World Open - Day 8

15:21:00 Ramona Dragomir 0 Comments

World Open’s quarter finals kicked off yesterday to find their winners and to put quite the show for the audience. It was a crazy day in Glasgow, a crazy yet beautiful one, filled with great shots, great comebacks, tension and...you know...high quality snooker all the way! It was a day, were some dreams came true, some will just have to wait a little bit longer, but in the end the winner was this wonderful and amazing sport, called snooker.;-)

The Welsh Williams making his remarkable comeback
The first match of the day, was probably one of the most thrilling matches in this World Open tournament. "The Welsh Potting Machine" was to fight "The Chinese Sensation"! We all know that both of them are really good players and Mark has had a spectacular performance here in Glasgow, as well as Ding...so this match was indeed extraordinary. The first frame found the Welsh very unlucky , a huge kick (and I mean a HUGE kick) let him with an unfortunate positions to pot the balls, this giving Ding the opportunity to come to the table and win the first frame. The next frame was also won by the little Chinese and at 2-0 in a best of five rule game, you really have to fight back as quick as you can, otherwise you’ll lose the match. And this is what Mark did! He fought back from 0-2 and make it a draw at 2-2!


So here we were, the first decisive frame in the quarter finals. No one has succ
eeded (since the start of this tournament) to come back from 0-2 and actually win the match. The majority has made it until 2-2 and the next frame was won by the player who opened the score. But this was about to change. Williams was leading, but Ding was at the table making his way to win the last frame, when he tried to pot the green but failed leaving Mark with a good potting position. So the Welsh came to the table and make the most of Ding’s error to win 3-2 the match and reach the semi-finals. What a comeback! And what a match! Both cue men played wonderfully!

Peter Ebdon reached the semis
The next match of the day was the one between Peter Ebdon and Martin Gould. Peter opened the score, by winning the first frame, but Gouldie won the next. At 1-1, things were tight and since both of them play very, very well the tension was rising. The next frame ended on a draw (60-60) with all the balls in their pockets :-P so the black was re-spotted and Ebbo was the one who succeeded in potting it. Martin was playing like always...meaning damn good, but I think Peter’s style (sloooooooooooow) really got to him. Gouldie is a fast player while Peter is ..not :-D
In the end, Peter was the one who claimed the victory, winning the last frame and ending the match at 3-1. Too bad for Gouldie, who really had it in him. This guy will have a bright future in snooker if he keeps up the good work. On the other hand, I’m happy to report that Ebbo was playing much better than in his last two matches and to be honest I’m glad for him he reached the semi-finals, although that meant that Gould had to lose. That’s the deal with snooker and sports in general, there can be only one winner.

The Rocket...rocks! ;-)
Another brilliant match was the one were Ronnie O`Sullivan faced Stephen Maguire. Although Stephen opened the score, Ronnie won the next frame, by hitting a nice 81 break. And from this moment the victory was only two frames away for "The Rocket". The third frame was won with an incredible 116 break and the last one with two breaks of 62. Maguire, an excellent player, was sitting in his chair, biting his nails (paradox, huh? :-P) while O`Sullivan was potting one ball after another. That’s the deal this Ronnie, once he starts something he becomes unstoppable! :-))
At 3-1, Ronnie has a cozy place in the semis, where he’ll be playing Ebbo. "I am glad my match against Peter tomorrow is a best of five. A longer match would be tough. ", said The Rocket after the match. :-)) A fast player against a slow but very good one. What a match this will be! ;-)

Neil Robertson
The last semi-finalist of yesterday was to be decided in the match between Ricky Walden and Neil Robertson. Although Ricky has had a great performance here at the World Open, he only won one frame in this match, Neil ending it by a 3-1 scoreline.
So, Australia will face Wales in a match were talent, strategy and self-confidence will play the main roles.


Not much of a century breaks day: Ronnie O`Sullivan (116).



 
So, the semis are today, but also the big final (this is the only match were "the best of five rule" doesn’t apply anymore, being replaced with "the best of nine" rule) :
Mark Williams v. Neil Robertson
Peter Ebdon v. Ronnie O`Sullivan


And here you can watch the boys playing spectacular snooker:
14:00 – 17:30 (BBC 2)
14:15 - 16:20 (EuroSport)
20:00 – 23:00 (BBC 2)
20:00 - 23:00 (EuroSport) The Big Final!!!


Also you can try the lucky link. ;-)
A wonderful draw for the final stages of this World Open , "much better than the one from the World Championship", as Dave Hendon said.
It will be an evening spiced with world champions so don’t miss it! Enjoy snooker my dears! ;-)

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