Ronnie O'Sullivan v Matthew Stevens - Semi Final

[Looki]

O'Sullivan is a huge favorite here but there are always surprises on the way... Stevens can't afford to let O'Sullivan dominate early on and must take his chances. Stevens wasn't that convincing against Day although he won by a great margin, he'll need to improve (as he admitted himself).

[SnookerFan]

If Ronnie wins 17-0, it'll be a shock. Nobody expects Stevens to win 0.

[Hal]

Stevens to win 17-13 .... Go Matthew!

[Odrl]

Slowly but surely the heat will rise until O'Sullivan inevitably hits his golden patch.
At this point Stevens will crumble as Ebdon, Williams and Robertson have.

I also think this is a possible scenario. I've been saying something similar about Maguire all week, how he inevitably has a strong session that wins him the match, as long as he doesn't have a bad one as well. I think it applies to O'Sullivan even more. He has so far avoided any sort of crisis. He was only under pressure once, early against Robertson, and even then only lost the session 5-3. If he keeps that up against Stevens, it's kind of hard to see him not opening a gap once he hits top form.

But then again, Stevens is a real Crucible specialist who has always enjoyed matches over a couple of sessions. I think he takes a while to get going, but like O'Sullivan, is always looking to push on in the second session. Could he play consistently better snooker than O'Sullivan? Perhaps, although I don't think he will...

As montoya10 mentioned, O'Sullivan won convincingly in their last long match, 9-3 in the UK Championship a couple of years ago. He also won a best-of-9 this season. Having said that, he won against a decent top16 player, not the player Stevens used to be. I think the old Stevens is back here though, so he might be tougher to crack. I remember their 2005 Irish Masters final, where O'Sullivan went 6-1 in front with some tremendous snooker, only for Stevens to get back to 6-6 in the evening session. So while O'Sullivan is great at bullying opponents, Stevens has been known to survive it in the past. We know Stevens can struggle to finish it off when in front, and we know he can come back from behind, so whichever way this match goes, it's not over until it's over.

I expect O'Sullivan to prevail around 17-12.

[attilahun]

Ronnie will win this i think. He likes opponents who play attacking snooker and Stevens is doing just that. And he likes that because the frames will be very short and he will not get bored, so it will not matter to him if he will lose a frame or two if his opponent is playing fast attacking snooker. Ronnies biggest problem is Ronnie. If he can stay focused in a session he has every chance to win that session or draw at least.
I also believe Stevens will try to risk more and more as the match progress and that will only suit Ronnie.
Ronnie to win 17-11/12.

[Masterdoctorgenius]

stevens is the biggest choker around

look at last years crucible match against allen, led 9-6 or 9-7 and had several chances to kill the match off
not to mention the two crucible finals and other matches, yes, he plays well here, has a good record, but plays not well enough to win the whole thing.

this is why he has only one ranking event to his name

i saw his match against hendry at the Uk final where he was totally outplayed by hendry in the first session, but clawed his way back and won the Uk. I thought back then as he had overcome his mental barrier that he would be a future champ but 2 years later he choked in the WSC final 2005 against a qualfier

when the pressure is on, he rarely delievers against top opposition, against weaker opposition he gets away with it

btw he had the easiest draw u can get (not his fault though) in this Championship, played only qualifiers so far and made quite a lot of mistakes which get unpunished. but he also made some good century breaks.
to have any chance he has to cut down his mistakes.

further, he hasnt won a match against ronnie for years, let alone have been in a semi finale of any tournaments. the pressure will get to him in the end


prediciton: ronnie to prevail with a session to spare

[Piscator]

I think so too. But deep inside we wanted them to have a good fight, as like 2009 John vs Jamie and John vs Mark Selby. No fun watching a one sided match.

[Piscator]

I think so too. But deep inside we wanted them to have a good fight, as like 2009 John vs Jamie and John vs Mark Selby. No fun watching a one sided match.

[Mr Snooker]

Ronnie O' Sullivan 17 Matthew Stevens 10

matthew as had a good tornament after a couple of bad seasons dropping out of the top 16 and managing to back in it as well after a few years, but the way Ronnie is playing I think he will be to strong for him at the crucible, having beating 3 world champions on the way to the semi final Peter Ebdon 10-4, Mark Williams 13-6 and Neil Robertson 13-10, and Matthew also played excellent in taking 11 frames in a row against is good friend Ryan Day to win 13-5, After what he as been through be great for Matthew to reach the final but I can't see it the way Ronnie is playing at the moment

[vmax4steve]

Ronnie has got his practise head on, playing with no thought just instinct, everything he learned from Reardon has now become instinct, zen snooker, the rocket is back, but for how long ??

[montoya10]

Hope Matthew wins this one. The only champion left in the draw is Ronnie and I like all players in the semis, so, definitely it will be good to see one of them finally winning it all.

[snookerfran]

Can't wait for this match. Want Ronnie to win, but really hope Stevens is on form and would definitely not begrudge him a WC title. Anyone know what time the final session is on Saturday? Don't want to have to record it!

[doorag]

Can't wait for this match. Want Ronnie to win, but really hope Stevens is on form and would definitely not begrudge him a WC title. Anyone know what time the final session is on Saturday? Don't want to have to record it!

7 pm. I agree, if anyone is going to beat Ronnie i wouldnt mind if it was Stevens.

[FOXMULDER]

It's going to take a miracle for Stevens to win this match.

[Ronnie's tip]

Got a feeling Stevens will make a great start here. I think he'll win the first session.