World Championship Round 1 review

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. 

The first round lacked quality but was very entertaining; I expect the quality to increase in the 2^nd & I’m particularly looking forward to Marco Fu v Shaun Murphy & Neil Robertson v Mark Allen.