China Championship Final 2019 – Shorts Thoughts

It was a match that seemed to be going one way, particularly during the evening session but then it turned into a real slobber knocker including a comeback, decider, flukes and the breaking of a long title absence for one of the two players involved. Let’s go through Murphy vs. Williams in the China Championship, shall we?

The first session wasn’t too notable in the general sense, so I’ll summarise. Murphy took Frames 1 and 2 in a couple of scrappy openers but the favour was returned by Williams taking the next two frames with breaks over 70 going into the midsession. It was then a constant back-and-forth between the players until the end of the afternoon session where Murphy was able to take a slim lead of 5-4. The opening session contained 2 of the 4 centuries in the match; one from each player. A wonderfully constructed 143 from Williams in Frame 7 and 133 from Murphy in the final frame of the session.

The evening session was where things dialled up. Frame 10 saw Murphy in with a chance first but an unfortunate kiss off the pink limited his contributions that frame. Williams developed a 54-15 to which Murphy made a valiant effort to clear the table up to the black, with 4 reds remaining. This break included some terrific pots, so well worth watching if you haven’t. It even saw a double-turned-triple from Murphy at the end but the karma was reciprocated with a tricky cut-back on the final black being Murphy’s demise.

Frames 11 and 12 went to Murphy with his breaks of 75 and 76 respectively. It was a shame for Williams since in Frame 12 he laid a brilliant safety shot against the cushion which would give any player significant trouble – but this was potted with authority by Murphy. Williams saw action first in Frames 13 and 14 but in each of these frames he was unsuccessful on his split attempts, giving Murphy the opportunity to make 103 and 79. Murphy has now taken 4 frames in succession, and the score line was now 9-5.

What I liked about the frame immediately after this was that Williams didn’t shy away from the fact that he was 9-5 down. He took on a risky opening pot in Frame 15, sunk it, made a break of 73 and completely shut Murphy out of the frame. All he did was break off.

Frame 16 commenced with a lengthy deliberation before any points were scored and this was also the frame where you probably saw the clips/highlights involving a major re-spot. Williams was glued in front of the green with the blue in the way of his original line which led to a mass scatter on top of a foul. Credit to Peggy Lee for handling the situation well and professionally.

A few more fouls conceded by Williams saw an erratic ‘just smack it’ kind of shot, which oddly enough ended up in a reasonable position. Funnily enough, Williams’s safety was far better after this shot. This led to a break of 43 and Williams getting some of those foul points back later in the frame. Murphy was unable to capitalise this frame and Williams was within two (9-7). That was just Frame 16.

Frame 17 was another lengthy frame similar to before which saw another ‘hit-and-hope’ type of shot from Williams. This sparked a ‘woah’ moment from the crowd. From 49-28 down, Williams sunk a wonderful long pot to get himself 50-49 up. He then laid a good snooker to take the frame. This was followed by the last century of the match – a 132 from Williams initiated via a gorgeous double into right centre. The score was 9-9.

Murphy, at this point, shocked that he’s even in a decider was able to hold his nerve at the right time to construct a break of 69. He couldn’t continue his break from where he was but potting the subsequent green put him 69 ahead with 67 remaining. Williams made a solid effort with a break of 30 and one red remaining but a loose snooker attempt enabled Murphy to see the match off by thumping in the final red.

This victory for Murphy sees his first title victory since the Champion of Champions in 2017. It was his third consecutive final this season, falling short at the International and at Shanghai, but sees him now rise to the top of the One-Year rankings. He is pretty much guaranteed qualification for the Coral Cup, especially if this form continues.

The China Championship win may be the catalyst in opening the floodgates for Murphy. In the Shanghai Masters final, I predicted that we would be seeing more of Murphy in finals this season, and he went and did that in his very next event. Murphy’s career centuries are now at 499 and he has proved to be quite the credible threat going into Triple Crowns this season.

As for Williams, he’s just being himself when it comes to his approach to competition but this run will give him the confidence to continue to make ranking finals. Before this, his last win was at the World Open last year. Besides that, he didn’t make it past the quarter-final until this tournament (not including Six-Reds).

Much like Robertson, Trump and O’Sullivan were the stars of last season, Shaun Murphy may be one for this season. I know it’s still very early to say, but if things keep going the way they are for him, and he can hold his nerve a little better going into later tournaments, he will have a place on Mount Rushmore for the 2019/20 season.

Joe Perry vs. Judd Trump China Championship 2019 – Shorts Thoughts

Judd Trump is in that bubble at the moment where he is expected to crush every tournament that he competes in. This makes it surprising when this precisely does not happen. Joe Perry was the unfortunate player to draw the World Champion in the Last 16 of the China Championship – so let’s look at what happened.

Perry didn’t open the match with the best break-off shot; allowing Trump to sink a long pot but unexpectedly missed the next black off the spot. Perry wasn’t able to capitalise in his subsequent visit but following a series of safety exchanges, Perry was able to take the first frame with a break of 89.

Frames 2 and 3 were Trump’s only contribution to the scoreboard. Frame 2 was one which should have gone to Perry but missed a black while on a break of 59. The reds were out in the open which enabled Trump to clear and steal the frame with a break of 60. This frame was followed by a 102 from Trump in Frame 3. Seems like business as usual for Trump, right?

The fourth frame was one of the most interesting in the match. A solid opener from Perry led to a break of 43 but, as seems to be the pattern with this match, a missed black while trying to carefully separate the pack was his downfall. This frame provided multiple opportunities for Trump to get in and at least accumulate some points but he didn’t seem to get any rhythm despite winning the two previous frames. After a lengthy safety exchange, Trump went in-off and Perry potted enough balls for Trump to concede.

A break of 92 favoured Perry in Frame 5. A somewhat audacious plant attempt in the next frame from Trump went in-off and reds were left all over the table. Perry was able to build a 66 point lead with 5 reds left on the table. There was an attempt to steal from Trump but missing the first black led to concession.

The final frame of the match didn’t do Trump any favours either. After a good split off the blue, he went in-off on the next red. One good opening shot and kiss off the blue later led to a break of 36 from Perry. At 14-46, there was a safety battle between the competitors, which led to Trump’s cue ball making contact with the object ball on the way up the table in one of his safeties. This was the opening Perry needed to take frame and match which of course, he did.

There’s not much to say about why Trump lost this bout but it looks like it was just a bad day which wasn’t helped by the unfortunate kisses and in-offs he suffered during the match. Furthermore, his long potting wasn’t where it normally is either. Some of his long pots were close, but the majority of them were missed considerably by someone of his standards.

Even some of his short distance pots were uncharacteristically missed. Unfortunately, in this match Perry was just missing less. After Trump’s two frames, he just couldn’t get into the match like he normally would. Despite this, something that was displayed is that Trump is probably the best off-the-cushion player in the game. There were many shots off-the-rail during the match which Trump played wonderfully and like no other.

This departure won’t raise any concerns for Trump or his fans. He is still the best player in the world currently and this will be supported by all others on the tour at the moment. It would perhaps be a little more worrying if he didn’t win the International Championship but as it stands, he is still atop the peak of the mountain and steams ahead in the rankings.

Their last encounter was a 6-2 victory for Trump in the International Championship back in August. This win from Perry brought Trump’s 15 ranking game win streak to an end. Joe Perry shows once again that he can scrap with the best of them. Even though he subsequently lost his quarter-final match against an impressive Hossein Vafaei, Perry will take a lot of confidence from his performance in the Last 16.

Shanghai Masters Final 2019 – Shorts Thoughts

It was a similar contest to last year’s final, both in the score line and the way it played out. In one corner, we have the defending champion who also happens to be competing in his first tournament of the season; and in the other corner we have a player who has already been in one ranking final and has stormed his way to the closing match of the Shanghai Masters.

Murphy took the opening three frames of the bout which included breaks of 43, 62 and 68. The surprising element of these frames was that O’Sullivan was in with opportunities first but missed reds to leave his opponent to take the frames. Straight from the offset, Murphy was displaying his supreme long potting ability.

Most viewers (and probably Murphy himself) probably didn’t expect this kind of start to the match. When it seemed that that Murphy was going to take a 4-0 lead going into the mid-session interval, he broke down on 43 by playing a loose positional shot from the blue. After laying a tight snooker behind the green, O’Sullivan was able to steal the fourth frame.

The next three frames were taken by O’Sullivan – meaning he overturned his 3-0 deficit to take the next four frames in a row. Frames 5 and 6 produced chances for Murphy to steal as O’Sullivan did not make any frame winning contributions, but it was not to be in those frames. The match was 5-5 going into the evening’s session although Murphy probably should have cleared the table in the last frame to secure a lead.

An unfortunate miscue on the blue in Frame 12 meant the first two frames of the evening were shared between the players. The entire match displayed this kind of close competition throughout. There’s always a high level of enjoyment watching O’Sullivan and Murphy play against each other. Anyway, I digress.

The first century wasn’t seen until Frame 13 where Murphy made 111. This should have given Murphy the confidence to continue and pull ahead but a poor break off allowed O’Sullivan to respond with a break of 130.

Breaks of 51, 32, 45 and 29 helped O’Sullivan clinch the next two frames. He was also aided by an incredulous fluke in Frame 15. O’Sullivan was now pulling away for the first time in the match. This was followed by his second century of the match in the next frame (124). The score was now 10-7.

Murphy wasn’t done though – breaks of 82 and 90 helped him take the next two frames. He was trying to force a decider in Frame 20 but broke down on a break of 29. O’Sullivan then finished the match with 86 to secure the turkey of Shanghai Masters trophies.

What I really enjoyed about this match (besides how close it was) was that neither player was afraid to play aggressively and go for the long pots. I think because each player understand their opponents style (considering all the finals they contested in the past few years), they were embracing the chances to go for the longer pots.

Where most players would wait for their opponents to make a mistake and leave them in among the balls, Murphy would create his chances from his confident, yet lethal long potting. There wasn’t a lot of one-visit snooker that would have been expected with this kind of match-up but there was a constant back and forth which kept tensions and excitement high. It was easy to forget that O’Sullivan was 3-0 down in the beginning.

As always though, there was good camaraderie between O’Sullivan and Murphy throughout and at the end of the match. They put on a great contest for the Shanghai audience and those watching from all over and it probably won’t be the last time they meet each other in a final.

O’Sullivan vs Wilson Shanghai Masters QF 2019 – Shorts Thoughts

This was an interesting match, to say the least. Mostly because it probably didn’t go in a way that people would have thought a match like this should have played out. Nevertheless, Snooker and its players continue to surprise all with a quarter-final match which perhaps saw an unexpected result for most.

The opening frame of O’Sullivan vs Wilson was scrappy, but ultimately favoured in Wilson’s way. An impressive opening red from Wilson showed a tease of the performance that could be expected from The Warrior but unfortunately a few misses from both players led to a safety exchange where O’Sullivan pushed a red into open play, allowing Wilson to take frame 1.

Wilson took advantage of O’Sullivan’s loose safety play and cleared frame 2 with 131. Although, a near miss from Wilson in frame 3 gave O’Sullivan the opportunity to get his first frame on the board. This was a break O’Sullivan should have cleared up but missed a relatively easy pink. Luckily for him, it didn’t affect the outcome of the frame.

Frames 4-6 were all Wilson. No centuries, but Wilson did well enough with 2 breaks over 50 in these frames. O’Sullivan had chances in all frames to win himself but his loose safety and his unexpected long potting performance hadn’t seemed to be out of his system just yet. That makes it 5-1 to Wilson; requiring one more frame and the momentum is with him.

Something must have clicked. O’Sullivan took frame 7 with a break of 107. But for most, the turning point was in frame 8 where Wilson made a break of 36, then went 49 points up. O’Sullivan took advantage of a free ball however, later he fluked one of the reds into the bottom left corner which helped him convert the frame.

This was seen as O’Sullivan’s saving grace because if that red didn’t go in then Wilson would have seen the match off. Some also said that the fluke was fair since Wilson fluked a snooker escape behind the pink a few shots before O’Sullivan where he didn’t hit the intended ball – this was further indicated by Wilson holding his hand up in apology.

Then O’Sullivan must have found second gear. Despite Wilson being in first, he cleared the next frame with 124. This led to frame 10 consisting of a terrific opening red by O’Sullivan. He broke down on a break of 69 and Wilson almost clawed his way back into the frame. However, nerves must have started to get the better of Wilson at this point as he was not able to convert the frame to secure victory. The match was now level.

In the decider, there were a couple of missed opportunities by both players but a wonderful split into the pack by O’Sullivan led to a break of 60 by The Rocket. Similarly to last frame, O’Sullivan should have continued to close out the match but surprisingly potted the black and the cue ball followed the colour into the pocket. This gave Wilson one last opportunity to win the frame and match but due to a missed black, the match was then closed out by O’Sullivan.

What I liked about this match was the mirroring effect that was playing out during the course of the game. Initially, it was all Wilson; capitalising off of O’Sullivan’s weaker long potting and safety shots. Later on in the match, it was O’Sullivan doing just that to Wilson.

Both players had plenty of opportunities in almost every frame to secure victory and both will look back on this match as games they should have performed better in. O’Sullivan should have done better in frame 4 to get snookers and in frame 5 when it went to the final black. Conversely, Wilson should have done better killing off the match, even after O’Sullivan’s fluke in frame 8. All in all, what a spectacle for the viewers in the Shanghai Masters audience.