he let the Hawk straight back in with a chance to swoop for that four frame advantage. He left the brown tough though and when he missed it Ricky would’ve been relieved to get the chance to pot brown, blue and pink to ensure that he got on the board at 1-3 at the mid-session interval, but still with plenty to do.

After the break, a nice fluke for Hawkins after a missed long red helped him get going, and leaving Ricky Walden pretty frustrated in his chair. Hawkins was going well until going out of position on 45 having gone into the reds leaving himself an all or nothing long blue to keep the break going, and as soon as that went in it looked like a great opening for a 4-1 advantage. It was the second century of the night for Hawkins and he appeared to be on top form and in a great position for the quarter-finals with the 4-1 lead. A missed long red from Barry to the baulk pocket at the start of frame six gave Ricky a nice early scoring chance, the likes of which he needed to start taking in order to overturn this deficit. A slice of bad luck going into the reds on 26 and not landing on one cut Walden’s break short though and he knew he needed to win the next safety battle. The next chance did fall to Walden after a very impressive red to the middle, and although it wasn’t clear cut, it was a decent opening to try and win this vital frame. It was a chance that Ricky made into a winner with clever little nudges to get reds away from cushions and a great break of 100 from Walden kept him in the match at 2-4 to Hawkins. A massive kick on one of Walden’s safety shots at the start of frame seven gifted Barry a nice chance at a long red which he made to get nicely on the black with the reds already nicely spread, making it a decent early frame winning opportunity. Barry made 59 before massively over hitting his positional shot and having to play safe, but still in a very good position in the frame. A roll up snooker behind the black gained Hawkins 8 points which left Walden needing snookers, but when Hawkins potted a further couple of reds that was plenty to put him into a 5-2 lead and just a frame from a spot in the Last 8. But that certainly wasn’t game over.

A shy long attempt from Hawkins at the start of frame eight left Walden a good early opening, the likes of which he now needed to take all of – having to win the remaining four frames for victory. A break of 73 left Hawkins needing 2 snookers but had he have gotten the red he missed on 73 Barry wouldn’t have returned to the table. Barry battled on a while for the snookers but eventually made the costly mistake and Walden did win the frame to pull one back at 3-5. Ricky had a terrible piece of luck at the beginning of frame nine, having nailed a brilliant long range plant, splitting the reds open nicely, but snookering himself on all 6 colours. He managed to hit the yellow in the third attempt but that was no consolation for Walden as Hawkins knocked in a great long red, getting nicely on the yellow too. However, Hawkins the missed the pink on only 4 to leave Ricky a chance to score. He made 46 before coming up short on his intended red and being forced to play safe 35 points in front with all 5 reds initially near cushions. After a poor snooker escape from Walden, Barry soon had a decent chance to claw back the deficit in this frame, but another bad miss with the rest left Ricky in again and already with a 10 point advantage. He ran out of position on 3 though and then played a horror show of a safety shot to leave Hawkins an easy starter again. The drama continued though as Barry missed the last red along the rail and left it safe. Walden leading by 10 points with 35 remaining. Ricky potted the red but didn’t get nicely on a colour so played safe snookering Hawkins on the yellow. Ricky soon played another good snooker and this one gained him enough points to only need yellow and green for the frame. Ricky potted a long yellow leaving himself a mid-range green which he missed so Barry could still clear to force a re-spotted black. At this point Hawkins produced a brilliant 25 clearance to force that re-spot, which if Hawkins won he’d win the match. Ricky won the toss and made Barry play first and Barry made a complete mess of his shot to basically leave the black over the corner pocket for Walden, who seized his chance to close the gap again at 4-5.

Frame ten then became a massive frame with huge pressure on both players, especially Hawkins who’d already spurned one good winning chance. It was the left hander who knocked in a good long red to get things going but he lost position on 6 coming in and out of baulk on the blue. He was soon back amongst the balls though and with a good chance to build a decent early lead. Barry could only add a further 20 though before playing a poor split of the reds from the blue and then missing a tricky red to the middle. The frame started to become scrappy with long periods of safety until Walden managed to knock a red in escaping from a snooker and gave himself the chance to reduce his arrears in the frame until he missed a tricky red along the cushion which he left for Barry who was already 4 points ahead. When Walden knocked a good red in down the side cushion and played a beast of a snooker behind the blue on the top cushion, several failed attempts put Walden 18 points in front before the Chester man was left a chance once Hawkins did escape, though he couldn’t land on a colour. What came next was a very much prolonged safety battle before Ricky potted the next red but once again he couldn’t get on a colour and laid a similar snooker behind the blue to the one earlier in the frame. Hawkins missed on five occasions before eventually hitting a red leaving Walden 40 points in front with just 43 remaining on the table. A poor safety from Walden though gave Hawkins the chance to keep himself in frame, potting a red and black before snookering Walden on the last red, behind the black. Ricky knocked in the last red from distance after much more safety play leaving Hawkins needing 2 snookers on the yellow. Once Ricky potted a solid yellow though that was enough for Ricky to force the decider and win the last three frames in a row from 5-2 down.

A poor escape at the start of the decider left Walden in with an early chance to score and build up what are always very handy leads in deciding frames under the huge pressures that both players would be under. He made 30 from the chance, giving him an early 34 point lead before being forced to play safe after covering his intended red with another red. After a long bout of safety once again, Hawkins missed a really tough pot into the top corner, leaving the pot on for Walden who missed and left again for Barry to have his first scoring opportunity of the decider. Hawkins made 27 before missing a tough black off of the spot, and after pot attempts from both players Hawkins made the fateful mistake going all out on a pot to the middle that he missed by some way, leaving Walden a good chance with enough balls open to leave Hawkins needing snookers. That’s exactly what Walden did going 38 points ahead with just 35 on the table as Barry came back for the one snooker he needed. It didn’t take long though for Ricky to pot the final red and force a concession from Barry Hawkins for Ricky Walden to complete a famous victory beating Barry Hawkins 6-5 from 5-2 down to get into the Masters quarter-finals.

 

What an amazing match to kick us off with a brilliant comeback from Ricky Walden to go with the brilliant break building from both players and killer tension in the final frames of the match. Of course that was only in 12th place, and the other 11 will be revealed day by day until the winner is announced on New Year's Day. Who will take 11th place? Come back tomorrow to find out!

UK Championship: Ding and Allen out as top seeds march on.

We're down to the Last 16 at the Coral UK Championships in York as the top seeds rolled on to give us a fantastic line-up in round 4 at the Barbican. The Last 32 started off on Monday afternoon with routine wins for Judd Trump over Fraser Patrick and a fine performance from John Higgins to beat Matthew Stevens. That evening Ricky Walden made back to back centuries in beating Ken Doherty comfortably while Shaun Murphy continued his good form to hold off a Jack Lisowski fight back winning that match 6-4, while Marco Fu beat Dechawat Poomjaeng on one of the non-televised arena tables. Onto Tuesday afternoon and it was routine stuff again for the likes of Neil Robertson and Ronnie O'Sullivan, while Graeme Dott produced some stunning snooker to whitewash Robert Milkins. It was on Tuesday evening that the shocks came with Ding Junhui losing 6-5 to James Cahill despite James once leading 5-1, while Mark Allen lost out 6-4 to Rod Lawler who came back from 3-0 behind.

These are all of the results from the Last 32 in full:

Neil Robertson 6-2 Peter Ebdon
Graeme Dott 6-0 Robert Milkins
Stuart Bingham 6-5 Joel Walker
Ricky Walden 6-1 Ken Doherty
John Higgins 6-2 Matthew Stevens
Anthony McGill 6-5 Nigel Bond
Matt Selt 6-4 Rory McLeod
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-2 Ben Woollaston
James Cahill 6-5 Ding Junhui
Mark Davis 6-5 Joe Perry
Judd Trump 6-3 Fraser Patrick
Rod Lawler 6-4 Mark Allen
Shaun Murphy 6-4 Jack Lisowski
Marco Fu 6-3 Dechawat Poomjaeng
Stephen Maguire 6-2 Mark Williams
David Morris 6-2 David Gilbert

This has set up a fantastic line-up for the Last 16 across Wednesday and Thursday with all the matches now being on Televised tables as we get down to a two table set up for the remainder of the event. This is how the Last 16 draw looks with tips as always provided (not always successfully, especially not this week) by myself.

Last 16 Draw: (Picks in bold)

Neil Robertson Vs Graeme Dott
Stuart Bingham Vs Ricky Walden
John Higgins Vs Anthony McGill
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Matt Selt
Mark Davis Vs James Cahill
Judd Trump Vs Rod Lawler
Shaun Murphy Vs Marco Fu
Stephen Maguire Vs David Morris

We're well into this tournament now but there are still plenty of top contenders left in the tournament for this title and I'm expecting to see plenty of brilliant snooker for the rest of the tournament as the battle to win the first triple crown event of the season finds another gear. I'll be back on Friday morning for a preview of all of the Quarter-final games in full and a look back on the action on Wednesday and Thursday.