Stephen Hendry snooker blog
Posts tagged Mark Williams
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.
Williams battles past Ding to win 2010 China Open
0777 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
The home favourite, Ding Junhui, had the crowd behind him and looked the clear favourite to take the 2010 China Open in the final against Mark Williams.
The Welshman, though, valiantly battled back from 5-3 down to beat Ding 10-6 to secure his first title for four years.
The 35-year-old former world champion had been stuck in a rut during those four long years, struggling to make his presence felt on the snooker circuit.
However, this long-overdue win netted the “over the moon” Williams a winners’ cheque for £55,000 and provided the Welshman with a clear indicator that his snooker career is not over just yet.
Marking time – Williams chases past glory
0853 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.
Williams edges past Murphy into Masters semis
0857 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Mark Williams produced his second impressive Masters performance last night with a 6-4 win over Shaun Murphy to advance to the semi-finals.
The left-handed Welshman looked confident and assured throughout – despite the minor car crash which left him with whiplash on Monday night – and will now play Ronnie O’Sullivan on Saturday afternoon for a place in the final.
It’s the first time Williams has progressed to the Masters semi-finals since he won the event seven years ago – based on his last two convincing performances, this could well prove a good omen.
Displaying some of the vintage snooker which has allowed him to win this tournament on two previous occasions, Williams sunk numerous long pots and racked up several big breaks during the match, and is now eagerly-anticipating his semi-final clash against the Rocket.
“I’m going to be playing the best player in the world in the second biggest tournament, I’m over the moon. We both played well and it was a good game,” the 34-year-old said.
“The big arenas, the best players, it’s what we play for. I know what I’m capable of and looking forward to a good game.”
Williams lost the opening frame as his opponent looked the better player in the opening stages of the match. However, the Welshman recovered with a break of 76 in the second frame to level proceedings.
He then went 2-1 up after two breaks of 53 and 56; and in the third, yet another fifty from the two-time world champion put added daylight between the two competitors.
Another high break, 62 this time, earned Williams his fourth consecutive frame and a seemingly unassailable 4-1 lead.
But the only three figure break of the match came from Murphy in the sixth frame. A 100-0 scoreline offered the 2005 world champion a glimpse of hope, but this began to fade almost immediately as Williams hit back with a total of 68 to take a tense seventh frame.
5-2 and now with victory in sight, Murphy so nearly achieved the unthinkable as he pulled the next two frames back in emphatic fashion.
The high-quality match was drawing to a close, though, and Williams survived an incredibly nervy final frame to book his place in the first of Saturday’s two semi-finals.
Rob Swan
The Force not strong enough for rampant Rocket
0857 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Ronnie O’Sullivan survived a mid-session blip against Peter Ebdon to seal his place in the Masters semi-finals.
The Rocket stormed to a 4-0 lead, producing some of his best snooker along the way, but became sloppy in the fifth and sixth frames – letting Ebdon back into the match.
A superb snooker in the sixth allowed the Force to pull the score back to 4-2 – without it, there’s little doubt that O’Sullivan would have cruised to victory even quicker – and for a short time, an unlikely comeback suddenly didn’t appear entirely beyond the realms of possibility.
But just as he did in his first round match against Neil Robertson, O’Sullivan refused to panic – or look even remotely flustered for that matter – remained typically cool and extended the deficit to three frames by sealing the seventh.
With the match slipping away from Ebdon’s grasp – the score now at 5-2 – he needed something special to keep himself in the match, and achieved it by winning the frame 65-1.
Unfortunately for Ebdon, his opponent – and the crowd favourite – found his best form again by the end of the match, just as he did against Robertson.
And the inevitable soon followed. The Rocket gave the fans inside Wembley Arena a real show in the ninth and final frame – hitting a break of 106 to win the match and advance to his ninth Masters semi-finals.
He will now play the winner of this evening’s second quarter-final between Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy, on Saturday afternoon at 1pm.
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
Whiplashed Williams waltzes into quarters
0859 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Mark Williams had suffered the effects of whiplash after a minor car crash on Monday evening and felt sore throughout his second round Masters match against Ali Carter; but this had little effect on the Welshman’s performance as he fought bravely through the pain barrier and defeated his opponent 6-3 in the process.
Williams and seven-time world champion, Stephen Hendry, were both involved in the road accident following a night out. The 34-year-old’s car was stationary at the time of the collision, but was shunted from behind at traffic lights. Fortunately, only minor injuries were sustained, and the Welshman was given the green light to play just 24 hours later.
At the end of the first frame, those packed inside Wembley Arena could have been forgiven for questioning whether or not such an incident had even occurred. Williams hit a break of 98 without reply to seal the opening frame, although the amount of time he needed to take each shot – along with a series of slight grimaces every now and then – suggested he had only just been passed fit to play.
Carter went one better in the second frame, compiling a 99, and then took a 2-1 lead in the frame after with a 71 in the third.
Williams recovered, though, and equalised with the highest break of the match. His 102 was arguably the standout moment of the match, as the game became scrappier after the interval.
The scoreline was then reversed once again in the fifth – Williams stumbling to a 66-3 frame win – but Carter again levelled proceedings in the sixth after a break of 98.
As the match became more tense, the errors began to seep into both players’ games. But Williams was clearly up for a scrap-fest and won the next three frames to secure his place in the last eight.
The two-time world champion and Masters winner, who had spent the morning in hospital on painkillers, had performed valiantly and admitted he’d surprised himself at times during the match.
“The pain was ok; it got worse when the tension started to build at the end. It meant I got down to shots slower which might have helped!” the world No. 15 joked.
“I surprised myself, I didn’t expect that and felt good out there. I couldn’t rush any shots because of the pain. That was probably some of the best stuff I have played for some time.
“I’ll try and get a massage tomorrow and hopefully it should get better.”
Williams will now play the man who knocked his fellow passenger, Hendry, out of the tournament, Shaun Murphy, tomorrow evening at 7pm.
Rob Swan
Impressive Maguire knocks out hot-stepper King
0860 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Stephen Maguire advanced into the quarter-finals of the Masters last night with a 6-3 win against the tournament’s pre-match entertainer.
Maguire saw off the challenge of the man now dubbed in some quarters as “the hot-stepper”, Mark King, after his antics in Sunday’s wildcard round match against Jimmy White.
King once again entertained the crowd on his entrance last night – dancing to some rather untraditional, expletive-filled hip hop. But with the beeps in all the right places, none of the crowd appeared too offended by Ice Cube’s aggressive lyrics – or even King’s dodgy dance moves – and saw the funny side instead.
After a 6-2 victory against local hero White, King now faced a far tougher opponent in the form of “the Livewire”, but began the match where he left off against the recent I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! contestant by winning the first frame.
And in the second frame, things got even better for the 35-year-old as a run of 78 put him 2-0 ahead.
It was the next frame where Maguire finally began to gather some momentum and came out the other side of a scrap-fest with the first of his six frames on the board – a 63-18 scoreline pulling back a vital frame for the winner of last week’s Championship League Group A playoff final against Mark Selby.
Then, a brilliant break of 121 levelled the match for Maguire in the fourth. The Scot had well and truly arrived, but King remained defiant, taking the fifth frame 66-54 to take the lead for a second time.
Indeed, the match continued to be blighted by errors and silly mistakes by both players going into the last few frames. Whether it was a lack of concentration or a battle of nerves, neither player truly hit top gear at Wembley Arena last night.
Maguire took the sixth frame, though, with a narrow 59-56, and then took the lead for the first time in the match – taking the seventh frame following a break of 78.
In the final two frames, the 28-year-old Glaswegian racked up an 87 and an 82 in the eighth and ninth frames, respectively, to secure a place in the quarter-finals against either Ryan Day or Joe Perry.
So, the Masters waves goodbye to a man who lit-up the first two rounds with his inspired entrances; while Maguire moves a step closer to winning this prestigious non-ranking tournament for the first time.
Meanwhile, there were no surprises in the final first-round match between Mark Williams and Rory McLeod.
The Welshman reportedly drove through two feet of snow in a borrowed 4×4 from his sponsor, from his home community of Cwm all the way to London, and it proved well worth the treacherous journey as he sealed a 6-2 win over McLeod and his place in round two of the tournament.
The two-time Masters champion never really looked that convincing, and conceded that the match had been “scrappy all round”.
However, the wildcard-round victory means he will now face Ali Carter this evening for a place in the quarter-finals, where the winner will face the conqueror of Stephen Hendry, Shaun Murphy.
Rob Swan
Delighted Murphy advances to quarters at Hendry’s expense
0860 days
by Rob Swan
in Uncategorized
Stephen Hendry was knocked out of the Masters yesterday evening in the second round of the tournament, losing a pulsating 6-4 match against Shaun Murphy at Wembley Arena.
The Scot already had six Masters titles to his name before taking to the table last night, but was bidding to make it seven with another victory this winter.
A truly dominant force in this competition at the end of the 1980s and into the 1990s, Hendry was competing for his first Masters trophy victory since 1996.
But his opponent, Murphy, looking to progress past the quarter-finals of the tournament for the first time, held his nerve in a tense duel inside Wembley to seal his place in the next round at Hendry’s expense.
It could have been an entirely different outcome had Hendry not missed a simple green in the final frame – a decisive error which the Scot would have inevitably replayed over in his head last night.
“There is no excuse for missing a green like that. It was part twitch and part changing my mind,” the world No. 10 said.
“I was down on the shot thinking, ‘Should I stun it off the cushion?’ but in the end I didn’t do what I wanted.
“It’s frustrating as I played quite well. To lose like that was hard to take because Shaun looked a bit nervous.
“If it had gone to the last frame I’d have had a good chance.”
Both competitors played their part in this match unfolding as a thrilling contest. Hendry, whose record of five consecutive Masters titles between 1989 and 1994 remains unequalled, hit a 114 in frame two to level the match, and then took the lead in the third frame after another impressive run of 79.
However, this merely spurred on Murphy, who admitted after the match that the crowd’s shouts of support for Hendry provided “free inspiration” for him.
The 2005 world champion took a 4-2 lead with an 81, but was immediately pegged back in the seventh frame following a mesmeric 104 by his opponent.
Not to be outdone, Murphy kept his cool and remained unmoved by the crowd favourite’s exploits, and then displayed his fighting spirit once again to hit a superb 106.
A tight, penultimate frame went to the Scot, which in turn set up a stirring finale. But missing that simple green in the tenth frame – with the score neatly poised at 54-32 – eventually sealed Hendry’s fate once again.
However, this wasn’t before one last kick in the teeth for the Masters legend. On what turned out to be the final shot of the match, Murphy played for safety but inadvertently ended up fluking the blue to seal his place in the quarter-finals, leaving Hendry with that all too familiar sinking feeling.
The world No. 3 will now face the winner of tonight’s match, either Ali Carter or Mark Williams, on Thursday evening, with a potential semi-final against Peter Ebdon, Ronnie O’Sullivan or Neil Robertson lined up if he can end his quarter-final hoodoo, and move a step closer to winning that first coveted Masters title.
“Any match against Stephen is a major event so I’m delighted to win,” a buoyant Murphy said.
“It was a high standard with big breaks and good safety. To win the biggest three events would be a boyhood dream come true. My record in this tournament isn’t great – I normally watch it from home so I’m not sure I want to break my routine! ”
Rob Swan