The China Open starts on Monday

[Odrl]

I don't recall ever seeing that happen before, how the hell can you go into the green pocket off the green middle pocket's knuckle??

It happens from time to time, the ball just grips the cushion. I think Steve Davis had a fluke like that on his way to beating Paul Hunter in the 2005 Masters. :smile:

Robertson played great for three and a half frames, two centuries and almost a great clearance, but now it just seems like he fluked his way to a 4-1 lead. :smile:

[PatBlock]

It happens from time to time, the ball just grips the cushion. I think Steve Davis had a fluke like that on his way to beating Paul Hunter in the 2005 Masters. :smile:

But there's no direct line of sight from that knuckle to the top pocket. Corner to corner OK fine, but that's weird.

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[Odrl]

Interesting QF lineup. It certainly promises to be a good weekend. :smile:

I think Selby against Williams will be my choice in the morning. These two played each other in two ranking finals in 2011, both great matches. That was a time when both were at the top of the game, but I guess you could say Williams is the underdog this time. He is appearing at the business end of a major tournament for the first time since Shanghai, and it's also the first time he has shown a bit of form. He finished his match against Carter with three big breaks, going for his shots and getting them, playing the kind of game that has always made him a serious contender for titles. Selby had his own quiet period after the Masters, although you can't really say he was struggling. His display of scoring against Mark King was very strong, the kind of routine 1st round win that we haven't seen much from him this season, even in the tournaments he's won. It was a tougher game against Walden, and it should be even tougher against Williams, so Selby could do with some one-visit stuff. Williams has always seemed pretty comfortable playing Selby, he prevailed in a very tactical match in the 2011 German Masters final, but I expect this to be more fluent. I think Williams could take it 5-4.

Murphy against Lisowski is the other morning match, and it could be a good one as well. Lisowski displayed some great attacking snooker against Trump, winning a couple of frames in one visit and generally going for any balls he saw. I think Trump played about three safety shots in the entire match, and played them poorly as well. That meant there was nothing really to stop Lisowski's rhythm. There is no way of telling how his match against Davis went, but he was in trouble at 4-2 down. He then finished with three big breaks, kind of like Williams, to prolong his week in China. Can he get past Murphy as well? I think Murphy has been the most quiet out of all the top players here, getting through the first two rounds without much hype. The QF is a stage he is usually strong in, and he certainly has the experience to make it difficult for Lisowski, even if he can't quite match his firepower on the day. And that's a big if as well. I make Murphy the favourite here, maybe a 5-3.

What shall we watch in the afternoon? For me, Maguire against Bingham is definitely first choice. They've played each other in two big matches this season, Bingham prevailing in the 2nd round of the UK Championship, Maguire of course taking the Welsh Open final in the decider. Bingham is the only quarter-finalist we haven't seen on TV yet, so it's hard to tell how well he is playing. But looking at the breaks he's made, he seems to be in good form. He is arguably having the best season of his career, a lot of his good results coming in various Chinese events where he seems very comfortable at the moment. Maguire's win over Hawkins was quite fragmented, in terms of scoring, so Maguire might need to raise his game a bit here. I don't think there is any psychological edge either way, but Bingham will certainly be looking for a bit of revenge here, and I think he could win this one 5-3.

That just leaves Robertson against Campbell, probably the most one-sided prospect of the day. First of all, Campbell certainly can't be underestimated here. He came through against two very tough battlers, and he has already played a ranking semi-final this season, so he knows what it takes. Robertson has been one of the most impressive scorers of the week, winning comfortably against both of his opponents, and he seems to be back to his best as far as long potting is concerned, or "potting of tricky balls", to put it more broadly. He also seems to have luck on his side. He had two outrageous flukes against Allen, which definitely meant the difference between winning and losing those frames. He could have been 3-2 down after five frames, rather than 4-1 up. Still, he took full advantage, and I expect him to do the business tomorrow as well. Maybe a 5-2 win.

Should be a great day. :wink:

[streamer45]

Good start between Selby and Williams

[Odrl]

Nice clearance from Selby, he got the most out of that mini session. Williams needs to get going after the interval, otherwise it's going to be very tough for him to close the gap. :wink:

[Odrl]

Not a great match really, Selby did enough to win comfortably against an out-of-sorts Williams. I think he's got worse with each round, which is not a great sign ahead of the semi-finals, but hopefully he can raise his game again.

And hopefully there is still some snooker left on the other table. :smile:

[streamer45]

So that's it, 5-1 for Selby. It would be interesting the possible semifinal against Lisowski

[Odrl]

Disappointing way for Lisowski to lose in the end, because Murphy didn't really play anything special in the last three frames. He just took it frame by frame, shot by shot, his experience getting him through to the end.

Neither Murphy nor Selby impressed me particularly today. It will be interesting to see how well the other players play. :wink:

[SnookerFan]

Yeah, at 4-2 up I think Jack suddenly realised he was one frame away from a semi-final. He was suddenly a different player.

[Odrl]

Maguire opens with a lovely century. :smile:

[coomsey76]

Yeah, at 4-2 up I think Jack suddenly realised he was one frame away from a semi-final. He was suddenly a different player.

I think could be right there..... a shame for him, Jack looked to be in good form this this week and I thought might go all the way but his taking some very promising form into the WC qualifiers.

Is me or has Murphy shorten his cue action up a little??

[Valiullin]

Maguire looks really in control against Bingham, he could easily have gone 4-0 up at the interval but was a bit unlucky in the fourth frame. I think he should win anyway now, a 4-1 lead is really comfortable for him.

Interesting to see Campbell and Robertson tied up at 2-2. I thought Robertson would take the lead early on and never leave it. If Campbell can put Robertson in doubt by taking the next frame, he'll have the best opportunity to beat him ever.

[Odrl]

Robertson must be amazed to be in front, after the crap he produced in this frame. All four top players have disappointed me with their lack of fluency today...

[Odrl]

That's better, a nice 113. But even here he needed two visits, after initially getting that poor cannon on the loose red. There have been a couple of matches this season that Robertson lost from a winning position, but it's still hard to see him losing at this point.

[GeordieDS]

Is the snooker on terrestrial TV or Eurosport only?