2016 UK Championship

[JimMalone]

Indeed it's sad what happened to Stevens. The death of his father, of his best friend.
Not as tragic, but I also think the defeat in the world championship final, when he lead Murphy 10-6 didn't help either.

Would hope he could get on track, but I don't see it, sadly. He wasn't the same player in the last 10 years as he was during his prime. Though he had one more good season a few years ago, when he also made it back to the world championship semifinal in (I think 2012). But he isn't getting younger. And mentally he never was among the best players.

[JimMalone]

It's quite similar to what happened in 2014, when O'Sullivan played Wells, Peter Lines, Woollaston, Selt and McGill to reach the semi-finals. A very favourable draw at the time, with 36 being the highest ranking of any of his opponents, although this particular group of opponents would be seen as a much tougher draw if he played them in 2016. There is of course also a huge difference in how O'Sullivan has played himself. In 2014 he played mediocre stuff and relied on his opponents to basically crap their pants against him, while this year the breaks have been flying in. :smile:

Not exactly the last16 line-up I was hoping for... Quite a few pairings promise to be a little one-sided, with a top player playing an outsider, and a couple of other pairings have two outsiders that are not very likely to challenge for the title over the weekend. The only section of the draw that went according to plan is the one with Higgins and Allen really...

Yeah, I also thought this tournament was a little reminiscent of the one two years ago. But I still hope that we see a few good matches.
So far in the fourth round there was none. I didn't expect much from Zhang against Selby or Stevens against O'Sullivan, though Matthew certainly had his chances to make this a lot closer (he got the first break chance nearly every frame). But I was surprised that Zhou couldn't keep it a match against Murphy, who to judge by the numbers must have played pretty good. And also Fu's whitewash of Oliver Lines came unexpected to me.

John Higgins and Mark Allen should give us a good match today though. And maybe Stephen Maguire and Luca Brecel as well.

[DeanH]

There was a match played in Monte Carlo back in the 80s and the Prince was in attendance but something went wrong and snooker never returned
I'll try to find the article.

What went wrong?

Thanks Dean

To correct, the Prince did not attend the two times snooker was in Monte Carlo (Mar & Dec 88), in the article in May88 (Cue World) it hints that Hearn had made a faux pas the previous year when he had an audience with Prince Albert with regards to boxing, extract from the article:
Hearn was asked by Prince Albert: "Tell me Barry, do you think the Americans will ever take to Snooker?"
Hearn somewhat carried way by the occasion, replied: "To be honest your Highness, l don't think the Americans have got enough CLAAARSE to appreciate OUR game."
Prince Albert: "That's a shame. You know Barry, my mother was American."
Truth to tell, Prince Albert was not in the least offended...

Previous lead-up articles seem to suggest that the tour of Europe was not very well supported by the then WPBSA and Hearn went on his own to an extent. Are we (snooker/fans/etc.) still paying the price for that regime's incompetence?

Now, did the above affect the lack of Royal attendance or not, no idea; but snooker has not had much success in that area since has it. By accounts the matches were very well attended and appreciated by the Monégasques.
Maybe a new area to try again, with new World Snooker/WPBSA people involved?

[PatBlock]

Are the quarters best of 11, getting info from the world snooker website is like getting blood from a stone, horrible navigation.

yes they are, and the semis. I rarely visit the WS site, it's an absolute mess. I usually go here:

http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=526

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[VillaGuy]

yes they are, and the semis. I rarely visit the WS site, it's an absolute mess. I usually go here:

http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=526

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Thanks, I've bookmarked that page as things are more at hand there

[Ramon]

6-2, great match. was worth it to take a day off
.ROS / M Stevens two attacking players. Both great cue action
and great to watch.

[daffie]

Well some of my favorite players still in so I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming days.

John Higgins
Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy
Mark Williams
Stephen Maguire

Also Marco Fu, Jamie Jones and Dave Gilbert. All players I like watching.

[DT mode on]Oh and some guy they call the Rocket can pot a ball or two...[DT mode off]

Bring it on!

[PatBlock]

some uncharacteristically sloppy safety from JH nearly cost him the first frame there, but Allen's miss on the blue saved him. Good start to this one.

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[Ramon]

just to add,
I did'nt got the chance to watch the match ROS & MS live . a friend of mine had recorded for me. Hence my previous post guys.

[JimMalone]

Well some of my favorite players still in so I'm very much looking forward to the upcoming days.

John Higgins
Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy
Mark Williams
Stephen Maguire

We seem to have a lot of the same favorites. Except for Shaun Murphy that are all players I like as well. Hopefully John Higgins can send Mark Allen home. It's just a pity that he and Selby would meet then already.
Good start by John, getting 2-0 up.

[daffie]

We seem to have a lot of the same favorites. Except for Shaun Murphy that are all players I like as well. Hopefully John Higgins can send Mark Allen home. It's just a pity that he and Selby would meet then already.
Good start by John, getting 2-0 up.

Good stuff mate and a good start indeed. And as you say shame really it could be Higgins vs Selby in the next round already, meaning one of them goes home. But not getting ahead of myself. First things first...let's send ****-ant Allen home

But most importantly...let's have a close, tense and exciting match!

[daffie]

Impressive reply from Allen. We have ourselves a match

[Neil Taperell]

Great start by Jamie Jones as well .

[daffie]

These aren't tears, my eyes are just moist. Wonderful seeing Mark King and his dad Bill in the studio. Great memories that Final in Northern Ireland and especially the emotional speech at the end together with his family. For me it was very reminiscent of Alex Higgins back in the day with his daughter. Very fitting moments for the Northern Ireland tournament / Alex Higgins trophy.

[PatBlock]

These aren't tears, my eyes are just moist. Wonderful seeing Mark King and his dad Bill in the studio. Great memories that Final in Northern Ireland and especially the emotional speech at the end together with his family. For me it was very reminiscent of Alex Higgins back in the day with his daughter. Very fitting for the Northern Ireland tournament / Alex Higgins trophy.

Ah, missed that. Have to see if I can catch it later.

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