UK Championship first round discussion

[RocketRoy1983]

Is it likely to be an advantage or disadvantage for Joe Perry when playing Ronnie tonight with not having played his first round match?

Might be a small dis-advantage for Joe but doubt it'll affect "The Gentleman" too much.

[Rane]

I think he got two frames before Davis concluded, so he should know how the tables and the balls are running.

[Odrl]

Hoping for Dott-Williams on Eurosport tonight. If they show O'Sullivan-Perry I might consider a BBC stream instead.

As for the afternoon matches, Higgins-Swail and Ding-Davis are the ones I'd like to see.

[spike]

I'm totally gripped by the Davis v Ding match!

[MalJackson]

where can i find the h2h for todays matches?

[spike]

What's h2h?

[Odrl]

What's h2h?

Head to head.

[The Boss]

The draw is opening up nicely for Mark King. I expect him to battle past Lee, with the extra incentive created by his defeat to him last month. King has a good record at the tournament, having made a career high break and reached the Semi-Finals in the past. A potential 1/4 final against an out of form Shaun Murphy or temperamental and inconsistent Mark Allen looks promising. I expect at least another Semi-Final and hope King can go one better and meet Ronnie in the final. Then you can toss a coin to determine the winner

[Matt_2745]

According to GSC:

Peter Ebdon v Andrew Higginson: 0-0.....never met before

John Higgins v Joe Swail: 10-1.....(this would read 7-0 without single frame matches). The first time they met was in the semi final of the 1994 Grand Prix, which Higgins won 9-5, and remains their biggest match to date. Their last 2 meetings have gone to a decider, Higgins winning 5-4 in the 2001 Thailand Masters last 16, and 5-4 again in last seasons China Open. Swails only victory came about with a 133 break in the N.Ireland-Scotland match at the 1996 World Cup.

Neil Robertson v Michael Holt: 3-1.....Holt won their first match 5-1 in the 2001 China Open qualifiers, but Robertson has won the last 3- 5-2 in the last 64 of the 2004 GP, 5-1 in the last 32 of the 2007 China Open and 5-2 on the way to capturing the 2007 Welsh Open crown.

Stephen Maguire v Jamie Burnett: 1-1.....early in his career, Maguire beat Burnett 5-4 in a qualifying event for the 1999 Scottish Masters, but Burnett beat him 5-2 in the last 64 of the 2003 European Open

Ali Carter v Ian McCulloch: 1-0.....only the 1 previous encounter, a 4-0 whitewash in the Championship League last season

Shaun Murphy v Martin Gould: 0-0.....no previous meetings

Mark Allen v Stuart Bingham: 1-0 (+ a draw).....this will be their first meeting in a major event, but Allen got the better of Bingham in the 2006 German Open (3-0), and they shared the spoils in their only Championship League match last season

Ding Jun Hui v Steve Davis: 5-1.....most of their meetings have been Premier League fixtures, but Ding won the UK with a 10-6 win over Davis in the 2005 final; Davis won their first Premier League meeting, but Ding has won the last 3 (6-0 in 2006, 6-0 again in 2007 with 3 centuries, and 4-2 this season with a 139), and also their 2008 World Series semi final in Warsaw on the way to the title.

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Joe Perry: 6-1.....Perry has a real chance to go into the provisional top 4 if he repeats his Premier League feat and beats O'Sullivan today; however, O'Sullivan has won their 3 other encounters this season, including revenge in the Premier League semi finals. Perry has given a good account of himself in all 4 meetings since August though, and another close match can be expected.

Marco Fu v Matthew Stevens: 3-3.....Stevens won the first 5-0, a last 48 match in the 1999 China International; he then beat Fu in the final of the Scottish Masters qualifier later that year, before Fu won 3 of the next 4: 5-4 in the last 32 of the 2002 China Open, 5-2 in the last 32 of the 2004 Welsh and 5-3 in the last 16 of the 2007 China Open, with Stevens winning 5-2 in their British Open clash in the 02-03 season.

Mark King v Stephen Lee: 4-6.....after sharing their first 2 meetings, Lee won their biggest match to date, 9-2 in the UK quarter finals in 1997; this triggered a 4 match winning sequence before King himself won 3 in a row, including a 9-8 in last seasons UK. Lee put daylight between them however by winning their only meeting so far this season, 5-3 in the last 32 at Bahrain.

Mark Williams v Graeme Dott: 3-3.....they shared the first 2, Williams winning 5-0 in the last 16 of the 1999 Irish Open, and Dott 5-1 in the last 16 of the 2002 Welsh. Williams then produced 3 centuries in their biggest match to date, a 6-3 win at the 2003 Masters, and regained the lead with a 4-2 win in the group stages of the Malta Cup earlier this year after Dott had knocked him out of the Pot Black Cup. Their most recent meeting was also low key, as Dott triumphed 3-1 in the quarters of the Belgian Open a couple of months ago.

[Kathrin]

hope King can go one better and meet Ronnie in the final. Then you can toss a coin to determine the winner

and I would win the Lucky Dip. Finally.

[Rane]

Arrgh. No live scoring, no livestreaming

[spike]

What a fluke by John Higgins to go 5-4 in front.

[Odrl]

Joe Johnson has a funny way of pronouncing the word "deficit". Sound like "de-FEEcit".

[Ekphantos]

Arrgh. No live scoring, no livestreaming

I finally signed up for the ES player because of those sort of problems. I works nicely from Switzerland, with 2 tables to chose from, and different languages for commentary if available. From France, I only have French commentary and 1 table, but I haven't found out whether it is a problem with my PC or whether they are really insane on French ES.

[João]

I can't believe Higgins missed those pink and black frame balls.