Shanghai Masters - Final duscussion

[Ekphantos]

Better than expected, at least not a totally one sided final. Hope Walden can continue like that.

[Ellena]

Well not exactly a joke, but i also doubt hell win another one soon, more than that , i tend to doubt hell keep up with this good form for the rest of the season.
Another surprise winner in Shanghai..i wonder whos gonna win it next year?!
Congrats are in order tho, for both.: Ricky for winig his first ranking tourney-he layed well tonight , he deserved it- and to Ronnie for getting that far in a tournament abroad. I admit im a bit disappointed with Ronnies game tonight , guess he is too, and come to think that b4 this tournament started i was just hoping see him passing the first round ... Fans are hard to please eh?!

[Black_cat]

I admit im a bit disappointed with Ronnies game tonight , guess he is too, and come to think that b4 this tournament started i was just hoping see him passing the first round ... Fans are hard to please eh?!

Exactly. And then he goes and presents us with two gems of excellent snooker: the quarterfinal and the semi.
I must confess I felt the same, Ellena: just get past the first round and it's ok. But I think Ronnie wanted a lot more: to make up for missing the event last year and for his off-table performance this spring, to please the Chinese audience and the sponsors and, most importantly, to play well abroad.
He accomplished all that.
Except for the final, where he was far from his best and yet tried hard to overcome the bad form and bad luck he's had.
So for now, The League, The GP and life goes on.
At least I hope so...

[Ellena]

Exactly. And then he goes and presents us with two gems of excellent snooker: the quarterfinal and the semi.
I must confess I felt the same, Ellena: just get past the first round and it's ok. But I think Ronnie wanted a lot more: to make up for missing the event last year and for his off-table performance this spring, to please the Chinese audience and the sponsors and, most importantly, to play well abroad.
He accomplished all that.
Except for the final, where he was far from his best and yet tried hard to overcome the bad form and bad luck he's had.
So for now, The League, The GP and life goes on.
At least I hope so...

True Cat. And im sooo pleased to see that for a change he wanted "a lot more" and didnt have that "cant be bothered" mood he had till now in China and Malta, that, if he had tuned up at all. Tis a change in Ronnies attitude and it makes me happy, but even so i cant get rid of the bitter taste of his defeat tonight.
Beginning tomorrow i will direct my thoughts to PL and the GP, but tonight..allow me to be bit sad...
Mon the Rocket! :snooker:

[Black_cat]

but tonight..allow me to be bit sad...
Mon the Rocket! :snooker:

I'm sad and juuust a bit disappointed, too. Streak of victories has ended and it's quite a bitter pill to swallow for the moment.
Guess we'll get to the sugar coating tomorrow, eh, Ellena?
And now we'll be offered hankies by all members on TSF, mate. Hankies and chocolate.

[wildJONESEYE]

My Thoughts

Standard of play from Ronnie was Well Below his normal standards throughout the match but by the end it had deteriorated even more thats why he lost...

Ricky played well but not faultless snooker and the type of performance from him that would have been taken apart had ronnie performed to his best.....i think he knows that and i defanatly know that..

[Monique]

Ronnie said

"I'm disappointed to lose although my expectations were never that high because I know I can play like that sometimes," said the world No 1. "I played ok this afternoon but tonight I wasn't at the races, I was poor. Ricky played well, he's been a good player for a while so I'm glad he's won something.

"I never thought the match would be easy, but I could have made it easier for myself if I'd played better. I'm not surprised I lost because I didn't put Ricky under any pressure, so I deserved to lose. It's still been a good week for me to get to the final."

according to WSA article.
So yes he knows and not looking for excuses. Bad day it was. It happens to all of them (and us)

[dannyd0g]

Looks certain now Walden will at the least secure a top 32 place for next season, as he is now provisionally 17th by my rough calculations (not bothering to work out how many points everyone else has earned.) Its very unlikely that everyone ranked 18 - 33 or will overtake him now, even if the worst happens and he has a disastrous run for the remainder of the season.

I'm glad he has finally achieved this after showing great promise a few years ago, but then after that he seemed to grind to a halt and looked very unlucky over the last couple of seasons with whats seemed like the toughest of draws in the qualifiers and narrowly loosing many crucial matches in the deciding frame !

[jw147]

surely the provisional rankings cant be correct, saying jimmy only moved up from 59th to 56th after getting to the last 32 of a ranking event??? must be a clown who is employed by the wpbsa to do their rankings.

[dannyd0g]

surely the provisional rankings cant be correct, saying jimmy only moved up from 59th to 56th after getting to the last 32 of a ranking event??? must be a clown who is employed by the wpbsa to do their rankings.

it doesnt seem a big jump does it. Shows how tough it can be to climb the ranks even with a good run.

It is correct though - 2,500 points added.

Steve Davis has jumped about 10 places though ! Earning a lot more points with a couple of wins in the latter rounds, than Jimmy did with several in the qualifiers....

[wildJONESEYE]

Looks certain now Walden will at the least secure a top 32 place for next season, as he is now provisionally 17th by my rough calculations (not bothering to work out how many points everyone else has earned.) Its very unlikely that everyone ranked 18 - 33 or will overtake him now, even if the worst happens and he has a disastrous run for the remainder of the season.

I'm glad he has finally achieved this after showing great promise a few years ago, but then after that he seemed to grind to a halt and looked very unlucky over the last couple of seasons with whats seemed like the toughest of draws in the qualifiers and narrowly loosing many crucial matches in the deciding frame !

after last seasons shanghai masters Dominic Dale was provisionally inside the Top 16 By the end of the season he was hanging on to his top 32 place by his fingernails....so you never know mate..

[João]

I'd like to congratulate both players.

Ricky Walden - because he has gone all the way in 2 tournaments in a row, against all odds. I like his attacking style and I look forward to see more of him soon.

Ronnie O'Sullivan - he's clearly on one of the best runs of his career. He has been pretty solid and he showed some respect (finally) to the chinese crowd who loves him. (a bit too much for my liking but still...)

[darrus]

Still sad about the result but well done Ricky Walden!
Is there an updated ranking list somewhere already?

[jw147]

If only he had finished king off when he was 4-3 up and in amongst the balls at the start of the 8th, and then went on to lift the trophy dreaming is good fun at times

[wildJONESEYE]

Walden also became the first player from outside the Top 32 to win a Ranking Title sinse Ding Junhui when he won the UK Championship in 2005.