Trump in trouble

Wednesday’s action saw Judd Trump, many people’s favourite for the tournament, begin his campaign against the charismatic Liang Wenbo. Beginning the match with back to back centuries, a very impressive Liang showed great form following on from his three qualifying matches and steamed into a 6-3 lead overnight. If Trump can recover from this then he will be in a great position to lift the trophy this year.

The day started out with Ding Junhui, the most notable qualifier in the draw, up against Martin Gould. John Virgo described Gould’s biggest asset as his potting. In a way I can see what he’s trying to say but surely every player who has ever got to professional level is going to have good potting, seeing as that is the bread and butter of the sport. I find this kind of comment as fatuous as a football commentator saying a player’s strength is his kicking of the ball. However, the biggest commentary talking point has to be Phil Yates’ exclamation on Eurosport during the evening session of this match. With Ding 54 up with 43 on, he failed to get out of a snooker and left a free ball. Moments later, Gould put him in another snooker, which Ding failed to escape from, and Gould cleared up to steal the frame. Yates described it as “an incredible steal in the city of steel!” Remarkably, this blunder only led to spur Ding on and he went on to win the next four frames to knock yet another seed out of this year’s tournament and surely must be considered a strong contender to go all the way.

In other news, Mark Allen ran away with a comfortable 10-3 win over debutant Mitchell Mann and Barry Hawkins beat Zhang Anda 10-5. Jo Perry started his campaign in the evening, the last of the first round matches to get underway, against Karen Wilson. It was a close opening session with Wilson edging it 5-4 going into Thursday’s concluding session.

 

The Hitman takes out Robocop

The day started with Robert Milkins reeling off four straight frames to really put Selby under pressure in their concluding session. At 7-6, the match seemed to be heading to a tight finish but Selby found his touch and came away with a 10-6 victory. On the other side of the wall, Neil Robertson was dominated by Michael Holt, trailing into the evening session 6-3. This was after Robertson missed a pink to the middle, leaving Holt the opportunity to take a deserved three-frame lead. Holt completed the job in the evening, despite a comeback effort from Robertson, taking it 10-6. It was great to see Holt, a player renowned for his unsteady temperament, hold it together on the big stage and complete a famous victory. It was mentioned in commentary that Holt’s been benefitting from the help of Terry Griffiths, the go-to man it seems for any player with concentration or temperament issues. I think there’s barely a player in the upper echelons of the game who hasn’t sought help from Dr. Terry at one time or another. Holt, known as the hitman for his fiery persona, hurried around the table and at times looked as if he was playing against the clock on an edition of Big Break.

The only debutant in this year’s tournament, twenty four year old Mitchell Mann, came up against Mark Allen in the afternoon session. Mann, who won Junior Pot Black in 2007, started very brightly, not missing a ball in the opening frame. Allen soon found his way and, while concerned pre-match about his opponent’s slow style of play, finished the session with a 6-3 lead. Meanwhile, John Higgins wrapped up his match against Ryan Day, winning 10-3 with an incredible four centuries. Higgins certainly can’t be discounted as a serious contender for winning his fifth world title.

The only other match to report on is the drab affair between Barry Hawkins and Zhang Anda. Hawkins will count himself very lucky to finish with a 6-3 lead after a hard going opening session with neither player finding any kind of form. It’s becoming a theme for many of the seeds this year to start off very poorly, suffering with a touch of “ring rust”, as Hazel so delightfully put it, but then to come good in their second sessions. We’ll see if that’s the case with Barry as his match concludes on Wednesday.

I continue to speculate about the stories of the various regular audience members. The Coventry City fan, who usually takes up the position in the front row just behind the sitting players, was without his wife today. Instead he was accompanied by a mate or perhaps a brother, also sporting a Coventry City shirt. It’s a mystery about the older gentleman with the ties. At first I thought he was Australian as he was wearing an Australian flag tie but that theory doesn’t hold up as the other day I spotted him sporting the Welsh dragon. Maybe he wears the colours of his favourite player of the day. One thing I do know for sure, he spends more time nodding off than fully awake in the Crucible Theatre. The reason for my fascination about these people is that over the course of the seventeen days of the championship, they no longer feel like strangers. I feel like if I met them in the street we would instantly have something to talk about. I also know that to sit and watch snooker all day takes a particular type of person, someone who is fascinated by all the nuances of the game. So perhaps I feel a slight affinity with this people as I know we have that in common. In a way, I think it would be interesting for the BBC to pay a bit more attention to these people, maybe interview a few of them and find out what motivates them to come and watch.

All commentators seem to have their catchphrases, those words that so regularly fit together. For John Virgo it’s “where’s the cue ball going?”, for Willie Thorn it’s “he’s a little bit betwixt and between.” I think I’ve found what Dennis Taylor’s is. Yesterday in the Selby-Milkins game, Selby played a shot which left Milkins in a snooker and Taylor exclaimed, “You just can’t get your breath.” I’ve heard this several times now and with a few more utterances it could be cemented as his catchphrase. On the subject of commentary, Steve Davis made an appearance in the box yesterday and I’ve noticed that his style of speech changes from how it is in the studio. His Essex accent seems to be polished and more considered; he pronounces his t’s, he’s almost trying to sound more scholarly. I’m not sure I like it. I’d prefer him to just be himself. He’s got a great sense of humour and a great oratory style as it is so I think he should leave it alone.

Five former champions in action

Monday morning saw Ronnie O’Sullivan come through against Dave Gilbert, 10-7, despite Gilbert finishing the match with a pot success of 93%. Quite incredible given that in most matches that kind of accuracy would be more than enough to win. Credit to O’Sullivan though, he did play well but once again caused controversy after the game when he refused to speak to any of the press. It is the winning players’ obligation to perform a post match interview and O’Sullivan’s refusal is going to lead to some form of disciplinary action. It makes you wonder why he puts himself in these positions. Does he revel in the controversy? Does he feel that his win was too routine and needs to grab the headlines in some other way? Last year it was the shoe incident of course, when he was uncomfortable in the brand new shoes he had bought and ended up asking the audience for a different pair. In the end I think he played in the tournament director’s pair.

Another former champion who couldn’t be further from controversy is the four-time winner John Higgins. On the other side of the dividing wall, he surged to a 7-2 lead over Ryan Day and looks odds on to progress to the second round when that game concludes on Tuesday.

Mark Willams progressed to the second round for the first time in four years with a comfortable win over Graeme Dott, despite Dott’s late resistance. After the game, John Parrott said on more than one occasion that Williams has “wonderful ringcraft,” an expression I’m not familiar with. I do wonder about the expressions that the commentators and pundits latch onto. Another one would be the use of “half chance,” when talking about an opportunity for a player. Surely a chance is a chance. I’ve never heard chances being divided into sixths or eighths so why is half chance so often used? Perhaps it’s the commentators who are reluctant to criticise too harshly.

Mark Selby had a tricky afternoon against Robert Milkins and with a good run of form towards the end of the session, came away with a 7-2 lead. Milkins deserved more than that and will consider himself quite unfortunate to be facing such a deficit in the concluding session. Milkins is a joy to watch with his fast style of play, very reminiscent of Tony Drago in the nineties. Another curious comment from the commentary box was when Selby got a fortunate snooker and John Virgo excitedly exclaimed, “how do you like those apples?” Whether it was a reference to a famous catchphrase or a genuine question that he needed answering, this kind of exclamation does nothing but puzzle the listening audience. It seems to me that fewer of the audience this year are wearing the commentary earpieces, but the ones that do often end up laughing at something said in the the commentary box just as a player is down on a shot.

During the fourth frame of the match, Selby pulled out an incredible long blue, now being heralded as shot of the championship, with Parrott and Ebdon dissecting it and drooling all over it on the touch screen gimmick they have in the studio.

The evening saw Sam Baird beat Michael White, the incredibly talented but erratic Welshman, 10-7. The man from Devon looked dangerous with his fast attacking style of play. On the other side, Ricky Walden eventually saw off Robbie Williams 10-8. Going into the evening session with a lead, Williams’ body language suggested that he was the one behind and his play seemed very tentative. The game only really got going in the last few frames when Walden seemed to find his form. Perhaps it is better to start off badly and then finish on a high towards the end of the match, taking that momentum into the next round. It’s nice to see Walden through but credit to Williams who pulled out an incredible 104 clearance in frame seventeen, showing the crowd what he’s capable of.

 

 

Three qualifiers through already

I suppose the big story of the day would be the surprise early exit of last year’s finalist Shaun Murphy, falling to the hands of the popular Scot, Anthony McGill. Many will see this as a surprise victory but McGill is a classy player and proved that with his run to the quarter finals last year. After a poor season, it seems the Crucible brings his best form out of him.

The other match in the morning session saw the in-form Ricky Walden open his campaign. Lots of expectation on Walden this year after reaching the final of the last two ranking events. However, this morning’s opening session against Robbie WIlliams was a rather turgid affair, with neither player really showing much conviction, with the highlight being an incredible escape from a snooker in frame two, with Walden coming off four cushions to then leave Williams in a snooker. John Virgo certainly enjoyed it, revelling in the delight at his white line in the shape of the Superman logo being followed to the inch. There has been lots of criticism about one of the tables with the top cushion’s erratic bounces causing most concern. Distrust of the table was compounded this morning as a shot by Williams bounced out from the back of the pocket, just like a blue in yesterday’s play. Stephen Hendry in the commentary box described it as “scandalous” and later suggested that this table needs “chopping up” and being replaced with another. It reminded me of the little table I played on at home as a boy in the kitchen and how there was one pocket that often rejected a ball hit at pace. Knowing this led to me thinking twice before hitting a hard shot into that pocket, often completely changing my choice of shot altogether. Then again, I had to raise my cue up ninety degrees vertically on one side of the table to avoid smashing the oven with the butt of the cue. Not quite the Crucible (although I felt like it was at the time) but still I feel the players are too quick to complain if there is anything not quite right about the tables rather than just accepting it and playing with it. Afterall, it’s the same for both players. I wonder whether something would be lost if there were no kicks or big bounces to pass comment on, just like in football if the referees got every decision spot on. Wouldn’t it make the analysis of the game a little dull?

During the lunchtime interval, Steve Davis announced his retirement from the game as a player, thirty eight years on. It was nice that he was allowed to do a lap around the theatre with the trophy that he won an incredible six times. He was tearful when he was interviewed and he explained that it was the recent death of his father that had prompted the decision. Now it seems he can put all his time now into his burgeoning electro DJ career!

The afternoon session saw the introduction of Ronnie O’Sullivan. He seemed in solid nick but so did his opponent, Dave Gilbert, sporting a striking grey Selby-like waistcoat. It was actually Gilbert who shone and was unfortunate to lose the session 6-3 when it could have quite easily been the other way round, with his pot success being at over 90%.

Alan McManus saw off his compatriot Stephen McGuire 10-7 on the other table, raising the interesting question, are the qualifier’s at an advantage having already played three matches while the seeds are thrown in cold? It seems to be a debate that comes up every year and, while many think the qualifying is too close to the main event, the success of the qualifiers is going to show that maybe this year one of them could possibly win it.

The evening was probably the least eagerly anticipated session of the tournament so far, with neither match concluding tonight. Mark Williams took a commanding lead against fellow former champion Graeme Dott, with Williams rediscovering some of the form that had brought on his recent resurgence at the top level. While on the other table, Michael White faced Sam Baird, featuring in only his second outing at the Crucible. It was arguably the session of the day, played in frenetic style, both players going for their shots and playing with the attacking style that has become synonymous with the modern game. It was a ding dong battle with Baird coming away with a 5-4 lead into tomorrow’s concluding session.

So with two days gone, four matches complete and three qualifiers already through, it seems nothing can be taken for granted in this year’s tournament.

The “Crucible Curse” continues

At 11.20pm on day one, Stuart Bingham relinquished his title of World Champion, losing to Ali Carter in a tense deciding frame. Having recovered from earlier deficits of 5-1 and 7-5, Bingham took the lead at 9-8 with Carter looking like a player condemned to defeat. It seemed from Carter’s body language that he felt the snooker gods were against him as every missed shot lead to accusational glances at the table and irritable shakes of his head. But somehow he kept his nerve in the deciding frame and booked his place in the second round. In my view though, based on this evening’s performance, I doubt whether his temperament will allow him to progress further in this year’s tournament.

Earlier in the day we saw Alan McManus take a surprise 6-3 lead against his compatriot Stephen McGuire and Shaun Murphy take a slender lead of one frame into tomorrow’s second session against Anthony McGill, the player known as Mr Smiley who won the hearts of the fans at last year’s event. Murphy looked out of sorts, especially with the rest, the implement that he usually excels with. He pulled out a fantastic red to the right centre with the cue ball tight on the top cushion, a shot that’s been tipped for an early contender for shot of the championship. 

The first player through to the second round was Marco Fu, wrapping up a relatively straightforward victory this evening against Peter Ebdon. Fu, who seems to glide around the table, looked in excellent form, knocking in the highest break of the day with 138. The early conclusion of that match this evening meant that the Bingham/Carter match was played to the whole arena, with the other table covered and in darkness. During the tense moments of Carter self-recrimination, he was found around the other table in the darkness, hands covering his face.

A report of the first day’s events wouldn’t be complete without mentioning some familiar faces in the audience. The Coventry City fan who seemed to be at every session of last year’s tournament was there with his wife. He famously proposed to her at the Crucible a few years ago. The lady with the Pearl necklace is also there, as is the older gentleman with the Australian tie. Other familiar faces are dotted around the arena. How tired they must all be, I thought, at the end of a day at the snooker. I’ve spent the day watching it and I feel shattered, and I’ve had the comfort of being at home.

So we look forward to the morning’s action as Ricky Walden, the man in form after reaching two finals in recent weeks, starts out against Robbie Williams.

The Opening Day

The wait is over and Rob Walker introduces the four players out in to the arena for the first session of the tournament. It is the veteran Peter Ebdon first out to the riff of AC/DC. The 2002 champion is here as a qualifier, making it through three gruelling rounds at Ponds Forge earlier in the week. He’s up against Marco Fu, the cool mannered professional from Hong Kong. On the other table, it’s the match that sees the entrance of Stuart Bingham as the defending champion playing against Ali Carter, one of the most difficult openings Stuart would have hoped for. Stuart walks out to Eminem, the entrance that fans of the game got so used to over the seventeen days of last year’s championship. Perhaps being involved in a match where he’s not expected to have an easy time will help ease the pressure on the Essex man as he strives to become the first ever first-time champion to retain the title the following year.