UK Championship 25/11 - 7/12

[bingo]

I'm wanting Marco Fu to win as well. Fingers crossed!

[Odrl]

Hm, I thought the previous frame would give Maguire some confidence, but I guess not, he was all over the place there. He was a strong favourite at 5-3, but right now it's not looking too good for him anymore.

[Dr_Doctor]

Well... I didn't enjoy those scrappy frames to be honest. Well done Maguire.

[daffie]

Me neither, there was no tension whatsoever in it. Oh well, time to hit the sack Tomorrow's another day...hopefully the semis will prove excellent.

[Odrl]

Yeah, not great stuff towards the end. If Maguire wants to beat Trump tomorrow he will definitely need his form from the first half of tonight's match. But it's still good to see him battling and getting a win, even when he was clearly struggling.

He has pretty much been Trump's bogey player over the last few years, so it should be an interesting game. :smile:

[robertmac]

Bingham has to be sharp tomorrow.
Tough game Trump vs Maguire.
Great snooker tho.

[daffie]

Bingham has to be sharp tomorrow.
Tough game Trump vs Maguire.
Great snooker tho.

Yeah sounds good to me, although I'm really hoping Maguire can keep himself in check this time.

And of course the semis often provide the better/more tense matches compared to the final, at least in my experience. Players are still battling to get to the final and therefore the semis are often very tense and exciting to watch, whereas the final (again in my experience) can be somewhat underwhelming.

Anyways...I'm getting ahead of myself here Looking forward to whatever sweets these 4 can dish up today..

[cyberheater]

Yeah sounds good to me, although I'm really hoping Maguire can keep himself in check this time.

And of course the semis often provide the better/more tense matches compared to the final, at least in my experience. Players are still battling to get to the final and therefore the semis are often very tense and exciting to watch, whereas the final (again in my experience) can be somewhat underwhelming.

Anyways...I'm getting ahead of myself here Looking forward to whatever sweets these 4 can dish up today..

Yes. Looking forward to some cracking matches. It's a really good line up for the semis. I like all the players.

[Odrl]

Yes, it should be a good day of snooker. :smile:

Both matches are pretty tough to call, but let's give it a shot...

Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Stuart Bingham: A rematch of last year's quarter-final, which Bingham won 6-4. That was only Bingham's second-ever win over O'Sullivan, the first one also coming in this tournament in 2010, when he beat him 9-6 in the 1st round. O'Sullivan has won all their other matches, including two recent ones over a long distance, in the 2013 WC and in the Champion of Champions final last season. I think their head-to-head is quite a good indication of their chances here, O'Sullivan starting as favourite, but Bingham more than capable of beating him in a big match.

Both players have had some luck in this tournament. Bingham came close to losing yesterday, Dott had a great chance in the balls for 5-1, but got a kick and the match turned around. Dott had some more bad luck in the decider, and Bingham took advantage and won the match with a good break. He generally seems to get stronger towards the end of matches. His win over Ding in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters is a good example of that, as is his comeback from 3-0 down against Joel Walker in this tournament.

O'Sullivan has never been close to losing this week, yesterday's 6-4 win being his closest match, but there is no doubt the draw has been very kind to him here. He has reached the semi-finals of the second biggest tournament of the year, by beating Daniel Wells, Peter Lines, Ben Woollaston, Matthew Selt and Anthony McGill. He has not faced another top player so far, and I think it's fair to say he has not faced any particularly dangerous outsiders either, kind of like Robert Milkins in his runs to two major semi-finals at the start of last season. Having said that, it gave O'Sullivan a great chance to play himself into the tournament, and he is now looking more confident with every match.

O'Sullivan usually plays very strongly whenever he has a point to prove, and I think last year's loss to Bingham might just give him a little extra motivation. He got a couple of gifts yesterday which he probably won't get today, so he needs to raise his game a little bit, particularly the long potting, and also his safety to some extent. He is still pretty reliable on scoring chances, even when he is not at his very best. Bingham doesn't really have the firepower to match O'Sullivan's scoring, but he probably won't be beaten by a mediocre performance either. It took a top player to take him out in every major tournament so far this season, except for the Shanghai Masters of course, where Bingham took the title. I don't know... It's a question whether O'Sullivan is playing well enough to dominate this match, but he has a habit of raising his game for the business end of tournaments, and yesterday showed that he is in a good fighting spirit, so I will go for him to win 6-4. :wink:

Judd Trump v. Stephen Maguire: Starting with the head-to-head again, Trump has only ever beaten Maguire once in a match of decent length, on his way to winning this title in 2011, 6-3 in the quarter-finals. He had three centuries in that match, and he was playing very well the whole week, similar to his form this time. Since then Maguire has beaten him in the quarter-finals of the German Masters and in the semi-finals of the Welsh Open, in 2012 and 2013 respectively, both very close matches. They also met in the Wuxi Classic at the start of this season, where Maguire won 5-0, but four of those frames came down to the final colours. Maguire has also had more success in the short matches, although Trump did win a couple recently, one in a PTC and another in the Champion of Champions this season.

I think it's fair to say that Trump has played the best snooker out of anyone this week. He has won every match by at least three frames, mostly in a very short time. This means I missed most of his match yesterday, because it was already over in an hour and a half, while the match I was watching was just coming to the halfway point. Trump definitely has his confidence back this week, going for all kinds of shots, and his game has backed it up, so it will be very difficult to keep him away from the table. He has also competed well whenever things went scrappy, but considering the players still left in this tournament, that shouldn't come into play too much this weekend.

Maguire has also impressed with his composure and fighting spirit, although he still often looks on the verge of a breakdown, whenever things are going against him. He has had some very strong moments, winning frames in one visit, but he has also missed a few, particularly towards the end of his match against Fu. Obviously he can't afford a slow start tonight, because Trump could take a big early lead, like he has done against all of his opponents so far. Maguire has been involved in some really high-scoring matches in the past, like his match against Robertson in the 2009 Masters, where they had five centuries in a row between them at one point, so he knows he can compete with anyone in such exchanges, but the question is whether he is playing well enough at this point in time.

At 4-1 yesterday I was thinking I would go for Maguire to win tonight, but his struggles in the second part of that match convinced me otherwise. I think Trump is in the mood to punish any mistakes, and he will take full advantage of any frustration from Maguire. I can see this match going one of two ways... Trump could take control early, then relax a little and take the match pretty comfortably, or Maguire could stick in there and grow in confidence the longer the match goes on. But I would be surprised if Maguire was the stronger player right from the start. Trump to win 6-4. :wink:


At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it needs to be said again... What a shame we have been robbed of the best-of-17 semi-finals here, because these two matches could have been ever better then. A shame for the players themselves as well. But what can you do, there should still be some great snooker. :smile:

[robertmac]

Yes all four players could win their matches
and I think it comes down to who brings their
'A' game today.
Trump has matured a lot lately and he is confident
and playing great so I see him beating Maguire.
Bring on some great snooker !

[daffie]

Great write-up as always Odrl! The best possible prep for the semis

[DeanH]

anyone got BBC online stream? I can't find it...
I dont believe that BBC would not have it online for the first semi final with their favourite ROS playing!

ah and now it appears... phew

[neuronic]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/live/bbcone

[Ronnie's tip]

Ronnie's going to have to improve today. Think his tournament long pot average is like 30%.

The fact that it's first to 6 makes me think Bingham has a great chance.

[neuronic]

anyone got BBC online stream? I can't find it...
I dont believe that BBC would not have it online for the first semi final with their favourite ROS playing!

ah and now it appears... phew

By the way: am I the only one who is starting to get a bit annoyed by the BBC worshipping ROS like a new born christ?