Mark Allen
There really is only one place to start with a review of the week & that is with our champion. Since this tournament came back on to the calendar 6 years ago Allen's record in it had been patchy at best, but with the home crowd getting ever more excited as the week went on & the pressure increasing on him,he continuously rose to the occasion.Just how much winning this title meant to him was obvious as he potted match ball in the final. Allen has for years been one of the top players in the game & should really have more titles to his name.Hopefully he can now get his off table issues sorted to everyone's satisfaction & start pushing again for the big ones.
John Higgins
When Higgins moved two up with three to play the other night, it seemed yet another ranking title was heading its way back to Scotland, but he just couldn't land the final blow. That shouldn't take away from another great week for the "The Wizard of Wishaw". At the end of last season John seems to have made the decision that if he is to last in this game he needed to make some lifestyle changes. Over the summer he adopted a serious fitness regime & the results were there to see last week. In so far any of these things can predicted,I would be shocked if we don't see him lift a few trophies this season.
The men in form
The old Championship Leagues over the last two seasons have been much derided by snooker fans, but victory for David Gilbert in its most recent incarnation, not only removed the "best player to not win a ranking title" from his cv ,but has also given him the confidence in himself to mix it with the best. Once again here he played really well all week before going down to Higgins in the last 8. On this form he'll certainly be going deep in plenty of tournaments this season.
Also in this category I'd put two players at opposite ends of their careers. Ricky Walden has been plagued by injury the last few years, but with those issues seemingly behind him he looked like his old self here again here & at the other end of the age spectrum, Yan Bingtao, continues to impress with his all round matchplay. Its hard to believe he is still only 21 & he continues to look the natural successor to Ding Junhui as the standard bearer from China.
Tetchy Ronnie
One again last week Ronnie O'Sullivan made the headlines & not for what he did on the table. Over the few days he was in the tournament he made a series of statements that, as ever with him, bore a fair bit of truth, but could have been expressed more diplomatically. For example I don't think anyone would argue that a Home Nations win is equal to a Triple Crown victory,but to look back at some of the victors in these events they have provided their career highlight & that should not be minimised.Also his comments about the lack of atmosphere were fair enough,but do we expect much else in the early rounds, especially in a multi table set up? Anyway no matter what we do in life, we have times where we're just not feeling it & last week seemed to be that for Ronnie.Hopefully the next event see's him in better humour.
Return of the crowds
Finally much was made again during the week of the return of the viewing public & how much more we appreciate them after all the closed door tournaments last season. The crowd certainly got more involved as the week went on & by Sunday night, with the home favourite in the final, they were in full voice. The scenes here were reminiscent of the old Wembley Conference centre & although they did at times threaten to stray over the line of what is acceptable , there is no doubting the part they played in the dramatic finale.It was great to see.
So there we have it, A couple more weeks of qualifiers now to keep us entertained before the English Open begins on November 1st & from then on to Christmas its go,go,go.
Talk to ye again next week.
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