2019 English Open, 14th-20th October - Eurosport & Quest

Frank O. Pinion

First leg of this season's Home Nations Series, (if someone can win all four, they'll get a £1,000,000 bonus). Defending champ is Stuart Bingham, who defeated Mark Davis in the final, 9-7. Davis defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in the semis, to make his first ranking final. Top prize is £70,000, runner-up gets £30,000. Best-of-7s until the QFs, which are best-of-9, semis are best-of-11, and the final is a best-of-17. All the top players have entered, except for some reason John Higgins, which in turn, gave #17 in the world Ali Carter, a place among the 16 seeded players.

Section 1:

Stuart Bingham (#1 seed as defending champion) v Kacper Filipiak (current Amateur European Snooker Champion, which earned him his professional tour card, from Poland)
Si Jiahui v Soheil Vahedi
Zhou Yuelong v Michael White
Ben Woollaston v Andrew Higginson
Ali Carter (#16) v Alan McManus
Gerard Greene v Tian Pengfei
Ding Junhui (no longer in Top 16) v Dominic Dale
Matthew Stevens v Xu Si

Section 2:

Duane Jones v Lu Ning
Tom Ford v Peter Lines
Bai Langning v Jimmy White
Kyren Wilson (#9) v Liang Wenbo
Fan Zhengyi v Riley Parsons
Anthony McGill v Chris Wakelin
Martin Gould v Sunny Akani
Shaun Murphy (#8) v Chang Bingyu

Section 3:

Neil Robertson (#5) v Kishan Hirani
Marco Fu v Ken Doherty
Scott Donaldson v Zhao Xintong
Anthony Hamilton v Zhang Jiankang
David Gilbert (#12) v Stuart Carrington
Ryan Davies (amateur 17-year old wildcard) v Lei Peifan
Jimmy Robertson v Robert Milkins
Kurt Maflin v Noppon Saengkham

Section 4:

Harvey Chandler v Mike Dunn
Graeme Dott v Mark Davis (last year's runner-up)
Joe O'Connor v Ian Burns
Stephen Maguire (#13) v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Luo Honghao v Sam Craigie
Ricky Walden v Alex Borg (50-year old from Malta, who has failed to qualify for the Crucible 15 times)
Michael Holt v James Cahill
Mark Williams (#4) v Jamie Clarke

Section 5:

Ronnie O'Sullivan (#3) v Jamie O'Neill
Yuan Sijun v Igor Figueiredo (41-year old Pan-American Champion, from Brazil)
Hossein Vafaei v Simon Lichtenberg
Thor Chuan Leong v Chen Feilong
Yan Bingtao (#14) v Mei Xiwen
Li Hang v Fraser Patrick
Ryan Day v Eden Sharav
Ashley Carty v Elliot Slessor

Section 6:

Jak Jones v Brandon Sargeant
Xiao Guodong v Rod Lawler
Alfie Burden v Andy Hicks
Jack Lisowski (#11) v Jackson Page
Hammad Miah v Mitchell Mann
Matthew Selt v Craig Steadman
Alexander Ursenbacher v Martin O'Donnell
Mark Selby (#6) v Barry Pinches

Section 7:

Mark Allen (#7) v James Wattana
Andy Lee v David Lilley
Luca Brecel v Adam Stefanow
Jordan Brown v Louis Heathcote
Barry Hawkins (#10) v Amiri Amine (new on the tour, after winning a gold medal in the African Games, from Morocco)
Michael Georgiou v David Grace
Lyu Haotian v Zhang Anda
Fergal O'Brien v Nigel Bond

Section 8:

Billy Joe Castle v John Astley
Gary Wilson v Mark Joyce
Liam Highfield v Oliver Lines
Joe Perry (#15) v Mark Lloyd (amateur wildcard)
Lee Walker v Chen Zifan
Mark King v Robbie Williams
Sam Baird v Daniel Wells
Judd Trump (#2) v Peter Ebdon

Frank O. Pinion

New dress code for the Home Nations Series:

WorldSnooker.com wrote:

"You can have any colour you want, as long as it's black", said Henry Ford about his Model T cars back in 1909.

Snooker players will have a similar choice throughout this season's Home Nations Series. World Snooker has joined forces with renowned clothing firm Hawes & Curtis to create a new dress code for the four Home Nations events, starting with this month's 19.com English Open. All 128 players will wear black tailored long-sleeved shirts together with black or dark tailored trousers. Snooker's traditional attire of waistcoats and bow ties has been dropped for this series.

World Snooker Chairman Barry Hearn said: "The new dress code for the Home Nations events will help the series become distinctive and develop a unique identity. We know that waistcoats and bow ties are closely associated with the traditions of our sport and we have no plans to change the dress code for the majority of our key events. But we have decided to make this change for the Home Nations and we hope the black shirts will be stylish and practical for the players. We're thrilled to be working with Hawes & Curtis and we're delighted with the product they have designed."

http://www.worldsnooker.com/world-snooker-teams-up-with-hawes-curtis-for-new-home-nations-dress-code

Frank O. Pinion

WorldSnooker.com wrote:

Luo Honghao - Playing O'Sullivan Was Unforgettable

Chinese ace Luo Honghao is looking forward to returning to Crawley for next week's 19.com English Open, having reached the quarter-finals last year. Luo, 19, enjoyed a promising debut season on the pro tour in 2018/19, highlighted by his fine run in Sussex as well as a first appearance at the Crucible.

At K2 Crawley he beat four players including Anthony McGill and Neil Robertson, then pushed Ronnie O’Sullivan hard in the quarter-finals. Luo led the Rocket 3-2 but eventually lost 5-3. "My dream as a young child came true, to play against O'Sullivan at a venue", said Luo. "There were so many spectators watching me play. It's an unforgettable memory and I wish to experience more of the same. Ronnie is a nice person. We added each other on WeChat and talked a lot. I sent him clips of myself playing piano. What I need to learn from him is his perseverance and determination. He used to run 10km a day and practise for ten hours without touching his phone. You have to say 'no' to socialising and dedicate yourself to the game, I don't think many players can really do that."

http://www.worldsnooker.com/luo-playing-osullivan-was-unforgettable

Also talks about his 10-0 Crucible debut loss to Shaun Murphy. Blames it on Lu Ning treating him to a big sea food dinner, where he ate too much, and was allergic to some of the food.

zuutroy

Not sure I'm liking the new wardrobe. Seems like it might be the thin end of the wedge.

Frank O. Pinion

Event has just started...today's TV matches:

10am
Barry Hawkins v Amiri Amine
Yan Bingtao v Mei Xiwen

1pm
Judd Trump v Peter Ebdon
Joe Perry v Mark Lloyd

2pm (approx.)
Mark Selby v Barry Pinches
Stuart Bingham v Kacper Filipiak

7pm
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Jamie O'Neill
Jimmy Robertson v Robert Milkins

9pm (approx.)
Shaun Murphy v Chang Bingyu
Luca Brecel v Adam Stefanow

zuutroy

Camera angle has gotten even shallower to fit all the peripheral nonsense in.

Joe_ Public

Watching Ebdon, god he's hopeless. I know he's playing the world No.1 but trump looks to be in about fourth gear out there. Table angle is indeed horrendous.

Inviere

zuutroy wrote: »

Camera angle has gotten even shallower to fit all the peripheral nonsense in.

Ugh, really? Haven't gotten to see a session yet but was dreading the shallow 'sponsor friendly' angle

zuutroy

Looks like we've got unhinged Ronnie this evening.

Joe_ Public

This guy Jamie O'Neill was an absolutely fantastic junior but that was a long time ago. Dont think he was the most, ahem, dedicated player on the circuit, but maybe belatedly get it together somewhat.

Joe_ Public

Ronnie going for 3 foot plants....has the look maybe of being one of those nights?

zuutroy

What was that pink about? What an infuriating man!

Arthur Daley

Surprised he even turns up at Crawley after his comments about the place last year.

hetuzozaho

Kicking the rest under the table, why oh why does he do it

waynescales1

They've done away with the waistcoats and bow ties. Further evidence of the moral decay in society.

The change of dress code is most noticeable in the referee's outfit I think. It's kind of unprofessional looking. The white shirt and white gloves don't go together either.

hetuzozaho

Car crash interview with Ronnie now. He's so rude.

zuutroy

hetuzozaho wrote: »

Car crash interview with Ronnie now. He's so rude.

For all the talk of balance and all that, he's still very up and down. Decided live on air he's not working on Eurosport tomorrow.

hetuzozaho

zuutroy wrote: »

For all the talk of balance and all that, he's still very up and down. Decided live on air he's not working on Eurosport tomorrow.

Yeah it's awful to watch. Every time they interview him after a match he is the same.

Complaining that his opponent was just happy to be there and then saying he is just doing it for fun. What does he be going on about at all?

zuutroy

I'd say a lot of it is a distorted version of what Steve Peters preaches to him. A weird attempt to 'relieve the pressure' that ends up making him look terrible.

He went out with a whimper 2 or 3 times last year to guys he had no business losing to, and every time he was going for stupid shots. It's almost like he resents having to play these guys and acts out by showing them no respect. He then goes behind, sets up a bit of a challenge for himself and tries to pull it out of the fire.

waynescales1

Ding knocked out by Dominic Dale. Just noticed his world ranking has dropped to number 18. He's in sharp decline.

Slippin Jimmy

Watched bits and pieces of it when I got a chance at work. Sounds like a standard o Sullivan interview.

Frank O. Pinion

Ronnie didn't take his opponent seriously, and played recklessly, but still won, topped off with another "bizarre/bad mood" interview. That's Ronnie. Looks set to at least make the QFs, who's going to trouble him in section 5? Hossein Vafaei...Ryan Day? And there's not a big challenge from section 6 to meet in the QFs besides Mark Selby.

Joe_ Public wrote: »

This guy Jamie O'Neill was an absolutely fantastic junior but that was a long time ago. Dont think he was the most, ahem, dedicated player on the circuit, but maybe belatedly get it together somewhat.

Just got back on the tour this season, and has lost all his matches so far. I think he's going to have a rough two years before dropping off again.

waynescales1 wrote: »

Ding knocked out by Dominic Dale. Just noticed his world ranking has dropped to number 18. He's in sharp decline.

Provisionally, he's down to #22. Yan Bingtao is now the highest ranked Chinese player, and he lost today to Mei Xiwen.

Tomorrow's TV matches:

10am
David Gilbert v Stuart Carrington
Stephen Maguire v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

1pm
Mark Williams v Jamie Clarke
Scott Donaldson v Zhao Xintong

2pm (approx.)
Kyren Wilson v Liang Wenbo
Marco Fu v Ken Doherty (both players very much in need of ranking points)

4:30pm (approx.)
Jack Lisowski v Jackson Page
Gary Wilson v Mark Joyce

7pm
Mark Allen v James Wattana
Ryan Day v Eden Sharav

9pm (approx.)
Neil Robertson v Kishan Hirani
Graeme Dott v Mark Davis

Very interested in the Wilson/Wenbo match, big fan of both.

GeneralC

I found Ronnie very disrespectful towards his opponent in his post match interview. His opponent had every right to be there and nearly beat Ronnie.

Joe_ Public

It's a shame because Ronnie is in the best position to offer some constructive criticism on the tour but it gets lost in all this blatant woe is me disregard. These multi table setups are a pox on the game far as I'm concerned, the logistics of 128 player tournaments are way too much to bear. But I hear Ronnie going on about how great the China events are, fairly drab, atmosphere less affairs from what I see though they do have the readies which, I guess, would impress Ronnie.

hetuzozaho

GeneralC wrote: »

I found Ronnie very disrespectful towards his opponent in his post match interview.

So disrespectful to him. And to the guys in the studio.

GeneralC

Joe_ Public wrote: »

It's a shame because Ronnie is in the best position to offer some constructive criticism on the tour but it gets lost in all this blatant woe is me disregard. These multi table setups are a pox on the game far as I'm concerned, the logistics of 128 player tournaments are way too much to bear. But I hear Ronnie going on about how great the China events are, fairly drab, atmosphere less affairs from what I see though they do have the readies which, I guess, would impress Ronnie.

I hate the China events. So boring to watch, zero atmosphere, poor attendance, match times etc

I love the UK/German events. The only ones worth watching, imo.

GeneralC

hetuzozaho wrote: »

So disrespectful to him. And to the guys in the studio.

Poor aul Neal Foulds couldn't believe how disrespectful and rude Ronnie was. I actually felt bad for Neal.

GeneralC

https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/14/ronnie-osullivan-reignites-attack-english-open-every-day-crawley-day-lost-life-10918644/amp/

God love him playing in these poor conditions. Tosser.

Frank O. Pinion

I see Ronnie more as the Bobby Fischer of Snooker, not the Roger Federer or Tiger Woods. I never, ever expect Ronnie to be "normal". He's a flawed genius with mental issues, being the best at a very odd game, that involves great mental skill, besides natural potting ability.

He seems in a bad mood around this time every year recently, after his annual late Summer/early Autumn Asia trip.

Joe_ Public

GeneralC wrote: »

I hate the China events. So boring to watch, zero atmosphere, poor attendance, match times etc

I love the UK/German events. The only ones worth watching, imo.

The pros seem to love the German Masters, only ever hear glowing reports from it. I think global expansion can only be good for the sport and applaud it, but snooker still has its traditional base over here and old stagers like me will struggle with those china events because they just seem to lack a passion or tradition or atmosphere, or whatever you want to call it. Pumping huge money and resources into it is all very well, but its harder to buy tradition and atmosphere imho.

Joe_ Public

GeneralC wrote: »

Poor aul Neal Foulds couldn't believe how disrespectful and rude Ronnie was. I actually felt bad for Neal.

To be honest, i doubt Foulds would be all that shocked by what confronted him, it's nothing he hasn't seen before. Last year there was the whole silly aussie accent thing, before that the robot... If you're going to be offended or put out by anything O'Sullivan throws at you during an interview, you probably wouldnt last long i reckon. Ronnie still a big dickus of course, of that there's no doubt.

Spudman_20000

Watched the interview there, at a bit of a loss what all the fuss is about.

waynescales1

Spudman_20000 wrote: »

Watched the interview there, at a bit of a loss what all the fuss is about.

Fairly harmless, seen a lot worse. Not surprised by the above comments, O’Sullivan doesn’t have to do much to irritate many posters on here.

Joe_ Public

waynescales1 wrote: »

Fairly harmless, seen a lot worse. Not surprised by the above comments, O’Sullivan doesn’t have to do much to irritate many posters on here.

Its not that bad, lot of shyte talk but par for the course, though have a feeling Ken "Dockerty" might have been a bit irritated if he was listening to it.

Frank O. Pinion

Speaking of Ken, I was keeping up with his match against Marco Fu, while watching Wilson/Wenbo, which Doherty lost 4-0. He's out there embarrassing himself, in at least two frames playing on for a bunch of snookers. It's been quite a while since any major result, (semi-final at the 2017 Riga Masters, his best this decade), he really should just retire at the end of the season if he can't stay in the Top 64. Provisionally, he's at #69. He'd be better off joining the Seniors Tour full-time and working on being a better commentator for the BBC.

Joe_ Public

If Ken is that bad, what does it tell you about the general standard of younger players who cant beat him for a place on tour? I watched Ebdon yesterday and he was appalling, taking 40-50 seconds over shots he wasnt even getting in the jaws of pockets. I'm fairly certain, though, that Ken would have called it a day if he'd made it to the crucible this year. I think he'd love more than anything to get back one more time, likely get hockeyed and then make his farewell on the biggest stage. I think he'll give it one more chance this year and that'll be it.

waynescales1

Good to see Feargal through against Bond.

Speaking of Marco Fu, won the 2016 Scottish Open, but then I noticed his huge drop down the rankings (59 now?) in the last 2 years and read that he recently had surgery for "retinal degeneration". Didn't know he was suffering with that condition but that would explain why he's disappeared in recent years.

Arthur Daley

Fu very nearly made the World Championship final in 2016. Big decline for him since

Frank O. Pinion

Jimmy White continues to get even worse results than last season, with his new invitational tour card. His loss yesterday evening makes five 1st round losses.

Casualties from the 16 seeds in round 1, were Ali Carter, Stephen Maguire, and Yan Bingtao, leaving 13 seeds still in the event.

Round 2 starts today, TV matches:

10am
Stuart Bingham v Si Jiahui
Sam Craigie v Ricky Walden

1pm
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Yuan Sijun
Kyren Wilson v Bai Langning (17 year old that defeated Jimmy White)

2pm (approx.)
Mark Williams v Michael Holt
Neil Robertson v Marco Fu

7pm
Judd Trump v Daniel Wells
Mark Allen v Andy Lee

9pm (approx.)
Shaun Murphy v Sunny Akani
Barry Hawkins v Michael Georgiou

Some good matches there, obviously Ronnie's against Sijun will have the most interest. They've only played once before, earlier this year in the Welsh Open, which Ronnie won 4-2. I like Akani's odd style, rooting for him against Murphy.

GeneralC

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

Jimmy White continues to get even worse results than last season, with his new invitational tour card. His loss yesterday evening makes five 1st round losses.

Casualties from the 16 seeds in round 1, were Ali Carter, Stephen Maguire, and Yan Bingtao, leaving 13 seeds still in the event.

Round 2 starts today, TV matches:

10am
Stuart Bingham v Si Jiahui
Sam Craigie v Ricky Walden

1pm
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Yuan Sijun
Kyren Wilson v Bai Langning (17 year old that defeated Jimmy White)

2pm (approx.)
Mark Williams v Michael Holt
Neil Robertson v Marco Fu

7pm
Judd Trump v Daniel Wells
Mark Allen v Andy Lee

9pm (approx.)
Shaun Murphy v Sunny Akani
Barry Hawkins v Michael Georgiou

Some good matches there, obviously Ronnie's against Sijun will have the most interest. They've only played once before, earlier this year in the Welsh Open, which Ronnie won 4-2. I like Akani's odd style, rooting for him against Murphy.

White should pack it in, it's embarrassing. He must be stuck for a few quid? Or does he genuinely believe he can win a tournament? Awful to watch anyway.

GeneralC

Joe_ Public wrote: »

The pros seem to love the German Masters, only ever hear glowing reports from it. I think global expansion can only be good for the sport and applaud it, but snooker still has its traditional base over here and old stagers like me will struggle with those china events because they just seem to lack a passion or tradition or atmosphere, or whatever you want to call it. Pumping huge money and resources into it is all very well, but its harder to buy tradition and atmosphere imho.

I agree with you about the Chinese events. They definitely lack something alright. I wish they held a ranking event here in Dublin because it would surely drag the audience? More so than the Chinese events.

GeneralC

Arthur Daley wrote: »

Fu very nearly made the World Championship final in 2016. Big decline for him since

I presume family life got in the way of his dedication to snooker?

Joe_ Public

GeneralC wrote: »

White should pack it in, it's embarrassing. He must be stuck for a few quid? Or does he genuinely believe he can win a tournament? Awful to watch anyway.

I didnt agree with hearn giving him the wild card, i mean if the likes of Ken or Ebdon came looking for a wild card in the future, on what grounds should they be refused? Hearn goes on about players having to earn their keep, law of the jungle and all that, and then just hands a card out to Jimmy because basically he's his mate. Jimmy couldnt be making any money from it, so i guess his motivation is just to stay playing, obviously it's his life so thats fair enough. Bit sad, maybe, but what else has he going on? A bit of commentary, probably still gambling his head off every day and thats about it. Notice he can still draw a half decent crowd when he plays, so that is something at least.

Joe_ Public

GeneralC wrote: »

I agree with you about the Chinese events. They definitely lack something alright. I wish they held a ranking event here in Dublin because it would surely drag the audience? More so than the Chinese events.

Absolutely criminal with our history and tradition of snooker here that we dont have a ranking event. I lived through the glory days of the irish masters at goffs, i recall Steve Davis saying it was his second favourite venue on the circuit, it was a magnificent arena for snooker. We'll never get that back, but would be great so see something at least half as good. But not at citywest, horrible venue for snooker, hated every second of it.

Arthur Daley

Trip up to Belfast next month for the NI version of this tournament is next best thing to getting Goffs back.

I like the waterfront as a venue. A doddle to get to by train or bus. Not perfect but not bad. Certainly better than that titanic centre they had the first NI open in.

Planes taking off from the harbour airport every so often, could even be heard clearly on tv.

Frank O. Pinion

The Seniors Irish Masters is held each January in Goffs.

Defending champ, Stuart Bingham lost to 17 year old Si Jiahui, 4-1. His two wins this week so far, are his only two as a professional. That Section 1 is wide open now, hard to pick a quarter-finalist from the remaining seven.

Also, Sam Craigie withdrew from his second round match against Ricky Walden this morning. I haven't seen any reason online yet.

Joe_ Public

Curtains for Ronnie now you'd think, quelle surprise. Sijun been decent in fairness.

Joe_ Public

Spoke too soon, going to decider. Enough chances to finish it but Chinese kid couldn't take em. Very tentative, guess that's the intimidation factor Ronnie brings, even well short of his best.

waynescales1

Hard to believe Marco Fu is 41, looks 31. Unlike Higgins who is 44, looks 54.

waynescales1

Is anyone watching on Quest HD? "Live pause is not available". It's the only Sky channel on which I can't pause!

Frank O. Pinion

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Spoke too soon, going to decider. Enough chances to finish it but Chinese kid couldn't take em. Very tentative, guess that's the intimidation factor Ronnie brings, even well short of his best.

Sijun is very good, one of the better young Chinese players, but there were some shots he had no excuse to be missing, against anyone, never mind Ronnie.

Fergal O'Brien is in the last 32, his best result in over a year. He plays Barry Hawkins/Michael Georgiou.

waynescales1 wrote:

Is anyone watching on Quest HD? "Live pause is not available". It's the only Sky channel on which I can't pause!

I record Quest HD on my Humax Freesat box, no problems with it.