2017 China Championship

[Csmith]

Shaun Murphy is favorite to win, but I think this is a good chance for Luca. It's his second final so he won't be overawed (I hope) and it's against a player that he has had success against in the past. Their head to head is 4-3 in Shaun's favor, but it is 3-1 to Luca in the last 1.5 years. Still, if it's a best of 17, that may change things.

[Rane]

Brecel has the advantage of playing with no pressure. It will be interesting to follow.

[Odrl]

I don't know... I am actually tempted to go for Brecel here. I've watched Murphy for three days in a row now, and the only time he played anywhere close to his potential was against Maguire. He was wasting chance after chance today, and it's hard to imagine someone winning a major ranking title with a performance like that. Brecel could have easily lost today as well, because Li Hang was in the balls at 5-4 and again at 5-5, but at least Brecel won the decider in his first scoring visit. He was second best in the safety exchanges against Li, but I think he will find it a little easier against Murphy. It should be an open, attacking game.

I remember the first time they played, in the 2012 UK Championship, when Brecel had a golden chance to reach the semi-finals at a very young age. I think he lost the last two frames on the colours, a ball or two away from winning the match. Thinking about it now, it's amazing how little Brecel has improved since then. He is still capable of outplaying anyone for short periods, but equally capable of throwing matches away from winning positions, or even losing in the qualifiers against players most people have never even heard of. Tomorrow is a wonderful chance for him to not only win his first major title, but also gain a massive dose of self-belief and big match experience, which could see his career take off in a similar way to Judd Trump after he won the 2011 China Open.

I messed up both semi-finals, but I've not learnt any lessons from that, so I will go for Brecel to win 10-8. :wink:

[JLiang91]

Brecel potted some crazy shots in his century against ROS.

[JimMalone]

If Brecel wins would he celebrate by getting another tat .... and where would he put it?

Probably on his head...

[JimMalone]

Brecel potted some crazy shots in his century against ROS.

And he pots some great balls again.
As he does often. Too often, cause if this is necessary that sometimes means he didn't gain a good position. Obviously this happens to every player, but I feel to Brecel more often. Reminds me a bit of Trump in that department, though Luca is not as careless with the cue ball.

[Odrl]

Not a bad start to the match, certainly a better standard than I expected after yesterday's performances, especially from Murphy. :smile:

[Rane]

And he pots some great balls again.
As he does often. Too often, cause if this is necessary that sometimes means he didn't gain a good position. Obviously this happens to every player, but I feel to Brecel more often. Reminds me a bit of Trump in that department, though Luca is not as careless with the cue ball.

Or Robertson when he made his breakthrough.

[Odrl]

I can't believe how poorly Murphy has played after the interval. He is still knocking in some great balls at times, but he is completely useless when it comes to taking his chances. Needs to win the last one to avoid going 6-3 behind now. :smile:

[jimev]

Murphy duly held his nerve to pot a difficult final 2 balls to bring the score to 4-5 for the final session (for which i'm going to have to do some serious jiggery pokery with my work to be able to watch; major final on a tuesday morning/afternoon???)

[jw147]

Yes a "major" final on a summers tuesday afternoon, winner gets 150,000!!! Similar to the 2nd biggest event, the UK, but the final in that won't be held on a Tuesday afternoon.

[Neil Taperell]

It's 7.45pm in China at the moment .........it's a Global sport , so they can't play the matches to suit all time zones .

So you want them to play at 2am , so that you can see it tonight .

You have a strange outlook on things .

[Rane]

Yes a "major" final on a summers tuesday afternoon, winner gets 150,000!!! Similar to the 2nd biggest event, the UK, but the final in that won't be held on a Tuesday afternoon.

The World Championship typically ends on a monday evening after midnight central european time! I know it a holiday in UK, but not in the rest of the world.

[jimev]

It's 7.45pm in China at the moment .........it's a Global sport , so they can't play the matches to suit all time zones .

So you want them to play at 2am , so that you can see it tonight .

You have a strange outlook on things .

about time china changed their clocks then

no i didn't mean the time, just i'm sure the global audience would have been much larger had this been held on a sunday

looking like this could be luca's big break through at last

[Bigmeek]

Good steal from Brecel. Leads 8-5. Looking favourite.