China Open 2018 - £1 million prize money

[PatBlock]

Am I right in thinking Ronnie could have overtaken Selby in the rankings if he'd won this tournament and the world champs? A big ask, as Jim said, but if so, I wonder how much thought he gave it.

-

[crocodile]

You could well be right. On the other hand, loosing by such a margin to a player ranked 70 places below him in the first round of the last major tournament before the World Championship, may not be the best confidence builder. He will certainly be disappointed, that's for sure.

-

I guess he'll be a lot more than disappointed - with next year's school fees already looming on the horizon he really will have to come up with the goods at the WC ....

[PatBlock]

As for Ronnie I think this early exit will serve him well regarding the World Championship. Expectations will not vanish, but maybe become an inch lower and it would be a heavy task to win the Players Championship, then have a good result at the China Open and then win the World Championship.

You could well be right. On the other hand, loosing by such a margin to a player ranked 70 places below him in the first round of the last major tournament before the World Championship, may not be the best confidence builder. He will certainly be disappointed, that's for sure.

-

[JimMalone]

Good effort from Steadman, but just couldn't hold his nerve at the very end.

This was actually what I liked best about Slessor. He hold his nerves really well. There were some uncomfortable shots in the last two frames and I was always expecting him to miss, cause so many do against a great opponent. But he made most of them.

As I write this there's another upset on the horizon with Luo Honghao leading Anthony McGill 5-4. If I recall correctly he was already 2-4 down.

[Odrl]

Good effort from Steadman, but just couldn't hold his nerve at the very end. Underhitting that red when he had a chance to clear up for 5-3 was the key point, I think. Some of the lower-ranked players are putting in surprisingly good performances against the favourites in this tournament, but so far Ding has survived fairly well. :smile:

[JimMalone]

There are some really nice matches coming up in the second round:

Yan Bingtao - Mark Allen
John Higgins - Jack Lisowski
Gary Wilson - Joe Perry
Mark King - Kyren Wilson
Xiao Guodong - Ding Junhui
Richy Walden - Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins - Michael White

[JimMalone]

Ding wins 6-4 against Steadman, coming closer to secure the #3 spot before the World Championship. Only John Higgins or Mark Williams (who needs to win the China Open, while Ding must not win another match) could still overtake him.

[DeanH]

Great win for Slessor but sadly I have a feeling that he'll lose in the next round. It's so usual to the lower ranked players. On the other hand, good for Ronnie to get some rest before the WC if he decides to play there.

yep, Slessor played well and has a 100% (2/2) win rate over ROS
not many can say that
I do agree that he may lose in the next round but hope that this win, again, spurs him on like in the NI Open but gets further than the Semi-Final he achieved then

[Odrl]

We've seen O'Sullivan go behind early on in matches quite a few times recently, but until today he's always come back very strongly, showing a lot of patience and discipline. Not today though, there were all kinds of ill-advised doubles and stuff like that. It seemed as if he just wanted the match resolved as quickly as possible, win or lose.

Good stuff from Slessor though. He missed a few towards the end, but he'd got himself close enough to victory with some solid snooker in the first part of the match, so it didn't cost him. The draw is now pretty open for him, so he has half a chance of reaching the business end of the tournament.

[Guitarnolife]

Great win for Slessor but sadly I have a feeling that he'll lose in the next round. It's so usual to the lower ranked players. On the other hand, good for Ronnie to get some rest before the WC if he decides to play there.

[DeanH]

Oops what happened to the goat there

got fleeced

[Hey]

Oops what happened to the goat there

[JimMalone]

What a great win by Elliot Slessor. A really strong performance to beat a poor Ronnie O'Sullivan, whose potting was far below his usual standard, with 6-2. Obviously this opens up the lower half of the draw very much, especially since Shaun Murphy, maybe still feeling his back, loses even more heavily 0-6 against Chris Wakelin. Now Barry Hawkins and Anthony McGill, who leads Luo Honghao 4-2, are the favorites in the last quarter. Stuart Bingham and Neil Robertson are the remaining big names in quarter three.

As for Ronnie I think this early exit will serve him well regarding the World Championship. Expectations will not vanish, but maybe become an inch lower and it would be a heavy task to win the Players Championship, then have a good result at the China Open and then win the World Championship.

[JimMalone]

I'm always happy to see such miscues from the top players, knowing it doesn't only happen to me, but even to the best.

[fkhan]

Looks like Ronnie is crashing out in round one.