2015 World Championship (Day 12) - Marching towards the semis

04:11:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

It seems almost unreal to write this, but it's true: Thursday marks the kick off to the semi-finals of the 2015 Betfred.com World Championship. 

12 days ago 32 players started their quest in order to find the Holy Grail of snooker, but now the task has come down to only four: Judd Trump, Shaun Murphy, Stuart Bingham and Barry Hawkins.

Judd Trump got off to a solid start against his rival Ding Junhui, ending their first session with a 6-2 lead, continuing with 12-4 and closing the deal with 13-4.

The last session lasted about 15 minutes, enough to permit the magnificent Bristolian lad to produce a 66 break and end Ding's hopes of a revival. Needless to say he's favourite for the title, right?

His semi-final opponent is none other than Stuart Bingham, the man to confronted the all-time-favourite for this title (and any others, for that matter), Ronnie O'Sullivan.

The players had two sessions this Wednesday and I must say the course of action was hard to predict.

After leading Ronnie 5-3 at the end of their first snooker encounter, Stuart only managed to win himself one single frame with a brilliant 145 clearance (to equal Neil Robertson's one) before all hell broke loose.

The Rocket started his counter attack and although it wasn't all century breaks and sunshine, it was solid and determined. And so the scoreline came down to 6-6.

Feeling a bit threatened Bingham restored his legacy with runs of 36 and 33, but Ron was sure to draw level once more with a great 103 break to which he added a 44 and a 38 to go 8-7 in front.

Still the session would end of a perfect 8-8, which basically tells the story of how things developed throughout the match. Until that precise moment that is.

When the ref announced the start of the last session O'Sullivan was up and about to get himself back into the leading position, but after that … he froze (or was froze?)

Bingham fired in breaks of 74, 82, 51, 85 and 60 to go on and win the battle 13-9. Total class!

The Magician Shaun Murphy has also booked himself a place in the semis after defeating probably one of the most brilliant Crucible-debutants in history, Anthony McGill 13-8.

After a pretty tight first session, ended on 4-4, the players shared frames up until 6-6. From this point on though, things got a bit out of hand especially for McGill.

A great 127 break, followed by 45, 35 and 75 were winning Shaun's no less than three consecutive frames, while the Scotsman could only grab the last of the session with a great 86 in order to trail 9-7.

When the match re-started a few hours later and Ants was the first one in with a great 95 break we all thought that this was going to go all the way, but unfortunately a few mistakes here and there, plus Shaun's great form and experience proved decisive.

A break of 72 was re-storing the two-frame gap, while runs of 34, 36, 49 and 68 helped Murphy cross the finish-line in style.

And this brings us to the final match of the day, the one that turned out to be a late-night drama, as some of us already expected: Barry Hawkins v. Neil Robertson.

The lads closed their first session with Barry holding the upper hand, 5-3 and the story seemed to continue in the same way for when they re-started the match the Englishman won the first two frames to go 7-3 up!

Robertson seemed to be lost in space, but still found the inner and outer and in-between force to fight back with runs of  50, 33, 36, 130 in order to level the match.

The last frame of the session (cut short) lasted about 65 minutes and it was one of those horrendous, ever-lasting, bore-me-to-death-with frames, which Barry finally took to start their last session with a slight advantage of 8-7.

But Robbo was sure to level the match with the first occasion that he got, a glorious 141 break taking care of that to which The Hawk responded with a set of marvellous breaks (108 and 104) to go 10-8.

Another furious break consisting of 90 points was going to win Robertson a frame, while a 65 restored the balance of the match.

And just because he can, Neil also added another century break (142) to take the lead, 11-10 (this was actually the second time of the match that he was in the leading position, last time being back when the scoreline was 3-1).

But Barry didn't panic! No siree! A break of 109 proved more than enough to draw level, while a 76 was restoring his dominance.

Robertson had work to do and the 24th frame stands proof as how difficult it was. Still, runs of 52 and 40 were forcing the much-needed decider which Hawkins took fair and square with a 61 break (final scoreline: 13-12).

So, here we are: four players, two semi-finals and only two spots to in the grand finals. Who is going to be? 

1pm
Shaun Murphy v. Barry Hawkins

7pm
Judd Trump v. Stuart Bingham

*all hours are UK time

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2015 World Championship (Day 11) - Trump is ready for semis

04:54:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Day 11 here at the Crucible theatre from Sheffield and Judd Trump looks more anxious than ever to get his fancy looks into the semis, after two sessions of "apocalyptic" snooker the Bristolian leading Ding Junhui 12-4.

Yes, you read it well, is not a typo. Trump needs just one more frame to get across the line and book himself a place in the semis.

"The Ace in the Pack" was truly at his best, but I must also add that Ding didn't too much wrong either. He was not given the chance to do anything, for that matter.

As the match started Trump's cue fired in breaks of 45, 54, 82, 94, 108 and 76 to take an outstanding 6-0 lead! It was like Ding wasn't even there.

The poor soul had a decent chance during frame three, when he make a 48 break and then in frame six when he lost position on 54, but that was about it.

Still, by the end of the first session the Chinese player managed to pull back two frames in a row with runs of 47 and 72 and trail by 6-2. There was still hope for a better second snooker rendez-vous, or maybe not?

Trump's breaks of 102 and 56 tell us that hope was vanishing, as three more frames were to enter his pocket as the match re-started.

Just before the interval Ding pulled back a frame to which he added another one after it, with the help of runs like 35 and 51.

But from 9-4 down, the gap just became bigger and bigger as the English player launched himself into a marathon of brilliant snooker backed by breaks of 42, 127 and 111 to go just one away from victory.

We all know that Ding is capable of comebacks and time has showed us just what he can achieve, but can he do it this time? All odds seem against him.

A more balanced match was the one played by Shaun Murphy and the Crucible-debutant Anthony McGill, after two sessions the Smurf taking a 9-7 lead.

Murphy kicked off with brilliant breaks of 100 and 125 to take the first two frames of the match, Ants took the next one on the brown, but the mid-session interval was finding the same Murphy in control 3-1 up after runs of 36 and 42,

After the 15-minute break a more revived McGill took the stage and by using breaks like 66, 89 and 65 levelled the match, but also took the lead, 4-3. Shaun hit back with a 49 to end their first encounter on a draw.

The second session started with the Scottish player and his marvellous 137 break, to which Murphy responded by taking a scrappy 10th frame to retain the balance of the match.

Once more Ants put his nose in front at 6-5, but once more Murphy was sure not to let him get away with it and made the scoreline go 6-6.

The only difference is that this time he didn't stop there. A splendid collection of breaks (127, 45, 35 and 75) was responsible for a 9-6 lead, which looked pretty worrying for the Scotsman.

But as the match was about to finish, Anthony pulled a rabbit out of his hat and with a break of 86 reduced the deficit at just two frames. This could go all the way, don't you think?

Interestingly enough Ronnie O'Sullivan found himself being led 5-3 down after the first session played against Stuart Bingham despite his display of breaks 116, 118 and 87.

Bingham's counter attack came under the form of 64, 75 and 56, enough to put Ronnie under pressure. At least until the second session starts.

There was also an incident regarding Ronnie and Ronnie's chalk that was placed on the baize as a method of measuring the distance between balls, which apparently is considered to be a foul, but the ref didn't call it, Twitter erupted, World Snooker announced they will look into it .... aaaaaaand cut!  This was another episode of "Life on the green baize".

Another favourite to reach the semi-finals, Neil Robertson is actually in the same position as O'Sullivan (minus the chalk incident) as Barry Hawkins proved to put the Aussie in quite some trouble.

After Robertson took a comfortable 3-1 lead thanks to breaks of 115 and 70, everything changed drastically as Hawkins rushed in and started potting one ball after another, letting his opponent to rot in his chair.

Top breaks of 98 and 96 assured Hawkins of a 5-3 lead and a serious mental advantage over the Australian player.

All the aforementioned matches will see their conclusion this Wednesday, as it follows:

10am
Barry Hawkins v. Neil Robertson (3-5)
Ding Junhui v. Judd Trump (4-12)

2.30pm
Anthony McGill v. Shaun Murphy (7-9)
Stuart Bingham v. Ronnie O'Sullivan (5-3)

7pm
Barry Hawkins v. Neil Robertson (last session)
Stuart Bingham v. Ronnie O'Sullivan (last session)

*all hours are UK time

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2015 World Championship (Day 10) - And then they were eight ...

04:01:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

This is it snooker lovers: we've reached the quarter-finals of this year's World Championship and things couldn't have been tastier for our hungry snooker loopy hearts and souls.

But enough about that and let us see what went on this Monday on the green baize from the famous Crucible theatre in Sheffield.

Neil Robertson booked his place into the quarters after a smashing victory obtained over "The Captain" Ali Carter (13-5).

Despite Carter's strong start from the previous round where he beat Alan McManus 10-5, this time one of the loveliest players on the tour didn't bring his A game, while Robbo did.

The Aussie ended the first session 6-2, the second 11-5, while the last redoubt was conquered with runs of 41 (on the black) and a glorious 145 to establish a final 13-5 scoreline.

Robertson's 145 is currently the highest break of the tournament overtaking his own 143 from a few days ago. Could this be Robbo's year? Well, I guess Barry Hawkins will have a saying in that too, for the lads will dispute their quarter-final match over the next days.

Ronnie O'Sullivan beat Matthew Stevens 13-5 and the story is very likely to the one presented above. Stevens had a very good opening match while facing Mark Williams whom he knelt down 10-2, but he didn't play the same against The Rocket.

With a first session ended in favour of O'Sullivan 5-3 and second one on 12-4, it was truly just a matter of time before this match was over.

Stevens managed to prolong the suspense with a solid 63 break, but Ronnie ended the story with a 77 to set a meeting with Stuart Bingham.

Asked by Rob Walker if he's as excited to be playing at the Crucible as he was back when he won his first world title, O'Sullivan answered in his own special and one-of-a-kind way: "Neaah, not really!".

Judd Trump had to face Marco Fu in his quest for a place in the next round and after leading 5-3 and 10-6, the 2011 World Championship runner-up closed with a 13-8 scoreline.

Fu put in quite the fight and it's fair to say he did put a little bit of pressure on Judd (although he might not admit it) their last session starting with a perfect 94 break signed by the Hong Kong cue-man.

Still, runs of 33 and 59 were taking Trump just one away from victory, Fu's last efforts of winning the 20th frame proving futile in front of him and his 134 clearance that made the crowd explode! I haven't seen that kind of reaction since ... Ronnie was at the table making century breaks!

Now Trump will have to face another powerful and Asian opponent, Ding Junhui. This should be interesting, don't you think?

Shaun Murphy is also in the quarter-finals after beating Joe Perry 13-5. 

A considerable lead of 7-1 after the first session to which Shaun added a 12-4 advantage after the second one tell the story better than anything.

Perry did fight back and boy he did it in style! But sadly it all came a bit too late and despite him winning the opening frame of the last session, Murphy's 68 break cued in the following one was making the curtain fall over this match.

 
"The Magician" is meeting the "New Era Nugget" in the next round, Anthony McGill standing between him and a place in the semis.

The battles start tomorrow, so without any further ado here's the schedule:




10am
Anthony McGill v. Shaun Murphy
Ding Junhui v. Judd Trump

2.30pm
Barry Hawkins v. Neil Robertson
Stuart Bingham v. Ronnie O'Sullivan

7pm
Anthony McGill v. Shaun Murphy
Ding Junhui v. Judd Trump

* all hours are UK time

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2015 World Championship (Day 9) - O'Sullivan & Murphy knock on QFs door

03:10:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

A week (and a day) ago "The Crucible madness" kicked off and we were so happy. Now the tournament is in full progress and we are over the moon with the display of snooker and weird stuff (if you read the blog then you know what I'm referring at).

As many of you know Sunday is one of those days, where no-one is declared a winner. Although, in all honestly there were times when I thought we shan't see another session on Monday especially in the cases of Ronnie O'Sullivan and Shaun Murphy.

Ronnie took on a pretty revived Matthew Stevens, but despite the Welshman strong start, the Rocket still closed the first session at 5-3.

Things didn't seem too different on Sunday either as Ron took the first two frames with a top break of 62 before his opponent could respond with a 55 clearance and pull back a frame to trail 7-4.

Still, by the mid-session interval the five-time world champion had hit one of those special century breaks (110) to restore the four-frames gap and continued with another brilliant 139 after the 15-minutes-of-whatever-the-players-do-backstage-when-noone-is-watching-them.

Runs of 29 and 31 were winning O'Sullivan the 14th frame, while the following on was clinched with a 42 clearance on the black. And since we were here, add a 61 and go see the scoreline: 12-4! 

One more frame needed for the Rocket to reach the quarter-finals where Stuart Bingham awaits impatiently.

Oh, and I must not forget the "can-can" part of this story: Ronnie was warn by referee Olivier Marteel for having a ungentlemanly behaviour (which basically translated into rubbing his cue up and down).

Shaun Murphy proved to be in quite a fighting form (not that is a shock for anyone) and after leading poor Joe Perry 7-1, went on all the way to 12-4 at the end of their second session.

Dressed in a Burgundy red outfit and with his waistcoat's back in a gold shade (made me remember Iron Man), Murphy captured the first three frames with breaks of 44, 45, 57 and 50, while a devastated Perry could only miss important balls in crucial moments.

Still, a break of 74 helped him go 10-2 behind just before the interval. Interval which proved to have a good impact on our Gentleman, as Joe got another frame under-board with a beautiful 131 clearance.

Runs of 40 and 88 were carefully added to Murphy's account in order to make the scoreline go 12-3, when Perry fought with all his remaining energy and made a 74 break not just to win the last frame, but also to assure there will still be a session this Monday.

Neil Robertson is not far from a place on the quarter either, as the Australian player holds a pretty powerful 11-5 advantage over Ali Carter.

The players ended their first session with Robertson in the lead at 6-2, but when the match re-started Carter managed to pull back a frame by using a break of 61.

The following ones however were entering Neil's pocket courtesy of breaks of 72, 38 (this one was won on the black), 119 and 71 for a tremendous 11-3 lead!

Missing a lot, but also being followed by the Badluck Gods, Carter still managed to win the last two frames of the session and grant himself the chance to start a comeback on Monday.

Another two green baize gladiators, Judd Trump and Marco Fu ended their second session snooker love affair, with the Bristolian in the leading chair, 10-6.

Their first session ended on 5-3 in favour of Judd and what followed next was a perfect lesson of snooker: when playing Trump, you must kill the frame in one visit. Fu didn't.

Breaks of 34, 40, 40, 35 and 111 were taking Trump 9-3 up, while Fu could only sit in his chair and think about the fact that his contributions (although not too shabby I must say) didn't make any difference.

But as the interval finished off, Fu started to come to life with runs of 33, 32 and 54 in order to reduce his deficit at 9-5.

Judd's 75 break came as a reply, but so did the last frame who entered Fu's bag to close the match at 10-6.

All the above matches will see their conclusion in a few hours time, as it follows:

1pm
Joe Perry v. Shaun Murphy (4-12)
Marco Fu v. Judd Trump (6-10)

7pm
Ali Carter v. Neil Robertson (5-11)
Matthew Stevens v. Ronnie O'Sullivan (4-12)

* all hours are UK time

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2015 World Championship (Day 8) - Ding beats Higgins. Hawkins comes back for glory

03:39:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Three more players have made their way to the quarter-finals of this year's World Championship, their names being: Ding Junhui, Stuart Bingham and Barry Hawkins.

Ding Junhui took on an old rival of the green, green baize John Higgins and after losing the first session 5-3, he fought back and turned-tables at 9-7 to finally win it 13-9.

The second session started with shared frames, Ding being the first one in and grabbing the first two frames with runs of 49, 80 and 46, but Higgins was sure to restore his dominance with breaks of 55 and 68. 

However, from 7-5 down, Ding not only did manage to bring back the balance of the match, but also to trash it in the past and go 9-7 up at the end of the session by hitting in breaks of 66, 64, 92 and 59.

Truth be told, Higgins had a huge chance to pull back a frame just before the session ended but went on and missed a long red on 57, Ding clinching it on the black.

"The Chinese Sensation" had also a powerful start at the kick off of the final session when he rushed in to capture the first two frames with a top break of 63.

Higgins, which after the match declared he "lost his concentration", barely managed to reduce the gap by winning a frame, while a cruel 89 clearance was pushing Ding 12-8 up. Just one more needed.

As it happens, the Chinese player had to wait for one more frame, a dramatic one that Higgins won despite Ding's 54 break, in order to trail 12-9.

The victory didn't come easy as in the last frame John decided to play on even if he needed three snookers!!! The boys battled, but in the end Higgins managed to get them. Still, it was a bit too late, as Ding took his chances and speculated his opponent's mistakes to close the deal at 13-9.

Barry Hawkins and Mark Allen delighted our snooker hearts with a great spectacle of snooker, one of those classical shows at the end of which you wish for both players to win. The the one crossing over the line 13-11 was Hawkins.

Ever since the beginning of the match Allen put his foot down and was always in the leading position, either it was by just a frame, or by two. That's how the first session finished in his favour, 5-3.

When the players returned for their second session, things continued in the same manner: sharing frames, but with Allen having the upper hand, 11-9.

Still, despite all the great play that Mark performed and all the magnificent century breaks he manage to obtain, Hawkins kept his head straight and prepared a great comeback for the last session.

Breaks of 39 and 42 plus a great tactical battle proved enough to make the scoreline go 11-11, while a beautiful 102 clearance was putting "The Hawk" in front for the first time since the match started.

After losing four consecutive frames (one in the previous session and three this session), Allen's touch was sort of gone with the wind, so Barry took this opportunity to win a dramatic and somehow scrappy last frame to get a place in the quarter-finals.

The third lucky winner of a spot in the "bronze round" is Stuart Bingham who recorded a very important 13-5 victory of Scotland's Graeme Dott.

After leading 6-2 and 11-5, Bingham didn't lose too much time into winning the needed two frames with breaks of 49 and 104 to go happy as a little lamb running down the hills of glory.

 
The battle has just begun for Ali Carter and Neil Robertson, as the boys disputed their first session ended on a 6-2 scoreline in favour of the Aussie (breaks of 60, 58, 129, 51, 115, 31 and 26), but also for Matthew Stevens and Ronnie O'Sullivan, their session ending on 5-3 in favour of the Rocket (breaks of 100, 47, 63, 61 and 55).



More snooker to come our way this Sunday too, so be sure to clear you schedule and send the kids to playing outside (it's Spring, right?):

10am
Joe Perry v. Shaun Murphy
Marco Fu v. Judd Trump

2.30pm
Ali Carter v. Neil Robertson (2-6)
Matthew Stevens v. Ronnie O'Sullivan (3-5)

7pm
Joe Perry v. Shaun Murphy
Marco Fu v. Judd Trump

* all hours are UK time

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2015 World Championship (Day 7) - Crucible Curse strikes again: Selby loses to McGill

03:00:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Well boys and girls it happened again! The Crucible curse (which basically translates into a lot of rubbish) stroke tonight in Sheffield, defending champion Mark Selby losing 13-9 to a brilliant Anthony McGill.

Selby and McGill disputed their last two sessions today after being stuck at 4-4 after their first encounter.

And from the very start of the second session it begun to be clear who will hold the upper hand as Ants stormed in and took the first two frames with runs of 44 and 43 to go 6-4 up.

Selby pulled back a frame with a brilliant 120 clearance, but his Scottish opponent took the 12th frame on the pink to restore the two-frame gap.

The recently crowned China Open champion made an 83 clearance to try and come back at McGill, but "The New Nugget" fired solid breaks of 125, 48 and 54 to end the session 10-6 up. This was looking ominous.

The last session kicked off at exactly 7pm with the same Anthony McGill in full control, a break of 68 taking him just two steps away from a place in the quarter-finals.

Selby, although in a better frame of mind than during the previous session, managed to used a 67 and pull back a frame, but when Anthony hit an 87 as a response and went 12-7 up you knew he was going for the kill.
 
Still, two more frames had to enter into Jester's bag (thanks to breaks of 57 and 101) before McGill wrapped up the most important victory of his career with a break of 87 and win by 13-9.

Gracious in defeat, Selby declared that his opponent outplayed him and in all honestly he probably lost the match in the second session due to a "poor performance", while at the other end of the line McGill couldn't believe what has just happened to him.

So, it seems like the Crucible Curse is "made in Scotland", has red hair and is an awesome snooker player.

Ding Junhui and John Higgins played their second session and after being led 5-3 Ding managed to turn tables against his opponent and end the session at 9-7.

“The Chinese Sensation” had a very promising start taking the first two frames of the session with a top break of 80, but Higgins took the next two using a 55 and a 68.

But when the lads returned from their mid-session interval Ding unleashed his fury and made breaks of 66 and 64 to draw level at seven a piece and a 92 to go ahead for the first time since the beginning of the match.

Higgins has a huge chance to catch up with his rival of the green baize but he missed a long red down on 57, Ding clearing with a 59 and winning the last frame on the black! Talk about an early drama!

Another Scotsman, Graeme Dott felt behind his Last 16 opponent, Stuart Bingham, after two sessions Ballrun leading 11-5.

The first session saw Stuart taking a comfortable lead of 6-2 thanks to breaks of 64, 60, 59, 48 and 100, Dott's "breaks crop" being a bit more humble and consisting in runs of 69 and 68.

As the players returned into the arena, Dotty managed to reduce his deficit by winning the first two frames, but Stuart took the following two to go 8-4 at the interval.

One more frame - that's all Dott could win during the following minutes as Bingham cruised on to go 11-5 up.

Barry Hawkins faced Mark Allen for their first snooker session of the Last 16 round, in the end the Northern Irish player getting a 5-3 lead.

Actually it was Allan the one who first broke the ice, breaks of 63 and 65 guaranteeing him a 2-0 lead, but Hawkins was sure to fight back with breaks of 76 and 51 and draw level.

They went hand-in-hand for the following two frames, but from 3-3 Allen used a top break of 96 to establish a valuable lead of 5-3.

Saturday sees the conclusion of all the above three matches, plus a few more start off!

10pm
Barry Hawkins v. Mark Allen (3-5)
Ding Junhui v. John Higgins (9-7)

2.30pm
Ali Carter v. Neil Robertson
Graeme Dott v. Stuart Bingham (5-11)

7pm
Barry Hawkins v. Mark Allen (last session)
Matthew Stevens v. Ronnie O'Sullivan

*all hours are UK time

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2015 World Championship ( Day 6) - Trump and Murphy get Last 16 spot

01:41:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Ahoy, me hearties and welcome to another episode of "The Crucible dream". Today the stars in action are Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy, both of them booking their place into the much-beloved and much-more-close-to-finish-line Last 16 round.

The player who landed in the grand final of the 2011 World Championship and left it as a runner-up (aka. Judd Trump in case you were wondering) had a pretty comfortable lead of 7-2 over Crucible-debutant Stuart Carrington.

However, things didn't go as smoothly as one might expect once the second session started. And by that I mean that Stuart got out his guns and started shooting.

A break of 97 was the first bullet to come out of Stuart's cue, to which his much-experienced opponent answered with a 74.

Still, Carrington didn't give in and with breaks of 74 and 70 was winning himself two consecutive frames to trail 8-5 at the interval.

After the mini-break Trump moved one away from victory thanks to a 76 break, but Stu kept the match alive with a 99 (if he hadn't missed the black he would have recorded his first Crucible century break).

Minutes later though, Judd fired a traditional 109 to go 10-6 and book his place into the Last 16 where he's meeting Hong Kong's Marco Fu.

Shaun Murphy also got a spot next to the snooker stars of the Last 16 after beating Finland’s Robin Hull by 10-3.
 
The lads had a pretty one-sided first session a day before, but it's fair to say Robin had his chances and missed crucial opportunities to capitalise when he was amongst the balls. Thus the session ended 7-2 in favour of the Smurf.

The match saw it conclusion with frame 10 clinched on the black and the following one won with a top break of 43, both of them entering Murphy’s bag, to which his opponent reply with a dramatic 33 clearance on the black to overcome Shaun's previous 64 break. It was 9-3.

This was Hull's last major contribution to the match, for Murphy finished the Finish player with a 111 break to set a snooker clash with Joe Perry.

Defending champion Mark Selby and the new Nugget, Anthony McGill were the first to open the Last 16 round of matches, after their first session the scoreline going as tight as it can go: 4-4.

McGill took the first to frames of the match with a top break of 63, but Selby went on and captured the next three with breaks of 51, 46, 65 and 87 to go 3-2 up.

Scotland's Highlander fired two amazing breaks of 74 and 73 to put his nose back in front at 4-3, but the eight frame was won dramatically on the last black (Ants missed it after potting an out-of-this-world pink) by Selby.

Ding Junhui and John Higgins also started their quest for a place in the quarter-finals, their first encounter resulting into a 5-3 lead for the Scotsman.

Higgins was sure to take the first two frames of the evening, his opponent having to pull out a real piece of entertainment under the form of a break of 135 to break the ice and get some points on the scoreboard.

A top break of 73 was helping Higgins advance even further at 5-1 up, before Ding could feel threatened enough and perform one of those special breaks-of-comeback that he likes to hit. 

So with a set composed of a 67 and a 94, China's hero enters into the second session with a two-frame deficit.

The cue-battles continue tomorrow, as it follows:

10am
Mark Selby v. Anthony McGill (4-4)
Graeme Dott v. Stuart Bingham

2.30pm
Barry Hawkins v. Mark Allen
Ding Junhui v. John Higgins (3-5)

7pm
Mark Selby v. Anthony McGill (last session)
Graeme Dott v. Stuart Bingham

*all hours are UK time

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Happy birthday Barry Hawkins!

12:30:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Although we are in the heat of the action at the Crucible with this crazy thing called the World Championship going on, we couldn't miss the chance of saying "Happy birthday!" to Barry Hawkins.

"The Hawk" of snooker turns 36 today so we wish him all the best and, as tradition requires it, as many titles as possible.

And with the Australian Open and the Shoot-Out trophies, both captured in 2012, along with his runner-up position at the 2013 World Championship and the PTC Grand Final title from 2014, it's only a matter of time until the Englishman will score yet another grand victory.


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2015 World Championship (Day 5) - O'Sullivan sets snooker rendez-vous with Stevens

03:07:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

Our fifth day here at the mighty, yet intimate Crucible Theatre from Sheffield saw the likes of Ronnie O'Sullivan, Matthew Stevens and Joe Perry getting a well-deserved spot in the Last 16 round.

The Rocket Ronnie O'Sullivan put his foot down (this time fully dressed, with matching socks and personal shoes) and cruised towards victory, after leading Craig Steadman 7-2 at the end of the first round.

Just one more frame, that's all that Craig could do in front of not-so-vintage Ronnie, but enough-to-get-over-the-line Rocket who used just a top break of 54 to end businesses at 10-3.

After the match O'Sullivan explained what happened the other day regarding his shoes-incident and as expected, it was all due to the fact that his shoes were new and you know what happens when you buy a new pair - you might get uncomfortable.

Sure, that's no excuse to untie your laces and play in your socks, but I'll let the WPBSA worry about that.

“I bought some new shoes before the tournament and it was a bad, bad move,” said O’Sullivan. 

“When I was buying them I thought ‘these don’t look right’ but I’m not into fashion so I bought them anyway.

“When I put Mike’s shoes on and they had this big instep in them, but actually they were so comfortable, they were like heaven. Thanks to Mike because I was desperate, I was even asking people in the crowd if they could lend me some size eights.”

Funnily enough his opponent declared: "Hand on my heart I didn’t even notice when he took his shoes off. It sounds stupid because he was sat right next to me, but I didn’t know until the referee told him to put them back on. I said to him you can use one of mine if you want, we can use one each.”

But getting back to more serious matters, Matthew Stevens obtained a magnificent victory of 10-2 in front of his friend and country-man Mark Williams.

The lads finished their first session on Wednesday night, with Stevens taking the lead 7-2 thanks to solid breaks of 111, 57, 96, 51 and 47 as well as a lot of misses from his playing partner side.

So, when the lads returned into the arena to finish their match, it was really no surprise to see Stevens knock on breaks of 115, 45 and 76 to win three consecutive frames and thus set a Last 16 meeting with an old rival, Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Joe Perry is to meet the winner of Shaun Murphy v. Robin Hull match, as the Gentleman recorded a 10-4 victory over China's Zhang Anda.

The first session was a one-sided classic snooker affair with Joe hitting the ball smoothly and recording breaks of 56, 94, 38 and 35 while his opponent was out of sorts and just managed to answer with a break of 80 points to trail 8-1.

But when they returned for the evening session things got off a bit different and we started to wonder if something might have happened to Perry's form.

Zhang made breaks of 59 and 132 to win three frames in a row and put quite enough pressure on his opponent, who started missing.

Still, he did find enough strength to go 9-3 up at the interval and win a tense 14th frame with just a top break of 39 after that. Not an easy second-half road towards the Last 16 round by any means!

All odds seem to point to Shaun Murphy as his new opponent, as the Englishman finished the first session against Finland's Robin Hull 7-2 up.

Murphy hit breaks of 97, 101, 48, 62 and 46, while his rival of the green baize only made a top break of 52.

Must add here that Shaun had a 147 attempt (I think this is the 6th of the tournament), but lost position on 48 and had to take the pink.

Young Judd Trump took on Crucible-debutant Stuart Carrington, after their first session the Bristolian leading by 7 frames to 2.

Thursday match schedule is a bit lighter than usual, but things get even more serious as four players begin their Last 16 marathon:

1pm
Judd Trump v. Stuart Carrington (7-2)
Mark Selby v. Anthony McGill (Last 16)

7pm
Shaun Murphy v. Robin Hull (7-2)
Ding Junhui v. John Higgins (Last 16)

*all hours are UK time

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