The snooker in Glasgow is ongoing with the Scottish Open at the quarter-final stage, but let’s have a quick recap at some of the stories from the last week.
UK Hat-Trick for Ding
The biggest headline from the last seven days was obviously generated by Ding Junhui, who captured the UK Championship title on Sunday.
The Chinese number one was a rejuvenated force as he beat Stephen Maguire to etch his name onto the trophy for a third time.
Ding pocketed £200,000 for his efforts and, so long struggling for form prior to York, celebrated in a fashion that he has rarely demonstrated in the past.
The 32 year-old immediately headed to Scotland and appeared to be oozing confidence as he tallied four centuries in his first two outings.
But Ding finally ran out of gas in the third round, with the tenacious Graeme Dott firmly putting an end to the magnificent streak with a whitewash of the world number nine.
What now, Ronnie?
Another week, another tiresome tale involving Ronnie O’Sullivan.
After fighting back from 3-1 behind to beat Dominic Dale in a first round decider, the “Rocket” has actually played a lot of good snooker in Glasgow this week.
However, never satisfied at simply focusing his efforts on the baize, O’Sullivan caused minor controversy during his second round clash with James Cahill when he opted to fist-bump his fellow Englishman instead of shake his hand prior to the contest.
“I’m a bit OCD with germs,” insisted O’Sullivan, who for 27 years as a professional has always previously followed the etiquette of shaking an opponent’s hand.
The 44 year-old is still in the tournament and faces old rival Mark Selby in the last eight on Friday.
Century 776 for Higgins
John Higgins may have suffered a disappointing exit in his home event on Thursday but did manage one feat before his number was up.
During his 4-2 loss to Jack Lisowski, Higgins compiled a 109 break which represented his 776th in competitive play.
That takes the “Wizard of Wishaw” above Stephen Hendry on the all-time tons list into second place overall.
The record seems a bit of stretch, though, with Higgins trailing O’Sullivan’s total by more than 250.
In fact, the four-time world champion will likely be looking over his shoulder in the near future as Judd Trump and Neil Robertson continue to rattle in the century breaks at a relentless pace.
Trump, incidentally, is up to 50 for the 2019/20 season.
What’s Coming?
The snooker in Glasgow will reach its conclusion this weekend with £70,000 on offer for the champion at the Emirates Arena on Sunday.
Next week, the players will subsequently head to Barnsley for a batch of qualifiers – first for the German Masters and then again for the European Masters.
The seventh Challenge Tour event of the campaign will also take place in Belgium over the course of this weekend.
You do seem to bash Ronnie a lot. He was just joshing with the players. Nothing wrong with a fist bump, actually prefer it to the handshake!