Tag Archive for professional snooker

Higgins Wins Third World Snooker Title.

John Higgins moved into the realms of the greats with his third World Snooker title.

In a final that by his own admission (and that of his opponent Shaun Murphy) was won in the second session on Sunday, John Higgins lifted the trophy ad picked up a cheque for £250,000 with an 18-9 winning margin.

Shaun Murphy had looked good throughout the whole tournament but lost his way in the second session of the final where some uncharacteristic misses allowed John Higgins to capitalise. He won that particular session 7-1 and Shaun was always going to find it hard to comeback from that scoreline.

There was a bit of a resurgence in Monday afternoon’s session which meant the crowd were treated to at least part of a final session, in the end though it proved too much for Murphy, who over the next few years will no doubt be back in the winners circle.

His third title puts John Higgins amongst snooker’s greats and at 33 he still has a few years of top level snooker ahead of him. If he can continue to perform at this level then I can see him reaching 5 world titles.

The season is now finished and the players can take a break until the return in August.

Higgins Takes Lead into Second Session

The semi finals of the 2009 Betfred.com World Snooker Championships started yesterday afternoon with twice former World Champion, John Higgins against rising Northern Irish talent, Mark Allen.

Allen has been playing some of the best snooker of his career after already having dispatched Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ryan Day. This session started well, Allen winning the first frame, however Higgins came back and handn’t even looked as if he was playing at his best. He lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval.

In the interval the players spoke to the tournament director about the less-than-adequate table conditions, aparantly caused by increased humidity. This led to a very hot iron and a complete change of balls at the halfway point in the session.

The table played better in the latter half and Higgins extended his lead to 6-2, this match continues this morning from 10.00.

Honours Even With Robertson and Murphy.

The other World Champion still in the draw, Shaun Murphy, had a very tight session against Australian Neil Robertson. The match will continue at 14.00 today with the score at 4-4. There were six breaks over 50 with Murphy winning this stat 4-2.

Whats Happening in the Snooker?

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?

Belgium Open Snooker Videos

You had probably forgotten, we broadcast the Belgium Open snooker back in September and always had plans to spruce up the videos and release them on the channel.

We were massively busy through September, October and November so have just started on these tapes. The snooker is awesome and the quality of the video files is also great,

As a little taster we have just released this 104 break by Mark Selby. 13 reds followed by 13 blacks and we were starting to sweat thinking of the maximum 147 break. What made this extra special was that it was the very first match of the tournament and none of the players had been able to practice on the tables. Unfortunately it was not to be but a great effort none the less. Enjoy!


Grand Prix Snooker Underway.

The 2008 Grand Prix is underway from the SECC in Glasgow and this year features a very exciting (in my opinion) new format.

Gone is the ill-fated round robin that graced our screens in 2006 and 2007 much to the annoyance of spectators and players alike. I don’t knock anyone for trying and World Snooker also fit into that equation, what is also great is that they have taken advice from players and fans and done away with it.

Now the new format is very exciting, the first round is seeded as usual but every subsequent round is re-drawn with no seedings, this means the top two ranked players culd draw each other opening the door for lower ranked players to progress. It is akin to the FA Cup of Snooker!

Already booked into the open draw are 51 year old Steve Davis who showed awesome battling qualities and a lot of patience in his 5-4 victory over Neil Robertson. Davis has undergone somewhat of a resurgence of late and has realised that the strongest part of his game is the safety, so is trying to outwit opponents rather than out pot them. This was very evident in the Robertson match and could well have accounted for his 1/4 final run at the Shanghai Masters. That run in China moved The Nugget up one place in the provisional rankings to number 28, with the open draw anything can certainly happen and Davis will be one to keep your eye on.

The other results from the first round are below along with the remaining first round matches:

  • Ali Carter (Eng) v Dave Harold (Eng)
  • Joe Perry (Eng) 5-3 Barry Hawkins (Eng)
  • Ryan Day (Wal) 5-4 Ricky Walden (Eng)
  • Stephen Hendry (Sco) 5-4 Dave Gilbert (Eng)
  • Judd Trump (Eng) w/o Graeme Dott (Sco)
  • Ronnie O’Sullivan (Eng) v Liang Wenbo (Chn)
  • Neil Robertson (Aus) 4-5 Steve Davis (Eng)
  • Mark King (Eng) v John Parrott (Eng)
  • Ding Junhui (Chn) 5-0 Jamie Burnett (Sco)
  • Mark Allen (NI) 1-5 Michael Holt (Eng)
  • Stephen Maguire (Sco) 1-5 Jamie Cope (Eng)
  • Shaun Murphy (Eng) v Adrian Gunnell (Eng)
  • Peter Ebdon (Eng) v Simon Bedford (Eng)
  • John Higgins (Sco) 5-0 Anthony Hamilton (Eng)
  • Marco Fu (HK) 5-2 Jimmy Michie (Eng)
  • Mark Selby (Eng) v Andrew Higginson (Eng)

Belgium Open Snooker: Only 10 Days!

Watch the Belgium Open Snooker Live
Watch the Belgium Open Snooker Live

It is only 10 days now until CueSport TV makes its historic step into world class professional snooker at the Belgium Open from Duffel. Big names are a plenty in this 64 player professional snooker tournament played across three days.

Stephen Maguire, Ken Doherty, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams, John Higgins and many more top names are in attendance along with a number of Belgian and European players.
You can watch snooker online as well, it is just £8.00 to view for the three full days and tickets are already on sale at CueSport.tv - watch it live as it happens from the comfort of your pc or laptop.
Buy your tickets directly online using PayPal – any problems or questions regarding this event should be forwarded to enquiries (at) cuesport (dot) tv