UK Champ. 2009 - Semi-final Discussion

[Looki]

I'm with Higgins on this one. He'll prevail but I'm expecting a tough and close battle.

[montoya10]

If someone would like to see Ding winning the title, they must back Higgins today..

Ding v.Ronnie is just like racing your prototype with predecessor, prototype will be better one day, but not until getting a good mark in the crash tests..

[very.tee]

Come On Higgins!!!

today's gonna be tough but I can see him winning I want him to win anyway:snooker:

[montoya10]

Forum going quiet again.. Not surprised though Big match right there..

[Odrl]

I wish I had something insightful to say about this match, but there's very little in it. I don't see any obvious edge for either player.

I've read a couple of times on here recently, that their last couple of meetings have not exactly been classics. I don't personally agree with that. I thought their Grand Prix encounter was of a pretty good standard. There were 8 breaks over 50 in 9 frames. There was great drama in the penultimate frame, and Higgins made a cool match winning break in the decider. I can see that match being mentioned when we discuss the best matches of the season after the WC. But I will admit that the two matches previous to that one were not very good. Higgins played crap in the Shanghai Masters, and O'Sullivan came through without much effort. And before that, they both played crap in the China Open, missing all kinds of balls.

They were both very careful in their comments after the QF:

"The scoreline flattered me, Mark had his chances but he didn't take them. It's a win I suppose, but it's hard to be happy or filled with any joy. I could have been more clinical."

I suppose this is true. O'Sullivan made a lot of handy breaks, a couple of great clearances to steal frames, but he did give Selby quite a few chances. It could have been a lot closer had Selby taken them. From O'Sullivan's perspective, he must be afraid Higgins will take those chances if he is presented with them.

Higgins said something similar:

"I nicked a couple of frames today which was the difference. Instead of going 3-1 or 4-2 I managed to nick them and end up 5-0 in front and they were the turning points. I'm going to need to improve if I'm playing Ronnie in the next round but that'll be a game I'll look forward to. It's always a game I've looked forward to since I've been a snooker player and Saturday will be no different."

He too recognizes that he might have found himself behind, had he been playing O'Sullivan in that match. So it looks like they both expect the other to play at their best. I wonder if we will see a bit of a nervy start.

It's hard to say which player had a tougher draw. O'Sullivan had three very tricky opponents, at least on paper, but none of them really played well against him. Higgins was tested a bit more, but maybe it went close because he wasn't at his very best. I thought O'Sullivan had an edge up to the QF. The supporting elements of his game were all there. He competed in the safeties, and his long potting seemed to be the best for quite a while. His patience has been great throughout the tournament, despite playing two of the most methodical players around. The only little crack was probably the incident with Eirian Williams, but I still don't know what to make of that, as it didn't seem to affect his game. His scoring has not been at it's very best so far. He's missed a couple when he was in and gave the other player a chance. But generally, he's put things right in his second visit. It wouldn't be the first time for him to get through the early rounds of a tournament by not scoring as well as he can, only to then thrash the rest of his opponents with one-visit snooker. Another thing that has gone slightly wrong for him so far is escaping from snookers. He missed at least three easy ones, and it could have cost him.

Higgins is the kind of player that gets stronger with each round, as long as he gets through. He very rarely plays poor snooker at the business end of a tournament, and he's been getting through with great consistency lately. If there is a crack in his game this week, it's getting a decent lead and then putting his foot off the gas. He had a 4-0 lead against Walden and finishing the session only 4-4. And he also led Robertson 5-3 and 8-6, and almost lost it. But what is encouraging for him is that he didn't let it happen against Liang. It might be pointless anyway, because I can't see him getting a sizable lead against O'Sullivan, nor letting it slip if he should get it. I think he looks slightly less reliable than O'Sullivan in scoring this week. But he's been getting better, and he could be on par with O'Sullivan today. The supporting elements of Higgins' game are the best of any player. He can make it close against anyone, in any circumstances. A possible edge for him might be his good recent record against O'Sullivan, but that might have gone when he lost in Shanghai.

Taking everything into account, I've predicted a 9-7 for Higgins. Whenever O'Sullivan plays someone who is considered his equal, or close to that, he can play a very tight game, with a lot of early frame safety, to make sure he gets in first more often than not. And it works for him most of the time, especially against younger opponents, as that kind of game is not everyone's forte. But Higgins is the best player in the world in that kind of snooker, and he's so tactically aware that it's hard to change the style of the game against him. O'Sullivan says himself in some of the comments that he finds it hard to play against that.

This is of course assuming that both players play their best. There's a chance that one of the players will not be quite up to it, and if that's the case, my suspicion is that it might be Higgins.

But I'm going to enjoy it in any case. I wish everyone the same.

[montoya10]

I did not find their latest couple of matches boring at all. But classic?? Surely it lacked some 'X' factor, though I don't know what 'X' is.

If Ronnie puts his break building skills on the table, with his recent long potting form, he'll be the favourite. But I'm expecting a high quality whoever wins at the end.

[very.tee]

aww that miss from John could be costly

I can't believe he had to get a new tip! That's really unlucky for John.

[MalJackson]

scrappy 1st frame, if higgins can win the 1st few frames ronnie will get restless.

[montoya10]

I'm going to miss the entire session because of an upcoming midterm..

If he changed his tip, then I think the match may be over before it had begun..

[noel]

Too close to call really.
If Ronnie shaves he may wind up sitting in his chair, face in hands wondering what happened.
If not, I think he'll win.
Only concern is that these two tactical and power-scoring heavyweights might beat each other up so badly,
neither will have anything left for Ding.



=o|

Noel


HE SHAVED! WHAT A FIDIOT!!!

[spike]

I dont the fact that John has a new tip put on is going to be that much of an issue. From what i have seen from this first frame he seems to be hitting the ball nicely, plus in commentary it was said John Higgins had plenty of practise knocking the tip in..

[ore]

So he shaved...

[MalJackson]

next frame will be crucial for john, if he can build a nice lead, its gonna be tough for ronnie.

[Odrl]

Good chances for both players in the first frame, but they couldn't keep potting themselves out of trouble. In the end, it turned into the kind of frame Higgins likes.

Interesting stuff.

[MalJackson]

watch ronnie nick frame 2