Archive for World Snooker

Hendry Makes 9th Career Maximum 147 Break

April 28, 2009 / The_Teach / No comments

40-year-old 7 times world champion, Stephen Hendry, this morning compiled a maximum 147 break at the Crucible.

His career 9th maximum came in the 7th frame of his quarter-final against Shaun Murphy, who came straight out of his chair to congratulate the Scot. The break is worth a whopping £157,000 unless someone can match it in the remaining days of this years championships.

The form Hendry is showing in this years championships is far better than the pre-tournament 66-1 odds were suggesting and he now takes a 5-3 lead into this evening’s second session.

In this morning’s other quarter final, Mark Allen leads Welshman Ryan Day by the same 5-3 scoreline.

Watch Hendry’s last few shots here: Hendry Fires in Maximum 147 Break.

Category: World Snooker / Tags: , , ,

Snooker: O’Sullivan’s Reign as King is Over

April 25, 2009 / The_Teach / No comments

Ronnie O’Sullivan has been magnificently sent packing out of this years Betfred World Snooker Championships. Mark Allen, the world number 16, is the man that has sent Ronnie home early and what a victory it was.

A match of the highest quality where the pressure on Allen never really seemed to phase the Northern Ireland star, he wound up a 13-11 winner.

The match had been close throughout the three sessions with Ronnie leading 9-7 overnight. Allen came back the fresher player it seemed this morning winning the first three frames to lead 10-9. In the 20th frame Ronnie responded with a 147 attempt failing to get his 10th maximum by missing a difficult 14th black playing left handed.

Even with everything Ronnie threw at him Mark Allen had the confidence and ability to step into the 1/4 finals for the first time.

In this mornings other match, Shaun Murphy only needed two sessions to demolish former semi-finalist Marco Fu 13-3.

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Snooker: Day Six Complete at The Crucible

April 24, 2009 / The_Teach / No comments

Day six saw the completion of the first round as both a former champion and the world number 2 eased through.

Former World Champion John Higgins playing what I thought would be a tricky tie against Michael Holt was thouroughly in control throughout and went into round two with a 10-5 victory. His opponent in round two will be Jamie Cope.

World Number 2, Maguire went through by the same 10-5 scoreline against fellow Scot, Jamie Burnett. This was their first professional encounter since December. The December match shrouded in the controversy of irregular betting patterns, something that is still under investigation.

Maguire will now play Mark King in round 2.

The first matches to start in round 2 were the matches between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen, this one ended 4-4 after the first session, and Ronnie looked out-of-sorts with Allen playing some good snooker early on.

In the other second match, Stephen Hendry came up against a re-energised potting machine in Ding Junhui. The score was 3-1 in Ding’s favour at the interval only for Hendry to come back fresh after the break to level the match at 4-4.

Both of these ties are poised nicely for the second session. Don’t forget in round two it is now best of 25 frames.

Category: World Snooker / Tags: , , , , , ,

Whats Happening in the Snooker?

April 21, 2009 / The_Teach / No comments

This!

Ronnie O’Sullivan 10 v  5 Stuart Bingham

Mark Allen 10 v 6 Martin Gould

Peter Ebdon 3 v 5 Nigel Bond

Ryan Day v Stephen Lee

John Higgins v Michael Holt

Joe Perry 5 v 4 Jamie Cope

Graeme Dott 10 v 8 Barry Hawkins

Mark Selby 10 v 6 Ricky Waldon

Shaun Murphy 0 v 1 Andrew Higginson

Marco Fu 10 v 4 Joe Swail

Ding Junhui 10 v 8 Liang Wenbo

Stephen Hendry 10 v 7 Mark Williams

Ali Carter 10 v 5 Gerard Greene

Neil Robertson v Steve Davis

Mark King 10 v 6 Rory McLeod

Stephen Maguire v Jamie Burnett

Players in Bold are into round 2, matches in italics are currently playing or concluding later.

What Do You Notice?

I find it quite intresting that as yet none of the seeded players have been eliminated from this years World Snooker Championships. I am not sure on the reason but it seems those players in the top 16 are wanting this one very badly, we have not even had a match go the full distance yet either. There are plenty of matches left yet so lots of chance for a first round shock.

I would like to see a few shocks going into round 2 as when they reach that stage anything can happen. Davis has a chance against Robertson over the longer match distance and Jamie Cop against Joe Perry will be very close. Stephen Lee could be a very tough test for Welshman Ryan Day as well.

Exciting stuff, any thoughts?

Category: World Snooker / Tags: , , , , , , ,

Hendry Makes a Comeback as Day 2 is Complete.

April 20, 2009 / The_Teach / No comments

Stephen Hendry came back from 7-5 down against Mark Williams to pick up the next 5 consecutive frames and step into round 2 with a 10-7 victory.

Williams who I had earlier in the week predicted may be an outsider for the title had a damaged tip that meant the mid-session interval being taken early. He came back from the break and did not win a frame.

Another former World Champion, Graeme Dott, who like Hendry trailed 5-4 overnight to Barry Hawkins also fought well to win his match 10-8.

Today’s matches started with Mark Allen against Martin Gould, Allen led 7-2 overnight after a masterful performance. There was a hint of a comeback from Gould (a debutant at the Crucible) this morning and he will have given himslef a boost after it could have easily been a different story. Allen is through to play Ronnie O’Sullivan in the next round with a 10-5 win.

Monday’s Play

14.30

  • Mark Selby 6 v 3 Ricky Walden
  • Ding Junhui v Liang Wenbo

19.00

  • Joe Perry v Jamie Cope
  • Marco Fu 5 v 4 Joe Swail

Live Snooker coverage continues on the BBC, BBC Interactive (& online), Eurosport and Eurosport Player.

Category: World Snooker / Tags: , , ,

Day Two at the Crucible

April 19, 2009 / The_Teach / One comment

First up this morning on the Live Snooker front is the continuation of the Mark and Rory McLeod match from yesterday. I choose the word continuation as this is supposed to be the concluding session, but after being pulled off at 3-3 each yesterday it is highly unlikely (I think) that this one will be finished before the afternoon session!

On the other table is Mark Allen against Crucible newbie, Martin Gould. At the moment Northern Irish hope Allen leads 2-0.

The rest of todays action:

14.30

  • Mark Selby (Eng) v Ricky Walden (Eng)
  • Ali Carter (Eng) 6 v 3 Gerard Greene (NI)

19.00

  • Stephen Hendry (Sco) 4 v 5 Mark Williams (Wal)
  • Graeme Dott (Sco) 4 v 5 Barry Hawkins (Eng)

Today will see the conclusion of four matches with the one I will be looking out for being the Hendry-Williams encounter. Great quality by these two former champions yesterday and it will be close all the way in my opinion.

Category: World Snooker / Tags: , , ,

O’Sullivan First Man into Round Two

April 18, 2009 / The_Teach / No comments

Ronnie O’Sullivan is the first man through to the second round of the 2009 BetFred.com World Snooker Championships. The defending champion served up some brilliant snooker en route to a 10-5 victory over Stuart Bingham.

Amongst the balls both players looked very solid with O’Sullivan notching up 3 centuries, the pinnacle a 140 and Bingham picking up one himself. There were a further 8 breaks over 50 in a match of some very quality break building.

The biggest shock was O’Sullivans ability at distance – at one point his long pot success rate was as low as 35% – this allowed Bingham to get into the balls on two back-to-back occasions, something he took gleefully knocking in 100 and 97 breaks.

The rest of todays scores:

  • Hendry 4 v 5 Williams
  • Dott 4 v 5 Hawkins
  • King 3 v 3 McLeod
  • Carter 3 v 1 Greene (as I type, still playing first session)
Category: World Snooker / Tags: , , , ,

World Snooker Championships Live Today

April 18, 2009 / The_Teach / One comment

It’s the big one, The 2009 BetFred World Snooker Championships starts today from the legendary Crucible Theatre in Sheffield. (A Theatre that has incidentally had a refurbishment this year.)

The action starts live today from 10.00am (BST) – in about 20 minutes actually – you can watch it on BBC Interactive, Eurosport, Eurosport web player, BBC Online and BBC 2 (some coverage will be on BBC 1).

Today’s matches are the following:

10.00

  • Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) v Stuart Bingham (Eng)
  • Mark King (Eng) v Rory McLeod (Eng)

14.30

  • Graeme Dott (Sco) v Barry Hawkins (Eng)
  • Stephen Hendry (Sco) v Mark Williams (Wal)

19.00

  • Ronnie O’Sullivan v Stuart Bingham (Eng)
  • Ali Carter (Eng) v Gerard Greene (NI)

As always the reigning champion starts the defence of his title with the first match on. Bingham should not pose too much of a threat to Ronnie over the longer distance, that match actually concludes with the second session this evening.

Of the afternoon session, the one I will be watching will be two former world champions, Stephen Hendry (who underwent a resurgence in China recently) and a man who has performed well all season, breaking back into the top 16, Mark Williams. This should be a real cracker and I fancy Mark Williams as an outisde chance for this title.

King v McLeod and Dott v Hawkins in my opinion will be very close, they finish tomorrow. Ali Carter, who was predicted as a possible winner by Peter Ebdon this week has a reasonably easy start (again in my opinion) against Irishmen Gerard Greene.

So the action comes thick and fast over the next two weeks, I will make an update everyday so stay tuned or subscribe via RSS.

Category: World Snooker / Tags: , , , , ,

Tabb to Referee World Snooker Final

April 14, 2009 / The_Teach / No comments

Press Release:

Michaela Tabb will become the first woman to referee snooker’s biggest match when she takes charge of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship final on May 3 and 4.

Tabb, from Dunfermline, has been officiating on the professional Tour since 2001 and has climbed gradually through the ranks to become one of the sport’s best respected referees. She has presided over two ranking finals, the 2007 Welsh Open and the recent Bank of Beijing 2009 World Snooker China Open, as well as the 2008 Masters final at Wembley. She is now set to step up to the highest platform by donning the white gloves for the showpiece final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.

“When I started out, I couldn’t possibly have imagined that I’d come this far,” said the 41-year-old from Dunfermline in Scotland. “My only ambition was to be a good referee. It was only after I’d been on the circuit for around three years, when I realised I had the ability, that I felt had the potential to get this far,” said the former Ladies European Pool champion.

“I will be nervous – the only thing I can liken it to is when I first refereed at the Crucible (in 2003) as that was a big step. The worst time for me will be after I set the balls up before the final – after that there’s a wait of about 40 minutes until the match starts. It will seem like the longest 40 minutes of my life and there will be butterflies. After the first frame I’ll be fine as the big occasion brings the best out of me.

“I’m glad that I wasn’t pushed too fast by World Snooker in my first few years as a referee. In hindsight I can see that was the right thing to do. I’ve proved myself now and I’ve got the experience. I’ve been chosen to do the World final because of my standard of refereeing, and not just because I’m a woman. That’s what I keep telling myself – I wouldn’t be going out there if I wasn’t considered ready for it.”

However, Tabb recognises that she has become a role model for aspiring female officials in snooker – and other sports. “I meet women all over the world who say that what I have done has opened up doors for them, so that’s a great source of pride for me ” she said. “This is a big step in my journey but also for women officials everywhere.”

The Betfred.com World Snooker Championship runs from April 18 to May 4 and features all of snooker’s star players including defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, seven-times champion Stephen Hendry, John Higgins, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire and Ali Carter.

Category: World Snooker / Tags: , , , ,

Surprise as Ebdon Reaches China Open Final

April 4, 2009 / The_Teach / No comments

Peter Ebdon, a man who won a World Snooker Championship in 2002, has had an awful season that has seen him slip to number 17 in the provisional rankings. Well this week in Beijing he has managed to find some form and tomorrow will see him compete in the China Open Final.

He had an impressive 5-1 win over Stephen Hendry in the quarter finals and backed that up with a 6-1 win over semi final debutant Stuart Pettman in his semi final.

The other semi final between John Higgins and Ryan Day is still going with Higgins leading 5-3 in the best of 11 frame match.

If John Higgins does not win this title then we will be guaranteed our 7th different winner in 7 world ranking events this season.

Category: World Snooker / Tags: , , , , ,
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