Stephen Hendry snooker blog
Posts tagged UK Championship
John Higgins back with two centuries
0430 days
by admin
in Uncategorized
World No.2 John Higgins, back playing in Britain after serving a six-month ban, made a promising start in his first-round match in the UK championship at Telford.
The Wizard of Wishaw came to the tournament in decent nick from the PTC events in Germany and the Czech Republic, opened with scores of 105 and 100 in the opening two frames but could not get clear of Stephen Lee after the opening session of their match.#
To read the full blog: http://snooker.bettor.com/john-higgins-back-with-two-centuries/news/1336440
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 and Maguire in semi-final thriller
0788 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
We have reached the seventh day of the Pukka-Pies UK Championship in Telford and the afternoon session of the first semi-final between Ding ”The Dragon” Junhui and Stephen ”On Fire” Maguire has just ended with Ding leading 5-3.
Maguire was the first player to come in and play and reached 29 points. Ding made a few short visits to the table only to hand over to Maguire who scored another eight points. Some tactical defensive shots were made but Maguire was the one who won the defensive battle and confidently took the frame.
Frame two was all Ding’s until he missed a red ball. Very unfortunate. After a couple of shots from both guys, Ding managed to take control of the frame again and levelled at 1-1.
The Chinese looked strong in the third frame, playing almost flawlessly and taking the lead at 2-1.
At first Ding seemed to have the upper hand in the fourth frame and Maguire made a couple of mistakes he normally wouldn’t make. After a while though he found an opening and managed to steal the frame from Ding. Very well played by Maguire.
Ding took 68 points with the first thing he did in the fifth frame and left 67 points on the table for Maguire. Maguire managed to snooker him and a small flame of hope was lit but the position of the rest of the reds was too unfavourable and Maguire had to concede the frame.
So far in the match Ding looked like the better player even though Maguire was trailing only one frame. Ding split the balls perfectly at the exact right moment and won the next frame with an 83 break.
At this point, Ding dominated when it came to potted balls, with 100 to Maguire’s 49.
Frame seven began with Maguire snookered on the red balls and fouling twice. More snookers were then produced and Ding fouled as well. Ding then came in on a long red and made some incredible shots to score 31 points. The timer came up to show that Maguire hadn’t potted a ball in 34 minutes. He really had to improve his game if he wanted to even have a chance of winning this. But Ding took command once again and went to 5-2 before Maguire knew it.
Last frame of the session was crucial for Maguire. He could either go to a convenient and more secure 5-3 or a not quite as hopeful 6-2. First thing that happened was Ding missed a long ball and let Maguire in. The reds were well positioned and Maguire split them perfectly. After having barely potted a red Maguire fell out of position though and had to leave over to Ding. However, after a few clever safety shots from Maguire, Ding missed a fairly easy red ball and let Maguire back in to draw closer at 5-3.
For a while Maguire looked disheartened but he managed to pull himself together by the end of the session and reach a not too shabby result.
Commentator Ken Doherty compared the players after the first break and suggested Ding’s typical poker face might give him an advantage to Maguire’s more emotional image.
It remains to be seen if Maguire’s state of mind can change for the better tonight when this thriller of a match continues.
Higgins and O’Sullivan set up semi-final showdown
0788 days
by Elisabeth
in Uncategorized
Yesterday’s UK Championship quarter-finals both ended almost the same way – 9-2 and 9-3.
Even though most people believed that John Higgins would win, 9-2 was still a somewhat depressing result for Liang Wenbo. However, being an up and coming young star he’ll probably accept the prize money of £16,450 and the ranking points for reaching the quarter-final stage with a smile on his face when his initial disappointment has waned.
Higgins will meet Ronnie O’Sullivan in Saturday’s semi-final. O’Sullivan’s quarter-final was the third match in this tournament where he beat someone 9-3. This time Mark Selby was the victim.
Selby fought hard and wouldn’t give up. He scored a 136 break in the first frame of the evening session and was very close to taking a few more frames that O’Sullivan eventually stole from him. But strong will apparently wasn’t enough against O’Sullivan, who was simply the better player.
The semi-final is the first time O’Sullivan and Higgins meet in the UK Championship. Their latest meeting in a ranking tournament was in this year’s Grand Prix when Higgins beat O’Sullivan 5-4 in the second round.
Saturday’s match is going to be different though as they’re playing best of 17 frames in an overall bigger and more important tournament. Their latest meeting in a long format match was the quarter-final in the 2007 World Championship, which Higgins won 13-9.
O’Sullivan won the UK Championship in 1993, 1997, 2001 and 2007 while Higgins hasn’t won it quite as many times. His two victories were in 1998 and 2000.