Ronnie O'Sullivan stormed to the group 1 victory on day 3 of the Champion of Champions with a whitewash of Hong Kong's Marco Fu in the group final 6-0. Earlier in the day Ronnie produced some sublime snooker when he was under pressure against Stuart Bingham, winning that group semi-final 4-2. The standard wasn't fantastic that was produced in the other group semi by Marco Fu and Shaun Murphy with both players missing some quite easy balls and struggling really to get going, especially Murphy, while Fu dug in as he always does when he's struggling to win that one 4-1.
Group Semi-Finals:
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-2 Stuart Bingham - The standard produced in this one was fantastic with a 50+ break winning every frame with 3 centuries in the match, which is always good going for a best-of-7. The match started off well as he dominated the first frame with a break of 60 to lead 1-0. Stuart fought back nicely with a break of 107 in the second frame to level the match at 1-1 before a break of 62 in a frame where both players had chances was enough to see him over the line to a 2-1 lead. At this stage Stuart must've fancied his chances of winning the game big time, but with the Rocket you never know what's coming next, although you can usually speculate that it will be a huge response. From getting into a 2-1 lead Stuart went on to score one more point in the match, as O'Sullivan levelled the match with a break of 83, before taking the lead with a 115 in the fifth. He then made it consecutive centuries to kill off the match as a break of 103 saw him over the line and into the group final with a 4-2 victory that was very well earned.
Marco Fu 4-1 Shaun Murphy - The only thing to say about this match is that it was a big struggle for both players, certainly to start with that is, as the players reminded us fans and bloggers how hard the game is missing balls that you certainly wouldn't expect players in the top 10 in the world to be missing. The first frame was scrappy but Murphy made a 50 break on the way to winning it and taking a 1-0 lead. The next frame was scrappy again with both players having chances, Fu first but he missed a simple ball to the middle when well in, but Murphy did the same thing with the pink a few shots later and Fu didn't need a second invitation to seize and take the frame. This was pretty much the theme for the rest of the match with Fu getting the early chances but Murphy not being able to seize when his came along and letting Fu back in, just as he did in frame three with Fu taking a 2-1 lead. After an early chance from Murphy didn't amount to anything, Fu was on a break of 56 when he threw in an elementary miss on a straight red that happened to be frame ball, but Murphy missed immediately to let Marco back in to take a 3-1 lead. Shaun had an early chance in frame five as well from a good long pot, but he could only make 15 before going into the reds and not landing nicely on a colour, taking on a risky blue with awkward cueing, but when he missed it was Marco's match for the taking and this time he took it without much drama as a break of 80 sent him into the final a 4-1 winner.
Group Final:
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-0 Marco Fu - Marco Fu knew that he had to improve if he was going to have any chance of beating O'Sullivan in this match, but unfortunately for Marco he couldn't improve to any sort of required amount and when you're playing Ronnie he will smell weakness a mile off and pounce all over it. The match started off without Marco potting a ball in the opening two frames as breaks of 75 and 71 put O'Sullivan 2-0 up. Marco had an early chance in frame three but he couldn't make anything of it which was probably a product of being shut out of the opening couple of frames, as a break of 62 put O'Sullivan 3-0 up in very quick time. The fourth frame was huge in the context of the match as Marco had enormous chances to win it, but it was O'Sullivan that took it on the black after earlier breaks of 45 from Fu and 61 from Ronnie. At 4-0 you certainly felt there was no way back for O'Sullivan and that 3-1 probably would've been too big a deficit for Marco but at least he'd have had a half chance. In the next frame Ronnie needed a couple of chances but a later break of 60 was enough to put him 5-0 ahead and one away from a semi-final meeting with Ding Junhui. The Rocket fired home on bonfire night (when fireworks could actually be heard loud and clear in the arena) with a display that ended up being a whitewash with the sixth frame going his way as well after Fu missed his own chances and couldn't get into the match at all which was a bit tough to watch really, just as the earlier group semi-final was. It always looked like being O'Sullivan's day in the end.
It wasn't the most entertaining day of snooker and Ronnie stormed home to victory in the end putting him in a semi-final with Ding Junhui on Saturday. There's one more group to come tomorrow (today being a rest day) and then we're on to the semi-finals on Saturday. Should be a good climax to the week.
Thursday, 6 November 2014
Wednesday, 5 November 2014
Trump storms to Group 4 victory
Judd Trump played some sublime snooker on the second day of the Champion of Champions event in Coventry, dropping just two frames on the way to his group 4 victory, booking his place in Saturday's semi-finals beating Mark Selby 6-1 in the group final. Things started off well for Mark Selby in the group semi-finals beating Steve Davis, while Judd Trump was in a dominating mood from the start of his match with Stephen Maguire where he ran out a 4-1 winner. In the interviews he completed afterwards for ITV4 he seemed to have matured a great deal and has admitted that he's been putting in a lot more practice over the last few months having "slacked off" for the 2 or so years previous, and now he wants to reap the rewards of this work. It has to be said if he plays like he did yesterday over the weekend he'll be a big favourite for the tournament, because he looked like he could've beaten anyone put in front of him.
Group Semi-Finals
Mark Selby 4-1 Steve Davis - The match started off well for Mark Selby as he dominated the opening frame to take the lead, but Steve soon drew level in the match by taking a second frame in which both players had chances to win it, and to get on the board would've made Steve feel a lot better. Mark was soon back in front though with the first 50+ break of the match, a 68, giving him the third frame and making it 2-1. Selby dominated the next frame as well without Davis scoring a point to go one away from victory and the evening's group final at 3-1. Steve's best break of the match came in the fifth frame with a break of 53 giving him the chance to perhaps force another frame but a superb clearance of 64 from Mark gave him the frame and the match, 4-1.
Judd Trump 4-1 Stephen Maguire - If you're a Stephen Maguire fan there's not much to say about your man in this match as he was dominated pretty much from start to finish. Judd Trump took the opening frame with a break of 82, while he doubled his lead by taking the second frame with the days first century, a 106. An early 37 had Maguire under pressure, and when he missed a mid-range red having been cold on table time for two and a half frames it was no surprise to see Trump knock in an outrageous red and make a 66 break from it to go 3-0 ahead in very quick time, without Maguire potting a single ball in the match so far. Stephen did eventually pot a ball in the fourth frame but didn't look like potting many as a break of 55 from Judd put him very to getting over the line, however a clearance of 40 from Maguire allowed him to steal the frame by 2 points on the black and extend the match at 1-3. It wasn't extended by much though as Maguire was whitewashed again in the fifth and final frame as a run of 89 from Top Trump put him into the group final with a 4-1 win
Group Final:
Judd Trump 6-1 Mark Selby - Mark looked like he was playing well early on, getting in first in the opening frame with a break of 53, but good safety and long potting from Trump as he'd shown earlier on, allowed him to get back into the frame and win it on the pink to move 1-0 ahead. Judd soon doubled that lead by winning the key safety battle in frame two as Mark failed to take his earlier chances once more and things were already looking dangerous for Mark being 2-0 down to a player in this kind of form. The world champion soon steadied the ship in the third by dominating that frame and closing the gap at 1-2. From here though Judd completely shut Selby out, as the man from Leicester only scored a further 12 points in the match. It took Trump two chances to close out frame four but he did close it out and Selby already looked in huge trouble when he went into the mid-session break 3-1 behind. It didn't get any better from there as Mark was shut completely out of the next two frames as breaks of 68 and 70 helped Trump along to a 5-1 advantage, one away from a place in Saturday's semi-finals. As you'd expect from a player of Judd's class in the form he was in yesterday, he finished the match off in style in the seventh frame with the highest break of the match, the group and the tournament so far knocking in a 119 to win the match 6-1 and sending Selby home, wondering what he really did wrong in that encounter.
Having made into the semi-finals now, Trump has three full days off before his match on Saturday where he will play the winner of Friday's group 2 involving Neil Robertson, Ali Carter, Mark Allen and Ricky Walden.
As for today though we have group 1 of the Champion of Champions involving defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan who takes on Stuart Bingham in the group semi-finals in a repeat of last years final, while Shaun Murphy plays Marco Fu straight afterwards with the two winners facing off across the best-of-11 frames in the evening. If you want to see my full preview, with a preview of todays group 1 and Friday's group 2 then it can be found here:
cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/champion-of-champions-preview.html
I'll be back tomorrow with a round-up of that group, and it should be a good one looking at the four guys involved.
Group Semi-Finals
Mark Selby 4-1 Steve Davis - The match started off well for Mark Selby as he dominated the opening frame to take the lead, but Steve soon drew level in the match by taking a second frame in which both players had chances to win it, and to get on the board would've made Steve feel a lot better. Mark was soon back in front though with the first 50+ break of the match, a 68, giving him the third frame and making it 2-1. Selby dominated the next frame as well without Davis scoring a point to go one away from victory and the evening's group final at 3-1. Steve's best break of the match came in the fifth frame with a break of 53 giving him the chance to perhaps force another frame but a superb clearance of 64 from Mark gave him the frame and the match, 4-1.
Judd Trump 4-1 Stephen Maguire - If you're a Stephen Maguire fan there's not much to say about your man in this match as he was dominated pretty much from start to finish. Judd Trump took the opening frame with a break of 82, while he doubled his lead by taking the second frame with the days first century, a 106. An early 37 had Maguire under pressure, and when he missed a mid-range red having been cold on table time for two and a half frames it was no surprise to see Trump knock in an outrageous red and make a 66 break from it to go 3-0 ahead in very quick time, without Maguire potting a single ball in the match so far. Stephen did eventually pot a ball in the fourth frame but didn't look like potting many as a break of 55 from Judd put him very to getting over the line, however a clearance of 40 from Maguire allowed him to steal the frame by 2 points on the black and extend the match at 1-3. It wasn't extended by much though as Maguire was whitewashed again in the fifth and final frame as a run of 89 from Top Trump put him into the group final with a 4-1 win
Group Final:
Judd Trump 6-1 Mark Selby - Mark looked like he was playing well early on, getting in first in the opening frame with a break of 53, but good safety and long potting from Trump as he'd shown earlier on, allowed him to get back into the frame and win it on the pink to move 1-0 ahead. Judd soon doubled that lead by winning the key safety battle in frame two as Mark failed to take his earlier chances once more and things were already looking dangerous for Mark being 2-0 down to a player in this kind of form. The world champion soon steadied the ship in the third by dominating that frame and closing the gap at 1-2. From here though Judd completely shut Selby out, as the man from Leicester only scored a further 12 points in the match. It took Trump two chances to close out frame four but he did close it out and Selby already looked in huge trouble when he went into the mid-session break 3-1 behind. It didn't get any better from there as Mark was shut completely out of the next two frames as breaks of 68 and 70 helped Trump along to a 5-1 advantage, one away from a place in Saturday's semi-finals. As you'd expect from a player of Judd's class in the form he was in yesterday, he finished the match off in style in the seventh frame with the highest break of the match, the group and the tournament so far knocking in a 119 to win the match 6-1 and sending Selby home, wondering what he really did wrong in that encounter.
Having made into the semi-finals now, Trump has three full days off before his match on Saturday where he will play the winner of Friday's group 2 involving Neil Robertson, Ali Carter, Mark Allen and Ricky Walden.
As for today though we have group 1 of the Champion of Champions involving defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan who takes on Stuart Bingham in the group semi-finals in a repeat of last years final, while Shaun Murphy plays Marco Fu straight afterwards with the two winners facing off across the best-of-11 frames in the evening. If you want to see my full preview, with a preview of todays group 1 and Friday's group 2 then it can be found here:
cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/champion-of-champions-preview.html
I'll be back tomorrow with a round-up of that group, and it should be a good one looking at the four guys involved.
Tuesday, 4 November 2014
Ding wins decider to win Champion of Champions Group 4
Ding Junhui was the first man to book a place in Saturday's Champion of Champions semi-finals after he beat Barry Hawkins 6-5 in the group semi-final in a cracking match last night. Earlier in the day Ding Junhui played first and beat Dominic Dale in a tough match 4-2, while Barry Hawkins played very well in sending John Higgins home 4-1. Ding wasn't at his best today but hopefully for him, 4 full days off ahead of the semi-finals should allow him to get some heavy practice in for the last 4 and bring him in well prepared.
This is what happened yesterday in a little more detail:
Group 4 semi-finals:
Ding Junhui 4-2 Dominic Dale - Ding Junhui started the match off pretty well, with a break of 52 helping him to the opening frame, while he soon doubled his lead as Dominic struggled to settle and only scored 2 points in frames 2 and 3, with Ding Junhui taking an early 3-0 lead thanks to a break of 77 in the third. The Chinaman made a break of 54 in the fourth frame and had a chance to seal the match and a whitewash but a break of 58 from Dale kept him in the match. Dominic then took another tight frame in the fifth, while he had another chance to counter in frame six before missing a tricky pink, and leaving Ding in for the few pots he needed to get past the winning post and into the group finals that evening.
Barry Hawkins 4-1 John Higgins - Barry Hawkins was pretty rampant in his match with John Higgins, romping home to a comfortable 4-1 victory in no time at all. Barry started the match off with a good break of 75 to take the opening frame. John dominated the next frame with Hawkins only scoring 8 points as the Scot levelled the match at 1-1. From there though Higgins wasn't really in it as Hawkins reeled off breaks of 57 and 73 in the next two frames to put him one away from victory at 3-1, and then a break of 58 in the fifth frame was enough to see Barry Hawkins home and into the group final to play Ding Junhui just a couple of hours afterwards.
Group 4 Final:
Ding Junhui 6-5 Barry Hawkins - This match had plenty of twists and turns between Ding Junhui and Barry Hawkins, but Hawkins couldn't get revenge for his group semi-final defeat to the Chinaman in the first running of this event last year. Ding dominated the early stages of the match taking the opening couple of frames for a 2-0 lead, thanks in part to a break of 65 as Hawkins only scored 13 points in the first two frames. Barry pulled one back in the third frame, but Ding Junhui soon restored his two frame advantage ahead of the mid-session interval thanks to a brilliant break of 105 putting him 3-1 up at the break. The first frame after the mid-session break was a very scrappy one but when Ding Junhui won it to go 4-1 in front and just two frames from the semi-finals you wondered what Hawkins had left in him for the rest of the match. The answer was plenty as Ding Junhui only scored 21 points in the next three frames as Barry levelled the match up at 4-4 thanks to runs of 70 in frame six and 80 in frame seven. With the match now down to a best-of-3 things were getting tense and it showed as the key ninth frame was a very lengthy one that went really quite scrappy, but Ding got an early lead in the frame and from there he was able to keep Hawkins at bay to put himself 5-4 ahead with 2 bites of the cherry for the victory. The response of the left-hander was emphatic as he made a nice century of 112 (the highest break of the day) to force the decider that the match deserved after such a valiant fight back from Barry. Unfortunately for Hawkins, he didn't have a chance in the decider before Ding had already left him needing snookers thanks mainly to a well played break of 55, and it was the Chinaman that was into the semi-finals with a hard fought 6-5 win.
Today we're on to group 2 of the Champion of Champions as Mark Selby takes on Steve Davis, before Judd Trump plays Stephen Maguire in the best-of-7 frame group semi-finals, before the two winners of those games face off in the evening in the best-of-11 group final. If you want to read my preview of that group and any of the other groups, my full Champion of Champions Preview is here:
cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/champion-of-champions-preview.html
I'll be back at the same time tomorrow to round off that group in full, and I hope you all enjoy another entertaining day of snooker.
This is what happened yesterday in a little more detail:
Group 4 semi-finals:
Ding Junhui 4-2 Dominic Dale - Ding Junhui started the match off pretty well, with a break of 52 helping him to the opening frame, while he soon doubled his lead as Dominic struggled to settle and only scored 2 points in frames 2 and 3, with Ding Junhui taking an early 3-0 lead thanks to a break of 77 in the third. The Chinaman made a break of 54 in the fourth frame and had a chance to seal the match and a whitewash but a break of 58 from Dale kept him in the match. Dominic then took another tight frame in the fifth, while he had another chance to counter in frame six before missing a tricky pink, and leaving Ding in for the few pots he needed to get past the winning post and into the group finals that evening.
Barry Hawkins 4-1 John Higgins - Barry Hawkins was pretty rampant in his match with John Higgins, romping home to a comfortable 4-1 victory in no time at all. Barry started the match off with a good break of 75 to take the opening frame. John dominated the next frame with Hawkins only scoring 8 points as the Scot levelled the match at 1-1. From there though Higgins wasn't really in it as Hawkins reeled off breaks of 57 and 73 in the next two frames to put him one away from victory at 3-1, and then a break of 58 in the fifth frame was enough to see Barry Hawkins home and into the group final to play Ding Junhui just a couple of hours afterwards.
Group 4 Final:
Ding Junhui 6-5 Barry Hawkins - This match had plenty of twists and turns between Ding Junhui and Barry Hawkins, but Hawkins couldn't get revenge for his group semi-final defeat to the Chinaman in the first running of this event last year. Ding dominated the early stages of the match taking the opening couple of frames for a 2-0 lead, thanks in part to a break of 65 as Hawkins only scored 13 points in the first two frames. Barry pulled one back in the third frame, but Ding Junhui soon restored his two frame advantage ahead of the mid-session interval thanks to a brilliant break of 105 putting him 3-1 up at the break. The first frame after the mid-session break was a very scrappy one but when Ding Junhui won it to go 4-1 in front and just two frames from the semi-finals you wondered what Hawkins had left in him for the rest of the match. The answer was plenty as Ding Junhui only scored 21 points in the next three frames as Barry levelled the match up at 4-4 thanks to runs of 70 in frame six and 80 in frame seven. With the match now down to a best-of-3 things were getting tense and it showed as the key ninth frame was a very lengthy one that went really quite scrappy, but Ding got an early lead in the frame and from there he was able to keep Hawkins at bay to put himself 5-4 ahead with 2 bites of the cherry for the victory. The response of the left-hander was emphatic as he made a nice century of 112 (the highest break of the day) to force the decider that the match deserved after such a valiant fight back from Barry. Unfortunately for Hawkins, he didn't have a chance in the decider before Ding had already left him needing snookers thanks mainly to a well played break of 55, and it was the Chinaman that was into the semi-finals with a hard fought 6-5 win.
Today we're on to group 2 of the Champion of Champions as Mark Selby takes on Steve Davis, before Judd Trump plays Stephen Maguire in the best-of-7 frame group semi-finals, before the two winners of those games face off in the evening in the best-of-11 group final. If you want to read my preview of that group and any of the other groups, my full Champion of Champions Preview is here:
cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/champion-of-champions-preview.html
I'll be back at the same time tomorrow to round off that group in full, and I hope you all enjoy another entertaining day of snooker.
Sunday, 2 November 2014
Walden defeats Allen to become Chengdu Champion
Ricky Walden is the International Champion after beating Mark Allen in todays best-of-19 frames International Championship 10-7 after a brilliant week of snooker from Ricky. Walden's week saw him defeat David Morris 6-3, Zhou Yuelong 6-5, Joe Swail 6-4, Jamie Burnett 6-1, Robert Milkins 9-2 ahead of todays 10-7 victory in the final against Mark Allen in a week that saw Ricky climb up to 8th in the World (so he's now seeded top 8 for the UK Championships), while Mark Allen climbed up to 6th in the world and Robert Milkins climbed back into the top 16 with Mark Williams now just behind in 18th. It's a bad week though for Judd Trump though as he's down to No.11 in the World which is his lowest ranking for some time I believe and Stephen Maguire is beginning to hover down in 14th and with lots of money to come off in February's Welsh Open he could do with some big ranking performances.
Back to today now though, and this is a quick little round-up of what happened today in the final between Ricky Walden and Mark Allen:
Ricky Walden 10-7 Mark Allen - The match started off pretty evenly in the first couple of frames with Walden having breaks of 49 and 59 to make it 1-0 before breaks of 40 and 45 in the next from Allen levelled it up at 1-1. The next 2 frames went to Walden with a run of 64 in the third as Ricky went into the mid-session interval with a 3-1 lead. That lead was soon cancelled out by Mark Allen though winning a scrappy fifth on the colours before making a magnificent century break of 113 to level that match up at 3-3, with just the three frames left in the afternoon session. Both players had good chances in the seventh frame but it was Walden that took the frame on the colours for a 4-3 lead. Ricky couldn't really get things together in the final 2 frames of the session as breaks of 47 and 52 from Allen helped him to taking both and the 5-4 lead going into the final session of possibly 10 frames in the evening. At this stage of the match you very much felt that it was anyone's match.
Ricky Walden was looking better and on top form again at the beginning of the final session as he won all of the opening three frames in turning a 5-4 deficit into a 7-5 lead. Runs of 47 and 45 in the tenth were followed by a 40 in the eleventh after a 44 from Allen, and the best of a lot an 85 in the twelfth showing the top form that got him to the final. Mark Allen hit back by taking the next two frames either side of the interval. He made it 6-7 at the mid-session break thanks to a run of 68 and he squared the match up once more at 7-7 with a lovely 74. What did Ricky have in response to being pegged back once again? Well the answer is some of the best snooker he's played all week given the circumstances and position of the match. A contribution of 85 put him back in front at 8-7 with several good recovery pots in there. Yet another century this week for Walden put him one away from victory at 9-7 with a brilliant 103 in that sixteenth frame showing that he wasn't going to shy away as the pressure went. In the seventeenth frame, Ricky made an early 54 before having to play safe, Mark then got lucky to cover a red that he put over the corner, but Walden was even luckier to miss a long pot sending reds round the table, only for one of them to drop in, a fluke that saw him on the way to a further 62 that sealed the frame, match and tournament with a fantastic display from the Chester man giving him a 10-7 win.
It really has been a really enjoyable week of snooker at the International Championships with some really brilliant games throughout the week including a complete classic of a semi-final between Mark Allen and Mark Williams before a fitting final to the end the event, and the best man coming out on top in Ricky Walden. Next week it's onto the Champion of Champions event at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry which can be watched on ITV4 in the UK and will be another great week of snooker which starts off tomorrow and ends next Sunday (with a day off on Thursday) and I will have updates from that throughout the week as I have this week with the action in Chengdu. I hope you've all had a brilliant week and enjoyed reading my pieces throughout.
Back to today now though, and this is a quick little round-up of what happened today in the final between Ricky Walden and Mark Allen:
Ricky Walden 10-7 Mark Allen - The match started off pretty evenly in the first couple of frames with Walden having breaks of 49 and 59 to make it 1-0 before breaks of 40 and 45 in the next from Allen levelled it up at 1-1. The next 2 frames went to Walden with a run of 64 in the third as Ricky went into the mid-session interval with a 3-1 lead. That lead was soon cancelled out by Mark Allen though winning a scrappy fifth on the colours before making a magnificent century break of 113 to level that match up at 3-3, with just the three frames left in the afternoon session. Both players had good chances in the seventh frame but it was Walden that took the frame on the colours for a 4-3 lead. Ricky couldn't really get things together in the final 2 frames of the session as breaks of 47 and 52 from Allen helped him to taking both and the 5-4 lead going into the final session of possibly 10 frames in the evening. At this stage of the match you very much felt that it was anyone's match.
Ricky Walden was looking better and on top form again at the beginning of the final session as he won all of the opening three frames in turning a 5-4 deficit into a 7-5 lead. Runs of 47 and 45 in the tenth were followed by a 40 in the eleventh after a 44 from Allen, and the best of a lot an 85 in the twelfth showing the top form that got him to the final. Mark Allen hit back by taking the next two frames either side of the interval. He made it 6-7 at the mid-session break thanks to a run of 68 and he squared the match up once more at 7-7 with a lovely 74. What did Ricky have in response to being pegged back once again? Well the answer is some of the best snooker he's played all week given the circumstances and position of the match. A contribution of 85 put him back in front at 8-7 with several good recovery pots in there. Yet another century this week for Walden put him one away from victory at 9-7 with a brilliant 103 in that sixteenth frame showing that he wasn't going to shy away as the pressure went. In the seventeenth frame, Ricky made an early 54 before having to play safe, Mark then got lucky to cover a red that he put over the corner, but Walden was even luckier to miss a long pot sending reds round the table, only for one of them to drop in, a fluke that saw him on the way to a further 62 that sealed the frame, match and tournament with a fantastic display from the Chester man giving him a 10-7 win.
It really has been a really enjoyable week of snooker at the International Championships with some really brilliant games throughout the week including a complete classic of a semi-final between Mark Allen and Mark Williams before a fitting final to the end the event, and the best man coming out on top in Ricky Walden. Next week it's onto the Champion of Champions event at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry which can be watched on ITV4 in the UK and will be another great week of snooker which starts off tomorrow and ends next Sunday (with a day off on Thursday) and I will have updates from that throughout the week as I have this week with the action in Chengdu. I hope you've all had a brilliant week and enjoyed reading my pieces throughout.
Champion of Champions Preview
After a busy week of snooker out in China at the International Championship, it's straight back onto the horse for the worlds top snooker players as they head to the Ricoh Arena for the Champion of Champions. The second staging of this event sees the winners of snooker events all over the snooker calendar in the last year (along with the 4 highest ranked players not already involved to make up the full 16). The tournament was brought about last year as a replacement for the Premier League that could be played over one week instead of several Thursday nights and to give ITV4 another snooker event to cover, which i'll add they did superbly last year.
A few early details on the week are that we have 4 "groups" that will be played on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday (a day off given on Thursday so there isn't a clash with ITV4's Europa League football coverage) before the semi-finals on Saturday and the final on Sunday. The format for the groups sees two best-of-7 group semi-finals in the afternoon before the winners of these two games play each other in the group final that evening over the best-of-11 so busy days for the players. Then on Saturday the semi-finals will see the winner of group 1 play the winner of group 4 and the winner of group 2 play the winner of group 3 over the best of 11 frames before the best-of-19 frames final on Sunday.
In terms of ITV4's coverage it's very much the same deal as last year with Jill Douglas presenting things while Clive Everton, Neal Foulds and Alan McManus provide delightful commentary in the box and analysis between frames and matches back in the studio. I can't wait for the full afternoons and evenings that will be covered by ITV4 with the same brilliant set-up they had last year sure to be employed by them, and fully praised by us fans once again.
Now it's time for me to take a look at each of the groups in turn, looking at the 4 players in each, how they've qualified and how I expect them to run this week in Coventry.
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham
Shaun Murphy Vs Marco Fu
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan as always will be one of the hot favourites for this week. The Premier league was one of his favourite events so he'd have been thrilled to win it's replacement event in it's first year last year. As well as being defending champion Ronnie also qualifies via wins at the Masters and Welsh Open earlier this year. He played in the International Championships in China last week so it will be interesting to see how he goes in back to back tournaments with a fair bit of travelling wedged in between. However, Ronnie looked in good form on the way to the quarter-finals, although when truly tested for the first time against Mark Williams he struggled a little. The good news for O'Sullivan fans ahead of this week I guess is that this tournament is in the UK and not China, because Ronnie isn't a fan of all of the travelling, and feels much more comfortable at home in English events in front of really big crowds cheering him on, which is something he misses a little big during games in China. Putting that all together I think you'd be a fool to say that he won't be right up there for the victory this week.
Last years runner-up Stuart Bingham has got a very tough group semi-finals against Ronnie O'Sullivan to start him off in a repeat of last years final which of course Ronnie won. Stuart has beaten him since then in last years UK Championship, but overall O'Sullivan has the better of the head to head between them. Stuart has been in good form in 2014, especially in the last few months with wins in the Shanghai Masters and a couple of Asian Tour events this season and last to put him into the Champion of Champions. I guess the thing for Bingham is turning these big wins in Asia into big wins in the UK, and he certainly has the confidence and support behind him to make it happen, whether that is this week or not. With such a tough game first up, he may be on the back foot from the start but if he can come through that start he'll have as good a chance as any of taking the title this week.
Shaun Murphy is another of the men in form right now after his win in Bulgaria and making the final of the non-sanctioned invitational General Cup in Hong Kong. He qualified for this event with that win in the Bulgarian Open last month as well as earlier wins in 2014 at the Gdynia Open and the Haikou World Open so it's been a very productive year for Murphy. The win in Gdynia allowed him to re-discover all of that confidence and belief that he'd lost over the couple of years previous. He may have under performed recently in Chengdu, losing in the Last 32 but I think that part of that could well have been from having 3 weeks away from home and I'm sure he'll be happy to be back in the UK now and with a few days at home before he has to play in Coventry, he'll be fresh and raring to go once again. His record against Marco Fu is good with wins recently in the General Cup, World Championships and the Masters in January. With good form and confidence behind him, I think Shaun is a good candidate to make it to at least reach the group final, though whether he gets any further could well depend on the player that faces him.
Marco Fu qualified for this event as the highest ranked player not already qualified and I think that sums up the last year for Marco Fu pretty well. He's been inconsistent with his performances this year and never really looked like winning a tournament since making the final of the International Championships a year ago. Since then it's been a very mixed bag for Marco with early round exits at the UK's, German Masters and Shanghai Masters amongst other events, and while he made the quarter-finals of the International Championship this week, he had to battle hard in a lot of those games and he only really looked good from start to finish in the game he lost against Robert Milkins. If Marco is to be the best players at the best events and have good runs he needs to find some consistency in his game, and I'm sure that will come if he continues to work hard, which needs to be his goal in the short term.
Group Finalist: Shaun Murphy
Group Winner: Ronnie O'Sullivan
Mark Selby Vs Steve Davis
Judd Trump Vs Stephen Maguire
Mark Selby is the lead man in group 2 and the leading man in the tournament really as World Champion and World number 1. This season has been slowing in starting for Mark really having not entered Australia, or qualified for the recent International Championships. He did however win the Riga Open very early in the season as well as reaching the Shanghai Masters semi-finals. The key for Mark in this event is that he will be very fresh having had almost a month off from competition, and he's a threat in every tournament he enters big or small, but this is the beginning of a busy period for Selby now, so I expect his game to be finely tuned for this week after plenty of rest and hard practice. With a nice game to ease himself into the event as well, I think when things get tougher he'll thrive on them.
Steve Davis is here as the World Seniors Champion, but as a man that is no longer a full time playing member of the tour it's going to be hard for him to come here and get any kind of a respectable result against the World champion and World No.1, but it'll be nice to see him competing on the big stage, because at the end of the day his time playing in these events is coming to an end.
Judd Trump qualified for this event thanks to winning the Championship League in March and then the Australian Open at the beginning of July, his first full ranking event win for nearly 2 years. Judd's looked in reasonably good touch this season despite an early exit at the International Championship. He's also gone well in the European Tour events at the start of this season and his confidence seems to be right up again and he'll fancy his chances of having a really big run this week. Judd is another player that thrives on the big crowds in these big UK events and that will surely spur him on this week (and certainly a lot more than the virtually non-existent crowds in China), but with the first round being best-of-7 and playing a tough player like Stephen Maguire he'll need to get going fast or he can go home.
Stephen Maguire has managed to qualify for this tournament by winning the invitational Six Reds World Championship in Thailand, but in regular events his form has been very poor and he needs to sharpen up ahead of this week. He suffered an early exit in the International Championships, simply because he couldn't kill the match off against Noppon Saengkham because (based on the frame scores and breaks in the match) he was by far the better player. The one thing that will immediately fire Stephen Maguire up this week after a very poor season of early exits in most, if not all tournaments, is the fact that he's playing Judd Trump in the first round. There's something about his meetings with Judd that really seems to fire the Scotsman up, which is evident from the 9-2 lead that Maguire holds on the recent head to head. Often the head to head doesn't give a player any advantage, but that's a little bit different when you know you've beaten a top top player in virtually all of your meetings in the last 2 or 3 years. His match with Judd will be a very good one, and I'm sure it'll go down to the wire, but going into the group final I don't think that will help the winner out too much.
Group Finalist: Stephen Maguire
Group Winner: Mark Selby
Neil Robertson Vs Ali Carter
Mark Allen Vs Ricky Walden
Neil Robertson is another of the top seeds in this event having won the UK Championships and Wuxi Classic within the qualifying period, but just lately Neil has been a bit quiet in tournaments, and in the middle of a busy run in period ahead of Christmas he certainly needs to pick his form up with so many other top players challenging for titles and on top form. Last 32 exits from a large number of frames in front at the Shanghai Masters and International Championship, is very uncharacteristic for the Australian and I'm sure he'll be just a little bit concerned about that, and he certainly can't take the same liberties this week against the rest of the games elite. He won't be too worried though because his season started off well with a successful defence of his Wuxi Classic title and making the final of the Australian Open the week after and if he can bring that form to Coventry he will of course be a big challenger. He really enjoyed the set up of this event and the atmosphere along with all of the players, and hopefully for him that will fire him into some form.
It'll be wonderful to see Ali Carter return to full professional tour snooker this week for the first time since the World Championships in April, after undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer. I'm sure it will be emotional for him to come back like this in a big tournament in front of a big crowd that will provide a great atmosphere and a fantastic ovation for Ali on his return. I'm glad that he's managed to sneak through the back door and qualify as the 16th man by being the 4th highest ranked player not already qualified for the event (with his seeding being locked at No.13 in the world for the rest of the season). Having played out in the Hong Kong General Cup (an invitational tournament not fully sanctioned by World Snooker) and winning that event in the final beating Shaun Murphy, as well as other top players like Mark Davis, Liang Wenbo and Marco Fu in his first competitive tournament since his treatment, which is one hell of an achievement and one that he's described as one of the best of his career. Carter is certainly not coming into this event cold then and he's not here to make up the numbers and he'll give Neil Robertson a very tough match in the group semi-finals. The result of that match for me will depend on how Neil responds to the pressure Ali will put him under.
Mark Allen is in top form at the moment and has been the best player on tour since the beginning of this season. So far this season he has reached 2 full ranking event finals and 2 European Tour event finals, winning one at the Paul Hunter Classic and really does seem to be on top of the world right now. To best of those runs came at the International Championships where he showed a lot of bottle once more to beat Mark Williams 9-8 in the semi-finals in a classic before losing to Ricky Walden in the final. Mark will be full of confidence and have plenty of belief, and I think we're getting to the stage now where Allen is due a Triple Crown title and he's in the form now to do it. A bet on Mark Allen to win the UK or Masters in the next couple of months could certainly yield some money.
Ricky Walden initially qualified for this as the 3rd highest ranked player not already qualified, but he'll be happy that his name can now go in as the International Champion having beaten Mark Allen 10-7 in the final today. Ironically the two guys are playing each other again on Friday in the group semi-final over the much shorter best-of-7 frames format. That match could simply come down to how both players have been able to prepare after the International final which is just 5 days before this match and who has the biggest "post tournament hangover" with such a short turnaround. While Ricky is obviously in good form, so too is Allen and he'll be more determined to go one better this week, and I think that the winner between these 2 will win the group and make the semi-finals. I just fancy Mark Allen to sneak that victory in another tense game.
Group Finalist: Neil Robertson
Group Winner: Mark Allen
Ding Junhui Vs Dominic Dale
Barry Hawkins Vs John Higgins
Ding Junhui may have had a very slow start to this season, but he qualifies for this event after victory at the China Open in April and the German Masters in February. His season so far has seen him fail to qualify for both Wuxi and the International, while missing Australia. He has however won the first Asian Tour event of the season back in June, along with making the quarter-finals of the second and the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters so he's not desperately out of form coming into this. While Ding may have lost those qualifying games in Barnsley I think that is simply down to motivation issues. There's no way a player like Ding should lose those games, because you'd expect even his B game would beat them. However, having to play qualifying matches in Barnsley for ranking events in China may seem a bit stupid to him and with the draws he had he may have come into this games cold on practice with a lack of motivation. With a big tournament this week in front of a big crowd you'd hope that he'd come into the event very sharp after a couple of weeks off and motivated to play his best snooker, because when he wants to play well, he very often does and if things go his way he can be untouchable.
Dominic Dale qualifies for this event having won the Snooker Shoot-out event back in January in Blackpool and it will be very interesting to see how he goes in this tournament this week. He was in very good form at the back end of last season after winning the shoot-out. He made the quarter-finals of the World Championship and was only a deciding frame from making the semi-finals. This season though he has failed to fire in any of the European Tour events or ranking events of any sort so, while I wouldn't say he is struggling, he isn't in the kind of form that would give him a really big run at this event, although he could cause Ding Junhui some early problems and put him under some early pressure in the group semi-finals. If he could manage that then who knows, he has as good a chance as anyone else in this group.
Barry Hawkins hasn't been in the best of form over the course of the last year, qualifying for this event from his win at the Players Championship Finals in March. He did also reach the World Championship semi-finals at the end of last season and the semi-finals in Wuxi and Riga at the start of this season. In the last couple of ranking events he has had Last 32 exits, both of which were to Mark Williams in Shanghai and Chengdu, but given how Mark Williams played in those games it's not as if Barry has been playing that badly. Barry also doesn't have great memories of this event last year losing out to Ding Junhui in the group semi-finals, but playing a very out of sorts John Higgins in the first round this year gives him a much better chance. Even if he's not at the top of his game, I'd expect him to grind out a result, in a style that he's become much better at in the last couple of seasons since his climb up to 5th in the World Rankings.
John Higgins has only managed to qualify for this event by being one of the highest ranked players not already in it. His last ranking title actually came at the 2012 Shanghai Masters over 2 years and his last win of any sort came at the Bulgarian Open event in June 2013 which is now 16 months ago. It's been a tough time for John with results not going his way on the table at all. So far this season John has managed to make it to the Sunday (Last 16 onwards) of any of the European Tour events, while in the ranking events he suffered a Last 16 exit in Australia, Last 32 exits in Shanghai (his first round match), the Wuxi Classic and a Last 64 thrashing 6-1 to Li Hang at last weeks International Championship. John was handed an early exit at last years tournament also, in the group semi's to compatriot Stephen Maguire 4-3 and I can't see him beating Barry Hawkins right now, simply because he's totally out of form and there's absolutely no rhythm to his game, but it only takes one week to turn things around.
Group Finalist: Barry Hawkins
Group Winner: Ding Junhui
With 16 fantastic players involved this week I'm sure we're going to see a week of top quality once again, just as we did in this event last year (which I thought was one of the best on the calendar) and I'm sure with the matches we have in store there could be some more classics in store again. I'll be back with updates throughout the week on how each group goes and then updates on the latter stages on Saturday and Sunday as well.
A few early details on the week are that we have 4 "groups" that will be played on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday (a day off given on Thursday so there isn't a clash with ITV4's Europa League football coverage) before the semi-finals on Saturday and the final on Sunday. The format for the groups sees two best-of-7 group semi-finals in the afternoon before the winners of these two games play each other in the group final that evening over the best-of-11 so busy days for the players. Then on Saturday the semi-finals will see the winner of group 1 play the winner of group 4 and the winner of group 2 play the winner of group 3 over the best of 11 frames before the best-of-19 frames final on Sunday.
In terms of ITV4's coverage it's very much the same deal as last year with Jill Douglas presenting things while Clive Everton, Neal Foulds and Alan McManus provide delightful commentary in the box and analysis between frames and matches back in the studio. I can't wait for the full afternoons and evenings that will be covered by ITV4 with the same brilliant set-up they had last year sure to be employed by them, and fully praised by us fans once again.
Now it's time for me to take a look at each of the groups in turn, looking at the 4 players in each, how they've qualified and how I expect them to run this week in Coventry.
Group 1 (Wednesday)
Group Semi-Finals Draw:Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham
Shaun Murphy Vs Marco Fu
Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan as always will be one of the hot favourites for this week. The Premier league was one of his favourite events so he'd have been thrilled to win it's replacement event in it's first year last year. As well as being defending champion Ronnie also qualifies via wins at the Masters and Welsh Open earlier this year. He played in the International Championships in China last week so it will be interesting to see how he goes in back to back tournaments with a fair bit of travelling wedged in between. However, Ronnie looked in good form on the way to the quarter-finals, although when truly tested for the first time against Mark Williams he struggled a little. The good news for O'Sullivan fans ahead of this week I guess is that this tournament is in the UK and not China, because Ronnie isn't a fan of all of the travelling, and feels much more comfortable at home in English events in front of really big crowds cheering him on, which is something he misses a little big during games in China. Putting that all together I think you'd be a fool to say that he won't be right up there for the victory this week.
Last years runner-up Stuart Bingham has got a very tough group semi-finals against Ronnie O'Sullivan to start him off in a repeat of last years final which of course Ronnie won. Stuart has beaten him since then in last years UK Championship, but overall O'Sullivan has the better of the head to head between them. Stuart has been in good form in 2014, especially in the last few months with wins in the Shanghai Masters and a couple of Asian Tour events this season and last to put him into the Champion of Champions. I guess the thing for Bingham is turning these big wins in Asia into big wins in the UK, and he certainly has the confidence and support behind him to make it happen, whether that is this week or not. With such a tough game first up, he may be on the back foot from the start but if he can come through that start he'll have as good a chance as any of taking the title this week.
Shaun Murphy is another of the men in form right now after his win in Bulgaria and making the final of the non-sanctioned invitational General Cup in Hong Kong. He qualified for this event with that win in the Bulgarian Open last month as well as earlier wins in 2014 at the Gdynia Open and the Haikou World Open so it's been a very productive year for Murphy. The win in Gdynia allowed him to re-discover all of that confidence and belief that he'd lost over the couple of years previous. He may have under performed recently in Chengdu, losing in the Last 32 but I think that part of that could well have been from having 3 weeks away from home and I'm sure he'll be happy to be back in the UK now and with a few days at home before he has to play in Coventry, he'll be fresh and raring to go once again. His record against Marco Fu is good with wins recently in the General Cup, World Championships and the Masters in January. With good form and confidence behind him, I think Shaun is a good candidate to make it to at least reach the group final, though whether he gets any further could well depend on the player that faces him.
Marco Fu qualified for this event as the highest ranked player not already qualified and I think that sums up the last year for Marco Fu pretty well. He's been inconsistent with his performances this year and never really looked like winning a tournament since making the final of the International Championships a year ago. Since then it's been a very mixed bag for Marco with early round exits at the UK's, German Masters and Shanghai Masters amongst other events, and while he made the quarter-finals of the International Championship this week, he had to battle hard in a lot of those games and he only really looked good from start to finish in the game he lost against Robert Milkins. If Marco is to be the best players at the best events and have good runs he needs to find some consistency in his game, and I'm sure that will come if he continues to work hard, which needs to be his goal in the short term.
Group Finalist: Shaun Murphy
Group Winner: Ronnie O'Sullivan
Group 2 (Tuesday)
Group Semi-Finals Draw:Mark Selby Vs Steve Davis
Judd Trump Vs Stephen Maguire
Mark Selby is the lead man in group 2 and the leading man in the tournament really as World Champion and World number 1. This season has been slowing in starting for Mark really having not entered Australia, or qualified for the recent International Championships. He did however win the Riga Open very early in the season as well as reaching the Shanghai Masters semi-finals. The key for Mark in this event is that he will be very fresh having had almost a month off from competition, and he's a threat in every tournament he enters big or small, but this is the beginning of a busy period for Selby now, so I expect his game to be finely tuned for this week after plenty of rest and hard practice. With a nice game to ease himself into the event as well, I think when things get tougher he'll thrive on them.
Steve Davis is here as the World Seniors Champion, but as a man that is no longer a full time playing member of the tour it's going to be hard for him to come here and get any kind of a respectable result against the World champion and World No.1, but it'll be nice to see him competing on the big stage, because at the end of the day his time playing in these events is coming to an end.
Judd Trump qualified for this event thanks to winning the Championship League in March and then the Australian Open at the beginning of July, his first full ranking event win for nearly 2 years. Judd's looked in reasonably good touch this season despite an early exit at the International Championship. He's also gone well in the European Tour events at the start of this season and his confidence seems to be right up again and he'll fancy his chances of having a really big run this week. Judd is another player that thrives on the big crowds in these big UK events and that will surely spur him on this week (and certainly a lot more than the virtually non-existent crowds in China), but with the first round being best-of-7 and playing a tough player like Stephen Maguire he'll need to get going fast or he can go home.
Stephen Maguire has managed to qualify for this tournament by winning the invitational Six Reds World Championship in Thailand, but in regular events his form has been very poor and he needs to sharpen up ahead of this week. He suffered an early exit in the International Championships, simply because he couldn't kill the match off against Noppon Saengkham because (based on the frame scores and breaks in the match) he was by far the better player. The one thing that will immediately fire Stephen Maguire up this week after a very poor season of early exits in most, if not all tournaments, is the fact that he's playing Judd Trump in the first round. There's something about his meetings with Judd that really seems to fire the Scotsman up, which is evident from the 9-2 lead that Maguire holds on the recent head to head. Often the head to head doesn't give a player any advantage, but that's a little bit different when you know you've beaten a top top player in virtually all of your meetings in the last 2 or 3 years. His match with Judd will be a very good one, and I'm sure it'll go down to the wire, but going into the group final I don't think that will help the winner out too much.
Group Finalist: Stephen Maguire
Group Winner: Mark Selby
Group 3 (Friday)
Group Semi-Finals Draw:Neil Robertson Vs Ali Carter
Mark Allen Vs Ricky Walden
Neil Robertson is another of the top seeds in this event having won the UK Championships and Wuxi Classic within the qualifying period, but just lately Neil has been a bit quiet in tournaments, and in the middle of a busy run in period ahead of Christmas he certainly needs to pick his form up with so many other top players challenging for titles and on top form. Last 32 exits from a large number of frames in front at the Shanghai Masters and International Championship, is very uncharacteristic for the Australian and I'm sure he'll be just a little bit concerned about that, and he certainly can't take the same liberties this week against the rest of the games elite. He won't be too worried though because his season started off well with a successful defence of his Wuxi Classic title and making the final of the Australian Open the week after and if he can bring that form to Coventry he will of course be a big challenger. He really enjoyed the set up of this event and the atmosphere along with all of the players, and hopefully for him that will fire him into some form.
It'll be wonderful to see Ali Carter return to full professional tour snooker this week for the first time since the World Championships in April, after undergoing chemotherapy for lung cancer. I'm sure it will be emotional for him to come back like this in a big tournament in front of a big crowd that will provide a great atmosphere and a fantastic ovation for Ali on his return. I'm glad that he's managed to sneak through the back door and qualify as the 16th man by being the 4th highest ranked player not already qualified for the event (with his seeding being locked at No.13 in the world for the rest of the season). Having played out in the Hong Kong General Cup (an invitational tournament not fully sanctioned by World Snooker) and winning that event in the final beating Shaun Murphy, as well as other top players like Mark Davis, Liang Wenbo and Marco Fu in his first competitive tournament since his treatment, which is one hell of an achievement and one that he's described as one of the best of his career. Carter is certainly not coming into this event cold then and he's not here to make up the numbers and he'll give Neil Robertson a very tough match in the group semi-finals. The result of that match for me will depend on how Neil responds to the pressure Ali will put him under.
Mark Allen is in top form at the moment and has been the best player on tour since the beginning of this season. So far this season he has reached 2 full ranking event finals and 2 European Tour event finals, winning one at the Paul Hunter Classic and really does seem to be on top of the world right now. To best of those runs came at the International Championships where he showed a lot of bottle once more to beat Mark Williams 9-8 in the semi-finals in a classic before losing to Ricky Walden in the final. Mark will be full of confidence and have plenty of belief, and I think we're getting to the stage now where Allen is due a Triple Crown title and he's in the form now to do it. A bet on Mark Allen to win the UK or Masters in the next couple of months could certainly yield some money.
Ricky Walden initially qualified for this as the 3rd highest ranked player not already qualified, but he'll be happy that his name can now go in as the International Champion having beaten Mark Allen 10-7 in the final today. Ironically the two guys are playing each other again on Friday in the group semi-final over the much shorter best-of-7 frames format. That match could simply come down to how both players have been able to prepare after the International final which is just 5 days before this match and who has the biggest "post tournament hangover" with such a short turnaround. While Ricky is obviously in good form, so too is Allen and he'll be more determined to go one better this week, and I think that the winner between these 2 will win the group and make the semi-finals. I just fancy Mark Allen to sneak that victory in another tense game.
Group Finalist: Neil Robertson
Group Winner: Mark Allen
Group 4 (Monday)
Group Semi-Finals Draw:Ding Junhui Vs Dominic Dale
Barry Hawkins Vs John Higgins
Ding Junhui may have had a very slow start to this season, but he qualifies for this event after victory at the China Open in April and the German Masters in February. His season so far has seen him fail to qualify for both Wuxi and the International, while missing Australia. He has however won the first Asian Tour event of the season back in June, along with making the quarter-finals of the second and the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters so he's not desperately out of form coming into this. While Ding may have lost those qualifying games in Barnsley I think that is simply down to motivation issues. There's no way a player like Ding should lose those games, because you'd expect even his B game would beat them. However, having to play qualifying matches in Barnsley for ranking events in China may seem a bit stupid to him and with the draws he had he may have come into this games cold on practice with a lack of motivation. With a big tournament this week in front of a big crowd you'd hope that he'd come into the event very sharp after a couple of weeks off and motivated to play his best snooker, because when he wants to play well, he very often does and if things go his way he can be untouchable.
Dominic Dale qualifies for this event having won the Snooker Shoot-out event back in January in Blackpool and it will be very interesting to see how he goes in this tournament this week. He was in very good form at the back end of last season after winning the shoot-out. He made the quarter-finals of the World Championship and was only a deciding frame from making the semi-finals. This season though he has failed to fire in any of the European Tour events or ranking events of any sort so, while I wouldn't say he is struggling, he isn't in the kind of form that would give him a really big run at this event, although he could cause Ding Junhui some early problems and put him under some early pressure in the group semi-finals. If he could manage that then who knows, he has as good a chance as anyone else in this group.
Barry Hawkins hasn't been in the best of form over the course of the last year, qualifying for this event from his win at the Players Championship Finals in March. He did also reach the World Championship semi-finals at the end of last season and the semi-finals in Wuxi and Riga at the start of this season. In the last couple of ranking events he has had Last 32 exits, both of which were to Mark Williams in Shanghai and Chengdu, but given how Mark Williams played in those games it's not as if Barry has been playing that badly. Barry also doesn't have great memories of this event last year losing out to Ding Junhui in the group semi-finals, but playing a very out of sorts John Higgins in the first round this year gives him a much better chance. Even if he's not at the top of his game, I'd expect him to grind out a result, in a style that he's become much better at in the last couple of seasons since his climb up to 5th in the World Rankings.
John Higgins has only managed to qualify for this event by being one of the highest ranked players not already in it. His last ranking title actually came at the 2012 Shanghai Masters over 2 years and his last win of any sort came at the Bulgarian Open event in June 2013 which is now 16 months ago. It's been a tough time for John with results not going his way on the table at all. So far this season John has managed to make it to the Sunday (Last 16 onwards) of any of the European Tour events, while in the ranking events he suffered a Last 16 exit in Australia, Last 32 exits in Shanghai (his first round match), the Wuxi Classic and a Last 64 thrashing 6-1 to Li Hang at last weeks International Championship. John was handed an early exit at last years tournament also, in the group semi's to compatriot Stephen Maguire 4-3 and I can't see him beating Barry Hawkins right now, simply because he's totally out of form and there's absolutely no rhythm to his game, but it only takes one week to turn things around.
Group Finalist: Barry Hawkins
Group Winner: Ding Junhui
Tournament Runner-Up: Mark Selby
Tournament Winner: Ronnie O'Sullivan
With 16 fantastic players involved this week I'm sure we're going to see a week of top quality once again, just as we did in this event last year (which I thought was one of the best on the calendar) and I'm sure with the matches we have in store there could be some more classics in store again. I'll be back with updates throughout the week on how each group goes and then updates on the latter stages on Saturday and Sunday as well.
Saturday, 1 November 2014
Wonderful Walden and magnificent Mark Allen to contest International Final
Ricky Walden and Mark Allen will contest the International Championship final after they came through 2 very different semi-final matches. The first semi-final was dominated by Ricky Walden, as Robert Milkins couldn't find his best form and was quickly becoming frustrated, while Walden was playing some fantastic snooker as he has done all week and he was in charge of the match from the very start. Ricky led 3-1 at the mid-session break in session 1, before winning 3 of the next 4 to take a 6-2 lead into the evenings final session of nine possible frames. Only 3 frames were needed though as Walden won them all to thrash Milkins 9-2. Meanwhile the semi-final between Mark Allen and Mark Williams was a match of fantastic standard that went right the way down to the wire. Mark Allen took an early 2-0 lead before 2 centuries from Williams levelled it up at 2-2 at the mid-session break of session 1. The next 2 frames were shared but it was Allen who won frame 7 with a century and frame 8 to take a 5-3 advantage into the evening session. The first 2 frames of the evening session were shared but when Allen took the 11th frame he led 7-4 and was 2 frames from the final. Williams hit back though to take the final frame before the interval and then the first 2 after it (including his 3rd century of the match in frame 14) to level at 7-7. Mark Allen won the 15th after needing a snooker, clearing with a great 35 ending in a long pot on the pink and a doubled black. The Welshman dug in and a brilliant 86 forced the decider. The decider saw chances for both players and it was Williams that had the best one, but he missed a tricky last red along the cushion just a few pots from the match and it was Allen that did enough to take the match out 9-8.
The second semi-final was probably the best match I've seen for standard over a full match that I've seen in a very very long time and it's sure to be in my Classic matches of 2014 countdown. What those 2 wins also mean is that, with Allen and Walden already qualified, the final spot in the Champion of Champions for this coming week is Ali Carter's which will mark his full return to the snooker tour (after winning a non-World Snooker sanctioned Hong Kong General Cup in October) since his treatment for Lung cancer.
Semi-Final Results:
Ricky Walden 9-2 Robert Milkins
Mark Allen 9-8 Mark Williams
Final Preview (Best of 19 Frames):
Mark Allen Vs Ricky Walden - Mark Allen and Ricky Walden have been playing some brilliant snooker this week and both guys fully deserve to be contesting this final, as this weeks stand out players (with a special mention in that bracket for Mark Williams too). Mark Allen's road to the final so far this week has seen victories against Nigel Bond (6-0), Martin Gould (6-4 from 0-3 down), Stuart Bingham (6-4), Michael White (6-3 from 1-3 down) and Mark Williams today in that sensational semi-final that Allen won in a decider. Those are far from easy matches and he has a slight disadvantage over Walden who had a much less taxing and mentally tough semi-final and a day off before the final, while Allen had to work hard today (though he made it look effortless) and very little time to relax before the final after such a nerve crunching game. That should affect him too much though because you'd expect the adrenaline of another big final (this is Allen's 4th of the season, 2nd in full ranking events) to get him through any tiredness or mental fatigue after a taxing week of snooker on the road. Mark has kept his recent good form going all week and if he keeps that going for one more game that will make him very tough to beat. Ricky Walden has also been playing sublime snooker this week, having made 7 centuries so far in the 5 matches he's won against David Morris (6-3), Zhou Yuelong (6-5), Joe Swail (6-4), Jamie Burnett (6-1- with 3 centuries in this game alone) and Robert Milkins in a much less mentally fatiguing semi-final. A lot of the players say that having the day off before the final is also very helpful and having not had to work very hard for his last couple of wins he'll be pretty fresh for this final, but it will be interesting to see how he copes when tested in a big ranking final by a top player (something he really hasn't been too much this week) while Allen will be mentally prepared for a tough match having had so many already this week. Ricky Walden is in fine break building form this week, but Mark Allen has been for the last 3 months now and Mark will be absolutely oozing with confidence and I think that he'll be very tough to beat.
Prediction: Mark Allen 10-7 Ricky Walden
It really has been a fantastic week of snooker this week with some really enjoyable matches throughout, with the certain stand outs being Mark Williams matches in the Last 16 against Ronnie O'Sullivan and the semi-final today against Mark Allen, which nothing I could say would do justice for. I'm sure the final tomorrow will finish the week off in style and then it's onto the Champion of Champions straight up on Monday, and my preview for that will be up tomorrow night. The Christmas run in of snooker has well and truly begun.
The second semi-final was probably the best match I've seen for standard over a full match that I've seen in a very very long time and it's sure to be in my Classic matches of 2014 countdown. What those 2 wins also mean is that, with Allen and Walden already qualified, the final spot in the Champion of Champions for this coming week is Ali Carter's which will mark his full return to the snooker tour (after winning a non-World Snooker sanctioned Hong Kong General Cup in October) since his treatment for Lung cancer.
Semi-Final Results:
Ricky Walden 9-2 Robert Milkins
Mark Allen 9-8 Mark Williams
Final Preview (Best of 19 Frames):
Mark Allen Vs Ricky Walden - Mark Allen and Ricky Walden have been playing some brilliant snooker this week and both guys fully deserve to be contesting this final, as this weeks stand out players (with a special mention in that bracket for Mark Williams too). Mark Allen's road to the final so far this week has seen victories against Nigel Bond (6-0), Martin Gould (6-4 from 0-3 down), Stuart Bingham (6-4), Michael White (6-3 from 1-3 down) and Mark Williams today in that sensational semi-final that Allen won in a decider. Those are far from easy matches and he has a slight disadvantage over Walden who had a much less taxing and mentally tough semi-final and a day off before the final, while Allen had to work hard today (though he made it look effortless) and very little time to relax before the final after such a nerve crunching game. That should affect him too much though because you'd expect the adrenaline of another big final (this is Allen's 4th of the season, 2nd in full ranking events) to get him through any tiredness or mental fatigue after a taxing week of snooker on the road. Mark has kept his recent good form going all week and if he keeps that going for one more game that will make him very tough to beat. Ricky Walden has also been playing sublime snooker this week, having made 7 centuries so far in the 5 matches he's won against David Morris (6-3), Zhou Yuelong (6-5), Joe Swail (6-4), Jamie Burnett (6-1- with 3 centuries in this game alone) and Robert Milkins in a much less mentally fatiguing semi-final. A lot of the players say that having the day off before the final is also very helpful and having not had to work very hard for his last couple of wins he'll be pretty fresh for this final, but it will be interesting to see how he copes when tested in a big ranking final by a top player (something he really hasn't been too much this week) while Allen will be mentally prepared for a tough match having had so many already this week. Ricky Walden is in fine break building form this week, but Mark Allen has been for the last 3 months now and Mark will be absolutely oozing with confidence and I think that he'll be very tough to beat.
Prediction: Mark Allen 10-7 Ricky Walden
It really has been a fantastic week of snooker this week with some really enjoyable matches throughout, with the certain stand outs being Mark Williams matches in the Last 16 against Ronnie O'Sullivan and the semi-final today against Mark Allen, which nothing I could say would do justice for. I'm sure the final tomorrow will finish the week off in style and then it's onto the Champion of Champions straight up on Monday, and my preview for that will be up tomorrow night. The Christmas run in of snooker has well and truly begun.
Thursday, 30 October 2014
Allen, Williams, Walden and Milkins to contest International semi-finals
The semi-finals of the International Championships will be contested by Mark Allen, Mark Williams, Ricky Walden and Robert Milkins after they all had some fantastic victories into todays quarter-finals. Mark Allen won 5 frames in a row after the mid-session break against Michael White to come from 3-1 down and beat the young Welshman 6-3. Mark Williams is now the man left flying the flag for the Welsh after he got his first ranking event victory against Ronnie O'Sullivan for 12 years winning 5 frames in a row from 3-0 down against the Rocket before winning a nervy decider. Things were much more clear cut for Ricky Walden who played superb snooker in thrashing Jamie Burnett 6-1, with 3 centuries in that match. He'll now play Robert Milkins who was involved in a very close match from start to finish against Marco Fu, with their never being more than one frame in it as Robert beating the man from Hong Kong in a deciding frame.
Quarter-Final Results:
Mark Allen 6-3 Michael White
Mark Williams 6-5 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ricky Walden 6-1 Jamie Burnett
Robert Milkins 6-5 Marco Fu
Now that we're into the semi-finals the stakes are of course very high and to match that the format is up to the best of 17 frames with the first semi-final between Ricky Walden and Robert Milkins being played across two sessions tomorrow, while the semi-final between Mark Allen and Mark Williams will be played across two sessions on Saturday before Sunday's final. With the four players we have left I think it's all very even and I wouldn't want to pick a winner from here.
Semi-Final Draw: (Picks in bold)
Ricky Walden Vs Robert Milkins (Friday) - Both Robert Milkins and Ricky Walden are evenly matched players that are actually quite similar in a number of different ways. They both have smooth, rhythmic styles around the table and look at total ease when amongst the balls and good form, as both of these guys have been this week. When they're in form they're incredibly dangerous players, but they can also be very inconsistent across a full season mixing brilliant performances with very poor ones. The last time these 2 met in a major tournament was back in the 2013 World Championship last 16, and on that occasion Ricky Walden ran out the 13-11 winner. So far this week, the general standard of player Robert Milkins has had to beat has probably been slightly tougher than Ricky Walden with Walden beating Morris, Yuelong, Swail and Burnett while Milkins has beaten Pinches, in-form Shaun Murphy, Xiao Guodong and Marco Fu. They've both played very well though and Walden had 3 centuries today against Burnett and another 2 in the Last 64 against David Morris so he's had his best scoring boots on in Chengdu. Milkins has also played incredibly well and kept his opponents under huge pressure round after round but in the last two rounds he's had to work very hard physically and mentally in 2 very tough games to get the victories. Over two sessions I just fancy that Ricky Walden has more left in the tank than Robert Milkins and that could decide this one.
Mark Allen Vs Mark Williams (Saturday) - The battle of the Mark's on Saturday is sure to be a very tense one and a very close one. Both guys have beaten some very good opponents and some very good wins, scoring well and looking confident. Allen so far this week has had victories against Nigel Bond, Martin Gould, Stuart Bingham and Michael White having to work very hard in the last 3 of those games, having to come from multiple frames behind in 2 of those. Mark Williams meanwhile has had comfortable wins against Oli Brown and Barry Hawkins to start the week, while having to work a lot harder against Sam Baird coming from 2-0 and 4-3 down to win 6-4, while he came from 3-0 down to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan today. Coming into this tournament Mark Allen was in great form winning the Paul Hunter Classic and reaching another ET Final as well as the Shanghai Masters and he's continued that this week, although he has gotten off to some slow starts this week in Chengdu. Mark Williams has also had some poor starts in the last 2 games but he's soon sharpened up and he's played some fantastic snooker at times this week, having come into this event with absolutely no form at all. In fact, the two centuries he's made this week are the only two he's had all season which tells it's own story. Allen also has the best of the recent head to head, but as we saw with Williams today, that doesn't always mean you'll win. I think Mark Williams is going to be very tough to stop. Certain things this week, including the chance to stop the rot against Ronnie, have made the Welshman very determined to do well and he's showed this throughout the week, but especially today against O'Sullivan and you could see out there from his frustrations at times that winning that match and going far in this event means absolutely loads to him. At this stage of an event you are always inclined to look at who wants it more, and there's nobody left in this tournament that will want the victory more than Mark Williams such is the determination he's showed and the hard work he's been putting over the last few months on and off the table are testament to the fact that he still thinks he's capable of being back at the top of the rankings.
It looks like a very exciting climax to this tournament and I do have a great likeness for the best-of-17 frame, two session semi-finals that have produced some amazing matches over the years in the UK Championships and I have no doubt that we're going to be in for a couple of cracking encounters over the next two days. So it's time to sit back, relax and enjoy the closing stages of this event.
Quarter-Final Results:
Mark Allen 6-3 Michael White
Mark Williams 6-5 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ricky Walden 6-1 Jamie Burnett
Robert Milkins 6-5 Marco Fu
Now that we're into the semi-finals the stakes are of course very high and to match that the format is up to the best of 17 frames with the first semi-final between Ricky Walden and Robert Milkins being played across two sessions tomorrow, while the semi-final between Mark Allen and Mark Williams will be played across two sessions on Saturday before Sunday's final. With the four players we have left I think it's all very even and I wouldn't want to pick a winner from here.
Semi-Final Draw: (Picks in bold)
Ricky Walden Vs Robert Milkins (Friday) - Both Robert Milkins and Ricky Walden are evenly matched players that are actually quite similar in a number of different ways. They both have smooth, rhythmic styles around the table and look at total ease when amongst the balls and good form, as both of these guys have been this week. When they're in form they're incredibly dangerous players, but they can also be very inconsistent across a full season mixing brilliant performances with very poor ones. The last time these 2 met in a major tournament was back in the 2013 World Championship last 16, and on that occasion Ricky Walden ran out the 13-11 winner. So far this week, the general standard of player Robert Milkins has had to beat has probably been slightly tougher than Ricky Walden with Walden beating Morris, Yuelong, Swail and Burnett while Milkins has beaten Pinches, in-form Shaun Murphy, Xiao Guodong and Marco Fu. They've both played very well though and Walden had 3 centuries today against Burnett and another 2 in the Last 64 against David Morris so he's had his best scoring boots on in Chengdu. Milkins has also played incredibly well and kept his opponents under huge pressure round after round but in the last two rounds he's had to work very hard physically and mentally in 2 very tough games to get the victories. Over two sessions I just fancy that Ricky Walden has more left in the tank than Robert Milkins and that could decide this one.
Mark Allen Vs Mark Williams (Saturday) - The battle of the Mark's on Saturday is sure to be a very tense one and a very close one. Both guys have beaten some very good opponents and some very good wins, scoring well and looking confident. Allen so far this week has had victories against Nigel Bond, Martin Gould, Stuart Bingham and Michael White having to work very hard in the last 3 of those games, having to come from multiple frames behind in 2 of those. Mark Williams meanwhile has had comfortable wins against Oli Brown and Barry Hawkins to start the week, while having to work a lot harder against Sam Baird coming from 2-0 and 4-3 down to win 6-4, while he came from 3-0 down to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan today. Coming into this tournament Mark Allen was in great form winning the Paul Hunter Classic and reaching another ET Final as well as the Shanghai Masters and he's continued that this week, although he has gotten off to some slow starts this week in Chengdu. Mark Williams has also had some poor starts in the last 2 games but he's soon sharpened up and he's played some fantastic snooker at times this week, having come into this event with absolutely no form at all. In fact, the two centuries he's made this week are the only two he's had all season which tells it's own story. Allen also has the best of the recent head to head, but as we saw with Williams today, that doesn't always mean you'll win. I think Mark Williams is going to be very tough to stop. Certain things this week, including the chance to stop the rot against Ronnie, have made the Welshman very determined to do well and he's showed this throughout the week, but especially today against O'Sullivan and you could see out there from his frustrations at times that winning that match and going far in this event means absolutely loads to him. At this stage of an event you are always inclined to look at who wants it more, and there's nobody left in this tournament that will want the victory more than Mark Williams such is the determination he's showed and the hard work he's been putting over the last few months on and off the table are testament to the fact that he still thinks he's capable of being back at the top of the rankings.
It looks like a very exciting climax to this tournament and I do have a great likeness for the best-of-17 frame, two session semi-finals that have produced some amazing matches over the years in the UK Championships and I have no doubt that we're going to be in for a couple of cracking encounters over the next two days. So it's time to sit back, relax and enjoy the closing stages of this event.
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