[zack01]

The first ranking event of the new season is underway in China and the Wuxi Classic which for the last few years was an invitational event is now a fully fledged ranking tournament.

Yesterday and today has seen the wild card rounds and fresh from playing a few exhibitions in Thailand Ken Doherty this morning won his wild card match by beating Lu Ning 5-4.
Doherty now plays Shaun Murphy in the first round proper.

It's a busy few weeks and quite a bit of travelling for Doherty, straight after this it's back to Bangkok for the Six Reds Tournament then it's on to Bendingo in Austrailia for the Goldfields Austrailia Open.
A good run in China and Austrailia should see Doherty move back into the top 32

Fergal O'Brien also won his wild card match in China and plays Ali Carter in the first round.
They are the only two Irish players on the main tour this season so to have both in the last 32 of thefirst ranking event is a good show.

[rounders123]

WP Ken, wins a decider in the 1st rd. Fergal O'Brien giving a good whipping to Carter, currently 1-1

Edit: 5-2 winner!
With some names not travelling and Robertson knocked out this has to be Fergals best chance yet to win another ranking title. Either way a great start to the season for him.

[zack01]

Shaun Murphys new regime of playing less snooker in the build up to the new season does'nt seem to be paying any dividends, he's lost 5-1 to Ken Doherty in this mornings 1st round match.

Doherty now joins fellow countryman Fergal O'Brien in the last 16 after O'Briens impressive 5-3 win over Ali Carter.

Doherty will now play Stuart Bingham in the last 16 whilst O'Brien will play Stephen Lee or Marcus Campbell.

It's the first time in quite a while two Irishmen have reached the last 16 of a ranking event.

In other matches world number 1 Mark Selby gained revenge over Barry Hawkins for knocking him out of last seasons world championships with a 5-2 win.
Neil Robertsons woeful form in China continued as he lost 5-1 to Jamie Burnett.

[cherryghost]

In other news:
Mark Selby 5
Barry Hawkins 2

Martin Gould 3
Jamie Cope 5

Stuart Bingham 5
Peter Ebdon 4

Shaun Murphy 1
Ken Doherty 5

Neil Robertson 1
Jamie Burnett 5

Ding Junhui 2
Mark Davis 5

Graeme Dott 5
Zhou Yuelong 1

Stephen Maguire 4
Rod Lawler 5

Mark Williams 5
Tom Ford 0

Mark Allen 5
Rouzi Maimaiti 1

Ali Carter 3
Fergal O'Brien 5

Stephen Lee 1
Marcus Campbell 5

Matthew Stevens w/d
Joe Perry BYE

Ricky Walden 5
Zhu Yinghui 0

Andrew Higginson 3
Robert Milkins 5

Judd Trump 5
Dominic Dale 1



So for the last 16:
Selby vs Cope
Bingham vs Doherty
Burnett vs Davis
Dott vs Lawlor
Williams vs Allen
O' Brien vs Campbell
Perry vs Walden
Milkins vs Trump

All matches on Eurosport of course. I fancy O'Brien to make the QF, but Doherty will have a hard time against Bingham, who has just come out of the Asian PTC as winner.

[zack01]

Kens run came to an end this morning losing 5-4 to Stuart Bingham, its off to Bangkok now for the six reds championship then down to Austrailia for the Goldfields Open.
The other Irishman still involved Fergal O'Brien is currently 4-2 down to Marcus Campbell, its one i fancied Fergal to win but even at 4-2 down you just know O'Brien will dig deep to win.
Biggest shock on day four was Robert Milkins beating Judd Trump 5-3, Trump just may realise he should have been practising the last few weeks instead of jetting to Vegas and Dubai with his motley crew of hangers on !!

[zack01]

O'Brien loses 5-2

[rounders123]

Originally Posted by zack01

Kens run came to an end this morning losing 5-4 to Stuart Bingham, its off to Bangkok now for the six reds championship then down to Austrailia for the Goldfields Open.
The other Irishman still involved Fergal O'Brien is currently 4-2 down to Marcus Campbell, its one i fancied Fergal to win but even at 4-2 down you just know O'Brien will dig deep to win.
Biggest shock on day four was Robert Milkins beating Judd Trump 5-3, Trump just may realise he should have been practising the last few weeks instead of jetting to Vegas and Dubai with his motley crew of hangers on !!

I think the marathon 5th frame did the damage to Fergal. Id say if he won that he would have won but i felt whoever lost that frame was always going to be on a downer.
Will Ken's missus be heading over to Australia at the time of the goldfields?. I know she has no real interest in the snooker but its a good excuse to get back to the homeland.

[paddymayoman]

How did Trump manage to lose from 3-1 up

[Dylanmc111]

its been a really poor tournament in my opinion. Poor crowd, lack of atmosphere. Poor standard.

It goes to show how good Ronnie is because the standard has been awful and without him the game would be dire to watch with the likes of Dott, M Davis, Selby etc

[zack01]

Originally Posted by Dylanmc111

its been a really poor tournament in my opinion. Poor crowd, lack of atmosphere. Poor standard.

It goes to show how good Ronnie is because the standard has been awful and without him the game would be dire to watch with the likes of Dott, M Davis, Selby etc

The standard hasn't been too bad, and as usual the first event of the season normally throws up a surprise winner.
The Chinese tend to watch there snooker on tv more than go to it as the ticket prices are quite high, but it's the sponsorship that is key for the events in china, not the crowds, I don't think the players would mind too much playing in front of small crowds if the prize money is bigger which in the five ranking events in china to be held this season it is with the lowest winning cheque £75,000.
A big improvement from the £30,000 first prize that used to be on offer and even then as is the case now Ronnie didn't bother travelling.

Regarding Ronnie, I'm with you 100% I think he's the greatest player to have ever lifted a cue, I admire the way he has grown up and matured in the last two seasons and although he is box office snooker will carry on without him. He's taken a six month break and deservedly so, a lot has been made of it but he's financially secure to do this, his ranking won't be affected that much, he'll be back for the UK championship in dec and possibly Shamghai before that but now it gives the other players a chance to showcase their game, players like Trump especially should grab this opportunity to win a few events and grab some exposure.
Snooker will move on without O'Sullivan until he comes back, most nights for the premier league are almost sold out and that's without Ronnie playing in it.
I suppose it's a case of watch this space really.

[zack01]

Originally Posted by Dylanmc111

its been a really poor tournament in my opinion. Poor crowd, lack of atmosphere. Poor standard.

It goes to show how good Ronnie is because the standard has been awful and without him the game would be dire to watch with the likes of Dott, M Davis, Selby etc

The final has been pretty good so far, Walden 7-1 up and Binghams only frame win was with a max.

Ronnie who??

[zack01]

Walden wins 10-4 and with that the first ranking event of the new season. He now moves up to 11th in the rankings.
Bingham gained some consolation with his brilliant maximum break he made in the final.

[Setun]

Did Walden just run away with it by playing brilliant snooker, or was Bingham's 147 his only outstanding moment in the match?

[cherryghost]

Originally Posted by Daddio

Did Walden just run away with it by playing brilliant snooker, or was Bingham's 147 his only outstanding moment in the match?

I only seen a few frames but I think Walden's safety play was better than Binghams and that won him the game outright.