The Premier League: Thunder`s night

07:09:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Neil Robertson - the last player to reach the semis
It was definitely an evening filled with drama top to bottom as the last two matches of the round robin Premier League were performed by the likes of Ronnie O`Sullivan, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson. With Ronnie and Shaun through the semis and also Marco Fu (from a previous episode:-P), only Selby and Robertson were fighting for the last spot. And if we were to think about Mark Williams too, the one who had 5 points but needed to wait for yesterday night results to see if he can reach the semifinals or not, then you must imagine what a thrill it was to watch a night fully dedicated to top class snooker. :-)


For a starter, Ronnie O`Sullivan was to face Mark Selby in a match that "The Rocket" pre-announced was not going to be an exhibition one, as he will play as usual despite the fact that he had already secured himself a place in the next round. And what do you know! He did it! He put quite a show of wonderful played snooker, a show that kept Selby in his seat for most of the time.
The match started with Selby on the run for winning it but missing to develop the reds in order to build a high break. Although Ronnie came to the table, Selby still had a pretty good chance to develop a winning opportunity but missed in potting the blue and only scored a 38 break. This time, "The Rocket" hit a 56 but got stuck as he failed in potting the same blue ball, being followed by Selby’s second attempt to send that annoying ball into a pocket...not a chance..."she" resisted! :-)) But in the end, Ronnie succeeded in potting it, along with the rest, for a 1-0 score.

The Rocket was flying again last night
The second frame was opened by a safety shots battle only to see Ronnie making a 41 break and Selby a 32. The boys were playing one at the time on the table, until the score landed on a 54-43 in favor of O`Sullivan, but after another series of safety shots, Ronnie succeeded in potting his way through a 2-0 lead.
A huge mistake made by Mark in the next round, as he committed a brutal foul (potting a red along with a pink) and this was it for "The Jester", as Ronnie fired an 80 break to win the frame! Next round found Ronnie with a 40 break and Mark with a 38 one, only to see the score ending up on a 48-49 scoreline with a tricky yellow hiding from the cue ball. The man in charge? Ronnie O Sullivan. But that yellow was so well hidden that was practically impossible to reach it...so Ronnie got very upset and committed one foul after another, until Mark took his turn on the table, and "The Rocket" concealed the frame. That was going to be the first and last frame won by “The Jester from Leicester".


The last two frames were fully dominated by Ronnie with breaks of 116 and 34 to seal his victory (5-1) and get to the top of the list with 9 mighty points. As for the poor Selby, he got eliminated from the run to the semis :-( Too bad for "Mark the Shark" as he had some really good opportunities to win a couple of frames, but this was definitely Ronnie’s night. He was kicking those balls like only he can do it and no one could stand in his way. You don’t mess with "The Rocket". :-P

The second match of the evening was going to bring together Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson in a very dramatic match. Robertson needed to win this match in order to qualify for the semifinals, so a lot of pressure was standing on the Australian’s shoulder.

Selby is out of the Premier League :-(
The first frame was a scrappy one, with Murphy ending what seemed to be a very good break at only 21 points due to missing to pot a red in the left superior pocket. Robbo rushed in but he lost his position due to a bad contact so after some safety shots and some successful pots, "The Magician" signed his name on the first frame.


Next frame saw Robbo fighting back, as Murphy lost two great opportunities in winning it, first time by losing position and the second time by failing in potting a pink; so with a 67 break Neil was back in the game. Moreover, “The Thunder from Down Under" hit a marvelous 116 break into the next frame to take the lead 2-1. Shaun didn’t give up so he tried to make a century break also but stopped at 98 points, enough to bring the balance between him and his opponent, though.
The last two frames were the ones which made Robertson the last player to enter the semis, as he hit a magnificent 124 break in the fifth frame and a 52 (after a very dramatic battle) in the sixth to draw the line at 4-2. This was it; Williams lost his last shot in making it to the next round, for Robertson won the match. And it was a very well deserved victory, for he’s really put a lot of work and effort to make it until this point.


So next week, next the weekend to be more precise, the Premier League will reach its final destination in the town of Norfolk for the semis and the big final. We shall see O`Sullivan v. Robertson and Murphy v. Fu in a very hard battle for a precious spot in Sunday’s final. ;-)

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