Format and Schedule of China Open

[coomsey76]

Format and Schedule of China Open

Good to see Ali Carter winning a couple matches......

[LittleMissAlexa]

I have never been a big fan of Allister's I just view him as one of two players a bit out of place in top sixteen due to his lack of natural ability like Graeme he's a hard worker not a natural the naturals like Ding, Judd, Ronnie, Mark J, Mark Allen, Mark Selby, Matthew even Martin. Stephen Maguire and Shawn

I respect those without that ability for over achieving but they should really be journeyman pro's if the naturals played to their ability

look at Matthew only won one ranking event, yet natural abilitywise i think hes the nearest to Ronnie, you just have to see the way they breakbuild to see the simularities

[pekmez]

is there any available live stream of ebdon-higgins match?
thank you

(sorry if this post isnt in right topic, i didnt knew where to ask)

[Odrl]

Robertson-Hendry was a pretty good match I thought. A bit unusal to see Hendry winning a frame when he needed a snooker. In fact, he won all three frames on the colours, while Robertson won four of his with big breaks.

A nice quarter-final lineup. If Higgins wins, that's 5 out of 8 for me this time.

[LittleMissAlexa]

is there any available live stream of ebdon-higgins match?
thank you

(sorry if this post isnt in right topic, i didnt knew where to ask)

it was a China Open match so it is on topic your fine

[daffie]

I'm still catching up, the Hendry vs Robertson match was good to watch. At the moment watching the O'Sullivan vs Williams match.

Just looking ahead to tomorrow...anyone know on which eurosport channel the Robertson match be shown? As I'm at work tomorrow...having to program the ol' vhs Thanks.

[FOXMULDER]

Is that the third time Hendry and Robertson have played each other in as many months? Bit annoying when players keep meeting like that. Oh well, I'm sure Hendry will qualify for the Crucible.

Trump V Lee should be awesome.

[SnookerFan]

Disappointed Ali won. I was hoping for a Ding vs Ning match.

Gutted for Selby as well though. Hope he's well for The Crucible. It'd be a shame if his performance was hampered on the biggest stage of them all.

[DeanH]

can I just ask about Selby, seen on Sky Sports ticker that he has withdrawn due to neck injury, anyone know more info?

[Ronnie's tip]

Watching it again on eurosport.....yet again ROS misses a black from the spot. He does it all the time now.
Anyway atleast he's picked up some ranking points. In 2010 he lost in the 1st round and this year he's in the 1/4's.

Mark's been out of sorts since Shanghai. Inconsistent, careless. It's disappointing after such a good last season and good start to this season. I can't see him getting better to this year's WC as it's so near and again it's most likely Ronnie in the second round.

To be honest he wasn't THAT good last season. He was shocking at the UK but somehow got to the final.

[Odrl]

Shall we have a look at the QF pairs?

Judd Trump v. Stephen Lee: I think Trump is a slight favourite probably. Lee has really been excellent in the last couple of months, appearing at the business end of every tournament he's played in. He has looked very dangerous in the balls, convincingly outscoring most of his opponents recently. We haven't seen him on TV this week, but it's pretty safe to assume his form is still there. Having said all of that, Trump is an opponent you don't really want to play in a scoring duel, because he is one of the three or four best players in the world in that type of snooker at this point in time. He's had a couple of 5-3 victories, but you would expect him to get better as the tournament goes on. Can Lee keep him away from the table? Well, with the kind of safety he played in the PTC Final, he has a chance. But I thought that about Selby in last year's final as well, and Trump outplayed him in every department. So... best-of-9 is still a fairly short match, so it could go either way, but I reckon Trump will win 5-3ish.

Stephen Maguire v. Ronnie O'Sullivan: A repeat of the German Masters final, and a rivalry O'Sullivan has had the better of over the years. But this is a very specific match at a very specific point of the season. O'Sullivan played alright against Williams, but he wasn't really tested, and his win against Campbell wasn't brilliant snooker either. He usually plays well against Maguire, so I would expect him to play properly and perhaps raise his game a bit. But then again, he could go back to his absurdly attacking approach, and it would be tough to get away with it against such a strong opponent. Maguire played very well against Hawkins, then only just beat Walden in a match we didn't see, so I am not sure how well he is likely to play. The fact he played so well in the German Masters final and still lost is bound to affect him here, especially if O'Sullivan makes a good break or two early on. Still, he has beaten him a couple of times in the past, and if he could re-produce his form from Germany here, the biggest obstacles would be in his mind. He certainly has the firepower to outplay O'Sullivan on the table. My feeling is Maguire will win, perhaps 5-3.

Ding Junhui v. Allister Carter: Probably the only match with a clear favourite. I didn't expect much from Carter before the tournament started, so he is already a pleasant surprise here. He beat Dale and Lu, two decent wins, but Ding is the first real test. And it's not really a case of Carter being at his best. Well, Ding certainly wasn't at his best against Woollaston, and he was lucky he faced an opponent who completely cracked with the finishing line in sight. Looking at the positives, it's certainly a good sign Ding dug so deep and gave it everything, and having got his reward, I am sure he will fight to the end in every match now. It's a shame we didn't get to see him play Selby, as that would have been a real test. Is it an advantage or a disadvantage to skip a match? Probably an advantage in this case, as playing Selby can be quite draining mentally, so Ding is still fresh now. Tactically their games are quite similar, but Ding has played that type of game a bit better than Carter in recent times. I think he will win fairly comfortably, maybe 5-2.

Neil Robertson v. Peter Ebdon: On paper, there is a clear favourite here as well, but I'm not so sure... Robertson was quite impressive against Hendry, in a high-quality match. He won four frames with big breaks, lost the three on the colours, but Hendry had to work for those rather than being gifted them. Robertson's 1st round match against Cope wasn't as great, but it's certainly not unusual for him to raise his game a bit with each round. This is his second QF appearance in China, after Shanghai at the start of the season, so we can't automatically rule him out anymore. For Peter Ebdon, this is a rare appearance at the business end of a major tournament. He has an occasional good run, perhaps only one in a season recently, but it looks like this is it. He won the last three meetings against Robertson in China, including a couple of 5-1 victories, so it looks like Robertson suits him as an opponent. The problem is Ebdon's matches against Stevens and Higgins weren't televised, so I can't be sure how well he is really playing, and his wildcard match is not really enough to judge him on. Still, my gut feeling says Ebdon could win this, I certainly expect a close match, maybe even a decider.

Looking forward to tomorrow, should be a good start to my day.

[coomsey76]

Format and Schedule of China Open

Great pre-match write up as always Odrl......

[Odrl]

Great pre-match write up as always Odrl......

Thank you

Some very nice snooker so far this morning. An exchange of big breaks in the Trump-Lee match, Lee coming from behind to level at 2-2. I don't think Trump will be too worried at the moment though, as he seems to be able to hold a good scoring standard for long periods. I don't expect Lee to crack either, he is bound to be high on confidence after the last two frames.

O'Sullivan-Maguire has been very interesting as well, both players looking in good potting and scoring form. I think Maguire will be slightly disappointed after the first four frames, because he was on a scoring chance for 3-1 and missed a reasonably easy pot. We saw what happened in Germany when he didn't maximize his lead early on, and O'Sullivan's very nicely composed break could set the tone for the rest of the match. It will be interesting too see if Maguire can get the momentum back this time.

[paddybhoy30]

Can't believe ronnie did'nt pull the blue back an inch for easy last red.

[Odrl]

What a morning, the best of the tournament so far!

O'Sullivan-Maguire was a really good match. I feared Maguire would be in trouble after the interval, but he held it together and didn't let O'Sullivan get in front. And just as it looked he would bottle the decider a bit, it was O'Sullivan who messed up position on frame ball, and Maguire made a lovely clearance to force a re-spotted black. Nice reaction from O'Sullivan when it went in, looking like he really enjoyed the challenge. So, Maguire in the semi-finals again. Is this finally going to be his tournament?

On the other table, Lee's excellent run continues. I think this is his fifth good event in a row now. That's unusual even for the players at the top of the rankings, let alone someone like Lee who has struggled with consistency in recent years. But every credit to him, he outplayed Trump today. I wonder what would have happened had Trump not bottled that colour clearance after getting three snooker in the sixth frame...