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Ssb - too close to call
Stephen Hendry and Jimmy White both have free passes to snooker's hall of fame but after an electrifying start to their first round match in Telford yesterday, the standard plummeted.
Hendry looked embarrassed at the end to have lost the eighth frame, which he seemed certain to win.
At least at 4-4 the match is close, which should provide some excitement this afternoon. Indeed there are several matches poised nicely at the 12bet.com UK Championship.
Ronnie O'Sullivan had to win the last two frames last night to achieve parity with Stuart Bingham, who played very nicely and with great confidence but needs to do similar today to stand a chance of causing an upset.
Ali Carter did not produce the goods against Mark Joyce yesterday. I wondered if he felt the pressure of being such a big favourite.
He will still be favourite to come through today but it could depend on whether Joyce can hold himself together if he gets close to the winning line.
Patrick Wallace also had chances against Shaun Murphy before ending the day trailing him 5-3 but, again, it's close.
The format means that only half of the last 16 matches can be played on the TV tables and, with so many top players through, this means a number of big names will be relegated to the outside tables.
This is a far from ideal situation and of course leads to fans of particular players complaining that they can't watch their matches.
The second round matches favoured tonight are Neil Robertson v Andrew Higginson and John Higgins v Graeme Dott.
Therefore, Mark Selby v Stephen Maguire and Ding Junhui v Mark Allen will not be televised.
I wonder if it might be time to start a day earlier and play the last 32 matches that are not particularly attractive on the Friday so as to free up space to put more of the last 16 on TV.
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Hendry looked embarrassed at the end to have lost the eighth frame, which he seemed certain to win.
At least at 4-4 the match is close, which should provide some excitement this afternoon. Indeed there are several matches poised nicely at the 12bet.com UK Championship.
Ronnie O'Sullivan had to win the last two frames last night to achieve parity with Stuart Bingham, who played very nicely and with great confidence but needs to do similar today to stand a chance of causing an upset.
Ali Carter did not produce the goods against Mark Joyce yesterday. I wondered if he felt the pressure of being such a big favourite.
He will still be favourite to come through today but it could depend on whether Joyce can hold himself together if he gets close to the winning line.
Patrick Wallace also had chances against Shaun Murphy before ending the day trailing him 5-3 but, again, it's close.
The format means that only half of the last 16 matches can be played on the TV tables and, with so many top players through, this means a number of big names will be relegated to the outside tables.
This is a far from ideal situation and of course leads to fans of particular players complaining that they can't watch their matches.
The second round matches favoured tonight are Neil Robertson v Andrew Higginson and John Higgins v Graeme Dott.
Therefore, Mark Selby v Stephen Maguire and Ding Junhui v Mark Allen will not be televised.
I wonder if it might be time to start a day earlier and play the last 32 matches that are not particularly attractive on the Friday so as to free up space to put more of the last 16 on TV.
More...
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