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 w...

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 ...

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 ...