Snooker, my love

Barry Hawkins shoots victory in Blackpool

2012-01-29T23:40:00.001+02:00

The champion Barry Hawkins

Barry Hawkins beat formerworld champion, Graeme Dott 61-23 to become the second player to ever lift aSnooker Shoot-Out trophy at Blackpool.

The road to victory implied beating heavy names fromthe snooker business, like Ding Junhui, Fergal O'Brien, Stephen Maguire, MarkDavis and Dave Harold.

The proud member of South West Snooker Academy'sPink Army, Hawkins beat the 2006 world champion, Graeme Dott to win his firstsnooker event this year and the first one since 2010 when he took the ProChallenge Series - Event 5 title under his belt.

The 23-year-old lad fromKent started his Shoot-Out journey by beating Ding Junhui 53-27, the IrishmanFergal O'Brien 90-0, Stephen Maguire 87-1, his pink colleague Mark Davis77-12 (break of 76 hit in the process), good old Dave Harold by 56-30(break of 50), only to set up the final meeting with Scotland's Graeme Dott,whom he beat 61-23 after hitting in runs of 46 and 14.

One very happy runner-up - Graeme Dott

Runner-up Dott goes homewith a check of £16,000 and the pleasure of performing extremely well in eachmatch he played.

Actually the only time the Scottish player wasn't in front ofhis opponent was in the final, but while facing Alan McManus, Ken Doherty,former 2011 runner-up Robert Millkins, Dominic Dale or Tom Ford he took hischances right from the beginning.

Martin Gould goes home withno less than £2,000 for hitting the highest break of the tournament, abeautiful 135 one during the match against Jamie Jones.

For champion Barry Hawkinsthe victory itself as well as the prize money of £32,000 means a lot,considering that he is a very good player, but unfortunately a stranger fromour TV screens. Hopefully, this title will give him a boost to hit the ballbetter but also get him playing in the big ranking events.

Snooker Shoot-Out 2012 - Day 2

2012-01-29T01:09:00.001+02:00

Happy Lee

The second day of the 2012Snooker Shoot-Out saw Stephen Lee hitting the first century break of thecompetition, both Mark Selby and Mark Williams leaving it and a veryentertaining "clash of styles" between a very slow Dave Harold and avery fast Tony Drago.

Stephen Lee managed to hitthe first century break of this year's Snooker Shoot-Out tournament while hewas kicking out Ricky Walden. 'The Bulldog" of snooker ended the match ona 121-0 result, a 121 that was his marvellous century break. A bit overwhelmedand still shaking after this great performance, Lee confessed he just went foreverything and that he's happy the century-break-issue is out of the box now.

Dotty is really enjoying himself

Scotland’s Graeme Dott ended his second day in Blackpoolwith a big smile upon his face. Now, you all know that we don't see Dotty smilevery often so one should guess he is really enjoying himself. And after beatingthe legend Ken Doherty while hitting an 81 break in the process, who can blamethe guy?

A very interesting clash ofstyles was the match between Dave Harold and Tony Drago. A slow player with avery distinctive managing his cue and potting the balls and a fast playernicknamed "The Tornado", were now face to face. What's even moreinteresting is that this is their first snooker encounter. They've never playedeach other in the past although they’ve been in the circuit for quite some timenow.

A clash of styles: Drago and Harold

The one who broke the icewas Harold, with a break of 30, but Drago didn't give up and although only one minuteand 38 seconds were left for action, he retuned to pot the remaining balls.Unfortunately for him he missed a red on 19 and Harold came for a 51-32victory.

World number one, MarkSelby saw himself in the position of leaving the competition after losing 22-31to Dominic Dale, the two-time world champion Mark Williams followed hisfootsteps suffering a defeat of 28-50 from Barry Pinches, while the currentworld champion John Higgins was also sent home by a very determined Mark Allen,67-34.

Below you have Day Two listor results:

Last 64 (part two)

Tony Drago 97-0 Andy Hicks

Ding Junhui 27-53 BarryHawkins

Ben Woollaston 45-52 AlfieBurden

Ricky Walden 122-3 LiuChuang

Andrew Higginson 9-74 LiangWenbo

Shaun Murphy 3-39 FergalO’Brien

Marcus Campbell 60-13 XiaoGuodong

Ian McCulloch 81-22 JamieCope

Mark King 31-39 DominicDale

Marco Fu 21-24 BarryPinches

Dave Harold 64-1 JamesWattana

Matthew Selt 66-0 RodLawler

Mike Dunn 50-37 MichaelWhite

Stephen Hendry 79-29 JackLisowski

Jamie Jones 56-24 AdrianGunnell

Ryan Day 73-23 Joe Swail

Last 32

Robert Milkins 64-6 MikeDunn

Ryan Day 81-0 Ian McCulloch

Dominic Dale 31-22 MarkSelby

Martin Gould 56-27 MarcusCampbell

Barry Hawkins 90-0 Fergal O’Brien

Graeme Dott 85-0 KenDoherty

Stephen Maguire 58-1 AlfieBurden

Mark Davis 79-1 AnthonyHamilton

Dave Harold 51-32 TonyDrago

Stuart Bingham 8-78 JamieJones

Mark Williams 28-50 BarryPinches

Ricky Walden 0-121 StephenLee

Gerard Greene 69-30 StephenHendry

Tom Ford 63-39 Matthew Selt

Liang Wenbo 0-54 Matthew Stevens

John Higgins 34-67 MarkAllen

Match schedule forthe Last 16:

Ryan Day v. Dave Harold

Robert Milkins v. Graeme Dott

Stephen Maguire v. Barry Hawkins

Dominic Dale v. Stephen Lee

Martin Gould v. Jamie Jones

Tom Ford v. Gerard Greene

Liang Wenbo v. Barry Pinches

Mark Davis v. Mark Allen

The last day of the SnookerShoot-Out is starting from 2pm with the Last 16 matches and continues from 7pmwith the quarter-finals, semis and final.

Snooker Shoot-Out 2012 - Day 1

2012-01-28T01:09:00.000+02:00

Milkins sends defending champion home

The second edition ofSnooker Shoot-Out tournament started today with a very big surprise.

Thedefending champion, Nigel Bond experienced an early exit after losing 30-15 toRobert Milkins. The irony is that Milking was actually the runner-up of lastyear's Shoot-Out.

Legends Steve Davis andJimmy White followed Bond footsteps and left the competition, while JohnHiggins, Mark Selby, Ken Doherty and Mark Davis booked themselves a place inthe Last 32.

If last year Nigel Bond wasdefeating Robert Milkins 58-23 to lift the Shoot-Out’s first trophy, this yearthe situation was reversed and Milkins beat him 38-15 after showing a morestable form and a superior cue style.

Davis is smilling, but unfortunately he's also going home

Minutes after, the six-timeworld champion Steve Davis was also being forced to leave the competition afterMark Williams hit a break of 66 and ended the match on a remarkable result of72-0. 'The Nugget" didn't even pot a ball.

"The people'schampion" Jimmy White was eliminated, Anthony Hamilton proving to be onehell of a sheriff and forcing Jimmy to "get out of town" with a 71-14scoreline.

A very interesting matchwas the one who brought together the 2011 World Championship finalists: JohnHiggins and Judd Trump. Although many snooker fans had bet on Trump to take revenge,but also because he's a most suitable player for this fast format, Higginsproved them wrong.

Higgins beats Trump once more

The Scottish player endedthe battle at 62-16 after hitting a 33 break. Trump seemed not very focus andmissed a lot of long pots, which in his situation (he pots the unpottable) wasa bit weird.

An all Scottish-affair wasgoing on between Stephen Maguire and young Anthony McGill, with the first namedone winning 43-20, but also between Graeme Dott and Alan McManus, Dotty bookinghimself a place in the next round after winning the cues' battle by 62-33.

World number one, M.Selby in the Last 32

The 1997 world champion,Ken Doherty is also going to delight us with his snooker skills during the nextround as he beat Michael Holt 58-6, the Welshman Matthew Stevens saw off"Captain" Ali Carter 60-22, world number one Mark Selby moved passJoe Perry 104-1, while Mark Davis ended on a 78-16 result with Mark Joyce.

Below you can check Day Onelist of results:

Robert Milkins 30-15 Nigel Bond

Mark Williams 72-0 Steve Davis

Ali Carter 22-60 Matthew Stevens

Stephen Maguire 43-20 Anthony McGill

Graeme Dott 62-33 Alan McManus

Stuart Bingham 77-22 Liu Song

John Higgins 62-16 Judd Trump

Gerard Greene 36-27 Jamie Burnett

Ken Doherty 58-6 Michael Holt

Tom Ford 50-44 Jimmy Robertson

Mark Selby 104-1 Joe Perry

Mark Allen 46-19 Rory McLeod

Martin Gould 62-45 Peter Ebdon

Anthony Hamilton 71-14 Jimmy White

Mark Davis 78-16 Mark Joyce

Stephen Lee 60-37 Peter Lines

Tomorrow the action continues with:

12:00

Tony Drago v. Andy Hicks

Ding Junhui v. Barry Hawkins

Ben Woollaston v. Alfie Burden

Ricky Walden v. Liu Chuang

Andrew Higginson v. Liang Wenbo

Shaun Murphy v. Fergal O’Brien

Marcus Campbell v. Xiao Guodong
Ian McCulloch v. Jamie Cope

Mark King v. Dominic Dale

Marco Fu v. Barry Pinches

Dave Harold v. James Wattana

Matthew Selt v. Rod Lawler

Mike Dunn v. Michael White

Stephen Hendry v. Jack Lisowski

Jamie Jones v. Adrian Gunnell

Ryan Day v. Joe Swail

18:00 Last 32

Random draw

The event is fully covered by SkySports

The 2012 Masters - the story in pictures

2012-01-28T00:07:00.000+02:00

For those of you that are regular readers of this blog you know that after a big tournament I used to write a personal note about it. Well, this time I thought about something different: to mix a few words with the pictures.

Below you have the result. Oh, and please don't be too harsh ... it's the first time I've done such a thing :-P

Enjoy!

Championship League 2012 - Fourth time's a lucky charm for Mark Davis

2012-01-27T00:29:00.000+02:00

Mark Davis wins Group Four

Mark Davis beat Mark Selby3-1 to win this year's Championship League Group Four. Hence Davis got a place next to Judd Trump, ShaunMurphy and Neil Robertson in Winners' Group.

Mark Davis was in theChampionship League from day one, which also means Group One. He alwaysqualified for the play-offs but he never reached the final. Until now thatis.

For the last two days hebeat Matthew Stevens 3-2, Peter Ebdon and Jamie Cope 3-1 and whitewashedStephen Lee 3-0 in order to qualify on third place for the play-offs.

He faced the 2002 worldchampion, Peter Ebdon in the semi-final and found no difficulty in hitting abrilliant series of 40, 43, 54 and another 40 to crash Ebbo 3-0 and bookhimself a place in the final.
Here, another player whohas been with us since Group One and also managed to qualify for the play-offeach time (always on first place) was waiting for him, Mark Selby.

Selby so close and yet so far away from victory (again!)

Davis took the first two frames with runs of 59 and 40, but Selby wasn'tgoing to give up without a fight so he hit a great 138 to pull back a frame.However, a strategically placed 72 was closing the deal in Davis' favour at 3-1.

Mark Selby along with hissemi-final opponent, Mark Allen but also with Peter Ebdon and Jamie Cope aregetting a place in Group Five where they'll try their best to qualify once morefor the play-offs and this time even win them.

On the opposite corner we have Matthew Stevens and Stephen Lee, both of themnot earning enough points to remain in the competition hence leaving it forgood. They could only hope to retain their Top 16 spot until this year'sPremier League kicks off.

The next groups (five andsix) are starting their matches from February 6-9 at the same snookerishlocation, Crondon Park from Essex.

It's shoot-out snooker time!

2012-01-26T23:19:00.002+02:00

Get your pistols ready!Shoot!

Last year the SnookerShoot-Out tournament was brought into day light with Nigel Bond starring in thechampion's role after three days of seeing the Top 64 players into action.

Itwas a breath of fresh air that combined elements from classical snooker withsome Premier League rules and a bit of Power Snooker as well.

Now it's time for thesecond edition, so starting this Friday and ending on Sunday night, the currentoccupants of the Top 64 will cross their cues in order to get the most of everypot. With the PartyPocker.com to sponsor the event and with the winner takinghome a check of £32,000, this announces to be one hell of a ride for thebaize's gladiators.

The rules are simple:one-frame that lasts a maximum of 10 minutes, a shot-clock that lets you take20 seconds to make a move in the first 5 minutes of the frame then beingreduced to 15 seconds for the last 5 minutes of it, each player must hit acushion, the object ball or pot a ball with every shot, fouls result inball-in-hand (that can be placed anywhere on the table) and if by any chance atthe end of the frame the players are on a tie, the blue ball is re-spotted andthe first one to pot it wins the frame.

Nigel Bond is defending champion

Although this isn't by fargood old fashioned snooker, it has its charm for it represents one of the few tournamentsto feature the names Top 64 players. It's the fans' chance to see faces thatuntil now have been quite a mystery but above all these, to see those playersin action.

I personally remember lastyear's edition when I saw Jimmy Robertson. Never in my life had I seen his faceor see him play. So when he qualified a few months later for the Crucible, itwas really nice to see a familiar face from outside of the Top 16.

Besides that it's good fun to see the players a bit more relaxed, wearingt-shits (even the referees do their job by leaving their fancy suits at home)and to actually have fun by playing as well as interact with the audience.

So, without any further ado,here's tomorrow's match schedule:

18:00

Robert Milkins v. NigelBond

Mark Williams v. SteveDavis

Ali Carter v. MatthewStevens

Stephen Maguire v. AnthonyMcGill

Graeme Dott v. Alan McManus

Stuart Bingham v. Liu Song

John Higgins v. Judd Trump

Gerard Greene v. JamieBurnett

Ken Doherty v. Michael Holt

Tom Ford v. Jimmy Robertson

Mark Selby v. Joe Perry

Mark Allen v. Rory McLeod

Martin Gould v. Peter Ebdon

Anthony Hamilton v. JimmyWhite

Mark Davis v. Mark Joyce

Stephen Lee v. Peter Lines

TV coverage:

18:00 - 22:00 Sky Sports

Championship League 2012 - Robertson does it again

2012-01-25T00:50:00.002+02:00

Robertson cashes one more victory

Neil Robertson beat MarkSelby 3-2 to become the winner of Championship League's Group Three.

Thisvictory comes two days after the Australian player conquered the Masters crownfrom Ally Pally.

He seems unstoppable. He'swinning matches after matches and takes pleasure in marking one victory after, another.Tonight it was Champions League's Group Three, but what would come up next?

After qualifying in theplay-offs of Group Three, Neil Robertson beat Matthew Stevens 3-2, minutesafter that repeating the performance and taking down world number one, MarkSelby.

During the past two days,Robertson hammered Stephen Hendry 3-1, beat Matthew Stevens 3-2 only to returnon a 3-1 note while facing Martin Gould and Jamie Cope.

"The Thunder from DownUnder" has now a pretty comfortable place in the Winners' Group where JuddTrump and Shaun Murphy have previously landed after winning their groups’finals.

Selby - kind of unlucky

A very interesting factthat I should mention is that Mark Selby, the runner-up of tonight's final, isa very unlucky fellow. He started his Championship League journey right fromthe beginning of it with Group One and he has always reached the play-off.

Butwhat's even amazing is that he's always qualified for them on first place.Still, that didn't seem to matter one single bit as the Leicesterman got defeated each time.

First he lost 3-1 in thesemi-final to Judd Trump, then he was whitewashed 3-0 in the final of Group Twoby Shaun Murphy. So when will the sun start to shine on Selby's street? Maybeas he enters Group Four matches?

In a far worse position thanhim are Martin Gould and Stephen Hendry who didn't get enough points to remainin the competition, hence being disqualified from it.

Tomorrow, Group Four matchesare starting and below you can check the schedule:

TABLE ONE
11am - Mark Selby v. Matthew Stevens
12.15pm - Mark Allen v. Stephen Lee
Not before 2pm - Matthew Stevens v. Mark Davis
3.15pm - Stephen Lee v. Peter Ebdon
Not before 6pm - Matthew Stevens v. Jamie Cope
7.15pm - Mark Davis v. Peter Ebdon

TABLE TWO
11am - Mark Davis v. Jamie Cope
12.15pm - Peter Ebdon v. Mark Selby
Not before 2pm - Jamie Cope v. Mark Allen
3.15pm - Mark Selby v. Mark Davis
6pm - Mark Allen v. Peter Ebdon
7.15pm - Stephen Lee v. Jamie Cope
*all hours are UK time

The Masters (the final) - Robertson masters title

2012-01-23T01:23:00.000+02:00

Neil Robertson - the 2012 Masters champion

Neil Robertson beat ShaunMurphy 10-6 to win this year's Masters edition.

The Australian reached no lessthen six televised ranking events finals and won them all, this one being hisseventh.

After closing the first session on a 5-3 advantage, Robertson lost the 9^th frame to Murphy, butrevenge was coming his opponent’s way under the form of breaks of 101, 76 andanother 76. They were enough to get the Aussie four frames on a row and put himjust one step away from lifting that sparkling trophy, 9-4.

But Murphy was set to makea comeback, runs of 52 and 86 keeping his opponent in his chair for more than20 minutes. The scoreline was now 9-6.

Shaun Murphy, the 2012 Masters runner-up

However that didn't seem tobother Robertson as he took the next frame, which was also going to be the lastone, with a top break of 70.

The scoreboard was freezing at 10-6 with an overthe moon Robbo that was punching the air in his characteristic style.

His girlfriend and adorablelittle boy came into the arena to celebrate his victory. A victory of a playerthat has won each final that he reached, a player that has persevered inreaching his goals even if sometimes it wasn’t a bed of roses, a player that'ssimply a champion.

"Give daddy the trophy! He worked really hard for it"

As the runner-up we have"The Magician" Shaun Murphy who had a great performance during theMasters and who hopefully won't lose that sparkle of magic because we have bigtournaments coming up and he's on the favourite-to-win list.

This, my dear lads andlasses, completes what, for me, was a week of amazing snooker, top class playersand great atmosphere. Ally Pally proved to be a wonderful venue for snooker andhopefully I'll be there next year to "try" it for myself. ;-)

The Masters ( the final) - Robertson leading Murphy after first session

2012-01-22T19:37:00.001+02:00

Robertson takes the lead

Neil Robertson is currentlyleading Shaun Murphy 5-3 after the first session of this year's Masters final.

A genuine tactical battle of cues, with lots of cracking shots performed and alot of tension going on. Perfectly understandable since both players are attheir first Masters final appearance.

The 2010 world champion,Neil Robertson took a scrappy opener to go 1-0 in front, but his opponent, drewlevel with the first chance he got by using a 65 break. However, Murphy's cueaction didn't stop here, the Englishman taking the next frame too by hittingthe first century break of this match, a beautiful 102.

Before the interval kicked off,Robbo managed to pull back a frame with a 103 clearance and so the boys enteredin the 15 minute break all square at 2-2.

Retuning into the arena,the Australian regain his leading position after hitting in runs of 36 and 25,but as before, Murphy was careful enough as to level the match at 3-3, using atop break of 53.

Murphy has some catching up to do

One more time Robertson wasputting his nose in front using a 72 break in the process, with the onlydifference that on this occasion Murphy wasn't able to reinstall the balance.
A brutal miss stopped the2005 world champion break at 46, while Robbo was retuning to the table andpotting like crazy.

Tension was rising as theAussie missed an easy blue on 60, this giving Murphy a life line to fulfil his initialplan and end the first session on 4-4. But it didn't happen because after hepotted the yellow, missed the green.

For a few minutes the ladswere engaged into a tactical battle of cues on the remaining colours untilMurphy left the green on and so Robertson pot it along with the brown and theblue. It was 5-3.

The last session startsfrom 8pm (UKtime), so be sure not to miss who the new Masters champion will be.

The Masters - Murphy completes final line-up

2012-01-22T00:27:00.002+02:00

Murphy, happy to reach the final

Shaun Murphy beat currentworld champion John Higgins 6-4 to get the last place left in this year'sMasters tournament’s final, final in which "The Magician" is facing theAustralian Neil Robertson.

A thrilling battle of cuesbetween the Englishman Shaun Murphy and Scotland's John Higgins was almost goingto see all the frames being put into action. It would have been the first matchto end in a decider for this Masters' edition, but a pretty stubborn pink stoodin the way.

The match started withShaun Murphy practically flying 3-0 after hitting in breaks of 86,101 and 69,while Higgins was all over the place. Still, the Scotsman found the strength toend the first session by pulling back one frame with runs of 25 and 49.

After the 15 minute breakthe man with no less than four world titles in his bag won another frame toreduce the gap at just one point (2-3), but Murphy was careful enough to re-enlargeit by hitting the second century of the match, a great 122.

One more time, John tried acomeback with runs of 20 and 59, but following the same pattern Shaun respondedby collecting 100 consecutive points off the table to go 5-3 up.

One more frame was neededin order for the "Magician" to land safely in the final, but"The Wizard of Wishaw" prolonged the suspense by taking the 9^thframe with a top break of 72.

One pink and Higgins is out

During the next one, Murphylost position on 55, Higgins managing to get back at the table and hit a 48brutally interrupted by a missed pink; a very tricky missed pink. The gravidityof the situation was not the Higgins missed it, but that he also felt it on,Murphy returning to the table and potting it into the green pocket for a 6-4victory and a place in tomorrow’s final.

So, here we are lads andlasses: the last day of this year's Masters tournament is knocking on our doorwith Neil Robertson on one side (see here how he beat Judd Trump), and ShaunMurphy on the other.

An interesting fact is that both Neil and Shaun have never reached the final of a Masters' event, so this match will surely be a close one.

The final match is beingplayed on the "best of 19" rule, with two sessions, one starting at14:00 and the other at 20:00 (UKtime). Don't miss to find out who the next Masters champion will be!

TV coverage:

13:50 - 16:45 BBC Two

14:00 - 17:00 BritishEuroSpor 2

20:00 - 23:00 BritishEuroSport

20:00 - 23:00 BBC Two

The Masters - Robertson executes Trump for final spot

2012-01-21T18:55:00.001+02:00

I'm a winner, hear me roar!

Neil Robertson beat JuddTrump 6-3 after a thrilling battle of cues to grab a spot in this year'sMasters final.

"The Thunder from Down Under" showed himself mercilessin front of his opponent, and knew how to handle the pressure of decisiveshots.

The part Australian, partEnglish battle of cues started with a very scrappy affair that put Robbo in thelead, while a great clearance of 100 points was turning the scoreline into 2-0in his favour.
Young Judd used runs of 44and 76 to win his first frame, but the interval was finding the boys at 3-1,after Robertson's 89 break.

Some pretty thrilling stuffwas happening on the green baize as the 15 minute break came to an end, Juddstopping his break at 33 and Robertson missing a tough black on 43. It seemedlike a perfect opportunity for Trump to get back in the game, but an incrediblemissed blue on 19 was leaving his opponent a chance to extend his lead.

Goodbye victory!

And that’s exactly whathappened, as Neil cleared the table for 4-1 and won the very next frame also,with a top break of just 20 points. He was now, just one frame away from thevictory, 5-1.

But the recent winner ofthe UK Championship crown didn't give up so easily, runs of 29, 35 and 95bringing him two consecutive frames. Could we have expected a total comebackfrom the Bristolian?

Robertson answered thatquestion with a determined NO, as Judd was missing an incredible blue to theright centre pocket on 29. The 2010 world champion came to the table to hit a59 break and close the deal at 6-3.
As frame ball was potted,Neil offered the audience his classical "roar". He was in the final.

The day is far from beingover, though one more semi-final taking palce from 7pm (UK time)between John Higgins and Shaun Murphy.

The Masters - Murphy lands in semi-final

2012-01-21T01:20:00.003+02:00

Shaun Murphy gets the last of the semis spots

Shaun Murphy has become thelast player to grab a spot in this year's edition of the Masters semi-finalsafter beating Mark Selby 6-2.

World number one didn't seem to stand a chance infront of Murphy's magic powers.

Shaun Murphy met two-timesMasters champion Mark Selby in the last match of the quarter-finals, match thatsurely erased "The Jester from Leiceste's" smile.

It's true thatSelby wasn't at his best in the previously played match against Stephen Lee,but he did manage to win it when his opponent's comeback was about to become areality. Today though, it wasn't going to be his lucky day.

Murphy ended the firstsession by leading Selby 3-1, breaks of 36, 88 and 52 being used in theprocess. The Leicester man didn't took advantageof the chances Goddess Fortuna handed to him, but after the break many of us thoughthe'll perform a comeback, as he is well known of doing it.

Selby's form wasn't a winner

But it didn't happen. Abreak of 72 and a 65 were putting Shaun 5-1 up, within one frame fromvictory.

However, the next frame waswon by Selby with a beautiful 112, which in reality was meant to be a maximum.Sadly for him he missed one tricky last red and his break ended soon after crossingthe 100 bridge.

Murphy put an end toSelby's misery in the very next frame by using runs of 20 and 48, thus winningthe match 6-2.

Tomorrow the semis arekicking off and with them we approach the end of what has been an incredibletournament. On Sunday the remaining two competitors are crossing their cues andengaging in fierceful battles, in the end only one of them prevailing.

But we still have two moredays of intensive snooker, so let's see the schedule, shall we:

13:00

Neil Robertson v. JuddTrump

19:00

John Higgins v. Shaun Murphy

*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:

13:00 - 14:00 BritishEuroSport

14:00 - 16:00 BritishEuroSport 2

13:00 - 16:30 BBC One

16:30 - 17: 30 BBC Two

19:00 - 22:00 BritishEuroSport 2

20:00 - 22:30 BBC Two

00:10 - BBC Two (thehighlights)

The Masters - Robertson sends Williams home

2012-01-20T18:27:00.000+02:00

Robbo get a place in the semis

The third player who gets aplace in this year's Masters semi-finals is Neil Robertson. The Australian beatthe two-time Masters champion Mark Williams 6-4 after engaging in quite atactical battle of cues.

It was clear right from thebeginning that this was going to be a tough match for each of the playerinvolved and throughout it the theory was proved more than once.

Williams missed the chanceto be the one who broke the ice, Robertson stealing from him the opener, butthe Welshman hit a 78 to draw level. However, the history has the tendency torepeat itself and so Robbo preformed another "special steal" duringthe 3^rd frame.

This time though, Williamswas unable to repeat what he had done during frame two and so the Aussie wonone more frame after collecting 95 points off the table. It was 3-1 at theinterval.

After the break Robertsoncontinued his expansion, but this time Williams was determined to fight back. A47 and a 68 were brining the Welshman just one point away from his opponent,3-4.

Not a lucky day for Williams there

The 2010 world championsmelled the danger of a total comeback and decided it was time to get closer tovictory after a break of 119 Robbo going 5-3 up.

One more time Williamstried his luck, this time with a 78, but unfortunately for him it was going tobe late. A 57 break hit by Robertson during the 10^th frame wasputting an end to their snooker dispute.

Neil Robertson is meeting avery dangerous opponent in Saturday's semi-final, Judd Trump. Last time these twomet it was during the PTC 8 Event, when Robertson hammered Trump 4-1 in thefinal. Will Trump take revenge?

The last match of thequarter-finals is set to take place tonight from 7pm (UK time)between Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy.

Judd Trump - between a Ferrari and a Mini Cooper

2012-01-20T01:21:00.000+02:00

Juddy - a bit rude in his after-winning interview

In 2010 he was winning thePaul Hunter Classic by seeing off "The Sherriff of Pottingham", AnthonyHamilton, but the big-trophy-grabbing was when he stunned us all and won the2011 China Open by beating Mark Selby, a far more experience played than him.

The World Championshipfollowed up next and he went all the way though the final, but John Higgins wasthere to stop him from winning it.

Then, the new seasonarrived and Trump took care of his winning list to complete it with no morethan two PTC titles (PTC 2 and PTC 9), while the end of the year brought himone of the most desirable and loved trophies of them all - the UK Championshipcrown.

Fans have been mad withexcitement because Trump is representing that breath of fresh air, that playerthat take on the most "dangerous" shots and the one that keeps theaudience biting its nails. He has style, he has talent, he enjoys snooker morethan anyone, he is young, he is restless, he is ... a kind of rude.

After beating RonnieO'Sullivan 6-2 during the current Masters quarter-finals match, Trump was invitedto give an interview for the World Snooker. Among other things, this is what hesaid:

"I just want to go myown way and do things a little bit different to people in the past, I want myown identity. I don't want to be seen as the next Ronnie O'Sullivan, I want tobe seen as Judd Trump, not the person who copied Ronnie O'Sullivan."

Now, that seems fair. Noone likes to be compared with another person all the time, non-stop. Althoughyou feel good at the beginning, at some point you will wonder if the peoplelike you for yourself of because you remind them of someone famous.

He continued:

"I was quite nervousat the start today, but when I got in front and won the first frame, all thepressure turned to him. He [Ronnie O’Sullivan] wanted to get a frame on theboard so I tried to keep him away from the table.

"I know Ronnie was ina good frame of mind today, I know he tried to the end. He missed one or twoearly on, but apart from that I didn't really miss anything to give himchances. If Ronnie keeps playing, and avoids me, he will still be winningtournaments."

Targeting O'Sullivan

Hm ... that's a joke right?I mean, sure it is. "If he keeps playing and avoids me", must havebeen said in order to cut the tension and the seriousness of the talk and steala laugh. Fair enough.

And now comes theinteresting part. When asked if he was upset because he hit a beautiful 140(that was she highest break of the tournament) but then O'Sullivan hit a great141, he replied:

"That seriouslyhurt!," he joked. "I was sat in my chair praying for him to miss ornot go for it. I had to go out and cry in the toilets! That was my insurancefor a Ferrari... so now I'm going to have to get a Mini Cooper!"

Was that really necessary?I guess not. Was that meat as a joke? Most like it. Was it a bad one? Sure itwas.
Now, don't take this thewrong way, but that was a bit rude. I'm sure he didn't mean it to be, but itwas. And that's how is going to remain in fans' mind, especially O'Sullivan'sones.

Over the years there havebeen many players whose statements made the fans mad. The late Alex Higginsmade some pretty nasty ones and his conduct wasn't always good, even O'Sullivanhas had his share of take-me-as-I-am-or-leave-me-alone, not to mention thelatest events between Stuart Bingham and Mark Allen.

But what separates Trump'scase from the above ones is that his words weren't actually meant for Ronnie,because Ronnie could have very well not made that 141 and the break could havebeen made during the next match by a totally different player. And Trump wouldhave said the same things. So I don’t think this was directed to Ronnie inparticular, he just happened to be the man he played against at that time.

On the other hand thisdoesn't make his statement less unfair. He behaved just like a spoiled childwhose dream of buying a Ferrari was crushed. He wanted that car so much, thatdeep down he was really wishing for his opponent to miss a ball.

Bit don't let yourselves fooled, because each and every one of the players youknow has wished for his opponent to miss a ball at a certain point. So, that'snot a sin.

What I'm really trying tosay here is that Judd is ... well a child. He's 22 and he's still learning howthings go in life. He doesn't know what's best to say or not say and doesn'tthink that some words might offend someone. Maybe not O’Sullivan (in thiscase), but the fans that have put their trust in you.

I remember a couple ofmonths ago when Trump said that he would like to see each big tournamentrunning with a shot-clock. Blimey, that's just preposterous! That's thesilliest thing to come from a player that wants to promote snooker and not somekind of "speed-race" snooker. I mean really, that's just ridiculous.

It's puerile and it hasnothing to do with what real snooker means. But that's something Trump mustlearn on his own.

So, yeah, his conductwasn't very nice, he was rude and even if it was meant as a joke, it was areally bad one. He showed himself to be disrespectful towards a legend ofthe sport even if it wasn't made on purpose. And that's coming from a personthat's O'Sullivan’s biggest fan.

Trump will need to learn athing or two about respect, but above all about filtrating his thoughts.Because you see, each player has negative thoughts, each player wants to winand for his opponent to lose, each player has a bad thing to say about a colleague,each player has wanted to punch his rival in the face (at least once), but theykeep it to themselves.

That's something to thinkabout.

The Masters - Higgins books semi-final place

2012-01-20T00:26:00.000+02:00

Higgins books himself a place in the semis

John Higgins beatfellow-country Graeme Dott 6-3 to book himself a place in this year's Masterssemi-finals.

The current world champion seemed to have improved his cue styleand although during the first session he preferred to share frames with hisopponent, during the second one he took almost all of them.

An all Scottish-affair wasgoing on at Alexandra Palace from Londonduring the 5^th day of the Masters tournament. John Higgins met anold friend and also a fellow-country, Graeme Dott in his way to the semis.

The 2006 world champion wasthe one who broke the ice with an outrageous fluked red that helped him takethe opener, but Higgins responded right away with a 41 to draw level and a 57to put his nose in front. However, at the interval, the scoreline was 2-2,after Dott used runs of 41 and 26 to win the 4^th frame.

Dotty goes home

After the break "TheWizard of Wishaw" worked some of his magic and cleared the table with a 75to get back in the leading position, while a series of 64 and 109 were puttinghim just one frame away from victory, 5-2.

Dott made a last attempt tocome back in the match after winning a scrappy eighth frame, but Higginsapplied a decisive treatment under the form of an 89 break to close the deal at6-3.

So, the first day of thequarter-finals matches has two winners in the person of Judd Trump (see storyhere) and John Higgins.

Tomorrow's match schedule:

12:30

Neil Robertson v. MarkWilliams

19:00

Mark Selby v. Shaun Murphy

*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:

12:30 - 15:30 BritishEuroSport 2

12:30 - 16:30 BBC Two

19:00 - 22:00 BritishEuroSport

23:05 - 01:55 BBC Two (thehighlights)

The Masters - Trump holds off Rocket

2012-01-19T17:13:00.001+02:00

Trump is on-fire

Judd Trump becomes thefirst player to reach this year's Masters semi-finals, after beating RonnieO'Sullivan 6-2.

The fresh UK Championship winner played some"naughty" snooker, as he likes to call it, and didn't lose control ofthe match not even for a second.

Judd Trump and RonnieO'Sullivan met in the first match of the Masters’ quarter-finals and those whofollowed the lads can testify that it was a bit of history repeated.

During thelast moths the two gladiators of the green baize have met twice, once in thePTC 9 final and once in the recently ended UK Championship. Both times, Trumpprevailed and it seems like the victory he has just obtained today qualifies asa third.

The 22 year-old lad from Bristol practically stormedinto the match and hit in breaks of 39, 66, 78 and a wonderful 140 to take thefirst four frames. O'Sullivan seemed to be doomed to stay in his chair andwhile he was at the table, a missed black off its spot or a caught brown, wereenough to let Judd in.

The Rocket didn't take off

However, after the break,O'Sullivan hit a 67 to win his first frame of the day, but Trump won the verynext one, although it was a scrappy affair whose biggest break was a 24 one.

"The Rocket"landed a magnificent 141 break during the 7^th frame, break that waskicking Trump's 140 from earlier on and at this moment qualifies as the highestbreak of the tournament.

Still, it wasn't going tobe enough to win him the match. During the next frame Ronnie lost position on54, Trump coming for a 65 to seal a 6-2 victory and get a well deserved placein the semi-finals.

Could we be looking at thisyear's Masters’ champion?

The day continues with thesecond quarter-finals match, John Higgins taking on fellow-country Graeme Dottfrom 7pm (UKtime).

The Masters - Dott grabs last quarter-finals spot

2012-01-19T01:09:00.002+02:00

Graeme Dott wins over Ali Carter

The forth day of theMasters tournament ended with Graeme Dott grabbing the last quarter-finals spotafter beating Ali Carter 6-3.

Although the first session of the match saw apretty intense and tight battle of cues, the second one was marked by Dott launchinghimself towards victory.

Scotland's Graeme Dott met England'sAli Carter in the last match of Masters' first round, match that saw the 2006world champion booking himself a place in the quarters.

The lads started theirsnooker encounter by taking turns on who was winning frames, breaks of 56 and25 bringing Carter two, while runs of 40 and 61 were guaranteeing Dott an equalpart in the making of a 2-2 scoreline.

Captain Carter flies home

After the break Carter useda 45 to put his nose in front once more, but Dott responded with a 71 to drawlevel at 3-3. This was the turning point of the match, for from this moment onthe lads weren't one frame apart.

Dott managed to win the 7^thframe with a top break of just 29, this putting him in the leading position forthe very first time since the beginning of the match, a 56 and a 32 taking careof the following two frames. It was 6-3 in Dott's favour and he'd won.

Graeme is now meeting afellow-country player, John Higgins in the quarter-finals.

Tomorrow's match schedule:

12:30

Judd Trump v. RonnieO'Sullivan

19:00

John Higgins v. Graeme Dott

*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:

12:30 - 15:30 BiritshEuroSport 2

12:40 - 16:30 BBC Two

19:00 - 22:00 BritishEuroSport

23:20 - 02:10 BBC Two (thehighlights)

The Masters - Selby survives Lee's attack

2012-01-18T18:40:00.000+02:00

Selby reacts in timp to book QF place

World number one, MarkSelby beat Stephen Lee 6-4 after the last named one made a remarkable comebackfrom being lead 4-0.

"The Jester from Leicester"is now meeting with 'The Magician" Shaun Murphy in the quarter-finals ofthe Masters.

It started like a one-waymatch, with Mark Selby cashing one frame after another by using breaks of 66,32, 57 and 110 to close the first session of his snooker dispute with Lee bybeing 4-0 up. Things didn't look good for the 2006 Welsh Open champion.

However, after the breakLee managed to hit a beautiful 100 break and win his first frame of the match.Could he do more? With the following frame going Selby's way after Lee missedan easy red it didn't seem like it was going to happen (the scoreline was now5-1). How wrong were we!

An original comeback from Stephen Lee

The Leicesterman missed frame and match ball during the 7^th frame, Lee coming tothe table for an outstanding 73 clearance that was turning the scoreline it5-2.

From this point on, Selbyhad to face the "Bulldog's" fury as Stephen won the next couple offrames with a top break of 94 to go just one point behind his opponent.

Still, Mark woke up just intime to avoid a decider, a 71 break reassuring him of a 6-4 victory and guaranteeinga place in the quarter-finals where he's meeting the 2005 world champion ShaunMurphy. What a thrilling match!

The day isn't over though,one more match having to be played in the Last 16 round. From 7pm (UK time) "The Captain" Ali Carter istaking on Scotland'sGraeme Dott. Don't miss it!

The Masters - Robertson storms in quarter-finals

2012-01-18T00:19:00.003+02:00

No one could stop The Thunder from Down Under

The 2010 world champion,Neil Robertson beat last year UK Championship runner-up Mark Allen 6-3 to get acosy and comfortable place in the quarter-finals.

The Australian who’s nicknamed"The Thunder from Down Under" practically stormed into the match andkept on electrocuting his opponent with each chance he got.

One of the mostentertaining matches of this year's Masters edition was the one that had NeilRobertson and Mark Allen's names on the scoreboard. Both of them eager to win,both of them in the mood for some big breaks and cracking shots.

The battle of cues wasopened with Robertson's 74 break, a break that received a 88 and a beautiful124 from Allen. Still, the Australian player didn't get intimidated and clearedthe table during the next frame to draw level at 2-2 at the interval.

Allen fought like a lion, but that wasn't enough

As the lads retuned intothe arena the proud of Northern Ireland put his nose in front again afterwinning a scrappy affair and as before, Robertson brought the equality on the scoreboard,this time at 3-3.

What followed next was a typicalrain of winning breaks, a series formed by a 100, a 71 and an 82 securingRobertson a 6-3 victory and a spot in the quarter-finals were he is meetingMark Williams on Friday from 12.30pm (UK time).

This last match completedthe third day of the Masters, at the end of it the conclusion being simple: itwas a good day for the world champions; John Higgins beat Matthew Stevens 6-2(see story here), while Neil Robertson moved passed Mark Allen 6-3.

Tomorrow's match schedule:

12:30

Mark Selby v. Stephen Lee

19:00

Ali Carter v. Graeme Dott

*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:

12:30 - 15:30 BritishEuroSport 2

13:30 - 15:45 BBC Two

19:15 - 22:00 BritishEuroSport

23:20 - 02:10 BBC Two (thehighlights)

The Masters - World champion in quarter-finals

2012-01-17T17:27:00.000+02:00

Higgins books a place in the next round

Current world champion,John Higgins beat the Welshman Matthew Stevens 6-2 in the opening match of the thirdday of the Masters.

Although Higgins was clearly not at his best, he knew whento take advantage of Stevens' mistakes and make the most of them.

Scotland's Higgins hasn't been very fond ofthe Masters tournament although he has won the event twice. Somehow thelocation from Wembley got to him and he felt a bit overwhelmed. But this yearthe competition has been moved to Ally Pally and it seems like the spell wasbroken.

Higgins opened the matchwith a beautiful 90 break, to which Stevens responded with runs of 45 and 30 inthe very next frame to draw level. Still, the interval was going to find theScotsman in charge of the match's faith, breaks of 60 and 40 giving him a 3-1advantage.

As we all know the"Welsh Dragon" is never giving up, so after the 15-minute breakSteven fought back with a steady 65 break to reduce the gap at just one point.Sadly for him, that was the closest he can get of his opponent.

A few mistakes here and there and Stevens is out

The 6^th framewas going to be won with a top break of 44 by "The Wizard of Wishaw",while the following ones were cashed with a series of 69, 30 and 32. The matchwas over and Higgins won it by 6-2.

In all to honesty it wasn'ta spectacular match and clearly Higgins hasn't quite reached the form he showedoff last season. However, he did show an improved cue style from what we’veseen this season. Believe it or not, this is Scotsman's first win at theMasters since 2009.

The day continues withanother world champion (the 2010 one), Neil Robertson taking on Mark Allen,from 7pm (UKtime). Don't miss it, for it should be a cracker!

The Masters - Murphy uses magic for quarter-finals spot

2012-01-17T00:02:00.001+02:00

Murphy books a place in the QFs

The second day of thisyear's Masters tournament came to an end with a 6-2 victory obtained by ShaunMurphy over Martin Gould.

The 2005 world champion andthe one we all know under the nickname "The Magician" hit the highestbreak of the tournament (so far), a beautiful 139 to seal a well deservedvictory.

Last snooker encounter ofthe day saw Shaun Murphy flying 3-1 up as the mid-session interval was kickingoff by using breaks of 60, 107 and 59, while "The Pinner Potter",Martin Gould only managed to grab a frame.

After a 15-minute break timeMurphy put his magic cue into action collecting 82 points for a 4-1 lead, whileGouldy cashed the very next frame with a top break of 50.

Martin Gould, a bit unlucky

Still, it was clear Shaun wasin control of the match, while his opponent kept on missing one opportunityafter another. Hence the next couple of frames went Murphy's way after the manwho last year won the first edition of the Brazil Masters hit in runs of 89and 139 for a clear victory of 6-2.

So at the end of day two,Judd Trump beat Stuart Bingham 6-3 (see story here), while Shaun Murphy defendhis right to go into the quarter-finals after moving pass Martin Gould 6-2.

Day 3 match schedule:

12:30

John Higgins v. Matthew Stevens

19:00

Neil Robertson v. MarkAllen

*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:

12:30 - 15:30 BritishEuroSport 2

12:30 - 15:45 BBC Two

19:00 - 22:00 BritishEuroSport

23:20 - 02:10 BBC Two (thehighlights)

The Masters - Trump sets meeting with O'Sullivan

2012-01-16T17:48:00.000+02:00

Trump books himself a place in the QFs

The second day of thisyear's Masters edition has started with Bristol'sJudd Trump beating Stuart Bingham 6-3, in order to book himself a place in thequarter-finals where he's meeting Ronnie O'Sullivan.

The recent winner of the UKChampionship was merciless and after the mid-session interval, which ended on atight 2-2, put his nose in front and kept on winning one frame at a time toscore for victory.

The 22 year-old lad from Bristol started his matchagainst Australian Open champion, Stuart Bingham by taking the opener with an87 break. "Naughty" snooker in action.

However, Bingham managed todraw level with the first occasion and also to take the lead 2-1 by hitting inbreaks of 69, 24 and 25.
The mid-session intervalkicked off with Judd using a steady 107 to change the scoreline in 2-2.

Sadly for Bingham, his run ends with the 1st round match

After the break Binghamcollected 73 consecutive points off the table to go 3-2 in front, butunfortunately for him that was going to be the last frame to go his way.

Trump took care of thefollowing ones with a series of 121, 52 and 50 to end the snooker encounter inhis favour, 6-3.

Now he's due to meet an oldtime rival, Ronnie O'Sullivan in the quarter-finals. The lads have quite ahistory together, their last two meetings ending with Trump prevailing (duringthe PTC 9 Event Judd won 4-3 and during the UK Championship he beat Ronnie6-5). Can "The Rocket" change the pattern? We shall have to wait and seeon Thursday from 12.30pm (UKtime).

The day isn't over peeps,so please be sure to clear your schedule for tonight as from 7pm (UK time)Shaun Murphy is facing the recent winner of Power Snooker event, Martin Gould.

The Masters - Williams extinguises Maguire

2012-01-16T01:08:00.002+02:00

Williams, the second name to reach the QFs

The first day of thisyear's Masters tournament came to an end after the second match saw MarkWilliams beating Stephen Maguire 6-4 for a place in the next round.

Although it wasn't aspectacular match, none of the players being at their best, it did featuredsome pretty interesting tactical safety battles.

The match between Williamsand Maguire made its debut with the Welshman flying all over to being 4-0 up asthe interval kicked off. Williams used breaks like 57, 72, 64 and 53 to finishthe first session in the leading position.
On the other hand, Maguirewas all over the place, missing crucial shots and not taking advantage when hisopponent made mistakes.

After the 15-minutes breakthe Scotsman seemed a bit revived runs of 40 and 29 bringing him two frames ona row, but the seventh frame was going Williams' way, the scoreline being now5-2. One more frame needed for the Welshman to win this snooker encounter.

Maguire's fire was easily extinguised by Williams

However, victory needed towait a bit, for Maguire won a crucial 8^th frame and the next one aswell, with a top break of 77. So from being lead 5-2, he was now just one pointbehind.
Unfortunately for theScotsman he didn't manage to complete the comeback, a break of 51 from Williamssealing his victory at 6-4.

All things aside andalthough Maguire wasn't quite "on-fire" as his nickname says it, itwas nice to see the Scotsman not loosing his grip when he missed importantshots.

So, the first day ends withtwo names going through the quarter-finals, Ronnie O'Sullivan (see the story here) and Mark Williams.

But let's see what Day 2offers us, shall we?

12:30

Judd Trump v. StuartBingham

19:00

Shaun Murphy v. MartinGould

*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:

12:30 - 15:30 BritishEuroSport 2

12:30 - 15:45 BBC Two

19:00 - 22:00 BritishEuroSport

23:20 - 00:10 BBC Two (thehighlights)

The Masters - O'Sullivan sends home defending champion

2012-01-15T18:43:00.000+02:00

O'Sullivan beats defending champion Ding

The opening match of thisyear's Masters Championship saw world number 16, Ronnie O'Sullivan beating thedefending champion, Ding Junhui 6-4 for a place in the quarter-finals.
It was a thrilling matchwith some really cracking shots and finished in great style with a beautifulcentury break.

Last time O'Sullivan andDing met was during last year Premier League final, when the one we all call"The Rocket" hammered China'sDing 7-1. This time the scoreline was a tighter one, but it went O'Sullivan'sway as before.

The battle of cues startedwith the Essex-man flying 2-0 up with just a top break of 48, but Ding managedto pull back a frame with runs of 45 and 31 just in time. However, the intervalwas seeing Ronnie in the lead, 3-1 after the Englishman hit a nice and steady76. He was in the mood for winning and taking advantage of Ding's mistakes,which in all due honesty were a lot.

Sadly for Ding, he loses the chance to keep his crown

After the break, O'Sullivanextended his lead at 4-1 by collecting no more than 62 points off the table,but then something happened. Ding happened to be more precise.

As many of you already knowif you can count on a player to make a comeback in the most crucial moment ever,then that player' name is Ding Junhui. This time wasn't going to be anydifferent.

A fluked red to the greenpocket marked the beginning of a 47 break and also changed the scoreline to4-2. Still, it was a long way to go for the little Chinese, but he didn't giveup.
A series of 59, 32, 28 and35 were enough to complete a desperate needed comeback and so, the lads were squaredat 4-4.

Ronnie and Ronnie Jr.

The 9^th framesaw O'Sullivan trying his luck with a loose red but missing to pot it andleaving on another red. Ding could have put his nose in front for the firsttime. Sadly for him he only potted a red and missed to do the same with thebrown, O'Sullivan coming back for a 51 break. A few minutes later the scorelinewent 5-4 in "Rocket's" favour.

The last frame Ding didn'tstand a chance to pot one single ball, O'Sullivan sealing his victory with abeautiful 125 break, the first century break of this year's Masters.

Carefully supervised by hischildren that were in the audience, Ronnie managed to book himself a place inthe quarter-finals and prove he still enjoys playing.

Masters' first daycontinues from 7pm (UKtime) with the second match, Mark Williams v. Stephen Maguire.

World Open (the qualifiers) - who gets a ticket to Haikou

2012-01-15T01:12:00.000+02:00

I still got it babe!

The qualifiers for the newestranking tournament in the book have come to an end. The last day saw Marco Fuhitting a marvellous 147, Stephen Hendry booking himself a flight to China in thespring and Robert Milkins performing the first and only whitewash of thesequalifiers.

Last year's Mastersrunner-up, Marco Fu made a maximum break of 147 in his quest for a place inthis year's Haikou World Open. This is Fu's second professional max after theone he hit in 2000 and it was enough to intimidate a pretty tough opponent,Matthew Selt, whom he beat 5-3.

A very intense "pinkclash" was given between Mark Davis and Sam Baird, a player that has had atremendous run. Although Davis hit a beautiful137 the battle ended on a decider, decider that Sam won fair and square for aplace in China'sthird ranking event.

At the same time, RobertMilkins, another member of the Pink Army, caused the only whitewash of thesequalifiers by beating the Welshman Ryan Day 5-0, while Jimmy Robertson used a brilliantseries of 51, 97, 63, 50 and 97 to survive the encounter with Rory McLeod by 5-3.

After a great PTC 12 run, Hendry seems in a great form

Barry Hawkins will be seenon TV also, the player from Kent ending on a tight 5-4 with Ian McCulloch,while his comrade Alfie Burden wasn’t very lucky and got beat 5-3 by a verywise and experienced Scotsman, Marcus Campbell who got the strength to make aremarkable comeback from being lead 3-0.

Dominic Dale ended DaveHarold's run with 5-4, while PTC 12 runner-up Joe Perry hammered the one andonly 'Sheriff of Pottingham" Anthony Hamilton 5-1 to safely fly in China inFebruary.

Just one day after turning43, Stephen Hendry earned his right to play in a ranking event by defeatingMike Dunn 5-2 with a bit of help from breaks like 50, 63 and 73. After thematch, Dunn said on his Twitter account that he didn’t take his chances, butthat he was glad to play against Hendry for the first time.

Mark King did a pretty goodjob by defeating China'sLiang Wenbo 5-4, Andrew Higginson doing the same but against Yu Delu and with a5-3 scoreline.

Walden in action

Ricky Walden is surely onthe road to recovery, the Englishman who lives in Wales doing his best to maintain apositive thinking after losing the UK Championship semi-final.

He had a verytough match against a pink
soldier, Gerard Greene, a match that saw all itsfuel being consumed, but which result has been in Walden's favour, 5-4.

We are going to miss PeterEbdon, one of the most colourful characters in the snooker business beingdefeated 5-3 by one very determined Michael Holt, while the Irishman FergalO'Brien although put an incredible fight to come back from being lead 4-0 byNigel Bond, sadly lost the decider, 5-4.

So in the end here are thenames of the 16 players that are getting a spot next to the ones from the Top16 and will delight us with their snooker skills from February 27 until March4:

10am
42 Marco Fu 5-2 Matthew Selt
43 Jamie Cope 5-1 Jamie Burnett
44 Mark Davis 4-5 Sam Baird
45 Ryan Day 0-5 Robert Milkins
46 Barry Hawkins 5-4 Ian McCulloch
47 Marcus Campbell 5-3 Alfie Burden

2.30pm
48 Dominic Dale 5-4 Dave Harold
49 Stephen Hendry 5-2 Mike Dunn
50 Mark King 5-4 Liang Wenbo
51 Tom Ford 5-4 Jamie Jones
52 Rory McLeod 3-5 Jimmy Robertson

7pm
53 Andrew Higginson 5-3 Yu Delu
54 Ricky Walden 5-4 Gerard Greene
55 Joe Perry 5-1 Anthony Hamilton
56 Peter Ebdon 3-5 Michael Holt
57 Fergal O'Brien 4-5 Nigel Bond

Snooker goes to Palace: Masters Alert!

2012-01-14T16:28:00.000+02:00

The most prestigiousinvitation event in snooker's book, The Masters is due to start this Sundaywith its location changed from the traditional Wembley to Alexandra Palace.

It was back in 1975 whenthe madness we all call "The Masters" started. Then, John Spencer wasbeating Ray Reardon 9-8 to lift the trophy for the very first time.

The time has passed,snooker has evolved but the fascination has stayed the same regarding thistournament. One very close to people's heart, one that's practically hold onlyfor the elite of snooker (aka. The Top 16 players), one that guarantees you awhole week of good old snooker.

This year the Masters'location has been changed from Wembley to Alexandra Palace, the name itself suggesting how importantand prestigious this event is. For only the best, only the greatest and onlythose who have worked real hard can get a ride to the Palace, right?

Taking a closer look at the draw I can definitely say that we are in for somevery delicious snooker treats. If last year we witness all the main favouriteplayers losing their first round matches (excepting Neil Robertson), I'mguessing this year we shall see some pretty intense battles of cues from thevery first beginning.

Sadly, this edition isseeing no Stephen Hendry taking part in it as the Scotsman slipped out the Top16 in October last year, which without any doubt is a bit weird, taking intoaccount that Hendry holds the record for winning the Masters six times.

But let's focus on the firstround matches and see who's playing who, shall we?

Ding Junhui v. RonnieO'Sullivan

Ding and his 2011 Masters trophy

What a better way to startthe Masters than with the defending champion taking on one of the biggestplayers in the circuit?
However, it's a tough call.A tough call because last time these two met, O'Sullivan beat Ding 7-1 to winhis 10^th Premier League trophy.
But that’s just one tinyaspect. The major one is that both Ding and O'Sullivan, if they set their mindto it, can trash any opponents; in this case each other.

O'Sullivan has two PTCtitles under his belt this season and a Premier League one, his state of mindimproving in the last months due to therapy, as the man himself admits it.However, he did make that it's-so-Ronnie-announcement after losing 5-6 to JuddTrump in the 2011 UK Championship, that he's considering retiring and right nowhe's on the edge of the Top 16 (aka. last place).

Ronnie has a hard starting match

As always controversy isthe name of the game in O'Sullivan's case, but regardless of everything he'sone hell of a player who can still win big tournaments ... if he really wantsto.

On the other hand Ding isthe posture of defending his crown. He'll do anything for it and I'm sure theChinese with the most unreadable Poker Face ever is targeting a victory here.
He's had a pretty good rununtil this point and after reaching last year's World Championship semi-final(his biggest achievement in this tournament), his style has definitely improved,he's a more mature player and, one hell of a comebacker, if I may say so.

Mark Williams v. StephenMaguire

The Welsh Potting Machine in action

Considering Maguire'slatest form (winning the PTC 12 and having a pretty great run during the UKChampionship) and Williams' cool way of playing the game, this might go all theway through.

Williams' mind is set forsnooker. He's just the perfect player. Doesn't celebrate too much when he winsand he doesn't let it go to his head, but he doesn't kick himself too hard whenhe loses either. Your rarely see him losing his grip and when he's in "thezone" he's potting like a genuine "potting machine", as hisnickname says it so well.

Maguire on fire

He hasn't stunned us withhis PTC performance this season, but he did manage to get into two finals, the2011 Shanghai Masters and the 2011 Australian Open, so I'm guessing this timehe'll target the last frontier, which is the victory.

Maguire seems to have takensome anger management classes, otherwise how can you explain he's more calmthan ever and he doesn't smash his cue to the floor when he misses a pot? I’msure that there's still anger deep inside him, but he's really improved hisview towards the game and that improved his game as a whole.
He was practically flying duringthe PTC 12 and that's what brought him the win in the end. If he keeps up thegood work, he might put Williams into trouble.

Judd Trump v. StuartBingham

Judd and his UK trophy

Well, what can we say aboutyoung Judd here? He's just winning everything and I'm guessing a Masters titlewould look great in his Bristolhome. He'll be going for the victory no doubt about that and as one of ChrisNorman's song says it he'll "Stop at Nothing", especially if he starts all that "naughty snooker" thing again.

2011 was Bingham's year ofglory, the Essex lad winning his first rankingevent, the Australian Open. That clearly gave him a lot of confidence inhimself and in his game and although he hasn't won any recent tournaments, hemight just try and get this one.

Bing

His snooker journey hadsome ups and downs, but he's a very valuable player and although Trump startsas a favourite here, Bingham has also a chance if he doesn't letTrump's-clearing-the-table-from-one-visit get to him. A good breakout shot andBingham can do wonders on the green baize.

Shaun Murphy v. MartinGould

Murphy after winnig his Brazil Masters

Murphy's one of the most conscientious players on the Main Tour, alwaystaking part in every tournament. He actually won one this season, the BrazilMasters, which trophy seems a lot like the Masters one, so maybe the Smurf willtry and get the real one this time?

He played some pretty cool stuff during the recently Championship Leaguematches and if he maintains that cue action in this tournaments also, he's got agenuine chance to get as far as possible.

Gouldie capturing his Power Snooker crown

Gouldie is probably one of theplayers that has made the most of his Top 16 place. The lad has guts, has talent,has energy, he's a dear, dear person and he's the reigning champion of thePower Snooker event. He has improved his snooker and he proved he's well worthyof getting a place in this year's Masters.

This snooker encounter might be a close one.

John Higgins v. Matthew Stevens

The current world champion, John Higgins

Higgins hasn't been too fond of this tournament although he has won ittwo times. Somehow the Wembley Arena made him anxious and his cue style wasaffected by it. But now, with the tournament being moved to Alexandra Palacemaybe the spell is broken and Higgins can make a difference.

Still, this isn't his biggest problem. His biggest problem is that afterwinning the 2010 UK Championship, the 2011 Welsh Open, the 2011 Hainan Classic,the 2011 Scottish Championship and the 2011 World Championship, he's formhasn't been the same.

Matt "The Dragon" Stevens

He declared he put too much into snooker and after the Worlds he wasjust dried out of energy, but by all means, considering that until this pointhis performance haven't been great, I'm guessing he's pretty stuffed withenergy, so let's play some snooker, okay?

You know that Dragon that seems to be asleep but in reality he's just fakingit so he can take you by surprise? That's Stevens. Although some times theresults he gets seem like he's sleeping from real, when he gets to breath firehe's a natural born killer. And this is a perfect opportunity to do so.

Neil Robertson v. Mark Allen

Australia's Robbo

God, this is a hard one! Both of them are attacking players, both ofthem have an I-want-to-win-so-badly attitude and none of them have a Masters trophyunder their belt.

Robbo is one of the golden boys of the moment. He's just won two PTCevents and he reached the semi-final of the UK Championship. He’s a formerworld champion with a great CV regarding how many finals he reached and alsowon, so he'll be going for the title here. His collection is missing a Masters trophy.

Allen's targeting a victory

Allen's recent mini-scandal with Barry Hearn has drawn media'sattention. Like always, if it's a scandal, the yellow press appears. However,he did manage to draw attention with something positive as well. He reached thefinal of the UK Championship and he did a splendid job by doing so.

He proved he's to be taken into consideration and that he'll win aranking event in the near future. When, is just a matter of time. Maybe thefollowing week?

Mark Selby v. Stephen Lee

Selby and his Shanghai Masters trophy

Selby has a Wuxi Classic title, a Shanghai Masters one and a PTC. He startedthis season in the best possible way and although many look at his playingstyle as being boring, he's one hell of a player that can keep on hitting onecentury break after another (a thing that not many players can do).

Lee is a bit frustrated

When he's in the zone and he doesn't break his own game, he's morefluent than a native speaker, so the key here is: avoid scrappiness!

Lee had a very prolific last season, but during the current one hedoesn't seem to feel as conformable as before. He got a Twitter account tocommunicate what's on his mind, but he better communicate with his cue duringthe next days for he needs to improve his game.
Selby starts as a favourite here, but if "Bulldog" Lee putshis mind and cue to work, he can case an easy upset.

Ali Carter v. Graeme Dott

Carter needs to keep an open mind about his game

Following O'Sullivan's I'm-considering-to-retire-from-snookerannouncement from the UK Championship, Carter did the same. The one we all call"The Captain" has been struggling for some time with his game, thelast ranking event he won being the 2010 Shanghai Masters and his health hasstopped him from playing at his best when the situation required it.

However, he's not a man who feels sorry for himself and he has tried towin back his status. Sadly, this is a very hard process and if you don’t keepyour mind in a positive spot, you have no chance. He needs to work on that anda bit on his game and the success is guaranteed.

The Scot Dott

Dott on the other hand has moments of geniality when he starts pottinglike a king. Then, all of the sudden he stops. Something happens, his game is fragmented,he loses his grip, he's angry, he's all over the place, he gives up.

But all things aside, no one can deny this man has been though a lot andthat he's a great player. I personally admire his ambition. He can still causeupsets, he did manage to reach a PTC final, so go on and do your thing, ey mate?

So this are the first round matches (which are being played udner the "best of 11" rule), the first two taking placetomorrow, as it follows:

13:30
Ding Junhui v. Ronnie O'Sullivan

19:00
Mark Williams v. Stephen Maguire
*all hours are UKtime

TV coverage:
13:20 - 17:00 BBC Two

14:15 - 16:30 British EuroSport 2

19:00 - 22:00 British EuroSport 2

00:00 - 02:50 BBC Two (the highlights)

World Open (the qualifiers) - Day 3

2012-01-14T01:31:00.001+02:00

Snooker's legends experience early exit

The cue action continues inSheffield where 16 players will be booking themselves a ticket to China's Hainan Islandin spring by the end of tomorrow.

The penultimate day sawsome pretty intense encounters, encounters that weren't too favourable forlegends like Jimmy White, Steve Davis, Tony Drago or Ken Doherty, all four ofthem missing to qualify for the next round and hence, the tournament.

It was 10 o'clock in themorning in the UKand the day didn't seem too bright for snooker's legends. Tony Drago got beat5-2 by Matthew Selt who's now meeting last year's Masters runner-up Marco Fu,Jimmy White and Steve Davis got hammered 5-1 by Sam Baird and Ian McCulloch respectively,while the 1997 world champion, Ken Doherty lost the decider in front of a PinkArmy member, Jimmy Robertson.

Sam Baird, the man to beat

And since we are on thePink Army subject, I must tell you that its soldiers have rocked around thesnooker tables.
First we have Sam Bairdwho, as I said before, beat his colleague Jimmy White 5-1, then Robert Milkins'5-1 victory over Sam Craigie, Alfie Burden did the same to Jack Lisowski, JamieJones followed his comrade footsteps when he faced the Scotsman Anthony McGill,while Gerard Greene applied a 5-3 treatment over Kurt Maflin.

Ironically, the countrythat's hosting this event had to witness how one of its biggest competitors inthe qualifiers lost the cues' battle. Although he took a great start, TianPengfei lost 5-2 to Mike Dunn, only Yu Delu getting to the last round after defeatingScotland'sAlan McManus 5-1, closely followed by Liang Wenbo's 5-4 victory over theyoungster Michael White.

The last Thai left in therace, Dechawat Poomjaeng was also kicked out of the Haikou World Openqualifiers after losing a tight snooker dispute with Michael Holt 5-4, whilegood old Dave Harold knock out another powerful opponent, this time JoeJogia by 5-2, in order to book himself the final meeting with a very musicalDominic Dale.

Below you can check Day 3list of results:

10am
26 Matthew Selt 5-2 Tony Drago
27 Jamie Burnett 5-3 David Gilbert
28 Jimmy White 1-5 Sam Baird
29 Robert Milkins 5-1 Sam Craigie
30 Steve Davis 1-5 Ian McCulloch
31 Jack Lisowski 1-5 Alfie Burden

2.30pm
32 Joe Jogia 2-5 Dave Harold
33 Mike Dunn 5-2 Tian Pengfei
34 Liang Wenbo 5-4 Michael White
35 Jamie Jones 5-1 Anthony McGill
36 Ken Doherty 4-5 Jimmy Robertson

7pm
37 Alan McManus 1-5 Yu Delu
38 Gerard Greene 5-3 Kurt Maflin
39 Anthony Hamilton 5-4 Liam Highfield
40 Michael Holt 5-4 Dechewat Poomjaeng
41 Nigel Bond 5-3 Adam Duffy

Tomorrow's match schedule:

10am
42 Marco Fu v. Matthew Selt
43 Jamie Cope v. Jamie Burnett
44 Mark Davis v. Sam Baird
45 Ryan Day v. Rob Milkins
46 Barry Hawkins v. Ian McCulloch
47 Marcus Campbell v. Alfie Burden

2.30pm
48 Dominic Dale v. Dave Harold
49 Stephen Hendry v. Mike Dunn
50 Mark King v. Liang Wenbo

51 Tom Ford v. Jamie Jones

52 Rory McLeod v. Jimmy Robertson

7pm
53 Andrew Higginson v. Yu Delu
54 Ricky Walden v. Gerard Greene
55 Joe Perry v. Anthony Hamilton
56 Peter Ebdon v. Michael Holt
57 Fergal O'Brien v. Nigel Bond
*all hours are UK time

Don't forget that eachsession had two matches broadcasted online at: www.sportlemon.tv

Let's hear it for Hendry!

2012-01-13T15:33:00.000+02:00

The one and only Stephen Hendry

Today we celebrate StephenHendry who's turning 43. The seven-time world champion saw the light of day inScotland's Edinburg, but back then very few knew he will rock around thesnooker table for a living and change the way we look at this amazing cue sportnamed snooker.

Each time I have to talkabout a huge sportsman words seem empty mainly because what more can you sayabout such a personality? His achievements, his titles, his maximum breaks, hiscracking shots, his entire career speak from itself.

We all know he's theyoungest player to ever conquer a world championship crown at the age of 21 andthree months, we all know he's one hell of a player, we all know he is "Crucible’sKing" because he won the title seven times, we all know he's the guy thatput an end to Steve Davis' dominancy over the 80s and ruled the 90s and we are allwell aware of the fact that right now, he's not the player he used to be backin the hey-day.

But above all these ups anddowns (which blimey! are normal in each career), stands a man that has dedicatedhis entire life to sport. Ambitious, dedicated, talented, passionate, strongand with a great character - these are perfect words to describe Hendry. Andalso a nice bum, but that's another story.

At the beginning of October2011, Hendry slipped out of Top 16 for the first time since 1989, but thatdidn't stop him to qualify for the UK Championship, or to reach the semi-finalof Players Tour Championship Event 12 a few days ago and give us hope that hecan still win a snooker event (he hasn't done it since 2005, when he won MaltaCup).

A sparkle of geniality thatrefuses to give up and keeps on doing what's destined to do, still causingupsets, still making the crowd go crazy with excitement. I wonder how manyplayers can say that? Very few I believe.

Hendry remains for manyplayers and fans a mentor and a role model of keeping your chin up and startingfrom zero when the situation requires it.

Today it's the Master'sbirthday, so let's hear it for Stephen Hendry: Happy birthday, champ!

World Open (the qualifiers) - Day 2

2012-01-13T01:37:00.001+02:00

Drago takes a great start

It was a very"pink" day here in Sheffield, wherethe Haikou World Open qualifiers are underway as no more than six Pink Armymembers have managed to survive the battles that were given on the green baizeand secure a spot for Round Three.

But not the same can besaid about the "Asian-team", only two Chinese players out offive (Pengfei and Delu), winning their matches, while the Thai Suwannawatand Wattana were condemned not to fly to Hainan in the spring.

The one and only Tony"The Tornado" Drago beat the Irishman David Morris 5-3, while hispink comrade, Sam Baird continued his perfect run by hammering a pretty strongopponent, Liu Chuang 5-1.
Alfie Burden put downanother member of the Chinese team, Xiao Guodong being defeated by 5-3, theyoungster Michael White seemed totally immune to India's Aditya Mehta's snookerskills and beat him 5-3, while Liam Highfield beat PTC 3 winner, Ben Woollaston5-3.

With so many pink soldiers,a clash was inevitable, Jimmy Robertson and Andrew Norman being the onesinvolved in it. A century break from Robertson and some pretty witty cue actionand the 25-year-old lad from Bexhill-on-Sea beat Norman 5-2.
However, things didn't workout so well for Andy Hicks who got beat 5-2 by China's Yu Delu.

Pengfei continues his good run

After a remarkable comebackperformed yesterday, Tian Pengfei seems to be back on track, a 5-3 win overAdrian Gunnell meaning that he's meeting Mike Dunn in tomorrow's round three,while Liu Song will be heading home losing the decider against the only Thaiplayer that survived the day, Dechawat Poomjaeng.

Both Passakorn Suwannawatand the marvellous James Wattana got "deleted" from the competitionafter the first one lost 5-3 to David Gilbert and the second one got beat 5-2by Adam Duffy.

The old cavalry representedby Dave Harold moves forward to the next round after hammering Rod Lawler 5-1,while Norway’s snooker ambassador Kurt Maflin won a tight battle of cues of 5-4against Mark Joyce.

Below you can check Day Twolist of results:

10am
10 Tony Drago 5-3 David Morris
11 David Gilbert 5-3 Passakorn Suwannawat
12 Liu Chuang 1-5 Sam Baird
13 Barry Pinches 1-5 Sam Craigie
14 Peter Lines 2-5 Ian McCulloch
15 Xiao Guodong 3-5 Alfie Burden

2.30pm
16 Dave Harold 5-1 Rod Lawler
17 Adrian Gunnell 3-5 Tian Pengfei
18 Michael White 5-1 Aditya Mehta
19 Anthony McGill 5-1 Joe Swail
20 Jimmy Robertson 5-2 Andrew Norman

7pm
21 Andy Hicks 2-5 Yu Delu
22 Mark Joyce 4-5 Kurt Maflin
23 Ben Woollaston 3-5 Liam Highfield
24 Liu Song 4-5 Decehwat Poomjaeng
25 James Wattana 2-5 Adam Duffy

Round Three match schedulefor tomorrow:

10am
26 Matthew Selt v. Tony Drago
27 Jamie Burnett v. David Gilbert
28 Jimmy White v. Sam Baird
29 Robert Milkins v. Sam Craigie
30 Steve Davis v. Ian McCulloch
31 Jack Lisowski v. Alfie Burden

2.30pm
32 Joe Jogia v. Dave Harold
33 Mike Dunn v. Tian Pengfei
34 Liang Wenbo v. Michael White
35 Jamie Jones v. Anthony McGill

36 Ken Doherty v. JimmyRobertson

7pm
37 Alan McManus v. Yu Delu
38 Gerard Greene v. Kurt Maflin
39 Anthony Hamilton v. Liam Highfield
40 Michael Holt v. Dechawat Poomjaeng
41 Nigel Bond v. Adam Duffy
*all hours are UK time

Don't forget that eachsession will see two matches being broadcasted LIVE on www.sportlemon.tv

Championship League 2012 - Murphy wins Group Two

2012-01-12T22:32:00.001+02:00

Murphy wins Group Two

Shaun Murphy crashed Mark Selby 3-0 and hasbecome the second player to get a cosy place in Snooker Championship LeagueWinners' Group next to Judd Trump.

Ironically, Murphy was runner-up in GroupOne, when he lost the decider 3-2 to Trump.

The player we all known to be nicknamed"The Magician" used all his magical powers to cash a well deservedvictory by whitewashing world number one, Mark Selby 3-0.

Murphy started his Group Two journey bytaking on the same Mark Selby and losing 3-1, but he kept it cool and won thenext couple of matches, 3-1 against Stuart Bingham and 3-0 over Mark Davis.

Day 2 started in the same way as the firstone, with a defeat, Neil Robertson beating him 3-2, but Murphy managed to crashMark Williams 3-0, before losing again, this time 3-1 to Matthew Stevens.

However, his semi-final and finalperformances were more steady. So steady that Murphy didn't even let his firstopponent, Mark Davis to pot one single ball. He used an incredible series ofbreaks like 95, 136 and 97 to put quite a show and end Davis' run with 3-0.

Unlucky Selby

The final was next and he was to meet hisfirst rival, Mark Selby a player that qualified in both Group One and Two onfirst place, but as future would show it, lost in the play-offs stage.

The first frame saw Shaun clearing thetable with a marvellous 120, his beautiful cue action bringing him thefollowing one as well, after hitting a break of 82.

Runs of 30 and 42 were the ones that sealedMurphy's 3-0 victory over Mark Selby, victory that sets the 2005 world championnext to Judd Trump (winner of Group One) into the Winners' Group.

At the end of the day four players have gota free pass to Group Three where they hope to collect as many points aspossible, their names being: Mark Selby, Mark Davis, Neil Robertson and MatthewStevens.

At the opposite corner, Stuart Bingham andMark Williams are out of the Championship League, failing to earn enough pointsto stay in the race for a place in this year's Premier League.

Here are Group Two list of results:

DAY ONE

TABLE 1

Mark Selby 3-1 Shaun Murphy

Mark Williams 3-2 Neil Robertson

Mark Selby 3-1 Mark Davis

Neil Robertson 0-3 Stuart Bingham

Mark Selby 3-2 Matthew Stevens

Mark Davis 3-0 Stuart Bingham

TABLE 2

Mark Davis 3-1 Matthew Stevens

Stuart Bingham 1-3 Shaun Murphy

Matthew Stevens 2-3 Mark Williams

Shaun Murphy 3-0 Mark Davis

Mark Williams 0-3 Stuart Bingham

Neil Robertson 3-2 Matthew Stevens

DAY TWO

TABLE 1

Shaun Murphy 2-3 Neil Robertson

Matthew Stevens 3-1 Stuart Bingham

Mark Selby 3-2 Stuart Bingham

Mark Williams 0-3 Mark Davis

TABLE 2

Mark Selby 3-2 Mark Williams

Neil Robertson 3-2 Mark Davis

Mark Williams 0-3 Shaun Murphy

Mark Selby 3-1 Neil Robertson

Shaun Murphy 1-3 Matthew Stevens

Play-offs:

Semi-finals

Mark Selby 3-1 Neil Robertson

Shaun Murphy 3-0 Mark Davis

Final

Mark Selby 0-3 Shaun Murphy

Snooker Championship League is returningfrom January 23-26 with Group Three and Four.

World Open (the qualifiers) - Day 1

2012-01-12T01:20:00.000+02:00

Day One

The first day of the HaikouWorld Open qualifiers made its debut with no more than two proud members of thePink Army (aka. OnQ Promotions) surviving the battles of cue and two little,but very eager to win, Chinese players that booked themselves a place in RoundTwo.

Sam Baird, the 23-year-oldlad from Uffculme got to defeat Belgium'sLuca Brecel 5-3, while Andrew Norman hammered Paul Davison 5-1 to set a snookermeeting with a pink army comrade, Jimmy Robertson tomorrow in the after-noon.

Still, there were two pink soldierswho didn't make it, Adam Wicheard being one of them. Although he was very closeto the finish line, leading David Morris 4-2, the Irishman found the strengthto pull back one frame at a time and force the decider, decider that he wonfair and square, 5-4.
Also, Andrew Pagett got no"thai massage" from Dechawat Poomjaeng, but a dreadful defeat of 5-2,hence accompanying Wicheard home.

China's Tian Pengfei cashed a very tenseand close snooker battle against Stuart Carrington by 5-4, while Yu Delu defeatedhis fellow-country, Cao Yupeng 5-2 to book himself a place in Round Two.

The Indian Aditya Mehtaobtained a 5-3 against Q School Event Three graduate, David Grace, while AdamDuffy started his qualifying journey with a 5-2 result over a not so lucky LuckyVatnani.

Below you can check Day Onelist of results:

1 David Morris 5-4 Adam Wicheard
2 Sam Baird 5-3 Luca Brecel
3 Sam Craigie 5-2 Daniel Wells
4 Tian Pengfei 5-4 Stuart Carrington
5 David Grace 3-5 Aditya Mehta

6 Andrew Norman 5-1 PaulDavison
7 Yu DeLu 5-2 Cao Yupeng
8 Andrew Pagett 2-5 Dechawat Poomjaeng
9 Adam Duffy 5-2 Lucky Vatnani

Tomorrow’s match schedule:

10am

10 Tony Drago v. DavidMorris

11 David Gilbert v. PassakornSuwannawat

12 Liu Chuang v. SamBaird

13 Barry Pinches v.Sam Craigie

14 Peter Lines v. IanMcCulloch

15 Xiao Guodong v.Alfie Burden

2.30pm

16 Dave Harold v. RodLawler

17 Adrian Gunnell v. Tian Pengfei

18 Michael White v.Aditya Mehta

19 Anthony McGill v.Joe Swail

20 Jimmy Robertson v.Andrew Norman

7pm

21 Andy Hicks v. YuDelu

22 Mark Joyce v. KurtMaflin

23 Ben Woollaston v.Liam Highfield

24 Liu Song v. DechawatPoomjaeng

25 James Wattana v. AdamDuffy

The lads can be seenonline at: www.sportlemon.tv

World Open qualifiers countdown

2012-01-10T23:13:00.001+02:00

Going back to Sheffield

As some of the players aretaking their chances in grabbing a place in this year's Premier League byplaying in Essex, back in Sheffield things arepretty tense. Why? Because we have a brand new series of qualifiers on ourhands, the first ones this year.

It's no secret that theWorld Open tournament has been confirmed to take place in China at the end of February, in Haikou. This is the thirdranking event staged in Chinaand the contract World Snooker signed is due to last for the next five years.

But first things first: weneed to have some qualifiers. And so, the city that's in love with snooker (asI am), Sheffield is staging for the next four days the mighty battles of cuesthat will send 16 players straight to Haikou, on Hainan Island.

So, without any furtherado, here's Day One match schedule:

Round One

12pm

David Morris v. AdamWicheard

Sam Baird v. Luca Brecel

Sam Craigie v. Daniel Wells

Tian Pengfei v. StuartCarrington

David Grace v. Aditya Mehta

6pm

Andrew Norman v. PaulDavison

Yu Delu v. Cao Yupeng

Andrew Pagett v. DechawatPoomjaeng

Adam Duffy v. Lucky Vatnani

*all hours are UK time

All matches will be played under the "best of 9 frames" rule.

Championship League 2012 - Trump breaks ice

2012-01-10T22:51:00.000+02:00

Judd Trump breaks the ice

The ice was broken for thisyear's Snooker Championship League with Judd Trump beating Shaun Murphy 3-2 andwinning Group's One final. Hence he gets to be the first player with a securedspot into the Winners' Group.

The fresh conqueror of theUK Championship crown, Judd Trump managed to book himself a place into the laststage of the Championship League after forcing a decider against the 2005 worldchampion, Shaun Murphy.

Trump obtained victories of3-2 over Shaun Murphy, 3-0 over Ali Carter and 3-2 in front of AndrewHigginson. However, he did get beat 3-1 by Mark Selby, 3-2 by Mark Davis and3-0 by Matthew Stevens.
So, after two days ofround-robin matches, the evening saw Bristol'sboy with no more than three points in his pocket.

In front of him were MarkSelby with 5 points and Mark Davis with 4, but there was also another playerwith whom he shared the third place: ironically, it was Shaun Murphy who alsogot 3 points.
Still, after counting howmany frames both lads won and lost, Murphy got to be on third place, whileTrump on forth. But that didn't seem to affect Judd as he hammered Mark Selby3-1 in the semi-final and set a pretty intensive final against Murphy.

The Smurf only got the runner-up position

The player we all know tohave a magical cue was the one who opened the scoreline by hitting a break of84, but Trump responded with a great 121 to draw level.
One more time, Shaun puthis nose in front, this time with as 65 break, but as before the 22-year-oldlad knew how to replay and hit a 118 for a 2-2 scoreline.

The last frame saw Trumpmissing the crucial ball on 67 and Murphy getting a life-line. Sadly for him,he didn't make too much of it, so Judd returned to the table to seal his 3-2victory as well as a place in the Winners' Group.

So at the end of the day wehave one player that has the word winner written on his t-shirt and four thatget a bye to Group Two to try their luck for a Winners' Group spot once more.There names are: Shaun Murphy, Mark Selby, Mark Davis and Matthew Stevens.

Unfortunately we also havetwo players that won't get another chance, Ali Carter and Andrew Higginsonfailing in qualifying for the next set of matches.

Tomorrow Group Two'splayers are in action, as it follows:

TABLE 1
11am - Shaun Murphy v. Mark Selby
12.15pm - Mark Williams v. Neil Robertson
Not before 2pm - Mark Selby v. Mark Davis
3.15pm - Neil Robertson v. Stuart Bingham
Not before 6pm - Mark Selby v. Matthew Stevens
7.15pm - Mark Davis v. Stuart Bingham

TABLE 2
11am - Mark Davis v. Matthew Stevens
12.15pm - Stuart Bingham v. Shaun Murphy
Not before 2pm - Matthew Stevens v. Mark Williams
3.15pm - Shaun Murphy v. Mark Davis
Not before 6pm - Mark Williams v. Stuart Bingham
7.15pm - Neil Robertson v. Matthew Stevens
*all hours are UK time

You can watch the boys onwww.sportlemon.tv all day long.

PTC Order of Merit or who's going to Ireland

2012-01-09T19:18:00.001+02:00

Galway to stage PTC Grand Final

It's here peeps, the finaltouches have been made on PTC Oder of Merit and now we are in possession of thenames that will delight us with their snooker skills in PTC Grand Final due totake place in Irelandthis March.

We had no more than 12 PTCevents, half of them being staged in the UK and half abroad and those who gotto take part in at least three PTCs and three EPTCs, but also to get a good amountof money by playing at their best, have a booked trip to Ireland.

Sunday evening the last ofthe PTC events (PTC 12) ended with Stephen Maguire as a winner, so by taking acloser look at the rankings I present you with the names of the 24 players thathave made it into the PTC Grand Final.

1. Judd Trump

2. Ronnie O'Sullivan

3. Neil Robertson

4. Michael Holt

5. Mark Selby

6. Graeme Dott

7. Andrew Higginson

8. Stephen Maguire

9. Ben Woollaston

10. Martin Gould

11. Joe Perry

12. Tom Ford

13. John Higgins

14. Stephen Lee

15. Ricky Walden

16. Mark Davis

17. Matthew Stevens

18. Xiao Guodong

19. Fergal O'Brien

20. Dominic Dale

21. Barry Hawkins

22. Ding Junhui

23. Jamie Jones

24. Jack Lisowski

Click here to see thecomplete PTC Order of Merit.

As you can see we have agreat variety of players, some of them having a remarkable "PTC CV",like Judd Trump that won PTC 2 and PTC 9, Ronnie O'Sullivan who lifted PTC 1and PTC 7 trophies, or Neil Robertson who grabbed PTC 6 and PTC 8 titles.

A name that's clearly missing is Shaun Murphy's, the 2005 world-champion who’salso the defending champion of the PTC Grand Final not being able to qualify inthe first 24, although, ironically, he took part in all 12 of the PTC events.Unfortunately, his performances only brought him the 37^th place.

The PTC Grand Final istaking place at the Bailey Allen Hall in Galway, Ireland fromMarch 14-18. See ya there!

World Open tournament confirmed

2012-01-09T12:43:00.002+02:00

Snooker is set to conquer China

It changed its name a bit(from Hainan to Haikou), but it's the sameranking event that Chinawas waiting for, the third on its list after the Shanghai Masters and ChinaOpen.
Now, everything is set and the dates are confirmed: in February we areheading to Haikou, on Hainan Islandfor some World Open snooker.

As it happens with eachranking event the Top 16 players are getting a spot in the tournament, another16 being able to play against them after they survive the qualifying rounds dueto start this week from 11-14 of January in Sheffield.
Also, eight wildcards willbe picked to play at the final venue.

The winner of the HaikouWorld Open event is going home with no more than £75,000 of a total amount of£400,000 prize money.

World Snooker ChairmanBarry Hearn said: "We are delighted to announce the staging of the WorldOpen in Haikoufor the next five years. The popularity of snooker in China continuesto grow at a phenomenal rate and we have capitalised on that by establishing athird full ranking event, alongside the China Open and Shanghai Masters. Weexpect to make more announcements about events in China in the coming weeks.

"My warm gratitudegoes to Star Xing Pai for promoting the new Haikou World Open, and to the ChinaBilliards and Snooker Association under the leadership of Mr Zhang Xiaoning, aswell as the Haikou Government.

"Hainan Islandis one of the most beautiful places on Earth and an ideal place to stage one ofour world ranking tournaments. The players competing in the event are in for awonderful time and it's fantastic to be taking snooker to a new part of China. I haveno doubt that the fans there will show the same passion and enthusiasm for oursport that we have seen at our other tournaments in China."

So, with another rankingevent in the book, snooker is surely ready to conquer the world.
The Haikou World Opentournament is taking place between February 27 and March 4 and there's a contract there to keep the event running for five years.

3, 2, 1 - Go! - Snooker Championship League

2012-01-09T01:32:00.001+02:00

The beginning of a New Yearmeans that Snooker's Championship League is ready to kick off. And what abetter way for the lads to start their journey to getting a spot in this year'sPremier League, than on a Monday?

At CrondonPark in Essex,the first two Groups of players are ready to cross their cues for the followingfour days (Group One on January 9 and 10 and Group Two on January 11 and 12).

As always, there are nomore than seven Groups, each consisting of seven players. Each Group will see awinner, winner that will advance into the "Winners' Group". Here, thelast seven lads will fight for a safe place in the 2012 Premier League.

The rules:each match will be played under the "best of 5", on a round-robin basis , players beingawarded one point for each match they win. At the end of day two, the play-offs(semi-finals and final) will kick off, only the ones who have earned enoughpoints being able to grab a place.

Last year CL winner - Matthew Stevens

It's pretty simple, you winas many matches as you can and then you have a chance to play in the play-offs.However, since we are talking about seven players per Group, there's a high possibilityto have more than one player with the same amount of points, so in order todetermine their position in the league the organisers will see how many framesthey won and how many they lost.

At the end of each Group'sstage we shall have one winner who's getting a place in Winners' Group, therest of the players (qualified on second, third, forth and fifth place) gettinga place in the following Groups' stage.

So, let's say you qualifiedas a runner-up (second place) of Group 1. What will you do next? You aregetting a spot in Group 2 where you have the chance to play and maybe even bethe group's winner.
The remaining of theplayers that occupy positions six and seven will not feature in any of thegroups' future matches.

At the end of each Group'sfinal, the winner is going home with £3,000 , the runner-up with £2,000, whilethe losing semi-finalists are getting £1,000. Also, for each frame he wins aplayer is getting £100.

So, that's about it. Nowlet's see who's playing who in tomorrow's Group One:

TABLE 1
12pm - Matthew Stevens v. Mark Selby
1.15pm - Ali Carter v. Mark Davis
Not before 3pm - Mark Selby v. Shaun Murphy
4.15pm - Mark Davis v. Andrew Higginson
Not before 7pm - Mark Selby v. Judd Trump
8.15pm - Shaun Murphy v. Andrew Higginson

TABLE 2
12pm - Shaun Murphy v. Judd Trump
1.15pm - Andrew Higginson v. Matthew Stevens
Not before 3pm - Judd Trump v. Ali Carter
4.15pm - Matthew Stevens v. Shaun Murphy
Not before 7pm - Ali Carter v. Andrew Higginson
8.15pm - Mark Davis v. Judd Trump
*all hours are UK time

The matches can be followedonline if you have an account on one of these betting sites, or onwww.sportlemon.tv

On-fire Maguire captures PTC 12 title

2012-01-08T23:06:00.001+02:00

One very happy Maguire

Stephen Maguire defeatedJoe Perry 4-2 to lift the PTC 12 title in Germany'sMunich. Afterstarting the last battle of cues with a failed attempt to hit a maximum, theScottish player didn't lose his grip and continued to cruise for victory.

In was back in 2008 whenStephen Maguire was defeating Shaun Murphy in a decider to get the China Opentrophy in his bag, so no more than four year passed to win another rankingevent title, even if (this time) it's a minor one.

Maguire booked himself aticket to Germanyby taking down Ricky Norris, Zhang Anda and Ali Carter 4-1. The Last 16 roundspot was now secured so he just needed to keep going. And he did.
Another 4-1 result was usedto hammer his first opponent, David Gray, while Andrew Higginson got a cruel 4-0treatment in the quarter-finals.

The semis saw Maguire meetan old rival, but also a fellow-country, Stephen Hendry. The lads have metduring last year Welsh Open and UK Championship, both times Maguire being theone who prevailed. This time wouldn't be any different, but it was a hardfought battle ended on a 4-3 scoreline.

Joe Perry - the 2012 PTC 12 runner-up

Joe Perry was his finalopponent, a player that secured his trip to Germany by defeating StephenCraigie 4-1, crashing Robbie Williams 4-0 and ending a pink-army-buddy's run(aka. Mark Davis) by 4-1.

His Last 16 opponent, DavidGilbert was kneeled down 4-1, a scoreline that Perry also used against RickyWalden in the quarter-finals in order to set a semis snooker encounter withMartin Gould, encounter that ended with Joe winning it 4-0.

The final battle began withMaguire trying to make a maximum (it would have been his third one as aprofessional snooker player), but sadly he missed a black as he was on a 105.Still, the first frame was secured, the following one being cashed also by theScotsman, this time with a break of 77.

Perry managed to pull backa frame with a top break of 63, but Maguire's 93 clearance from the 5^thframe put him just one step away from victory, leading 3-1.
However, the suspense wasprolonged when the Englishman hit a 75 break to get his second frame of theevening under the belt. The scoreline was now 3-2, but it didn't stay like thatfor long. The reason? A break of 62 from Maguire, break that was sealing a 4-2 victory andgetting him a well deserved shiny trophy.

PTC 12 is the last event ofthis season's PTC series, the next step being March's Grand Final from Ireland,where the first 24 players that have had the best results after performing inthese mini-tournaments are meeting in order to conquer the "final frontier’strophy".

Players Tour Championship Event 12 - Hendry and Gould advance to semis

2012-01-08T01:29:00.000+02:00

Joe Perry get a semis place

If the first day of the PTC12 was a glorious one, the second one could only be better. The crowd came tosupport their favourite players, the players did their best to entertain themand in the end the four spots for the semis were occupied after some prettybloody battles of cues.

The day started with thelast two matches of the Last 16 round, Martin Gould winning 4-3 over DavidGrace, while Stephen Maguire hammered David Gilbert 4-1, for a place in thequarter-finals.
Minutes after, the brandnew set of quarter-finals matches began.

The first to get throughwas Joe Perry who had to face Ricky Walden. It was a pretty scrappy affair, butwith a top break of 81 "The Fen Potter" got a 2-0 lead over the 2008Shanghai Masters champion.

Bye-bye Top 16 for now, for Walden

Understandably the nextframe was a crucial one, Ricky needing it badly. Luckily for him Perry missedframe ball as he was on a 59 break, Walden taking advantage to take it underhis belt. Sadly for Ricky it was going to be the first and the last frame ofthe match that was going his way.

The next two frames werecashed by Joe, this meaning not only that he got a place in the semis, but alsothat Walden can kiss a place in the Top 16 bye-bye.

Next, Mark Allen and MartinGould took their places in the arena. The battle was yet to begin and everyonewas buzzing with excitement to see these two snooker gladiators at work.

The one who broke the icewas Martin, but Mark used a perfect 105 to respond and take the second frame."The Pinner Potter" tried his luck again, this time with aseries of 56 and 22 for a 2-1 lead, but the Northern-Ireland's man drew levelwith the first chance he got.

Gould keeps going

The pattern was followedflawless as Gould's 63 made the scoreline turn into 3-2, Allen using a 75 toforce the decider. But the funny thing is that the pattern I was telling youabout was followed until the very end of the match, for the one who alwaysgot the lead in the match was also the one who won it, Gould booking himself aplace in the semis by doing so.

After beating Marco Fu theother day, Stephen Hendry was due to meet the PTC 10 winner, MichaelHolt.
A series of 31, 38 andanother 38 spiced with a bit of luck made the Scotsman fly 2-0 up over the Nottingham man, but his dominancy was soon over when hisopponent fought back.

UK Championship runner-up, M. Allen going home

A top break of 63 was usedto draw level at 2-2, while a re-spotted black brought Holty the leadingposition for the first time since the beginning of the match.

But Hendry didn't give up.A break of 56 was guaranteeing him to stay for the last frame of the cues'battle, while a tactical 81 was sealing his victory and his spot in the semis. Whata victory for the seven-time world champion!

You (still) don't mess with the Master

Hendry is meeting afellow-country in tomorrow's semi-final, Stephen Maguire who whitewashed PTC 5champion Andrew Higginson just before Hendry started the snooker dispute withHolt.

It's going to be a hardtask for Hendry to beat him, their last two encounters seeing the last namedone win. During the 2011 Welsh Open, Maguire won 4-2 over Hendry, while the2011 UK Championship saw Hendry lose 6-3 to the same determined Scotsman. Butcan the man who dominated the 90s break this pattern and defeat him now? We'lljust have to wait and see.

Below you can check today'sresults:

Last 16

David Grace 3-4 MartinGould

Stephen Maguire 4-1 DavidGilbert

The quarter-finals

Ricky Walden 1-4 Joe Perry

Mark Allen 3-4 Martin Gould

Stephen Maguire 4-0 AndrewHigginson

Michael Holt 3-4 StephenHendry

Tomorrow's match schedule:

1pm
Martin Gould v. Joe Perry

4pm
Stephen Maguire v. Stephen Hendry

8pm
Final
*all hours are Germany time

TV coverage for the UK:

18:15 - 19:00 BritishEuroSport

19:00 - 21:00 BritishEuroSport

Snooker can be watchedonline as well, at: www.sportlemon.tv

Players Tour Championship Event 12 - Hendry lands in quarter-finals

2012-01-07T00:09:00.000+02:00

Master Hendry lands in quarter-finals

Packed audience, crackingshots and a seven-time world champion getting a spot for the quarter-finals,that's how the first day of the PTC 12 looked like.

If last year edition of theGerman Masters has taught us something is that Germany loves snooker. And todaythat was proved once more as the Munich'scrowd was on duty all day long forming a packed audience hungry for snooker.

On the other hand, theplayers didn't disappoint them either, some really cracking shots being played,along with great comebacks and tight results.

Only six out out of a totalof eight matches (for that's how many the Last 16 round has) were played today,the remaining two taking place tomorrow, along with the quarter-finals ones.And I'm going to start with the last match of the day, because ... well ... Iwant to.

Marco Fu - close to win the match

The name is Hendry, StephenHendry. He is a seven-time world champion and he recently dropped out of thefamous Top 16. He needs to qualify for the ranking events and his form is notwhat it used to be. But somehow, that sparkle of geniality hasn't totallyvanished. It's there and it's shining pretty strong.

The Scotsman took on lastyear Masters runner-up Marco Fu. The first frame was cashed taking advantageafter Marco Fu's safety shot went wrong, the second one with a top break of 30,while the third was won with runs of 45 and 42. He seemed in a pretty stabileform, not a great one, but enough to win him the match.

But everything changed. Asalways, Hendry was leading 3-0 and kept on missing shots. Fu was there to makesomething out of them and breaks of 105 and 78 were enough to pull him back acouple of frames. He was now trailing 3-2 and with a good chance to force adecider.

Holt and Campbell, the tightest match of the day

A crucial 6^thframe started with a very slow cue action, only normal considering what was atstake. However, Hendry regained some of that confidence he had at the beginningof the match, confidence that materialised itself in a 75 break that was wonhim the match 4-2, but also got him a place in the QFs.

Hendry is now facing a PTCchampion, Michael Holt, who beat Marcus Campbell 4-3, after the Scotsman put onquite a snooker show and made a prefect comeback from being lead 3-1 with a bitof help from a 95 and a 55 break.

Walden continues his journey towards victory

Ricky Walden, the 2011 UKChampionship semi-finalist got a well deserved victory of 4-2 over XiaoGuodong. The battle of cues started with Ricky taking the first frame with abreak of 79, while Xiao responded with a 41 to collect the second one.

Still, the 2008 ShanghaiMasters champion didn't give up and retook the lead after firing in runs of 70and 63. The Chinese player pulled back one frame, but the 6^th one (avery loooooooooong one) was cashed by the Englishman.

A good start for PTC 1 runner-up, Joe Perry

The PTC 5 winner, AndrewHigginson saw off Norway'ssnooker ambassador Kurt Maflin 4-2, the same happening with Mike Dunn v. MarkAllen's match, this season's UK Championship runner-up beating Dunn 4-2, whileJoe Perry hammered David Gilbert 4-1 to get a place in tomorrow'squarter-finals.

Below you can check thelist of results:

Kurt Maflin 2-4 AndrewHigginson

Marcus Campbell 3-4 MichaelHolt

Ricky Walden 4-2 XiaoGuodong

David Gilbert 1-4 Joe Perry

Mike Dunn 2-4 Mark Allen

Stephen Hendry 4-2 Marco Fu

As I told you at thebeginning of this article, there are still two more Last 16 round matches to beplayed, the quarter-finals started short after them as you can see below:

Last 16

9am
David Grace v. Martin Gould

11am
Stephen Maguire v. David Gray

1pm

Ricky Walden v. Joe Perry

3pm
Mark Allen v. Grace/Gould

6pm

Maguire/Gray v. Andrew Higginson

8pm
Michael Holt v. Stephen Hendry
*all hours are Germany time

TV coverage for the UK:

15:15 - 21:00 BritishEuroSport

Also you can see the boysonline at: www.sportlemon.tv

Players Tour Championship Event 12 - Sprechen Sie Deutsch?

2012-01-05T23:40:00.001+02:00

Welcome to Germany!

If you're wondering what'ssmelling so good, then I shall put off your tenterhooks: it's snooker! The PTC Event12 is kicking off this Friday and for the next three days we shall be spoiledwith the best snooker there is.

As you may well remember,the PTC 12 Stage One took place in Sheffield in December, Stage Two coming toyou LIVE from Germany's Munich in the next days.The last event of this season's PTC series will feature the names of StephenHendry, Michael Holt (who's already got a PTC title, PTC 10 to be moreprecise), Stephen Maguire, Ricky Walden, Mike Dunn, China's Xiao Guodong, QSchool Event One graduate David Grace, last year Masters' runner-up Marco Fuand many more.

Last 16 round, thequarter-finals, the semis and the final are going to be played for the nextthree days, which is a bit odd since we've kind of got used to see all thesestages taking place in just one single day. However, since the event is aEuropean one and since it was sliced in two, I think it makes sense to seethree days of snooker.

On Monday, January 9^ththe second cut-off point is taking place and we shall see a new Top 16 underour eyes. An interesting note is that if Ricky Walden is to win the PTC 12,he'll knock out Ronnie O'Sullivan from a very cosy place, so that would be apretty intense way of starting the New Year for the Essex man.

Also, keep in mind thatafter PTC 12 the PTC Order of Merit will be completed, 24 players that havetaken part in at least three PTC's and three EPTC's (European PTC's) and thathave a considerable amount of money gained from doing so, will be getting awell deserved place in PTC Grand Final that's to take place in Ireland, inMarch.

So without any further ado,here's tomorrow's match schedule:

LAST 16

9am
Kurt Maflin v. Andrew Higginson

11am
Marcus Campbell v. Michael Holt

1pm
Ricky Walden v. Xiao Guodong

3pm
David Gilbert v. Joe Perry

6pm
Mike Dunn v. Mark Allen

8pm
Stephen Hendry v. Marco Fu

TV coverage:

13:00 - 14:00 BritishEuroSport

17:00 - 18:30 BritishEuroSport 2

18:30 - 21:00 BritishEuroSport

Of course that you can seethe lads in action online also, at: www.sportlemon.com

Snooker in January 2012

2012-01-05T01:54:00.000+02:00

Time for some good, old snooker

It's here peeps! 2012 hassettle in and even though many of us are still dreaming about their "whiteChristmas" and about how hard they rocked during the New Year's party,it's now time to let it all go and focus on what needs to be done. Well,actually I mean to focus on the obvious and that's … snooker ;-)

January is a busy month andby busy I really mean really, really busy. It doesn't matter that the New Yearhas just entered in our homes, for snooker is back in business baby! And that'show is should be, right? Since years after years we cried for more snooker.Well, here it is. Fresh and eager to entertain you.

As you all know, or at leastsome of you, we have some unfinished business from last year. Yep, I'm talkingabout Players Tour Championship Event 12. The last one of its series and theone that only had one stage that took place. Now, the second one is kicking offin Germany between 6 and 8,at the end of it the names of the 24 players that will get a place in PTC GrandFinals from Irelandbeing no longer a secret (not that is one at the moment, but some names stillneed confirmation, if you know what I mean ;-) ).

After Germany we shall return home, in Essex, where from January 9 the Championship League istaking place. For four days the lads will cross their cues in CrondonPark Golf Club in order toobtain as many points as possible and get a fair chance at a cosy spot in thisyear's Premier League.

But as the players are busycollecting points, a very important stage of a kind of new competition istaking place. From January 11 to 14, in the city that's madly in love withsnooker (aka. Sheffield), the Haikou WorldOpen Qualifiers is kicking off. As you all remember there was a competitionlast year in China’s Hainan, but it wasn't a ranking event nor it wassponsored by World Snooker.
However, things havechanged and now we have a ranking event in front of us with its qualifiers justaround the corner.

One of the most expectedtournaments in snooker's calendar, the Masters, is also on our January list,the event taking place between January 15 and 22 at AlexandraPalace from London and featuring, as always, snooker’s crèmede la crème.

On 23 of January the secondweek of the Championship League will follow, the end of the month beingcaptured by the "fast and the furious" of snooker - the Shoot-Outtournament – that’s taking place from 27 until 29 in Blackpool.

So, are you ready for someaction that involves snooker? Good, old snooker, as well as fast and furiousone? If your answer is YES, then you're in luck, for just look at this month'sschedule: it's packed with snooker activities.

1. Players TourChampionship Event 12 (PTC 12)

When?: 6-8 January
Where?: Munich, Germany
Who's playing?: click herefor the draw.
Prize money: winner(£10,000), runner-up (£5,000), losing semi-finalists (£2,500), losingquarter-finalists (£1,500), last 16 (£1,000), last 32 (£600) and the last 64(£200).
Ranking points: winner(2,000), runner-up (1,600), losing semi-finalists (1,280), losingquarter-finalists (1,000), last 16 (760), last 32 (560) and the last 64 (360).

2. Championship League(Group One + Two)

When?: 9-12 January
Where?: Crondon ParkGolf Club, Essex, UK
Who's playing?: click here for the draw.
Prize money: For the groupphase - £3,000 for the winner of each final, £2,000 for the runner-up in final,£1,000 for the losing semi-finalists, £100 per frame won and £500 for thehighest break.
For winners' group phase - £10,000 forthe overall champion, £5,000 for the overall runner-up, £3,000 for the losingsemi-finalists, £300 per frame won and £1,000for the highest break.
Ranking points: -

3. Haikou World Open (thequalifiers)

When?: 11-14 January
Where?: Sheffield, UK
Defending champion: -
Who's playing: click here for the draw.
Prize money: -
Ranking points: -

4. The Masters

When?: 15-22 January
Where?: Alexandra Palace,London, UK
Defending champion: DingJunhui
Who's playing?: cluck here for the draw.
Prize Money: winner(£150,000), runner-up (£75,000), semi-finals (£30,000), quarter-finals (£20,000),last 16 (£15,000).
Ranking points: -

5. Championship League(Group Three + Four)

When?: 23-26 January
Where?: Crondon ParkGolf Club, Essex, UK
Who's playing?: click here for the draw.
Prize money: For the groupphase - £3,000 for the winner of each final, £2,000 for the runner-up in final,£1,000 for the losing semi-finalists, £100 per frame won and £500 for thehighest break.
For winners' group phase - £10,000 for the overall champion, £5,000 for theoverall runner-up, £3,000 for the losing semi-finalists, £300 per frame won and£1,000for the highest break.
Ranking points: -

6. Snooker Shoot-Out

When?: 27-29 January
Where?: Blackpool, UK
Defending champion: NigelBond
Who's playing?: click herefor the draw.
Prize Money: update needed.
Ranking points: -

A different Christmas story

2011-12-26T23:37:00.000+02:00

Wish you all a snookerish Christmas

What you are about to readis not a typical Christmas story. It's not like I was visited by the tree spiritsof Christmas and it didn't even happen on Christmas. But it's a story that hasa bit of magic in it and since I believe that Christmas is a magical holiday(yeah, laugh all you want, I know I'm old fashioned), I've decided to share itwith all of you.

It's a bit long, but it’strue and it represents a very important part of my life. Here I go ...

"We need to put thatlittle arm of yours in a cast", said the doctor. It was my right one, myfavourite arm. I was 26 and I've never worn a cast before. Although for thefirst couple of days I felt a bit special, frustration kicked off soon afterthat. That's how it all started - my passion for snooker.

When I said that my rightarm is my favourite one, I was not kidding - I do almost everything with it,sometimes I feel like the left one is just there for balance. It was horribleto know that for the next two weeks I'll have to keep it slow, no sudden movesand no crazy stuff on my computer (if you call typing crazy).
Sometimes the pain wasmaking me unable to even hold a book in my hands and since I'm a very activeperson, the fact that I couldn't do anything, was killing me.

One day I decided it wastime to turn on the telly. I must add that I'm not very fond of it...there'sreally nothing on...ever! Still, on EuroSport the 2010 World Championship wason. Regardless of the commentators’ views of what was going on on the greenbaize, I got hooked. I wasn't a complete stranger of snooker, but I do confessI didn't know the rules by heart. Not even the players.
Although I had previoussnooker experiences, besides Stephen Hendry none of the names sound familiar tome. I know, weird!

A memorable moment: Davis beating Higgins

That day John Higgins wasplaying Steve Davis. Though I had the feeling that I've seen Higgins somewherebefore, Master Davis was a complete stranger. Tall, a bit old for the game, butwith such an elegant attitude towards it - that was my first impression. At theend of the match, everyone was over the moon with the result. Davis won 13-11. Well, maybe not everyone,but I was under the impression some kind of upset was caused by this tall guy.
Steve was absolutely stunnedby his victory, while Higgins shook his hand and congratulated him.

Back then I had no ideathat I was witnessing a historic moment.

Soon after the match wasover I started google-ing Steve Davis, snooker, John Higgins, the WorldChampionship ... with a very un-cooperative left hand. And then it hit me:Steve Davis was a six-time world champion and a snooker icon. I rememberfeeling pretty stupid. Even know I feel like the most imbecile person ever. Iwas watching the defending champion taking on a six-time world champion and theonly thing in my mind was: "Hm .. .isn't that a strange combination!"Bloody fool!

The BBC website helped mefind out more about the players and who won what until that moment. Then, WorldSnooker website came to give me a helping hand too. Wikipedia, though sometimesunreliable, was there too. I was mesmerized by all that!

That's how it all started (yes, it's my arm!)

After the WorldChampionship was over, I went back to the doctor to remove my cast. I rememberwhen I left it on the bed ... I was somehow sad because it felt like I wasleaving behind something that changed my life. Although I wasn't very aware ofthe fact that I've already been virused by snooker, something in my heart was definitelysaying something to me.

Along with the John Higginsscandal and Barry Hearn taking over World Snooker Ltd. a new era was startingfor snooker: the Players Tour Championships. I remember that the first one wasfollowed entirely by refreshing Global Snooker webpage every 30 seconds. MarkWilliams was the first to grab a PTC title. His name was no longer a mysteryfor me. I knew the guy very well. My confidence was quite big at the moment.

A month later I found outthat the EBSA Championship was going to be held in Bucharest. What a thrill! For the first timeI was going to be able to smell live snooker. I remember that the first time Iwitnessed a match it only took something like five minutes, because I was late."Never mind" I said to myself, “I shall see the next one and thistime I won't be late".

The following day I watcheda full match and if I'm not wrong, one of the players was a Romanian guy. Wasn’ttoo interested in who was playing for the only thing I could think of was"Oh, my Lord! I'm watching live snooker. There's the green baize and thosecolourful balls in front of me". Childish, but true.

Meeting the Whirlwind

The final day arrived andwith it the big exhibition match: Jimmy White was travelling to Bucharest for this occasion.Once again I found myself in the same position as a few weeks before:"Hm...Jimmy White? Who's this guy?". A simple search on Googlerevealed the heaviness of his name. Once again I felt like an ignorant. But Ididn't give up.

I remember staying for thewhole final and as the interval kicked off, me and two of my friends going tograb a bite. I shall never forget that moment: me walking along the room andJimmy coming from the opposite side looking straight at me. I know I suddenlystopped for a few seconds and then when I realised how stupid that was Icontinued to walk towards him ... and I walked like he was miles away (you knowthose films, when there are two guys and they walk and walk and walk,everything happening in slow motion).

The horrible thing is thatI couldn't say anything. Not even a babbling and insipid "Hello!". Ijust walk outside the hotel and started to say to my friends (well, actuallyscream!) : "I, I, I saw Jimmy White!" And they were something like"Whatever, we are hungry.".

As we returned a fewminutes after, Jimmy was passing through the hotel's hall and when I saw him(since my friends didn't have the slightest idea how he looks like), I pointedthem by saying "There he is, one more time", but in my own language.The strange thing is that Jimmy turned his head around and started looking atme while the other men he was with were talking to him. And he was looking andI was looking and the only thing I could do was to smile ... at least that'swhat I think, because he smiled back.

I feel like such a teenagertelling you this story. Well, at least I didn't faint right? That would havebeen worse, not to mention totally embarrassing.

Anyway, that year LucaBrecel was crowned champion and everything finished with a horrible ceremonywhere the president of the Romanian Snooker Federation talked only in Romanian,although the majority of the people there were foreign.

After such a snooker treatmy passion was no longer a secret. I started to study the players, theirachievements, their personal lives, everything that was out there. Until, oneday it hit me: why not start a blog? Sure they are plenty blogs out there, butthis one would be my special way of thanking snooker for coming into my life.

I know, I know...it soundsdull and too artistically, but this sport has truly saved my life. It inspiresme every day, it gives me strength to carry on, it lets me write, it has helpedunleashed that crazy desire of mine for research, it brings me hope and I trulythink I've become a better person because of it.

When I found out that myhand will be put in a cast all I could think of was “Here’s another brilliantthing in my life”, for after finishing a four-year faculty and a masterprogramme I was still unemployed and with no perspective whatsoever. I was feelingmiserable, no one was there for me, all my friends had jobs and a life, while Iwas feeling somehow lost and out of this world.
I had no one to turn to, noone to guide me, no one to inspire me. I was empty and felt like I had nopurpose in life.

But with what seemed to bethe most horrible news in the world, my life has changed and it has changed forbetter.
I have said it many times, forme every snooker match is a lesson of life and I think I'm still playing it forI have so much to learn.

So yes, this is not a storythat happened on Christmas time and it's not even related with it, but it doescarry some sparkle of magic. Maybe it's just in my head, I don't know ... butfor a year and five months snooker has definitely brought a lot of magic intomy soul.

I'm sure each and every oneof you have a story that maybe it's not an amazing one, but it's very close toyour heart and it turned your life upside down in a positive way.
This is mine.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Players Tour Championship Event 11 (2011) - Tom Ford ends year in glory

2011-12-20T00:27:00.000+02:00

Tom Ford - the 2011 PTC 11 champion

Tom Ford beat Martin Gould4-3 in the final of this year's Players Tour Championship Event 11 to get hisfirst ranking title this season. Ford is no stranger from winning PTC titles,last season winning PTC 3 by whitewashing Jack Lisowski 4-0.

It was back in August 2010,the PTC series was still in an experimental phase when Tom Ford won the thirdevent by kneeling down a very dangerous opponent, Jack Lisowski 4-0. A year anda half later he's back in Sheffield and backon the winning line. Only one thing has changed - the opponent's name.

The Leicestershire manstarted his PTC 11 journey by hammering David Hogan 4-1 and beating both IanBurns and Nigel Bond 4-2. His Last 16 spot was now secured so all he had to do wasto keep up the good work. And so he did.

Martin Gould - the 2011 PTC 11 runner-up

A perfect 4-0 over China's Yu Delugot him a place in the quarter-finals where he defeated the double PTC winnerand current UK Championship champion Judd Trump 4-1. The semis saw Fordcrashing the 2006 world champion Graeme Dott 4-0, only to set up the lastsnooker meeting of the day with the fresh winner of Power Snooker, MartinGould.

The final saw both ladsbeing just one frame apart from the very first beginning until the last framewas consumed. It wasn't by all means a thrilling final, but it was a classictactical battle of cues.
The one who broke the icewas Gould who won the opener on the black, but Ford didn't lose the opportunityto cash the next one with a break of 66 and the one after that with a 60.

Brendan Moore - the ref in charge

The balance was restored at2-2 by Gould's series of 22 and 37, but the "Pinner Potter" didn'tstop here. He cleared the table, during the 5^th frame, with a great127 to put his nose in front, 3-2.
However, 40 points later,Ford was forcing the decider, a scrappy affair, that was won by Tom with a topbreak of 66.

And so the 28-year-old ladfrom Leicestershire gets the PTC 11 title, the second ranking title of his careeras a professional snooker player. A great way to end the year.

The PTC 11 trophy

On the other hand, MartinGould has proved to be a very dangerous opponent, whose victories of 4-2over Michael Wasley, Peter Lines and Jamie Jones brought him a Last 16 place,while by beating Simon Bedford 4-0, Michael Holt 4-2 and Anthony Hamilton 4-3he reached the final.

It wasn't to be his luckyday, but he has sure written his statement: that he's there for the nextranking event.

PTC 11 marks the end of the2011 snooker events and tournaments calendar, the next stop being on January 6^th,when PTC 12 Stage Two is taking place in Germany.

Below you can check lastday list or results:

9am (Last 16)

143 Stephen Maguire 0-4Mark Davis

144 Ding Junhui 3-4 AnthonyHamilton

145 Martin Gould 4-0 SimonBedford

146 Michael Holt 4-1Matthew Stevens

147 Mark Selby 0-4 GraemeDott

148 Ricky Walden 4-2 SamCraigie

149 Tom Ford 4-0 Yu Delu

150 Jamie Cope 0-4 JuddTrump

Not before 12pm(quarter-finals)

151 Mark Davis 3-4 AnthonyHamilton

152 Martin Gould 4-2Michael Holt

153 Graeme Dott 4-1 RickyWalden

154 Tom Ford 4-1 Judd Trump

Not before 3pm(semi-finals)

155 Anthony Hamilton 3-4Martin Gould

156 Graeme Dott 0-4 TomFord

Not before 7pm (final)

157 Martin Gould 3-4 TomFord

Players Tour Championship 11 (2011) - Day 2

2011-12-19T15:11:00.000+02:00

Cope hits his third max break

Another day, anothermaximum break. This time, it was Jamie Cope's turn to glory, the 26-year-oldlad from Longton hitting his third 147.

It was a nice surprise tosee Sam Craigie get a spot in the Last 16 round for the first time since thebeginning of this season's series of PTC, at the same time feeling sorry forthe six-time world champion, Steve Davis who failed to win his last match ofthe day to go further in the competition, although his run was almost a flawlessone.

It's been raining with 147during the last past weeks at the PTCs and during the German Mastersqualifiers. The one who started all the fuss was Mike Dunn, followed by DavidGray, Ricky Walden, Matthew Stevens and Ding Junhui (who actually hit two ofthose beautiful breaks).
And now, Jamie Cope came tojoin the group by making his contribution to the history of snooker - his 147is the 85^th official maximum break in snooker's history.

But Cope just ended his daywith the crazy-beautiful-break. To start with he beat Gareth Allen 4-2,whitewashed Anthony McGill 4-0 only to end covered in glory with a tight 4-3against Kurt Maflin and hit a 147 and a 111 in the process of getting himself awell deserved spot in the Last 16.

Sam Cragie gives himelf an early present

Just a few days before SamCraigie turns 18, the lad from Wallsend gave himself the best present ever. Aplace in the next round after taking out heavy names like Stephen Lee 4-3,Justin Astley 4-0 and Michael White 4-1. A great way to end a year of hardwork.

However, not everyone wasso lucky, the legend Steve Davis, although in an impeccable form of playing,got until the third round only to lose 4-1 to Graeme Dott. Before his defeat"The Nugget" beat Joe Swail 4-3 and Adam Wicheard 4-1, hitting agreat 139 break during the last mentioned match.

Mark Selby, the winner ofPTC 4 (aka. Paul Hunter Classic) got also a place in the next round afterseeing off Daniel Wells, Matthew Day and Mark Williams all by 4-0, while thedouble PTC champion and the recent winner of the UK Championship crown, JuddTrump moved pass Sam Baird and David Morris with a 4-0 scoreline and beatScotland's Alan McManus 4-2 to secure his place in the Last 16 round.

Last year PTC 3 champion,Tom Ford joined the gang as well after hammering David Hogan 4-1, beating IanBurn 4-2 and ending Nigel Bond's run with another result of 4-2.

Walden still kicking arse

Both Ricky Walden andGraeme Dott have been runner-ups for the PTC this season. Both of them triedtheir best to win, but none of them prevailed. However, here's another chance,for they got through the Last 16.

Walden, although got a byeto the second round after Jak Jones withdrew from the competition, used resultslike 4-2 over Barry Hawkins and Ian McCulloch to book himself a place in thenext round, while Dotty came through by defeating Ashley Carty 4-1, Ryan Day4-3 and Steve Davis 4-1.

Yu Delu is a name that manyof us got used to, mainly after the Chinese player put out some great shows ofsnooker during the PTCs by reaching the quarter-finals of PTC 2 and PTC 4 orthe Last 16 round of PTC 8. This time, Delu used victories of 4-1 over AndrewNorman, the Thai Dechawat Poomjaeng and Scotland’s Jamie Burnett to get aplace in the Last 16 and who knows...maybe even further.

Below you can check Day 2list of results:

9.30am
63 Mark Selby 4-0 Daniel Wells Round 2
64 Li Yan 0-4 Matthew Day Round 2
65 David Gilbert 4-0 James Hill Round 2
66 Stuart Bingham 2-4 Mark Williams Round 2
67 Gerard Greene 3-4 Adam Wicheard Round 2
68 Steve Davis 4-3 Joe Swail Round 2
69 Graeme Dott 4-1 Ashley Carty Round 2
70 Ryan Day 4-2 Paul Davison Round 2
71 Joe Perry 1-4 Ian McCulloch Round 2
72 Dave Harold 4-2 Reanne Evans Round 2
73 Ricky Walden w/o Jak Jones Round 2

Not before 11.30am
74 Barry Hawkins 4-2 Alfie Burden Round 2
75 Mark Allen 4-0 Ashley Wright Round 2
76 Michael White 4-2 Aditya Mehta Round 2
77 Stephen Lee 3-4 Sam Craigie Round 2
78 John Higgins 3-4 Justin Astley Round 2
79 Tom Ford 4-1 David Hogan Round 2
80 Mark Joyce v Ian Burns w/o Round 2
81 Fergal O'Brien 4-2 Thomas Wealthy Round 2

Not before 1pm
82 Nigel Bond 4-1 Lucky Vatnani Round 2
83 Yu DeLu 4-1 Andrew Norman Round 2
84 Dechawat Poomjaeng 4-3 Peter Ebdon Round 2
85 James Wattana 4-1 Adrian Gunnell Round 2
86 Jamie Burnett 4-0 Oliver Lines Round 2
87 Rory McLeod 1-4 Kurt Maflin Round 2
88 Adam Duffy 4-1 Andrew Pagett Round 2
89 Jamie Cope 4-2 Gareth Allen Round 2
90 Anthony McGill w/o David Singh Round 2
93 Ken Doherty 3-4 David Morris Round 2
94 Judd Trump 4-0 Sam Baird Round 2

Not before 3.30pm
91 Jimmy White 2-4 Barry Pinches Round 2
92 Alan McManus 4-2 Liu Song Round 2
111 MarkSelby 4-0 Matthew Day Round 3
112 David Gilbert 2-4 Mark Williams Round 3
113 Adam Wicheard 1-4 Steve Davis Round 3
114 Graeme Dott 4-3 Ryan Day Round 3
115 Ian McCulloch 4-2 Dave Harold Round 3
116 Ricky Walden 4-0 Barry Hawkins Round 3
117 Mark Allen 1-4 Michael White Round 3
118 Sam Craigie 4-0 Justin Astley Round 3

Not before 5pm
119 Tom Ford 4-2 Ian Burns Round 3
120 Fergal O'Brien 1-4 Nigel Bond Round 3
121 Yu Delu 4-1 Dechewat Poomjaeng Round 3
122 James Wattana 3-4 Jamie Burnett Round 3
123 Kurt Maflin 4-2 Adam Duffy Round 3
124 Jamie Cope 4-0 Anthony McGill Round 3
125 Barry Pinches 1-4 Alan McManus Round 3
126 David Morris 0-4 Judd Trump Round 3

Not before 7.30pm
135 Mark Selby 4-0 Mark Williams Round 4
136 Steve Davis 1-4 Graeme Dott Round 4
137 Ian McCulloch 2-4 Ricky Walden Round 4
138 Michael White 1-4 Sam Craigie Round 4
139 Tom Ford 4-2 Nigel Bond Round 4
140 Yu Delu 4-1 Jamie Burnett Round 4
141 Kurt Maflin 3-4 Jamie Cope Round 4
142 Alan McManus 2-4 Judd Trump Round 4

The action concludes todaywith the Last 16, quarter-finals, semis and grand final being played as itfollows:

9am
143 Stephen Maguire 0-4 Mark Davis Round 5
144 Ding Junhui 3-4 Anthony Hamilton Round 5
145 Martin Gould 4-0 Simon Bedford Round 5
146 Michael Holt 4-1 Matthew Stevens Round 5
147 Mark Selby 0-4 Graeme Dott Round 5
148 Ricky Walden 4-2 Sam Craigie Round 5
149 Tom Ford 4-0 Yu Delu Round 5
150 Jamie Cope 0-4 Judd Trump Round 5

Not before 12pm
151 Mark Davis v Anthony Hamilton Quarter Finals
152 Martin Gould v Michael Holt Quarter Finals
153 Graeme Dott v Ricky Walden Quarter Finals
154 Tom Ford v Judd Trump Quarter Finals

Not before 3pm
155 WINNER OF MATCH 151 v WINNER OF MATCH 152 Semi Finals
156 WINNER OF MATCH 153 v WINNER OF MATCH 154 Semi Finals

Not before 7pm
157 WINNER OF MATCH 155 v WINNER OF MATCH 156 Final
*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:
12:00 - 13:15 BritishEuroSport 2
13:15 - 14:30 British EuroSport
15:00 - 17:00 BritishEuroSport
19:00 - 21:00 BritishEuroSport

Players Tour Championship Event 11 (2011) - Day 1

2011-12-18T15:59:00.001+02:00

Ding hits another max

PTC 11 made its debut witha great 147 being hit by the one and only Ding Junhui, the player that just acouple of days ago made the same maximum break during PTC 12 Stage One.

Stephen Maguire seems to berocking around the snooker table, after getting a well deserved ticket toGermany to play in the Last 16 round of PTC 12, the Scottish player reaffirminghis intention of doing the same for this event, while Simon Bedford steppedinto the Last 16 for the very first time since the beginning of this season’sPTC series.

What can be better than a third147? To hit your forth, of course. Well, that happened for Ding Junhui, theChinese player that on December 15 was making a maximum break during PTC 12Stage One. Yesterday, the history repeated itself, the current Masters championhitting another brilliant 147 (click here to see it) in the match he playedagainst James Cahill and whom he beat 4-1.

After this match, thelittle Chinese player whitewashed Liam Highfield 4-0 and kept it strong againsta very determined and eager-to-win Stephen Hendry to defeat him 4-2, for aplace in the Last 16. This is actually the second time Ding manages to go allthe way to the Last 16 since PTC 12, when he reached the final along with JuddTrump and got crashed 4-0.

Maguire's on fire

After seeing StephenMaguire's cue action and attitude during the UK Championship, when he reachedthe quarter-finals, one can think he's been taking anger management classes,for he seems pretty cool and manages to keep it together and not lose histemper when he misses or gets unlucky.

So after reaching the Last16 during PTC 12, the Scottish player thought it is for the best to repeat theexperience, victories of 4-1 over Sean O'Sullivan, 4-2 over Marco Fu andanother 4-2 over Dominic Dale doing the trick. If he keeps up like that,there's no reason he couldn't win the event. Just saying.

Mark Davis has come to keepcompany to his Last 16 colleagues too, wins of 4-0 over Matthew Couch, 4-1 overLuca Brecel and 4-3 over Marcus Campbell guaranteeing him a spot, Martin Goulddid the same by defeating his opponents one by one: 4-2 with Michael Leslie,Peter Lines and Jamie Jones, while the "Welsh Dragon" Matthew Stevensdecided to re-visit the famous Last 16 group (his best performance being thefinal of PTC 7, when he lost 4-2 to Ronnie O'Sullivan), by using scorelines of4-3 in front of Ricky Norris and 4-1 in front of Tony Drago and StephenCraigie.

Bedford - for the first time in Last 16

Michael Holt is no strangerfrom reaching the Last 16, the man from Nottinghameven winning a PTC event (aka. PTC 10), but with his great form, nothing canstop him doing it all over again. For now he travelled half way through using a4-3 result to take down Duane Jones, hammering Robbie Williams 4-1 and endingon a 4-2 with PTC 3 champion Andrew Higginson.

On the opposite side isSimon Bedford, a player that has never reached this stage of the competition,but who made it now, by seeing off Mitchell Mann 4-1, crashing Liang Wenbo 4-0and ending on a very tight 4-3 with Chen Zhe.

Last but not least, afigure that we haven't seen for a while taking part in this stage of thecompetition, "The Sheriff of Pottingam" Anthony Hamilton got also aspot after beating Scotland's Eden Sharav 4-2, whitewashed Rod Lawler 4-0 andobtained a hard fought victory of 4-3 in front of Craig Steadman.

Below you can check Day 1list of results:

9.30am
31 Neil Robertson 1-4 Dominic Dale Round 2
32 Shaun Murphy 4-0 Mark Miller Round 2
33 Marco Fu 4-1 Scott Donaldson Round 2
34 Stephen Maguire 4-1 Sean O'Sullivan Round 2
35 Mark King 1-4 Gary Wilson Round 2
36 Marcus Campbell 4-0 David Gray Round 2
37 Luca Brecel 4-1 Mike Dunn Round 2
38 Mark Davis 4-0 Matthew Couch Round 2

Not before 11am
39 Liam Highfield 4-3 Stephen Groves Round 2
40 Ding Junhui 4-1 James Cahill Round 2
41 Jimmy Robertson 4-0 Oliver Brown Round 2
42 Stephen Hendry 4-0 Martin Ball Round 2
43 Anthony Hamilton 4-2 Eden Sharav Round 2
44 Joe Jogia 3-4 Rod Lawler Round 2
45 Allister Carter v Andrew Milliard w/o Round 2
46 Craig Steadman 4-2 Zhang Anda Round 2
47 Jack Lisowski 2-4 David Grace Round 2
48 Jamie Jones 4-3 Scott MacKenzie Round 2
49 Peter Lines 4-3 Saqib Nasir Round 2

Not before 1pm
50 Martin Gould 4-2 Michael Leslie Round 2
51 Kyren Wilson 0-4 Chen Zhe Round 2
52 Matthew Selt w/o Kacper Filipiak Round 2
53 Simon Bedford 4-1 Mitchell Mann Round 2
54 Liang Wenbo 4-2 Stuart Carrington Round 2
55 Xiao Guodong 4-1 Ross Muir Round 2
56 Andrew Higginson 4-3 Chris Norbury Round 2
57 Robbie Williams 4-0 Barry Stark Round 2
58 Michael Holt 4-3 Duane Jones Round 2
59 Tony Drago 4-3 Robert Milkins Round 2
60 Matthew Stevens 4-3 Ricky Norris Round 2

Not before 3.30pm
61 Ben Woollaston 3-4 Stephen Craigie Round 2
62 Andy Hicks 4-3 George Marter Round 2
95 Dominic Dale 4-2 Shaun Murphy Round 3
96 Marco fu 2-4 Stephen Maguire Round 3
97 Gary Wilson 1-4 Marcus Campbell Round 3
98 Luca Brecel 1-4 Mark Davis Round 3
99 Lian Highfield 0-4 Ding Junhui Round 3
100 Jimmy Robertson 0-4 Stephen Hendry Round 3
101 Anthony Hamilton 4-0 Rod Lawler Round 3
102 Andrew Milliard 0-4 Craig Steadman Round 3

Not before 5pm
103 David Grace 3-4 Jamie Jones Round 3
104 Peter Lines 2-4 Martin Gould Round 3
105 Chen Zhe 4-1 Matthew Selt Round 3
106 Simon Bedford 4-0 Liang Wenbo Round 3
107 Xiao Guodong 1-4 Andrew Higginson Round 3
108 Robbie Williams 1-4 Michael Holt Round 3
109 Tony Drago 1-4 Matthew Stevens Round 3
110 Stephen Craigie 4-1 Andy Hicks Round 3

Not before 7.30pm
127 Dominic Dale 2-4 Stephen Maguire Round 4
128 Marcus Campbell 3-4 Mark Davis Round 4
129 Ding Junhui 4-2 Stephen Hendry Round 4
130 Anthony Hamilton 4-3 Craig Steadman Round 4
131 Jamie Jones 2-4 Martin Gould Round 4
132 Chen Zhe 3-4 Simon Bedford Round 4
133 Andrew Higginson 2-4 Michael Holt Round 4
134 Matthew Stevens 4-1 Stephen Craigie Round 4

Today, the action continueswith:

9.30am
63 Mark Selby v Daniel Wells Round 2
64 Li Yan v Matthew Day Round 2
65 David Gilbert v James Hill Round 2
66 Stuart Bingham v Mark Williams Round 2
67 Gerard Greene v Adam Wicheard Round 2
68 Steve Davis v Joe Swail Round 2
69 Graeme Dott v Ashley Carty Round 2
70 Ryan Day v Paul Davison Round 2
71 Joe Perry v Ian McCulloch Round 2
72 Dave Harold v Reanne Evans Round 2
73 Ricky Walden v Jak Jones Round 2

Not before 11.30am
74 Barry Hawkins v Alfie Burden Round 2
75 Mark Allen v Ashley Wright Round 2
76 Michael White v Aditya Mehta Round 2
77 Stephen Lee v Sam Craigie Round 2
78 John Higgins v Justin Astley Round 2
79 Tom Ford v David Hogan Round 2
80 Mark Joyce v Ian Burns Round 2
81 Fergal O'Brien v Thomas Wealthy Round 2

Not before 1pm
82 Nigel Bond v Lucky Vatnani Round 2
83 Yu DeLu v Andrew Norman Round 2
84 Dechawat Poomjaeng v Peter Ebdon Round 2
85 James Wattana v Adrian Gunnell Round 2
86 Jamie Burnett v Oliver Lines Round 2
87 Rory McLeod v Kurt Maflin Round 2
88 Adam Duffy v Andrew Pagett Round 2
89 Jamie Cope v Gareth Allen Round 2
90 Anthony McGill w/o David Singh Round 2
93 Ken Doherty v David Morris Round 2
94 Judd Trump v Sam Baird Round 2

Not before 3.30pm
91 Jimmy White v Barry Pinches Round 2
92 Alan McManus v Liu Song Round 2
111 WINNER OF MATCH 63 v WINNER OF MATCH 64 Round 3
112 WINNER OF MATCH 65 v WINNER OF MATCH 66 Round 3
113 WINNER OF MATCH 67 v WINNER OF MATCH 68 Round 3
114 WINNER OF MATCH 69 v WINNER OF MATCH 70 Round 3
115 WINNER OF MATCH 71 v WINNER OF MATCH 72 Round 3
116 WINNER OF MATCH 73 v WINNER OF MATCH 74 Round 3
117 WINNER OF MATCH 75 v WINNER OF MATCH 76 Round 3
118 WINNER OF MATCH 77 v WINNER OF MATCH 78 Round 3

Not before 5pm
119 WINNER OF MATCH 79 v WINNER OF MATCH 80 Round 3
120 WINNER OF MATCH 81 v WINNER OF MATCH 82 Round 3
121 WINNER OF MATCH 83 v WINNER OF MATCH 84 Round 3
122 WINNER OF MATCH 85 v WINNER OF MATCH 86 Round 3
123 WINNER OF MATCH 87 v WINNER OF MATCH 88 Round 3
124 WINNER OF MATCH 89 v WINNER OF MATCH 90 Round 3
125 WINNER OF MATCH 91 v WINNER OF MATCH 92 Round 3
126 WINNER OF MATCH 93 v WINNER OF MATCH 94 Round 3

Not before 7.30pm
135 WINNER OF MATCH 111 v WINNER OF MATCH 112 Round 4
136 WINNER OF MATCH 113 v WINNER OF MATCH 114 Round 4
137 WINNER OF MATCH 115 v WINNER OF MATCH 116 Round 4
138 WINNER OF MATCH 117 v WINNER OF MATCH 118 Round 4
139 WINNER OF MATCH 119 v WINNER OF MATCH 120 Round 4
140 WINNER OF MATCH 121 v WINNER OF MATCH 122 Round 4
141 WINNER OF MATCH 123 v WINNER OF MATCH 124 Round 4
142 WINNER OF MATCH 125 v WINNER OF MATCH 126 Round 4
*all hours are UK time

TV coverage:
14:14 - 15:45 BritishEuroSport 2
17:00 - 21:00 BritishEuroSport