The inaugural 888.com Champion of Champions ended last night
with the current World Champion proving he is still the man to beat in major
tournaments. While he or Stuart didn’t play their best in the final it was
always a tight match with O’Sullivan having enough to pull away at the end.
Just before the Masters and the UK Ronnie has reasserted
himself as the man to beat, defeated the two players of the season Neil
Robertson & Ding Junhui in final frame deciders on route to the final. He
might not have been at his fluent best this week but he showed he still has an
aura about him and a grit and determination to win.
Stuart Bingham had a great week, playing some excellent snooker
& looked genuinely gutted in his post match interview last night. A little
more sharpness when break building under pressure and the result might have
been different last night. However it almost feels unfair comparing anyone’s
break building with O’Sullivan.
This event has been a rip-roaring success and I can see it
only getting stronger over the next few years. All credit to Matchroom for
setting up an excellent event and ITV for their impressive coverage,
strengthening from their Haikou World Open coverage. A few tweaks in production and maybe the
scheduling is required. The first match should start an hour earlier so there is more of a break between afternoon and evening sessions.
Contradicting that I also felt the first round was slightly too short given the
pedigree of match ups.
However this fits nicely into the calendar at this time and
builds up nicely to the UK Championship, which starts on Tuesday.
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