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Williams not past his Sel-by date: Snooker 2018-19

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    #51
    Went to York today for the day's play. Excellent crowd for both sessions, which may well be a factor in why they keep the tournament there.

    Saw Trump - Perry in the afternoon. Judd was absolutely cruising at the interval, 3-1 ahead in under an hour. There were a couple of scrappy frames after that, Perry made a ton and got level and Judd got in a couple of times and couldn't make sizeable contributions. Perry made a cracking total clearance of 136 to clinch the match 6-4. Before the evening session they played a bit of the BBC interview with Judd where he began "I've been playing rubbish all week" and the rest was drowned out by laughter in the auditorium. No Judd, you'd been playing pretty well, you lost concentration again and snatched defeat from the jaws of victory again, you again need to think about changing your approach and entourage. And he won't.

    On the other table O'Donnell - Ding was a bit of a slog, O'Donnell in particular was rather slow in his shot selection and execution. Someone clearly had a word during the interval as he was much quicker after the break, Ding wasn't potting his chances and there was another surprise result there.

    Saw a good chunk of Wilson - Hawkins in the evening, the first part looked like a tussle between well matched players, then Wilson upped a gear and was 4-2 ahead when I bailed to catch the train. He'd added another frame by the time I reached the station and won the next as well. He'll play Bingham in the quarters, he put 200 points on the board before Akani potted a ball and also won 6-2 in the end.

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      #52
      Ronnie O'Sullivan has now made 982 century breaks. In which round of which competition does OTF reckon he'll make his thousandth? Or do we think he'll stick to only doing breaks of 99 once he's made it to 999 centuries?

      And will the tournament organisers get a load of fireworks to let off, and will the frame be held up when the vital ball gets sunk so he can do a few mid-frame interviews, Pelé's-thousandth-goal style? (Unlike Pelé, of course, Ronnie's thousand will all have been in verifiable competitive matches.)

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        #53
        I'd expect World Snooker would like it to be on a big occasion, but the Masters will likely be too soon and unless he has a very thin programme in the spring the Crucible too far away. It'll probably end up being something like on a Wednesday afternoon in the second round of the Welsh Open against Allan Taylor.

        Though as you allude, Ronnie being Ronnie, he'll probably get to 999 centuries, get into the 90s on a break and then accidentally / on purpose run out of position.

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          #54
          I've got tickets for one of the Masters quarter finals at Ally Pally next month, which will be the winners of Selby v Maguire and Trump v Wilson. Never been to a match before so really looking forward to it.

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            #55
            Ally Pally has swept away the detritus from the darts and now it's time for Masters week. I absolutely bloody love the Masters, the best players in the big tournament in the smoke in the depths of winter.

            Mark Allen opens proceedings this afternoon as he begins the defence of his title against Luca Brecel. Bit of an underwhelming choice for the Sunday afternoon audience, Brecel has had a poor season and is basically only there thanks to winning the China Championship in August 2017, he'll have to play pretty damn well to be back here next year. Allen on the other hand has been player of the season so far and will hopefully progress to a clash with Ronnie in the semis next Saturday afternoon. The bottom half of the draw looks much more open, apart from perhaps Maguire you could make a reasonable case for anyone to be there next Sunday. The Trump - Wilson rivalry is being bigged up again, it does seem that there is some genuine beef there so their match on Wednesday will be fascinating. As will seeing if Selby can win a match on the BBC which he hasn't done since the Crucible in 2017.

            Enjoy your visit SdR (and anyone else going)

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              #56
              This is a much better match than I expected, especially given the slow table. Allen has been playing catch up throughout as Brecel is playing way better than he has done for absolutely ages. He's just made a total clearance of 140 to go 4-3 in front, though you wonder if he'll tie up if he gets close to the winning line.

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                #57
                Brecel held his nerve and won in the deciding frame in a potting contest of a match (a shade over two hours for eleven frames). Surprising result to say the least given their respective performances this season. He'll play Ding or Lisowski in the quarters on Thursday evening, which has definite potential to be this year's Really Bad Match.

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                  #58
                  Day also got the better of Higgins yesterday. He will face the winner of this O'Sullivan v Bingham match, which has just started. Bingham has got Ronnie in a difficult snooker in the first frame.
                  Last edited by Kevin S; 14-01-2019, 13:20.

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                    #59
                    He's escaped at the 8th time of asking, i.e giving away 28 points, but it was a potential frame-loser if he just went heavily into the pack.

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                      #60
                      988

                      And a 6-2 win for Ronnie after sinking the re-spotted black in the eighth frame.

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                        #61
                        Given that if you make a century, you have won the frame, there are up to 22 chances for Ronnie to get 12 more here. Seems unlikely, though I guess par for him if he is in Masters-winning form would be 7 or 8 more?

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                          #62
                          Winning 22 frames with 12 centuries would be highly unlikely, especially given that major finals tend to be a little more defensive than the average match. The most he's ever made in a single Masters tournament is eight. Given the way his half of the draw has opened up you assume he'll go all the way to the final, so you'd expect another three or four en route. Does depend on how much he plays in the coming weeks, but my instinct is he'll hit the thousand at one of the ITV tournaments in March - possibly the Players Championship at Preston Guildhall.

                          Not a great game that today it has to be said.

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                            #63
                            This is quite something; Ding and Lisowski have spent seventeen minutes (and counting) putting the pink safe and missing occasional potting chances on it.

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                              #64
                              TWAT!

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                                #65
                                And yet, despite that foul, we're back to poke and counter-poke.

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                                  #66
                                  And Ding pots the pink after twenty one and a half minutes. Then he sinks the black to win the frame and take a 3-0 lead.

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                                    #67
                                    And Ding does it. Big frame in the context of the match, 3-0 rather than 2-1.

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                                      #68
                                      Williams v Robertson just getting underway.

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                                        #69
                                        It's a re-rack!

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                                          #70
                                          Originally posted by Kevin S View Post
                                          Ronnie posted a 147 today.

                                          That's his fifteenth and means he has made over 10% of all the 147s in professional snooker history. (There have been 143 so far.)
                                          Just coming back to this stat from a few months ago, because since the English Open last year there have been three more:

                                          147 #144. Mark Selby – 2018 Champion of Champions
                                          147 #145. John Higgins – 2018 Scottish Open
                                          147 #146. Judd Trump – 2018 German Masters qualifiers

                                          So the next official maximum is 147 number 147.

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                                            #71
                                            Robertson coming back to the table in frame three with snookers required.

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                                              #72
                                              Marvellous snooker. Takes four reds with blacks and sends the final red up to baulk, tucking the cue ball behind the pink. A free ball would change everything.

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                                                #73
                                                One foul, now 38 behind with 35 remaining.

                                                But then messes up the next shot - and it's 2-1 to Williams. Fascinating match so far.

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                                                  #74
                                                  Couple of bad misses from Robertson in that frame and he faces a real battle to stay in the Masters now. Williams 3-1 up.

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                                                    #75
                                                    Well now. Williams throws away the frame there, missing a brown which would have seen him over the line. And Robertson takes a frame that he looked like losing. Gets it back to 3-2 and a little shift in momentum.

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