Really pleased for Sean O'Sullivan in reaching the venue, that was a big win for him today. Gouldy was gracious in defeat and was really happy for Sean who played pretty well and deserved the win. At 3-2 Gould went for a red which had it gone it would have netted the match the way the balls were, but it rattled and Sean cleared for 3-3 then made a better job of his chances in the decider than Gould and thoroughly deserved the win.
I arrived just as Hull was at the table at 3-3 against Robbo. I said to my mate "I can't believe he's going for this" about the thin red along top cushion, and it duly turned out to be his last shot as Robbo did what champions do and stepped in and cleared the board. So much for him looking vulnerable.
Kyren played really well against Rory. I mean really well! He knocked in a century in the first, dominated the second when Rory went for the quicksand tactics of messing up the table, then in the next two Kyren forced the error with good safety and knocked in a 70+ both times for the whitewash. I didn't realise how much that match meant to him until he referred to it as a monkey off his back because Rory was the man who knocked him off tour. He knew Rory would try to slow it down and mess the table up so he went on the offensive and opened the reds at the earliest opportunity. The more you learn about Kyren the more impressed you become. He said of Shanghai "I'll probably get a wildcard" then after a couple of seconds thought "It doesn't matter, I'll win anyway." He's going to be winning ranking events one day I have no doubt about it.
I didn't really pay attention to the streamed tables and Dotty's game was blocked by a giant plasma screen scoreboard from where I was sitting. I watched Luca v Doherty and Luca was out of sorts and getting very worked up in the frames to go 3-0 down. He potted the white on several occasions and was unlucky in that regard but when he finally got going he looked as good as ever. Don't read anything into a best of 7 result, Luca will have his day before the year's out.
Wattana v Ryan Clark was a disappointment in that neither player really got going, in the end Wattana getting 2 good snookers at 2-1 and clearing for 3-1 was the turning point. Clark really should have won 3 of the frames he didn't in fairness.
Dunn v Un-Nooh was potentially a tasty tie with Dunn saying before the match that Un-Nooh scared him a bit but in the end it was an annihilation. Dunn seems to have found his range at last after illness killed off his last sustained form early last year, and he's also got a new cue after having issues with his previous one toward the end of last season. The dilemma for him at the moment is staying on tour because the barren spell last year has left him lower than 64. He knows if he stays on he'll get a boost with last seasons efforts being wiped, but equally if he drops off he will probably retire. He's going to enter everything as he showed by losing money overall but gaining £200 for the money list by flying out just for AT1 having not qualified for Wuxi.
Speaking of money lists, this is the one that matters because this is the one which will determine who stays on tour at the end of this season when the money list system kicks in
http://www.prosnookerblog.com/rankings/ ... oney-list/The difference between best of 7s and best of 9s is massive when you go and watch. I don't think anyone was happy about best of 7s for a ranking event. One player told me that even though he was trying to win, he wasn't bothered at all that he'd lost because of the prize money with players having to pay for expenses themselves, and the format at the venue only being best of 7.
Another player described best of 7s from a players point of view. He said if you're playing a player you know you're better than, you can go in thinking they're going to get lucky and beat you and yet if you go into one against John Higgins you fancy your chances, just because of the format.
I expect with events like this we'll hear our fair share of moaning from some of the big names used to being seeded through to latter stages. The change from staggered seeded rounds to flat 128 is not going to be a smooth transition, that's for sure. The logistics are far more complex and it is going to be very difficult to keep a large %age of the players happy as the season progresses.
by hendry_fan » 11 Aug 2013 Read
