Snooker Season 2019/20 Mid-Season Review - Shorts Thoughts

It’s been an eventful season so far and now that we’re coming up to the first Triple Crown, let’s recap the highlights of this year’s campaign. Despite what it may seem, other things have happened besides Judd Trump winning everything.

Yan Bingtao captured his first ranking title by winning the Riga Masters back in July. The Riga Masters also missed many of its competitors due to flight complications; players included Kyren Wilson and defending champion, Neil Robertson.

Trump began the season following his WSC win and rise to No. 1 strongly by taking the first of his 3 ranking titles (so far) at Daqing, China for the International Championship. He did get eliminated fairly early in following tournaments but went into a flurry of finals week after week; from the World Open to the Champion of Champions to the NI Open, continuing his great run. He lost out in the CoC final to Robertson but has already established himself as the leading century maker with 45 so far. This is almost double the amount of 2nd place. This is also without mentioning how he is storming away with the world rankings, securing his position at the top for quite some time, regardless of how things continue.

Shaun Murphy is another standout player this season, making 3 consecutive finals, unfortunately losing out to Trump and O’Sullivan at the International and Shanghai respectively, but secured his first ranking win since 2017 in a close fought match against Mark Williams.

The first Home Nation event saw Mark Selby break his drought and win his first ranking title for over a year with victory at Crawley for the English Open. He’s also been in 3 semi-finals this season so far, a significant improvement over previous years. He also has just made a bit of history which he is fully embracing online where he spent 6 minutes 13 seconds taking a single shot. Peter Ebdon can now relax.

Now, let’s summarise the non-rankings. Ronnie O’Sullivan triumphed in his first tournament of the season with a 3rd successive win at Shanghai; but has been unsuccessful in his ventures since then until he reached the NI Open final. He has also taken a much more exhibition style approach to his matches, where his shot selection has been quite questionable.

Robertson got his first win of the season with an absolute classic against Trump in Coventry for the CoC – if you haven’t read the breakdown of this match click here to do that – it was match of the season. Barry Hawkins and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh have also been successful at the Paul Hunter Classic and Haining Open, respectively.

And who can forget Jimmy White winning big at the World Seniors Championship, qualifying him for the Champion of Champions. Another memorable moment in this tournament was the participation of Reanne Evans who put up a very respectable performance against Shaun Murphy, coming close to proceeding to Round 2.

Lastly, there have been three 147’s made this season so far; two have been claimed by Tom Ford and the other by Stuart Bingham during the recent NI Open. So, if somehow 20 maximums get made this season, Ford will be getting at least £100k for his contributions. Ford now has 5 competitive maximums to his name.

There is still an enormous amount of snooker left this season, most notably the Triple Crown and Coral Cup series. Can Trump hold all Triple Crowns in the 2019 year with a win at York; or can O’Sullivan turn it on to defend his title? Will Trump allow anyone to share the trophies this season? What things are you looking forward to happening this season?

This Seems Familiar? Northern Ireland Open Final 2019 – Shorts Thoughts

Another week, another final, another breakdown involving Judd Trump. In a match not too dissimilar to last year, we were witness to a sequel between Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan which commentators coined multiple times as ‘The Best in the World’ vs. ‘The Best of All Time’. Did the NI Open final produce a different match since last year?

O’Sullivan found himself playing catch-up to Trump and never found himself in the lead, or even level in the match. Trump led 3-1 and 5-3 after the first session, then maintained his lead throughout the rest of the match despite O’Sullivan coming within one frame consistently through the remainder of the match.

The pressure was applied to Trump by his opponent but his response was what impressed. Each time O’Sullivan came within a frame, Trump kept pushing away, never allowing O’Sullivan to famously string together a few frames. And his initial lead is what helped him defend his NI Open title – making him the first to defend a Home Nation trophy since its branding in 2016/17.

Like the CoC final prior to this, the NI Open final was a high scoring contest consisting of 6 centuries; 16 50+ breaks; and a few maximum attempts. Given their similar playstyles, the interesting part of this match were their differences in break-building. On many occasions, Trump found himself potting his way through a break and into position whereas, O’Sullivan delivered the break-building masterclass we are all familiar with. Although, when you pot like Trump does, why not?

The main reason O’Sullivan didn’t win on Sunday was because of his recent changes in his approach to competitive play. For those who haven’t been watching, he has adopted an exhibition style to his games which affect his shot selection. His long potting wasn’t strong which if it was, and he was playing a little more ‘normally’ with certain shots, particularly early on, would have won him the final. This is the main reason that Robertson was able to overcome Trump one week beforehand.

This isn’t to take anything away from O’Sullivan’s ability to come back into a match; if anything, in recent years he has become more successful in reducing a deficit and turning a match around. However, if there was one single person right now which his exhibition approach wouldn’t work against, it was Trump – the guy who has really been putting meaning in the term ‘one-visit snooker’, having made 45 centuries this season so far – one away from doubling Robertson in second place.

I’ve spoken on him for the past two weeks, so it’s difficult to say anything different about him. But if Trump keeps at this, which it looks like he will be, this could be potentially the best recorded season of any player of all time. There doesn’t seem to be anyone that can stop him from claiming the UK, winning another world title, getting a total of 6-7 ranking events and scoring 100+ centuries.

Obviously, most people are questioning whether Trump can keep up this period of sheer dominance for a significant period of time and that we can only wait and see. And it still seems that the best time to eliminate Trump from a tournament is in the early rounds, as evident by his journey to a deciding frame against James Cahill in Round 1. But 3 weeks, 3 finals and Trump can now finally get a little rest.

Hopefully, O’Sullivan will take defending his UK Championship a little more seriously but if he comes up against Trump again, can anyone see it happening? Trump has the effect on O’Sullivan that O’Sullivan has on everyone else. It takes a similar playstyle to play against O’Sullivan and since the Shanghai Masters in 2017, Trump seems to have his matches against him figured out.

Match of The Season! Trump vs. Robertson Champion of Champions Final 2019 – Shorts Thoughts

If there were ever two snooker players that made me look forward to a match with tremendous vigour, it would be a Neil Robertson and Judd Trump contest. I don’t think there are two players in the past 10 years or so that could provide an epic that these two can. And 2019’s Champion of Champions final displayed exactly that. I can’t wait to go into this one.

The opening frame was the scrappiest of the afternoon’s session. Reds were scattered, a couple baulk colours were safe and both players were struggling to make significant contributions. The highest break of the frame was Robertson making 36. It ended up in a situation with one red remaining and Trump snookered Robertson behind the black, against the rail. Due to the positioning of the colours on the left and right of the table made the natural escape near-impossible. Robertson made a fine attempt which referee, Desislava Bozhilova called a foul (no miss). This was a fair call as Robertson was a hairs-length away from clipping the red and didn’t warrant the miss call.

Frames 2 and 3 were exchanged by Robertson and Trump with breaks of 112 and 86 respectively. Frame 4 was a little more back-and-forth. Robertson was on 56 when he tried to develop the final red but wasn’t able to – Trump had a chance to clear but fell on the brown, where Robertson secured the frame and a 3-1 lead.

Frames 5, 6 and 7 saw a hat-trick of centuries from Trump. This included a funny moment in Frame 5 with the referee telling Trump to bend over so she can get a wasp that was resting on him; and a wonderful reverse side screw shot from brown into a small pack in Frame 6 from Trump. Robertson wasn’t phased however, as he replied with a 96 and 111 of his own to close the afternoon session with a slender 5-4 lead.

Despite Trump getting 66 ahead with 67 remaining in Frame 10, he lost position from blue to which Robertson was trying to steal. Trump was aided by a fluke which helped him take this frame. Robertson responded with a 147 attempt but broke down on the 14th red to left centre.

Frame 12 had what I like to dub as ‘the curse of the left centre pocket’. Robertson missed a fairly standard red to left middle while on 16. Trump also fell victim to this a few shots later and if that wasn’t enough, went in-off to the left centre later in the frame. Ultimately, Trump took this frame thanks to a loose safety attempt from Robertson. Trump followed this with 84 next frame (denied the century by sending the black on a first class flight off the table); but once again, Robertson responds by making an impressive 81 in a frame which he was losing and had 3 reds along the bottom cushion. It was now 7-7.

I enjoyed Frame 15 as despite Robertson being in first, required a snooker on the colours and actually had Trump in trouble a few times. However, Trump showed great table knowledge and managed to pinch the frame. Robertson was at Trumps heels once again though showing no signs of letting him run away with it as he makes a 135. Frame 17 had a series of safety bouts which seemed as if it were going to be taken by Robertson but the brown and blue were too close to each other for him to clear. Trump was able to get a required snooker and potted a magnificent, acute blue up to top left to steal the frame and be 9-8 up.

The penultimate frame saw Robertson with a chance first but the left centre pocket struck again as he was only able to make 6. Trump jumped and made 69 – he was on the red which, if potted would have kept Robertson in his chair and won the title. The red drifted away from the centre of the pocket, hitting the jaw and Robertson was cool as ice with 4 reds remaining and one snooker needed to tie the frame and match score-line. He did extremely well to do this including pot a tricky black after his final red as well as win the black ball game to force a deciding frame. After Trump missed an opener in the final frame, Robertson carefully constructed a 137 break to win his second Champion of Champions title.

I don’t honestly know where to start when it comes to explaining how incredible this match was. It even trumps (not intended, but leaving it in) their classic at the 2016 Masters quarter-final. Each player had 3 centuries in the tournament prior to the final, and the final alone witnesses 8 century breaks and 15 50+ breaks. This was on top of the high level of safety game displayed throughout the match by both players as well as a black ball game and decider. Both players definitely bring the best out in each other as they finished at 90%+ pot success rate. Styles make matches and these two complement each other astronomically.

‘It’s important how you conduct yourself as a Champion when you win and more importantly when you lose and I think that was a perfect example of Judd right there’ – Robertson speaking on Trump during the closing ceremony. I don’t think there’s a sentence that could sum up Trump more at the moment. Like Trump mentioned, he has absolutely nothing to be disappointed with, coming straight off a win in China to go all the way in Coventry. His long potting started a little slower than usual in the first mid-session but found his groove very quickly. I admired that even after being 9-8 up and forced into a decider, he didn’t retreat and still went for his long pot opportunities. What a 12 months he’s had so far and is definitely the unofficial Champion of Champions.

Robertson has battled all throughout this tournament, getting stronger as time went on. Out of his four matches, he went to the decider three times. Beating Murphy, O’Sullivan and Trump in deciders isn’t something many can say in a tournament. What an incredible temperament Robertson showcased at 9-8 down, needing a snooker and then finishing the match in style. Even though it isn’t a ranking event, I am glad for Robertson’s first win of the season because under this circumstance, as Trump mentioned, the better player won. And not just this match specifically, but the Champion of Champions as a whole.

Match of the season. This will go down as a classic in years to come.

Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Jimmy White Champion of Champions 2019 - Shorts Thoughts

It may be their last match together in competitive play so everyone wants to see what would happen when The Rocket meets the Whirlwind. Jimmy White comes fresh off his World Seniors win while Ronnie O’Sullivan is still trying to make some headway after the Shanghai Masters.

This match would have tremendous audience support for both players and played out in a way that most wouldn’t have expected. Despite being very good friends and pundits off the table, White hasn’t found the better of O’Sullivan since the 2002 Masters. What did the first round of the CoC have in store on Thursday?

White opened very strong in Frame 1 with a break compiling of 7 reds and 7 blacks but unfortunately couldn’t split the pack successfully. However, O’Sullivan couldn’t capitalise and White went on to get enough points to take the first frame. Another split gone wrong in Frame 2 for White halted his break at 29. The reds ended up spread across the table and a reckless safety from O’Sullivan gave White another chance at the frame. White’s contribution included a nice red which was near touching the cue ball into the top right pocket. It was here when we all realised which player was taking this seriously and who wasn’t.

White was able to start Frame 3 with a 26-5 lead. This included multiple long pot fails from O’Sullivan – which is a recurring theme in this match. At 42-11 to White, O’Sullivan got a reasonable chance to take the frame. He did well to get to the blue ball where he knuckled White in the jaws of the middle pocket for a nice snooker. This allowed him to eventually pot the blue but then miss a fairly standard pink with the rest for frame ball. This would have been a regrettable moment if O’Sullivan went on to lose this match. Nevertheless, it turned into a black ball game which White went to take.

Frames 4 and 5 took a couple of visits each for O’Sullivan to win. Breaks of 49 and 74 helped in Frame 4 while it took a little more work in Frame 5. White was in first during Frame 6 with an impressive long opener but couldn’t make more than 25. A subsequent long pot attempt then scattered the reds where O’Sullivan was able to contribute 46 points to his score line. A weak safety from White ended up losing him the frame. From the jaws of defeats, O’Sullivan has managed to level the game at 3-3 to force a decider.

Another long pot miss from O’Sullivan provided White the first real chance at securing the victory. However, an unexpected miss from White at 29 was his downfall. O’Sullivan was able to pounce with a 76 and steal the match from White, allowing him to progress to the quarter and semi-finals.

White shouldn’t take too many negatives from his performance during this match because his potting was actually pretty exceptional. He made a lot of very impressive single pots during this match but just lapsed at a few moments. There was a kick during the match which definitely didn’t help and potentially stopped White from progressing and playing Higgins later that evening; but with the way that O’Sullivan was playing, White had plenty of chances.

And there was O’Sullivan. What he was doing – who knows. Most say he didn’t deserve to win that match – he wasn’t taking it seriously and his long pot % was atrocious. Regardless of his attitude to the game, he’s the defending champion with a phenomenal record at this event and was playing like most people would play a snooker game on their phones – just going for everything. Somehow, it carried him over the winning line.

This match saw great crowd support for both players however, if you’re an O’Sullivan fan, please stop chanting ‘go on Ronnie’ when there is clearly nothing on.