World Open 2017

[jonny66]

Anybody knows a stream by any chance?

I just came to ask the same thing, snooker cheer doesn't seem to be broadcasting

[blahblah01]

circfree on laptop?

It's on Eurosport 1

[JimMalone]

Finally Eurosport shows it also in my country, yes.

[JimMalone]

Finally Eurosport shows it also in my country, yes.

Yeah, so I got to see the last 10 minutes. But okay, it's football anyways, so I still had something else to watch. Good to see Ding coming through, should be a good final against Wilson tomorrow.

[Odrl]

An interesting day of snooker...

The Wilson-Allen match was a bit of a scrap, especially the first couple of frames, but it was very tense and intriguing stuff towards the end, basically coming down to the colours in the decider. I think Wilson will need to play closer to the way he played against Williams to have any chance tomorrow.

Ding always looked to be the stronger player against Brecel, but in the end it almost went into a decider. If only Brecel had taken his chances a little better... I think he has quite a negative mindset for a snooker player, always smiling sarcastically at any little setback, rather than concentrating on dealing with each situation as it comes. I hope that sort of thing goes away as he gains more experience. :smile:

[JimMalone]

No disrepect to Luca Brecel and Shaun Murphy, but tomorrows final of the second big ranking event of the season, the World Open, is in my eyes far more promising than the one at the China Championship. In Ding Junhui we have one of the snooker greats in one corner and in Kyren Wilson one of the hopefully future greats in the opposite corner. And both have showed flashes of great play this week.
When he is playing his very best Ding Junhui is still the better player of course. Sometimes he tends to have some ugly misses in his potting game, but apart from maybe O'Sullivan nobody has such a lovely cue ball control as Ding and while he is not always consistent, on the top of his game he hardly has any flaws. If we look at the past one and a half year his results at the biggest events have also been pretty good. He was a finalist at the 2016 World Championship as well as the 2016 International Championship and a semifinalist at the 2017 World Championship. Only the 2016 UK Championship (lost in 3rd round) and the 2017 China Championship (2nd round) as well as maybe the 2017 Masters (quarterfinals), which is a completely different kind of tournament though, were not really a succes for Ding. He didn't win any of those though, "only" the 2016 Shanghai Masters, which is his lone ranking win since his strong 2013/14 season. So he really is overdue for another title, which would already be his 13th one.
For Kyren Wilson, whose sole ranking title came at the 2015 Shanghai Masters, a win today would be the biggest title and also the biggest success of his career. I think he is a guy who can cope very well with this kind of pressure though. But he certainly needs to be at his best to beat Ding and can't afford to need to many chances to win frames, which sometimes is one of his weaknesses.
Their head-to-head is quite even, so you can't read much out of it. Both won two of their four relevant duels. They met two times last season. Ding won 6-3 at the Masters, Wilson was a 5-1 winner at the China Open.

I can see Wilson win this, but Ding is simply the better player and so I have him as the favorite for the final. I say Ding to win 10-8 and I hope I'm as successful with this prediction as I was with my guesses for todays semifinals. :smile:

[Ramon]

It's very hard to judge which one gonna take the glory, imo.
I won't put a bet with this one.
Interesting match !!

[DeanH]

World Open 2017

yesterday my friend and I looked at the SF line up and we did pick the result (for once ).
got the alarm set to watch it live

[Odrl]

No disrepect to Luca Brecel and Shaun Murphy, but tomorrows final of the second big ranking event of the season, the World Open, is in my eyes far more promising than the one at the China Championship. In Ding Junhui we have one of the snooker greats in one corner and in Kyren Wilson one of the hopefully future greats in the opposite corner. And both have showed flashes of great play this week.
When he is playing his very best Ding Junhui is still the better player of course. Sometimes he tends to have some ugly misses in his potting game, but apart from maybe O'Sullivan nobody has such a lovely cue ball control as Ding and while he is not always consistent, on the top of his game he hardly has any flaws. If we look at the past one and a half year his results at the biggest events have also been pretty good. He was a finalist at the 2016 World Championship as well as the 2016 International Championship and a semifinalist at the 2017 World Championship. Only the 2016 UK Championship (lost in 3rd round) and the 2017 China Championship (2nd round) as well as maybe the 2017 Masters (quarterfinals), which is a completely different kind of tournament though, were not really a succes for Ding. He didn't win any of those though, "only" the 2016 Shanghai Masters, which is his lone ranking win since his strong 2013/14 season. So he really is overdue for another title, which would already be his 13th one.
For Kyren Wilson, whose sole ranking title came at the 2015 Shanghai Masters, a win today would be the biggest title and also the biggest success of his career. I think he is a guy who can cope very well with this kind of pressure though. But he certainly needs to be at his best to beat Ding and can't afford to need to many chances to win frames, which sometimes is one of his weaknesses.
Their head-to-head is quite even, so you can't read much out of it. Both won two of their four relevant duels. They met two times last season. Ding won 6-3 at the Masters, Wilson was a 5-1 winner at the China Open.

I can see Wilson win this, but Ding is simply the better player and so I have him as the favorite for the final. I say Ding to win 10-8 and I hope I'm as successful with this prediction as I was with my guesses for todays semifinals. :smile:

I agree with all of that, I think it's going to be a good final. :smile:

It's interesting that Ding has won all of their matches in Europe, but Wilson has beaten him both times they've met in China. I remember the quarter-final in the 2015 Shanghai Masters had quite a dramatic conclusion, with Wilson winning 5-4 on the final black. You can watch the last couple of minutes of that match on youtube, if anyone wants to see it again. :smile: Of course Wilson went on to win the title that weekend. Their quarter-final in the China Open last season was more one sided, and Wilson could do with a performance like that if he is to compete tomorrow. Well, his thrashing of Williams this week was one of the best performances by anyone in recent times, and while Ding has played quite well himself this week, he has been nowhere near that kind of level. Unfortunately Wilson couldn't quite reproduce it against Allen, so it could have just been a particularly good day for him, rather than an indication of great form in general.

As you say, Ding is a classy player with a very strong record in major finals throughout his career, which is something most people tend to forget. Only four players have ever beaten him in a major final, and if one considers that Neil Robertson is the worst of the lot, that's highly impressive. He is usually a very good front-runner in these matches, and just in case he does start a little slowly, like he did against Hendry in his very first final, or against Trump in the 2014 German Masters for example, the longer distance gives him plenty of time to wake up and find his top game.

It will be very interesting to see if Wilson can hold his own. I find the nickname "Warrior" to be generic and cringe-worthy, but I agree with the sentiment behind it. He has the mental strength and the fighting spirit very much reminiscent of Mark Selby, so I suspect he will make a match of it even if Ding is on form. He was second favourite against Trump in Shanghai two years ago as well, and we all know how that one finished...

Very much looking forward to tomorrow. :smile: I think the 10-8 call in favour of Ding is quite sensible and I will go along with it. :smile:

[snari]

Really looking forward for the final. I like both players, Kyren is a possible future world champion and Ding is, in my opinion, best player in the world at the moment so it's a win-win for me.
Hope it's going to be a good one!

[JimMalone]

As you say, Ding is a classy player with a very strong record in major finals throughout his career, which is something most people tend to forget. Only four players have ever beaten him in a major final, and if one considers that Neil Robertson is the worst of the lot, that's highly impressive. He is usually a very good front-runner in these matches, and just in case he does start a little slowly, like he did against Hendry in his very first final, or against Trump in the 2014 German Masters for example, the longer distance gives him plenty of time to wake up and find his top game.

It will be very interesting to see if Wilson can hold his own. I find the nickname "Warrior" to be generic and cringe-worthy, but I agree with the sentiment behind it. He has the mental strength and the fighting spirit very much reminiscent of Mark Selby, so I suspect he will make a match of it even if Ding is on form. He was second favourite against Trump in Shanghai two years ago as well, and we all know how that one finished...

That's a very good point about Ding you notice here. Indeed he has only lost to true champions in major finals so far, though of course in sports series often finally tend to come to an end. It's not only a thing about Ding, but mostly the length of distance is in favour of the better player, cause he has enough time to find his form and for the "weaker" player it's always more difficult to win 10 frames against a stronger player than just 4 or 5.

Also your take on Wilson is highly accurate.

[sharkster63]

Really looking forward for the final. I like both players, Kyren is a possible future world champion and Ding is, in my opinion, best player in the world at the moment so it's a win-win for me.
Hope it's going to be a good one!

I feel exactly the same, match starts at 2 am here, 1 hour to go, i hope they are both playing well, if this was a boxing match, I would say I want to see some blood. Cheers

[DeanH]

World Open 2017

a nice fight back for the last two frames but is it enough?
how many times have we seen a different game when they come back for the evening session

[Odrl]

a nice fight back for the last two frames but is it enough?
how many times have we seen a different game when they come back for the evening session

It was the pattern over the whole of last season, wasn't it? :smile: One player takes the early lead, the other wins the last couple of frames of the afternoon session to limit his losses, then goes on to dominate in the evening. :smile:

Not sure it's going to happen today though. As I said earlier, Ding has proven to be a great front-runner in major finals, so I doubt his standard will drop much in the second session. It's Wilson who really needs to raise his game and put some pressure on Ding.

[blahblah01]

Raise or be consistent?

While he is very good, I think there is something in his head, which is stopping him as good as he could be; and to an extent Warrior is decidedly wrong for him when the hammer goes down, and chicken may be more appropriate as he looks very nervous, imho.

That said, I think that he is probably less unlikely to win the WC than Trump.