Betfred World Championship 2020

[motorhead]

hope Federer pulls a similar interview to the one Ronnie just made

[Odrl]

It's slightly annoying that the two more interesting matches are played at the same time tomorrow, but I guess I'll try to watch them both. :smile: Before the tournament started, I said it was possibly the worst line-up in a very long time, but this QF line-up couldn't have really turned out much better. Two outsiders meet in the second quarter, while the other three quarters have all seen the top two seeds come through. That said, no one has really played world-class snooker so far, at least not consistently.

Judd Trump v. Kyren Wilson: This is one of the two matches I am really excited about. It could well prove to be Trump's toughest match if he is to defend the World title. He only just got past Yan Bingtao, and Wilson is someone who plays in quite a similar way to Yan, only he is a little further along in his development. In fact, he has the necessary experience and the all-round game to win this title now. He also has a surprisingly strong record against Trump, beating him in four of their five meetings outside of the short format. It will be interesting to see if Hamilton's withdrawal plays a part here, as Wilson is presumably quite fresh at this point of the tournament, while Trump has been here a week longer and played two matches that both went almost the full distance. Four months ago I would have expected Trump to have a little too much firepower for Wilson, but now it will depend a little more on pure hunger and grit, and I think Wilson will be the more driven of the two. Should be a close game though. Wilson to win 13-11.

Kurt Maflin v. Anthony McGill: Good to see McGill back in the quarter-finals after quite a few years. He certainly had to fight hard tonight, and yesterday as well for that matter, having gone so far behind in the first half of the match against Clarke. The fighting qualities are not in question, but when it comes to scoring, Maflin has shown a lot more in this tournament so far. His match against Higgins was high quality, so it wasn't just a case of catching one of the seeds on a bad day. I don't know... Form definitely says Maflin, but of course he stands out among the quarter-finalists as the player who has achieved the least in the game so far. Despite being a qualifier himself, you'd have to say McGill is a stronger player overall. If he has recovered by tomorrow, he could have a good chance here. That said, I will go for Maflin to win 13-10.

Mark Williams v. Ronnie O'Sullivan: Two legends of the game. Mark Williams is the only quarter-finalist who played in the inaugural World Championship back in 1927, and it's great to see him still going strong almost a hundred years later. O'Sullivan is of course just as distinguished, having reached the final stages of the World Championship every year since 1969, a record that is unlikely to ever be equalled. :wink: No matches between them in the last few seasons though, which is surprising considering they are both top 8 players at the moment. O'Sullivan showed some weakness in his match against Ding, missing easy balls and messing up quite a few safety shots, but it's not like Williams isn't doing the same himself. I think I have to go with the head-to-head here and favour O'Sullivan. Williams mentioned the possibility of losing this one 13-0 in his post-match comments the other day, and a few weeks ago I would have gone for O'Sullivan to win with a session to spare or something close to that. But having seen both players play, I think it could be closer. O'Sullivan to win 13-8.

Mark Selby v. Neil Robertson: The other match I'm really looking forward to. The last time these two met at the Crucible they produced one of the very best matches I've ever seen. I don't think they are playing quite so well this time though. Selby had to play at quite a decent level to get past Saengkham, while Robertson had a tricky obstacle to overcome in Hawkins. They both did well. Neither is playing like a World champion right now, but they are both world-class players that always have the ability to reach that level, especially once we get to the business end of the tournament. Not much between them if they both play their best, but I think Robertson's best over the past year and a half has been better than Selby's. He has also stated his ambition to win a second World title several times recently, while Selby's motivation to get back to the top of the game is more questionable at the moment. Robertson to win 13-11.

[motorhead]

I didn't realise McGill has to play tomorrow afternoon already, no wonder Maflin is favorite here.

[JimMalone]

Nice exchange between them after the match, good to see.

-

Though we don't know WHAT they said. Could have been about the incident as well . BTW: After the Robertson/Hawkins match there wasn't even a handshake, or should I say elbowshake? Anybody knows if those two don't get along well?

However Clarke vs. McGill was as tense as it got. It was sooo clear, that this was going to a decider and made up for Robbo/Hawkins and Ding/O'Sullivan, which I had hoped to be tighter in the end.

Disappointed for Ding to miss again, but he made to many mistakes in the final session. Coupled with a bit of bad luck in session 2 and already there not punishing Ronnie's mistakes enough that was too much.

[JimMalone]

Picks for the quartersfinals:

Trump - Wilson
This was a quarterfinal I was pretty confident we would see before the tournament (though I could have imagined Trump - Maguire) and hopefully it will be a close one. Last year at this stage Trump just rolled over Maguire, but Wilson is a completely different opponent. His first goal is to give Trump no chances and tactical Wilson should have an edge over his opponent. Of course then Wilson has to take his own chances. That's what I'm not sure about. Wilson leads their H2H 4:1, but Trump won the last one and over the last two years he has certainly become a better and more complete player than he was before. The extra rest for Wilson will make no difference at this point for sure. What's worrying for him is that he just beat Martin Gould, who is very similiar to Trump in that way, that both rely heavily on the potting - only that Trump is just stronger. But in the end Wilson had problems to get over the finish line. He can't allow himself to lose so many frames in a row as it was the case against Gould. Still I think pressure could make a difference here and Wilson is the right player to fullfill the "crucible curse".
13:11 for Wilson

Maflin - McGill
Maflin was very impressive in his offensive game, but looked very solid overall. As for McGill it was only his safety game that stood out against Clarke, as he made only 4 or 5 breaks of more than 50 points and had many mistakes in his break-building. Add to this that he went to bed late and Mafling seems very motivated and confident right now. If the Norwegian takes advantage of this for a strong start, this could be a one-sided quarterfinal, though nobody would dismiss McGills fighting and comeback qualities.
13:7 to Maflin

Williams - O'Sullivan
There's something in O'Sullivans game that just is kryptonite for Wlliams. Even in his best years he always struggled against Ronnie and as they met now for 30 years regulary that surely has implanted in his head. As I counted it now their H2H is 21:6 in favour of O'Sullivan (you could also make it 17:5). Whatever matches you personally count for such stats it, one is clear: Ronnie leads 4-0 at the crucible. Williams tends to get careless often enough and that is the one thing you can't allow against O'Sullivan. It's possible Williams makes an Ali Carter and finally beats O'Sullivan here (I don't draw a parallel to Ding in 2017, since I think Ding had more ability back then than Williams has now), but I see O'Sullivan running away at some point.
13:7 to O'Sullivan

Selby - Robertson
Easily my most anticipated match. The 2014 semifinal is probably the best match ever to be played at the World Championship. I don't think we will see the same quality as neither player is playing as well right now. Especially Selby. He is really inconsistent nowadays. Sometimes making a beautiful century, then missing easy balls. As I stated before his safety game isn't what it has been and that's worrying. Cause Robertson's long potting is still very reliable. And when the Australian is in the balls he might have small advantage as well right now. So while I always call Selby the most complete player with the exception of John HIggins, right now Robertson is ahead of him overall. Selby will put on a hard fight though I think. One factor about his descent though is that I think he hasn't the will he had before. He won 3 World titles, he isn't as hungry anymore. Contrary to Robertson, who is looking already so long for a second title in the crucible. Right now I'd say Selby doesn't have what it takes to win such matches at the moment. But maybe this is the ideal match to revoke the old Mark Selby again?
13:9 to Robertson

[trains]

' The 2014 semifinal is probably the best match ever to be played at the World Championship '

that's quite a big statement sir :smile:

[vmax]

I didn't realise McGill has to play tomorrow afternoon already, no wonder Maflin is favorite here.

Well he didn't have to drag it out for hours and break Clarkes focus by implying he was cheating did he, would have been over a lot quicker if he hadn't, he'd be driving home now, but he can sleep in 'til midday if he wants to, doesn't have to be up at the crack of dawn.

Interviewer should have asked Ronnie if James Cahill was one of the useless generation of amateurs
Ronnie's entitled to his opinion but he seems to forget that he, Higgins and Williams coming along at the same time is exceptional, usually only one in a generation comes along that is that talented.

[trains]

Well he didn't have to drag it out for hours and break Clarkes focus by implying he was cheating did he, would have been over a lot quicker if he hadn't, he'd be driving home now, but he can sleep in 'til midday if he wants to, doesn't have to be up at the crack of dawn.

Interviewer should have asked Ronnie if James Cahill was one the useless generation of amateurs
Ronnie's entitled to his opinion but he seems to forget that he, Higgins and Williams coming along at the same time is exceptional, usually only one in a generation comes along that is that talented.

i see williams higgins and o'sullivans initial success a bit like mike tyson's ascendancy in the pro's in the mid 80's , i mean nowadays a youngster has kyren wilson ricky walden and zhou yuelong to get through where as they had eugene hughes martin clark and bob chaperon .

[JimMalone]

' The 2014 semifinal is probably the best match ever to be played at the World Championship '

that's quite a big statement sir :smile:

Indeed. Of course there are others and it's incredible hard to choose. If you ask 10 people you'll probably get 8 different answers. But if somebody pointed a gun to my head I'd probably choose that one of the ones I've seen.

[Rane]

Is anyone watching Selby - Robertson. I?ve noticed that Robertsons speed is 33 seconds after 4 frames. Whats happening?

[DeanH]

you said it yourself, Selby - he is the modern grinder
and Robertson is over thinking everything - he needs to shake himself back into his way of playing and not play like his opponent

[JimMalone]

Is anyone watching Selby - Robertson. I?ve noticed that Robertsons speed is 33 seconds after 4 frames. Whats happening?

Well, Robertson is never long in a break, his positional play is pretty weak today. So he mostly has to play safeties, which are tricky sometimes and especially in the opening frame there was a very, very long (but great) safety exchange. Though Robbo could have sped it up sometimes and opted a few times to play safe instead of taking on a (risky and difficult) pot. Lately of course the scoreline doesn't really help his confidence.

[Billy]

Is anyone watching Selby - Robertson. I?ve noticed that Robertsons speed is 33 seconds after 4 frames. Whats happening?

He's his own worst enemy, isn't he? He's admitted on several occasions during interviews and post-match chats, that he plays better when he just gets on with it without out-thinking himself, and that's backed-up by what we see on the table. So why has he decided to go into Ebdon mode now? Looking for problems that aren't there? Not taking the obvious shot when he sees it? He's incredibly frustrating and dull to watch when he's in this kind of mood.

[GeordieDS]

Who is that new commentator??

[vmax]

I thought Kyren played very well this morning, is there another match on ? I couldn't hear any canned applause from the other table, oh, of course it's Selby dragging someone down again.