Welsh Open

Tin_Cup

Great preview for the event over on Pro Snooker Blog -

http://prosnookerblog.com/2011/02/13/welsh-open-2011-tournament-preview

Would love to see MJW do the biz on home soil or maybe Higgins going out to do it for his father!

zack01

Would love to see John win it for his dad, was at the funeral last wednesday in Motherwell, very sad day for the Higgins family, his dad was a great man and will be sadly missed, I don't think he'll be mentally right for the event but getting back playing again is the best cure for him right now.
Winning the UK in December was an incredible achievement, not only because he had just returned after his ban but his father was very ill at the time.
Mind you he could meet O'Sullivan in the last eight, he would certainly be up for that.
Williams has a tough first round game against Marco Fu, winner to play Jamie Cope or Rory McLeod.
Matches are best of seven so expect some quick matches.

Tin_Cup

Good games so far. Higgins made it thru in a close game. Good win for Mathew Stevens aswell. Another open venue with no partition, not sure about this one tho. German Masters looked ok but this looks odd

Tin_Cup

Wow! Just seen MJW blew Fu away 4-0 in less than an hour. Shaping up into a great tournament!

califano

Fu Fighter tamed by Welsh dragon. I do captions for free!.

giant_midget

Yes he got his bum bum handed to him on a plate :pac:

Tin_Cup

Another great day on the baize! Ronnie out, Stevens through and Hendry cueing pretty well! Roll on next round!

zack01

Some great snooker today, this tournament is wide open, i couldnt pick a winner, the three Welsh lads are playing well as are Hendry and Higgins, it's going to be an interesting few days snooker.

Tin_Cup

Another 4-0 win for MJW. I wonder is the lack of mid session interval the reason for so many whitewashes in Newport??

zack01

This game never ceases to amaze, Hendry struggling all season, needs to find some form, first frame v Maguire, pots a long red, bangs in a max!
Then loses the next three and cant hit a ball!

giant_midget

zack01 wrote: »

This game never ceases to amaze, Hendry struggling all season, needs to find some form, first frame v Maguire, pots a long red, bangs in a max!
Then loses the next three and cant hit a ball!

Yea this baffles me..He really looked to be struggeling out there against an always smiling stephen maguire :pac:

On another note Williams is on fire at the moment..great snooker to watch!

giant_midget

Tin_Cup wrote: »

Another 4-0 win for MJW. I wonder is the lack of mid session interval the reason for so many whitewashes in Newport??

Yep i'd say the lack of a break in the match keeps the rythym going..This format seems to work great me thinks

zack01

Totally agree boys, the lack of mid session interval really keeps the players tempo going and the crowd too.I listened to Ebdon moaning about it the other night, it spoke of his dislike for it, even mentioning the fact that withno mid session the table doesnt get a chance to bebrushed and blocked, yet he still went on to have a ton and an 80 in his lasttwo frames.
Ebdon was one of the few players to speak out against Hearn taking over snooker, but now ironically Ebdon is having one of his best seasons in a while and with the new ranking set up finds himself back in the top 16.

Another reason for the improvement in the likes of Stevens and Williams is that they are playing more snooker in more events, nearly every week this season there has been a tournament on.

Still cant pick a winnerthough for this week!

zack01

Williams gone!!

Who's gonna win it now?

oneillMan999

zack01 wrote: »

Williams gone!!

Who's gonna win it now?

Hard to see past Selby, the Steve Davis of his generation, incredibly hard to shake off.

On the Hendry 147, ive given up trying to predict his matches or form, we used to see the best and worst of him during a season, now we see the best and worst of him during matches. Quite intriguing though, if only he could sustain his concentration who knows what he could do!

zack01

Would love to see a Higgins v Selby final, one for the purists!!

Tin_Cup

zack01 wrote: »

Williams gone!!

Who's gonna win it now?

Gutted! Roll on PTC Finals. Would love to see Higgins or Stevens win it!

Setun

Hendry got a maximum?! Fair play to him! Any idea how long it took him from start to finish?

califano

Daddio wrote: »

Hendry got a maximum?! Fair play to him! Any idea how long it took him from start to finish?

9m5s

zack01

Realy have to hand it to John Higgins, mentally and professionally he has to be regarded as one of the games greatest ever players.
To return to playing after six months and win the UK really took some doing especially coming back from the brink against Williams in the final, but reaching the final in Wales this week after only burying his father last Wednesday week is remarkable.
Hard to pick who he will play in the final as that one has all the hallmarks of a close match, but regardless of who he plays i'll be cheering for Higgins.

Bandido

zack01 wrote: »

Realy have to hand it to John Higgins, mentally and professionally he has to be regarded as one of the games greatest ever players.
To return to playing after six months and win the UK really took some doing especially coming back from the brink against Williams in the final, but reaching the final in Wales this week after only burying his father last Wednesday week is remarkable.
Hard to pick who he will play in the final as that one has all the hallmarks of a close match, but regardless of who he plays i'll be cheering for Higgins.

Ya fantastic courage, since the scandal I am always hoping for Higgins to lose every tournament and detest what he did but I think this once I would be content with him winning just for his dad alone.

Paully D

What time is the first session starting at today lads? I'm guessing 2pm?

zack01

1.30pm first session starts lads

zack01

5-3 Maguire,Brilliant first session of snooker, both players playing to a great standard, Maguire possibly shading it, Maguire could and really should have been going in 6-2 ahead at the end of the session.
All credit to Higgins for hanging in at the end.
We could be in for a late evening I think!

LuckyGent88

Maguire starting to loose it now. Higgins wins first 3 frames to go 6-5 ahead. Maguire has got into all the frames and just cant finish them off.

zack01

Agreed, Maguire showing his temperment which is well known to be suspect when he's under the cosh. He's taken on two tough reds and lost both frames.
Higgins on the other hand is proving again what a class act he is, the man is made of granite.
I can't really see a way back for Maguire, first frame after the interval is huge, Higgins goes 8-5 up its all over.

LuckyGent88

Maguire needed that frame badly. Had to stop the tide. Could set up a cracking final few frames.

Bandido

Well done John Higgins

zack01

Incredible performance by John Higgins tonight, you can have the O 'Sullivans, Robertson's, Williams and co but he is the best player in the world by a mile.

LuckyGent88

That was a great win from Higgins. He has had some comeback since his ban.

Setun

Fair play to Higgins - was great to see such respect between the two players tonight. Really hope Maguire gets a big win soon, he has a lot of unrealised potential but really needs to sort out his temperment.

Backstreet Moyes

Daddio wrote: »

Fair play to Higgins - was great to see such respect between the two players tonight. Really hope Maguire gets a big win soon, he has a lot of unrealised potential but really needs to sort out his temperment.

What unrealised potential? He's 26 or 27 not 18 if he's good enough which i think he is, he can win tournaments. He had alot of potential years ago but never filled it but has stll had a decent carear.

Setun

I'm referring to the fact that he hasn't won a ranking tournament in a number of years - Maguire has the potential to be a world champion if he can keep his mind in check. He's a fantastic player, and very exciting to watch.

zack01

I think Maguire may have missed the boat in regard to winning the world title. When he first arrived on the circuit he was a revelation, winning the UK title and rising to number two in the world, but he has now become somewhat of a routine name that may reach the odd quarter final and sometimes like in the recent Welsh hit some good form and reach a final.
His temperment is very suspect and as shown in last nights final he tends to play the wrong shot at the wrong time, agreed he did show battling qualities in the last frame to gain the snookers needed but it was too little too late for him.
I would put him alongside the likes of Jamie Cope and Stephen Lee, they are good players who's best days are probably behind them.
Winning the world title requires 17 days of immense concentration, mental strength and stamina, and it will be more so this year as there has been more events this season and played throughout Europe.This takes it's toll on some players but when you look at several recent champions at the Cruicble such as Williams, Dott, Murphy, Robertson and Higgins these guys have these qualities in abundance.I left out O'Sullivan as at the moment I really don't think Ronnie's mind is on snooker at the moment, he's down to tenth in the rankings and probably won't play again until Sheffield as I can't really see him travelling to China in March for the China Open.

I've just seen the draw for the seeds for Sheffield and the top half should see Robertson meet Selby in the semi's while the bottom half see Wiillliams O Sullivan and Higgins battling for a final spot.
But with all the surprises we've seen this season could a qualifier come through and win??

Setun

Interesting post zack. I'd love to see Maguire do well again, and as you said, when he first came on the scene he was a strong force in the game and was destined for great things. Unfortunately he's let doubt/tension creep in to his game which has him playing the wrong shot on occasion. I do think he could easily rise higher (although 6th in the world is pretty damn high) if he had a more consistent mentality.

As for the crucible, god knows who is going to win it this year.