An Englishman is guaranteed to emerge victorious in the inaugural Northern Ireland Open as the semi-finals take place today in Belfast. For two of them, it is a chance to bolster their CV with an additional ranking event trophy. By contrast, the other pair is each seeking a maiden triumph[Read More…]
Tag: Anthony Hamilton
Mark Williams and Kyren Wilson Upset the Favourites
Ronnie O’Sullivan and John Higgins both exited the Northern Ireland Open in the fourth round in Belfast on Thursday. The pair, who played each other in a wonderful Champion of Champions final last Sunday, had been expected to meet once more in the quarter-finals at the Titanic Exhibition Centre. But[Read More…]
The Best Player Without a Ranking Event Win
From time to time the subject of the best player to have never won a ranking event raises its head once again. It has been a popular debate down through the years, and obviously a topic which becomes increasingly more difficult to determine a conclusive outcome as time progresses and[Read More…]
Williams Through Despite Sickness
The first round of the Indian Open was completed on Wednesday with most of the big seeds going through in Hyderabad. The notable exception was 2015 runner-up Ricky Walden, the fourth seed going down 4-1 to Nigel Bond, while Ryan Day also suffered at the hands of the much-improved John[Read More…]
It’s There! The Return of Free Ball
Regular readers may remember that this time last year there was a ghostly (ghastly?) guest writer during the 2015 World Championship. Free Ball, as s/he mysteriously wishes to be known as, offered snippets of reflection on the various happenings at the Crucible that may have gone unnoticed to the untrained eye.[Read More…]
Morris to Lose Tour Card After Defeat
David Morris will lose his tour card after suffering a 10-6 defeat to Alan McManus in World Championship qualifying. The Irishman needed to at least qualify for the last 32 at the Crucible if he was to have any chance of maintaining a place among the world’s top 64. But[Read More…]
Akbar Hammers Jones in World Qualifying
Pakistan’s Hamza Akbar caused a major upset as he knocked out Jamie Jones in the first round of qualifying for the Betfred World Championship. Akbar, in his rookie season as a professional after winning the 2015 Asian Championship, had not previously won a match on the Main Tour. However, the[Read More…]
Are You Not Entertained?
An extremely busy opening day in the Welsh Open led to 64 matches being won and lost at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. However, rather than any of these matches generating headlines, all the talk from day one surrounded Ronnie O’Sullivan’s controversial, but magnificent, 146 break. The ‘Rocket’ effortlessly cleared[Read More…]
Easy UK Wins for Hawkins and Bingham
The 2014 Coral UK Championship got under way at the Barbican Centre in York yesterday. A lot of hype surrounded the build up to this year’s International Championship but the UKs represents the first traditional major of the campaign. With a rich history of producing wonderful champions, it’s easy to[Read More…]
Morris Mounts Gloucester Challenge
David Morris got back to winning ways in Gloucester as he won three matches at the Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup on Friday. The Kilkenny cueist was pushed to the wire in his opening bout with Malta’s Alex Borg, needing all seven frames to finally prevail in a decider 4-3. However,[Read More…]