Champion of Champions Day 1

 The latest high profile event on the snooker tour features 14 champions and the two highest ranked players to have not won an event in the last 12 months.

Opening the show was local boy Mark Selby, only 36 hours after his triumph in Antwerp over Ronnie O'Sullivan, against Shaun Murphy. The match was of high quality and Mark Selby completed a comfortable 4-2 victory. Murphy who has been struggling this season looked improved and considerably leaner. However was unable to mount any serious pressure as Selby's rock solid safety game took the control away from Murphy.

The second match of the afternoon was an all Scottish affair as John Higgins took on Stephen Maguire. This was a superb affair played to a very high standard with Higgins fighting to control a very dangerous looking Maguire. Higgins took a 2-1 lead while Maguire still hadn't missed a pot and the standard continued until the 6th frame when a number of uncharacteristic misses crept into both players games. Higgins missed two or three opportunities to win the match 4-2 and eventually it was Maguire who held his nerve to take it to a decider.

In the decider an unlucky flick off the brown left a shot at a long red for Maguire, the Glasgow based potter took full advantage and knocked in a break that was enough to win the match 4-3.

Selby started as a heavy favourite in the evening to beat Stephen Maguire, mainly I felt due to the advantage of playing first. Selby had had four hours in-between matches while Maguire was left with just over an hour. Selby won four frames in a row from 2-3 to record an excellent win. Maguire was heavily frustrated throughout with Selby’s rock tight safety game and methodical play and lashed out on a few shots. Nothing can be taken away from Selby who looked ominously sharp in the balls.

Selby will have three days off now before returning for Saturday's semi finals. Hopefully the crowds will build as the week goes on & add to what already looks like it could be an excellent event. With a bit of luck ITV can turn down the arena mics so it doesn't sound like an air conditioning unit and not put the adverts on during the match like they did in the Higgins Maguire duel. On a more positive note though, it was a pleasure to listen to Clive Everton commentating again on terrestrial TV.