Tuesday 28 February 2012

Haikou World Open Results/Draw, Live Streaming & Match/TV Schedule

Haikou World Open 2012: (27 February - 4 March, Haikou, Hainan Island)

Defending Champion: Neil Robertson (Beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan in the 2010 final)


Live Streaming:
http://www.sportlemon.tv/v-2/16/102/v-370302.html
http://www.sportlemon.tv/v-2/16/102/v-370296.html
http://www.sportlemon.tv/v-2/16/132/v-373221.html
http://www.sportlemon.tv/v-2/16/106/v-370791.html
*If the links do not work, go to fromsport.com and search for snooker
Also available on Eurosport Player
LIVE SCORES [Follow Me on Twitter for latest update]


Blog Entries:


Draw/Results:

Last 32
Last 16
Quarter-Finals
Semi-Finals
Final
John Higgins
5-3 Marco Fu

John Higgins 5-0 Jamie Cope




John Higgins 3-5 Robert Milkins








Robert Milkins 2-6 Stephen Lee

















Stephen Lee
1-10 Mark Allen
Martin Gould 4-5
Jamie Cope
Ding Junhui 1-5
Jin Long

Jin Long 2-5 Robert Milkins
Stephen Maguire 3-5 Robert Milkins
Graeme Dott 5-2  Barry Hawkins
Graeme Dott 5-3 Marcus Campbell



Graeme Dott
1-5 Stephen Lee
Ali Carter w/d Marcus Campbell 
Stephen Lee 5-0 Dominic Dale

Stephen Lee 5-2 Neil Robertson
Neil Robertson 5-3 Stephen Hendry
Mark Williams 1-5 Mark King

Mark King
5-4 Tom Ford


Mark King
1-5 Mark Allen







Mark Allen 6-5 Mark Selby

Ronnie O'Sullivan  w/d Tom Ford 
Mark Allen 5-1 Jimmy Robertson

Mark Allen
5-4 Judd Trump
Judd Trump 5-0 Andrew Higginson
Shaun Murphy 5-3 Ricky Walden

Shaun Murphy 5-3 Joe Perry


Shaun Murphy
0-5 Mark Selby
Matthew Stevens 4-5 Joe Perry
Stuart Bingham 0-5 Michael Holt

Michael Holt 3-5 Mark Selby
Mark Selby 5-3 Lu Ning


Match Schedule/Order of play: 
Note: Two tables are streamed. All in UK Time.

Monday, February 27

7.30am: 1 Sam Baird 3-5 Jin Long, 2 Robert Milkins 5-3 Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon, 3 Mark King 5-2 Hossein Vafaei, 4 Tom Ford 5-4 Lu Haotian

11.30am: 5 Jimmy Robertson 5-2 Zhou Yuelong, 6 Joe Perry 5-0 Ruozi Maimaiti, 7 Michael Holt 5-4 Zhu Yinghui, 8 Nigel Bond 4-5 Lu Ning


Tuesday, February 28

7.30am: 9 John Higgins 5-3 Marco Fu, 21 Shaun Murphy 5-3 Ricky Walden, 13 Graeme Dott 5-2 Barry Hawkins

11.30am: 11 Ding Junhui 1-5 Jin Long, 20 Judd Trump 5-0 Andrew Higginson, 23 Stuart Bingham 0-5 Michael Holt, 15 Stephen Lee 5-0 Dominic Dale


Wednesday, February 29

7.30am: 24 Mark Selby 5-3 Lu Ning, 17 Mark Williams 1-5 Mark King, 19 Mark Allen 5-1 Jimmy Robertson, 22 Matthew Stevens 4-5 Joe Perry

11.30am: 12 Stephen Maguire 3-5 Robert Milkins, 16 Neil Robertson 5-3 Stephen Hendry, 10 Martin Gould 4-5 Jamie Cope



Thursday, March 1

7.30am: 29 Mark King 5-4 Tom Ford, 32 Michael Holt 3-5 Mark Selby, 30 Mark Allen 5-4 Judd Trump, 31 Shaun Murphy 5-3 Joe Perry

11.30am : 28 Stephen Lee 5-2 Neil Robertson, 25 John Higgins 5-0 Jamie Cope, 27 Graeme Dott v Marcus Campbell, 26 Jin Long 2-5 Robert Milkins


Friday, March 2

7.30am: QF3 - Mark King 1-5 Mark Allen, QF4 - Shaun Murphy 0-5 Mark Selby

11.30am: QF1 - John Higgins 3-5 Robert Milkins, QF2 - Graeme Dott 1-5 Stephen Lee


Saturday, March 3

7.30am: SF2 - Mark Allen 6-5 Mark Selby

11.30am: SF1 - Robert Milkins 2-6 Stephen Lee


Sunday, March 4

7.30am: Final - Stephen Lee 1-8 Mark Allen (First Session - 9 frames) 

11.30am: Final - Stephen Lee 1-10 Mark Allen (Second Session - 10 frames)


Congrats to Mark Allen winning Haikou World Open!


Format:
Last 32 up to Quarter-Finals: Best of 9
Semi-Finals: Best of 11
Final: Best of 19

TV Schedule:

British Eurosport

Mon, 27 Feb
0730-0930 & 1130-1430 LIVE on British Eurosport

Tue, 28 Feb
0730-0930 & 1130-1430 LIVE on British Eurosport

Wed, 29 Feb
0730-0930 & 1130-1430 LIVE on British Eurosport

Thu, 1 Mar
0730-0930 & 1130-1430 LIVE on British Eurosport

Fri, 2 Mar
0730-0930 & 1200-1430 LIVE quarter-finals on British Eurosport

Sat, 3 Mar
0700-1000 LIVE Semi-final on British Eurosport 2
1530-1830 Semi-final on British Eurosport 2
1900-2200 Semi-final on British Eurosport 

Sun, 4 Mar
0700-0930 LIVE final on British Eurosport 1900-2200 final on British Eurosport

Eurosport International (Time in CET)

Mon, 27 Feb
0830-1030 & 1230-1530 LIVE on Eurosport

Tue, 28 Feb
0830-1030 & 1230-1530 LIVE on Eurosport

Wed, 29 Feb
0830-1030 & 1230-1530 LIVE on Eurosport

Thu, 1 Mar
0830-1030 & 1230-1530 LIVE on Eurosport

Fri, 2 Mar
0830-1030 & 1230-1530 LIVE quarter-finals on British Eurosport

Sat, 3 Mar
0800-1100 LIVE Semi-final on Eurosport 2
1630-1930 Semi-final on Eurosport 2
2000-2300 Semi-final on Eurosport 

Sun, 4 Mar
0800-1030 LIVE final on Eurosport 2000-2300 final on British Eurosport

Monday 20 February 2012

Welsh Open 2012 - Ding Junhui Crowned Champion in Newport

Welsh Open 2012: Ding Junhui beaten Mark Selby by 9-6 to crown in Newport, winning his fifth ranking title after 26 months of waiting.

Ding Junhui Crowned in Newport
The final started with a century from Selby, 103 before Ding levels with 64 in the next. Selby looked to enjoy a fine start, knocking another century 124 to regain the lead. The crucial moment came in the frame 4 that Selby missed the leading position at the interval. That turned the match upside down and ended up to be Ding leading 5-3 after the first session.

Selby missed a thin cut on the green but Ding needed the pink to take the frame, Ding missed a difficult pink with rest to let Selby back in. The Leicester man potted the pink but missed the final black with cueball near the cushion. He left Ding a difficult thin black to the left bottom corner and he gripped the chance. Selby played better but he had no advantage at the interval, 2-2.

Selby lost crucial frame 4 
The Chinese nicked the next two frames with 90 to lead 4-2 before Selby pulled one back with 66. The Jester from Leicester blew it to make 4-4 as he missed a tough blue on 19, Ding's 51 helped him to secure a 5-3 lead before the night session. 

Selby won the opener of the night with 73 then Ding was back in with 83 to lead 6-4. Selby once again narrowed the gap to 5-6 with 91 hoping to level 6-6 at the interval but 'Enter the Dragon' kept calm and made his first century in the tournament, 124 to regain the two-cushion lead at the interval. He hit back-to-back tons 130 to reach the match point but Selby replied with a 145 total clearance, the highest break of the tournament. 

Mark Selby and Ding Junhui
The final ended in a scrappy frame 15 with both players had chances but 42 of Ding helped him to conclude the match and tournament, earning him the Welsh Open 2012 title. "It feels great," said Ding after the match. "I was nervous during the final and missed a few chances. Mark kept the pressure on me and it was a hard game. In practice I have been feeling good and playing like I was a few years ago.'' "I didn't have a good start to the season and coming here I felt I could lose in the first round. Now I will try to do well in every tournament."

The Chinese thanked his girlfriend for all her support, "Apple has helped a lot because she looks after me, cooks for me and gives me time to practise every day. It's much better for me than before. I bought the house in Sheffield two days ago, I have just got the keys. I will put a snooker table in the garage so I can play on my own if I am not going to the Academy. I can park the car outside, the table is more important!"

Delighted Ding
The runner-up as well as the World Number One said: "The frame I lost to go 2-2 rather than 3-1 up was probably the turning point, even if it didn't seem like it at the time. I had my fair share of chances in the match and you can't afford to miss them against a player of Ding's class. He's one of the best break-builders. I'm taking the positives out of the week because I've turned my form around and with more hard work hopefully I can win another title this season."

Sunday 19 February 2012

Welsh Open 2012 - Ding Junhui Combat With Selby In Welsh Final

Welsh Open 2012: Ding Junhui will combat with Mark Selby in the Welsh Final  to strive for his first ranking title in 26 months.


Ding Junhui aims to break his trophy drought tonight
The Chinese has never won a ranking title since 2009 UK Championship, only reached 2010 China Open Final but lost to Mark Williams, aiming to break his trophy drought tonight. His semi-finals against Shaun Murphy was not that tough as he won comfortable by a scoreline of 6-2.


The first scrappy frame went to Ding Junhui before Murphy levelled with 126. The Sheffield-based player dominated the next frame with 91 although Murphy had the first chance to score in frame 4 but broken down on 39 which Ding produced 71 to go 3-1 up at the interval. The Magician won the fifth with 90 and looked like to level 3-3 but his scoring stopped at 31 during the sixth. Ding did not hesitate and made 86, 75 to reach the match point, 5-2.


Murphy missed couple of chances today

Murphy had couple of chances to start his fightback but missed let them slipped, The Chinese cleared up for victory and reached his first final of the season. Ding said, "In the last few weeks I have had my best practice for a long time and I feel my game is getting better. I'm really happy to be in the final and I played well today." 

World Number One Mark Selby ended Ronnie O'Sullivan's marvellous run since German Masters, with the same scoreline 6-2. Both of them were not at their best but Selby proved himself a better player. The whole match was scrappy and strange that Ronnie seemed to lose interests in the slow-playing style. Selby was controlling through out the match with tactical exchanges as Ronnie looked tired and bored.


Ronnie was bored
"It was a strange game, we started off well but then in the third frame I missed a red and after that everything went scrappy," said Selby, who beat O'Sullivan 9-8 from 8-5 down to win his first ranking title here in 2008. "I had a bit of run of the ball and played decent safety. I did what I had to do. The third frame was important because if he'd gone 2-1 up he could have reeled off a few frames."

Asked if he had been annoyed by O'Sullivan's suggestion that he plays slowly, Selby replied: "I don't take criticism on board because everyone has their own opinion. I'm not the type of person to feel as if there's extra spice to a match. To beat Ronnie in any tournament is a great achievement and to get to a final means a lot to me.'' He expressed his desire to win. "I just go out to win. If it takes five hours and you have to scrape me off the table then so be it. If I tried to play as fast as Ronnie I'd probably never win a match."

Selby: I just go out to win
The final is a 50/50 match and tough to call a winner. Ding Junhui is a better player in the final compare to Selby as he won 4 titles out of 6 finals he reached but Selby only recorded 2 victories out of 6. Moreover, Ding Junhui won their long-format by 13-10  meeting on World Championship quarter-finals last year although Selby levelled 10-10 from 6-10 down. Yet, Selby is now a different player after winning Shanghai this year and becoming the world number 1. Widening the gap early in the final will be the key to win. 
Final starts at 1pm while night session kicks off at 7pm. First to 9 will win the title.



Welsh Open 2012 Results/Draw, Live Streaming & Match/TV Schedule

Saturday 18 February 2012

Welsh Open 2012 - O'Sullivan Overcame Trump To Make Semis

Welsh Open 2012: Ronnie O'Sullivan beaten Judd Trump by 5-3 to book a semi-finals place along with Shaun Murphy, Ding Junhui and Mark Selby.

O'Sullivan through to semi-finals
The clash between Ronnie and Judd are guarantee to be good matches and it is not an exception. Trump started off with a 109 but Ronnie replied with 101 and 88 to go 2-1 up, The Bristol man made 63 to level 2-2 at the interval. The Rocket regained the lead with 139 clearance before Trump knocked 88 to level once again. Judd had his chance to be ahead when Ronnie led 43-0 in the seventh frame but he threw it away. Ronnie won that scrappy frame and added 61 to claim a 5-3 victory.

Ronnie: Judd's breathing got a bit heavy
Ronnie said, "His breathing got a bit heavy, which I had not noticed before. Sometimes you just sense that your opponent is feeling it. That gave me the confidence to step up a gear. Maybe he felt a bit of extra pressure because he's been doing well lately so he was favourite. I still had to pot the balls, which is not easy.'' He added, "I'm under no pressure to be king of the jungle, the other younger players are trying to stamp their authority on the game. I can enjoy it more now."

The Essex man will play Mark Selby, the world number one in the semi-finals. Maguire was hoping for a Berlin final rematch but he failed to force a decider when he lead 60-0 in front in the frame 8 but the lead did not put him in a winning position to force a decider, eventually lost the match by 3-5. Mark Selby had beaten Ronnie by 9-8 in the final here back in 2008.

Ding Junhui
Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui both won their deciders to set a clash in the semi-finals. Murphy looked cruised to win when he led 3-1 up on Mark Allen. The Northern Irish won the next three with runs of 121, 62 before Murphy held his nerve to force a decider with 68. Murphy was 70-0 up in the deciding frame but Allen gained two of the three snookers he needed. However, The Magician potted the brown to walk out as a winner, 5-4.

China's Ding Junhui looked like he was out in the quarter-finals but a mobile phone ring at a vital moment of the decider, which Stephen Lee missed the green to let Ding clear up to win. "The phone went off just as I was on my back-swing and I couldn't stop," raged Lee. "That's the first time it has happened to me at such an important moment in all the years I've been playing. I am fuming. We both had plenty of chances in the last frame but we both played awful."

Welsh Open 2012 Results/Draw, Live Streaming & Match/TV Schedule

Friday 17 February 2012

Welsh Open 2012 - O‘Sullivan Set to Clash With Trump Again

Welsh Open 2012: Ronnie O'Sullivan is set to clash with Judd Trump again in the quarter-finals, after winning his seventh consecutive ranking event match.

Ronnie O'Sullivan beaten Mark Williams by 4-1
The Rocket met the Welsh Potting Machine in the last 16 which he won 4-1. Ronnie made 125 and then Williams produced 133 in reply. Williams had to good chance to level 2-2 but missed a red with the rest while leading 49-23. Ronnie added 56 to book his quarter-finals spot in the event. Another Welshman, Matthew Stevens lost to Stephen Maguire the finalist of German Masters early the month by 4-2.

O'Sullivan had his top 16 spot secured to be seeded automatically at the Crucible, he said: "I wasn't worried (before Germany) about dropping out of the top 16. No one wants to drop out, but it would have been a challenge to have to qualify for the World Championship and I was looking forward to it in some respects. I never felt as if I should be ranked 17th or 18th and I had to be patient and wait for the form to come."

The Pistol
Stephen Hendry who beaten Neil Robertson to make last 16 fell to Mark Allen by 4-0. The Northern Irish has not yet dropped a frame in the tournament, after a whitewash of Ken Doherty. Mark Allen will play Shaun Murphy who defeated Steve Davis the day before. Berlin semi-finalist Stephen Lee continued his good form, beating Tom Ford by 4-1 to make quarter-finals against Ding Junhui.

Judd Trump had a comfortable win over Stuart Bingham in 42 minutes to earn a meeting with The Rocket. Bingham made a fine start with 74 before losing the following four which Trump had runs of 73, 73, 100 and 49 to win 4-1. Judd Trump had an advantage over Ronnie as he won all their three meeting this season. 

Judd Trump
World Number 1 Mark Selby saw off Martin Gould by 4-1 to complete the final eight line-up, playing Stephen Maguire in the quarters. The quarter-finals matches are best of 9 with intervals instead of the best of 7 in the first two rounds.

Welsh Open 2012 Results/Draw, Live Streaming & Match/TV Schedule

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Welsh Open 2012 - Stephen Hendry Stunned Neil Robertson

Welsh Open Day 2: Stephen Hendry produced a fine performance to stun Neil Robertson, the new Masters Champion by 4-1.

Stephen Hendry
The seven-time World Champion dropped out of Top 16 this season, winning one qualifying match to set up a clash against Neil Robertson in the first round. Hendry made a maximum break here in Newport last year against Stephen Maguire in last 16, seemed that playing Newport helped Hendry to bring his best.

Hendry took the first frame with 62 before the new Master Champion made a total clearance of 135 to level 1-1. The following frame was full of tension with Hendry doubling a respotted black to take the important frame and lead. The long pots of the Scot were magnificent today, which helped Hendry to take the initiative, winning another two frames with 67 and 86. Hendry beaten Robertson by 4-1 to play the winner between Mark Allen and Ken Doherty next.

"I haven't had much success against the top players in the last few years," admitted 43-year-old Hendry. "I just played well, and when you do that you can compete. If you don't you've got no chance. Asked about the prospect of a possible quarter-final against fellow veteran Steve Davis, who knocked out Ali Carter yesterday, Hendry added: "We'd both have to win one more match first. But it would be fantastic!"

Sam Baird
The World Number One and Two won their first round matches today in deciders, both coming from 2-3 behind. Mark Selby upset the 23-year-old Sam Baird, who led 3-2 but missing the blue when needing pink to win the match. Baird had runs of 59, 64 and 85 but still lost as he struggled in the later stage of the match. The Leicester man said he was struggling at the moment and admitted that Baird played better than him. 

The Welshman Mark Williams struggled today as well, coming from 2-3 behind his opponent Andy Hicks to win 4-3. He will play Ronnie O'Sullivan or Marco Fu in the last 16, "It was a get out of jail free card today but if I play like that again I'll go straight to jail. I hope I play Ronnie next because it will be a great occasion with a big crowd. That's the kind of match I like to play. But on today's form I couldn't beat Gilbert O'Sullivan."

Andy Hicks and Mark Williams
Stephen Lee defeated Michael Holt by 4-1 to meet Tom Ford in the next round while Stuart Bingham saw off Mark King by 4-2. Martin Gould sent the 2002 World Champion Peter Ebdon home by 4-2.

Welsh Open 2012 Results/Draw, Live Streaming & Match/TV Schedule