Stephen Hendry snooker blog
Posts tagged Peter Lines
Ding pots UK Championship to end dramatic week
0785 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Ding Junhui has potted the title at the second biggest snooker tournament of the year, the UK Championship, in the final act of what has been a dramatic week in Telford to say the least.
Stars have come and left. Dreams have been crushed for some and realised for others. We have seen some spectacular matches and many surprises.
One of the biggest sensations in this year’s UK Championship was defending champion Shaun Murphy’s fall against Ding in the last 16. It was a tangible loss and took a while to digest. Another shock was Peter Lines’ (ranked 64th) victories over Ian McCulloch, Nigel Bond, Marco Fu and Mark Williams on the road to the quarter-finals. This year’s Grand Prix finalist, Liang Wenbo, had another great tournament with 9-3 and 9-2 wins over Ryan Day and Mark King, respectively. He has really shown that he’s a player to count on this season.
The biggest thriller of the tournament was the semi-final match between Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins.
Higgins had been playing his best snooker and it seemed impossible for O’Sullivan to outwit him. Higgins stole the fifth frame right out of O’Sullivan’s hands, even though a snooker was needed, which must have been discouraging. At one point O’Sullivan was trailing 8-2 and things were looking hopeless. But neither the fans nor O’Sullivan wanted to give up and he found his second wind, took six consecutive frames and the match went to the final 17th frame. The semi-final was eventually won by Higgins but the world’s two most popular players had created an instant classic.
After such a tough match Higgins must have been exhausted and even though he played very well his energy didn’t last to win the final. Ding, winner of the UK Championship in 2005 and this year’s other finalist, had the opportunity to rest on Saturday, which might very well have had an impact on the outcome of Sunday’s final. That said, Ding also played some incredible snooker. The safety play in particular was absolutely brilliant. Strong defence is something that is definitely needed against Higgins who is one of the cleverest players on the tour.
Ding has proved time and time again that he is a young player to count on and that it would be a big mistake to underestimate him. When is the next time The Dragon will set the snooker world on fire?
Ding to meet Maguire in semis
0789 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Yesterday’s UK Championship quarter-finals turned out to be quite exciting. The match between Ali Carter and Ding Junhui in particular was a true thriller.
Ding tried to repeat last year’s feat of a maximum break and almost made it, but failed after having potted 12 red balls. Carter on the other hand entered the “century of centuries” club when he made his 100th century break. Carter and Ding, with Carter leading most of the time, battled each other until the very last frame when Ding finally clinched the victory.
The match between Peter Lines and Stephen Maguire took a more expected turn. The afternoon session ended 6-2 and it looked as if Maguire was going to really outclass Lines. However, Lines managed to take three more frames and the match ended 9-5 in Maguire’s favour. Not too bad a result for a player who hasn’t been in the quarter-final of a ranking event since 1999.
So the world No.6 and No.7 on the latest updated provisional world rankings will meet in the semi-final on Friday. Knowing the capacity of these two players, there will be drama for sure. When Ding and Maguire met in the second round of this year’s Grand Prix at the beginning of October, Ding won 5-1.
Ding fails to dominate as Carter plays it safe
0790 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Ali Carter met Ding Junhui in one of this afternoon’s first quarter finals.
Carter opened the first frame with a 124 break and Ding had to remain seated.
In the next frame, Ding managed to take 21 points but then had to hand over the table to Carter who quickly got stuck on a red ball and was forced to play a safety shot. Ding then let Carter in after an unfortunate shot. After a few more turns, Carter went on to win the frame and go to 2-0.
Safety success statistics came up at the beginning of the third frame and showed that Carter’s rate was 100% versus Ding’s 76%. Carter definitely looked hungrier, more positive and more eager. Another frame went to Carter. Ding really needed to sharpen up at this stage and luckily he did.
We were wondering if this match was going to turn into a repeat of yesterday’s encounter between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Peter Ebdon when Ding suddenly took command of the fourth frame and produced a 95-10 result to win it.
After the break Ding totally dominated the fifth frame and managed to rack up an 81 break before failing on a difficult red. With that the match was still on.
As of frame number six, Carter’s pot success was 92% while Ding’s was 91%. Ding found an opening and managed to rack up 17 points before missing the pink, giving Carter another chance at the table. But Carter missed the pink as well and the frame could seemingly go to either player when Carter found an opportunity to make some points.
It was around this time that Ding’s eye twitch started to act up. He seems to get it after playing for a while, or when he’s under pressure, but he won’t let it affect his playing. After a few turns with both players at the table Ding was finally the one to come out victorious, 3-3.
At the same time Stephen Maguire played Peter Lines on the other table. Lines really had to work hard in this match but has done very well so far.
A hard and very even first frame went to Maguire. The next frame was almost identical to the first and was also won by Maguire. Lines took the third frame but it could just as easily have gone the other way. Lines then dominated the beginning of the fourth frame and was disappointed when he suddenly missed at 55. But he was soon given another chance after a bad safety shot. Maguire took the next frame and went to 3-2 and before you knew it he had gone to 4-2.
Both matches will be decided later and give us two semi-finalists.