Selby marks Antwerp victory

00:04:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Mark Selby - the 2013 Antwerp Open champion
Mark Selby recorded a very important victory by facing the current world champion, Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Antwerp Open final. 

The beautiful snooker "love affair" ended on a tight 4-3 scoreline and even though we've only had seven frames to see these two snooker masters at work, we had it all: drama, misses, crazy pots, fouls, scrappy moments, mistakes, brilliancy -  twist and turns in one word (or in two words if you don't count the "and").

Both Mark and Ronnie had a very good and steady run throughout the entire tournament, so it came as no surprise to see them as the last two men standing on the brink of glory.

Selby had an old demon in his wardrobe as last year he missed the chance to lift that shiny trophy after losing by an excruciating 4-1scoreline to Mark Allen; so he had to do something and not let the history repeat itself.

Ronnie and his sideburns
Easily said than done when your opponent is the man-of-the-moment, with sideburns and a bit of grey hair, Ronnie O'Sullivan. A simply long red and the reigning world champion was in the game, 74 points later claiming the first frame.

But the Jester fought back and with runs of 39 and 25 he drew level at one a piece. 

Sadly though an early miss at the beginning of the 3rd frame was smoothing Ronnie's way to hit a great 54 break and move once again in front, at 2-1.

You would think that a 52 was quite enough for Selby to restore the equality on the scoreboard during the next frame, but you couldn't be more wrong. More since O'Sullivan had other plans in mind, plans that consisted in breaks of 22 and 36, which were taking him one step closer to the finish-line.

The Jester unleashed
To this the 2012 UK Championship winner responded with a marvellous set of 61 and 133 to force the decider and keep his hopes alive.

In this last frame-encounter Selby started with his left foot, as a careless foul was awarding his opponent 7 points and a chance to start potting.

Unfortunately for Ronnie this was clearly not his night, a missed black off its spot at 28 resuming his contribution to this match.

Selby sealed his victory with a great 77 break for a loud and clear coronation and a pretty awesome check of €25,000. Well done, the Jester!

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Gloucester Glory for Allen

00:11:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

The Pistol shoots trophy
Mark Allen recorded a beautiful 4-1 victory by facing the dangerous Judd Trumps in tonight's final of the European Tour Event 6 (ET 6), also known as the Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup.

This victory comes after a very recent one, as on October 6th, Allen beat Ding Junhui with the same 4-1 scoreline in the European Tour Event 5, in Ruhr, Germany.

The current win happened on home soil, if I may say so, for Mark is a proud member of the Pink Army and even if the big boss, Mr Paul Mount, would have been happy with any of the two players starring the winner's role, I bet he was thrilled to see one of his offspring lifting a trophy that has such a special meaning to him.

Although Judd had a huge change to take the opener, he sadly missed on a 58 break this leaving room for Mark's interference. "The Pistol" lost no time and pulled the trigger shooting a beautiful 62 break (with which he also cleared the table), to win the frame on the black.

Trump starring as the runner-up ... this time
But Trump seemed not to bother about losing and hit a marvellous 128 to draw level.

Allen regained control of the match after a third frame where the biggest break was a 42, while runs of 35, 28 and 34 were smoothing his way to the finish line. The scoreboard was showing a decisive 3-1 result.

The last frame was played cool and in a very chill style, breaks of 39 and 53 being everything that the doctor prescribed for a well-deserved win.

In 2012, Allen beat his namesake, Mark Selby by the iconic 4-1 scoreline to lift the Antwerp Open trophy and in few days the 2013 edition will kick off. Can Allen stay strong in order to cash another victory and defend his title?

All photos are credit to Monique Limbos. Many thanks!

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The Ding Saga

00:14:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

The Ding Saga - what will the next chapter be?
The fact that Ding Junhui is a splendid snooker player it's not a secret, actually it's one of snooker's first lessons: you can find his name and picture under the letter S. And after winning no less than three major ranking events in a row, we certainly hope we shall see his name and picture in the World Champion” section.

It all started back in September when Ding broke the curse of performing poorly in his home country. In a very all-Asian Shanghai Masters final, played against his fellow-country Xiao Guodong, Ding was displaying superb snooker for a well-deserved 10-6 victory.

Trophy in hand, smile on his face, emotion all over the place (non-intended rhyme), delirious audience - that was the atmosphere and it proved to be everything that the doctor had prescribed for Ding.

At the beginning of October the saga continued with a brand new ranking event (aka. the Indian Open) taking place in New Delhi. And although many of the players pulled back, it was enough competition to put any Top 16 player into trouble.

However, this was not the case for Ding, as the 26-year-old snooker player reached the final to face the local star (and a pretty tough opponent if I may add), Aditya Mehta and obtain an undisputable 5-0 victory.

And even though it was a one-side snooker affair, the marvellous bouquet of breaks (81, 107, 93 and 100), underlined Ding's commitment and focus to the game.

So with two important victories under his belt, it was really no surprise to see one more added to his collection: the International Championship.

Three in a row
With matches more demanding and with the ultimate test that started in October and ended on November (I'm talking about the quarter-final played against Peter Ebdon), with a very edgy semi-final in which he faced Graeme Dott, who at one point started a very solid and dangerous comeback and with a final that saw all its frames being played - Ding coped beautifully in order to obtain the unthinkable: to become the second player after Stephen Hendry (1993) who’s won three consecutive major ranking tournaments.

This achievement it’s even more important since this is actually Ding's best season and it kind of proves that there's still hope to see a "one-player-dominance" per season. With such a great standard and such talented, ambitious and well-prepared snooker players, we all know that's a lot to ask, but for this humble-little-panda-snooker-player from China it's really happening.

Of course that all eyes are on him now, more than before, and he'll definitely be favourite for winning the UK Championship, although the man himself explained how tired he feels after performing at full speed in the last months.

Going even further, this certainly asks for a reiteration of the fact that he's very, very close to win the big one too. We all know it's just a matter of time and we all know he's one of the most capable ones to do it. So maybe 2014 will be his year.

That being said, I personally find it hard to predict such victories, mainly because snooker players are not robots and even if they win three consecutive tournaments, the Sheffield-thrill it's different.
Even if you win five or six in a row, the problem stays the same - the World Championship it's the ultimate battle, a very distinctive one, the last redoubt, a real test of endurance who many have prevailed, but equally many have not ... just yet.


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