Redcafe Snooker

For a player as dominant as Ronnie, his record at the Crucible in the last 5 or so years is inexplicable. What an incredible result for James Cahill though.
 
Yeah, Hendry’s record is safe now when it should have already been taken.
 
No QF appearance for Ronnie since 2014. 4th time in 27 Crucible appearances he's lost in the first round.

It also means I will be seeing Maguire vs. Cahill when I'm there on Friday morning. I don't mind because I've seen Ronnie a few times now and although I've seen Maguire at other venues, this will be the first time at Sheffield.

It's good for the other players in the draw but I genuinely don't think he ever held the fear this year that he has done in previous years. He's far from done at the top level but can he win another World Championship? I'd say it's 50/50.
 
ChrisNelson said:
No QF appearance for Ronnie since 2014. 4th time in 27 Crucible appearances he's lost in the first round.

It also means I will be seeing Maguire vs. Cahill when I'm there on Friday morning. I don't mind because I've seen Ronnie a few times now and although I've seen Maguire at other venues, this will be the first time at Sheffield.

It's good for the other players in the draw but I genuinely don't think he ever held the fear this year that he has done in previous years. He's far from done at the top level but can he win another World Championship? I'd say it's 50/50.
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His game is clearly still there to win a World Championship, but unless he seriously changes his mental approach he's not going to get there. He goes on about how he dislikes the length of the tournament but he's been out of it before that even starts to become a factor. If he was constantly going out closer to the end of the tournament you could argue it's the fatigue getting to him but that's not what's happening.

I reckon Robertson must be massive favourite now. He looks to have brought his excellent form into the tournament so he'll be hard to beat. Trump as well, although his form has slowed down a bit recently. And you never know if a player like Selby grows into the tournament.
 
Ainu said:
His game is clearly still there to win a World Championship, but unless he seriously changes his mental approach he's not going to get there. He goes on about how he dislikes the length of the tournament but he's been out of it before that even starts to become a factor. If he was constantly going out closer to the end of the tournament you could argue it's the fatigue getting to him but that's not what's happening.

I reckon Robertson must be massive favourite now. He looks to have brought his excellent form into the tournament so he'll be hard to beat. Trump as well, although his form has slowed down a bit recently. And you never know if a player like Selby grows into the tournament.
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I agree, I would also make Robertson the favourite now and also Trump has been playing some good stuff but he has a difficult first round match. If he comes through that unscathed then I think he'll go deep in to the tournament.

Selby it's impossible to know because it seems such a long time since he's set the world alight.
 
Would love Robertson to win it. A player of his talent should have more than 1 works title
 
Mrs Smoker said:
Un-Nooh with a 3-1 lead*. And that in less than an hour.

*barring snookers
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He's the quickest player on tour by over one second! Average shot time for the season (seconds, obviously) below:

1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 16.99
2 Zhao Xintong 18.12
3 Jack Lisowski 18.17

And Trump doesn't hang around either so it was always going to be a quick match. Worrying start for Judd though.
 
O'Sullivan out
Trump 3-6
Bingham leads 8-1, only for Dott to come back to 9-8 (also, Bingham lost a frame after three fouls)
Yuelong leads Allen 5-0 (1 hour 25 minutes since Allen's last pot)

Crazy crazy day.
 
Dott coming back from 8-1 down to force a decider at 9-9, only to lose it anyway. How deflating must that be? I'm sure he'll look back with some pride but he must've felt sick immediately after.
 
If Trump goes out in the first round again I think he's starting to look destined never to win it, Jimmy White style.

He seems to have a big mental block when it comes to the Crucible. And there's a generation of Chinese players in particular who are coming up behind him that are only going to get better and better with more experience playing there.

Personally I really hope he wins it, and if he gets one he could get a few but I think Neil Robertson is the man to stop, although he has a tough second round match against Murphy who seems to have found some form from nowhere.

The Dott match, like the Brecel - Wilson and Maguire - Zhou match had an epic finish, I don't think anyone watching thought that Bingham had that last frame in him. Dott will be gutted but no matter what happens he has that 1 title to his name which can never be taken away and there's lots of players that will never get one.
 
8-7 Trump and looks like it's only going one way... It's like watching 2 different players today.
 
ChrisNelson said:
If Trump goes out in the first round again I think he's starting to look destined never to win it, Jimmy White style.

He seems to have a big mental block when it comes to the Crucible. And there's a generation of Chinese players in particular who are coming up behind him that are only going to get better and better with more experience playing there.

Personally I really hope he wins it, and if he gets one he could get a few but I think Neil Robertson is the man to stop, although he has a tough second round match against Murphy who seems to have found some form from nowhere.

The Dott match, like the Brecel - Wilson and Maguire - Zhou match had an epic finish, I don't think anyone watching thought that Bingham had that last frame in him. Dott will be gutted but no matter what happens he has that 1 title to his name which can never be taken away and there's lots of players that will never get one.
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It's always hard to predict these things. Look at Selby, he underperformed at the Crucible for a very long time and looked like he had a serious issue there, yet suddenly it clicked and he won 3 out of 4. Wasn't he around 30 when he got his first? Trump is 29 now, so still plenty of time left.
 
Un Nooh gets too excited. Love watching fast paced play but he needs to take a second to slow down sometimes
 
One thing we can be sure of, that Chinese revolution is far far away still.

Zhou Yuelong is about to feck up his 9-2 lead. Should be 9-8 any moment now.
 
Second round draw all but complete at Sheffield, last 2 to be confirmed today, Wilson has a 6-2 lead over Donaldson and Carter is 5-4 up on Lisowski.

Round 2 (Best of 25)

Mark Williams (1) vs David Gilbert (16)
Barry Hawkins (9) vs Kyren Wilson (8) / Scott Donaldson

John Higgins (5) vs Stuart Bingham (8)
Shaun Murphy (13) vs Neil Robertson (4)

Mark Selby (3) vs Gary Wilson
Jack Lisowski (11) / Ali Carter vs Zhou Yuelong

Judd Trump (7) vs Ding Junhui (10)
Stephen Maguire (15) vs James Cahill


I think the stand out matches are obviously in the second section with 2 absolute crackers there and also Trump v Ding.

If Wilson comes through to play Hawkins (which he should) then that could also be a close one, I might just favour Hawkins aka Mr Crucible.
 
I'm really looking forward to the Murphy - Robertson match. Both were excellent in the first round. We expect a lot from Robertson (and rightly so) but Murphy on his day can be devastating. You never know.
 
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