Ronnie O’Sullivan v Robin Hull
As is tradition the defending champion was the main
attraction on the opening morning. His opponent, Robin Hull was the lowest
ranked player in the draw, but I thought gave a good account for himself. He
looked very solid and did himself justice, however I would have liked to see
him cast of the shackles somewhat. He was overly cautious, as lower ranked
players usually are, and the Rocket came through a comfortable 10-4 winner
without needed to excel.
Joe Perry v Jamie Burnett
Joe Perry has had an excellent season and would have been
feeling confident about making a good start at this year’s World Championships.
I’m going to use the old Football cliché – It was a game of two halves – and
this match was a great example. The first session was excellent match play from
Jamie Burnett while Perry struggled to impose his high scoring game. Trailing 6-3 overnight, Perry came out hot
and won six straight frames, stunning his opponent into submission. Although
Burnett was able to stop the run of frames he could only add one frame to his
overnight total before Perry completed a good 10-7 victory.
Shaun Murphy v Jamie Cope
While the quality of the opening week has been questionable
the drama hasn’t been and this was one of four deciding frames we’ve had the
pleasure of viewing. First of all it’s great to see a rejuvenated Jamie Cope,
while he has one of the more unique techniques, when he plays well he’s a
superb player. I thought this match was of up and down quality but the drama
kept it interesting, in the end Murphy grabbed his opportunity and the lack of
big match experience might have cost Cope. Hopefully Jamie continues to get to
the later stages of tournaments as he is an asset to the game.
Marco Fu v Martin Gould
Marco was able to avenge his two first round World
Championship defeats to Martin Gould while also looking very solid. The Jekyll
and Hyde character that Marco often is during a season showed its better side.
If Marco can gather some momentum he is one of the few players who aren’t fazed
by playing O’Sullivan & they are drawn to meet in the Quarters.
Ricky Walden v Kyren Wilson
I had this down as a shock & felt good after Kyren made
a quick start and led 3-1 at the opening midsession interval. From there Ricky
fought his way back and the quality just dropped down quite a few notches. By
the end neither player could pot more than a few balls in a row, almost
breaking the record for the longest frame in Crucible history, finishing 3
minutes shy of the 75 minute record. Ricky was able to crawl over the line but
it was very poor performance.
Ding Junhui v Michael Wasley
With five ranking event victories and six finals a lot of
people thought this was the year for Ding. 1/66 coming into this against a
complete unknown in Michael Wasley we were given my favourite match of the
first round. I can’t remember a more mature and surprising performance from a
debutant, cool and composed his century to force a decider was one of the
bravest and best breaks I’ve seen in a long time. The draw is rather favourable
and if Michael was to play at that level again he would be favourite to reach
the quarter finals.
John Higgins v Alan McManus
Alan has had a good few months and defeating John Higgins
10-7 in this match will surely top it so far. From the start he controlled the
match, creating openings with excellent safety and not taking any risks while
in the balls. Higgins was very slow to get going and it wasn’t until he was 9-4
down he reeled off three straight frames with good breaks. At this point it
looked like Alan was stumbling and Higgins would complete another memorable
comeback, however it didn’t materialise and he had left himself too much to do.
Instead of being dismayed by an early exit, Higgins was portraying a much more
positive outlook, claiming he was getting close to being a threat again.
Stuart Bingham v Ken Doherty
I must admit I gave Doherty very little chance in this
match, I thought Bingham was a good draw for him but Ken had only won three
matches in ranking events this season. Inspired by his surroundings Ken was
excellent against an under par Bingham and won 10-5 after being 3-0 down. Now
due to face another older player in McManus this is the classy match player
part of the draw & I’m very much looking forward to Doherty v McManus.
Judd Trump v Tom Ford
This looked like a good match on paper but ended up being
very scrappy with uncharacteristic misses by both players. Trump crawled over
the line and will need to improve if he has serious thoughts about winning the
title.
Stephen Maguire v Ryan Day
Many had picked Ryan Day to cause an “upset” in this one;
they were correct however it was a lot closer than I expected. Maguire has been
struggling with a lower back injury and I’ve been disappointed with his season,
having fallen before the quarter final in seven of the nine ranking events he
entered this year. In this match though Maguire played looked a lot better
& Ryan Day had to play very well to get over the line. In the decider he
was the more aggressive player and created his own chance and took it very
calmly.
Mark Allen v Michael Holt
Fighting with food poisoning against a tough opponent in
Michael Holt, Mark was able to get over the line with a comfortable 10-4
victory. Both fiery characters this match was more entertaining off the table
than on and Allen will be hoping for a quick recovery before facing Robertson
in round 2.
Neil Robertson v Robbie Williams
Neil looked very fluent in his first round victory over
Robbie Williams, adding three centuries to his season total; he now stands four
short of a ton of centuries. This was a very professional performance,
something that we’ve become very accustomed too with Robertson as he ran out a
10-2 winner.
Also Barry Hawkins completed a routing 10-4 victory over
Dave Gilbert & Ali Carter defeated Xiao Guodong 10-8. It just felt a little
too early for Xiao and Carter was able to exhibit more maturity.
Dominic Dale’s return to form continued with a 10-5 victory over Mark Davis, although he really struggled to get over the line at the end. Mark Selby & Michael White had an entertaining first round, eventually Selby clinched a final frame victory but I was impressed for the second straight year with Michael White, he needs to sharpen his safety but he looks fearless.
Dominic Dale’s return to form continued with a 10-5 victory over Mark Davis, although he really struggled to get over the line at the end. Mark Selby & Michael White had an entertaining first round, eventually Selby clinched a final frame victory but I was impressed for the second straight year with Michael White, he needs to sharpen his safety but he looks fearless.
The first round lacked quality but was very entertaining; I
expect the quality to increase in the 2nd & I’m particularly
looking forward to Marco Fu v Shaun Murphy & Neil Robertson v Mark Allen.
