2017 World Championship - Main Event

[crocodile]

People who think that Maguire is already through might be in for a rude awakening. If McLeod plays a similar game against Maguire I think the scot will lose his patience and start banging the table in frustration. McLeod is exactly the type of opponent Maguire hates to play against. McLeod also leads their head to head 2-1.

Well, I can't really see Maguire messing this up, but 13-9 or 13-10 certainly seems within the realm of possibility ...

[crocodile]

I think the problem with a referees discretion is that many don't actually play the game. They are not aware of when a player is actually doing it to frustrate his opponent or when a player is simply in a difficult position and is needing a minute or two to think of their options.

World Snooker need to stamp this out though. Its getting to be quite a deliberate attempt by certain players to cheat by taking time knowing its frustrating the opponent. Its always the same players who you know the matches are going to take an age.

Interesting point - do you know of any referees at the ranking events who do play snooker? I never really knew whether actually playing the game is a prerequisite for referees.

[indianabones]

I think a lot of people are being very very rude abotu Rory McLeod and other slightly lower ranked players (compared to the elite players).

He is no "chump", "mug" and definitely no "cheat". All of us know how difficult this game is and how many years of playing/practise it takes to get where they are.

As for the time wasting and slowing down of a match, well if they're not breaking the rules of the game, then everything is allowed. Also if you don't like your opponent's time wasting the best approach is to win and win fast. Judd Trump was 4-0, he's got no one to blame but himself (I'm a JT fan).

If I was a professional sportsman, I would try to use every advantage allowed to win.

[Stony152]

Well, I can't really see Maguire messing this up, but 13-9 or 13-10 certainly seems within the realm of possibility ...

I don't think it's going to be that close. More like 13-6 or 13-7.

[jwinsor]

There is no way Judd should lose to someone with Rory's skill set... but he did, this is the kind of loss that can only make a great talent like Judd stronger. Good luck next season Judd !

[Stony152]

Let's do some fearless prognosticating...

Selby 13-9 over Xiao
Robertson 13-11 over Fu
Murphy 13-10 over O'Sullivan
Ding 13-8 over Liang
Wilson 13-12 over Bingham
Higgins 13-10 over Allen
Hawkins 13-8 over Dott
Maguire 13-7 over McLeod

[Odrl]

Meanwhile, the 2nd round is about to start, so just a couple of words about the two matches that start today...

Stuart Bingham v. Kyren Wilson: Before the tournament started this seemed like a very interesting 2nd round prospect, but I also expected better performances from both players in their opening match. Bingham won about as comfortably as was expected against Ebdon, but the match could have gone a lot differently had Ebdon taken a couple of his chances at the start of the second session. As much as Ebdon deserves credit for the way he came back in the first session, particularly the last frame when he needed four snookers, I think Bingham contributed a lot to that himself with some poor and sloppy play. Wilson, on the other hand, got involved in a fairly low-scoring and fragmented match against David Grace, but it's still a good sign that he got through it easily enough. Some of the younger players can only really win when they are playing close to their best, but Wilson seems to have the right mental approach and a solid enough tactical game to win even with less-impressive performances. I don't think there is much to choose between these two... Bingham is probably the more reliable scorer, in the sense that he doesn't really need to be in top form to still score reasonably well. He also has the advantage in experience, and we know he has the mental strength to withstand the pressure of the Crucible. Wilson has the edge in the head-to-head, having beaten Bingham both times when they've met in proper matches. The first one was in the 2013 Shanghai Masters, when Wilson was on his way to his first major quarter-final, and the second one was only a couple of weeks ago in the China Open. I think Wilson has the fighting spirit to really stick with Bingham over three sessions, so I expect a close match and perhaps a late-night finish tomorrow. I will go for Bingham to win 13-11. :smile:

Shaun Murphy v. Ronnie O'Sullivan: Another pairing that looked very likely after the draw came out, but this time both players came through in a similar way to what I was expecting. Murphy had a really tough test against Yan Bingtao, and showed a lot of nerves before finally winning 10-8, whereas O'Sullivan played the in-form Gary Wilson and just proved to be a couple of frames stronger than his opponent in the end. Murphy is the higher seed on paper, but I think this is one of the rare situations where the rankings do lie a little, because O'Sullivan has been the more successful player in recent times. But of course winning the Masters back to back has not helped his seeding here in any way, so he finds himself unusually low. These two have not played each other in more than two years. Murphy won their last match, 5-4 in the 2015 German Masters, overcoming a 4-2 deficit to win on the final black. It was O'Sullivan who won their two previous meetings in the World Championship though. In 2011 he won 13-10, even though he was going through a fairly unsuccessful period of his career at the time, which meant Murphy was the higher seed. Then in 2014, O'Sullivan won with a session to spare, 13-3 in the quarter-finals. Murphy was pathetic in that match, wasting all kinds of chances to make it a lot closer, and he was even more pathetic in the post-match comments, saying how O'Sullivan in that kind of form was basically unplayable and the best you could do is just to watch and admire. It was defeatist beyond belief, so I will always take that into account whenever these two meet on the big stage. Murphy's relationship with O'Sullivan has always been a little weird, at times he is full of praise for him, but he also likes to criticize him in the media more than any other player... As for the balance of power on the table itself, I think it largely comes down to how Murphy plays. If the long balls are going in, he has every chance to win this match. But if they are not, his scoring and tactical nous are vastly inferior to O'Sullivan's, and his confidence can quickly drain away. I think Murphy will do better than last time here, but I am still going for O'Sullivan to win 13-6. :smile:

No more time, so thoughts on the other matches will have to wait. Should be another good day of snooker. :smile:

[mikeyd100]

You got to love Rory's sense of humour, a Muslim snooker player who's sponsored by I.S.I.S , trolling of the highest order :biggrin-new:

Lmao @ trolling

The Daily Mail had a field day with it a couple of years ago.

[JimMalone]

I think a lot of people are being very very rude abotu Rory McLeod and other slightly lower ranked players (compared to the elite players).

He is no "chump", "mug" and definitely no "cheat". All of us know how difficult this game is and how many years of playing/practise it takes to get where they are.

As for the time wasting and slowing down of a match, well if they're not breaking the rules of the game, then everything is allowed. Also if you don't like your opponent's time wasting the best approach is to win and win fast. Judd Trump was 4-0, he's got no one to blame but himself (I'm a JT fan).

If I was a professional sportsman, I would try to use every advantage allowed to win.

I'm with you on this. Rory did nothing wrong. But I also have to say, his play didn't impress me very much. He lost the control over the cue ball soo often.

[JimMalone]

A few quick thoughts to the quarterfinals that are already fix:

Mark Selby (1) - Xiao Guodong (44)
On paper Selby has one of the easier tasks of the second round with World Number 44 Xiao Guodong. The defending champions as expected hadn't much trouble with Fergal O'Brien. And while he played a few good frames in the beginning he didn't need to play nearly his best. Xiao beat Ryan Day suprisingly easily 10-4 (though it could have been closer), but he will have to play his best to challenge Selby.
Both met only twice and those matches (both won by Selby) were in 2010 and 2011 respectively and just over Best-of-7. It's the first time for the Chinese to be in the 2nd round of the World Championship and in a Best-of-25-Match. He is playing really, really good, losing only 14 frames (of 54) in qualifying and first round, but will it be good enough for Selby? He can do damage, but I still go with Selby 13-8.

Shaun Murphy (5) - Ronnie O'Sullivan (12)
A duel that got a bit more salt from Ronnies controversy with World Snooker Association and Murphys comments on it. Usually such a controversy ads something to O'Sullivans game. Here it is also the case that O'Sullivan always had Murphys number. They met twice in the World Championship and the five-time world champion won both encounters. A 13-10 in 2011 was followed by a 13-3 thrashing in 2014. A weakness by Murphy certainly is that he is mainly an attacking player and doesn't really have such a great all-around game as it is advisable against O'Sullivan, who likes to play the types like Murphy because he can profit from their mistakes.
Also I liked Ronnie better in the first round here than Murphy, who should get courage out of the fact that he won their last duel - 5-4 at the 2015 German Masters. This time O'Sullivan will prevail - 13-8.

Liang Wenbo (13) - Ding Junhui (4)
The battle of China. The two best players of the country, if we exclude Marco Fu, who plays under the flag of Hongkong. They actually met only once in a tournament of note. At the 2009 World Championship Ding won 10-8. But Liang is definitely a more accomplished player now. He can pot extremely well and has grown mentally as well. Still Ding is definitely the better and especially the more consistent player, also the more experienced one, which can make a difference in the Crucible.
Both had flashes were they played very well in the first round, but Liang also seemed a bit nervous sometimes to me. Overall Dings performance impressed me more. I feel he is playing quite freely compared to other years, though pressure could get to him, when playing a countryman, where he is the favorite. He did well with this challenge in the first round though and while Liang is clearly better than Zhou I say Ding will advance to the quarterfinals for a third time in the row by winning 13-9.

Stuart Bingham (3) - Kyren Wilson (14)
One interesting duel after the other. And this is one more. Both met just a few weeks ago at the China Open, when Kyren Wilson won 5-2. The younger player also won their only other meeting in a ranking event at the 2013 Shanghai Masters as well as two more games in the Championship League. So does Wilson have an advantage in those duels or is it Stuart Binghams time to shine now. Bingham needs a good result at this event to stay at a high ranking and I liked him better than Wilson in the opening round. He mostly needed more chances against Ebdon, and this is something where both players are quite similar, though overall Bingham is the superior break-builder, which could make a difference here.
Wilson though needed even more chances against Grace and could be thankful to have not such a strong opponent. He often run out of position and missed some crucial pots and this generally seems Wilsons main problem for me. The question is: Will Bingham gift him as many chances? In my preview I picked an upset by Wilson here. And Bingham hasn't made enough in the first round to overrule me so for now I'll stand with it and say Wilson to win 13-11.

John Higgins (6) - Mark Allen (11)
Higgins left one of the best impressions of the first round to me. He was in control nearly all time against Martin Gould, one of the most dangerous qualifiers, and made 10 breaks of at least 50 points en route to a 10-6 victory. Allen somehow has often been a tough opponent for Higgins. They met in 8 ranking events with both winning four, though Higgins was winning the most important ones, especially their World Championship semifinal in 2009. But Allen beat him twice at the Masters therefore. They also met four times this season with Higgins winning at the China Championship (9-3) and the UK Championship (6-3) in a spell when both were playing their best snooker of the season. This of course shows that in top form Higgins is the better player and the favorite.
The Scotsman wasn't playing well since new year though and Allen took advantage of this fact in beating him at the Masters (6-5) and the Gibraltar Open (4-1), despite the World Number 11 himself wasn't in good shape this spring. He also had quite good luck with the draw at the Crucible I think, while Higgins looked very comfortable. He did so last year as well though, before succumbing to Alan McManus. These days Higgins form can change dramatically from one match to another, but I still think he will sustain at a high level in this match and win 13-7.

Stephen Maguire (24) - Rory McLeod (54)
The duel of the outsiders, who came through. As some have mentioned McLeod could represent an unconveniant opponent for Maguire, leading the Scotsman to lose his temper once again. I think that Maguire is the much better player though. Important for him will be to get an early lead, then he should feel comfortable and beat McLeod, who was very lucky, that Trump (injured or not) played as terrible as he did. If McLeod keeps it the match close, his better mentality could make Maguire troubles though. I just think that Maguire is happy to be in the next round and will go one further. 13-6 to Maguire.

[tomwalker147]

Big respect to Rory, well done to him. I struggle to believe the injury was the key factor to the loss, more Judd's mindset.
A lot of people assume that the lower ranked players with less achievement in the game don't have the skillset required for the big occasion but they do. They put a hell of a lot of effort into their practice and it's great to see the lower ranked players come through from time to time.

[kayen147]

i was thinking about this and I agree. but you could have an average shot time rule. has to be quicker than 20 or 25 seconds over the course of the match or there is some sanction. I quite agree I'm against the premier league type shot clock.

Or like poker high rollers where they get special chips for extra time, they can use it in a delicate situation

[JimMalone]

Cool frame between Robertson and Saengkham.

[Stony152]

So when Ken is talking about trees, does he say "tree trees"?

[mikeyd100]

Some get hooked on booze or drugs or women... Robertson found gaming !!!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/snooker/39654115