Stephen Hendry snooker blog
Posts tagged Mark Selby
Snooker World Open contenders
0612 days
by Ismail Vedat
in Uncategorized
The World Open starts this weekend, and there are a number of players who stand a great chance of winning the event.
The usual suspects will be competing for the £100,000 top-prize and the favourite, as he is heading into every tournament, is Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The Rocket missed the first ranking tournament of the season at the Shanghai Masters for personal reasons and was unable to defend his crown. He will be playing Mark King in the first round. Last season was one to forget for O’Sullivan, as he only won one ranking event, and by his standards, he should have done better. He lost in the Masters final to Mark Selby at Wembley after throwing away a 9-6 lead, and suffered at the hands of Selby once again in the quarter-finals of the world championship.
Two semi-final appearances at the UK Championship and Welsh Open were the best he could manage in ranking events other than his Shanghai win, and on both occasions he lost to John Higgins. Another defeat in a final, this time in the Premier League – where he was champion for five consecutive years – to Shaun Murphy came along as well.
O’Sullivan at times can be his own worst enemy, but if he is in the right frame of mind, then he will definitely be the one to beat. This season he has played twice in the Premier League, and has failed to win in both of them, drawing with Marco Fu and Ding Junhui.
Selby won the Masters for the second time in three years in last season, and he begins his campaign against Barry Hawkins. He has made a solid start to this season, winning a six-red tournament in Thailand and one of the new Players Tour Championship events as well. The Jester from Leicester is capable of going all the way to add to the Welsh Open -the only ranking event title of his career so far.
Reigning world champion Neil Robertson is certainly another contender for the World Open. The Australian began and ended last season with event wins – winning the Grand Prix at the start and becoming world champion at the end at the Crucible. The quick-fire format of the World Open – where matches are the first to three up until the final – will suit Robertson’s game. As world champion as well, he’ll have a lot to prove, and over the last few seasons he has become one of the more flamboyant players on the table.
Another contender is the in-form Ali Carter. He won the first ranking event of the season last week in Shanghai after beating Jamie Burnett in the final. Carter has been one of the most consistent players on the circuit over the last two seasons, which has seen him rise to No.2 in the world rankings.
Shaun Murphy is the reigning Premier League champion, and as that prestigious tournament is built on playing against the 25-second shot-clock, he should have no problems adapting to the best-of-five encounters here in Scotland.
A man who returned to form last season was Mark Williams, and last night he showed his true quality in the Premier League by coming back from 2-0 down to win 4-2. He won the China Open last season to end a run of four years without a ranking event win, and signs of the old Williams have been coming back. The Welshman is a dangerous opponent for anybody, and he could go far in this event.
With a tournament in Scotland, all eyes will be on a Scotsman winning the World Open at the end of the week. Stephen Maguire has won four ranking events in his career, but the last of them came in 2008 in China. At times he doesn’t play well, and this is his downfall, as he is not able to win the scrappy frames. Of the Scottish players – which also include Stephen Hendry, Graeme Dott, Alan McManus, Marcus Campbell and Jamie McBain – he is the most likely to reach the latter stages.
Snooker World Open preview
0612 days
by Ismail Vedat
in Uncategorized
The second ranking event of the snooker season begins tomorrow with a new tournament, the 12bet.com World Open in Glasgow.
At this stage of the season, the Grand Prix would usually be taking place, but the tournament has been rebranded as the World Open and offers a quick-fire and exciting format for the players.
All matches will be best-of-five frames up until the final, where it becomes the best-of-nine frames. All matches will also be played on just one table, and the event offers the prospect of the big names playing one another thanks to the random draw. It is being dubbed as the “FA Cup” of snooker and is something different for the players to get used to.
Some qualifying matches took place last month, with the Scottish trio of Marcus Campbell, Alan McManus and James McBain just some of the players already booking their places in the last-32, as amateurs from around the world had the chance to play against the professional players.
Eleven last-64 matches will take place to decide who will join them, and the random draw has produced some interesting ties. The stand-out tie is the clash between Neil Robertson and Graeme Dott in a repeat of the world championship final from last season, which saw Robertson become the first official world champion from Australia.
The Thunder from Down Under is anticipating another tough match against the Scot. “We all have good times and bad times, but Graeme has bounced back and I am expecting a very hard match. Mind you, at least it won’t go on until 1am in the morning again.”
Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin his quest to become World Open champion against Mark King, and Jimmy White, a six-time world finalist, plays Paul Davison. Ding Junhui plays Adrian Gunnell, and reigning Masters champion Mark Selby takes on Barry Hawkins.
Selby believes the short format will be tricky for the established players. “There is added pressure when you are playing best of fives,” he said. “I think we might see some players who are not familiar faces doing well in the event, because the short matches will give the lower-ranked players a better chance. It will definitely be an exciting event to watch for the fans in the arena and viewers on TV.”
Steve Davis reached the quarter-finals of the world championship at the Crucible last season after a remarkable run that saw him defeat then-reigning world champion John Higgins. The six-time world champion plays Peter Ebdon in another fascinating tie. Stephen Hendry takes on Belgian Bjorn Haneveer, and the seven-time world champion is excited about the event. “It’s the one tournament we have in Scotland, and with the new format there’s no doubt it’s going to be exciting.”
Mark Williams, the China Open champion, plays Igor Figueiredo of Brazil. Ali Carter won the first ranking event of the season at the Shanghai Masters last week against Jamie Burnett, and he is on the lookout for his third ranking event title against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Current Premier League champion Shaun Murphy plays Dave Harold, and Stephen Maguire plays Stuart Pettman.
Maguire is delighted to be playing the event in his homeland, and is dreaming of winning it. “With it being in Glasgow, I would love to win it – only winning the World Championship would be better,” he said. “One of the greatest feelings in the world is picking up the trophy at the end of the week. I’ve not had it for over two years, so I’ve almost forgotten what feels like.”
Recently, snooker has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, as one of Scotland’s finest Higgins was cleared of match-fixing after tabloid newspaper News of the World had footage of him and his manager Pat Mooney agreeing to throw frames for money.
Mooney was deemed to be solely responsible for the situation, while Higgins was found guilty of bringing the sport into disrepute and has been banned until November and fined £75,000. Higgins was also guilty of failing to report an approach from a would-be corruptor.
The Scottish star will be disappointed not to be playing on home soil, but at least he will be breathing a whole lot easier after enduring the worst four months of his career.
At last, all the talk about snooker can be about what happens on the table rather than off it.
Mark Williams makes winning return to Premier League snooker
0612 days
by Ismail Vedat
in Uncategorized
After five years away from the Premier League, Mark Williams came from 2-0 down to defeat Mark Selby 4-2 last night.
Williams won the China Open last season and returned to form after dropping out of the top-16 rankings.
Last night, the two-time world champion found himself a frame behind after he missed a red into the bottom left corner. Selby was able to clear up with a break of 101 and make the first century of the night.
Williams didn’t do much wrong, but found himself 2-0 down, as Selby made a break of 84. Less than 20 minutes had been played, and the first two frames were of the highest standard.
The quality continued, as Williams responded with his own century break, a 113, to halve the deficit. Selby broke down on a break of 22 in the fourth frame when he missed a red into the middle pocket, presenting the chance for Williams. However, when it looked as though he would draw level, he missed the final yellow on a break of 48, but Selby missed two frame-winning pots on the last pink. Williams wasn’t punished for his error and managed to square the tie.
The Welshman had all the momentum as Selby went off the boil, and he made breaks of 35 and 47 to lead the reigning Masters champion for the first time in the match. After a long safety exchange in the final frame of the evening, Williams’ effort of 42 gave him the two points.
“I can’t remember the last time I played in front of this many people,” said Williams.
“The more people watching, the more you enjoy it and you play better. Apart from two or three ranking tournaments, the Premier League is the best event in snooker. Selby started off really well, knocked in a century and I thought I would be three or 4-0 down within 45 minutes.
“That’s how good a player he is – I was two down before I had a shot but that’s what happens. I then got my chances and started making some good breaks,” he added.
In the night’s other match, Ding Junhui and Ronnie O’Sullivan played out a 3-3 draw. Both players have yet to win a game, and for O’Sullivan it is two games and two draws.
Ding came charging out of the blocks by knocking in a 122 to take the opening frame. The second frame saw both players involved in a good safety battle, and O’Sullivan took the frame to level. Another century of the night came, this time from O’Sullivan, as he compiled a delightful 119 to go 2-1 up.
Ding – who lost 5-1 to reigning Premier League champion Shaun Murphy on the first night – replied with a break of 89 to level at 2-2. O’Sullivan then went 3-2 in front to guarantee himself a point, as his break of 67 saw him recover from difficult shots from every position. The final frame should have been the Rocket’s, but he missed the last pink to give Ding a share of the spoils.
“I should’ve potted the pink but I missed it and you don’t deserve to win if you miss balls like that,” said O’Sullivan.
Premier League snooker preview
0614 days
by Ismail Vedat
in Uncategorized
The second week of Premier League snooker takes place tomorrow night with two cracking matches in prospect.
Mark Selby takes on Mark Williams, while Ronnie O’Sullivan plays Ding Junhui.
Selby and Williams are making their first appearances in the Premier League for this season, and it should be a great match. Selby is the reigning Masters champion after winning the prestigious tournament for the second time in three years at Wembley in January.
Selby reached the final in his debut appearance in the Premier League back in 2008, and was thumped 7-2 by O’Sullivan. He failed to make it in last year’s competition, but he is back this year. Last week, he reached the Shanghai Masters semi-finals, where he lost to eventual champion Ali Carter in the first ranking event of the season.
Williams is first up for the Jester from Leicester, and he comes off the back of a decent season after winning the China Open, his first ranking title for four years. The two-time world champion will relish the challenge of playing a feisty opponent and playing against the 25-second shot-clock. The Welsh potting machine has returned to form and the match could go the distance.
Williams dropped out of the top 16 rankings a few seasons ago and was on the brink of quitting the game. After more than five years since his last appearance in the Premier League, Williams thought he’d never be playing in the competition again. “It feels very good to be back in the Premier League,” he said.
“I wasn’t confident of getting back in the Premier League and I thought it was far away and the chance had gone. I was too far down the rankings and was never going to get a wildcard as you have be in the top six or seven to have a chance. For 12 to 18 months it looked like there was no way on earth that I would get up there but somehow I’ve managed to do so.
“I dropped down the rankings like a stone and at one stage I was at 47 and couldn’t see a way back to the top. But with a lot of hard work and practise I started to climb the rankings the right way. It’s a lot easier to fall down the rankings than to climb back up,” Williams added.
In the other match of the evening, O’Sullivan and Ding failed to win their opening matches. Ding was all at sea as he lost 5-1 to reigning Premier League champion Shaun Murphy, while O’Sullivan had to take a point against former winner Marco Fu in a 3-3 draw.
Murphy was in imperious form and began the defence of his title in dominating fashion. Ding had no answer, and if he thinks it doesn’t get tougher, well it does.
A match against O’Sullivan is always one to watch, and as the six-time champion of the Premier League, O’Sullivan is looking to avenge for last year’s defeat in the final to Murphy. He began this year’s Premier League campaign on the opening night against Fu, and it was a high-quality affair. O’Sullivan trailed all the time as Fu played exceptionally well. Despite knocking in two century breaks, the Rocket was unable to disrupt the rhythm of Fu, who took his chances when they were presented to him.
O’Sullivan didn’t play badly, and neither did Fu, so a draw at the end of the night was a fair result. O’Sullivan was unable to play at the Shanghai Masters last week as he pulled out due to personal reasons, but he will be back and might cause Ding a lot of problems.
Predictions: Mark Selby 3 Mark Williams 3, Ronnie O’Sullivan 4 Ding Junhui 2
Ronnie O’Sullivan favourite for Premier League crown
0627 days
by Ismail Vedat
in Uncategorized
He’s always the favourite in every snooker tournament he enters.
Ronnie O’Sullivan is looking to win the Premier League for the seventh time in his career, and who would bet against him?
The Rocket takes off when he’s on the table, and because the Premier League format incorporates a shot-clock, it suits O’Sullivan right down to the wire. He was sent crashing down to earth in last year’s final, when Shaun Murphy denied him making it five triumphs on the spin. However, O’Sullivan enjoys playing in the Premier League, and he’ll want to get his hands back on the trophy once again.
If you take O’Sullivan out of the equation, then any one of the remaining six players can win the Premier League.
Mark Selby is the Masters champion, having won the tournament twice in the last three years. He could be the man to challenge O’Sullivan. They have played each other on many occasions on the biggest stages. Selby has beaten O’Sullivan recently in the last eight of the world championship and in the Masters final, and when they cross paths they always serve up a tremendous feast. Selby as a minimum will reach the semi-finals.
Don’t rule out the reigning world champion Neil Robertson. The Australian comes off the back of a fantastic season, as he kicked it off by winning the Grand Prix and ended it by becoming world champion. Like O’Sullivan, he likes to play at a quick tempo, and the format of the Premier League will see him be a force to be reckoned with.
The Welsh potting machine Mark Williams is another player who flies around the table. His relaxed-style of play along with good speed makes him a player to be aware of, and like Selby expect him to reach the semi-finals. Former world champion Murphy is looking to defend his title, but with O’Sullivan, Selby and Williams around, it will be a hard task for him. The added incentive of being reigning champion might get Murphy to the final, but definitely the semi-finals.
China’s Ding Junhui was the form player last season, winning the UK Championship and losing in two other ranking finals. He’ll be difficult to beat in the round-robin phase, but he might come up short in reaching the semis.
Marco Fu won the Premier League back in 2003. Repeating that feat again won’t happen, and the best Fu can hope for is not to finish bottom of the league.
Bank on O’Sullivan, Selby, Williams and Murphy to reach the last four, and out of the bunch, O’Sullivan is definitely the man to beat.
Premier League snooker returns
0628 days
by Ismail Vedat
in Uncategorized
Tomorrow night sees the return of the PartyCasino.com Premier League snooker, with reigning champion Shaun Murphy and six-time winner Ronnie O’Sullivan both in action.
Now in its 25th year, the Premier League has been won by snooker’s greats, Stephen Hendry (six), O’Sullivan, (six), Steve Davis (four), Jimmy White (one) and John Higgins (one).
This year’s field is made up of seven players who have each won a major event during the 2009/10 season, and the competition is as tough as ever.
Murphy upset the odds in last year’s Premier League, beating Higgins in the semi-finals and defeating O’Sullivan, the man who won this trophy for five years on the spin, 7-3 in the final. The 2005 world champion begins the defence of his title against Ding Junhui, and is anticipating a great battle.
“Ding and I always have great matches,” he said.
“This year at the world championships I edged through and a few weeks ago I played him in a tournament in China and beat him in the final. Maybe I’ve inflicted a bit of mental scarring and it will be good to see how the season opener kicks off,” said Murphy.
Murphy scraped into the semi-finals after starting the tournament badly last year, and this year he knows he cannot repeat the feat as defending champion.“It’s going to be very difficult to win the title again but having said that Ronnie did it for five years so it can be done,” he said.
“I’m hoping to make a better start to the campaign than I did last year but if I finish it like I did last year then I’ll consider it a success. I had a really bad start and was nowhere after a few weeks as I was bottom and propping up the table. I just snuck into the play-offs but it doesn’t matter where you finish as long as you’re in the top four,” added Murphy.
Last season Ding won the UK Championship for the second time in his career and was unfortunate not to win more ranking events as he made it to the final of the Grand Prix and China Open. The 23-year-old came of age last campaign, and has fine-tuned his game and matured into a great competitor.
The other match of the opening night pits O’Sullivan against Marco Fu – who qualified for the Premier League by beating Mark Allen to clinch the Championship League. O’Sullivan is out to avenge last year’s defeat to Murphy, and Fu, who won this event back in 2003, is aware of this.
“Ronnie is the man to beat and probably the favourite to win the tournament,” said Fu. “I had a good record against him but have lost the last four or five times we met so it’s going to be tough but hopefully I can perform well.”
O’Sullivan only won the Shanghai Masters last season, and by his standards had a poor season, but he always entertains gives the crowd their money’s worth when he turns up for the Premier League, and this year should be no different.
The other players in the Premier League are Neil Robertson, Mark Williams and Mark Selby.
Robertson is the reigning world champion after conquering the Crucible back in May. The Australian enjoyed one of his best campaigns last season, winning the Grand Prix for the second time and going on to become the first official world champion from Down Under. He also climbed up to second in the rankings.
Williams returned to form last season by proving to be a hard nut to crack at the majority of tournaments, and won his first ranking title in four years by beating home favourite Ding to win the China Open. The two-time champion of the world and former world No.1 will be a difficult opponent to face in this competition, and the quick-fire format will suit his game.
Masters champion Selby is hoping to go one better in the Premier League after he lost the final to O’Sullivan in 2008 on his debut in the tournament. Selby won the Masters at Wembley Arena for the second time in three years, and beat O’Sullivan 10-9 in a thrilling final in January. His Masters triumph was the only highlight of an uneventful campaign for the Jester, despite reaching the world championship semi-finals.
The Premier League will be played in a round-robin format over a 10-week timeline, with the top four qualifying for the semi-finals. Matches will be played over six frames, with players getting two points for a win and one for a 3-3 draw.
One man who will not be appearing in this year’s Premier League is Higgins. The three-time world champion will find out soon whether he is found guilty of match-fixing after Sunday newspaper News of the World caught Higgins and his manager Pat Mooney on tape agreeing to throw frames for £261,000. Although Higgins has denied any wrong-doing, he could be banned for a lengthy period of time should he be found guilty.
Higgins is currently suspended from all World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association tournaments, and sources close to the WPBSA say he will not be appearing at the first two ranking events of the season, the Shanghai Masters and the World Open. Even though the Premier League is not classed as a ranking tournament, Higgins still will not appear because of his current situation.
Carter marches on
0844 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
Preview: 2010 Welsh Open
0851 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
Selby stuns O’Sullivan in epic Masters final
0854 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Mark Selby produced one of the finest comebacks the illustrious Masters final has ever seen with a shock 10-9 victory against world No. 1 Ronnie O’Sullivan.
The Rocket had taken a 9-6 lead, late into the evening session; but was incredibly pegged back by his opponent, who capitalised on the usually nerveless O’Sullivan’s errors to lift the coveted non-rankings trophy.
The 26-year-old won the last four frames in spectacular fashion as the crowd packed inside Wembley Arena were treated to a classic final.
It meant Selby had gained revenge for last year’s final defeat against the same opponent, while adding to his 2008 Masters title in the process.
Few would have bet against the 34-year-old O’Sullivan from claiming his fifth title going into the 16th frame. Looking comfortable and displaying his customary brand of mesmeric shots, the Rocket looked for the all the world to be cruising to yet another title.
However, the Jester from Leicester never gave up the fight, and with the score at 9-8 there was one particular shot which perhaps cost O’Sullivan the match. When it would have been far less dangerous to play a safety shot off a loose green towards the end of the 18th frame, he decided to take it on with his left-hand, looking to put enough cut on to sink what would have been the pot of the tournament.
But it proved too tricky, and the ball ricocheted off the pocket to allow Selby to clear up and take the match to a decider.
Despite the clock rapidly approaching midnight, the crowd inside the arena were more vocal than ever before, but were now supporting the underdog, who by this point had captured the audiences’ imagination with his thrilling comeback.
Selby described it as “like playing in the lion’s den” with “90 per cent of the fans supporting Ronnie” at the start of the match, but it was his own lion-heart performance which prompted shouts of “come on Mark!” from the stalls as Monday morning approached.
His entrance song, Underdog by Kasabian, had proven a very apt choice, and in the deciding frame the underdog had triumphed, spectacularly potting a difficult long red before adding runs of 27 and 37.
O’Sullivan must have known he was a beaten man at this point – he certainly had the look of one. His shots became increasingly – and very unusually – lax, and when he missed a red to the centre, the 34-year-old shook the hand of Selby to concede the match.
Delight for the world No. 7 ensued, as did a huge cheque for £150,000.
“At 9-6 down I thought my chance was gone and I expected Ronnie to win,” a delighted Selby admitted.
“I looked dead and buried, but I knew it wasn’t over until the last ball was potted. Then when it got to 9-9 I felt I was more confident than him. I just wanted one chance – in the end I got more than that and I did enough. I’m pinching myself because it’s hard to believe. “
Meanwhile, O’Sullivan was gracious in defeat and felt he was beaten by the better player on the night, but admitted that he still faces an ongoing struggle to overcome psychological barriers.
“I have to look at the big picture and I surprised myself by getting to the final this week,” O’Sullivan said.
“I didn’t play well enough to win so I can’t be disappointed. I will keep pitching up to tournaments and trying to compete.
“I’m always out to win, but the battle is with myself. I’m trying not to have too many highs and lows. For 17 years I’ve been playing like a plum, and being hot and cold made me depressed. I can’t do that to myself any more. I felt it today and I said to myself ‘don’t go there’. The frustration is that if I got it right I would smash all these players up, I’d demolish them.”
The runner-up prize of £75,000 provided little solace for the beaten finalist, who had wasted a golden opportunity to catch up with Stephen Hendry’s record of six Masters titles.
But at 26, Selby continues to improve and clearly has a fondness for this prestigious tournament. The newly crowned Masters champion will be back next year to defend his title – as he unsuccessfully attempted last year – with a few more fans following last night’s absorbing comeback.
Rob Swan
Below-par Higgins crashes out of Masters
0858 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Along with the likes of Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Williams, world champion John Higgins was among the favourites to win the 2010 Masters. However, last night he became the first big-name casualty of this year’s tournament after losing to Northern Ireland’s Mark Allen 6-3.
The three-time world champion was sloppy throughout, while his opponent performed admirably following the death of a close friend last week.
Allen admitted that emotions nearly got the better of him towards the end of the match, but the 23-year-old kept it together, held his nerve, and won the final two sets to book his place in the quarter-finals.
“It was a bit emotional towards the end, when it got to the last few balls I was trying not to cry. He was a member of the pool team I play for and a good friend,” Allen said afterwards.
The provisional world No. 1, Higgins, enjoyed a decent enough start to the match, taking the lead after a tightly-contested opening frame. Allen’s miss on the final green allowed his opponent to seal a 77-53 first frame win – but the World No. 11 had already shown enough fight to suggest he wouldn’t be a pushover.
And he proved this to be the case in the next three frames, winning them all to take a surprise 3-1 lead. To outline how well Allen was playing at this point, in frames two and three, Higgins failed to pot a single red as his Northern Irish opponent scored 77 and 73, respectively.
After being outplayed in the previous two frames, the fourth was more controversial as Higgins was deemed to have fouled while potting a routine black. The Scot appeared bemused with the referee’s decision, while replays failed to determine whether or not the call was correct.
“It puzzled me a great deal, every player knows if they touch a ball and I’m sure I didn’t,” the Scot said.
“I’ve looked at the television replays and couldn’t see the evidence. It doesn’t take much to make you feel sorry for yourself when you’re not playing well.”
But in frame five, Higgins reduced the deficit to 3-2 with a tactical 70-46. It appeared that an O’Sullivan-esq comeback was on the cards. However, Allen recovered well in the sixth, racking up a huge 124-6 win after two visits to the table of 51 and 73.
Higgins bounced back in the seventh, pulling the match back to 4-3, but Allen dominated the final two frames. First with a break of 69 in the penultimate frame before a break of 57 secured a 108-0 win in the final frame – along with his place in the quarter-finals.
After the match, both players revealed how they felt they hadn’t performed well on the night. Although it was the expected response from Higgins, his opponent would have been forgiven for revelling in his victory slightly more.
“It wasn’t very good. I made breaks when I needed to, but my concentration very poor,” Allen commented.
“I’ve won three games this season which is terrible really. The only time I played well was in the UK and I got beat!”
Despite his self-critical analysis, Allen was still pleased to have sealed the win, but recognised that Higgins’ poor performance was a factor in the 6-3 scoreline.
“It was definitely a good win and will help my confidence. John didn’t play well but you need the likes of Ronnie or John to be off-colour,” he said.
Meanwhile, a despondent Higgins conceded that Allen was a worthy winner, but was frustrated that the Masters remains his bogey tournament after this latest first round exit.
“I never seem to play well here. I can only liken it to a golfer who doesn’t play well on certain courses. I’ve lost so many first round matches but it’s the manner in which I’ve lost them,” Higgins added.
“Take nothing away from Mark, if you look at the points total he had about a 1000 and I had a 100. I was lucky to get three frames today.”
Allen will now play Mark Selby in tomorrow’s second quarter-final and will be gunning for revenge. The pair met at the same stage last year, but the Jester from Leicester advanced to the semis after a narrow 6-5 victory.
Rob Swan