UK championship match discussion thread

[Alex0paul]

Looks like another tournament with a surprise winner. Looking like 7 top 16ers at max will be in the last 16. Last time the event went like this was 2004 and I don't think anyone would have guessed the semi finalists then bar Maguire.

[hegeland]

by the way, anybody knows if there are match recordings already available? on uknova or thebox, or wherever else?

There are plenty, on both those sites.

Thank god for http://www.eurosport.se/mclivevideo.shtml as my (our ) satellite dish fell down last week and we (I ) haven't found the energy to put it up yet.

Is that link working for outsiders as well, btw? It's really great with complete coverage of both tables!

[ADR147]

yes higgins taking a beating - might have bounced back without that blue miss but hard work now

[April madness]

There are plenty, on both those sites.

Is that link working for outsiders as well, btw? It's really great with complete coverage of both tables!

Russians have the same coverage. It didn't work last night, not on swedish site, not on russian

[hegeland]

Ah, I see. I've been out of town for a few days. Hope it'll continue to work like it has this afternoon.

[MysteryG]

Higgins 3-9 Cope.

That's not so good. He's doing worse with every tournament it seems!

[ADR147]

he did not do a lot wrong i thought , cope was superb.

[Alex0paul]

Great comeback by Dott in frame 12. He needed a snooker and the safety exchanges on pink and black between him and Harold were brilliant. Pinches it on the black 77-76 to trail 5-7.

[MysteryG]

he did not do a lot wrong i thought , cope was superb.

Cope did incredibly well, but Higgins missed a lot of chances. Or at least, he couldn't make proper enough breaks. At least that's how it looked. He made half-finished breaks which gave Cope a chance and he grabbed it with both hand. For example, at 7-3, Higgins should've made it 7-4 but he missed the blue. It's just one miss, but it's a miss he just shouldn't have made. He should just have done better in the first session where he had enough chances to go into this session with a better score.

On the other hand, it's not easy to play against someone who is playing so well.

[Semih_Sayginer]

agree mg

higgi made some mistakes, not that many, but enough. he got punished for most of them

well done cope

[MysteryG]

But even though Higgins might not have done THAT much wrong, it also was never truly spectacular except for that century. You just have to make breaks of more than 50-60 and Higgins at his best makes less mistakes and higher breaks. He was mediocre and that's simply not enough. Besides, maybe it was just me, but his safety seemed to look quite weak this match.

Personally, I think he's a bit relying on hope rather than getting enough practice at the moment, but I could be completely wrong of course. It just seems that most of his mistakes come from not practising enough, not enough to build some form at least.

That said, he's not the only one who is doing crappy this season. Most of the top players aren't doing well at all. Hendry, Davis, Dott, Ding, Robertson....none of them are performing exactly well. And Williams finally winning a match is considered an amazing accomplishment I assume, which says enough.

The amount of potential tournament winners has just increased a lot. You can't rely on mediocrity anymore as a top player. Even in the first round, you have to be in form.

[dannyd0g]

Never noticed before just how deadly good Cope is. Somehow when he's lined up his shots everything just seems so 'piston like' or 'ramrod straight' that you know hes not going to miss. His long potting is as awesome as anything ive seen. I guess thats why hes called "shotgun"eh

As Clive Everton said today "a star is born". Virgo's comments yesterday were very telling too though; something like 'when he's hot he's hot getting to 2 finals last year, but he also lost a few tournaments at the last 64 stage last year so his ranking actually fell'.

I dont think Higgins was particularly mediocre; he just wasnt given much chance to play.

[cueman]

Those in the know always knew Cope would eventually come good in a ranking tournament. He got to the final of the Grand Prix last year but didn't do too much after that.
When he's playing near his best he can beat anyone.

Not a surprise to see so many top 16 players out already. I said a few weeks back that ranking position doesn't mean a lot today. Anyone in the top 48 can win a tournament although a few players like Hendry, Davis are just making up the numbers despite being ranked in the top 16 at present.

[dannyd0g]

Those in the know always knew Cope would eventually come good in a ranking tournament. He got to the final of the Grand Prix last year but didn't do too much after that.
When he's playing near his best he can beat anyone.

I'd been hearing all the hype about him for a few years, but never actually seen for myself, with my own eyes, what was behind it all, until now.

[hegeland]

Never noticed before just how deadly good Cope is. Somehow when he's lined up his shots everything just seems so 'piston like' or 'ramrod straight' that you know hes not going to miss. His long potting is as awesome as anything ive seen. I guess thats why hes called "shotgun"eh

Then again, that poor cue action is betraying him when he's not on form, as he cues across most shots and because of that misses even the simplest of pots.

I agree, today he was superb, but with that cueing he is bound to be extremely vulnerable when he's not hitting top form, which , most of the time, you don't.