International Championship Quals 2018

[Mr Snooker]

Okay, the bottom half didn't go according to plan today, but the players over 40 had a bad day as well, with six of them losing. Matthew Stevens is still alive, winning two matches with a highest break of 57 and no other breaks over 50. I will eat my hat if he beats Ding tomorrow. :wink:

Matthew Stevens 6 Ding Junhui 5 plus 127 Total clearance from Matthew, great win For Matthew and only the second time he's beaten Ding in 10 meetings. head to head to head record Ding 8 Matthew 2

Do you remember George and Mildred the TV Sitcom from the late 70's well as Ann Fourmile said to her husband Jeffrey in one of the episodes, it's cloth cap pie for tea for you yummy yum.

[JimMalone]

Ding was weak all tournament. Still I didn't expect him to win today.

So we have two very promising semifinals in the top-half, especially with Mark Selby vs. Neil Robertson.

A few years ago I expected this to become something like the rivalry of the next decade with Ding Junhui in the mix as well. But Robertson couldn't keep his level and since their semifinal at the 2014 World Championship (one of my favorite matches ever) they actually only met three times in a ranking event. Selby won 6-4 at the 2015 International Championship, while Robertson thrashed him 6-0 in the same year at the UK Championship.
The last meeting was a rather irrelevant 4-0 victory by Selby at the 2018 Grand Prix.
Both are a bit inconsistent in Daqing so far, but it could be an interesting match.

Also Judd Trump vs. Jack Lisowski is interesting. I would like to see Jack winning.

In the down half we also have a quality match-up between Ali Carter and Mark Allen. A twice World Championship runner-up versus the current Masters Champion.

In comparison Martin O'Donnell vs. Matthew Stevens pales a bit.

[PatBlock]

Well played Matthew, great result. I hope he can pull a little confidence from this match, he should do.

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[Odrl]

Do you remember George and Mildred the TV Sitcom from the late 70's well as Ann Fourmile said to her husband Jeffrey in one of the episodes, it's cloth cap pie for tea for you yummy yum.

Never heard of it. :smile: I don't actually own a hat either, but I wouldn't mind if they made a return. :wink:

[PatBlock]

Bit sad to see Akani go down 6 - 4 to Carter, good run for him though.

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[Cue crafty]

Mmmm, what can I say, well played to Stevens. I didn't really give him any chance today. :smile:

Ding was unconvincing in all three of his matches though, he is just not playing like a top8 player at all at the moment...

Buy yourself a pork pie!

Wish I had put a couple of pounds on Matthew now, I had a feeling this might happen.

[Odrl]

Okay, my one and only prediction today turned out to be horrendous, but I'll make some more anyway...

Mark Selby v. Neil Robertson: Always a nice pairing to get in the major events. It's interesting, these two actually had a prolonged period where they were both at the top of the game but never actually met each other in major matches, so there wasn't any real rivalry between them, but then they met in three major finals in 2013 alone. :smile: I agree with JimMalone about that match in the 2014 WC, it's one of my favourite matches as well. They were very evenly matched at the time, with similar achievements in the game, but of course Selby has pushed on from there while Robertson has struggled, so it would make sense for Selby to be considered the favourite tomorrow. That said, I was very impressed with the way Robertson played towards the end of his match against Yuan Sijun, first winning a frame after needing two snookers, then making back-to-back total clearances to win the last two frames. It was the kind of snooker we used to see all the time from Robertson, but sadly not very often in the last couple of years. Selby, on the other hand, impressed me in his match against Doherty earlier in the week, but his other matches weren't particularly spectacular. He pretty much played the same way to win this tournament last year though, which just shows how tough he is to beat once the matches get a little longer. Hoping for a good game tomorrow. My feeling is that Robertson is playing the better of the two, but I will still go for Selby to win 6-4.

Judd Trump v. Jack Lisowski: Trump was the one top player Lisowski always had a decent record against, even before he made his breakthrough, so he is clearly not scared of playing him. This promises to be a really open and attacking game, and like Lisowski said in his post-match comments today, it could be a really good one or a really bad one. It's good to see him holding his nerve in close matches nowadays, particularly today when he finished with two centuries. Trump's results have been very convincing, but in the matches I've seen of him this week his opponents were playing really badly, so he wasn't actually put under any pressure. I think it will be a different story tomorrow, and I will actually go for Lisowski to win 6-4.

Matthew Stevens v. Martin O'Donnell: Good stuff from O'Donnell this season, he had basically done nothing at all in the game previously, but now he has reached two proper major ranking quarter-finals, which makes him one of the more pleasant surprises of the season so far for me. Stevens certainly has a huge advantage in experience, but it's worth saying that this is his first major QF in more than four years, so he too finds himself in what is a somewhat unfamiliar territory for him these days. Probably the least interesting match of the four, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be a bad one. The reward is certainly huge for whoever prevails. At the risk of underestimating Stevens again, I will go for O'Donnell to win 6-5.

Mark Allen v. Ali Carter: Allen is the one player I definitely expected to see in the QF, simply because his section of the draw was such a weak one. Things looked to be getting interesting when he was 4-0 down in the first round, but he recovered very well and has scored very heavily ever since. We've seen this scenario many times in the past, when a player is on the verge of going out and he somehow survives, then ends up going very deep into the tournament... I can't really say anything about Carter, since he hasn't actually been televised this week and the stats don't stand out for him in any way. Allen is perhaps a slightly stronger player at this point in time, but there really isn't very much between them at all, so this one could go either way. It's interesting though, Allen and Carter have only met once outside of the short format in the last ten years, even though they were both top16 players for most of that period. Looking forward to seeing how it goes tomorrow. I will go for Allen to win 6-4.

Should be a good day of snooker. :smile:

[Cue crafty]

Good stuff Odrl, only "pulling your leg" hope your Lisowski prediction comes off, it's about time he broke through the ranks.

[JimMalone]

As mostly can't disagree with much Odrl said.

Selby vs. Robertson
I expect this to be close. I could imagine Robertson is extra-motivated and I think this could very well be a match Selby loses, cause actually he is on his way to a third International Championship title in a row and I don't see that happening. 6-5 to Robertson.

Lisowski vs. Trump
Jack is in very good form and this isn't a match-up he should be afraid of. They are not only friends, but similiar players and usually Trump is a bit better at the different parts of the game, so he should be the favorite. But Lisowski is overdue for a good win. 6-4 Lisowski.

O'Donnell vs. Stevens
Stevens held his nerves together well today and it's great to see him in a quarterfinal again. I would hope that he gains self confidence here and maybe comes back to become again a, let's say, Top-25-player for the next few years, but obviously after one good run there is no reasonable substance for this kind of hope. I think O'Donnell this season plays well enough to give him a good chance in this match. 6-4 O'Donnell.

Allen vs. Carter
Both could make themselves lots of pressure here, cause they must like their chances to eventually get to the final.
Allen was scoring very well this tournament and at this point he's just the better player than Carter as well. Ali has a matchplay and overall game that is well enough to beat him of course, but I've a feeling that Allen will win that one handily. 6-2 Allen.

[DeanH]

impressive 6-0 win for Allen over Carter,

[JimMalone]

Trump vs. Lisowski is probably my least favorite match-up between Top players I like to watch. They almost refuse to play any safety and just go for the pot, regardless of what could be the consequences.

[Cue crafty]

Trump vs. Lisowski is probably my least favorite match-up between Top players I like to watch. They almost refuse to play any safety and just go for the pot, regardless of what could be the consequences.

Wahoo!! Rock n Roll. Bring it on!!!

[JimMalone]

Those are the kind of frames Selby usually stole in ice cold manner two or three years ago. Nowadays not so much.

[anish147]

I hear what you say Jim, but I personally love to watch 2 players like this that can pot any ball anywhere. It's amazing to see just how well this game can be played. I think they both missed many shots too, and a player like Selby would have run away with many of these frames, but it's refreshing to see this game made to look so ridiculously simple sometimes.

[JimMalone]

I hear what you say Jim, but I personally love to watch 2 players like this that can pot any ball anywhere. It's amazing to see just how well this game can be played. I think they both missed many shots too, and a player like Selby would have run away with many of these frames, but it's refreshing to see this game made to look so ridiculously simple sometimes.

I find fascinating, what they can pot too. But sometimes they should just question their shot selection and play a smart safety (a skill that can be fascinating as well). It would certainly be a good attribute to their game overall and make them better players.