UK Champ. 2009 - QF Discussion

[Looki]

Ding refuses to miss. Aura of a winner, that's what he has.. Congrats to Ding Junhui!

[doorag]

that is class. pure class.

awesome!

man that made my day.

[spike]

Great win for Ding! Really showed his class in those last two frames. I still wouldn't say at this stage he looks like he's going to win the tournament but at the same time i would say he has a good chance..

[miscuehamburg]

I've read every post of this thread so far and no mention of the Selby/O'Sullivan game. But wikipedia has Selby at 7-3, also, have Wenbo/Higgins started?

That's the kind of crystal ball I would like to have

Congrats to Ding, well played.

[Odrl]

Ding really did play two great frames there. Relentless stuff, straight from Carter's break off.

From the remaining six players, I don't see anyone that can't win it now. Should be a great semi-final between Ding and Maguire.

[gettingbetter]

Ding really did play two great frames there. Relentless stuff, straight from Carter's break off.

From the remaining six players, I don't see anyone that can't win it now. Should be a great semi-final between Ding and Maguire.

If O'Sullivan and Higgins win, we'll have all four semi-finalists as former UK winners. I wonder if that has ever happened.

[Alex0paul]

Ding has only beaten Maguire once hasn't he? Although the win was in the last event. Should be another cracking match.

Maguire v Selby final for me.

[AndrewB]

If O'Sullivan and Higgins win, we'll have all four semi-finalists as former UK winners. I wonder if that has ever happened.

Yes, the 2000-1 semifinalists were Hendry, O'Sullivan, Higgins and Williams, who were also the previous 4 winners.

[The Boss]

Warrior: Ding needed every ounce of his training to defeat Carter

[superaussie]

i hope maguire wins it , it would be a nice tribute to his grandad

[gettingbetter]

That's the kind of crystal ball I would like to have

Congrats to Ding, well played.

I thought thr seeds were the score.

[khizzy]

well done ding , he's my favourite to win it now.

[Monique]

well done ding , he's my favourite to win it now.

But he will have to tight up his safety game if he is to do that. It was rather poor yesterday. If he is to face any of Higgins, Ronnie or Selby he wont win playing like he did against Carter.

[doorag]

But he will have to tight up his safety game if he is to do that. It was rather poor yesterday. If he is to face any of Higgins, Ronnie or Selby he wont win playing like he did against Carter.

yeah definitely, especially in the last few rounds his safety game was poor.

[Odrl]

I'm quite excited about today's matches. Hopefully I'll catch a bit of both. It's a shame they're on the same day, but with hindsight, I wouldn't want to have missed Carter-Ding either.

Higgins had the toughest possible route to get here, playing one of the two best qualifiers in the 1st round, and one of the two in-form 9-16 players in the 2nd round. I thought he was not at his very best in either of those two matches, and could have been knocked out, but his class got him through. That's also the reason he starts favourite against Liang. Liang only dropped five frames so far, which is certainly impressive in this format. The last time they played, Higgins just capitalized on all Liang's mistakes, that came about from his reckless play. But Liang has improved immensely as a tactician since then, and has in my opinion already overtaken some of the other young players in that department. So if Liang can hold his own tactically, I think he can score well enough to make it a 9-7 or a 9-8 either way. I didn't get the feeling that Higgins has an extra gear this week, but if he does and shows it here, it will be a good indicator of whether he'll start as favourite against the winner of O'Sullivan/Selby or not.

The match between O'Sullivan and Selby could be another classic, as the last three they've played have been. The main two questions are the following... Can O'Sullivan match Selby tactically, in terms of patience and willingness to compete in the fragmented frames? And on the other hand, can Selby match O'Sullivan in scoring? My answer to both would be "possibly". O'Sullivan didn't show any weakness at all against Ebdon. A lot of the frames went scrappy in that match. Not because of poor play, but the balls went awkward and it was difficult to score. O'Sullivan never lost his patience, and he even dominated most of those frames. I always think O'Sullivan is at his best when he plays a very tactical game, and doesn't take too many risks. That's when you know he's up for a tournament. I think that's the case here. He may need a bit more of his breakbuilding magic for the title, but that's never far away with him. From Selby's perspective, I don't think he'll crack O'Sullivan with mind games today. I'm sure he'll give it a shot though, and he'll have my respect for that, unlike some people's. If he wants to win this match, he'll need to take his chances when he gets in, and match O'Sullivan's scoring. I think he can do that, judging by the centuries he's already scored this week, more than O'Sullivan in fact. I think Selby is a master of the kind of snooker where one-visit frames are mixed with the scrappy ones. He can change between attacking and defensive mode very well, which is a quality some players lack. But he'll need to be ready to play his best game today, and not count on O'Sullivan to crack, because I don't see that happening.

You may think that I analyze things too much, and that it keeps me from enjoying the snooker. But you would be wrong. The last time I was this excited about a snooker day was the SF day at the Grand Prix.