Taking Flight in Cardiff

Two days are in the books in the 2015 Welsh Open and 92 players are already on their way home. We're down to the last 32 and it's not been without shocks. Well maybe I should change that to "Shock”, Ding Junhui's and Barry Hawkins defeats wouldn't surprise most people given their form this season. However the Shaun Murphy's defeat to the talented Jamie Jones is more of a shock.

Jones came to the attention of the masses after his great performance at the World Championships a few years ago. Still young and clearly very talented he was tipped to keep rising through the ranks, however he's had a disastrous few years in the qualifiers, going down, rather than up the rankings. Jones will face an all Welsh tie versus Mark Williams next live on Eurosport at 8pm.

The other 13 members of the top 16 are still standing though. Robert Milkins, Xiao Guodong & Mark Davis are all out though in the race for the top 16 for the World Championship. With Mark Williams now overtaking Robert Milkins for the last automatic qualifying spot in the WC.

In the betting I fancy a little £5 bet on Perry, Dott, Walden & Higgins - £20.07

John Higgins has a very good draw, if he can get it together mentally I believe he is cueing well enough to get to the later stages. He will probably have to beat Maguire in the Quarters, a complete bogey player for Higgins in recent years - 2011 PTC event was his last victory - but I think this could be his week to reach a Semi Final.

Graeme Dott is in the race for a top 16 ranking and he will most likely face John Higgins in the last 16 in a crunch match for the last 16. At this point Dott is around £30,000 behind Higgins so will require a few deep tournament runs to catch his fellow Scot. 

Ricky Walden will face Martin Gould in a very tough match to call, hence the good odds but I fancy Ricky to just have enough to go through a close match.

Joe Perry is one of my favourite players to watch, he is very good in every department and fly's under the radar. He is 1/3 today to beat Gary Wilson and I think this is easy money, don't let me down Joe!

The quarter finals are on Friday and I’ve got the following match ups coming up:

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Judd Trump

Mark Allen v Joe Perry

John Higgins v Stephen Maguire

Michael White v Mark Selby

The Final Eight - UK Championships

So after 10 days of action, 120 players have been eliminated from the 2013 UK Championships. The threat of top players not reaching the final stages has not materialised and we are left with the cream of the crop. Many of the fears I highlighted in my preview piece have sadly come true. World Snooker has simply blamed these teething problems on the venue & it appears this will be the last year the event is held in York – a crying shame.

Mark Selby v Barry Hawkins

Mark Selby’s progress has been quiet and unspectacular; however he hasn’t overexerted himself and should feel very fresh for the upcoming challenges. Barry Hawkins played well to defeat Shaun Murphy and looks like he is returning to the form that got him to the Crucible final Seven Months ago. I think Selby will have enough to avenge Hawkins defeat of him at the World Championships earlier this year.

Mark Selby 6-3 Barry Hawkins

Mark Allen v Ricky Walden

After a very shaky start yesterday against Judd Trump, Mark Allen steadied himself to win four frames on the spin from 4-2 down. Trump has every right to feel aggrieved today as he was in complete control and let it slip yesterday. Ricky Walden ended Ding Junhui’s 22 match winning streak in full ranking events with his 6-4 win. Ricky was far from his best but had enough to defeat a well under par Ding, it wasn’t a classic but Walden will be pleased progress against such a decorated opponent. I think Allen will have too much for Ricky and will win.

Mark Allen 6-3 Ricky Walden

Neil Robertson v Stephen Maguire

I have no doubt in my mind that Robertson is the best player in the game at the moment. He dispatched of a poor Joe Perry last night 6-1 while Stephen defeated a confidence stricken John Higgins 6-2 on Tuesday night. This could be a cracker, there were signs Maguire was hitting the ball well against Higgins & he won’t be bullied by Robertson. However I still fancy Robertson to win due to his clinical ability in the balls, he is less likely to break down and allow counter clearances in tight frames – which are usually the key frames in close matches.

Robertson 6-4 Maguire

Ronnie O’Sullivan v Stuart Bingham

This I fear won’t be very exciting but will still take centre stage on the BBC, as all of O’Sullivan’s matches have so far. He is the biggest draw but you don’t make new stars by giving nobody else airtime, as has been the case so far this week. I fancy O'Sullivan to win this one, he's not been cueing that well this week but has been taking his chances. If Stuart doesn't get overawed he will give himself a very good chance of causing an upset.

O’Sullivan 6-1 Bingham

Champion of Champions Day 2

Judd Trump v Marco Fu

Judd Trump completed a routine victory over Marco Fu in the afternoon's first match. In a surprisingly underwhelming match Judd completed a 4-1 victory against a under par Marco Fu. Marco who is having the best season of his career was heavily fancied to cause Trump a lot of trouble, however it never materialised as he struggled to settle.

Ricky Walden v Stuart Bingham

Sadly for all of us watching this was another one sided match. Stuart Bingham was clinical in finishing the many chances an out of sorts Ricky Walden presented and won 4-0. 

Judd Trump v Stuart Bingham

 

In the evening session Judd Trump signalled his intent to return to his all out attacking game with some audacious long shots. However unlike in the 2011 World Championships, he was missing. Stuart Bingham completed a 6-2 victory and looks to be cueing nicely; however I would struggle to see how he can beat Selby on Saturday. He is finishing off chances very nicely but he isn’t creating these chances through pressure & I suspect he won’t be given the same “gifts” against Selby.

For Judd, he has unlimited snooker ability and he is improving areas of his game month by month, however I feel the balance of his game isn’t quite right. Similarly to Shaun Murphy he is being held back by how he broke onto the scene with an amazingly attacking style. However if you start to lose a few matches, you doubt yourself and can start to change your natural game. I think it’s all about finding a nice balance between attack and defence & roughly speaking he should be around 65% attack to defence. If he was to ever find the right balance he could potentially dominate.

 

Quarter Final Round up

Barry Hawkins became the first player to reach this year’s Semi Finals with an impressive victory against an under par Ding Junhui. The story of the match was set in the first session, Ding cued badly and looked under increasing pressure and irritation at his poor form, and little changed as the match progressed. With the weight of a nation on him, a rather large and demanding nation at that, he crumbled and looked beaten as he came out for the final session trailing 9-7.

Hawkins was clinical and ruthless and took the opening four frames to progress. Although a ranking tournament winner, reaching the semi finals will easily be the best achievement of Barry’s career and his cool and calm finish to the match impressed me.

Barry Hawkins opponent will be Ricky Walden after he completed a 13-6 victory of Welsh prodigy Michael White. Walden was the more mature and composed during the match and was able to steal a few frames that killed off his opponent. Michael White has had a dream Crucible debut and it won’t be long till we see him in a Crucible Semi Final.

Ricky Walden and Barry Hawkins will both see this as a golden opportunity to reach a World Final and I expect a very close and edgy Semi Final.

Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump’s quarter final was heavily hyped and it didn’t let anyone down. We saw all 25 frames and the final frame was one of the all time classic final frame deciders. Filled with tension, emotion and superb play it was probably the quickest 50 minutes of the season. Trumps aggression in the final frame won it for him I felt. Murphy went a little too negative when he got chances, trying to not lose the frame while Trump grabbed it with both hands.

Probably the match the fans wanted awaits us now in the Semi Final when Judd Trump meets Ronnie O’Sullivan. Stuart Bingham was unable to perform to his ability in his Quarter Final with O’Sullivan and was defeated 13-4. While much has been made of how well O’Sullivan played, he was gifted a number of guilt edge chances and wasn’t made to work for many of his frames. What we did learn is that O’Sullivan is cueing beautifully and if you give him a chance in the balls he will won’t hesitate to punish his opponent.

I have just returned from a couple of days in Sheffield and will be posting up a piece about visiting the World Championships.