Wuxi Classic round up

The final of the 2012 Wuxi Classic will be fought out between Stuart Bingham and Ricky Walden after both secured very different wins in  todays semi finals.

The first semi final of the day between Stuart Bingham and Mark Davis  looked like it would have a very early finish as Bingham raced into a 4-0 lead. but as so often happens after the interval everything changed.Davis playing in his first ranking semi final started to find his form and reeled off the next five to lead 5-4.In the past this may have signaled the end for Bingham but these days we are looking at a very different player and he won the next to level at 5-5.This amazingly was the fourth deciding frame Bingham has played this week and he once again showed his nerve to win it with a classy 134,

The other semi was a far more one sided affair as Ricky Walden saw off the challenge of Marcus Campbell with a straight forward 6-1 victory.

So  onto the final we go with both players looking to to win their second ranking titles.It may not have been the final we would have predicted a week ago but it should be a fascinating match and I expect it to be close.I wonder has anyone ever won a ranking title winning every match in a decider?.

Quarter Finals round up

After todays action we now know the identity of the four players who will battle it out over this weekend to claim the seasons first ranking title and if ever one needed proof of the old adage that wining breeds confidence all you have to do is look at the players involved.

The first semi final tomorrow will see Stuart Bingham take on Mark Davis.Bingham has been the form player in the early stages of this season having already collect the PPink Ribbon pro/am as well as the first Asian PTC last week won his third final frame decided in a row beating the world no,1 Mark Selby 5-4.It had appeared he may have lost his chance when Selby showing all his battling qualities fought back from 4-2 to 4-4 but Bingham kept his nerve to win with a classy break of. 86 

The other afternoon match was far more one sided as Mark Davis breezed by Graeme Dott to reach his first ranking semi final in his 21 year professional.career.This is ample reward for Davis who has been ultra consistent of late.

Amazingly the second semi final will also see a player closing in on 40 playing in his first semi final.as Marcus Campbell takes on 2008 Shanghai Masters winner Ricky Walden.Campbell reached this stage with a 5-3 victory over a badly out of touch Mark Williams and Walden was also a 5-3 winner over Robert Milkins.

So there we have it,.a semi final line up few would have expected but one which no doubt will throw up a worthy winner.Its to early in the season to tell if this trend will be repeated throughout the year but one thing for certain ,with players constantly playing tournaments every other week anyone who lifts a trophy this season will have truly earned it.

Wuxi Classic Last 16

16 became 8 today following  two sessions of close matches,tension and no shortage of good snooker.

The first man into the quarter finals was Mark Williams who dispatched Mark Allen by a scoreline of 5-3.Williams has a remarkable record in this part of the world and it would be a brave man to suggest he can't add this title to his collection on this form. His last 8 opponent will be Marcus Campbell who beat Fergal O Brien 5-2.

On the other main table the ghosts of the last six month's came back to haunt Judd Trump in his match with Robert Milkins.Leading 3-1 at the interval and seemingly in control Trump had no answer as Milkins fought back to win the next four and secure his quarter final spot 5-3.There he will play Ricky Walden who triumphed by a single point beating Joe Perry 5-4 on the final black.

In the evening session Mark Selby eased into the quarters with a 5-0.win over Jamie Cope who in truth again displayed his suspect temperament.as he seemed to self destruct after losing the second frame of the match from a winning position.Selby wont have it quite so easy in the next round where he faces the man in form Stuart Bingham.Bingham reached this stage by beating Ken Doherty 5-4.

The remaining quarter final will be between Mark Davis and Graeme Dott .Davis who has been on the brink of a top 16 place for a while kept his recent good form going seeing off Jamie Burnett 5-3.and Dott ended the run of Rod Lawler by a scoreline of 5-4.

By this time tomorrow we will know the four semi finalists and maybe by then I will be willing to get off the fence and give a prediction for the title!

Wuxi Classic last 32 round up.

The seasons first ranking event The Wuxi Classic reaches the last 16 stage on Thursday and it's very much a case of spot the seed after the carnage that was the round of 32.

I suppose maybe we should not be that surprised.This is after all only June and whereas the top seeds are playing under tournament conditions for the first time this season the players who have qualified have come in match fit after after two weeks of qualifiers for this and the Australian Open.

So who have fallen? Well starting  Matthew Stevens was a late withdrawl following a back injury which saw Joe Perry getting a walkover.Moving onto Tuesday we lost 4 seeds. First to go was Neil Robertson losing 5-1 to Jamie Burnett.He was followed through the exit door by Ding Junhui who again failed to produce his best form on homesoil losing 5-2 to Mark Davis..the other two to fall were world runner up Ali Carter going down 5-3 to Fergal O Brien and Martin Gould exiting at the hands of Jamie Cope.also by a scoreline of 5-3.

On to today and another 4 seeds were to bite the dust.

The afternoons battle of the former world champions saw Irish veteran and 1997 world champ Ken Doherty produce some fine snooker in beating 2005 winner Shaun Murphy 5-1.Doherty was joined in the qualifiers winners circle by Robert Mikins who completed a 5-3 win over Andrew Higginson.

Coming into this season perhaps the form players of 2012 to date were Stephen Lee and Stephen Maguire. but in the evening session both were to fall to opening match defeats.Lee was comprehensively seen off 5-1 by Marcus Campbell.The Maguire match with Rod Lawler was to have a bit of everything..Lawler looked set to keep his fine early season form continue as he led 4-2 but Maguire fought back to level at 4-4.He then got in first in the last only to miss and Lawler kept his nerve to win with a fine 76 break.Of all the stories so far this season so far his is undoubtedly the most extraordinary.Having dropped off the tour Lawler had to go through Q school to regain his place and has carried that form forward through the qualifiers.

Well thats the vanquished taken care off so who have we left?

In contrast to the trouble of others we have seen some convincing wins by some of the seeds..Mark Allen put his recent controversies behind him with a convincing 5-1 win over  Ruzi Maimaiti.he vowed afterwards to let his snooker do the talking so lets hope last seasons World Open winner sticks to his word..Mark Williams who has a better record in this part of the world then anyone else also started strongly with a 5-0 win over Tom Ford a score replicated by Ricky Walden in his win over Zhu Yinghui.Stuart Bingham kept his fine recent form going with a hard fought 5-4 victory over Peter Ebdon.There was also a confidence building 5-1 win for Graeme Dott over.Zhou Yuelong.

In the other matches world no.1 Mark Selby who claims to be back to 90% fitness following his recent neck injury looked in good form recording a 5-2 win over his Crucible conqueror Barry Hawkins and by perhaps playing the best snooker of anyone in the tournament to date Judd Trump saw off Dominic Dale in a ruthless manner winning in a scoreline of 5-1.

So into the last 16 we go and really it's anyones guess which one of these player will lift the seasons first ranking trophy.

Preview of new season.

Well here we are.It doesn't seem that long since we said goodbye to last season and we are already looking down the barrel of the seasons first full ranking event.The Wuxi Classic in China starting on Monday. In many ways the snooker never stopped.In the7 weeks since Ronnie lifted the world title on May 7th we have had Q School, two rounds of qualifiers and this week the first if the Asian PTC events.It is next week however that many feel we have the real start of the 2012/13 season and what a season it promises to be.

So what can we expect?Here are my thoughts on where some of our sports finest find themselves as the new season begins.

Ronnie O Sullivan.I suppose where else could I start but with the man who finished last season on such a high.In the Crucible Ronnie again proved beyond doubt that when on top form he still is capable playing the game to a level above anything we have seen before or possibly will again,He then promptly announced he was taking a break from the game for six months and a couple of weeks ago after the news had broken that he hadn't signed the players contract he released a rather cryptic message through his management company that has had a few questioning whether he will ever return.I think he probably will return in time for the UK Championship if not before and who is to say that wont go on then and sweep all before him. I personally hope he does because although I know the sport will continue without him but it's a hell of a lot more exciting with him.

Mark Williams Williams had seemed at the end of the 2010/11 season to be getting back to his best and started last season with a bang reaching finals in Australia and China.He was to lose both finals from commanding positions though and the manner in which he lost in China to Selby seemed to really effect him and he faded as the season progressed.He could really do with a good run in an early season tournament to get that bit of confidence back.

John Higgins.What a difference 12 months makes. This time last year Higgins seemed to have the snooker world at his feet.In the 6 months following his return from suspension he had played like a man possessed in adding another UK and World title to his collection.as he rode the emotional rollercoaster of trying to make up for lost time as well as cope with the death of his father..It was perhaps not surprising then that following the break he struggled to get going early last season afetr all no man could keep that intensity going.The surprising thing however was though that he just never got going at all.The second session against Hendry at the Crucible was perhaps the worst session of snooker we have ever seen him play.He talked afterwards of having built a new snooker room at his house so he could practice at home.it will be interesting to see if this does the trick because although he has not entered the first two ranking events of the season at 37 you could still not count him out if his form returned.



Stephen Maguire.Maguire has always struck me as someone with a love/hate relationship with the game but following a few barren years last season he finally began to reproduce the form that at one stage had many in the game tipping him for greatness.Ultimately he failed to produce his best in the World semi's with Carter but showed enough to suggest he might again be a serious challenger for honours again.

Stephen Lee,Lee's resurgence last season was nothing short of amazing..A couple of years ago his career seemed to be in freefall.He had dropped out of the top 16 and was struggling to find motivation to practice for 6 tournaments a year.This all changed when the Hearn revolution took hold and he found himself playing in tournaments every other week.Suddenly the man with the golden cue action found form and after a string of good showings he managed to win the PTC Grand Final. Now back in the top 8 in the rankings it will be fascinating to see if he can keep his form going into the new season.

Mark Selby.The current world No.1 will be among those feeling the pressure to perform this season after his form fell off worryingly as last season progressed.He had stared the year well with a couple of early season wins in China but whether it was fact that he struggled under the mantle of his no.1 ranking or he just lost form he never really managed to get going in the second half of the season.He will feel he still has a lot to prove this season despite his ranking or maybe even because if it.

Judd Trump.Trump is another player who had a season of two halfs last year.Riding on the crest of wave from his heroics in last years worlds which saw him follow up his maiden ranking win in China with a fine run to the final he entered last season with a massive level of expectancy on his shoulders.He seemed to be relishing his role as the games new entertainer and a few classy victories over Ronnie seemed to be signalling at the time a sort of torch passing.In the UK Championship in December he looked to be confirming this with a high class victory over Mark Allen to capture the games second biggest prize.It was at the Masters though where things started to go wrong.In the semi he came up against Neil Robertson and it is widely accepted the Aussie did a number on him.It would appear that Trumps confidence took a bit of a knocking there and in the remaining tournaments last season he would go on to lose from a commanding position on more then one occasion,Not least his worlds match with Ali Carter.He has also in my opinion been unfairly labeled by some as someone who gets more then his fair share of luck.He will want this season to show he has the bottle to compete and see out matches and I would be amazed if he is not holding up more trophies before long.

Neil Robertson The Aussie last season seemed to refocus on his game after what he admitted himself had been a poor level of preparation during his year as World Champion the season previous.He lifted the Masters title in January and although he finally lost a tv final to Lee In the PTC Grand finals, he played very well in the World Championships where he was probably the second best player after O Sullivan.He has also added a steel to his game and appears to have overtaken Higgins as the games best modern day "grinder".He will surely be adding to his growing list of titles this year.

Stuart Bingham .After many years of toiling away Bingham finally got his hands on a ranking title when he lifted the Australian Open last season.On his day Bingham has always been capable of matching anyone but until then had seemed to lack the consistency ,He has already started this season winning the Pro/am Pink Ribbon tournament and on Friday winning the first of the Asian PTCs..He will be hoping this is a omen for things to come,

Mark Allen..Last year was the ultimate mixed bag for the Ulsterman.On the table he played suberbly in reaching the UK final and won his first ranking event when he demolished Stephen Lee to win the World Open in China.Unfortunately for him these are not the things he will be remembered for as time and again he managed to talk himself into more and more trouble.I'm not going to list them all here again but Allen comes into this season on his final chance as suspension hangs over his head if he steps out of line.Lets hope away fron the heat of the battle the close season has seen him recognise the error of his ways and this season he lets his snooker do the talking.

Ding Junhui .Last year was another frustrating year for the Chinese number 1.he once again failed to lift one of the growing number of tournaments in his homeland but did capture the Welsh Open title..In the Worlds he let a big lead slip against Ryan Day and you have to wonder if he will ever lift that title he seemed a certainty to win when he burst on the scene at 17. The one thing that could help him though is the large number of Chinese now on the circuit.It may help him feel he is not carrying the entire nations hopes on his own and free him up to play his natural game. There are still few in the game with  his  cueball control and  break building ability .

Well there we go The fact I have gone through these many potential tournament winners this year without mentioning the like of Shaun Murphy,Matthew Stevens,Ricky Walden or Ali Carter says it all about where we are in the game at the moment.Lets hope the 2012/13 season lives up to its potential to be the most exciting season we have ever had.

Feel free to add any further thoughts you may have.
@thegreenbaize

Trip down memory lane at Goffs

Isn't it great that some things just don't change! This was may thought as I  walked past the beautifully manicured hedges,through the iron gates,up the pathway between the two water features and looked once more at the statue of champion racehorse Be My Guest..This is Goffs a place where the worlds finest thoroughbreds change hands every year for millions of euro.This weekend it played host to the Snooker Legends tour but for one week every March between 1978 and 2000  the place belonged to the thoroughbreds of the snooker world as the sports finest battled it out for the B&H Irish Masters title.

As I said in my introduction blog I was lucky enough to live quite close the the venue and attend many great matches there over the years so I will now share some of my favourite memories with you..

I'll start with the very first snooker match I ever saw live. The year was 1987 and Willie Thorne had already booked his place in the final that afternoon as myself and my Dad made the journey out for the second semi final, this one between Terry Griffiths and my idol Steve Davis.I remember been excited the whole week leading up to this and.I was not to be disappointed as sitting on my fathers shoulders so I could see over the crowd (we had standing tickets and i was only 8) I saw Steve record an easy 6-2 victory over the Welshman.He would go on to beat Thorne 9-1 in the final and win the third of what would be a total of eight Irish Masters titles.I suppose it's little wonder then that even today he states that this was his favourite venue.

The second memory I'd like to share again features Steve (I did see him play a lot) in a 1996 semi final against Irelands own Ken Doherty .The match was to go to Steve 6-4 but what made it stand out in my mind was the sheer quality of matchplay snooker on show..Of the 10 frames played I think 5 were won with big breaks but the other 5 were hard fought with some of the best safety play I've ever seen.Of course Davis has had few if any equals in the tactical department but Ken was never a slouch in that area either so each exchange was keenly fought.I don't think I've ever seen the table been tapped as many times in any match since. When the match was over and we were leaving I recall one of the stewards passing a comment about how bored he was and thinking if you didn't enjoy that then snookers not for you!

Next we move on to the 1997 tournament and my first introduction to Ronnie O Sullivan and John Higgins.Both these great players were now beginning to make an impact in the game and faced each other in the quarter finals I made a solo trek to the venue and managed to get seat B1 which was so close to the action that when Higgins returned to his chair and didn't sit down I couldn't see the table. I obviously had seen Ronnie  play on tv many times before this, but until you have actually seen him in the flesh it's hard to fully appreciate his genius.On this day he was on top form and seeing him at such close quarters effortlessly knock in back to back centuries, one of which was a total clearance,  will long live in my memory.He didn't so much seem to walk around the table as glide.Higgins for his part played well but Ronnie saw out the match 6-4.

The following year these two were to meet again this time in the semi final.I was in attendance again as they served up another classic .The beauty of Goffs was  as well as seating for nearly a thousand they could sell many more tickets for the two balcony areas that surrounded the arena. For this match we went to the top level which left us with an almost overhead view of proceedings.From here you could truly appreciate the close control and skill of these two greats.At one stage I swear O Sullivan made a 70odd without the cueball touching a cushion.Ronnie was again to be the victor winning  6-4.

The other thing I will always remember from this venue is the unique atmosphere.a capacity crowd used to create.This was never more evident then when a Irish player entered the arena and I have heard the roof nearly been lifted from the place as the likes of Alex Higgins , Dennis Taylor, Fergal O Brien and Ken Doherty came out to do battle.For anyone who went to the old Wembley Conference Centre when Jimmy White was playing I imagine they will have witnessed something similar.

I could write much more about the many other great matches and players I had the pleasure of seeing during these years including Stephen Hendry at his peak (a fact I didn't fully appreciate at the time) as well as the strange fact that on in the three matches I saw Jimmy playing he lost all 6-5 but I would be writing all night.Suffice it to say.it was this going to see these matches as a child that cemented my already growing love for the sport.Attending the "Legends" the other night and as I looked around the arena they all came back to me .Nothing would please me more then to see a full tournament return there in the near future.

@thegreenbaize

Interview with Fergal O Brien.

It’s one of the sports most enduring images, Higgins World trophy in hand,tears in eyes taking his baby daughter into his arms as Ted Lowe declares “The World Snooker Champion 1982 is Alex Hurricane Higgins”. Watching on tv in Dublin is a 10 year old Fergal  O Brien,.

“Alex was my hero then though over time the more I found out about him the more that changed ” say’s Fergal today,What didn’t change though was his love of snooker.“My parents had bought an “8x4” snooker table when I was 8 and from then I was hooked”

Fergal finished his schooling but snooker was never far from his mind ”I remember been sent to the career guidance teacher in school and telling him I wanted to be a snooker player he said only one in a million actually make it and I told him that yeah I was that one”

Having competed in junior tournaments through his teens with some success  the break he needed came in 1991 when The WPBSA  opened up the professional ranks to everyone.
“It was like the deregulation of the taxi’s. It went from 128 professionals to a situation where you could pay £800 and call yourself a professional.”

A move to England followed where Fergal was to base himself  in  Illford a place where many young pro’s practiced and fellow Dubliner Ken Doherty  was club professional.

That first year was tough,With so many  new professionals it meant playing 12 qualifying rounds for tournaments. Still a steady first year meant Fergal finished with a respectable ranking of 192,The following season that rose to 100 and in the next season he made the first  move into the minds of the Irish sporting public.

“I remember I had qualified for the World championships at the Crucible and the next day it was announced I was getting the wild card for the B&H Masters at Goffs.”.A first round victory over Willie Thorne set up a mouth watering quarter final clash with the World Champion and snooker kingpin Stephen Hendry,

“I still remember it like it was yesterday. I had couple of centuries in going 4-0 up,He had a 141 in coming back to 4-2 but I closed with a 60 odd to win 5-2..It was great to play so well on such a big occasion especially as I think I knew half the crowd.Someone would shout COME ON FERGAL. And I’d be thinking that’s John from the club“.

The dream run was to finish in the semi final against Alan McManus but Fergal O Brien. was now established in the publics mind., Unfortunately success was not to come easily over the following seasons.

“I changed my cue the following year and my confidence suffered as well as that maybe the greater sense of expectation weighed heavier on me“.During this time his ranking continued to climb but the speed of this ascent had slowed.It wasn’t until the 1998/99 season that long overdue success came in winning “The British Open.”.

“When you start as a pro obviously you want to be World Champion  but winning a ranking event when you consider only maybe 1% of those who have ever played  the game achieved this is still special...The final itself was strange with Anthony (Hamilton) outscoring me by 300 points but I managed to win the close frames.”.

The record books record it as a  9-6 victory but more then that it moved Fergal to number 11 in the rankings thus guaranteeing his place in the following seasons World Championships  and the sports biggest Invitational event The Masters at Wembly.

The Following season Fergal consolidated his position in the top 16 and then in January 2001 came the chance to collect his biggest prize. Leading Paul Hunter 7-3 in the final he missed an easy red to go 8-3 and then had to sit helplessly as Hunter fought back.

“He pulled it back to 7-6.I won the next to make it 8-6 and I had to sit and watch as Paul rolled off the next three to lead.9-8.by this stage I hadn’t scored in an hour and getting out of the chair was hard..That said I played one of the best frames of my life to level at 9 all“.

Unfortunately it was not to be as Hunter did enough to lift the first of his three Masters titles.”Looking back now I probably took the defeat harder then I needed to I mean how bad is it be to be 9-9 in Masters final! Still though ,now with what happened Paul(Hunter died of cancer in 2006 aged 27) I can’t begrudge him that victory .”

In the years since Fergal has held his own in the game without lifting another major trophy.Now 21 years since he turned professional he is still ranked 34.

The past two years have seen major changes in the game with the “Hearn Revolution”
Thie now packed calendar hasn’t pleased everyone as Hearn looks to take advantage of the sports growing popularity around Europe and Asia with an ever increasing number of tournaments outside the UK ,Fergal however has embraced the changes.

“Looking back a few seasons It had gotten to the stage we were in part time employment because we had so few tournaments. It still needs some tweaking but now we have tournaments every few weeks.You can lose a qualifier this week and be out again in another tournament next week.It means you don’t get time to dwell on defeats.”

Another aspect of the game which  will be increasingly important among players in the future as the circuit grows will be physical fitness,This is something  Fergal has already embraced by joining his local athletic club.” I joined Lucan Harriers a while ago,I have always loved running but now I can really feel the benefits,The thing I’ve noticed most is its not that I’ve been able to practice longer,but my concentration levels have improved.I now get as much out of the last hour of practice as I do from the first.”

 Now aged 40 and about to embark on his 22rd season on the circuit is the end in sight? “No I remember Andre Agassi saying when you start  thinking of the end it is the end so I’m not there yet.My hunger for success is the same as the day I started..

Lets hope the coming season brings Fergal some success and maybe he can inspire the next generation of Irish snooker star the way Alex inspired him all those years ago.