Day 4 in Bucharest saw the completion of the last 16 matches. Again I had the pleasure to watch everything thanks to the promoters, Thiess-McCann.

Here are the results:

Mark Davis 4-3 Liang Wenbo

Anthony MacGill 4-3 Scott Donaldson

Thursday 6 Oct 2016 02:15PM

Mark Davis edged out Liang Wenbo 4-3 in the last 16 of the European Masters in Romania to set up a match with Ronnie O’Sullivan.

World number 30 Davis is into his second ranking quarter-final of the season, having reached the same stage of the Paul Hunter Classic, though he was fortunate today that his Chinese opponent missed a clear chance for victory in the penultimate frame.

In a high quality start to the match, Liang went 2-1 up with breaks of 81 and 103, with Davis taking the second frame with an 82. Sussex cueman Davis got the better of a scrappy fourth for 2-2. The fifth came down to a safety exchange on the final pink, and a loose shot from Davis allowed his opponent to bury a mid-range pot to a top corner to go 3-2 ahead.

World number 20 Liang had a golden chance to seal the match in frame six but, trailing 44-55 with the last four balls at his mercy, he suffered a kick on the brown and missed it to a baulk corner. Davis took advantage to force the decider, then won it in fine fashion with a break of 107.

“The balls were perfect for me in the last frame although every shot still felt like hard work,” said 44-year-old Davis. “I’m pleased to win because it looked like being another game I would chuck away, as I have so many time over the last 12 or 18 months. Liang was very unlucky to get a massive kick in the sixth frame.

“I’m looking forward to playing Ronnie tomorrow, he’s the best player ever. I will enjoy it and if I play well I can win, I’ve beaten him before. But if I miss easy balls I’ll be going home.”

Anthony McGill also came through a tense decider to beat close friend Scott Donaldson 4-3. Indian Open champion McGill is now through to his fourth quarter-final of the season and will face Neil Robertson on Friday evening.

He held leads of 2-0 and 3-2 today but Donaldson recovered each time and won the sixth frame with a break of 86. Donaldson had a chance in the decider but was unlucky to go in-off when potting the black and splitting the pack of reds. A safety exchange followed, ending when Glasgow’s 25-year-old McGill converted an excellent pot on a red to a centre pocket, which set up a match winning run of 46.

Matches reports source: Worldsnooker

Judd Trump 4-0 Andrew Higginson

Mark Selby 4-0 Barry Hawkins

Thursday 6 Oct 2016 06:16PM

Judd Trump and Mark Selby both enjoyed 4-0 wins on Thursday night to reach the quarter-finals of the European Masters in Bucharest.

Trump took just 49 minutes to whitewash Andrew Higginson.  It has been a slow start to the season for the world number four – he has yet to reach a semi-final – but he now looks to be hitting top form and faces a showpiece clash against John Higgins at the Circul Globus on Friday afternoon.

A break of 61 helped Bristol’s Trump win the opening frame today, then Higginson might have levelled but missed the black off its spot when trailing 44-48 with one red left. Trump capitalised to go 2-0 up and that proved the key moment as he rattled through the last two frames with runs of 118 and 94.

“I felt very comfortable out there and I punished his mistakes,” said Trump. “I’ve changed my cue three times this season so I didn’t expect a flying start. I’m comfortable now and happy with the cue. With the form I have shown this week I feel I’ve got a good chance in this tournament.”

Selby’s 4-0 victory over Barry Hawkins was less comfortable, but a series of errors from Hawkins allowed World Champion Selby to secure a meeting with Alfie Burden.

Breaks of 44, 48, 42, 63 and 48 were the highlights for Selby as he stepped up his bid for a second ranking title of the season, having won the Paul Hunter Classic in August.

Matches reports source: Worldsnooker

All detailed results are on Cuerracker as allways. 

Day 3 saw the completion of 4 out of 8 last 16 matches, all played in the main arena, one table setup. So I had the opportunity to watch everything. Thanks ones again to the promoters, Thiess-McCann.

But before saying anything about the matches… this day was Jan Verhaas 50th birthday!

A very happy birthday young man!

Now about the business on the table …

Alfie Burden 4-3 Ricky Walden

Alfie had never reached a QF in a ranking event before this season, and now this is his second already this season. So, congratulations to him! The match however was one that failed to get me involved. Maybe it was too early, maybe I was just a bit tired, I don’t know. Fact is that I just couldn’t really get in it. Ricky started with a fluent 73 to win the first frame. After that, Alfie managed to win the next three without any break to speak of. It was a bit of a start/stop affair, lacking rhythm; at least it’s how it felt to me. Ricky rallied to 3-3, getting a very good 69 in the sixth. Alfie duly seized his chance and the match with an excellent 64 in the deciding frame.

John Higgins 4-3 Tom Ford

Many will feel that Tom Ford should have won this match. Indeed John Higgins made an unusual  number of errors, and Tom Ford got to a 3-2 lead with breaks of 61, 72 and 79. At that point John had failed to string any telling break together. He did however in the next and forced a deciding frame with a 71. The last frame was very tense but it went to John Higgins after Tom Ford wasted two really good chances. The feeling was that Tom was the better player on the day, but that’s of course deceiving. Being the better player is often about how well you handle it when the heat is on, and, in that department he was no match to John Higgins.

Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-2 Mark Allen

You can read everything about this one here.

Neil Robertson 4-1 Rhys Clark

This was a high scoring affair with a 50+ break in every frame: 82, 61, 103, 67 for Neil, 73 for Rhys. Despite the severity of the final score, Rhys certainly showed a lot of potential and gained the heart, and the support, of the Romanian audience. He’s out of the tournament, but we will no doubt see more of him in the future!

All detailed results are on Cuetracker as always.

Official match photography from the European Masters in Bucharest. All photos by Lewis Ward

Ronnie’s day yesterday: promo for the tournament on Romanian TV, lunch and a twitter debate about diet, considering a swim but going for the gym …

Doing promotion for the European Masters on Romanian TV

Lunch at sajarii – tuna and green veg

Might go for a swim

Gym time

And, of course, in the evening, this match:

Least I can say is that it kept me on the edge of my seat, and after one frame and a half, I was just hoping that this wouldn’t end in a whitewash! But no one can deny how much Ronnie wanted to win this! What a fight!

Here is the report on Worldsnooker, with Ronnie’s quotes:

Wednesday 5 Oct 2016 08:36PM

Ronnie O’Sullivan was let off the hook by Mark Allen at the European Masters as he won 4-2 to reach the quarter-finals in Bucharest.

Allen might have been 3-0 up but for crucial errors in the second and third frames, and in the end the Northern Irishman paid the price as it was O’Sullivan who marched through to a meeting with Mark Davis or Liang Wenbo. Having got his season underway at last month’s Shanghai Masters, the Rocket continues to build sharpness and is now just three wins away from a 29th ranking title.

World number eight Allen started superbly with a break of 121 in the opening frame, and he looked set to go 2-0 ahead until he ran out of position on 65 in frame two. His attempted risky plant missed its target and O’Sullivan, from 61 points behind, cleared the table with 64. Frame three followed a similar pattern as Allen made 55 before missing the black off its spot, and this time a run of 60 from his opponent put him 2-1 up.

Frame four came down to a safety battle on the final brown, Allen winning it and clearing to the black to level the tie. But the Pistol scored just one point in the last two frames as O’Sullivan compiled runs of 77 and 80 to reach his first quarter-final since winning the Welsh Open in February.

“If that had been a boxing match they would have stopped it early and given Mark the result,” said O’Sullivan. “I couldn’t believe I was 2-1 up because he was the better player. I am starting to control the cue ball better although it takes time as I hardly played for four months. I am enjoying competing and looking at every match as a good practice session, win or lose. My main thought is not about winning, it’s just to play as many matches as I can.”

Asked what he would do on his day off tomorrow ahead of Friday’s quarter-finals, O’Sullivan added: “I’ll go for a run, do a bit of gym work, go to a spa for a massage, have some nice food, watch a bit of snooker and watch a few films on my ipad.”

All detailed results are on Cuetracker as always.

Official match photography from the European Masters in Bucharest. All photos by Lewis Ward

Here is my account on the matches I watched, yesterday, and again I can’t thank the event sponsors, Thiess-McCann, enough again for offering me this opportunity.

Liang Wenbo 4-1 Zak Surety

Although Liang obviously played well – he had breaks of 80, 50, 51 and 61 – this match felt a little flat, without any tension. Maybe it was the almost empty arena early on the day, I don’t know. Anyway, it’s fair to say that Zak wasn’t able to put his opponent under any pressure, he just missed too many balls you’d expect him to get, and Liang did what he needed doing.

Judd Trump 4-3 Ben Woollaston

This was  a different proposition altogether. It was tense and hard-fought from start to finish. Both players were playing well and both had their own pressure to cope with. Ben hasn’t had the best of starts this season and could do with results, Judd was the one expected to win and he’s playing with a new cue. Until the last frame Judd was never in front: he trailed 0-1, 1-2, 2-3, but when it really mattered he came on top. Frame 6 in particular showed that he’s not just a ball-basher and a crazy potter, he has a very solid safety game when he puts his mind to it. He wanted that win badly, and he got it.

Mark Selby 4-2 Dominic Dale

Dominic is a bit of an excentric character. He’s known for wearing funny shoes and bright colors (fighting each others too), for dying his hair peroxide blond and for singing opera when he wins. He’s also a keen student of the history of cue sports and a very knowledgeable collector of cues and maces. So maybe those who had never seen him play before were a bit surprised at what they saw yesterday. The truth is that Dominic, a pro since 1992, is hard as nail at the table and quite old school too. Let’s not forget that despite never reaching the top 16, he’s twice a ranking event winner. That doesn’t happen by chance. So Dominic did give Mark Selby a serious test. Most frames were very close, hard-fought and involved a lot of good safety play. Both players had two breaks over 50. Eventually though Mark prevailed. But there is some concern for the World Champion: during the match he was looking at his tip quite often, with a worried look and after the match he came on twitter asking if there was any player in Bucharest skillful at retipping. So, in his next match, he will either have to cope with a tip he isn’t trusting or with a new one … neither will be easy.

Mark Davis 4-1 Shaun Murphy

There goes the “hot tip” of the tournament! Don’t get me wrong, I’m not making fun of Shaun Murphy; Shaun might not be everyone’s cup of tea, he might at times express opinions about things that are none of his business, but he’s someone who loves his sport with a passion, always tries to promote it and has his heart in the right place. So, no, I’m making a bit of fun of the bookies and ES commentators who, “en masse”, backed him to win this tournament, mainly based on the fact that he made a brilliant 147 last week. What they overlooked is that Shaun has very recently become a father, and a first child is a huge life changer. Many players have gone through this before and struggled before finding a new balance. There was no reason for Shaun being any different, he’s certainly not the type to be an “absent father”. So struggle he did and Mark Davis, despite not showing stellar form, took full advantage. Except for frame 4, every frame was close, hard-fought, built up old fashion, small break after small break. Mark Davis won’t mind, he’s through.

Ronnie O’Sullivan 4-1 David Gilbert

You can read all about tthis one here

All detailed results are on Cuetracker as always.

Official match photography from the European Masters in Bucharest. All photos by Lewis Ward

Ronnie needed a mere 55′ 48″ official match time to book his place with a 4-1 scoreline in the last 16 in Bucharest, with breaks of 87, 77, 68, and 50 whilst David Gilbert had a 74 in the only frame he won. On Monday Ronnie said he was getting sharper and he proved it yesterday. He did indeed play very well to the delight of the Romanian crowd.

Here is the match if you wish to watch it (again):

Listen to Ronnie’s post-match interview as recorded live by Worldsnooker:

Tonight Ronnie will face Mark Allen and try to reach the QF stage, played on Friday. This is the tie of the last 16 round, indeed the only match at this stage featuring two last 16 players. It’s hard to know how Mark Allen is playing as he hasn’t been on the main table yet. He did score heavily in his 4-0 win over Daniel Womersley in the last 32, but then Womersley is an amateur … and Mark Allen certainly didn’t play great in his defeat at the hand of Daniel Wells in Preston last week. So he’s a bit of an unknown quantity, but, certainly not to be taken lightly!

It was a busy day in Globul Circui in Bucharest as 10 matches were played, 8 last 32 and the two held over last 64. All matches were either streamed or on television, which is excellent.

Those who watched on television might be under the impression that nobody was there watching live: this is not the case. The first rows were reserved for VIP tickets holders and that early in the tournament not many of those turned up, especially during daytime on a working day. But there were people higher up, and no, the clapping weren’t a “recording” as someone jokingly suggested. The audience did build up as the day progressed and by the time the last match got underway – Ronnie O’Sullivan v Daniel Wells – the arena was half full, which means there were as many viewers there than at the Crucible roughly. This is a big arena!

I’m extremely grateful to the promoters, Thiess-McCann, for giving me the opportunity to watch every match in this great tournament, I can’t thank them enough. So the least I can do is report on it faithfully! 

As there is only one of me, when there were two matches in progress, I had to choose, and I stayed in the main arena. I must say that the view on the table is excellent, much better than in the Crucible actually (unless you are sitting in the front rows). If you are someone my size, at the Crucible you might well end-up watching the matches on the screens because the best part of the table is obscured by the heads and shoulders of the tall guy in front of you. Not here, the shape of the arena is such that you have a good view from every seat.

Now about the matches I watched …

Last 32 – Anthony McGill beat Ali Carter by 4-3

This was a very tactical match, very interesting, and very different from the exhibitions the Romanian audience had the opportunity to watch in this arena before. It was a high quality match as well, the last frame was the only frame without a 50+ break, and Anthony was the heavier scorer: he had a 96 and a 107. He was also the more patient: Ali banged the table quite hard on a couple of occasions in frustration. And maybe this was a key factor actually.

Last 32 – John Higgins beat Michael Holt by 4-0

I had high expectations about this match but it wasn’t quite to be. John Higgins is playing well, no doubt, he had twi centuries too, but, in fairness Michael Holt never put him under any pressure whatsoever. Michael had occasions in every frame, yet only he scored 31 points in the whole match. Also I can’t remember him getting even one ball from distance. Was this really the same guy who beat Ronnie in Shanghai? Well, of course, every player has bad days and clearly it was one of those for Michael. It happens. Just a pity for the audience: I’m sure many like me anticipated a good battle.

Last 32 – Neil Robertson beat Graeme Dott by 4-2

This was a rematch of the 2010 World final, and it yielded the same winner. It was in fact a close and very entertaining match, with both players playing positively at a good pace. I never understood why so many think that “Dotty” is slow and boring, he’s anything but! There were 8 breaks over 50 in 6 frames mind you, including a 112 by Neil in the last. This says it all!

Last 64 – Mark Selby beat Fergal O’Brien by 4-0

This was as one-sided as one-sided can be! Fergal never got going, and Mark had 4 breaks over 50, in 4 frames. He finished with a 109. Quick and clean. The World Champion is a man on form!

Last 64 – Ronnie O’Sullivan beat Daniel Wells by 4-0

You can read all about this one here.

Regarding the matches on the second table, I can’t say anything, having seen none of them. I am surprised though by the 4-0 defeat of Marco Fu at the hands of Andrew Higginson, not that Andrew isn’t a good enough player, he certainly can beat anyone on his day, but the scoreline is quite severe! Now Marco is known for being a bit inconsistent at times and when he has a bad day, it usually is a very bad day.

All detailed results are on Cuetracker as always.

Official match photography from the European Masters in Bucharest. All photos by Lewis Ward