Champion of Champions Day 4

As day four dawned in Coventry, snooker fans were waiting in anticipation for the match that was billed as one of the highlights of this year’s Champion of Champions tournament. Having not met for sometime outside the exhibition circuit, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Jimmy White were set to clash horns on the green baize once again. This could be one of their last meetings on the professional circuit and in r end it was a match that lived up to its expectations. Best friends off the table, both players went into professional mode and zoned in to winning this tussle with White getting off to a flying starting, producing some of his flair of old and taking a two frame advantage. Leaving the black over the pocket, Ronnie made a clinical error in the third frame and opened the door again for Jimmy to make a sizeable break and capture frame three. Now 3-0 in the red, Ronnie was in dire trouble and would have to adopt a Selby style strategy of getting back into this match. So O’Sullivan started to put his plan into action and locked up White behind the green in the next, allowing him to make a break of 74 and reduce Jimmy’s lead to 3-1. A less than convincing next was eventually taken by Ronnie to make it 3-2 and so the rot set in for White. On the verge of a potential famous win, Jimmy missed a crucial black and let Ronnie back into the frame. Of course the Essex lad doesn’t have to be asked twice and snatched the frame to take it to a deciding frame. This was probably the killer blow for Jimmy as again he had a chance in the decider but a red jawed on the pocket. Ronnie then went to win frame and match. What looked like an impossible task for Ronnie, became a victory for him and a heartbreak for the Whirlwind. Final score, 4-3, O’Sullivan.

How do you follow a match like that? Answer, bring on Stuart Bingham versus John Higgins. Both players have peaked into form this season and so had the potential to be a close match. This was a battle of former world champions and it didn’t take long for one of them to get off the mark. This was going to be John Higgins who took the opening frame with a break of 78. With Bingham not being at the races, Higgins took advantage and increased his lead to 2-0. Bingham then scrambled through first on a safety battle of the colours, make it 2-1. In another frame littered with errors, the following allowed Stuart to get that slight bounce he required to stay in the match and bring it back to 2-2. However this where the match ended for Bingham with Higgins producing a late surge to take the next with a break of 61 and 84 inter sixth frame to take frame and match.

So we were set up for a match of two giants of the game.The conclusion of the day ended with a match between John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Ronnie has the greatest respect for John on and off the table and ranks him as the best players of the modern game. These two titans of snooker player out the match in front of a sellout crowd and Higgins took first blood with a break of 92. After a mistake by Higgins in the next, O’Sullivan took this opportunity with both hands and made it 1-1. This was followed up by Ronnie achieving career century, 1020 and taking the lead for the first time at 2-1. However Higgins came back with a break of 84 to level up the match at 2-2 for the mid session interval. After the recess, O’Sullivan found his firm and started to fly, taking the first with a solid break of 77, However the crafty Higgins snatched the next after Ronnie left the green over the jaws of the pocket to make it 3-3 after the sixth frame. With blow by blow snooker in force, Ronnie took the next and again pulled away making it 4-3. This was then followed by a huge frame for both players but Higgins failed to even up the match up again and again O’Sullivan soared closer to the winning line, 5-3. Ronnie then sealed the match with a dream like pink and dispatched John Higgins with a thumping 6-3 victory. Tonight a vintage Ronnie was on show and now sets up a clash with Neil Robertson.