Ronnie O Sullivan - Ali Carter - final

[montoya10]

Unlucky for Carter. Chance of a steal for O'Sullivan.

[PaddyLowson]

Personally, I hope we get a good final. It should be better than the 2008 final, but I do think that we wont be going much beyond half nine, ten o'clock tomorrow night

I remember being very disappointed with the way Ali played his second round match in the UK Championships, showing disinterest. Now he's in the final, he's played great snooker to get there. The midsession on Friday night to move from 10-6 to lead 14-7 was very impressive and I'm sure I'm not the only one who expected him to go 16-8 or actually go on and finish the job at 17-7.

Regarding the final this year, it will be interesting to see how much he has learnt from 2008 when Ronnie really did give him a hiding. Finishing the afternoon relatively early (i.e. winning the session) will have helped even if Ronnie won 17-10.

Ali's problem was that he slipped well behind early on last time and from 6-2 behind was always playing catch up, and from 11-5 behind, 18-8 wasn't a shocking scoreline. - This year he needs to stick with him early on, if he's 11-6 or worse overnight then it could become a runaway tomorrow.

The main target for both tomorrow is 10-7 That gives a little room for both. You have to remember if you win each session by the bare minimum then you're going to have a 15-10 lead heading into the final session, and that would be tough to overturn.

I do think Ronnie will win, and I don't think it'll be that close, but closer than last time, 18-12 is my prediction.

[Masterdoctorgenius]

first chance for ali after saftey error from ronnie

[daffie]

Wow...what a beautiful shot that was...the overhead cam-shot that is...giving us a full view of the table from the side, with Michaela placing the white behind the green and Ronnie awaiting his next try at escaping the snooker. Don't think I've ever seen that particular view before, for that long as well.

Anyway...on with the match

[Odrl]

Top notch safety play from Carter so far.

[Odrl]

Why was Carter introduced first? Isn't the higher seed usually introduced last?

[Masterdoctorgenius]

Bring the final on

come on ronnie

[montoya10]

Well, if we're looking at patterns... Only Stevens and White played in more than one World final without ever winning. On the other hand, every multiple champion has lost at least one World final, except O'Sullivan.

So if Carter loses, he will become another exception, while O'Sullivan will stay one as well.

Well, I checked it out and actually, it looks like there is one more elite name belonging to that club, aside from Stevens and White. It's 1973 and 1975 finalist Eddie Charlton (=
In fact, White is a ten-time semi-finalist, apparently Charlton reached that stage eight times and this was Stevens' sixth semi-final. So, Carter shouldn't complain that much

[tawaterski]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZcyhRq_wv0

[Odrl]

Well, if we're looking at patterns... Only Stevens and White played in more than one World final without ever winning. On the other hand, every multiple champion has lost at least one World final, except O'Sullivan.

So if Carter loses, he will become another exception, while O'Sullivan will stay one as well.

[The Boss]

If Ronnie wins he will be the oldest Champion since Reardon in 1978 (45). Fangtastic

[montoya10]

Mark Selby could do that. He never earned respect from Ronnie O'Sullivan by his play, in fact, in his interviews, Ronnie labeled his play as boring once, if I'm not wrong.
The only person who can cope with an O'Sullivan that is giving his head to the game is John Higgins. Very best of Stephen Hendry, Mark Williams, Judd Trump (all-attacking players) will also have a chance, but they need to be ultra-sharp, which isn't that likely.

[Masterdoctorgenius]

i don't think there's anybody who could easily destroy ROS

maybe higgins at his best

[DamienB]

i don't think there's anybody who could easily destroy ROS

[montoya10]

I am Dracula: O'Sullivan terrified younger viewers with his Bela Lugosi impression in 2004. Will we see a return of the fangs on Monday?

Isn't this around the times he was mentored by the great Ray "The Dracula" Reardon?