China Open Draw & Schedule

zack01

Mark Selby has pulled out of the tournament citing a neck injury and his opponent Ding Junhui will receive a bye to the quater finals.

cherryghost

Ali Carter looks great today. Ronnie looked pretty solid earlier too. Some very good play all round this week imo

oneillMan999

Love the China Open, everyone tryin soo hard to do well and carry some momentum into the Worlds.

Its lookin like an O Sullivan - Trump semi final and the winner of that the eventual winner of the China Open, but dont go runnin to the bookies just yet

zack01

What a weird match that was between O'Sullivan and Maguire, Maguire should have won it 5-3, instead he needed a fluked doubled respot black to win 5-4.
Stephen Lee meanwhile overcame defending champion Judd Trump 5-3 and continues his remarkable run of reaching his fourth semi final in the last five events.
So Maguire plays Lee in the first semi tomorrow.

The afternoon quaters are Ding Junhui v Ali Carter and Neil Robertson v Peter Endon.

oneillMan999

Jeez my predictions are gettin as bad as Zacks now This is why i never bet on snooker!

Gotta say Stephen Lee looks in super form and a real threat for the Worlds.

Ok one more prediction for this afternoons matches..

Robertson to hammer Ebdon 5-1

Ding to edge Carter 5-4

zack01

oneillMan999 wrote: »

Jeez my predictions are gettin as bad as Zacks now This is why i never bet on snooker!

Gotta say Stephen Lee looks in super form and a real threat for the Worlds.

Ok one more prediction for this afternoons matches..

Robertson to hammer Ebdon 5-1

Ding to edge Carter 5-4

Yes I think my record is awful although I did back Robertson for the Masters and Morgan for the World Seniors! The rest please don't mention !!!

Couple of funny ones this afternoon, saw Ebdon play yesterday and was up to his usual tricks, I expect that game to be a right old grind.
Carter played well and is at last showing a bit of form but I think Ding may have his name on the trophy already, he should have gone out 5-0 in the first round against Wollaston but somehow won 5-4.

Lee for the Worlds? Would love to see it but the best I can see him doing is possibly the semi's, it's a long 17 days and a lot of snooker to be played and you have to wonder would he have the stamina?
On the other hand in the last four weeks he's got to the final of the World Open in Hainan then flew back to the UK, then to Galway and won the PTC, then flies out to Hong Kong for two exhibitions before flying onto Beijing where he finds himself in the semi finals!
He's certainly shown plenty of stamina there!!

Pighead

Best of luck to Robbo today.

oneillMan999

Ebdon - Robertson match is a real slogfest , better put on another pot of coffee

zack01

oneillMan999 wrote: »

Ebdon - Robertson match is a real slogfest , better put on another pot of coffee

It's turning into what I thought it would , a right old grind.
I expect it to finish around 5pm!
Seriously though 2 hours for four frames????

oneillMan999

If you notice, Robertson can be every bit a grinder as Ebdon is when he wants to, bit of a shame really because hes at his best when he dosent overthink things, Ebdon on the other hand just overthinks everything!!

Edit: Even the commentators are gettin a bit fed up at this stage.. haha!

zack01

Well Ebdon wins 5-3 and what a slog that was! I was only joking when I said it might finish at 5pm but i was only 10 mons short!
To be fair I can't really fault Ebdon as he is now in the semi final and after wins against Stevens, Higgins and now Robertson he must fancy his chances.
So the semi finals are Ding v Ebdon and Maguire v Lee, current form would say its a Ding v Lee final but the other two will have as good a chance of winning the title too.

zack01

Maguire beats Lee 6-2 to end his recent fine run. I've been very impressed with Maguire during the second half of the season, he seems to be back to the form that saw him win the UK championship a few years back.

Ding v Ebdon coming up this afternoon. I fancy Ding to win here, it might not be pretty snooker from Ebdon at the moment but it sure is effective.

Volovo

Stephen Lee seems to be in really good form these days. Is he worth a pound at the bookies for the worlds do ye think?

zack01

Volovo wrote: »

Stephen Lee seems to be in really good form these days. Is he worth a pound at the bookies for the worlds do ye think?

At a push he may reach the semi's but that's about it IMO

oneillMan999

He defo has a chance the way hes playin but the problem is so does Osullivan, trump, higgins, selby, robertson, williams, maguire, ding and Allen!

Too open to call but if ur lookin for a good value bet, try the 147 been made with £165,000 up for grabs for anyone who gets one...im sure there will be a few attempts esp in the early rounds.

zack01

Ebdon wins 6-3 and reaches he first final in three years. He plays Maguire tomorrow over the best of 19 frames for the first prize of £75,000 and added to that the winner will also gain a spot in next seasons premier league.
It won't be pretty and it will be tough match snooker.
He is slow and dogged Ebdon but to beat Stevens, Higgins, Robertson and now Ding add to that he had to qualify for this event you really have to admire what he's done.

Omega28

I can't stand watching Ebdon and Maguire so for me I won't be watching this final but I will say something, as much as I hate watching Ebdon, I gotta give him credit, fair play to him, I hope he takes it down

cherryghost

Down with Ebdon and Robertson! ugh. Two of the most boring players in the sport.

Silvio.Dante

I find Ebdon fascinating. I love the turgid stuff. I find metronomic 100+ breaks to be the height of boredom. Am I weird?

Still plenty of empty seats in what we're told is a 'hotbed' of snooker...

zack01

5-1 to Ebdon and you just can't see a way back for Maguire now. It's not pretty but Ebdons style of play is effective. This final is really one for the true snooker fans out there, the safety play and all round match play albeit slow is actually quite brilliant by Ebdon. Some say it's boring but this is what snooker was like in the 70's and 80's the only time it quickened up was when Higgins and White were on show. In fact Higgins once conceded a world final to Readon once with Readon still needing a few frames to win such was the high standard of matchplay by Readon then.Higgins was himself a great match play player as well but he just couldn't handle the slow play Reardon produced during that final.
Even with today's high standards we are always going to see a proper slogfest every now and again, yes everyone wants to see balls going in at 100 miles and hour and maximum breaks being made but this is the other side of snooker and while boring to some it's fascinating to others.

Silvio.Dante

zack01 wrote: »

5-1 to Ebdon and you just can't see a way back for Maguire now. It's not pretty but Ebdons style of play is effective. This final is really one for the true snooker fans out there, the safety play and all round match play albeit slow is actually quite brilliant by Ebdon. Some say it's boring but this is what snooker was like in the 70's and 80's the only time it quickened up was when Higgins and White were on show. In fact Higgins once conceded a world final to Readon once with Readon still needing a few frames to win such was the high standard of matchplay by Readon then.Higgins was himself a great match play player as well but he just couldn't handle the slow play Reardon produced during that final.
Even with today's high standards we are always going to see a proper slogfest every now and again, yes everyone wants to see balls going in at 100 miles and hour and maximum breaks being made but this is the other side of snooker and while boring to some it's fascinating to others.

Thank you Zack...:)

ArmaniJeanss

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

I find Ebdon fascinating. I love the turgid stuff. I find metronomic 100+ breaks to be the height of boredom. Am I weird?

Definitely agree, give me a 45-43 frame with one red left and the colours all on cushions rather than century break after century break.

I like what Ebdon does. He has limited ability compared to many other players, but he has completely maximised what he gets out of the game by insisting that every match is played on his terms. If you want to beat him then you have to be willing to work your way through a lot of scruffy frames.

I do accept that he doesn't recruit many new fans to the game.

zack01

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Definitely agree, give me a 45-43 frame with one red left and the colours all on cushions rather than century break after century break.

I like what Ebdon does. He has limited ability compared to many other players, but he has completely maximised what he gets out of the game by insisting that every match is played on his terms. If you want to beat him then you have to be willing to work your way through a lot of scruffy frames.

I do accept that he doesn't recruit many new fans to the game.

I agree 100% with your post, 10-15 years ago Ebdon was as flamboyant as they came but as the standard got better he completely changed his game and has become one of the great match players the game has seen, but let's not forget he can still knock in the big breaks as well. To be still competing at the highest level ten years after his world title win says a lot about him.

ArmaniJeanss

Ebdon crawls over the line 10-9 after a great Maguire comeback.

Zack, any idea why the first session was 6 frames and the second session 13?

(I've a suspicion it may be that the first session stops when one player gets to five, so as not to have a 7-2 or 8-1 or 9-0 scoreline after the first session)

zack01

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

Ebdon crawls over the line 10-9 after a great Maguire comeback.

Zack, any idea why the first session was 6 frames and the second session 13?

(I've a suspicion it may be that the first session stops when one player gets to five, so as not to have a 7-2 or 8-1 or 9-0 scoreline after the first session)

I reckon they stopped play after the first six frames due to the fact it went on for too long. Normally a best of 19 match would see 9 frames in the first session and the remaining 10 if needed in the second session.
The only time you would see this happen because it seldom happens in a final is during the world championship when all first round matches are best of 19 frames.
The session would normally start at 2pm and if by 5.15pm if there was a chance that nine frames would not be completed the tournament organiser would instruct the referee to call a halt at the conclusion of the current frame.
The reason being the evening matches begin at 7pm and between the time the tables are prepared, the auditorium cleaned and the evening audience settled in there would be just about enough time.
The same thing obviously happened today hence the first session only having six frames played.

oneillMan999

Well that was a grind, quite enjoyed it though, cant beat a good ole slogfest, dont see it much these days.

Ebdon for the world title?

Silvio.Dante

oneillMan999 wrote: »

Ebdon for the world title?

I'll happily jump on that bandwagon...:D

cherryghost

Silvio.Dante wrote: »

I'll happily jump on that bandwagon...:D

I'd only fully support this if I had the following day off work.

oneillMan999

cherryghost wrote: »

I'd only fully support this if I had the following day off work.

Surely you mean "week" off!