Well done Bingham

[robertmac]

Bingham is a very under-rated player in my opinion.
Hawkins is as well.
Both won very tough matches.

[DandyA]

well done Ballrun ... good luck in the semi and also hopefully the final too

[Odrl]

Just curious since you've watched snooker which of Ronnie's defeats at the Crucible do you rate as his best performance,2010 to Selby ? 2009 to Allen,2011 to Higgins,last years final ? or other,cheers.

Interesting question. Probably his 2009 defeat to Allen. It was a pretty fast and open game, unlike some of the others he's lost at the Crucible over the years, and Allen just outscored him in the final session. It was similar to what happened to Selby this year, he got an in-form opponent early on as defending champion and just wasn't sharp enough.

The 2007 defeat to Higgins wasn't anything to get upset about either. It was 4-4 after the first session, then Higgins played an inspired session (I think it was a morning one) and pulled away to 11-5. I think the 2011 defeat to Higgins was probably tougher to take for O'Sullivan's fans, because he was in control halfway through the match, but somehow let Higgins back into the match at the end of the second session. Then in the final session Higgins played quite strongly, while O'Sullivan started missing a few under pressure.

The two defeats to Selby were matches he probably should have won as well. In 2010 he led 9-5 before losing the last two frames of the second session, and Selby came back strongly in the final evening session, as he so often does. It must have been hard to take, particularly as O'Sullivan played superbly to pull away in the first place. Last year's final was quite scrappy for the most part, and O'Sullivan's performance wasn't really worthy of a World title, but again it was a wasted chance for him, having led 10-5 with an excellent chance of making it 11-5 before the final frame on the first day.

The 2005 quarter-final against Ebdon is mostly remembered for O'Sullivan's breakdown in the final session, but that was a match of two halves really. O'Sullivan played very well to get the 8-2 lead, so he certainly had the form to easily win that match. In 2006 he had a nightmare session against Dott in the semi-finals, when he lost all eight frames, but at least Dott was in great form that day, so he punished O'Sullivan's mistakes quickly and heavily, unlike Ebdon the previous year.

I suspect tonight's defeat won't give him any nightmares. The match was quite fluent and quick, the kind he usually likes, he just didn't have the form to outplay his opponent on this occasion. :smile:

[HIPPY147]

Great wins by Barry & Stuart so awesome for both

[brook]

Also no chance in semi-final against Trump so nothing to regret about. This year he was outplayed heavily already by Robertson Trump and now Bingham - can`t handle match pressure. but out of snooker looks quite happy.

[Ramon]

It has to be said its not that Ronnie is getting worse, Its that other players are getting much better and the standard has increased to the point where Ronnies B game just isnt good enough to beat these top players. Well done to Stuart he played very well. I think either Judd or Shaun are now favorites for the title although if Stuart continues to play like this you cant rule him out either.

Good post !!! age is also a important factor for the players who want to continue to dominate this game !!! ( and keep playing thr A game ).

[luke-h]

It's less than six months since O'Sullivan won the UK title with a fairly underwhelming performance, so you never know. Sometimes an average performance can be enough, and sometimes you can play like Robertson did tonight and still go out. :wink:

Whats very annoying is when the big names get knocked out and then in the next round they go out with a whimper. I suppose sometimes it's to be expected with having given it all to get through....Im hoping thats not the case though.

[Hal]

Happy for Stuart! Great player and nice bloke also as it seems. Good luck in semi's to him.

[trains]

Interesting question. Probably his 2009 defeat to Allen. It was a pretty fast and open game, unlike some of the others he's lost at the Crucible over the years, and Allen just outscored him in the final session. It was similar to what happened to Selby this year, he got an in-form opponent early on as defending champion and just wasn't sharp enough.

Just shortened to reduce scrolling,in the same vein which do you rate as Barry Hawkins best Crucible performance,his win just now over Robertson,his 2013 second round win over Selby,his 2013 or 2014 losses to O'Sullivan or other ? I ask as I didn't see his 2013 match with Selby or much of last years semi. :-)
Forgot his win over the weekend against Allen,must be somewhere up there too.

[Odrl]

Just shortened to reduce scrolling,in the same vein which do you rate as Barry Hawkins best Crucible performance,his win just now over Robertson,his 2013 second round win over Selby,his 2013 or 2014 losses to O'Sullivan or other ? I ask as I didn't see his 2013 match with Selby or much of last years semi. :-)
Forgot his win over the weekend against Allen,must be somewhere up there too.

Yeah, definitely his win over Robertson last night. Eight centuries between them, a record for a three-session match, and a couple of 90s as well. The standard of breakbuilding was just superb. From 3-1 down, Hawkins scored 410 points without reply against a player who is usually almost impossible to keep away from the table, and he immediately opened with another century in the second session. I thought he would wobble a little when Robertson levelled the match, but he never did.

I think the World final in 2013 is a match he can be proud of as well. He lost 18-12 in the end, which seems like a decent gap, but the ratio of frames won was only 3-2 in O'Sullivan's favour, which would equate to a 6-4 in a best-of-11 match. O'Sullivan himself commented after the match that he felt almost unbeatable in that form, so for Hawkins to give him such a good game was a pleasant surprise for me. It was a completely different story the following year, when Hawkins lost with a session to spare in the semi-finals.

Other than that, his wins over Selby and Ding in 2013 were both quite impressive. He seemed to get stronger and stronger as those matches went on, and won with a few frames to spare in the end. Selby was struggling a little, so the result wasn't too surprising, but there was certainly no indication he would outplay Ding so comfortably in the quarter-finals, especially after Ding's great comeback against Mark King in the previous round. And, as you say, his win over Allen this year must be up there as well, great comeback from 11-8 down. :smile:

[Inoffthered]

But the best still going

Don't feed the troll

[jw147]

Only reason ronnie lost, was, himself.
Wasnt up for the match at all, and its a darned shame, he didnt believe bingham could beat him as hendry said.
The more frames stuart won, the more confident he got, i was expecting ronnie to demolish him, and demolish trump in the semi., an 'up for it' ronnie would do both them things.

[billabong]

Only reason ronnie lost, was, himself.
Wasnt up for the match at all, and its a darned shame, he didnt believe bingham could beat him as hendry said.
The more frames stuart won, the more confident he got, i was expecting ronnie to demolish him, and demolish trump in the semi., an 'up for it' ronnie would do both them things.

Let's not belittle Stuart , and his input into the match.

The game was against the two players who turned up.

In Ronnie's own words, Stuart pushed him around in frames, and reaped his reward for being the better player on the day.

That's all you can do. Beat the guy in front of you. Anything else is moot. .

[GeordieDS]

Whats very annoying is when the big names get knocked out and then in the next round they go out with a whimper. I suppose sometimes it's to be expected with having given it all to get through....Im hoping thats not the case though.

Why is it annoying? They beat them on merit and in this case he's going to be playing somebody who is at the top of their game and the way Ronnie played if he had of scraped through he would have probably have been thrashed off Trump anyway

[GeordieDS]

Only reason ronnie lost, was, himself.
Wasnt up for the match at all, and its a darned shame, he didnt believe bingham could beat him as hendry said.
The more frames stuart won, the more confident he got, i was expecting ronnie to demolish him, and demolish trump in the semi., an 'up for it' ronnie would do both them things.

Trump beat him recently and he's playing better now as well, Ronnie only does his disinterested thing when there's a chance he might lose not because he's disinterested