World Snooker Championship 2012

ebbsy

Allen's apology looked a little bit forced to me, maybe he knows that something serious might be coming down the road ?

I think he could be in a spot of bother.

_feedback_

Love watching Selby and his attempts to get frames back that look lost.

zack01

elviscostello wrote: »

Love watching Selby and his attempts to get frames back that look lost.

Agreed, he's one of the best out there of nicking frames that seem long lost.
Even though Hawkins looks like going 7-3 ahead you just know Selby will battle all the way. The one thing he's missing this season and the main reason I think he won't win the title in Sheffield is that he's not scoring as heavy and as regularly as he used to when he won those two Masters titles and his runner up spot in Sheffield a few years back.

zack01

9-3 Hawkins and its all but over. A lot will be made of this neck injury Selby has, but I heard him being interviewed the other day and he admitted that the injury was down to a disc problem and after several visits to specialist he claimed he was cured.
Maybe, maybe not, but one thing is for sure, neck problems aside, i'll repeat what i said at the beginning of the tournament Selby is not the player he was two to three years ago.

PauloMN

zack01 wrote: »

9-3 Hawkins and its all but over. A lot will be made of this neck injury Selby has, but I heard him being interviewed the other day and he admitted that the injury was down to a disc problem and after several visits to specialist he claimed he was cured.
Maybe, maybe not, but one thing is for sure, neck problems aside, i'll repeat what i said at the beginning of the tournament Selby is not the player he was two to three years ago.

Selby looks completely lost out there today, don't know what's up with him. Normally when he's on the table you'd be thinking he'll score big, today he looks like a player who's never played in the Crucible before.

zack01

PauloMN wrote: »

Selby looks completely lost out there today, don't know what's up with him. Normally when he's on the table you'd be thinking he'll score big, today he looks like a player who's never played in the Crucible before.

That's exactly what i'm saying, he just doesn't score heavily like he used to.

zack01

It's all over Selby loses 10-3 and he's the eight seed to go in the first round so far.
He'll still finish the season as world number one unless Judd Trump wins the title, Trump will replace him at the summit if he lifts the crown next Monday week.

cherryghost

Well that's that! Well played Hawkins. With Selby out, that leaves the World Number position open to Trump IF he wins the tournament outright.

_feedback_

Felt bad for Selby. Hope he can get that injury sorted out quick. Such bad timing.

I was going to put a few quid into the paddy power account for this but never bothered. Glad I didn't now, would have lost the lot already!

Omega28

Trump didn't look that impressive today, if he comes up to anyone in decent form, they'll blow him away. I honestly don't know how Trump gets away with the shots he takes, if he becomes world number 1 I may have to take my cue out of retirement:)

zack01

zack01 wrote: »

The evening sees Cater v Davis and I'm going to go for Davis here, quite simply carter has had a horrible season and Davis hasn't, Davis is on the verge of breaking into the top 16 and should do so with two wins here.

Carter goes 8-1 up and that's my bet gone for that match. I honestly couldn't see Carter producing this snooker tonight.
An interesting comment by Phil Yates was that by losing so many first round matches this season Carter has arrived at these World championships very fresh.
Well with what's gone on so far anythings possible !!

Jimoslimos

Wow Selby out, I had fancied him for the title.

radiata wrote: »

I didn't think Ding was like that, i thought he was a very quiet person. he never seems to show his emotions anyways.
C'mon give us another 147!

Didn't he have a strop a few years back when O'Sullivan thrashed him. Put it down to youthful inexperience and petulance at the time.

zack01

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Wow Selby out, I had fancied him for the title.


Didn't he have a strop a few years back when O'Sullivan thrashed him. Put it down to youthful inexperience and petulance at the time.

That was in the final of the Masters and not only was he on the receiving end of a hiding from O'Sullivan at his finest he also had to contend with a very rowdy London audience cheering on their man, it upset him so much that it led to O'Sullivan giving him a sympathetic hug at the end.

Doesn't excuse him for today though, I thought it was sour grapes from him today. He's a top class player, he's played all over the world he should be used to the crowds by now.

Voodoo_rasher

zack01 wrote: »

Looks like Ding is the latest sore loser this week, comments from his press conference include, ' The fans are rubbish' and 'The table is not right' !!

More to follow.....

I have to call to mind one of the tables. In an exchange of snookers, Spaceman had Trump behind a yellow top left hand corners. Trump made 5 attempts before he managed to hit the red . But i could see in the slow-motion repeat of at least 3 attempts that the cue-ball drifted off towards its target. There's a roll in that table.
M Davis played so crummy - biggest break of 28 after 5 frames played. Not a Top 16 player at all..

zack01

Day six at the Cruicble and it's the last of the first round matches and the beginning of the second round.

7* Ali Carter v Mark Davis 
22 David Gilbert v Neil Robertson

 
7pm
18 Joe Perry v Stephen Maguire
9* Mark Williams v Liu Chuang

* denotes match to a finish


No morning matches, so the action begins at 1pm with the conclusion of the Carter v Davis match, Carter has already got one foot in the next round after the 8-1 first session. I was shocked to see how poorly Davis played, he's been on the verge of a top 16 place all season and a run here would have guaranteed him that. On the other hand Carter played without doubt the best snooker he's played all season.

Also at 1pm the first of the second round best of 25 frame matches begins with qualifier Dave Gilbert v Neil Robertson. I've tipped Robertson from the start to win this and I've no reason to change now. He produced some quality snooker against Ken Doherty in the first round, the highlight being his three centuries in a row. Gilbert on the other hand produced a workmanlike performance against a below par Martin Gould to advance to this stage and continue his remarkable run, more remarkable when you take into account he lost his tour card last May and won it back by qualifying through Q School. A tough match for Gilbert and I can see Robertson advancing to the quaters with a 13-7 win.

7pm matches see Joe Perry v Stephen Maguire, Perry will face a completely different opponent in Maguire than he did with Dott in the first round. I expect a lot of hard played frames here, not too many high breaks but I'm going to stick my neck on the block and go for Perry here. I fancy this to be close possibly 13-11 to Perry.
The second match is the conclusion of Williams v Liu, Williams 6-3 up overnight will i'm sure wrap up the win without too much trouble. O'Sullivan awaits him in the second round and without a win over O'Sullivan in almost ten years, this could be as far as Williams goes in this years tournament.

califano

Selby has that semi vacant Roman Abramovich look, like there's a bee buzzing around inside his head.

Setun

zack01 wrote: »

7pm matches see Joe Perry v Stephen Maguire, Perry will face a completely different opponent in Maguire than he did with Dott in the first round. I expect a lot of hard played frames here, not too many high breaks but I'm going to stick my neck on the block and go for Perry here. I fancy this to be close possibly 13-11 to Perry.
The second match is the conclusion of Williams v Liu, Williams 6-3 up overnight will i'm sure wrap up the win without too much trouble. O'Sullivan awaits him in the second round and without a win over O'Sullivan in almost ten years, this could be as far as Williams goes in this years tournament.

I'll be very surprised if Maguire is beaten by Perry - Maguire wasn't 100% in his first round match but I can see him picking up momentum. Having said that, I'm not ruling out any possibility after the madness of the first round. Looking forward to seeing Robertson play again, I think his form in this round will really show his potential for taking the title this year.

cherryghost

Man I miss my morning fix of snooker. Work is just plain boring now.

harpstilidie

Disappointed that Selby is out, really wanted him to win the Title

It's mad that so many seeds are out of the tournament already. I don't know about anyone else but IMO it ruins the tournament a slight bit.

Fair play to the lads getting through but for me watching the snooker I want to see the world's best players in the latter stages, watching Selby v Murphy etc. instead of Hawkins v Jones for example.

cherryghost

Why would it ruin the tournament? If you sat down and watched the games and expected the top seeds to progress then where's the surprise and tension? Without unseeded players cropping up surprises snooker would well and truly be in the doldrums imo. Nobody wants to watch something so incredibly predictable.

harpstilidie

cherryghost wrote: »

Why would it ruin the tournament? If you sat down and watched the games and expected the top seeds to progress then where's the surprise and tension? Without unseeded players cropping up surprises snooker would well and truly be in the doldrums imo. Nobody wants to watch something so incredibly predictable.

I only said a slight bit.

Take the Champions League for example. I'd rather sit and watch a Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Chelsea than a Final between FC Basle and APOEL Nicosia.

I agree though, one of the joys of snooker is that it is so unpredictable and any player can win it whereas in sports such as tennis it's either Federer, Nadal or Djokovic!

I'd just like to see a few more seeds go through, not all of them.

Permabear

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Bruthal

harpstilidie wrote: »

Disappointed that Selby is out, really wanted him to win the Title

It's mad that so many seeds are out of the tournament already. I don't know about anyone else but IMO it ruins the tournament a slight bit.

Fair play to the lads getting through but for me watching the snooker I want to see the world's best players in the latter stages, watching Selby v Murphy etc. instead of Hawkins v Jones for example.

The simple fact is, qualifiers are not as overawed by the top players as they once were, and the standard is very high all round.

I think the difference with tennis etc is, the top players there are in direct interaction with their opponent. In snooker, if a player can play as well in front of the cameras as they can in qualifying, then the player sitting down cant do a thing about the qualifier clearing the table at a particular visit.

The best player in the world might not be the best player on a given day, and don`t automatically win just because they are higher ranked.

Bruthal

cherryghost wrote: »

Why would it ruin the tournament? If you sat down and watched the games and expected the top seeds to progress then where's the surprise and tension? Without unseeded players cropping up surprises snooker would well and truly be in the doldrums imo. Nobody wants to watch something so incredibly predictable.

Yea i actually think its better these days because the top players have hard matches against qualifiers. Not that long ago most if not all the qualifiers would lose in the first round.

zack01

cherryghost wrote: »

Man I miss my morning fix of snooker. Work is just plain boring now.

Yes i feel your pain. Tables have been recovered overnight too so roll on 1pm

zack01

robbie7730 wrote: »

Yea i actually think its better these days because the top players have hard matches against qualifiers. Not that long ago most if not all the qualifiers would lose in the first round.

It's down to one thing, every player is playing more snooker now, there is almost a snooker tournament wheter it be ranking or not on every week now. If you dont enter them or play in them you miss out on valuable match practice.
For instance before if you didnt qualify for the world championships your season was over the last week of March and you didnt play in a tournament again until the Grand Prix in October.
Now if you failed to qualify for Sheffield you put the cue away after the qualifiers which end mid April and unless your entering Q School which begins mid May! You have until the first week of June to prepare for the qualifiers for the first event of the season the Wuxi Classic and the following week the Austrailian Open!!
Players are sharper and the standard is better because of this.

StephenHendry

zack01 wrote: »

It's down to one thing, every player is playing more snooker now, there is almost a snooker tournament wheter it be ranking or not on every week now. If you dont enter them or play in them you miss out on valuable match practice.
For instance before if you didnt qualify for the world championships your season was over the last week of March and you didnt play in a tournament again until the Grand Prix in October.
Now if you failed to qualify for Sheffield you put the cue away after the qualifiers which end mid April and unless your entering Q School which begins mid May! You have until the first week of June to prepare for the qualifiers for the first event of the season the Wuxi Classic and the following week the Austrailian Open!!
Players are sharper and the standard is better because of this.

well summed up zack. afaik this is the most number of seeds that have been knocked out since the 1992 WC

Permabear

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StephenHendry

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

i kinda see where you're coming from. there is a lot of factors , certainly the fact that the season has so many tournaments, more worldwide ones has to be an influence where the likes of selby could be burnt out by this stage.

then again, its also why this years WC has been very exciting as well with so many of the qualifiers , underrated players like joe perry for example doing well so far. the addition of the PTCs has given the qualifiers the confidence needed to beat the top players in the WC

Bruthal

Voodoo_rasher wrote: »

M Davis played so crummy - biggest break of 28 after 5 frames played. Not a Top 16 player at all..

Well he is a qualifier, therefore not in the top 16. Anyone that qualifies deserves their place.