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Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby Andre147

Pink Ball wrote:I think one frame that's going to get overlooked is frame 29, unfairly so. Selby was in, leading the frame by 16 with 43 remaining. He missed a tough red near the bottom cushion, but I fancied him to make it. O'Sullivan potted the red and dislodged the remaining red, very aggressively at that. It cleared the way for a frame-winning 37, and instead of 13-16, it was 14-15.


Yeah that was a brilliant shot to take the last red out, with his left hand too.

Had he gone 13-16 down he might still have produced brilliant frames like he did at 14-16 down, but the job would be much harder.

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby Holden Chinaski

This ROS-Selby semi is one of my all-time favourite matches. Classic.

Ronnie might seem a bit reckless at times in this match, but actually he was using a brilliant tactic. Something I think he has been thinking about a lot. And it worked. And it drove Selby mad. Love it.

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby SnookerFan

Holden Chinaski wrote:This ROS-Selby semi is one of my all-time favourite matches. Classic.

Ronnie might seem a bit reckless at times in this match, but actually he was using a brilliant tactic. Something I think he has been thinking about a lot. And it worked. And it drove Selby mad. Love it.


Great one-session match.

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby Dan-cat

Pink Ball wrote:I think one frame that's going to get overlooked is frame 29, unfairly so. Selby was in, leading the frame by 16 with 43 remaining. He missed a tough red near the bottom cushion, but I fancied him to make it. O'Sullivan potted the red and dislodged the remaining red, very aggressively at that. It cleared the way for a frame-winning 37, and instead of 13-16, it was 14-15.


I love that frame. Ronnie had potted the red and moved the other one and made himself favourite before Selby had even sat down

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby Prop

Pink Ball wrote:I think one frame that's going to get overlooked is frame 29, unfairly so. Selby was in, leading the frame by 16 with 43 remaining. He missed a tough red near the bottom cushion, but I fancied him to make it. O'Sullivan potted the red and dislodged the remaining red, very aggressively at that. It cleared the way for a frame-winning 37, and instead of 13-16, it was 14-15.


Yep, left handed with top and pace. It’s shots like those that turn frames on their head. It was a beaut.

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby Prop

Holden Chinaski wrote:This ROS-Selby semi is one of my all-time favourite matches. Classic.

Ronnie might seem a bit reckless at times in this match, but actually he was using a brilliant tactic. Something I think he has been thinking about a lot. And it worked. And it drove Selby mad. Love it.


I’m going to watch the whole match back when I get a chance. I missed the third sesh, and to be honest I was in a bit of a trance watching the Friday night. My neighbours definitely heard a few yelps through the walls :-)

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby TheRocket

Finally had the time to watch the ROS-Selby match again for a second time. At least most parts. Definitely one of the greatest Crucible matches in history.

No matter how you look at it. This match has been almost, if not as equally important as the 2014 world final in terms of legacy and career defining importance. We know that Wilson collapsed in the final and like many predicted, they were right in saying this semifinal was like the real final.

Selby won his long awaited first World title in 2014 and stopped Ronnie from winning a sixth and equalling Davis and probably also stopped him from equalling Hendrys record in the near future.

In 2020 ROS won his long awaited sixth World title and stopped Selby from equalling Higgins and also stopped him from being only one World title away from his own (Ronnies) record. Which obviously would have been still 5 had Ronnie lost. Also avoided a 0:3 H2H against Selby at the Crucible which was very important as well.
Last edited by TheRocket on 26 Aug 2020, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby Holden Chinaski

When you watch that match you can tell both players knew they would lift the trophy if they got to the final. No way McGill or Wilson would beat Selby or Ronnie in a final and they knew it. The Selby v Ronnie semi was actually the final. Brilliant match. When you see Selby walking out at the end you can see how gutted he is. He already did a fist pump in the middle of the match somewhere. Ronnie did nothing when he won, just casually walked away and he knew the title was his.

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby TheRocket

Holden Chinaski wrote:When you watch that match you can tell both players knew they would lift the trophy if they got to the final. No way McGill or Wilson would beat Selby or Ronnie in a final and they knew it. The Selby v Ronnie semi was actually the final. Brilliant match. When you see Selby walking out at the end you can see how gutted he is. He already did a fist pump in the middle of the match somewhere. Ronnie did nothing when he won, just casually walked away and he knew the title was his.


Ronnie was as cool as a cucumber. I expected a fist pump but he didnt show even the slightest of reactions.

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby D4P

TheRocket wrote:Ronnie was as cool as a cucumber. I expected a fist pump but he didnt show even the slightest of reactions.


He said he's been working with Steve Peters on not caring (much) whether he wins or loses, so I suppose that if a player figures out how not to get too low when they lose, maybe the flip side is that they don't feel so high when they win...

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby Holden Chinaski

D4P wrote:
TheRocket wrote:Ronnie was as cool as a cucumber. I expected a fist pump but he didnt show even the slightest of reactions.


He said he's been working with Steve Peters on not caring (much) whether he wins or loses, so I suppose that if a player figures out how not to get too low when they lose, maybe the flip side is that they don't feel so high when they win...

Yes I think that's exactly right.

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby Cloud Strife

TheRocket wrote:
Holden Chinaski wrote:When you watch that match you can tell both players knew they would lift the trophy if they got to the final. No way McGill or Wilson would beat Selby or Ronnie in a final and they knew it. The Selby v Ronnie semi was actually the final. Brilliant match. When you see Selby walking out at the end you can see how gutted he is. He already did a fist pump in the middle of the match somewhere. Ronnie did nothing when he won, just casually walked away and he knew the title was his.


Ronnie was as cool as a cucumber. I expected a fist pump but he didnt show even the slightest of reactions.


Yeah, Ronnie’s reaction was very disrespectful IMO.

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby D4P

I didn't think about it at the time, but it occurred to me yesterday that Ronnie's 17-16 victory over Selby was the longest match he has ever played (in terms of # of frames). Before that, his longest match was 32 frames (against Higgins at the 2001 WC and against Selby at the 2014 WC).

Re: Betfred World Championships (Fri Aug 14th) Semi-Finals !

Postby Andre147

D4P wrote:I didn't think about it at the time, but it occurred to me yesterday that Ronnie's 17-16 victory over Selby was the longest match he has ever played (in terms of # of frames). Before that, his longest match was 32 frames (against Higgins at the 2001 WC and against Selby at the 2014 WC).


Good observation.

It was definately one of his toughest matches ever, if not the toughest given the opposition he was presented.