UK Championship Day 9
As snooker entered another day in York, fans prepared to watch one of the crowd drawing matches of the tournament. Ding Junhui playing Ronnie O’Sullivan always a delight to watch and for Ding it was a match that quickly led to a 4-1 advantage but after several attempts on reds that were dubious choices, Ronnie smelt blood and cranked up the gears, producing sublime snooker that brought him breaks of 77 and two centuries to bring the match back to 4-4. At an average shot time of fifteen seconds a shot, Jan Verhaas was having to whizz around the table at an equal speed to. Just replace the potted colours. Frame nine was crucial for Ding to win and after a crucial blunder by Ronnie on an elementary red. Ding managed to re-tie his potting shoes and took the frame with breaks of 54 and 36 and was now one frame away from a crucial victory over Ronnie. Ding achieved his goal in the next after making breaks of 45 and 37. Ding is a popular winner and this is his first quarter-final since 2011. His opponent this time will be Liang Wenbo. In the end Ronnie gave Ding the match on a plate with a 6-4 victory and after a period of criticism, I do believe Ding is back and with Ronnie out of the way this could be another UK title for Junhui and a springboard for further titles in the season.
On the other table, the man of the moment, Nigel Bond was aiming to update his license his thrill against the formidable Gary Wilson. Both Bond and Wilson have made courageous comebacks in their careers. So the snooker coach was up against the former taxi driver. This was the opposite of the other match with the first frame lasting 66 minutes.This match was protracted and Nigel took the second frame. At 2-2, Bond’s cue action started to look the better of the two after a nervy start. A great two ball plant got Bond going in the fifth frame after he was averaging twenty-six seconds a shot. Perhaps this was a good opponent to have in Wilson as he plays a game similar to Trump. Bond, however missed a simple red and let his opponent free up his cue arm, but like Bond missed a sitter, this time an easy red. Nigel couldn’t capitalise and the blue became the key ball, Bond potted it on his second opportunity but had to play safe on the pink. Wilson then took the pink and black and Bond must have kicking himself to go 3-2 down. At 49 points to 20 to Wilson in the next, the match again became scrappy with both players having to slug it out in a safety battle. This was a type of game that Bond was used to, not to say that he enjoyed it but his latter years have been smattered with them. Wilson took the frame in the end with a break of 22 to make it 4-2 to slowly stamp his authority. Wilson then took the next frame with a 75 break to be one frame away from the next round, 5-2. Bond unfortunately wasn’t playing the same standard against Trump and if Judd was watching this match, he must have kicking himself that he lost.
However Bond pinched the next and kept his hopes alive to make it 3-5 but the mountain was going to be a very steep one to climb bearing in mind the massive deficit that he had to overcome. Suddenly Bond woke up and took the next frame to make it 5-4 and Nigel has a history of winning matches like these from behind. Remember 2014 when Bond was 5-0 down in the UK Championship and won the match 6-5. Nigel silenced the doubters and took the crucial balls needed to set up a decider that Wilson didn’t envisage but a twitchy black by Wilson was the reason for this final frame decider. Bond capitalised and took frame and match. Mr Bond triumphs again and another shock by this great player, the oldest player since Fred Davis in 1980 at 67 years old to get to the quarter-finals of the UK Championship and his first quarter-final for sixteen years.
In the evening, Mark Selby was against Matthew Stevens. Selby won the first frame after giving several chances to Stevens but Matthew was unable to capitalise on Selby’s errors and got punished with a kick earlier on. Into the second frame and Stevens got in early with a long red, however a long blue brought his break to an end. Stevens got back in though quickly after Selby wasn’t able to pot anything. Stevens chipped away and won a low scoring frame with a 51-0 score line to make it 1-1. Then Matthew went 2-1 up increasing the probability that another shock was on the cards. Even though Matthew was a previous winner of the Masters and the UK Championship. This was proven by Matthew making it 3-1 at the interval.
After the interval, Selby got his opponent into a snooker and Stevens gave away 39 penalty points before leaving a red and as result dug deep and produced a 51 break to win the frame. He then went on to win the next to make it 3-3. Selby then took another to make it 4-3 much to the annoyance of Matthew Stevens. However a great 77 break won him the frame, the highest break of the night and brought him back to 4-4. The pendulum swung back to Selby with another frame win and making it 5-4 with Selby just needing one more frame to win. However at sixteen minutes to midnight, the match went to a decider as Stevens captured the frame. Stevens won this epic battle at 0033. In the other match Stephen Maguire beat Michael White, 6-4.
On the other table, the man of the moment, Nigel Bond was aiming to update his license his thrill against the formidable Gary Wilson. Both Bond and Wilson have made courageous comebacks in their careers. So the snooker coach was up against the former taxi driver. This was the opposite of the other match with the first frame lasting 66 minutes.This match was protracted and Nigel took the second frame. At 2-2, Bond’s cue action started to look the better of the two after a nervy start. A great two ball plant got Bond going in the fifth frame after he was averaging twenty-six seconds a shot. Perhaps this was a good opponent to have in Wilson as he plays a game similar to Trump. Bond, however missed a simple red and let his opponent free up his cue arm, but like Bond missed a sitter, this time an easy red. Nigel couldn’t capitalise and the blue became the key ball, Bond potted it on his second opportunity but had to play safe on the pink. Wilson then took the pink and black and Bond must have kicking himself to go 3-2 down. At 49 points to 20 to Wilson in the next, the match again became scrappy with both players having to slug it out in a safety battle. This was a type of game that Bond was used to, not to say that he enjoyed it but his latter years have been smattered with them. Wilson took the frame in the end with a break of 22 to make it 4-2 to slowly stamp his authority. Wilson then took the next frame with a 75 break to be one frame away from the next round, 5-2. Bond unfortunately wasn’t playing the same standard against Trump and if Judd was watching this match, he must have kicking himself that he lost.
However Bond pinched the next and kept his hopes alive to make it 3-5 but the mountain was going to be a very steep one to climb bearing in mind the massive deficit that he had to overcome. Suddenly Bond woke up and took the next frame to make it 5-4 and Nigel has a history of winning matches like these from behind. Remember 2014 when Bond was 5-0 down in the UK Championship and won the match 6-5. Nigel silenced the doubters and took the crucial balls needed to set up a decider that Wilson didn’t envisage but a twitchy black by Wilson was the reason for this final frame decider. Bond capitalised and took frame and match. Mr Bond triumphs again and another shock by this great player, the oldest player since Fred Davis in 1980 at 67 years old to get to the quarter-finals of the UK Championship and his first quarter-final for sixteen years.
In the evening, Mark Selby was against Matthew Stevens. Selby won the first frame after giving several chances to Stevens but Matthew was unable to capitalise on Selby’s errors and got punished with a kick earlier on. Into the second frame and Stevens got in early with a long red, however a long blue brought his break to an end. Stevens got back in though quickly after Selby wasn’t able to pot anything. Stevens chipped away and won a low scoring frame with a 51-0 score line to make it 1-1. Then Matthew went 2-1 up increasing the probability that another shock was on the cards. Even though Matthew was a previous winner of the Masters and the UK Championship. This was proven by Matthew making it 3-1 at the interval.
After the interval, Selby got his opponent into a snooker and Stevens gave away 39 penalty points before leaving a red and as result dug deep and produced a 51 break to win the frame. He then went on to win the next to make it 3-3. Selby then took another to make it 4-3 much to the annoyance of Matthew Stevens. However a great 77 break won him the frame, the highest break of the night and brought him back to 4-4. The pendulum swung back to Selby with another frame win and making it 5-4 with Selby just needing one more frame to win. However at sixteen minutes to midnight, the match went to a decider as Stevens captured the frame. Stevens won this epic battle at 0033. In the other match Stephen Maguire beat Michael White, 6-4.
Comments
Post a Comment