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Ssb - form book snookered
Mark King and Peter Ebdon upset the form book to record surprise first day victories over Mark Selby and Ali Carter respectively at the Ladbrokes Mobile Masters at Wembley Arena.
King played superbly, possibly his best in a big match since he beat Selby 10-8 in the first round of the 2008 World Championship.
I wrote yesterday that he doesn't usually score as heavily as the other top players but he certainly changed that against Selby and it was King who was the more poised towards the end.
Ebdon, as he so often has before, fought tooth and nail to scrape past Carter 6-5 in a midnight finish.
So what will happen today? And what's the point in making predictions anyway? The beauty of sport is that, even when you think you know what will happen, the unexpected takes over.
Mark Williams v Ding Junhui always had the look of being the closest match of the round. On this logic one of them will probably win 6-0.
Williams had a good snooker workout over four days at the Championship League last week, winning one of the groups, whereas Ding is coming in cold.
Also, Williams is clearly back to full confidence - only a great Ronnie O'Sullivan performance denied him a place in last year's final - and Ding will well remember the way the Welshman played to beat him in Beijing in the China Open final last season.
Tonight it's John Higgins v Graeme Dott. Higgins is of course the man in form after his UK Championship victory and Dott has won just two matches in eight previous Wembley appearances.
Logic, therefore, dictates that Higgins should win but logic and sport don't always go hand in hand - as we saw yesterday.
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King played superbly, possibly his best in a big match since he beat Selby 10-8 in the first round of the 2008 World Championship.
I wrote yesterday that he doesn't usually score as heavily as the other top players but he certainly changed that against Selby and it was King who was the more poised towards the end.
Ebdon, as he so often has before, fought tooth and nail to scrape past Carter 6-5 in a midnight finish.
So what will happen today? And what's the point in making predictions anyway? The beauty of sport is that, even when you think you know what will happen, the unexpected takes over.
Mark Williams v Ding Junhui always had the look of being the closest match of the round. On this logic one of them will probably win 6-0.
Williams had a good snooker workout over four days at the Championship League last week, winning one of the groups, whereas Ding is coming in cold.
Also, Williams is clearly back to full confidence - only a great Ronnie O'Sullivan performance denied him a place in last year's final - and Ding will well remember the way the Welshman played to beat him in Beijing in the China Open final last season.
Tonight it's John Higgins v Graeme Dott. Higgins is of course the man in form after his UK Championship victory and Dott has won just two matches in eight previous Wembley appearances.
Logic, therefore, dictates that Higgins should win but logic and sport don't always go hand in hand - as we saw yesterday.
More...
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