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I'm looking forward to the start of Selby vs Carter today, probably one of the three or four best prospects of the 2nd round...
Carter has definitely impressed me more in the 1st round. He had probably the toughest opponent on paper, and it proved to be true, because Xiao held his own all through the match, but Carter made a couple of really good breaks under pressure towards the end. The long pots are going in, and he can usually follow them with some good scoring, so he is tough to beat over a long match.
Selby scraped through 10-9 against Michael White, even though his opponent only made one break over 50 in the entire match. An in-form Selby would have punished those missed sitters and won comfortably, but he just can't seem to put much together at the moment. He only really played a strong frame at 9-9, when he couldn't afford any more mistakes. He usually finds a way to compete in the long matches, even when his form isn't quite there, so I would expect this match to go close to the full 25 frames, or maybe one or two short.
Selby won 13-12 when they met in the quarter-finals in 2007. Quite a long and slow match if I remember correctly, with the typical tense Crucible finish. It was before either player won their first major title, but this time they meet as proven winners and potential World champions, so it should be great. They've not met a lot recently, and certainly not at the later stages of tournaments, so probably no psychological edge either way. The rankings say Selby, the form says Carter, and I say Carter to win 13-10. :smile:
And just a few words about O'Sullivan vs Perry, in case I don't find any time later...
O'Sullivan has looked quite solid in the 1st round, probably the best performance out of anyone apart from maybe Fu and Robertson so far, and he didn't really need to give it his all. He has been pretty bulletproof in the long matches over the last two years, so it's tough to see a "lower" seed such as Perry staying with him.
Perry has all the experience though... He was a couple of frames away from meeting O'Sullivan in the World final in 2008, and he has a victory against him in the UK Championship over two sessions. He was also a couple of balls away from beating him in the 1st round of the Masters in 2009, but missed a sitter in the penultimate frame, and O'Sullivan of course went on to win the title. Perry has had an excellent season, with a string of appearances at the business end of major tournaments, but his performance against Burnett wasn't all that convincing, and you would think he needs a better one tonight to have any chance. It could be close, it could be one-sided, but O'Sullivan is the favourite in any case, 13-7. :smile:
On another note, O'Sullivan and Carter have played some great stuff at the WC in the past, so I wouldn't mind seeing either of them at the business end, but one thing I don't want is the third edition of the nightmare final. So it would be nice if one of them lost here, so I can be at ease. :smile:
Carter has definitely impressed me more in the 1st round. He had probably the toughest opponent on paper, and it proved to be true, because Xiao held his own all through the match, but Carter made a couple of really good breaks under pressure towards the end. The long pots are going in, and he can usually follow them with some good scoring, so he is tough to beat over a long match.
Selby scraped through 10-9 against Michael White, even though his opponent only made one break over 50 in the entire match. An in-form Selby would have punished those missed sitters and won comfortably, but he just can't seem to put much together at the moment. He only really played a strong frame at 9-9, when he couldn't afford any more mistakes. He usually finds a way to compete in the long matches, even when his form isn't quite there, so I would expect this match to go close to the full 25 frames, or maybe one or two short.
Selby won 13-12 when they met in the quarter-finals in 2007. Quite a long and slow match if I remember correctly, with the typical tense Crucible finish. It was before either player won their first major title, but this time they meet as proven winners and potential World champions, so it should be great. They've not met a lot recently, and certainly not at the later stages of tournaments, so probably no psychological edge either way. The rankings say Selby, the form says Carter, and I say Carter to win 13-10. :smile:
And just a few words about O'Sullivan vs Perry, in case I don't find any time later...
O'Sullivan has looked quite solid in the 1st round, probably the best performance out of anyone apart from maybe Fu and Robertson so far, and he didn't really need to give it his all. He has been pretty bulletproof in the long matches over the last two years, so it's tough to see a "lower" seed such as Perry staying with him.
Perry has all the experience though... He was a couple of frames away from meeting O'Sullivan in the World final in 2008, and he has a victory against him in the UK Championship over two sessions. He was also a couple of balls away from beating him in the 1st round of the Masters in 2009, but missed a sitter in the penultimate frame, and O'Sullivan of course went on to win the title. Perry has had an excellent season, with a string of appearances at the business end of major tournaments, but his performance against Burnett wasn't all that convincing, and you would think he needs a better one tonight to have any chance. It could be close, it could be one-sided, but O'Sullivan is the favourite in any case, 13-7. :smile:
On another note, O'Sullivan and Carter have played some great stuff at the WC in the past, so I wouldn't mind seeing either of them at the business end, but one thing I don't want is the third edition of the nightmare final. So it would be nice if one of them lost here, so I can be at ease. :smile:
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I get it...and I don't agree
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