2017 China Championship

[Neil Taperell]

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)

How on earth can you moan about prize money .....bet the players' aren't moaning .

Does it matter what time of the season a tournament is won ???

With that sort of prize you expect top quality matches .

One man and his dog.....not from the matches i've seen .

[jw147]

How on earth can you moan about prize money .....bet the players' aren't moaning .

Does it matter what time of the season a tournament is won ???

With that sort of prize you expect top quality matches .

One man and his dog.....not from the matches i've seen .

just think its crazy prize money for august, and the quality of the event has been very poor, how come the china open winner gets only half of what this event winner gets, and the uk championship winner gets the same amount. Winner of this event should be getting around 80,000 maximum.

[JimMalone]

Such a pity Eurosport is showing Vuelta instead of Snooker and I don't have Eurosport 2 in my office so can't see this match right now. Seems like a pretty close one.

[Odrl]

Such a pity Eurosport is showing Vuelta instead of Snooker and I don't have Eurosport 2 in my office so can't see this match right now. Seems like a pretty close one.

Yeah, looks like it's going to be hard fought all the way. Li Hang has just made a terrific break to win the 5th frame from behind, and it looks like he might clinch the 6th as well to make it 3-3. A very patient performance from him, as usual. :smile:

[Odrl]

A nice clash of styles. Brecel takes the lead again with a century, and Li replies with a masterclass of tactical snooker to level at 4-4. :smile:

[JimMalone]

just think its crazy prize money for august, and the quality of the event has been very poor, how come the china open winner gets only half of what this event winner gets, and the uk championship winner gets the same amount. Winner of this event should be getting around 80,000 maximum.

They tried to establish a new huge event in China, an equivalent to the UK Championship, which wouldn't be to bad actually (especially if you'd make those two tournaments longer formats). And they probably also saw there was place for a huge tournament early in the season, because between World Championship and International Championship is quite a hole. But it seems that the top players just haven't hit their form yet and so this experiment didn't work out as well as hoped.

[JimMalone]

Nice clearance there by Li to win the important frame and go 5-4 ahead. I really like his deliberate approach to the game.

[Odrl]

Best match of the tournament for me, very enjoyable. :smile:

An excellent break from Brecel to win the decider, and a good sign for him ahead of tomorrow to be able to do that under such pressure. A shame for Li Hang, but hopefully he can keep up this form and mental approach, and remain a strong player throughout the season. It's doubtful though, because only a small percentage of outsiders who have a run like this are then able to repeat it in the following events. :smile:

[Lievro]

Ow yeah!

Imo it wasn't a good performance of Luca. Could have won 6-2 if his break building was a bit more 'steady'. But hey, first time a ranking final for a Belgian! Wooohooow!

[grotenbees]

Ow yeah!

Imo it wasn't a good performance of Luca. Could have won 6-2 if his break building was a bit more 'steady'. But hey, first time a ranking final for a Belgian! Wooohooow!

he played a final in Berlin against Gould

[JimMalone]

That difficult break of Brecel in the decider was great.

He is now into his second ranking final and as this is one of higher value it is already Brecels biggest success so far. A win tomorrow and his first ranking title, coming at one of the most important tournaments of the season obviously would be a totally other step and far greater achievement though. Brecel is already assured of being new world number 17, a win would propel him to #15.

Shaun Murphy has to be the favorite for the final though. The Englishman is the new world number 5 and this won't change if he wins the final, but he would come pretty close to the top 4 already. He is the far more experienced player and had much more success. Both have a pretty similar style in terms of going for many pots and being very aggressive. If their long pots are not going in, they tend to give their opponents their chances though and this week they rarely won their frames in one visits. Both don't like tactical battles too much, so it will be interesting to see who will get the upper hand here (if any of them will get an advantage in this department).
The two met actually just a few months ago in the Riga Masters, when Brecel won 4-2 and the Belgian won also in the 2016 Welsh Open as well as the 2016 Northern Ireland Open. Murphy won their three more important and longer duels though, twice at the UK Championship (2012 and 2016) as well as in the 2015 International Championship.

Brecel just hasn't played well enough this week to convince me to go against the favorite, so I pick Murphy to win 10-7.

[ADR147]

That difficult break of Brecel in the decider was great.

He is now into his second ranking final and as this is one of higher value it is already Brecels biggest success so far. A win tomorrow and his first ranking title, coming at one of the most important tournaments of the season obviously would be a totally other step and far greater achievement though. Brecel is already assured of being new world number 17, a win would propel him to #15.

Shaun Murphy has to be the favorite for the final though. The Englishman is the new world number 5 and this won't change if he wins the final, but he would come pretty close to the top 4 already. He is the far more experienced player and had much more success. Both have a pretty similar style in terms of going for many pots and being very aggressive. If their long pots are not going in, they tend to give their opponents their chances though and this week they rarely won their frames in one visits. Both don't like tactical battles too much, so it will be interesting to see who will get the upper hand here (if any of them will get an advantage in this department).
The two met actually just a few months ago in the Riga Masters, when Brecel won 4-2 and the Belgian won also in the 2016 Welsh Open as well as the 2016 Northern Ireland Open. Murphy won their three more important and longer duels though, twice at the UK Championship (2012 and 2016) as well as in the 2015 International Championship.

Brecel just hasn't played well enough this week to convince me to go against the favorite, so I pick Murphy to win 10-7.

Sm has not been great either......

[JimMalone]

Sm has not been great either......

No, he hasn't. But he has been the better player over the last few years and so I've got him as the favorite. That's why I pick him here.

[Byrom]

If Brecel wins would he celebrate by getting another tat .... and where would he put it?

[Lievro]

Offcourse.. i meant 'big' tournament. Sry!