The Welsh Open

[BarryH]

Another quarter final that should be a final

trump or ronnie tomorrow

ur suggestions

Ronnie needs it more, but it's getting annoying they keep meeting in the quarter finals. I hope they're in opposite halves of the draw for the Crucible.

[FOXMULDER]

Trump is getting cocky... I'd LOVE Ronnie to thump him tomorrow, 4-0 with a couple of tons.

[Masterdoctorgenius]

u mean 5-0

[FOXMULDER]

u mean 5-0

Oh good, it's back to best of nine. At last...

Gotta fancy Maguire to beat Selby.

[rhys1337]

I don't think they do when another match is on.

from judd via twitter;

@Nyarlyhotep; @judd147t Congratulations, Judd! But why do you hate children so much, not to give them autographs?
@judd147t; @Nyarlyhotep not allowed to sign in the arena, was stood outside for 10mins signing stuff.

[cally]

Great day of snooker today.

Couldn't be bothered to hang about for finish of selby/gould's match...

Looking forward to ron and judd tomoz, best of 9, about rime to, these best of 7's have annoyed the ell out of me this year.

By time your settled down and relaxed the match is over..


Lot's of matches have finished under an hour, that's not a snooker match...

IMO the intevals can create the atmosphere and without them it just ain't the same 'buzz' about a match...

I dunno..

Heres hoping to a classic tomoz and fngers crossed i get to see ron have a maxi live... or judd, judd will do, but to see ron do one live would be the icing on the cake...


Peace out...

[doorag]

from judd via twitter;

@Nyarlyhotep; @judd147t Congratulations, Judd! But why do you hate children so much, not to give them autographs?
@judd147t; @Nyarlyhotep not allowed to sign in the arena, was stood outside for 10mins signing stuff.

Good to hear.

[FOXMULDER]

IMO the intevals can create the atmosphere and without them it just ain't the same 'buzz' about a match...

Completely agree.

No match in a ranking event should be less than Best-Of-Nine (unless it's a league-type situation). It's a complete joke, one that the Hearn fanatics will no doubt defend with "but it means everyone gets on TV!"

These Best-Of-Seven's don't build the tension, they're just too short for any real drama.

And I don't like the lack of a screen either, another atmosphere killer. Hell, why not play music?

Just silly changes that aren't necessary.

[Ronnie's tip]

Can't wait for Trump/ROS.

At the Uk the match was really close and really all that seperated them was run of the ball. Masters was a bit different - Ronnie was basically terrivle for 4 frames and it was KO (6-2?).

Still fancy Trump to win, Ronnie is in decent form but not that great. Could easily have lost to Higginson, Lee and Maguire at the German.

It's a huge match for ROS though. Losing 4 in a row would create a big mental problem. Hopefully Ronnie can get a big win over him in time for the WC.

[Mr Snooker]

Just for fun my last Quarter Final predictions


best Of 9 Frames (First to 5)

3-5 Ding Jun Hui V Stephen Lee
5-4 Shaun Murphy V Mark Allen
5-3 Ronnie O' Sullivan V Judd Trump
5-4 Stephen Magiuire V Mark Selby

Highest Break 138

[SnookerFan]

I hope Trump wins today. Don't really like him, but I like Ronnie less.

Travelling up this afternoon. I am probably going to watch Ding vs Lee. Going to pick one match to watch, despite lack of wall.

[montoya10]

An O'Sullivan vs Maguire rematch would be nice to watch for me.

[daffie]

Completely agree.

No match in a ranking event should be less than Best-Of-Nine (unless it's a league-type situation). It's a complete joke, one that the Hearn fanatics will no doubt defend with "but it means everyone gets on TV!"

These Best-Of-Seven's don't build the tension, they're just too short for any real drama.

And I don't like the lack of a screen either, another atmosphere killer. Hell, why not play music?

Just silly changes that aren't necessary.

Count me in as someone who's in complete agreement with all of the above

[Odrl]

Nice quarter-final lineup, got 3 of 8 this time.

Starting at the top, nice to see Lee in his second successive quarter-final. I'm not sure how many times he's managed something like this over the last seven or eight years, might be very rare indeed. So you could say he is somewhere near his current best. Looking at the draw, it did open up for him a bit, so this is the first time he should really be tested. Ding could easily have gone out against Higgins, but now that he's got the victory, he will be feeling pretty good. He made a good break in the decider, and another decent one in the penultimate frame, even though Higgins still had that chance. I think Lee suits him as an opponent, and I expect something similar to their 2011 China Open QF, perhaps Ding winning 5-3 this time.

Murphy against Allen should be very interesting. They have been drawn in the same quarter quite a lot in recent times, but for some reason they always seem to avoid each other. You would think Murphy should be favourite, just looking at their strengths and weaknesses. Allen is a good long potter, great at forcing his way into frames, but so is Murphy. They are both inconsistent scorers, capable of one-visit stuff at their best, but they can be pretty mediocre at times as well. Murphy has the tactical edge, particularly in patience and controlling his urge to take on shots that are too attacking. I think Allen can score the quicker of the two, when he finds a bit of inspiration, so it will be important for Murphy not to be away from the table for too long. As for current form, both players have had some good results in the last two months, perhaps Murphy more recently than Allen. But since Allen is yet to lose a frame in this tournament, I think he has a chance. 5-4 perhaps?

O'Sullivan-Trump? Should be another good match. O'Sullivan has regained some confidence now, and he is back to being dangerous in the proper ranking events. It would be good for him to appear at the business end of two consecutive events. Winners of the previous event usually go out at a point like this, but maybe O'Sullivan can be the exception. I actually don't think he was at his very best in Germany, mentally yes, but form wise I think he can play slightly better. So it might be that he will only reach his form peak this week, but that's only guessing of course. This type of game, being in the balls most of the time without anything too scrappy, has always suited him, and there's not many players who can prevail over him in such an open game. However, at this point in time Trump is also one of the very best players in that type of game, and he seems to love playing O'Sullivan. I have to go for Trump here. Just looking at the patterns with O'Sullivan, you just knew he was going to beat Williams, and you know he is going to win every time he plays Carter. On the other hand, I always have a feeling he will lose when he meets Higgins, and I am getting the same feeling with Trump now. A close match like the UK, or a thrashing like the Masters? Somewhere in between perhaps, 5-3.

And the last one, Maguire-Selby, maybe even the most interesting of the four. Maguire has a similar case to O'Sullivan, in the sense that it's tough to say whether his form is going up or down. He seems to be continuing in the same style as in Germany, very clinical scoring, and not much nonsense from him. For all of Selby's record-breaking centuries, I wouldn't fancy him in a scoring duel against Maguire. And even tactically, I think Maguire is somewhat underrated, as he can be extremely hard and disciplined when in the mood. He's had a couple of good wins over Selby recently, and I think it suits him when he is seen as the underdog. Hm... Perhaps it's the same with Selby? Ok, he's got to number one in the world, and he's been quite consistent over the last couple of seasons. But there's no doubt he can be somewhat disappointing at times, losing unexpectedly just as you think he will do something big. And on the other hand, some of his best wins have come when he was seen as second best in a match. He has not been particularly impressive this week, or in Germany for that matter, so he will need to raise his game to compete against Maguire. Personally, I think he will do so and give us a close match, perhaps a 5-4, but I think it will go in Maguire's favour.

Should be a good day.

[montoya10]

No big surprises in the quarter-final lineups after all. Should be a quality day.

I expect Lee to give Ding some headaches today, and same goes with Allen, but I do think Ding and Murphy will prove to be too strong at the end.
Murphy and Maguire, on their current rising form, are due a tournament win at some point, for sure, but I can't see when. Maguire still remains as my favourite for the title, but Selby is far from being a pushover.
O'Sullivan vs Trump is the attention drawing game of today, but it won't be lasting for long, I suppose. We may see Ronnie peaking this week after his decent but not fantastic performance on his way to the title in Germany as Odrl pointed out.

Maguire, O'Sullivan, Ding and Murphy for the semi-finals.
Looking forward to all of these matches. Potentially high standard is waiting for us : )