2017 Masters

[finabb]

Someone mention an incident with ROS and the ref, what was it about please?

[daffie]

Cheers Odrl!

Hoping Joe can find his form from earlier matches this week and ROS to crumble at his sight

Game on!

:snooker:

[Odrl]

Here we are then, only the final remaining...

As I said after O'Sullivan's 1st round victory over Liang, he got away with it in a very similar way against Perry in 2009 and against Williams in 2016, and both times he went on to win the title. He has got better with each match he's played this week, and he inevitably plays his best snooker in the final, so I am expecting a strong performance from him today. He has never successfully defended the Masters title before, but I think he is a heavy favourite to do so today. It would be his 7th Masters title, putting him at the top of the all-time list on his own.

Joe Perry stood out to me before the tournament started as the one player who hadn't won any major title in snooker outside of short-format tournaments, and here he is in the final, with a chance of winning a really big one now. On one hand, O'Sullivan is by far the more experienced of the two at this level, having won everything there is to win in snooker, but on the other hand, Perry has the luxury of being the underdog here, with no one really expecting him to win. His record against O'Sullivan is quite dreadful though... One victory that does stand out was the last16 of the UK Championship in 2008, when O'Sullivan led 5-2 before completely losing the plot in the remainder of the match, and Perry took full advantage to win 9-5. More recently Perry gave O'Sullivan a lot of the trouble in the last16 of the 2014 World Championship, taking control of the match right from the start and putting O'Sullivan under pressure. He had a couple of chances to take a 12-10 lead, but things went against him in that frame, then O'Sullivan finished off the match with two centuries. Since then O'Sullivan has beaten him comfortably on two occasions, but both were one-session matches.

I guess another thing worth mentioning is the fact that O'Sullivan has already played three big finals this season and lost them all, so there could be some nerves on his part today, especially if he fails to run away with the match in the first session. Those three finals were all quite evenly matched before they started though, whereas O'Sullivan is a comfortable favourite today. He doesn't often throw chances like this one away, so I will go for O'Sullivan to win 10-4. :smile:

[Ronnington]

Heads up...

This afternoon 11:30 BBC2 :

Talking Snooker...the game changer

Balls. I'm in New Zealand and can't watch BBC iPlayer

[daffie]

Heads up...

This afternoon 11:30 BBC2 :

Talking Snooker...the game changer

[Ronnington]

Anyone else find Hawkins' cue action annoying, very jabby and no decent follow through

Not at all. Decent follow-through and a lovely crisp sound upon striking. You know you're hitting the ball well when you get that sound

Was it that same kid moving about in Ronnie's eye line? I noticed Ronnie get vocal a couple of times in that match and shake his head a few times?

I'm going O'Sullivan 10-4 Perry tomorrow

[Slasher]

Anyone else find Hawkins' cue action annoying, very jabby and no decent follow through

Makes no difference to the outcome anyway cue ball is long gone.

[GeordieDS]

Switched over tonight's semi at 5-4 and completely forgot about it sigh , Barry's going to have a sleepless night tonight

[gavpowell]

Look up the definition of choke in a dictionary and you'll see a picture of Hawkins.

That's not how dictionaries work.

[VillaGuy]

Just to analyse it from the own players point of view: Perry has been a pro for 26ish years, he's got to his highest ever ranking gradually after that, playing consistent high level matchplay, is in the final of the masters. I don't think the match will be one sided at all, O'Sullivan lets face it is struggling to make clearances at the minute with a few unexpected errors thrown in. Going to be a good final I reckon.

[VillaGuy]

Watched jimmy hammer him in a final qualifier match a few months ago and he looked like he couldnt pot a ball, but seems to have pulled his socks up, cant see him getting close to ronnie though, seeing its a final, and not rd1 of the world

The semis of the masters has enough pressure on it, 5-2 down to 5-5 and a difficult break in front of him. I reckon he's matured well and he'll see this as an opportunity and not as a challenge. It won't be straight forward for Ronnie at all.

[jw147]

Has anyone been watching the last 12 months of snooker? Perry has the ability to whitewash O'Sullivan, he's not a newbie on the circuit or someone who can't live with one attempt clearances. He's a great player who's been steadily improving to becoming one of the best. Don't write him off.

Watched jimmy hammer him in a final qualifier match a few months ago and he looked like he couldnt pot a ball, but seems to have pulled his socks up, cant see him getting close to ronnie though, seeing its a final, and not rd1 of the world

[VillaGuy]

Has anyone been watching the last 12 months of snooker? Perry has the ability to whitewash O'Sullivan, he's not a newbie on the circuit or someone who can't live with one attempt clearances. He's a great player who's been steadily improving to becoming one of the best. Don't write him off.

[jonny66]

I'm just hoping Perry can make a match of it tomorrow, no preference on who wins it really.

[VillaGuy]

The three best snooker players at the moment are in my opinion Fu, O'Sullivan and Perry. This tournament shows this. Selby was woeful in this tournament, he can score big when he's 100%, but everyones human and he needs to be in purple patch mode to match the more naturally gifted players.