2017 China Championship

[JimMalone]

Murphy going nicely , O'Sullivan not really into 2nd gear from what i've seen so far .

If they both get to the Final , will Murphy crumble .

Hopefully the Stato's on here can advise , but i don't think Murphy has a good record against O'Sullivan .

No, Murphys record against O'Sullivan is horrible. He won just one of their seven duels in ranking events.

[PatBlock]

If they both get to the Final , will Murphy crumble...

Depends, if Murphy can refrain from pontificating before they meet, then he may have a chance.

-

[JimMalone]

So finally a day without surprises in Guangzhou.

Oh wait, Luca Brecel just beat Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-4 to reach the semifinal. It's the Belgians third ranking semifinal after the Welsh Open in 2014/15 and the German Masters in 2015/16.
I haven't seen the match, but O'Sullivan seemed to cruise again with a 4-1 lead. Then Brecel hit back-to-back centuries to cut it to 3-4. In the decider both had their chances, but Brecel took the frame in the endgame on the colours.

So this makes Shaun Murphy the new tournament favorite.

[JimMalone]

Li Hang leads Williams 4-3 by the way.

[JimMalone]

And Li wins 5-3, also reaching his first semifinal in a ranking event. He will now be at least #46 in the world, making this his best ranking so far.

Wow.
Murphy (#8) - Carter (#13)
Brecel (#27) - Li (#58)

I would never thought of such a semifinal lineup at this huge tournament. For me one of the most surprising events I've ever seen. In fact everybody aside from Murphy would be a surprise winner at this point. Yes, even Carter for me. He was in two world finals, but this would be his biggest title and to be honest I thought he was on his way down (and I always felt he was a little bit of an overachiever anyways).

Murphy - Carter
I think Murphy is the (slight) favorite in the first duel. He has been playing very strong all week, but we know he often has one weak match in a tournament and he certainly can't allow this to happen in the semifinal this time. Cause I'm sure Carter will take advantage then. Actually The Captain would be the favorite if you'd just go by their head-to-head. Cause there Carter leads with 6-2 wins in ranking events, while Murphy has also a win in a match at the Masters (in 2008) on his side. We also can hope that this semifinal will be a very close affair, cause their last three meetings in ranking events all have gone to a decider with Murphy capturing the semifinal of the 2012 UK Championship with 9-8, while Carter won 5-4 at the 2015 Australian Open (Round of Last 32) and the 2017 Players Championship (Last 16). Both will be under pressure, because they know that this is probably one of their best chances to win such a big title with Selby, O'Sullivan, Ding etc. all gone and Brecel or Li looming in a possible final. So who can cope better with the pressure? I think Murphy, who would become world number five by winning this match, is due to a big win again, so I'll pick him here, 6-4 to Murphy.

Li - Brecel
Who will become the big surprise to make the final? Is this the breakthrough from Brecel many have awaited for a long time? He has the advantage, that he has already been twice to ranking semifinals (winning one of them), while Li is new at this late stage of the tournament. If the Belgian is to win, he would rise to #17 in the rankings, knocking on the elusive circle of the Top 16. Li Hang would go all the way up to #27 and suddenly be Chinas number three (or four if you include Fu). Both have never played each other. Based on former results Brecel should be the favorite here. But we all know he has many downs to his ups and consistency isn't one of Lucas strengths. He can surely score heavier than Li, but one thing I liked about the Chinese this week was his composure and his shot selection this week. He makes plenty of mistakes and Brecel will take advantage on them, but if Li stays calm and wins the majority of the tactical battles and is carefully using his chances as well, he could very well come out as the winner, which would be no surprise at this point. I still pick Brecel though, winning 6-3.

[motorhead]

Haha I saw the first 3 frames, how could Ros lose to Luca the way they were playing

[Odrl]

A really surprising afternoon of snooker. I thought O'Sullivan looked pretty annoyed at the end, not saying anything to Brecel apart from the obligatory handshake. It might just be my imagination, but I had the feeling he didn't like Brecel standing near the table during his shots in the final battle on the colours, and the celebration probably didn't help either. :smile:

My mother was around during the second half of the Williams-Li match, so I had the pleasure of listening to her commentary. She is convinced Williams is an extremely lazy player who gives up completely whenever his matches take too long. "Just look at him, spinning that towel around on his finger, sitting there without a care in the world, just waiting for it all to end." :biggrin: That's a little harsh of course, but there just might be a hint of truth in it. It certainly seemed like Li wanted it more than Williams did. Well, at least my mother is more lenient with Williams than she is with Stevens, whom she calls a pathetic player that you can't possibly stand to watch for more than one or two frames, and he is supposedly slower than McLeod. Also, "he walks around the table like a professor, studying things from every angle, but he always ends up missing". :smile: And of course there was her usual criticism of Shaun Murphy and his "mouse hole" in which he should have hidden after losing a match to O'Sullivan with a session to spare. She is not sure whether enough time has passed for him to be let out yet. :smile:

Anyway...

Murphy - Carter
I think Murphy is the (slight) favorite in the first duel. He has been playing very strong all week, but we know he often has one weak match in a tournament and he certainly can't allow this to happen in the semifinal this time. Cause I'm sure Carter will take advantage then. Actually The Captain would be the favorite if you'd just go by their head-to-head. Cause there Carter leads with 6-2 wins in ranking events, while Murphy has also a win in a match at the Masters (in 2008) on his side. We also can hope that this semifinal will be a very close affair, cause their last three meetings in ranking events all have gone to a decider with Murphy capturing the semifinal of the 2012 UK Championship with 9-8, while Carter won 5-4 at the 2015 Australian Open (Round of Last 32) and the 2017 Players Championship (Last 16). Both will be under pressure, because they know that this is probably one of their best chances to win such a big title with Selby, O'Sullivan, Ding etc. all gone and Brecel or Li looming in a possible final. So who can cope better with the pressure? I think Murphy, who would become world number five by winning this match, is due to a big win again, so I'll pick him here, 6-4 to Murphy.

I think I'll go the other way here. As you say, Carter has quite a strong record against Murphy on the big stage, including a real thrashing at the Crucible some years ago. If you look at how Murphy has won his matches this week, it was mostly frames where both players had chances, but Murphy took the majority in a couple of visits. I think Carter is one of those players you can't really afford to play two or three-visit snooker against, at least not when he finds his best form. The rankings do favour Murphy, but I personally think he is ranked a little higher than his performances over the last two seasons deserve, especially if you consider that he hasn't won a single event with matches of at least medium length in that time. Carter on the other hand won one last season, and reached another final as well, so I would say he has been the better player in this particular format. It should be close in any case, but I will go for Carter to win 6-4.

Li - Brecel
Who will become the big surprise to make the final? Is this the breakthrough from Brecel many have awaited for a long time? He has the advantage, that he has already been twice to ranking semifinals (winning one of them), while Li is new at this late stage of the tournament. If the Belgian is to win, he would rise to #17 in the rankings, knocking on the elusive circle of the Top 16. Li Hang would go all the way up to #27 and suddenly be Chinas number three (or four if you include Fu). Both have never played each other. Based on former results Brecel should be the favorite here. But we all know he has many downs to his ups and consistency isn't one of Lucas strengths. He can surely score heavier than Li, but one thing I liked about the Chinese this week was his composure and his shot selection this week. He makes plenty of mistakes and Brecel will take advantage on them, but if Li stays calm and wins the majority of the tactical battles and is carefully using his chances as well, he could very well come out as the winner, which would be no surprise at this point. I still pick Brecel though, winning 6-3.

I completely agree with the bolded part. These two players seem to be complete opposites. Brecel is capable of bursts of very quick and high scoring, and he pots very well when on form, but he also makes suspect decisions and is prone to an occasional silly shot. Li on the other hand is just a solid, steady player, who has given everything in every match he's played this week. He's made some good breaks when he needed to, but most importantly he has kept his patience and discipline, and made the right decision at the right time. If only they could be combined into a single player. :smile: I don't know... It could go either way, but my gut feeling says that Li's attributes might prevail tomorrow, so I will go for Li to win 6-5.

Really looking forward to both matches. :smile:

[Erwan_BZH]

A semi final and no one in the audience......shame, rally.

[DeanH]

A semi final and no one in the audience......shame, rally.

Always difficult to tell at Chinese events as I think they have a tired ticket system where the front rows are expensive and the upper levels cheaper and out of camera shot. From the sound it seems there are quite a few people in considering it is Monday

[blahblah01]

Indeed, what is Bazza thinking starting a Semi so early on a Monday morning?

Snooker Loopy:distracted:

[jw147]

Can't believe the winner of this event gets £150,000, so early in season, is this a joke, it's the summer!? And one man and his dog in audience!!? How on Earth did osullivan mess that up yesterday, 4-1 ahead, and even at 4-4, how did he not just pot the last few colours, they were all perfect. Missed a huge chance to jump to no2 in rankings(if the winner gets that kinda crazy prize)

[Lievro]

Luca

Hopefully he knocks through to the final. Finally some positive news again!

[Odrl]

I'm not at all impressed by what I saw this morning. Carter was in control of the match at 4-2 and playing nicely, but after that he was all over the place and couldn't put a decent break together anymore. A bit of a waste, because he was potting very well from distance and getting his chances. I think it was his mental state that cost him today, rather than his technical ability on the table.

Well done to Murphy for sticking with it again. He is not one to give up when he goes a couple of frames behind, is he? Well, apart from when he plays O'Sullivan anyway. :wink: Still, I can't believe how many chances he needed to win that last frame, even though he was perfectly in the balls at least three times, and he almost lost the penultimate frame from a very strong position as well. I hope he plays better tomorrow, because the prospect of someone winning a major ranking title with a performance like that is, for lack of a better word, a little lame. :wink:

[JimMalone]

I'm not at all impressed by what I saw this morning. Carter was in control of the match at 4-2 and playing nicely, but after that he was all over the place and couldn't put a decent break together anymore. A bit of a waste, because he was potting very well from distance and getting his chances. I think it was his mental state that cost him today, rather than his technical ability on the table.

Well done to Murphy for sticking with it again. He is not one to give up when he goes a couple of frames behind, is he? Well, apart from when he plays O'Sullivan anyway. :wink: Still, I can't believe how many chances he needed to win that last frame, even though he was perfectly in the balls at least three times, and he almost lost the penultimate frame from a very strong position as well. I hope he plays better tomorrow, because the prospect of someone winning a major ranking title with a performance like that is, for lack of a better word, a little lame. :wink:

There isn't much to add. Both made so many mistakes and needed so many chances.

The quality overall of this tournament has been quite low. Maybe it's really to early in the season for such a big tournament?

[JimMalone]

My mother was around during the second half of the Williams-Li match, so I had the pleasure of listening to her commentary. She is convinced Williams is an extremely lazy player who gives up completely whenever his matches take too long. "Just look at him, spinning that towel around on his finger, sitting there without a care in the world, just waiting for it all to end." :biggrin: That's a little harsh of course, but there just might be a hint of truth in it. It certainly seemed like Li wanted it more than Williams did. Well, at least my mother is more lenient with Williams than she is with Stevens, whom she calls a pathetic player that you can't possibly stand to watch for more than one or two frames, and he is supposedly slower than McLeod. Also, "he walks around the table like a professor, studying things from every angle, but he always ends up missing". :smile: And of course there was her usual criticism of Shaun Murphy and his "mouse hole" in which he should have hidden after losing a match to O'Sullivan with a session to spare. She is not sure whether enough time has passed for him to be let out yet. :smile:



I completely agree with the bolded part. These two players seem to be complete opposites. Brecel is capable of bursts of very quick and high scoring, and he pots very well when on form, but he also makes suspect decisions and is prone to an occasional silly shot. Li on the other hand is just a solid, steady player, who has given everything in every match he's played this week. He's made some good breaks when he needed to, but most importantly he has kept his patience and discipline, and made the right decision at the right time. If only they could be combined into a single player. :smile: I don't know... It could go either way, but my gut feeling says that Li's attributes might prevail tomorrow, so I will go for Li to win 6-5.

It might be a bit harsh, but your mother is right about Williams. I share her sentiments. He's just tooooo laid back and lacks ambitions totally in the last couple of years. He still can play well, as was seen, when he tried to stay in the Top 16 last year, even if he didn't stay there in time for the World Championships. But what I see from his matches and his twitter account, he isn't as enthusiastic about having success in the game as some others. Don't even condemn this, it's his decision. For us fans it's a bit of a pity though.
Also I think he gave up against Li, when he needed only 2 Foul points by his opponent. A bit unusual.


I would hope you are right with your prediction of the second match. Would like to see Li getting to the final.