PTC Grand Finals day 4

Day 4 at the PTC Grand Finals in Galway saw the completion of the second round and thankfully for all concerned, the end of the long six matches in a day format that has proved so troublesome this week.

First up this morning we had Ding Junhui facing the man he beat in the recent Scottish Open final Anthony Mcgill.If the schedule was to be delayed today,Ding was determined it wasn't going to be because of him as he raced into a 2-0 lead with breaks of 101 and 133. Mcgill managed to stop the rot by winning a scrappy third but Ding restored his two frame advantage winning the next to go 3-1 and one frame away from a place in the quarter finals.One thing that his run in the Scottish Open did prove though was that Mcgill is not someone who gives in until the final ball is potted and he dug in deep again here to win the next two to level at 3-3 and force the decider.The momentum may have been with the Scotsman at this stage but Ding was not to be denied as he rediscovered the form he had started the match with to seal the win with a fine break of 130.

The reward for him is a mouthwatering Quarter final against a man who is yet to drop a frame here this week, Mark Allen

We are told that the one thing you cant have in a best of seven match is a slow start,but it seems Neil Robertson is determined to prove that theory wrong this week.In his first match against Jamie Burnett he fell 2-0 behind before coming through 4-2 and again here today he lost the first against Barry Hawikins and was 51 -0 down in the next before waking up.but wake up he did as he came back to level at 1-1 before easily winning the next to go 2-1.The key frame of the match was the next.Robertson was in first but missed a red allowing Hawkins the chance to counter.He clawed his way back and even got the snooker he required before a careless safety on the blue undid all his hard work and allowed Robertson make it 3-1.There was only going to be one winner from here and Robertson clinched victory in the next to reach the quarter finals and move one step closer to wiping the memory of his final defeat here last year.

His opponent in the Quarter Finals will be Xiao Guodong after the Chinese got past Alfie Burden 4-2 to reach the last 8 for the second year in a row.This one started off scrappy ,but it was Xiao who got the better of the early exchanges to lead 2-0.Burden finally got a frame on the board in the next with a quickfire 88.Next came another tense frame where Xiao made the early running only to be pegged back by Burden.With the black over the corner pocket it was ultimately to be a pink ball frame and it was Xiao who got it to extend his lead to 3-1.Burden pulled one back to make it 3-2 but in another tight scrappy frame Xiao did enough to fall over the winning line

The hot topic among snooker players and fans alike in recent months has been the decision to revert to a flat draw for tournaments from the start of next season.There are of course many arguments for and against but as we have seen with the PTC's,the flat draw can really help some players, who struggle to qualify for ranking events under normal circumstances,to really mix it with the big boys.One such players is Ben Woollaston

Woollaston today faced Joe Perry in the second round and the key moment in this one was to come in the fourth frame.After a scrappy start Perry was beginning to look in control and on the verge of making it 3-1 until a poor positional shot on the blue meant he had a trickier then needed frame ball pink ,which he missed allowing Woollaston to sneak it on the black and level at 2-2.Woollaston also went on to take the next and although Perry compiled a fine 91 to put the match into a decider,it was Woollaston who seemed to be the calmer under pressure and he duly wrapped up the match 4-3.

After his victory over Mark Williams yesterday Woollaston talked about the £100,000 first prize here this week as been a life changing sum of money for him should he win it.He also said that if he doesn't he would prefer if another of the players it would also mean that much to wins it.in he quarter final he will play one of those other lower ranked players left in the tournament in the shape of Kurt Maflin

In a match that always looked on paper like been one for the purist Maflin edged by Rod Lawler by the odd frame in 7,winning 4-3.This one was nip and tuck the whole way with the players exchanging frames the whole way through.That said the flashes of quality that were on show all came from Maflin as he compiled breaks of 72 & 85 so the former World Amateur Champion was a worthy winner..

Saturday see's the four quarter finals taking place with two in the afternoon and another two in the evening taking a little pressure off the schedule.Undoubtedly the stand out tie is between Mark Allen & Ding Junhui but no doubt all eight men remaining will be fancying their chances of lifting the trophy come Sunday.

PTC Grand Finals Day Three

Day three at the PTC Grand Finals in Galway and yet another long day of snooker.A lot of great things have happened in the sport in the last few years,but even still a decision is made that is just baffling.We have certainly had one of those this week as the powers that be somehow decided that the best way to structure this tournament was to have six best of seven frame matches on each of the first four days.This has resulted in a series of late night finishes that don't suit players,audiences or the tv stations
.
Last night we had the farcical situation that home favourite Ken Doherty didn't get to start his match until after 11pm and this was repeated again today as Mark Allen and Joe Swail didn't see the arena until just after midnight.The only ways around this situation that I can see is to either have two televised tables for the first couple of rounds up to the quarter final or else simply give the tournament an extra day.Of course it's to late to do anything about it for this tournament but surely lessons must be learnt for the future.

Onto the table then and first up this morning we had Marco Fu and Mark Joyce.Fu has been enjoying a bit of revival of late and eased through this one 4-2 to set up a rematch of the recent German Masters final against the man who beat him in Berlin Ali Carter.

Next up we had Robert Milkins and Anthony Mcgill.In a match that like so many here this week never really got going it was the sole remaining Scotsman left in the tournament who prevailed 4-2. Next up for him is Ding Junhui who brought Mcgills extraordinary run in the Scottish Open earlier in the season to and end when he beat him in the final. Mcgill will be looking to gain some revenge for that here.

This one was followed by what was perhaps the highest quality match of the week so far between Mark Williams and Ben Woollaston.Williams has been really struggling of late,but it was he who got off to the better start here and established a 3-1 lead with an impressive pot success rate of 94%.Woollaston is a good competitor though and foght back to take the next two to level at 3-3.Into the decider we went and it was once again Woollaston who produced his best under pressure sealing a famous win with a break of 70.

Next up for Woollaston will be a last 16 encounter with Joe Perry after he staved off a late fightback from Bingham to win by the weeks most popular scoreline 4-2. Here it was Perry who flew out of the blocks and looking comfortable among the balls quickly established a 3-0 lead. As i have noted before though ,this is a different Bingham these days and he slowly got himself back into the match winning the next two to close to just 3-2 behind.Perry was now visibly feeling the pressure but he still just managed to do enough to seal the win and move into the second round.

Into what was officially the evening session then and the first of the second round ties between Tom Ford and the man who eliminated Selby in the first round Jack Lisowski.This one always threatened to be a close encounter between two evenly matched players and so it proved to be.It was Lisowski who made the early running to lead 3-1 but there was never much in it and Ford fought back to level at 3-3.In a decider where both players had their chances it was Ford who got in first to establish a lead,but back came Lisowski who seemed set for the win only to jaw a tricky green down the cushion.Ford was never going to let this second chance go and he cleared up to become the first man through to the semi finals.

And so it was at 12.08 on day 3 (or maybe 4) that Mark Allen and Joe Swail finally got on the baize.It was obvious from the outset here that Allen was in no mood to hang around as he duly wrapped up the first frame in around 10 minutes.The second frame was a much closer affair and it seemed to be going the way of Swail as he lead 57-0 but Allen came storming back to clinch it by a single point with an excellent 58 clearance.He also stylishly won the third to go 3-0 and closed out the match in the next recording his second 4-0 win of the week.

So ends another marathon day at The Bailey Allen Hall.Day four starts in just over 8 hours. Hardly worth my while going back to hotel!

PTC Grand Finals Day Two.

Day two at the PTC  Grand Finals and after a day of shocks yesterday the question was would today be the same? The answer was yes!

World no.1 Judd Trump fell at the first hurdle in Galway for the second consecutive year after going down 4-3 to Alfie Burden.This was a strange match with Burden looking confident early on in opening up a 2-0 lead.Trump managed to steady the ship to take the next and then leveled at 2-2 before Burden again edged ahead 3-2.Trump,who at this stage had still only managed a top break of 30,somehow leveled again after Burden had missed numerous chances to clinch the win.A decider it was to be then and Burden took full advantage of his first opportunity to seal the win with a fine break of 113.

Back to the drawing board for Trump then with the World Championship drawing ever closer.For Burden,his reward is a quarter final clash wit h Xiao Guodong who beat Graeme Dott 4-1.Guodong was a quarter finalist here last year while playing with a broken hand, took full advantage of a below par Dott to seal clinch the relatively straight forward win.

When the draw was made for this event ,the stand out fixture appeared to be the clash between John Higgins and Ali Carter and it was to live up to the hype.Higgins appeared to be flying out the blocks in the first frame only to break down allowing Carter to .clear up and take a 1-0 lead. Higgins leveled in the next but it was Carter who opened a lead again at 2-1.The next could have gone either way but it was again Carter who won it to go 3-1.Higgins fought back with an 83 to close to 2-3 but it was Carter who won the next to gain a 4-2 win.Carter who missed the recent World Open through illness ow awaits the winner between Marco Fu and Mark Joyce who play on Thursday.

It looked for a while as though Ding junhui would be joining the list of casualties in the last 32 here when he trailed Andrew Higginson 3-1 but the Chinese fought back bravely and to clinch seal a 4-3 win.As he surveys the damage from the last two days you feel Ding will be quietly fancying his chances here this week and now awaits the winner of the Robert Milkins v Anthony Mcgill match in the last 16.

It was a long days snooker at The Bailey Allen Hall but unfortunately for the large crowd who stayed past midnight to cheer on Ken Doherty were to be disappointed as he went down 4-2 to Kurt Maflin.This was a pretty high quality match though.and Maflin had to play very well to see off the gritty Dubliner.Maflin will now play Rod Lawler in the next round.

Day Three see's the end of the round of 32 and the start of the last 16.You feel the crowd will be once again treated to a long days action.

PTC Grand Finals Day One

Day one at the PTC Grand Finals in Galway and although there were six matches played there is really only one place to start.

The phrase "one of the nicest guys in the game" is one we here bandied around a lot but in the case of Joe Swail it really has always been correctly applied.In a career that seemed to yo-yo from season the season the former two time Crucible semi finalist,affectionately known as "The Outlaw" ,has often come back from the dead to win matches, but even so, few would have predicted it here as he trailed recent Welsh Open winner Stephen Maguire 3-0.Swail who dropped off the professional circuit at the end of last season and only entered the PTC series as a amateur wasn't for lying down on his return to the big time and slowly fought his way back.to clinch an astonishing 4-3 win.It has to be said he was given plenty of help by Maguire who missed chance after chance to seal the win but credit still must go to Swail for his never say die attitude.

He will now face fellow Ulsterman Mark Allen who comfortably saw off Mark Davis 4-0.Allen who comes here on the back of defending his World Open title was never really put under any pressure as Davis continued to struggle in his attempts to recapture his early season form.He will have harder battles ahead as he bids for back to back ranking titles.

Swail's victory was not to be the only shock of the day however as Jack Lisowski stunned the current UK and Masters champion Mark Selby in a late night tussle coming through 4-3.In a match where there was never more then a frame between them it was perhaps fitting it went down to a decider and what a tight and nervy decider it was. In a frame where both players had numerous chances it was Selby who made the early running but a series of well played snookers towards the end from Lisowski proved decisive and he finally made the best of his chance on the colours to seal a famous win.

He will now play Tom Ford in the last 1 after he came through 4-2 against Martin Gould in the days opening match.

Earlier in the day Neil Robertson fought back from 2-0 to Jamie Burnett to win 4-2.Robertson was runner up in this event last season and talked afterwards about how he feels he has been putting himself under too much pressure of late.He plans to take a more relaxed & casual approach this week and time will tell if it helps him go one better here this season.he will next play Barry Hawkins who easily beat Li Hang 4-0.

That was all the action from day one then and it was pleasing to see the crowds steadily grow as the day went on.I'm sure this will be the case again tomorrow when we have the likes of Ding,Higgins and Trump all playing their opening matches as well as of course our own Ken Doherty who play Kurt Maflin in the evening session..

PTC Grand Finals.

Professional snooker returns to Ireland again this week ,when Galway plays host to the PTC Grand  Finals for a second time after the success of last years event there.

The Grand finals are of course the culmination of the season long PTC tour which this year included Asian PTC's for the first time.Barry Hearn said recently in an interview that this was possibly his favourite event and its little wonder when you see the enthusiasm these events met with during the year in emerging markets like Bulgaria and Belguim.This can only be positive for the game as it looks to become a truly global sport.

On to the Grand Finals themselves and this third staging of the event looks to be the strongest renewal yet .albeit we are missing the two previous champions Shaun Murphy and Stephen Lee for vastly different reasons.

That said when you look at the draw and see the likes of  Trump,Selby.Robertson,Higgins,Maguire and Allen in the line up to name but a few, you know that those lucky enough to be in attendance are in for a potentially super week.

As has been the case for many years,hopes of a home victory once again fall to veteran Ken Doherty who has enjoyed a bit of a revival this season and even recorded his first tournament 147 in one of the early season events,The fact the Ken is still capable of mixing it with the top players on his day after all these years is testaments to the way he has dedicated himself to the his profession and who is to say that he with a strong tailwind he might not go far here.If he doesn't it certainly wont be for lack of support.

This has been such a long and up and down season for everyone that trying to tip any tournament at the outset has become an almost impossible task ,but I just got the feeling in the recent World Open that the top players were just beginning to find some form again in preparation for a final push towards Sheffield.The fact that Mark Allen won that tournament makes him strong fancy here this week but I just have a feeling watching the last couple of events that Judd Trump was starting to find his early season form again and that together with a strong record in PTC events might just see him in the winner circle come Sunday.

That is only a very tentative selection though as really anything is possible with such a strong field.Whoever the winner is though I hope, despite the fact that this tournament is taking place in the middle of two of Irelands most loved festivals  (St Patricks Day & Racing at Cheltenham) that as was the case last year that the crowds flock to The Bailey Allen Hall for a great weeks action on the baize.I'll be heading over there myself later in the week.

World Open Final. Allen's Triumph

There must be something about the local cuisine on Hainan Island that really appeals to Mark Allen.Last year he captured his maidan ranking title when he beat Stephen Lee 10-1 in the final and yesterday he once again lifted the Haikou World Open title this time beating Matthew Stevens 10-4.

This has been a strange season for Allen,on more then one occasion he has come into a tournament in great form only to run into someone else playing at their peak.The most obvious examples of this were his deciding frame defeats to Trump in the International Championship and to Robertson in the Masters and I think few would argue that he wouldn't have had live chance of lifting those titles had he managed to come through these matches.History looked as though it may be repeating itself here when he one again came up against the man in form,this time in the shape of John Higgins at the semi finals stage.Allen ironically this time round had struggled through his opening rounds to get this far but with the score at 2-2 at the interval,he produced four stunning frames to reach the final wining 6-2.

Stevens,like Allen in many respects, has been one of the games great underachievers.When he burst on the scene over a decade ago many had him down as a potential future world champion and although he did reach two world finals and has won a the Uk and Masters titles,he has never really lived up to that early promise.

That said he has been enjoying a slight renaissance in recent time re-establishing himself in the world top 16 and had survived one of the most extraordinary weeks in his career.which involved using three different cues after his own had gone missing to reach his eighth ranking final following a 6-5 win over Neil Robertson in the semi final.

On to the final itself then and in truth the result was never in doubt from early on when Allen opened up an early 4-0 lead.and finished the session leading 6-3.In the evening session Allen managed to get the four frames he required with the minimum of fuss to seal the 10-4 victory.

The hope now for Allen will be that he can build on this victory and really establish himself as a serious contender for every tournament he plays in.The fact that this week he seemed to back up his undoubted natural ability with a determination to ground out the result when needed can only be a good thing for him going into last few tournaments of the season.

Finally a few word on the week as a whole.

I think despite the tough conditions the players were playing under. that it was clear that a few of our big manes have awoken from their mid season slumber and  were just beginning to find some form as our games biggest prize looms on the horizon.This can only be good thing as we build up to the Crucible in April.

With this in mind it was again disappointing to see such small numbers in attendance all week and whether it was,as has been suggested,that the prices charged in China are too high for ordinary people to afford or if it's a fact that the events are just poorly promoted, but it really takes away from the tournament to see players surrounded by empty seats.

Anyway these things wont matter to Mark Allen as he flies home today with the trophy and the £85,000 winners cheque.Next up we have The PTC Grand Finals in Galway Ireland and I'm looking forward to a great week in one of our best and most exciting cities to visit.

World Open Quarter Final round up

I may be reading too much into one tournament,but I just get the feeling this week that a number of the games top stars are just beginning to find some form again after what was definitely a mid season dip in standard.For evidence you only have to look at the eight players who contested to quarter finals today.

First up today we had Neil Robertson V mark Selby.Both these men have earned reputations for been extremely hard to beat and this one was always going to be closely fought.With these two you actually get the feeling if they play hundred times they would finish fifty-fifty but it has been Selby who has had the better of their latest high profile battles in the UK and The Masters.For a long time today it looked like he might keep this run going as he took a 3-2 led in this high quality encounter.Robertson fought back to lead 4-3 before Selby seemed to be on his way to forcing a decider but missed allowing Robertson to seal a 5-3 victory with an excellent 59.

His semi final opponent will be Matthew Stevens after the Welshman,finally reunited with his cue overcame Judd Trump 5-3.This doesn't tell the whole story though as early in the match Trump had to do some running repairs to a damaged tip in the first frame.He did manage to win that first frame but clearly struggling went in at the interval trailing 3-1.To his credit he fought back to 3-3 .but Stevens has shown some good form here this week and after winning a lengthy seventh frame he sealed victory in the next with a fine 79.

Th other semi final will see The defending champion Mark Allen facing John Higgins.Allen hasn't been at his brilliant best this week but has shown a real determination to hold on to what was his first ranking title.That said he did produce his best display of the week so far in beating Ricky Walden 5-1.He will know he will have to find another gear though if he is to trouble John Higgins who seems to have found his very best form

Yesterday Higgins swept by one of this seasons best performers Stuart Bingham 5-0 and followed it up today with another 5-0 whitewash this time over the home favourite Ding Junhui.Higgins has always been a player who becomes harder to beat the further he gets into a tournament was at his imperious best today realing off 141,113 and 73 in a fine victory.On this form he will be extremely hard to beat.

A fine semi final line up then and I hope the weekend see's a packed auditorium as large crowds are the one thing this tournament has been missing.