2014 World Championship - Discussion

[Dr_Doctor]

What do you all make of this?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/snooker/27234957

I bet if Trump was the one getting the 100, he would have fist pumped through the ceiling.

[dcrackers147]

Right, just a couple of words about O'Sullivan vs Hawkins before it starts...

I don't think anyone will be disappointed to see this pairing in the semi-finals, after the great final they produced last year. It was the best I have ever seen Hawkins play, along with that week in Australia when he won, and O'Sullivan said about his own performance that he felt like he was at his absolute best. So, in a way, it's a credit to both players that they got the scoreline they got. This has been the pattern in most of their previous matches actually...

Hawkins won their very first meeting 12 years ago, but O'Sullivan has won the next six. Hawkins has spent most of his career somewhere in the top32 in the rankings, so it's a bit unusual that they haven't met early in tournaments on more occasions. They always seem to meet when Hawkins is playing a great tournament and runs into O'Sullivan at the business end. He pushed him close quite a few times, including a couple of deciders, but he's never had the luck to find O'Sullivan out of sorts. Their semi-final in the Welsh Open this season was their most one-sided match, 6-2 to O'Sullivan, and even here Hawkins started brilliantly, only for O'Sullivan to immediately respond and play one-visit snooker for the rest of the match.

Looking at these last two weeks, O'Sullivan has not exactly played his best tournament, and certainly doesn't look as sharp as last year or the year before. But the main thing is that he has survived the early rounds, survived his scare against Perry, and now has four sessions to find the kind of snooker he needs to win this title. Obviously his main strength has always been his excellent breakbuilding, winning lots of frames in one visit, but I think the thing that has made the most difference recently is his willingness and ability to compete in the scrappy frames. He always seems determined to find a good safety at crucial times, he is keeping his patience, and he is making the right decisions. That makes him tough to beat as it is, but he has a habit of going into "scoring mode" at some point in the long matches as well, so the score can suddenly get very one-sided...

But one thing Hawkins usually doesn't do is play one-sided matches, win or lose. :wink: It's amazing how someone can completely outplay their opponent and take an 11-5 lead, but then can't put anything together until the match is close again. He stood up to the pressure though, with two excellent breaks in the last two frames, even though the black was not available. As I said yesterday, it will be interesting to see whether that match with Dale will give him some doubts today, or maybe some extra confidence. He knows that O'Sullivan was giving Murphy plenty of chances, and he knows it's up to him to take them, if indeed they come again. Before the tournament started I compared his position in the game to Graeme Dott's in 2006, in regards to him possibly winning the title, and I guess the comparison applies to this semi-final as well. He knows what it takes to compete with O'Sullivan over four sessions now, he knows he has the game to make it close again, and he has the luxury of not being expected to win, while all the pressure is on his opponent. Dott won 17-11 in 2006, can Hawkins do something similar?

Maybe, but it's not going to be easy. O'Sullivan has never lost a World final, but semi-finals are basically the same length, and he has lost a couple. More than a couple in fact, he has only won five out of ten, so he only has a 50% record at this stage. But as I said, Hawkins seems to bring out the best in him for some reason, and if Hawkins plays his best I expect O'Sullivan to respond. Their World final last year finished 18-12, which means O'Sullivan won three frames for every two of Hawkins', and I wouldn't be surprised if it's a similar ratio here. O'Sullivan to win 17-12. :wink:

Should be a great match in any case, and I'm very much looking forward to it. :smile:

Ran out of time unfortunately, so I will leave Selby and Robertson for later. :smile:

Strange overview IMO.... ROS has produced when it matters so far in this years world championship he proved this agaisnt Joe Perry. He has won a match with a session to spare agaisnt one of the in form players coming into the championship and people still question his peformance!! I do feel sorry for him when it comes to the stick he gets when he isn't banging in maxi's and tons every match. Ultimately he is a level above every other player in the world and after Selby and Robertson run out of steam agaisnt each other in the semi i doubt they will have much left in the final...I predict Robertson O'Sullivan Final with ROS winning it quite comfortably.

[Cov86]

Am I the only one who feels the tables have been quite generous this tournament? So many balls of gone in off the near jaw, or off the far jaw when hit with pace.

I have to be honest the semi final line up doesn't excite me a whole lot. I can't see Hawkins challenging ROS and I find both Robertson and Selby irritating to watch.

[vmax4steve]

Table conditions as regards to kicks and cushion response were bad yesterday, on both tables. The ruling body really need to get this sorted for the future as it's not right that close matches can be decided by who does or doesn't get a kick or a bad bounce at crucial times.

[ronniex]

How exactly The Rocket declined? In all honesty, he missed 3 easy pots vs Smurphy. So did his opponent. And the outcome was 13-3. The break from what seemed impossible position in the first frame of the morning session was what made the diffrence and what no-one else could have produced.

[Odrl]

Right, just a couple of words about O'Sullivan vs Hawkins before it starts...

I don't think anyone will be disappointed to see this pairing in the semi-finals, after the great final they produced last year. It was the best I have ever seen Hawkins play, along with that week in Australia when he won, and O'Sullivan said about his own performance that he felt like he was at his absolute best. So, in a way, it's a credit to both players that they got the scoreline they got. This has been the pattern in most of their previous matches actually...

Hawkins won their very first meeting 12 years ago, but O'Sullivan has won the next six. Hawkins has spent most of his career somewhere in the top32 in the rankings, so it's a bit unusual that they haven't met early in tournaments on more occasions. They always seem to meet when Hawkins is playing a great tournament and runs into O'Sullivan at the business end. He pushed him close quite a few times, including a couple of deciders, but he's never had the luck to find O'Sullivan out of sorts. Their semi-final in the Welsh Open this season was their most one-sided match, 6-2 to O'Sullivan, and even here Hawkins started brilliantly, only for O'Sullivan to immediately respond and play one-visit snooker for the rest of the match.

Looking at these last two weeks, O'Sullivan has not exactly played his best tournament, and certainly doesn't look as sharp as last year or the year before. But the main thing is that he has survived the early rounds, survived his scare against Perry, and now has four sessions to find the kind of snooker he needs to win this title. Obviously his main strength has always been his excellent breakbuilding, winning lots of frames in one visit, but I think the thing that has made the most difference recently is his willingness and ability to compete in the scrappy frames. He always seems determined to find a good safety at crucial times, he is keeping his patience, and he is making the right decisions. That makes him tough to beat as it is, but he has a habit of going into "scoring mode" at some point in the long matches as well, so the score can suddenly get very one-sided...

But one thing Hawkins usually doesn't do is play one-sided matches, win or lose. :wink: It's amazing how someone can completely outplay their opponent and take an 11-5 lead, but then can't put anything together until the match is close again. He stood up to the pressure though, with two excellent breaks in the last two frames, even though the black was not available. As I said yesterday, it will be interesting to see whether that match with Dale will give him some doubts today, or maybe some extra confidence. He knows that O'Sullivan was giving Murphy plenty of chances, and he knows it's up to him to take them, if indeed they come again. Before the tournament started I compared his position in the game to Graeme Dott's in 2006, in regards to him possibly winning the title, and I guess the comparison applies to this semi-final as well. He knows what it takes to compete with O'Sullivan over four sessions now, he knows he has the game to make it close again, and he has the luxury of not being expected to win, while all the pressure is on his opponent. Dott won 17-11 in 2006, can Hawkins do something similar?

Maybe, but it's not going to be easy. O'Sullivan has never lost a World final, but semi-finals are basically the same length, and he has lost a couple. More than a couple in fact, he has only won five out of ten, so he only has a 50% record at this stage. But as I said, Hawkins seems to bring out the best in him for some reason, and if Hawkins plays his best I expect O'Sullivan to respond. Their World final last year finished 18-12, which means O'Sullivan won three frames for every two of Hawkins', and I wouldn't be surprised if it's a similar ratio here. O'Sullivan to win 17-12. :wink:

Should be a great match in any case, and I'm very much looking forward to it. :smile:

Ran out of time unfortunately, so I will leave Selby and Robertson for later. :smile:

[alabadi]

Thanks. So did Neil actually hear them or was it the crowd sniggering or something? I was a bit puzzled by Neil's reaction at the time, as I didn't hear the laughter from the crowd that you usually get when the commentators crack a joke.

On a serious note, I hope ALL the commentators take note of this incident. It clearly put Neil off enough to make him miss the shot.

I think it was Terry Griffiths who said if Neil clears up from here he'll get the freedom of Sheffield, someone in the crowd on Neil side of the table sniggered and it put him off, he got up and down again which broke his rhythm.

I was surprised it did because of other noises last night were worse, it seemed like we were on a hospital ward of people with flu. the amount of coughing that was going on was unreal, one guy seemed like he was going to pass out every time he started coughing, he was wheezing badly, in one of the frames trying to hold it back just as Neil was about to take a shot let out an almighty squeal.

Neil saw the funny side he stopped, got up and had a laugh with rest of the crowd.

[crocodile]

Well done Neil. Trump shows himself up as the petulant, graceless little tosspot that he is.

Just saw the result this morning, so it sounds like a pretty impressive achievement by Neil! I'll certainly be looking forward to checking out the replay.

Thank God this gormless little twerp Trump's out of the tournament at last before he can go on and cause any more trouble. He's just a disgrace to the snooker world.

[luke-h]

I'd have preferred to see Trump in the sf. Robertson for me showed a lot of gamesmanship to slow Trump down to get through so I hope he goes out the next match, he was almost as slow as Selby.

[ywfan]

Great SF line up, the top 5 players left in the dance, only ding failing to hold up to the seedings.
If ROS cant beat hawkins over 33, doesn't deserve to be WC this year
selby/robertson would be the final in most years, but almost feel like they are battling for the privilege of facing ROS in the final!

[SnookerFan]

Over the past couple of seasons I've developed a respect for Barry Hawkins. (I say that not because of who his opponent is, I'd say that if he was in the other semi against Robbo or Selby.) He's not a fashionable player, but he's worked hard, improved himself and has got up to WN4.

Last year him and Walden had a great semi-final, and they both showed great sportsmanship to each other. Then when he was playing against a strong favourite in the final, amidst commentator speculation that there might not be a fourth session, Barry acquitted himself well and gave it his all. Despite it being extremely unlikely he'd win, he gave it is all and can hold his head up high and be proud of his contribution.

I'd absolutely love it if Barry got to the final. I'd love it even more if he won. Unfortunately, I can't see him doing either. Ronnie should win this by five or six frames.

And in the extremely unlikely event that he does beat Ronnie, he'll not get the World Title.

[ADR147]

trump laced composure when it mattered but it was a great match to watch which is what the game is all about!

[Odrl]

That was a great night of snooker, one of the best of the season. :smile:

Robertson played with great heart all day, and found a way to win frames even when the fluency wasn't there. I thought the frame to go 9-8, when he potted that plant off the side cushion, would really turn the match around, but Trump responded very well by taking the next two. Robertson dominated in the tactical stuff after that though, and just had that little bit more patience than Trump in the end.

Robertson-Selby could be great, or it could be a low-quality scrap, but it should be tightly contested in any case. :smile: As I said earlier, four of the top5 seeds have made it to the semi-finals, so we are almost guaranteed three great matches now. If I had to call it now, I would go for O'Sullivan and Selby to reach the final, but I will sleep on it and think again in the morning. :smile:

[Cyril]

13-9 Ron v Murphy
10-13 Hawk v Dale
13-5 Selby v McManus
11-13 Judd v Thunder

Oh well, I predicted the scores correct for 2 out of 4.

Semi-finals, mmm I'll go for,
17-8 Ronnie v Baz
17-15 Thunder v Selby

Be tough for Neil to get his head in gear mind for the first session. Mark wasn't really tested today.

[Billy]

Neil: who made the wise joke at 8-6 or 8-7?

WT: well Terry said something.... Fades out.


And loool is me getting excited

Thanks. So did Neil actually hear them or was it the crowd sniggering or something? I was a bit puzzled by Neil's reaction at the time, as I didn't hear the laughter from the crowd that you usually get when the commentators crack a joke.

On a serious note, I hope ALL the commentators take note of this incident. It clearly put Neil off enough to make him miss the shot.