Stephen Hendry snooker blog
Archive for January, 2010
Carter marches on
0740 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
The reigning Welsh Open champion Ali Carter faced a stern test in the form of Neil Robertson at the Newport Centre yesterday, but once again proved his worth in this rankings tournament with a performance sure to make him a strong favourite for a place in Sunday’s final.
A comfortable 5-2 victory against the Australian was a clear indicator that Carter is on course to reach the tournament’s latter stages. However, he will now play another of the sport’s in-form players in the quarter-finals – the conqueror of Stephen Hendry – Ryan Day.
Carter’s match against Robertson was far from the classic many had anticipated before the first shot of the evening session, but the 30-year-old displayed the type of ruthlessness which champions are renowned for producing when it matters most.
A superb break of 115 at a pivotal time in the match put the 2009 Welsh Open winner firmly on course for a place in the last eight; and when Robertson missed a green in the seventh frame with the score at 46-35, Carter duly obliged in putting an end to the game by potting a final black.
Robertson, who won this rankings event in 2007, had been outclassed by a man on a mission to become the first player to win consecutive Welsh Open titles since Ronnie O’Sullivan in 2004 and ’05.
Meanwhile, the unfancied Day triumphed against Hendry in the last 16 to seal a quarter-final berth. Competing in his homeland, Day was largely written off because of his poor record against the Scottish legend – four defeats in as many matches for the Welshman – however, he sealed a brilliant 5-3 victory to send home a delighted crowd away from the Newport Centre.
The last of the first-round matches were also decided last night, with the second round set to be concluded by this evening.
Ding Junhui became yet another big-name Chinese casualty in the opening rounds of this competition – meaning that not one player from the country will feature in the tournament’s second round. The world No. 13 was beaten 5-3 by Jamie Cope despite some impressive breaks of his own – including a 127.
Cope will no doubt be buoyed by yesterday’s victory, but he will need to see off the challenge of the world’s best player this afternoon if he’s to reach the last eight. Not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination and one which is extremely difficult to envisage him passing.
There were also first round wins for Welshman Mark Williams and 32-year-old Scot Graeme Dott, who has set up an intriguing last 16 match against his compatriot John Higgins.
The reigning champion of the Championship League, Judd Trump, couldn’t quite put enough pressure on the winner of this month’s prestigious Masters tournament, Mark Selby. Trump, who advanced to the winner’s group of this year’s Championship League just last week, lost 5-2 to the Jester from Leicester. Perhaps this tournament came slightly too earlier for the 20-year-old but there’s no doubt he will be a major threat in this rankings event and others like it in the forthcoming years.
The remaining six matches of the quarter-finals will be contested today over two separate sessions. The first one will begin at 1pm and will feature a wealth of snooker talent including Stephen Maguire, Matthew Stephens and the Rocket himself.
Into the evening session, and Andrew Higginson and Mark Williams will go head-to-head, as will Mark Selby and Mark King before the much-anticipated battle of the Scots – Dott v Higgins.
So, the rankings event is hotting up nicely with four days left to play. Is anyone capable of stopping Carter in his tracks in this competition?
Rob Swan
Fu marches into Championship League winners’ group
0746 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Marco Fu advanced into the Championship League winners’ group for the first time last night with an emphatic 3-0 victory over Neil Robertson in the Group Four play-off final.
Robertson had been tipped by many as a potential winner in this year’s Championship League, but the Australian was comprehensively beaten by an in-form Fu at Crandon Park last night.
The 32-year-old Hong Kong player stormed to a 1-0 lead in the final with breaks of 59 and 67; and then made it 2-0 with another impressive break of 70. By this point, there only ever looked like being one winner, and Fu made sure of his place in March’s winners’ group by not conceding a single point in the third and final frame.
It was a deserved victory for Fu, who had been in blistering form over the two days. A remarkable total of six centuries – including a 144 against Ali Carter in the round-robin, before a break of 110 in his tense semi-final against Mark Williams yesterday evening – made him the clear outstanding performer in Group Four.
Fu now joins Stephen Maguire, John Higgins and 2009’s Championship League winner, Judd Trump, in the winners’ group. If he can reproduce his group form in March, Fu will have to be considered as one the favourites to win the event.
However, the Hong Kong star has an unfortunate tendency of falling at the final hurdle in tournaments. Whether this is down to nerves or other factors, the general consensus is that Fu should have more trophies to his name by this stage of his career – he’s undoubtedly capable.
And it’s been a mixed start to 2010 for Fu after his exit in the first round of the Masters to Peter Ebdon; but this Championship League win should boost his confidence.
Meanwhile, Robertson will have another chance to qualify for the winners’ group after finishing second to Fu in the play-off final. He will compete in Group Five of the Championship League and will be expected to at least reach the final again.
Williams and Ebdon will also be in Group Five, though, along with Mark Allen, who won half of his round-robin matches in Group Four.
Rob Swan
Sweden needs to bring more snooker talents to the table
0746 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Snooker is still a very small sport in Sweden. The number of snooker tables available to the public in the entire country, 55, probably says it all.
Until about five years ago, many Swedes didn’t even know what snooker was. It wasn’t until 2002 that something finally started happening. Eurosport has been part of the base selection of many television cable companies in Sweden ever since cable tv was introduced to the country. So when they started showing snooker in the beginning of the 2000s, it was only natural that people came across matches when randomly zapping between channels.
But the thing that originally caught their attention might not have been the game itself as much as the commentator. This man truly stood out with his drawling voice, slightly sarcastic comments and hilarious understatements. People would stay on Eurosport for a while just to listen to him talk. Paying attention to the match at the same time they soon realised what a fascinating and intriguing game snooker really is.
The commentator’s name is Kim Hartman and he might very well be one of the biggest reasons why the sport is finally getting attention in Sweden. He has a background as a referee in the World Amateur Snooker Championship as well as in one of the biggest snooker clubs in Stockholm where he has been a driving force for many years. He was also responsible for importing the first snooker table to Sweden and held receptions in Stockholm for guests like Stephen Hendry in the 80′s. In 2004 he won Eurosport’s commentator of the year award.
Despite the low number of tables, a few Swedish tournaments are being held throughout the year. The most important tournament is the Swedish Championship that usually takes place after the professional World Championship. Other tournaments are the Swedish Championship for ladies, the Swedish Championship for youths, the Swedish Championship for seniors and a few smaller ranking tournaments.
Sweden has a few good players, none of which are professional, and quite a few very talented youths. Some of the most well-known players today are Kevin Zarakani, Farhan Mirza, Nils Böhling and Ann-Sofie Löfgren. It’s quite remarkable that the highest ranked female player is 32nd in the rankings. In 2009 Swedish player Suleman K Salam won the Junior International Snooker Open in Ireland.
Apparently, Sweden is loaded with snooker talent, so what could be done to increase the popularity of the sport and get more people to play? First of all, Eurosport is no longer in the tv cable basic selection due to price negotiation problems. The Eurosport web tv service costs money and is still experiencing some problems with freezing and delays.
This might slowly cause the interest in snooker to decrease among Swedes. Another problem might be the amount of tables in Sweden. If snooker tables in addition to pool tables became a natural part of the Swedish pub life, more people would be exposed to the sport. Of course, international success such as that of Salam in 2009 helps tremendously.
But anyone interested in snooker is responsible for helping the sport gain popularity. We can’t just sit around and wait for a single enthusiast like Kim Hartman to do all the work.
For Maguire winning is a frame of mind
0747 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
When Stephen Maguire won the 2004 UK Championship commentators and snooker experts proclaimed him the new Stephen Hendry.
Not because they’re both Scottish and have the same first name, but because their techniques have certain similarities. They’re both minimalistic, offensive, accurate and extraordinarily gifted. They’re both excellent break builders and natural talents that often leave the audience in awe after clearing the table.
There is however one big difference. Hendry is a remarkably composed player who never allows himself to get too nervous or dwell on previous misses. He is famous for his poker face and will always display perfect sportsmanship. It’s not that he lacks emotions, not at all. There have been interviews when Hendry has been visibly affected by a negative match result. But at the table he usually gives the impression of being as calm as a cucumber at all times.
Maguire on the other hand has had some problems with nervousness and seems to suffer from mood swings during matches. He has the disadvantage of letting misses and frame defeats get to him. This might be due to his young age, but is probably just a part of his character as a human being. That said, there aren’t many snooker players on the tour today that share Hendry’s calm state of mind.
Could Maguire become snooker’s next big star and world number one? Does he have what it takes to win the World Championship?
He certainly possesses the aptitude but will his nerves hold out and allow him to win more big tournaments? In 2004 Maguire was seemingly unbeatable when he took the UK Championship title and Ronnie O’Sullivan predicted that he would be the next world champion.
He won the China Open in 2008 and is ranked number two in the world for the 2009/10 season. There is definitely a lot of potential. So, what are you waiting for, Maguire? It’s time to show them all!
Preview: 2010 Welsh Open
0747 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Hot off the heels of last weekend’s epic Masters final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby comes the first rankings tournament of the year. The Welsh Open is regarded by some players as one of the best in the snooker calendar despite a winning prize which pales in comparison to that of the World Championships.
Hosted in Newport, south-east Wales, the 2010 Welsh Open gets underway on Monday and will finish the following Sunday. The winner of the rankings tournament will receive a cheque for £35,000 – still a decent sum of money, but well behind the £250,000 given to the winner of the World Championships.
Before 1992, the event was a prestigious amateur one and designed for Welsh players only; but its popularity ensured interest from the rankings circuit in the early 1990s, and since then the tournament has flourished into one of the most exciting of the season.
The event’s home is the Newport Centre; however, it has been played away from the 2,000 capacity venue in the past. The Welsh Open was known as the Regal Welsh Open until 2003 but then lost its main sponsor. Between 1999 and 2003, the event was played at the Cardiff International Arena, before a year at the Welsh Institute of Sport in Cardiff in 2004.
But the Welsh Open was brought back to its spiritual home in 2005, where it has remained ever since.
Ali Carter is the reigning champion after beating Joe Swail 9-5 at the Newport Centre last February. It was the 30-year-old’s first rankings title and he secured it in thrilling fashion after coming back from 5-2 down to win 9-5. And 12 months earlier, the current Masters champion, Selby, recorded his first world-ranking title with a brilliant comeback against the Rocket in the tournament’s final – now, where have we heard that one before?
Meanwhile, Stephen Hendry is the only player to have three Welsh Open titles to his name. The Scot sealed his third title in 2003, having won the inaugural event eleven years earlier and his second in 1997.
The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Steve Davis, Mark Williams and the late Paul Hunter trail just behind on two titles – a clear indicator of how highly the top players regard the rankings event.
Unlike the Masters, the Welsh Open starts with 32 competitors in the first round – all of whom have qualified for the tournament via the Welsh Open qualifiers, which have been played all this week, apart from the reigning champion Carter, who qualified by default.
Most of the sport’s big guns have now qualified and are poised to find out who they’ll be facing in the last 32. Hendry, O’Sullivan, Selby, Higgins etc are all present and correct and will be among the favourites to seal the first rankings title of the decade.
But as seen in previous years, this event does have a tendency of producing one or two surprises.
Back in 2007, unranked Andrew Higginson made it all the way to the final of the tournament, scoring a quite brilliant maximum break along the way, and only just lost out to Neil Robertson in the final by a single frame.
“The week has been beyond my wildest dreams,” Higginson said after his 9-8 defeat.
Just two years later it would be Swail’s turn to revel in the limelight cast upon him by the Newport rankings tournament. Aged 39 at the time and without a rankings win to his name, he was presented with his best opportunity at last year’s Welsh Open, but eventually allowed Carter back into the match and was punished for it.
Despite the final results, these two examples offer hope to the lower-ranked players qualifying for this year’s Welsh Open that they can reach the latter stages of the event.
So soon after the high-quality Masters it’s hard to look past the top-ranked players. O’Sullivan will be out to avenge his defeat in Sunday’s final, Selby will be looking to continue his impressive recent form, while Carter will be desperate to retain his title; but there’s something special about the Newport Centre and snooker which allows those less-fancied to shine.
Once again, the action starts next Monday, and will certainly be one not to miss.
Rob Swan
Ronnie O’Sullivan – madman or genius?
1748 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
There’s a fine line between ingenuity and insanity and perhaps Ronnie O’Sullivan, one of snooker’s greatest prodigies ever, is the biggest proof of that.
Having been known to smash cues, smoke marijuana before matches and mumble obscenities during press conferences, the man obviously seems to have a personal issue or two.
But think about it – big, unforgettable artists like Vincent van Gogh and not entirely sane writers like Hunter S Thompson probably wouldn’t have been able to produce the things they did without being a little crazy. Sportsmen, however, are expected to be calm and focused and being a sportsman, O’Sullivan is a somewhat unusual case even if he could be seen as a true artist when performing at the table.
Snooker involves so much more than just potting balls. It is a sport that requires strategy, deliberation and creativity and this might be where O’Sullivan’s more “artistic” side comes in. He spots openings that were invisible to mere mortals and when he gets out of position he often comes up with a new creative idea. The audience marvels at his inventive nature as he clears the table in a way no-one thought possible.
Snooker has seen many talents during the years but most of them were just technical wizards. The kind of skill O’Sullivan possesses goes beyond technique and borders on artistry. Maybe that sort of rare talent just can’t exist without a twist?
Trump triumphant in Group Three of Championship League
0748 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Judd Trump, the 2009 Championship League winner, moved a step closer to a return to the Premier League Snooker competition by winning Group Three of 2010’s Championship League, last night.
The 20-year-old sealed his place in the winners’ group after defeating Mark Allen, 3-2, in the Group Three play-off final; and also overcame the challenges of Neil Robertson, Marco Fu, Ali Carter and Joe Perry earlier in the session.
Trump had previously failed to qualify from Group One and Two, but he made sure of his place in the winners’ group after beating Carter 3-0 in the play-off semi-final, before a narrow 3-2 win against Allen.
The left-handed player had enjoyed a tremendous start on day one of Group Three, winning all four of his first four matches, and only slipped up against Stephen Hendry on day two of the group.
“I’ve played decently in spells but I probably played better in the first two groups as I’m still missing a few easy balls,” Trump said.
“I enjoy this event, I don’t know what it is about it but I just relax and play well. It’s a good tournament and I like the atmosphere.
“It’s just more quick-fire compared to other competitions and the best-of-five format suits me.”
He now joins Stephen Maguire and John Higgins in the Championship League winners’ group, which is scheduled to take place in the last week of March. The winner of that will be guaranteed a place in the Premier League Snooker competition, and Trump will be keen to get there again after reaching the semi-finals of last year’s tournament.
An exciting and talented youngster, Trump caught the attention of the snooker world in 2004 by hitting a competitive maximum break of 147 aged just 14 years and 208 days. It was a remarkable achievement made all the more exciting by the fact he had broken Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record set in 1991.
Since then, the Bristolian – nicknamed Haircut 100 because of his boyband hairstyle – has continued to progress at a fast pace, and is expected to be a major challenger for the big prizes in the sport before too long.
Rob Swan
Marking time – Williams chases past glory
0749 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Mark Williams is one of those extraordinary players that have made an immortal impression on the snooker world. He is one of the rare talents and used to be right up there with John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan.
But when you see Williams’ name on the draw nowadays you find yourself wondering what form he’s going to be in for the upcoming tournament.
Williams was known to produce stunning results. He’s won all the big tournaments – the World Championship twice, Grand Prix, Welsh Open, British Open, China Open, Irish Open and UK Championship, some of them several times. He’s also one of the few players who has won the Masters, the UK Championship and the World Championship titles in one season (2002/03). With 16 ranking titles Williams has shown us that he’s a player of amazing ability.
We know what he can do, we just want him to do it more frequently these days. Many of today’s snooker fans miss his performances in the glory days and wish he could find his way back to that form.
This season hasn’t exactly been brilliant. He only reached the fourth round of the qualifying event at Welsh Open. He didn’t manage to get past the last 32 of this year’s World Championship and China Open. At the Shanghai Masters he lost to John Higgins in the last 16.
The UK Championship didn’t go so well either. He won his last 32 match 9-2 but this was only because Graeme Dott had to withdraw due to illness. In his next match he lost 9-8 to Peter Lines, ranked 64th, and produced the biggest shock of the tournament.
Some hope was lit during this year’s Grand Prix though. It was almost as if it was the old Mark Williams playing. He seemed strong and made it to the semi final. He also made the highest break of the tournament (142).
This proves that his talent is still with him and that he might just need to put some more dedication into the game. Finding motivation with a career like Williams’s behind you and with fatherhood on top of everything isn’t easy. A year ago, Williams was even thinking of retiring if he dropped out of the top 32. But he thought better of it and realised that he still has what it takes to provide the world with excellent snooker.
Don’t give up, Mark.