Stephen Hendry snooker blog
Posts tagged Stephen Lee
One-man show for O’Sullivan
0790 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Yesterday’s last 16 match between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Peter Ebdon could have been a nail biter but instead turned into sort of a one man show. O’Sullivan took the lead early on and kept it up until the very end. He played very well and everything seemed to work for him, even the long pots that he’s had some trouble with lately. O’Sullivan didn’t have to give the match his all though as Ebdon’s form was quite bad. His long pot success rate was especially low and he failed to take his chances when he needed to. The match ended 9-3 and O’Sullivan now has a potentially tough encounter against Mark Selby ahead of him. Selby didn’t have too difficult a time beating Stephen Hendry 9-5, even though Hendry fought well.
Stephen Maguire’s victory over Stuart Bingham was very convincing and he will now face Peter Lines in the quarter finals. Lines success in the match against Mark Williams was of course a surprise considering his spot at 64, in the world rankings but Williams wouldn’t give up without a struggle and the match ended 9-8.
Not quite as surprising, but still something of a minor sensation was Liang Wenbo’s 9-2 victory over Mark King. Liang now has a tough match against John Higgins to look forward to. Speaking of Higgins, he was quite sure to win over Neil Robertson at 8-6 but Robertson gave a powerful effort to make Higgins sweat a little. For a while it looked like he was going to make it but Higgins refused to give in and won 9-8.
Premier League winner and defending champion Shaun Murphy is no longer in the tournament after a disappointing 9-3 loss against the 2005 champion, Ding Junhui.
Finally, Ali Carter beat Stephen Lee 9-5 and will meet Ding in the last eight. More exciting, high-quality snooker is coming up later today. There’s still a lot to look forward to.
Stevens fails to take his chances
0791 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Yesterday was an exciting day three of the UK Championship in Telford with many high-quality snooker matches. All the last 32 matches were completed and four of the last 16 matches kicked off.
Matthew Stevens didn’t manage to put up any real fight against Ronnie O’Sullivan in yesterday’s match. At 7-3 he could very well have taken the next frame as both players gave an excellent safety performance. But he failed to take his chances and missed too many easy shots and as always with O’Sullivan, you will be punished for that. The match ended 9-3 and O’Sullivan will now meet Peter Ebdon which should be a thrilling encounter. Will O’Sullivan be able to deal with Ebdon’s deliberate and tactical play without getting too restless?
Ali Carter had to fight hard for his victory over Rory McLeod who managed to take no less than seven frames. McLeod played very well and we haven’t seen the last of him. Having won the Masters qualifying event, he will be given a new chance to prove himself at the Wembley arena in January.
One of the last 16 matches that began yesterday was that between Mark Selby and Stephen Hendry. This first session ended 5-3 to Selby and while he was the better player, Hendry definitely still has a good chance of winning.
An uneven match to say the least took place between Liang Wenbo and Mark King. At 7-1 to Liang there’s not much hope on the horizon for King. Stephen Lee beat Mark Allen who unfortunately had severe cue problems.
Stephen Maguire leads Stuart Bingham 6-2. Maguire didn’t seem to have too much trouble focusing despite the fact that he missed his grandfather’s funeral due to the tournament.
John Higgins took the lead over Neil Robertson, 5-3, and Ding Junhui didn’t seem to have any trouble beating Mike Dunn 9-5 even though the latter lead 5-3 at one point. Defending champion Shaun Murphy awaits Ding in the last 16.
The biggest surprise of the day was Marco Fu’s match against Peter Lines, No. 64 in the world rankings, which ended 9-3 to the latter. Could it have been because of jetlag that Fu didn’t do better or was it just Lines who had found incredible form after years in the shadows of the big tournaments? Either way, Lines’s next match against Mark Williams should have him shaking in his boots.
Be sure not to miss today’s last 16 matches at 1:30pm. There should be a nail biter or two on the schedule.