Welsh Open 2009 - Semi-final discussion!

[hegeland]

13.00
Anthony Hamilton v Ali Carter. Ref: Jan Verhaas
19.00
Joe Swail v Neil Robertson/Marco Fu. Ref: Eirian Williams

[mushka]

Final for Michaela?

[Monique]

Very surprising line-up. Three men who never won a ranking title. Two qualifiers, both veterans ...

Final between the Sheriif and the Outlaw?

[Odrl]

If I could choose, I'd like to see Hamilton and Robertson through. I wonder if Hamilton will be able to hold his own against Carter's scoring, he hasn't really played anyone in form this week. I think Robertson is too strong for Swail, the only chance I see for Swail is if he wins all the scrappy frames. There might be a couple of those, there usually are in Robertson's matches.

[very.tee]

Well it was going to be Robertson-Selby for me but George Barmby put a stop to that!(Along with other things such as Anthony and Mark himself...)
It's got to be Carter-Robertson for me then, if Ali can hold his nerve it could be brilliant.

[Templeton Peck]

Personally I'd like to see a Robertson/Carter final or a Hamilton/Swail final.

A Robertson/Carter final would be incredibly exciting - arguably the two most exciting players from the younger generation of players and it would be a great advert for snooker. It would be fantastic if Carter finally wins a title.

Hamilton/Swail would be great too with Hamilton winning - Hamilton is one of the best break builders the game has ever seen and it's criminal he has never won anything. Unfortunately he was at his best when snooker was at its most competitve with his two previous finals coming in 1999 and 2002. Swail has unbelievably never reached a final, and probably holds the record for being the highest ranked player to never contest one so it would be great for him to have a crack too.

[mushka]

I second this. Ali vs. Neil all the way. :snooker:


Edit: I was replying to the post of very.tee, but Templeton put it nicely, too.

[AndrewB]

Swail has unbelievably never reached a final, and probably holds the record for being the highest ranked player to never contest one so it would be great for him to have a crack too.

Swail certainly has the record for most semis without reaching a final (9).

The highest ranked players never to reach a final is a tricky question... Swail (10th) is the highest since 1983-4; Bill Werbeniuk was ranked 8th that season, but that was the first season when more than one event counted to the rankings. (Before that, Fred Davis and John Pulman were ranked higher).

[Templeton Peck]

Eddie Charlton was ranked 3rd too wasn't he and I don't know if he ever reached a ranking final, although the 1975 WC became one retrospectively. For these purposes I think you have to treat the ranking circuit as being introduced in 1982/83 (which was the first season you had other ranking events besides the WC) and only consider players that turned pro from this season onwards, otherwise you're not making a fair comparison.

[spike]

I would like to see a Carter, Robertson final too. Two very fluent players when in full flow and good to watch.

[mushka]

Final for Michaela?

And no. It´s Colin Humphries.

[mushka]

Now he is going to be winning frames in one visit?
Awesome.

[JiangYu]

Come on, Hamilton!

[very.tee]

I don't know weather it's got anything to do with Hamilton playing my favourite players in sucession (Selby+Ali), but Hamilton really annoys me!

He's looking like a threat at the moment though...
Ali hasn't attempted a pot yet!

[JiangYu]

Isn't Hamilton working with Terry at the moment? Terry really seems to be doing wonders for a lot of the players nowadays - most obvious improvement is Marco. Anthony is beginning to look like he's going to cripple Ali in a whitewash at the moment!