Happy birthday Ali Carter!

We are very, very happy to celebrate "The Captain" of professional snooker, Ali Carter who is turning 36 today!

Carter is the proper hero, if you ask me, for he defeated the most unforgivable disease on earth twice and still found enough energy and will to get back on the green, green baize of home.

We were delighted to see him fighting like a lion during the 2015 World Championship and we look forward to seeing him perform his best during the recently started new season, for he sure deserves more silverware for being such a tremendous player.

Happy birthday Ali! Keep on flying high!

Happy 5 years!

2015 Australian Open - Higgins claims Aussie title

John Higgins won 9-8 over Martin Gould in order to lift the Australian Goldfields Open trophy and since the Aussie Open is the first major ranking tournament of the freshly started season, it couldn't have worked any better for the Scotsman.

An epic final of tremendous snooker, guts, pressure, drama and amazing shots revealed itself throughout more than five hours, both players taking their turn into paving their road to victory.

In the end though, there can be only one champion and today the odds have been in favour of the four-time world champion, John Higgins and his classic style of playing top snooker.

"The Wizard of Wishaw" (probably he'll have to change his nickname into the Wizard of Oz, at least for the year to come) took a strong start by feverishly grabbing the first two frames, but his opponent proved to be even stronger by taking the next four with breaks like 101 and 86.

Still, by the end of the first session the scoreboard was blinking 4-4 as Higgins used a 112 break to draw level. This was going to be a tough match to call.

As the match restarted John continued his good run, breaks of 48 and 44 putting him in the leading chair once more, 6-4.
 
But the man who has been rocking around the snooker table all week wasn't going to let him get away that easy, so a perfect 138 clearance was helping Gould pull back a frame.

His comeback was sadly disturbed when during frame 12 a plant went wrong, this giving Higgins the chance to make a break of 68 and re-establish the two-frame advantage at 7-5, but the Englishman didn't give in.

Two breaks (55 and 58) plus one hell of a battle got him the much-wanted 7-7 scoreline. 

When Higgins used a 60 break to go one away from victory and got the better chance during frame 16 all seemed lost for the "Pinner Potter", but a missed red down the cushion offered Gouldy a lifeline, the Englishman forcing a decider by winning the frame on the black!!!

Higgins knew that this was turning into a "the first one in wins" affair, so when the snooker Gods granted him the opportunity he took it. A break of 89 was sealing his victory and getting him the golden trophy.

Interestingly enough 21 years ago, John Higgins won his first pro-tournament in Melborne, Australia so this is definitely a nice way to remember how much he has developed as a player through the years.

Also, Higgins equalled O'Sullivan in winning ranking tournaments (27) so even more to be proud of. 

An ecstatic Scotsman revealed that this was "one of the best finals I've been involved into" and happily received the trophy along with the medal and the A$75,000 cheque.


Next tournament will take place in Latvia, Riga – the Riga Open – starting on July 29.

2015 Australian Open - Higgins to face Gould in final

The thrilling game of the semi-final stages is finished and we are now in possession of the players' name that will be facing each other in the 5t^h Australian Goldfields Open edition: John Higgins and Martin Gould.

John Higgins was the first to write his name on the final scoreboard as he performed a tremendous 6-4 defeat over Welshman Jamie Jones.

Although, by the way things developed throughout this tournament, Jones was considered to be favourite (his performance was top class), Higgins had other plans.

Still, as the match started breaks of 78, 51 and a perfect 96 were pushing Jamie 4-0 up! A scoreline that brought much joy into Jamie's camp of supporters.

But after the tea-break the Scotsman got back into the match and won no less than six frames in a row with breaks of 134, 89, 45, 133 and closed with a fluked blue and a 92 one!!! Now that's a comeback!

On the other side, Martin Gould scored an outstanding 6-1 victory over an out-of-sorts Stephen  Maguire.

Beginning with a witty clearance to which he added breaks of 82, 87 and 42, Gouldy practically flew at 4-0 leaving Maguire in total dismay.

But after the interval the Scotsman managed to win a frame with a top break of 61 making us wonder if this is going to be a repeat of the aforementioned match.

It wasn't to be the case for a very determined Martin Gould fired in runs of 38, 38 and 100 to get over the line and set a very interesting meeting with the four-time world champion, John Higgins.

Sunday, these two will be fighting like lions for that golden trophy, the first session kicking off at 2pm (local time), while the final one will start as usual from 7pm.

The stakes are high because Higgins is definitely looking for a good start this season and a re-taste of the fame and glory, while Gould (who is in his 2^nd ranking final) will be aiming for his first ranking tile win.

Soooo, who's going to be, ay?

2015 Australian Open - Mixed semi-finals

After five days of tight matches, shocking results and tremendous snooker we have reached the semi-final stages of the 2015 Australian Goldfields Open with the likes of Jamie Jones, John Higgins, Martin Gould and Stephen Maguire ready for the kill.

So, two Scottish players, a Welshman and an Englishman will cross their cues in Saturday’ semi-finals for a place in the much-awaited final from Bendigo.

Jamie Jones scored a thrilling 5-4 victory over country-man and friend Michael White after performing a great comeback from being 4-2 down.

The deciding frame was a classic snooker affair with White getting the first chance but sadly missing a red on 56, Jones coming to the table for a perfect 66 clearance which was booking him a place in the semis.

Next in line, John Higgins won 5-3 over Joe Perry, although by his own words Joe "was the better player" in order to set a meeting with the one and only Jamie Jones.

Stephen Maguire managed to do something that many would have not predict - to beat Judd Trump, the player that everyone was seeing as favourite to defend his title.

Still, the 5-1 scoreline tells as different story. Maguire was the one who took the opener with a 62 break, added the second frame after a re-spotted black and used runs of 21 and 31 to go 3-0 in front.

Just before the interval Trump tried to build his comeback breaks of 48 and 51 getting him the first frame of the match, but after the mini-break Maguire extended his lead by winning the 5^th frame on the black to which he added the 6^th in no time.

The same result was obtained by a powerful Martin Gould against the dangerous Matthew Selt, breaks of 58, 122 and 72 taking him in the semi-final stages where he'll meet Maguire.

So, this is it: the drama and the pressure are on and there's no turning back. By the end of Saturday we shall find out the finalists of the first major ranking event of this season, so be sure to keep an eye on EuroSport and also this blog :-)

1pm
Jamie Jones v. John Higgins

7pm
Stephen Maguire v. Martin Gould

*all hours are local time (aka. Australia)

2015 Australian Open - And then there were only eight ...

Two more days have passed since out last encounter and the big names are still dropping like flies Down Under at the prestigious Australian Goldfields Open.

So, if during the first two days the likes of Mark Allen, Stuart Bingham and Neil Robertson said their goodbyes, in the following two Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and Ali Carter joined the club.

The Welshman Jamie Jones has had a tremendous run lately (the player admits he's been running - a bit of O'Sullivan inspiration there maybe?) managing to come back from a 4-2 down deficit against Mark Davis and win by 5-4.

And like that's not enough he went on to beat Mark Selby 5-1 by hitting in breaks of 79, 68 and 51 in order to set a quarter-finals meeting with his mate, Michael White.

White had a very difficult match to play against a tactical Ali Carter (who beat Shaun Murphy by a terrific 5-4 scoreline in his previous match), the lads going hand in hand and not being separated by more than one frame the entire match.

In the end though, breaks of 88, 82, 59, 46 and 47 carried him across the winning line.

Judd Trump continued rocking around the snooker table, breaks of 111, 33, 62 and a 63 helping him obtain a clear 5-2 victory over Ian Burns. 

Truth be told, Ian put him in trouble when he almost completed a comeback (he was 3-0 down and reduced his disadvantage at 3-2) but the Bristolian rapidly caught the drill and extended his lead, sealing his victory on the black.

A totally revived and full-of-confidence Martin Gould cashed two important victories, a 5-4 in front of Marco Fu and a 5-3 one in front of Michael Holt (highlights provided by breaks of 93, 109, 91 and 62).

The Scottish team (aka. John Higgins and Stephen Maguire), booked its quarter-finals seats, Higgins beating Fergal O'Brien by 5-1, while Maguire fought for a 5-4 against Ricky Walden (who demolished Mark Selby's highest break of the tournament - 141 - with a 142).

Matthew Selt and Mark Joyce were the last two to finish their match, in the end the stronger of the two being Selt who won the deciding frame with a top break of 76 to write his name on the last place left in tomorrow's QFs.

So, without any further ado here is the order of play:

1pm
Joe Perry v. John Higgins
Jamie Jones v. Michael White

7pm
Judd Trump v. Stephen Maguire
Martin Gould v. Matthew Selt

*all hours are local time (aka. Australia)