2013 World Snooker Championship

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WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FIRST ROUND

(Seeded players are in brackets)

(1) Ronnie O'Sullivan v Marcus Campbell

(16) Ali Carter v Ben Woollaston

(9) Stuart Bingham v Sam Baird

(8) John Higgins v Mark Davis

(5) Shaun Murphy v Martin Gould

(12) Graeme Dott v Peter Ebdon

(13) Matthew Stevens v Marco Fu

(4) Judd Trump v Dominic Dale

(3) Neil Robertson v Robert Milkins

(14) Ricky Walden v Michael Holt

(11) Mark Williams v Michael White

(6) Stephen Maguire v Dechawat Poomjaeng

(7) Mark Allen v Mark King

(10) Ding Junhui v Alan McManus

(15) Barry Hawkins v Jack Lisowski

(2) Mark Selby v Matthew Selt

The Special Juan wrote:

emancipator wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:Whoever wins will play better in the final when there's absolutely no pressure on them.

Doubt it, they'll be mentally fried by then.

Ronnie will win this in second gear.

This'll probably be his easiest WC ever.

So easy that it must be asterisked

* I am joking of course. I don't like the man but I'm not pathetic enough to belittle his achievements.

Hehe

Azzy Mahmood wrote:Well done Ronnie, sending Judd crying to his mummy

Five world titles coming up haters. And next year #6!

Yeah baby..

Don't stop the meds Ronnie until you've got 8.

Loved how Ronnie gave Judd the most dismissive handshake ever. So much for Judds bravado before the start of the match. I think Ronnie proved that he doesn't 'fear' Judd. Lol.

I reckon Ronnie should just use his left hand for the final. Maybe they should handicap him, like he's only allowed one break per frame

emancipator wrote:

Duty281 wrote:

The Special Juan wrote:This might be the lowest quality WC semi-final I've ever seen.

I fear it's going to be a very one-sided final.

At least Rory McLeod isn't involved. Imagine that a black Muslim in the final. It'd be enough to make you wanna top yerself eh Duty

I've already spat on the floor with rage at the very thought!

(please note, I'm joking)

emancipator wrote:

Azzy Mahmood wrote:Well done Ronnie, sending Judd crying to his mummy

Five world titles coming up haters. And next year #6!

Yeah baby..

Don't stop the meds Ronnie until you've got 8.

Loved how Ronnie gave Judd the most dismissive handshake ever. So much for Judds bravado before the start of the match. I think Ronnie proved that he doesn't 'fear' Judd. Lol.

I reckon Ronnie should just use his left hand for the final. Maybe they should handicap him, like he's only allowed one break per frame

You see it so often in every sport; a young upstart blabs about not fearing a great and then gets a hammering because he's inspired his opponent or not turned up himself.

To be fair Hawkins is the kind of player who could really wind him up (like Ebdon used to). If Barry can get back the form he showed in the earlier rounds then you never know.

Walden's style I don't think will match up well to Ronnie's over a long distance.

Ronnie's too calm to be wound up these days. He vaguely realises that 5 would look better on his cv than 4.

I'm sure he's used to things coming in 5s :P

What odds on a Monday afternoon finish..

It's impossible to finish on Sunday so quite low I imagine.

Ahh Peter "12 break in 5 minutes, COME ON" Ebdon. Legend.

How twitchy will tonight be?

Someone needs to get in and win a frame with one visit in under 10 minutes for the sake of both themselves and the match.

Ricky looks ill.

Hmmm, that might just be the match there.

This is exactly as scrappy as it was this morning

Come on Ricky, don't wilt now. Please, for the sake of a competitive final, don't wilt.

In terms of rankings if I am correct
Bingham moves to 6, Walden 8, Hawkins 9 with Higgins falling to 11 and MJW to 15

PSB has Barry at 10 just now (he'll move higher when he wins the next frame). MJW is finished so I wouldn't worry about him. Higgins is the odd one; his ranking will fall next season as I can't see him jetting all over the world to play in Australia and China 4-5 times a year, but who'd want to draw him in the first round of a tournament?

I feel sorry for Ricky. He's so much better than this but is not having a good time of it at the moment, although if I'm honest then it's pretty much his fault for not putting Barry away on Thursday and Friday.

Joe Johnson did it!

The only snooker win my dad can remember from back then!

Oh, Terry again!! I loved listening to his soothing voice earlier today so much I am overjoyed that I can hear this rousing speech again!

Oh, this isn't the same thing as was on this morning. I like this one better.

Interesting, apparently the sMurph says the kicks are caused by the heaters which somehow result in the balls being oiled (oh matron!).

Well at least he didn't go down by losing 9 frames in a row. 16-13.

The Special Juan wrote:Interesting, apparently the sMurph says the kicks are caused by the heaters which somehow result in the balls being oiled (oh matron!).

Are you on Twitter?

Can't deny Hawkins has a lot of bottle, grats to him

Congratulations to Elmer Fudd for making the Final. But everyone including himself fully knows that he is the massive underdog so therefore what can he do to make the final a less one-sided affair as what many people feel it is going to out to be? Or is it a totally forgone conclusion that Elmer is going to get well and truly hammered?

The Special Juan wrote:Ricky looks ill.

He always looks as though he hasn't slept for a couple of days.

Best of luck Bazza. Sadly, he doesn't stand a chance but want him to win. Sooner see the title go to somebody who really appreciates the sport and yearns to win the title rather than a mercenary.

Yes Dave.

Barry's done incredibly well to reach the final but he'll do well to take it to a final session. My prediction is somewhere between 18-6 and 18-8 inclusive.

The Special Juan wrote:Yes Dave.

Barry's done incredibly well to reach the final but he'll do well to take it to a final session. My prediction is somewhere between 18-6 and 18-8 inclusive.

Yes that is how I see it going as well.

I think he has at least some chance, I can still remember ronnie capitulating against dott and hawkins is a very similar player. Plus he's shown at times that he is capable of producing top drawer snooker.

But he does need to get off to a reasonable start in order to put some pressure on

This has been one of the poorer tournaments in recent years. The century count is really low, there's only been one decider which was in by far the best match of the tournament, the top players have really disappointed and there's been no 147!! If he was still playing, Hendry could have made it 8!! Ok, maybe not, but I think it will be much better next year when the players decide which events they want to play in and are not forced to play in. Still, arguably the best two players of the tournament are in the final, although I wish it was Dale v Angles....

Sorry the level (as I have said before during this tournament) has dipped alarmingly. I will still watch the final but think back to competitive finals between giants of the sport.

I might just watch a repeat of the 2006 Masters final on a loop (or the 2009 tournament. I liked that tournament )

Isn't it interesting - Ronnie's one real world final opponent seen as a great was John Higgins. His other four final opponents were Grame Dott, Ali Carter (twice) and Barry Hawkins. Petrifying opponents....not. Akin to Andy Murray getting to slam finals and having to beat Gilles Simon, Janko Tiparevic or Almagro in the final.

You can only beat who's in front of you. Look at some of the high quality(!) players Federer has played in major finals. I won't use the calibre of his opponents in the final against him (or any other player) though.

Yes TSJ but I have had many run-ins with Ronnie fans who swear Hendry only won the titles he did as snooker was not as competitive then.

I put more stock in beating legends of the sport in finals such as Jimmy White, Ken Doherty and Mark Williams.

Well done Bazza for putting a frame on the board and trails 2-1.

Good break this

CaledonianCraig wrote:Yes TSJ but I have had many run-ins with Ronnie fans who swear Hendry only won the titles he did as snooker was not as competitive then.

I know, it's what they do. The hypocritical ones are the best ("Weak era" blah blah blah).

Whitewash avoided

Good effort this by Bazza. Looking pretty good to level this up.

I might watch it after all when I get back. Random bit of trivia - he needs two more centuries to overtake Hendry's record of Crucible centuries.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Best of luck Bazza. Sadly, he doesn't stand a chance but want him to win. Sooner see the title go to somebody who really appreciates the sport and yearns to win the title rather than a mercenary.

Your dislike of Ronnie wouldn't have anything to do with him eclipsing Hendry now would it

Bazza back level at 2-2. The longer he can hang in there then the better for this final.

Come on Ronnie, crush him and crush the spirit of all the evil anti-Ronnies.

emancipator wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:Best of luck Bazza. Sadly, he doesn't stand a chance but want him to win. Sooner see the title go to somebody who really appreciates the sport and yearns to win the title rather than a mercenary.

Your dislike of Ronnie wouldn't have anything to do with him eclipsing Hendry now would it

Eclipsing??

Hendry 7 World Titles V O'Sullivan 4 World Titles

Gee whizz and you call that eclipsing emancipator. Do you need a calculator? I will give you a few minutes to go away and work it out.

CaledonianCraig wrote:

emancipator wrote:

CaledonianCraig wrote:Best of luck Bazza. Sadly, he doesn't stand a chance but want him to win. Sooner see the title go to somebody who really appreciates the sport and yearns to win the title rather than a mercenary.

Your dislike of Ronnie wouldn't have anything to do with him eclipsing Hendry now would it

Eclipsing??

Hendry 7 World Titles V O'Sullivan 4 World Titles

Gee whizz and you call that eclipsing emancipator. Do you need a calculator? I will give you a few minutes to go away and work it out.

That's true Craig, but we all know Ronnie coulda been on 8 by now..

If only he'd stayed on the meds..

Alas..

But there is still time.

The greatest all round player of all time (closely followed by Steve Davis and then John Higgins) still has time.

I thought the greatest all round player ever was Steve Davis.

Speaking of Steve, I love these "History of Snooker" segments. He must be loving this bit.

How could he have been on 8? He has only ever reached 5 world finals? Are you sure it was him needing meds with that statement?

And how can he be the all-round best of all-time? He has the mentality of a six-year-old. A mental midget if you want to compare him to Davis and Hendry. Mental side of the game is very important and so Ronnie is disqualified from the race apart from his fanboys.