Snooker Loopy

With Shaun Murphy being the latest casualty in this year’s tournament, the field was starting to thin out out as we reached the half way stage of the World Open.Graeme Dott continued where he left off with Murphy in his match with John Higgins and started strongly, knocking in two breaks of 104 and 80 to lead the match, 2-0. However the Scot was having none of it and replied with two breaks of 71 and 99 to even up the match at 2-2. The game then ran close and in the end went to a decider  which Higgins was triumphant and knocked out his good friend, 5-4. With this win, the floodgates of success seemed to open and  Mark Selby became another victim of these Chinese competition as Stuart Bingham produced a vintage display of snooker Bingham, now dubbed the “century machine”, knocked in breaks of 108, 97, 114, 104 and 117 to dispatch Selby 5-2 A great display by the former World Champion and a bitter pill for Mark to swallow after winning the English Open. These seismic, shock waves cont

The snooker train rattles on in China and on day three in afternoon’s play Graeme Dott played Shaun Murphy and  if anyone thought this was going to be a easy match for Murphy, they were mistaken. Dott got off to a cracking start, taking the first three frames in succession. Dott has been threatening a comeback for some time and maybe today was the run of form that was needed. Murphy was frankly outplayed in this match and only managed a scrap of comfort but talking one frame to avoid the dreaded whitewash. The 5-1 score line just shows how well this granite player played and put Murphy’s ambition in this tournament, quickly to bed. Winning seems to be infectious in this event and today was all about punishing your opponent with a damaging lead. Players like Jack Lisowski proved this with a 5-1 win over Xiao Guodong, David Gilbert obliterated Antony McGill, 5-0, Mark Selby had a trouble free match with Saengkham, beating him, 5-2 and Ali Carter put an end to Alfie Burden’s run in this

With day one out of the way and a shock first round exit of Ronnie O’Sullivan at the hands of Dominic Dale, the competition now has begun to simmer. In the afternoon’s play, John Higgins drew Lu Ning and the match turned into a slug match with Ning competing well in all fields of Higgins’s game. The first six frames were shared, leaving the match evenly matched at 3-3. However with LU ahead in the seventh frame, a safety battle ensued and Higgins used his experience to bring out Ning’s errors and won the frame. Leading 4-3, Higgins only needed one more frame to win. Higgins looked pained as his opponent snatched the next with a 27 break and a 80-0 score line. So the match came down to a deciding frame and Higgins took the bull by the horns and won frame and match, 5-4 to the disappointment of Ning. A brave effort by the Chinese opponent and a player to watch out for in future tournaments. Elsewhere there were wins Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who beat Zhang Yang, 5-1, Ken Doherty unfortunately

So the day has finally arrived for the start of the World Open and as the players assembled, no one expected the first shock of the day. In a held over qualifier, world ranked 94, Dominic Dale drew Ronnie O’Sullivan. Of course Dale’s ranking doesn’t reflect the player. We all know that Dominic has had some scalps in his time and is a great break builder when in the zone. However, whoever plays O’Sullivan doesn’t know which Ronnie which will turn up for their match. On this occasion, it was one that definitely wasn’t playing his “A” game and Dale sensed that and capitalised. Despite breaks of 50 and 91 to even up the match after Dale took a 2-0 lead, Ronnie was only able to get a further frame after Dominic dominated the match. With a 3-3 score line, the match looked nip and tuck but Dale had other ideas and ploughed on to take the next two frames and match, winning 5-3. Ronnie will be annoyed and upset that he lost here and especially in the first round. China is usually a stomping gro

The players have packed their suitcases and made their way on the long journey to China for the World Open. Some hate the flight and others don’t mind but the mental fatigue is with the individual even before they have played a shot. Mark Williams recently said at the English Open that he didn’t enjoy travelling to China and is going to stop taking part in China tournaments whereas Ronnie O’Sullivan loves the atmosphere and spending time with his Chinese friends. That aside, this event will be a battle of minds and form with some of the top players showing great form in recent tournaments. Mark Selby was the victor at the English Open after a year long victory drought with the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson all in contention. Last year’s winner was Mark Williams. In a dramatic final he beat David Gilbert, 10-9 but has declined to enter this year’s event. So there is one sure fact before this tournament begins, there will be a new champion in Yus

It is always a pleasure to come down to Faversham to the Faversham Club and my good friend Colin Phillips always puts on a good event. Last night was no exception and having been here in January for Joe Johnson/Tony Knowles night, it was great to be back in this special snooker paradise. This time it was for Tony Drago who I last met recently at the Crucible for the World Seniors. After a great meal in a local Turkish restaurant, we headed down to the club and what a night it was. Tony playing on a table that was a hundred years old, produced some of his magic, whistling around the table like a storm that was gathering pace. My friend Glen Sullivan-Bissett was at times running at Tony’s pace having to replace balls quicker than it would take to re-heel his shoes. Player after player fell to Drago’s mercy and out of ten frames played only one challenger managed to silence this devastating tornado. The atmosphere could be cut with a knife as silence reigned at this charming, Kent snook

So we have now reached the semi-final stage of the English Open and first up was Mark Allen versus Mark Selby. The head to head before the match was 5-4 to Allen but really there was only a cigarette paper between these two snooker giants. The first frame was very protracted with both players displaying a safety master class rather than an attacking frame of snooker. After a lengthy safety battle that lasted the best part of fourth minutes, Selby eventually got going and won the first frame. Mark Allen responded to Selby’s early charge with a break of 71 to take the second frame after Selby failed to counterattack when he missed a relatively easy black. However before long, Selby had raced to a 3-1 lead and gave Allen something to think about. Selby took this lead thanks to breaks of 82 and 93 and what a good time to punish your opponent just before the interval. However an interval can go either way and unfortunately for Selby, Allen took advantage and brought the match level pegging

It only seems like yesterday that the English Open began but we have already reached the last stages of the tournament.. With most of the top seeds going home yesterday, Crawley seemed a lonely place but with the players that were left, the action would soon get rid of those post match blues. First up, David Gilbert came up against Ricky Walden and on paper this could be seen to be quite an even draw with both players deadly when in the balls and never shy to take on that long pit when required. This first quarter-final match was nip and tuck and Gilbert edged forwards with a slender 2-0 lead. Walden then made it 2-2, taking the two frames with a double on with the red landing in the middle bag. He then went on to make a 125 clearance from it. Gilbert had taken the first two frames with breaks of 85 and 63 whilst Walden made a break of 91 before getting the 125. However Walden surged back and before long he had a lead of 4-3, needing just one more frame to win the match. Gilbert wasn’t

In recent years there has been a monumental surge in the rise of women in sport. The England ladies’s team in football has massively helped this cause with the win in the “She Believes” tournament and a tremendous run in the World Cup. In snooker I have campaigned tirelessly for the ladies’ game to be promoted and invested in and thankfully this is slowly coming to fruition. One such player who has been a key component of this change is Emma Parker. Parker who like her colleagues Reanne Evans and Ng On-yee have worked tirelessly to create a snooker environment where women can compete at the same level as men and hopefully one day, play under one umbrella. Twenty year old Emma who first started pool at the age of four and turned to snooker at the age of fifteen after her father and uncle took her to Romford Snooker Club. This Hornchurch lass has had a meteoric rise in the ladies’ game since that first experience and thanks to the great coaching work of my friend, Gary Fitness, has sta

Day four at the English Open was dominated by the shock defeat of Judd Trump at the hands of Lee Walker. Walker who is a good friend of Mark Williams and fell off the main tour and had to re-join via the Q School. Lee hasn't really made an impression since he started competing again and has largely lost in the early rounds of tournaments. Walker who was part responsible for the rejuvenation of Mark Williams, today played a blinder and managed to bring his practice game to the match table. His 4-2 victory over Trump must have left Judd's camp puzzled and confused despite making two centuries in the match but again as I have said before, any top play is vulnerable when they play in a best of seven match because the tide of victory can turn either way. Trump has largely fine tuned his game but unfortunately there is still a glimmer of doubt in his mind. This rears its ugly head when he is under pressure and today was one of those days when a short format helped Walker to kick into

They say “that time races on for no man” but in snooker this rule of thumb does not seem to apply. On a packed schedule of snooker in Crawley on day three of the English Open, play was brisk with the headline match of the day being Ronnie O’Sullivan’s battle against Yuan Sijun. Ronnie seems to be taking a leaf out of Mark Selby’s rule book whilst playing in this tournament by winning a match from being on the back foot. O’Sullivan trailed his opponent 3-1 and with the Chinese player only needing one more frame to win the match, Ronnie did something that only a true professional player can achieve, push forward when the chips are down. With breaks of 81, 84 and 87, Ronnie took the next three frames and won the match. Ronnie would probably have been annoyed that he had to win this way as he is very self-critical of his game and will want to tweak his play before his next match. That said, I have watched O’Sullivan over his entire career and his handling of pitfalls is a hundred percent b

As day one becomes a distant memory, so day two eclipsed the previous. With controversy already in the air as Ronnie O’Sullivan again lets off steam regarding the Crawley venue. “The Rocket “ was quoted as saying that “Every day in Crawley is a day lost in my life”. O’Sullivan believes that the event shouldn’t be held there anymore as the logistics and playing conditions are inadequate. Personally I believe that everyone has their right to an opinion and as I haven’t been to the location, I can’t really say whether Ronnie is right or wrong but I am sure that World Snooker have looked at these issues and will make further changes including moving the location if necessary. Aside from this, day two of the English Open opened the floodgates for further tense play with both Mark Allen and Mark Williams feeling the heat in their matches. Allen playing the Thai legend, James Wattana, had to dig deep to cross the line as James was not going to give up without a fight. In the end , Mark was

Snooker doesn’t get any better especially when it is played at home and today the green baize travelled to Crawley for the first of the Home Nations series, the English Open. Now firmly established as one of the highlights of the season this batch of tournaments always produce thrills and spills to wet the fans’ appetites. No one can forget the jubilant shouts from Liang Wenbo and Stuart Bingham’s capture of the crown last year. Play began in earnest this morning with Barry Hawkins reeling off a 4-0 win over Amine Amiri even before televised play began. Hawkins who reached the latter stages of the China Championship outplayed his opponent and avoided the embarrassment of a first round “early bath” with a convincing whitewash. The morning was largely dominated by Chinese players who put many of their opponents to bed. Wins came for Mi Xiwen who took out the Riga Masters champion, Yan Bingtao, 4-3, Si Jiahui who beat Soheil Vahedi, 4-0, Lu Ning who took out the Welshman, Duane Jones, 4

With only a few days to go now until the start of the Home Nations series, the first event starts with the English Open in Crawley on the 14/10/19. The English Open was won last year by Stuart Bingham but now a year on the rivalry for this formidable title has swelled. Ronnie O’Sullivan returns to the snooker flock for this one and having just played an exhibition in Romania, impressed the local audience with an impressive maximum break. O’Sullivan’s strategy of minimising his appearances on the main tour seems to be working with titles galore when he shows his face. Like a an athletic race, the runners behind Ronnie are far and wide with the early tournaments of the season being taken by different players. Shaun Murphy ended his drought in China by winning the China Championship after a defiant fight back from Mark Williams, taking a decider for Shaun to cross the line first and claim the title. Murphy will definitely get to the latter stages of the English Open but as we well know th

Today marks the sixtieth birthday of Tony Meo. Meo was one of the most familiar faces of snooker in the 1980s and with others helped drive the popularity of the sport from the smoke filled snooker clubs  to mainstream television. Tony started his snooker career in Tooting, South London, the sparring partner of Jimmy White who like White chose snooker over school. Meo was a gifted player and at the age of seventeen was the youngest player to make s maximum, 147 break. Turning professional in 1979, it wasn’t long before Tony was a leading light in the game, making his debut against Alex Higgins in the World Championship in 1980. Meo only narrowly lost his match against the Irish legend, losing 9-10. In 1984, Tony reached the final of the Classic, facing his doubles partner, Steve Davis. This was a controversial final and was one of those moments in snooker history when the audience was put under the spotlight. Meo took the match to a deciding frame but with only the colours to pot, som