Higgins wins the World Championships to join snookers elite
May 5, 2009
John Higgins won the Snooker World Championships yesterday with an easy 18-9 victory over Shaun Murphy. the victory was worth a cool £250,000 for Higggins, but he will be more happy to have only been the third player to win three titles at the crucible.
The is win has placed Higgins on the same pedastal as Stephen Hendry, Ronnie O’Sullivan and the great Steve Davis.
Higgins found the experience of winning the title again amazing, and stated that these days snooker is a young mans game, but he has proven that the old rear guard will still take some beating.
Higgins did not have an easy path into the final coming within inches of going out on two occasions. Both times however Higgins held his nerve to win the matches 13-12, against both Mark Selby and Jamie Cope.
Higgins was very happy to have beaten the likes of Allen, Cope and Selby as he considers these players to be the best young talents in the game. Higgins firmly believes that all of these players will make the top three players in then world one day, and that they are the future of snooker.
Ronnie O’Sullivan even stated before the tournament that if he did not win it Higgins would do. Higgins laughed this off after winning, and although he thinks O’Sullivan’s remarks were clever he was still very lucky to have made it into the final
Higgins however won the final with ease, even though Murphy had played some excellent snooker Higgins safety play was fantastic and kept him on top throughout the final. Higgins professionally closed out the final, and now becomes the oldest player to win the title since Dennis Taylor in 1985.
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Selby beaten 13-12 to Higgins in great Quarter Final Match
April 30, 2009
Selby has been beaten 13-12 in a fantastic quarter final against John Higgins. Selby had many chances to win the match in the deciding frame, but Higgins kept his cool and won a very tense deciding frame that had to be re-racked on two occasions.
Selby started the final session in fantastic form winning the first two frames when Higgins barley managed a single point. Higgins ever the professional came back and won the next two frames easily to make it 10-10.
The 11th frame was a very tight one which lasted a long 30 minutes which Selby managed to win. But again Higgins came back to make it 11-11. By this point nerves got to both the players and mistakes were frequent.
Selby had a fantastic chance to win the match but missed two easy pots, and Higgins held his nerve and professionally won the match with a great break of 75
Stephen Hendry makes 147 at the World Championships
April 29, 2009
7 times world champion Stephen Hendry has made a fantastic 147 break in this years World Championships. Hendry rolled back the years in the seventh frame of his quarter final against Murphy to the delight of the watching crucible crowd.
Hendry’s fantastic clearance put him into a fantastic position to win the match at 5-2 in front. Hendrys maximum break was the 9th in the Crucibles history and his second after his 147 against Jimmy White in 1995.
Hendry however did make the crowd nervous wobbling the final black in the pocket before dropping in. Hendry’s 147 will be a great confidence boost, and will increase his hopes of winning the tournament since his last victory in 1999.
There were two 147 breaks in the tournament last year when both Carter and O’Sullivan made 147s in the same Championship for the first time. And Hendry will be hoping that he can pull off another perfect break to equal that record.
O’Sullivan out of the Snooker World Championships
April 26, 2009
Snooker favourite Ronnie O’Sullivan has been knocked out the World Championships by Mark Allen. Allen produced some unbelievable snooker to turn a 9-7 deficit to an impressive 13-11 victory.
O’Sullivan who was the defending champion was outplayed by Allen, and can have no questions about the victory. Following his victory Allen will face Nigel Bond or Ryan Day in the quarter finals.
O’Sullivan had started the session the stronger playing putting in an impressive break of 105. O’Sullivan even looked like pulling off another 147 narrowly missing the 14th black, the audience were all set in anticipation of what could have been his fourth career maximum
Allen then dominated the next few frames with breaks of 47 and 36 carrying him into an 11-10 lead
Allen then managed to get within one frame of victory, but still gave O’Sullivan a chance. He missed his chance and Allen completed a tidy break of 46 to complete the unexpected victory
Maguire beats friend Jamie Burnett
April 24, 2009
Maguire has beaten his close friend Jamie Burnett in the first round 10-5 in a match which will have great importance for both players
There match in the UK Championships is still subject in an investigation after suspicious betting when the match was won 9-3.
Maguire was even interviewed by the police last week about the match, but has insisted that nothing has gone on. Maguire is just at the World Championships to play the game he loves, and is happy to have won his first match
Maguire and Burnett have remained good friends throughout the controversy, and if people suspect wrong doing then that is up to them
O’Sullivan picks Higgins as his biggest threat
April 24, 2009
O’Sullivan has described John Higgins as his biggest threat to winning another World Championships. Higgins comfortably beat Michael holt in the first round and was in impressive form throughout the match, although he never even hit top gear
Although Higgins only made one century break in the match he easily made it through to his last 16 meeting with Jamie Cope.
Cope has many similar traits to O’sullivan and will present a massive dander to Higgins. Cope also thrashed Higgins in the UK Championships 2 years again, and will be aware of how much of a danger the young player is
In other news Stephen Hendry looks back to his brilliant best coming back to level his match with Ding Junhui 4-4, with many snooker fans believing this was Hendrys best performance in a session for years
Nigel Bonds aims to get back to his best years
April 24, 2009
Nigel Bond has surprised everyone in the world of snooker by beating former champion Peter Ebdon in the first round of the Snooker World Championships.
After his success Bond now believes that he can play his way back into the top of the game, something that he has been missing for some time now.
Bond managed to beat Ebdon by a massive 5 frames to win the match 10-5, but more surprising is the fact this was only his third win of the season. Bond who was actually ranked a 500-1 outsider of winning the tournament will face either Stephen Lee or Ryan Day in his next match.
Bond does not mind who he plays out of that match, and is just happy the be still in the tournament. Bonds performance against Ebdon has made other snooker players stand up and take notice of him, and pay attention to a player that actually made it to the final in 1995.
Bond however has never lost any of his confidence and is still confident of beating anyone in a match.
Ding leads all Chinese Snooker Match
April 22, 2009
Ding Junhui is currently leading fellow China man Liang Wenbo 7-6 in their first round match. Ding failed to succesfully build on his three frame lead in the match, and is currently involved in a very tight match
Ding was looking to finish the match quickly after easily taking the first two frames of the match to push himself into an easy 7-4 lead.
But Lian who himself has made it to the quarter finals before ralied and took the next 2 frames with impressive breaks of 77 and 68.
In other matches Peter Ebdon is currently losing to Nigel Bond, the 2002 champion is currently 3-1 down and will need all his snooker experience and talent to turn around the match.
Rory Mcleod to Become First Black Player at the World Championships
April 18, 2009
Rory Mcleod is set tomake history today as he will be the first ever black player to play at the crucible in the World Championships.
Rory who’s parents are from Jamaica has been a professional snooker player in the last seven years. The 38 year old player has been practicing very hard recently and managed to rise to the 44th best player in the world.
Rory is very proud to be the first black player to play against the top snooker stars at the Snooker World Championships. Rory is also very surprised that a black player has not played at the World Championships before.
Rory has been the victim of racist chanting in the past, but hopes his success in the sport will encourage more black players to take up the sport.
Rory has found it hard being the only black player on the circuit but does not feel he has been treated any different to the other players on the circuit. Rory is set the play world number 15 Mark King in the first round, the highlights of which you will be able to catch up on with the BBC.
What are your thoughts on Rory? As usual please feel free to comment if you have anything to say
