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Ssb - can jamie cope with king?
Few players in the first round of the Ladbrokes Mobile Masters played better than Mark King, who was superb in knocking out defending champion Mark Selby.
King was certainly more impressive than his quarter-final opponent, Jamie Cope, who won a poor encounter against a shockingly below par Shaun Murphy last night.
So King should start favourite against Cope on form and the Romford man knows this is one of the best chances he has ever had to win a major title.
But this has been a strange tournament, probably the strangest Masters there has ever been in terms of the form players going out.
Only Neil Robertson survives from the top eight seeds and there are no former winners left in.
Ding Junhui, though, is a twice UK champion and current world no.4 so has to now count as the favourite to come through the top half.
His opponent this afternoon, Graeme Dott, is releasing an autobiography in March detailing his battle with depression, the loss of his manager and, of course, his world title victory in 2006.
Can Dotty write another chapter at Wembley Arena? Well, he certainly played well in defeating John Higgins in the opening round, only his third ever match win in the Masters.
Dott has the game and the tenacity to send Ding packing if the Chinese fails to hit top form.
Finally a word on Stephen Hendry, who turns 42 today.
It is distinctly possible that he won’t be in the top 16 next year but, if he is still playing, I see no reason not to give him a wildcard.
Not only has he won the title more than anyone else but he is still a huge name whose presence in a tournament enhances it.
Jimmy White, who won the Masters once, got several Wembley wildcards so Hendry should be afforded the same respect in the twilight of his career.
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King was certainly more impressive than his quarter-final opponent, Jamie Cope, who won a poor encounter against a shockingly below par Shaun Murphy last night.
So King should start favourite against Cope on form and the Romford man knows this is one of the best chances he has ever had to win a major title.
But this has been a strange tournament, probably the strangest Masters there has ever been in terms of the form players going out.
Only Neil Robertson survives from the top eight seeds and there are no former winners left in.
Ding Junhui, though, is a twice UK champion and current world no.4 so has to now count as the favourite to come through the top half.
His opponent this afternoon, Graeme Dott, is releasing an autobiography in March detailing his battle with depression, the loss of his manager and, of course, his world title victory in 2006.
Can Dotty write another chapter at Wembley Arena? Well, he certainly played well in defeating John Higgins in the opening round, only his third ever match win in the Masters.
Dott has the game and the tenacity to send Ding packing if the Chinese fails to hit top form.
Finally a word on Stephen Hendry, who turns 42 today.
It is distinctly possible that he won’t be in the top 16 next year but, if he is still playing, I see no reason not to give him a wildcard.
Not only has he won the title more than anyone else but he is still a huge name whose presence in a tournament enhances it.
Jimmy White, who won the Masters once, got several Wembley wildcards so Hendry should be afforded the same respect in the twilight of his career.
More...
There's still the chance that we could have a pretty good FU/KING final. 
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