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…]
Tag: Mark Williams
Ronnie O’Sullivan Through in International Championship
Ronnie O’Sullivan scraped past Xiao Guodong in his opening match of the 2016 International Championship on Monday. The ‘Rocket’ sped into a 3-1 lead with breaks of 137, 78 and 55 but lost his way somewhat as his Chinese challenger fought back to almost force a decider. Indeed, Xiao was[Read More…]
Stuart Bingham Survives Scare in English Open
The Coral English Open got under way on Monday, initiating the inaugural Home Nations Series. The Home Nations comprises four ranking events staged in Great Britain and Ireland, the traditional homes of the sport, with a staggering bonus of £1 million on offer to any player who can somehow manage[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…]
Rousing Robertson Wins in Riga
Neil Robertson began the 2016/17 campaign in style after triumphing in the Riga Masters on Friday. The Australian beat Michael Holt 5-2 in the final to land the first ranking event of a season for the third time in the last four years. With the disbandment of the previous European Tour,[Read More…]
Snooker Returns with Riga Masters
Professional snooker returns after almost three weeks in the sunshine – well, for some at least – with the Riga Masters in Latvia. Unfortunately, the first half of the season will have a very discontinuous feel to it as events are sporadically scheduled here and there throughout the summer and[Read More…]
Ding Junhui Powers into Last Four
Ding Junhui became the first man into the semi-finals of this year’s World Championship after thrashing Mark Williams 13-3 in Sheffield. The Chinese no.1 required only two out of the scheduled three sessions to oust the twice former champion as he sent out a message to the other contenders for[Read More…]
World Championship: Quarter-Final Preview
From 144, only eight remain in the hunt to claim the 2016 Betfred World Championship in Sheffield. It’s certainly not the octet that most people predicted to be featuring at this stage of proceedings at the Crucible Theatre. Several of the expected heavy hitters have fallen by the wayside but[Read More…]
Grinding Win for Mark Selby
Mark Selby held off a stern challenge from qualifier Sam Baird to reach the quarter-finals of the World Championship in Sheffield. After a tight opening exchange in which there was never more than a frame between them right up until 6-6, the 2014 champion appeared to gain control of the[Read More…]
Marco Fu into Quarter-Finals
Marco Fu became the first name into the quarter-finals of the Betfred World Championship after a 13-9 victory over Anthony McGill on Friday. The Hong Kong 38 year-old was in control of the contest after somewhat fortuitously emerging from the second session with a two-frame lead intact despite his opponent[Read More…]