Alastair Cook. Ronnie O’Sullivan, Tracey Neville, Ester Ledecka and the England football team all caught our scribes’ eyes. Composite: Tom Jenkins, PA and Getty Images
Main award: Ronnie O’Sullivan by Andy Bull
Ronnie O’Sullivan has been winning for 25 years now: five world championships, seven Masters and seven UK titles, the latest of them this month. His 19th major victory means he has overtaken Stephen Hendry and become the most successful player in snooker history.
Hendry had already reconciled himself to it. “Ronnie is the best player I’ve ever seen,” Hendry has said. And in all that time, O’Sullivan has never even been nominated for Spoty. Which suits him just fine. “I’m so happy I don’t get nominated,” he has said. “Standing around at some gathering – it’s not my scene.” Which is true, Spoty is a lot of nonsense, but it is also the sort of thing you might say when you have been snubbed 25 times.
O’Sullivan is the rare sort of genius you can actually relate to, one who is always carping about his job, his workplace and his boss. Just like us. And if he lost the popular vote in Crawley when he said their venue “smells of urine”, anyone who has spent any time in an average English leisure centre might suspect there was a grain of truth to it, too. O’Sullivan has always been pretty honest about how hard he finds life, his mental illness, his drink and his drug problems. And unlike some of the other nominees, he is not boring, he is not bigoted, and he is happy to pay his taxes. He is slogging through life just like the rest of us, doing the best he can, it’s just his best is that much better than everyone else’s.
Greatest sporting moment: Cook’s farewell century by Ali Martin
Ian Botham was often asked who wrote his scripts. But for one sunny September day in south London the great all-rounder’s playwright was seemingly seconded to Alastair Cook who, having stated the fifth Test against India at the Oval would be his last in the whites of England, signed off from the stage with a 33rd and final century.
At 33, Cook was calling time because of miles on the clock rather than age. He felt the extra drive that was required at the top level was missing and, in a summer dominated by the bowlers, a double-century against Australia the previous winter was starting to become an outlier. But, freed from any pressure or doubts, an innings of sweet timing followed, and not just by way of willow on leather.
By the time Cook walked off there were 147 runs to his name – bookending a record-breaking England career that had begun 12 years earlier with a century on his debut in Nagpur – and a capacity crowd that included his heavily pregnant wife, Alice, and two young children was rising for its umpteenth ovation. As the slightly embarrassed opener noted at the close: “Sometimes dreams do come true.”
World sports star: Ester Ledecka by Sean Ingle
A robust case can be made for all four world star of the year nominees. Francesco Molinari won the Open and took a maximum five out of five points at the Ryder Cup. Oleksandr Usyk became the undisputed world cruiserweight champion. And the incredible Simone Biles was the first gymnast in 30 years to win a medal in all six women’s events at the same world championships, a feat made all the more remarkable given she had a kidney stone 24 hours before her first discipline.
Yet what Ester Ledecka achieved in Pyeongchang was arguably even more mindblowing. Not only did the 23-year-old Czech become the first athlete in history to compete in skiing and snowboarding at the Winter Olympics – she also shocked the world by taking gold in both events. No one gave Ledecka a hope in the women’s Super-G skiing final, given she is primarily a snowboarder, was racing on skis rejected by the US superstar Mikaela Shiffrin and had been in severe pain beforehand. In fact, her victory was so unexpected that NBC declared Austria’s Anna Veith the winner before Ledecka came through to win by 0.01sec.
A few days later Ledecka crushed her rivals in the snowboard parallel giant slalom, a head-to-head in a series of knockout races, to make history. Her snowboarding coach, Justin Reiter, reckons Ledecka – who is also a brilliant windsurfer – is “one of the greatest living athletes”. Who are we to dare argue?
Gareth Southgate after England’s victory against Sweden in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Photograph: Clive Rose/Getty Images
Team of the year: England’s footballers by Paul MacInnes
On the one hand it is too obvious. Men’s football dominates the sporting landscape in this country and sometimes the social and cultural equivalents, too. This England team do not need any more attention than they already have and – you know what? – they did not win anything either. But on the other, there is really no choice: Gareth Southgate’s side delivered the most significant performance of any British team this year. The World Cup is the biggest sporting event on the planet for a number of reasons and one of those is that competing (and even noncompeting) countries invest so much of themselves into it. A good performance lifts a nation, a bad one sends it spinning into introspection.
England’s underperformance at international level had become a psychodrama; their defeat at Euro 2016 by Iceland four days after the Brexit vote a national metaphor. To throw all that off as England did was a seismic feat. To go further: to play modern, intelligent football, to do so with camaraderie and a smile, was not so much a pleasant surprise as a delicious shock.
England (the nation) revelled in it, it made people happy. What more can you ask for from a sporting team than that? And a semi-final place was not bad either.
Coach of the year: Tracey Neville by Anna Kessel
How many people can say they changed their sport forever? Tracey Neville’s England netball win did just that. Beating Australia, the best in the world, in their own backyard to clinch Commonwealth gold. Only Australia and New Zealand had ever made the final before. Neville’s team changed English sporting history and broke a global hegemony.
She did it with coaching prowess, bringing Helen Housby – who scored the winner in the final seconds of the game – into the England squad, making the inspirational Ama Agbeze captain, and squeezing every ounce of professionalism out of semi‑professional players.
The victory gave netball an iconic moment. That glorious photo of the Red Roses piled into a happy heap – Housby’s blue tongue and delirious expression – was plastered across front pages. Its power moved mountains: bringing in TV deals, a glossy Nike campaign and 130,000 more players.
In victory, Neville lifted her own profile, a very rare thing for a female coach. The media attention suits her. She is laugh-out-loud funny, down to earth and hugely likable. A women’s sport and a female coach outshining male competitors? That truly is a new world order.
Snooker personality of the year is upon us and Eurosport, amongst others, has been starting a social media campaign to get Ronnie in it. 2019 has indeed been a remarkable year for Ronnie, who won five titles in the course of it, the last being his records breaking seventh UK Championship only a week ago. It uses the hashtag #SPOTYforRonnie
Here they tell you why Ronnie deserves to be nominated for SPOTY
There is of course also a case for Mark Williams as well, after his extraordinary win at the Crucible last May, not forgetting the press conference and celebrations that follow.
But in terms of “recognizability” by average Joe, Ronnie is by far the most marketable figure in snooker, and the one more likely to attract votes even from those who follow our sport only casually.
RONNIE O’Sullivan may or may not have deserved to make the shortlist for this particular year’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year Show, but the annual programme celebrating the sporting year this Sunday will be another reminder that he has never even been nominated and put forward to the public vote.
This year O’Sullivan has won the Masters, the Welsh Open making a 12th and all-time record 147 maximum break to win it, the Champion of Champions and the UK Championship in one of the best finals of recent years, chucking in another 147 in the event. And all done with the usual panache and style that has even fellow pros purring, drawing in TV viewers in the millions.
Let’s be generous to this year’s much-changed BBC panel and note some of those achievements occurred after the shortlist was announced, and also that he fell short in the big one, the World Championship final at the Crucible, losing 18-14 to Mark Selby in a match which he unusually let slip. If you believe that a world title should be some kind of pre-requisite to be nominated then there is at least a reason this year, although that is a decent campaign by most normal standards.
However the BBC have now given themselves a serious problem over O’Sullivan and wider sporting recognition for him on SPOTY – and it stems purely and simply from bewildering past oversights, and from not nominating him when they should have.
If not earlier, they should have had him on the shortlist in 2012, when his career was all but saved by sports psychiatrist Dr Steve Peters, and O’Sullivan went from being 4-0 down in the first round in January at the German Masters to beating Andrew Higginson, winning his first ranking title for two and a half years in Berlin, and then winning a fourth world title and a first for four years.
And even more unforgivably, he should have been on the shortlist last year, incredibly waltzing to a fifth world title after finally doing what he had threatened for years and taking almost an entire season away from the game to recharge the batteries.
Having not taken these opportunities to give O’Sullivan the chance of at least a public vote for the recognition, either a) he never will be; b) the pressure reaches such a level he might get nominated in a year he shouldn’t be to make up for it; or hopefully c) he does win another world title, by no means guaranteed, and the chance is finally and belatedly taken to push his claims.
In recent casual conversations with sports editors they have expressed amazement that O’Sullivan has never been on the shortlist, since he transcends his own sport in the way great sportsmen do. And yet it is some of their colleagues who have in the past been in part responsible, making up the numbers on the panel who decides – alongside BBC senior management, and a selection of the great and the good of British sport.
There just seems to be a snobbery that persists about snooker, and a bias, agenda, call it what you like towards other sports. There is simply no other rational explanation as to why O’Sullivan has never been on the shortlist. This can’t be levelled at the public – they aren’t even getting the chance to vote – so it is the panel. A public vote would in my view in the years mentioned above have resulted in something akin to darts legend Phil Taylor’s second place in 2010.
Steve Davis, working for the BBC at the recent UK Championship, stated as diplomatically as he was able that O’Sullivan there was “more emphasis on sports where you sweat”, in fairness probably as far as he could go before in all likelihood earning some kind of rebuke from his employers. Davis, of course, finished in the top three five times in the 1980s in the days of a free vote.
His BBC co-presenter and commentator Stephen Hendry was stronger after last year’s baffling omission, raising the snobbery concern. O’Sullivan himself is pretty philosophical when asked about it, just accepting that he and his sport are not the cups of tea of those doing the judging.
In fairness there was a time in his career when O’Sullivan probably didn’t help himself, with the regular talk of retirement and hating his own sport – but the work with Peters has seen almost all of that disappear since 2011. And there is a valid reason he is called a genius to the point of monotony. That he is a genius.
The bottom line is that O’Sullivan would be far more recognised – and for good reason – than many of those shortlisted this or last year. He would be more recognised than most footballers. Probably six of this year’s crop could happily go down the street without being spotted. Fame isn’t everything, but O’Sullivan is widely known for his supreme talent and honours on the table and a certain notoriety, fascination and intrigue off it.
Personality, let’s call it. Let’s see if anything changes if he can equal Davis’s world title tally in Sheffield.
Photograph by Monique Limbos
It is still valid, every word of it.
There were also plenty of players supporting the idea on social media. Such recognition would benefit snooker as a sport and all its exponents. Asked the question in Glasgow this week, Mark Allen’s answer was unequivocal.
With just two tables and a slightly longer format, yesterday saw the start of the “business end” of this rear Scottish Open in Glasgow. Two matches were played in the afternoon, both very one-sided affairs with the highest-ranked players winning easily, and two in the evening, a bit more eventful. Shaun Murphy and Mark Allen both whitewashed their respective opponents. But Ryan Day was well beaten by Daniel Wells who has now booked his place in his first semi-final in a ranking event, and Stuart Carrington gave Judd Trump a good game.
Mark Allen is through to the semi-finals of the BetVictor Scottish Open after a 5-0 whitewash victory against Alfie Burden in Glasgow.
The Pistol is enjoying one of the most consistent runs of his career, having won 18 of his last 20 ranking event matches. He produced a blistering display of break building power in winning the International Championship last month. Allen fired in 14 century breaks on his way to picking up the title.
Burden, who is celebrating his 42nd birthday today, secured one of the biggest wins of his career yesterday. He defeated home favourite and four-time World Champion John Higgins 4-2. However, he couldn’t follow up that display this afternoon.
Allen compiled breaks of 52, 86 and 61 on his way to a routine victory in just over an hour and a half.
Allen said: “It was solid rather than spectacular. I feel for Alfie a little bit, as he missed some pots that he shouldn’t have. I just picked up the pieces, kept it tight when I needed to and didn’t make many errors.
“It is nice that I have been on a decent run lately, but I know how quickly things can turn around. I’m not going to get too carried away, I am just going to enjoy the run that I am on.”
Allen will face Welshman Daniel Wells up next, who emphatically defeated compatriot Ryan Day 5-1 to reach his first ever ranking event semi-final.
Wells received a first round bye after his opponent, the winner of last week’s UK Championship Ronnie O’Sullivan, pulled out of the event. The Neath potter has taken full advantage, only dropping three frames on his way to the last four.
He showed no sign of finishing line nerves this evening. From 2-1 up he fired in breaks of 76, 54 and 71 to emerge with the 5-1 victory.
Shaun Murphy claimed his place in the last four with a 5-0 whitewash of Sam Baird.
The Magician is enjoying an upturn in form this week, having lost six first round matches this season. Murphy is now potentially just two games away from a first ranking title since the 2017 Gibraltar Open.
Murphy said: “I’ve just come out of this fog and mist of confusion and disappointment I’ve been in for the last few months. I’d say whatever happens this weekend I will call it a bit of a turning point for my season. I have renewed optimism going into 2019.”
Murphy faces a blockbuster last four clash with Judd Trump. The Ace in the Pack negotiated a tough test from Stuart Carrington to come through 5-3.
Trump produced three century runs of 101, 117 and 119 on his way to this evening’s victory.
Ronnie was again in the ES studio, as well as in the commentary box.
Ronnie was commentating on the Trump v Carrington match and here is the link.
As for the semi-finals, here are my views.
Mark Allen faces Daniel Wells and I think that Mark will have too much for Daniel over the best of eleven, on the main table. My prediction is that Mark will win with a bit in hand, by 6-2 or 6-3.
In the other semi-final, Shaun Murphy and Judd Trump should provide a much closer match. Should. Shaun played much better yesterday, and Judd has looked vulnerable when Stuart Carrington came back at him from 2-0 down to 2-2, then staying with him for 3-3. Actually, Judd revealed in his postmatch interview how much the presence and support of his brother Jack are helping him in moments like this when doubts start to creep in. I can’t really call this match. Shaun plays an attacking game, which suits Judd better than Stuart’s more methodical approach, although Stuart was certainly not negative yesterday. But on the other hand, it means that both will give the other opportunities and it will very much be in the form of the day.
Shaun Murphy scored one of his best wins of the season so far, beating Kyren Wilson 4-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the BetVictor Scottish Open in Glasgow.
Triple Crown winner Murphy has had a difficult start to this campaign, having succumbed to six first round defeats. However, the 2005 World Champion has started to show signs of a return to form this week, especially in tonight’s victory.
By contrast world number ten Wilson has enjoyed a strong first half of the 2018/19 campaign and claimed back-to-back titles at the Paul Hunter Classic and Six Red World Championship three months ago. However, it was Murphy who edged a tightly contested tie this evening.
There was a high standard of play when the match got underway, with each of the first four frames being won with a break of over 50. Murphy ensured that those frames were shared thanks to a sublime contribution of 124 in the fourth to make it 2-2.
Wilson then moved one from victory. However, it was 36-year-old Murphy who won the final two frames, including a break of 82 in the decider, to progress.
Murphy said: “Kyren has been building his reputation and he now comes into every tournament as one of the players you talk about. While he has been building that reputation, I have sort of been on sabbatical. I feel like I have been in the jungle for the best part of a year or so. However, that feels like a big win for me. I am holding back on calling it a turning point in my season, but it was an important result.”
Alfie Burden secured one of the biggest wins of his career so far, defeating Scotland’s four-time World Champion John Higgins 4-2 on home turf.
Burden came within a frame of falling off the tour at the end of last season. He narrowly kept his card after beating David Gilbert 10-9 in a crunch game at World Championship qualifying. Burden has shown similar levels of tenacity this week, winning two matches 4-3 from 3-0 down.
“It feels amazing. John is the best player, alongside Ronnie O’Sullivan, to have ever played the game,” said Burden. “I just kept fighting, like I have done all week. Those wins from 3-0 down have given me the mentality to never give up whatever happens. It is not easy to do that when you have John Higgins sitting in the other chair, but you have to blank that out and try to take your chances.”
Up next Burden will face Mark Allen, who downed Scotland’s 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott 4-2 to book his place in the quarter-finals.
The Pistol is coming fresh off his run to last weekend’s UK Championship final, where he lost out 10-6 to Ronnie O’Sullivan and he will be hoping to go one step further this weekend.
Judd Trump is through to the quarters after a 4-1 win over Ian Burns. The Ace in the Pack, who recently won the BetVictor Northern Ireland Open, has only conceded two frames over the course of the week.
Ryan Day and Daniel Wells both won to secure an all-Welsh last eight meeting. Day saw off Asian number one Ding Junhui 4-2, while Wells whitewashed his good friend Matthew Stevens 4-0.
Sam Baird defeated four-time ranking event winner Ali Carter 4-3 to clinch his place in the quarters and Stuart Carrington also secured his spot in the last eight line-up after beating Tian Pengfei in a deciding frame 4-3.
As I wrote above, I saw very little, but what I saw was a couple of frames of the Murphy-Wilson match. I’m quite puzzled to read that this was a “high quality” encounter. Yes, in both frames I watched, one of the players eventually made a telling break, but before getting to that point, and after when for snookers, both made a lot of mistakes, some quite baffling for players of their caliber. Kyren looked badly out of sorts, and Shaun played some real stinkers.
Ronnie is back on the couch and commentating on matches.
The first one contains a chat with Ronnie about his UK Championship win and the reasons why he withdrew from this tournament.
If you are interested in Ronnie’s commentary, here are two links
The second round, last 64, was played yesterday in Glasgow and offered two major talking points: the Defending Champion bowed out to unheralded Ross Muir and John Higgins made the ninth 147 of his career in front of his own crowd.
Scotland’s four-time World Champion John Higgins produced a magnificent display, including a 147 break, to down Gerard Greene 4-0 at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Glasgow.
Higgins eased into a 2-0 advantage after making a break of 83 in the second frame. What followed was a moment of magic in front of the 30-time ranking event winner’s adoring home crowd. He fired in a spectacular 147 break, the ninth of his career.
That puts him in line for a £22,000 payout, if no other 147s are made this week. Higgins then went on to wrap up the win thanks to a clearance of 32, which allowed him to pinch the fourth frame on the black. The Scot now faces an intriguing last 32 encounter with the talented 18-year-old Yan Bingtao.
It was a remarkable turnaround for Higgins, who just two days ago revealed that he had suffered a broken rib and has talked recently about considering retirement following struggles with his form and a heart breaking 18-16 World Championship final defeat to Mark Williams.
Higgins said: “I got a great ovation at the end there. It was some crowd. It was brilliant and is just one of those things. I think that is the first time I have had a buzz this year since the Crucible.
“When I was practising in the house I felt something. I felt a little bit better and I thought maybe I could take it out into the game and play well today. Luckily I did and it culminated in that break.
“When I played on Monday my rib was really bad because I had some physio on that day. I was in the physio room at 4 o’clock and I was playing at seven because it totally seized up. It is better now after the last couple of days.”
Higgins’ compatriot Ross Muir secured one of the biggest wins of his career, beating defending champion Neil Robertson 4-2.
The Scot, who top scored with 98, admitted after the match that he had to battle through eye problems to secure the victory.
Muir said: “It is certainly up there with the best moments of my career. Beating someone like Neil is very good. These players don’t give you anything and you certainly need to earn it. I was really struggling with my right eye. I’ve been to numerous GPs and opticians and have been diagnosed with being prone to eye migraines.
“I’m proud to have won the game. Performance-wise it wasn’t great. How I am feeling isn’t great, because my eye is a bit blurry. It is a good win though, onto the next one and go again.”
Recent Northern Ireland Open champion Judd Trump put on a blistering display to brush aside Leicester’s Ben Woollaston 4-0.
Trump fired in breaks of 102, 50, 66 and 119 to storm to an impressive victory. He faces China’s Zhang Jiankang in the last 32.
Chinese number one Ding Junhui made breaks of 76 and 111 in a 4-1 win over world number 30 Robert Milkins. Mark Allen is also through to the last 32 after defeating Chen Feilong 4-1.
2005 World Champion Shaun Murphy defeated Michael Holt in a whitewash 4-0 win. While Kyren Wilson also secured a clean sweep of the frames, beating Paul Davison 4-0.
And here is John Higgins maximum:
John’s reaction after the match shows once again that it sometimes doesn’t take much to turn a player’s state of mind around completely. If John continues to play the way he did yesterday, he certainly is a contender for the title.
Neil Robertson was obviously very disappointed and angry after the match and suggested that the referee should have stepped in and asked Ross Muir to speed up. That was before he was told that Ross was struggling with an eye problem. Hearing this, Neil immediately apologised and shortly after came to social media to reiterate his apologies, and admitting that he had “let himself down” by saying this. Neil deserves a lot of credits for that as it does take courage and honesty. It’s a shame that some in the media are not made of the same stuff. There is plenty in the press online about Neil’s outburst but nothing that I have read so far about his apology. Shame! One thing that Neil mentioned, and that Mark Allen had mentioned the day before as well are the conditions; apparently, the main table isn’t playing great. Didn’t stop John Higgins to make a 147, but then how much it affects their game might depend on the player’s style as well.
Judd Trump played well indeed, but, once again Ben Woollaston did have chances in every frame.
Michael White, Ben Woollaston, Marco Fu, Mark Davis, Mark King, Davis Gilbert, Jack Lisowski (who lost to Jimmy Robertson by 4-1), and Martin O’Donnell also went out yesterday. King lost to David Lilley, an amateur who is competing on the World Seniors tour. It’s not the first upset that David Lilley is causing and, for me, it shows how the Seniors tour has revived the appetite for competition in a lot of mature players. David Lilley is not even amongst the very best on that tour!
Chinese number one Ding Junhui put on a blistering display to sweep aside compatriot Niu Zhuang 4-0 on day one of the BetVictor Scottish Open .
Ding stormed to victory this afternoon, remarkably only conceding two points in the process. Both of those came in the first frame, following which Ding went on a run of 437 unanswered points to get over the finish line.
The 13-time ranking event winner produced a barrage of breaks throughout, firing in contributions of 105, 66, 93 and 134 on his way to the victory.
Ding faces a battle to secure his place at February’s World Grand Prix in Cheltenham. With the top 32 on the one-year list qualifying, he currently lies in 31st position. The series then progresses, as the top 16 gain entry to the Players Championship and only the best eight players of the season qualify for the brand new Tour Championship.
Ding said: “My position on the one-year list isn’t very good at the moment. I need to try and win some matches and make sure I get into the top 32. I will try to enter some more tournaments, practise harder and see what happens.
“Today was a very good performance against another Chinese player. I played very aggressively and didn’t miss any balls. It felt good.”
Top Scottish star John Higgins overcame a broken rib to secure his place in the last 64 with a narrow 4-3 win over amateur Adam Duffy.
Higgins led this evening’s match 2-0, before eventually being pegged back by Duffy, who forced a deciding frame. The Scot then ultimately got himself over the line with a the help of a break of 53.
“I wouldn’t have played if it wasn’t here in Glasgow. There isn’t far to travel,” said Higgins. “I was out watching the Scottish League Cup football final a couple of weeks ago when I hurt my rib.
“It would be amazing if I could go far, but I really don’t think I will get much further in this event. Adam played well today and potted a few good balls, but he missed some crucial ones so I was lucky.”
Higgins’ fellow Scots Stephen Maguire and Anthony McGill succumbed to disappointing defeats. Maguire was beaten 4-1 by Billy Castle, while McGill exits after a 4-2 loss against China’s Zhang Yong.
Defending champion Neil Robertson got his campaign underway with a 4-1 defeat of Peter Lines.
Australia’s 2010 World Champion made breaks of 88, 63 and 67 on his way to this afternoon’s victory.
Judd Trump surged to a comfortable 4-0 whitewash of ten-time ranking event winner Jimmy White in under an hour to progress to the last 64 of the BetVictor Scottish Open in Glasgow.
Trump is enjoying a strong run of form, having scored a sensational 9-7 win over Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final of the recent BetVictor Northern Ireland Open. However, he did succumb to a narrow 6-4 loss against Joe Perry in the last 16 of the UK Championship last week.
The last time Trump locked horns with the legendary White in a ranking event was at the 2012 China Open, where he came out a 5-3 victor.
This evening’s match was a more comfortable victory. Trump rattled off four frames in just 45 minutes, composing runs of 73, 61 and 73 on his way to the win.
Trump said: “I played some good stuff at times. Jimmy was always finishing in slightly awkward positions. The table may have been playing a bit differently to what he is used to, as he isn’t on TV as much these days.
“My game is there, you can’t win every tournament you play in. You need to look to the next event and stay positive. I had a bad match at the UK Championship in York and that can happen.”
Mark Allen, fresh off a 10-6 defeat in the UK Championship final against Ronnie O’Sullivan, earned a hard fought 4-2 win over Liang Wenbo.
The Pistol doesn’t have the best of records against China’s Liang. The 2016 English Open champion Liang had won all five of their previous meetings going into today’s clash. However, it was Allen who got the win this evening, making breaks of 69 and 78 along the way.
“It was all about the win. I knew it probably wasn’t going to be pretty after Sunday night’s antics,” said Allen. “It is nice to finally get a win over Liang. He has had my number over the years. He is a very tough player to play. He has an awkward style, pots good balls and scores heavily.”
Scotland’s 1994 Masters champion Alan McManus and three-time ranking event semi-finalist Scott Donaldson secured wins on home soil.
McManus edged through 4-3 against John Astley, while Donaldson come through a 4-2 victor against Rory McLeod.
John Higgins has stressed he will “seriously” consider retiring at the end of the season if he continues to struggle for motivation.
The four-time world champion said earlier this month he felt he was “near the end” of his time in the game.
Despite reaching the 2018 world final, Higgins says he is living a “soul-destroying” existence.
“If I still feel the way I’m feeling just now I’d seriously think about it,” he said.
“I just feel as though I’m stuck in the house now 24/7.
“My wife works three days, which is great because she’s brought our three kids up over the years and she’s got a bit of independence. She’s out working which is great but now I realise how people can go stir-crazy when they’re in the house.
….
“I know now there’s house husbands but it can be pretty soul-destroying when you’re stuck in the four walls. That’s what I feel I’ve been doing a lot now with my practice game in the house.”
If he does continue to play next year, Higgins says he would “look at” the opportunity to take part in a breakaway snooker tour.
Ronnie O’Sullivan has mooted his desire to form a “Champions League-style” format because of his dissatisfaction with the current schedule.
“If there was something like that in the future of course you would look at it,” four-time world champion Higgins said.
“There are a lot of countries that want to see tournament play but a lot can’t come up with the money because they’ve got to fund a 128-man ranking event which is tough – it takes a lot of money to do that,” he said.
“So if other countries are wanting to put on smaller events for smaller fields and that would suit me, it could suit other players, who knows?”
And here is Alan McManus reaction to this, as well as his assessment of Ronnie as a sportsman and a person
My personal feeling is that John Higgins is going through some kind of depression. With his wife working three days a week he doesn’t need to stay at home 24/7. If he feels that way, which I don’t challenge, if he feels trapped, then maybe he needs a bit of help.
As for yesterday’s action, just two things.
Ryan Day’s win over Rhys Clark was one of the most puzzling matches I ever watched. Day started in all dominant form. Clark, a young pro who has only won two matches over the last two seasons and has made it known that he doesn’t intend to carry on after this one, looked unable to pot a ball for his life. Then somehow Ryan missed a couple and Rhys came to life. Before you knew it, we were into a decider. It was all very strange.
Jimmy White’s performance against Judd Trump was terrible and very sad to see. I’m not saying that Jimmy should retire, that’s not for anybody to decide (or advise) but Jimmy himself. But it was painful to watch. He did have chances in every single frame …
Ronnie O’Sullivan may have already done enough to secure his place in all three Coral Series events thanks to his victory at the Betway UK Championship.
The Rocket beat Mark Allen 10-6 in the final in York on Sunday to win a record seventh UK title and 19th Triple Crown in all. And the £170,000 top prize sees him fly up 20 places to second on the one-year ranking list. From the three ranking events he has contested so far this season, O’Sullivan has earned £220,000.
The one-year list will be used to determine the fields for the Coral Series later in the season. Only the top 32 will qualify automatically for the Coral World Grand Prix in Cheltenham (February 4-10), then the top 16 go on to the Coral Players Championship in Preston (March 4-10), and only the top eight will make it to the new Coral Tour Championship in Llandudno (March 19-24).
O’Sullivan is now nearly £100,000 ahead of the player in eighth position, Stuart Bingham with £120,500.
There are just two events to go until the field of 32 is set for the Coral World Grand Prix. This week’s BetVictor Scottish Open in Glasgow and then the D88.com German Masters (January 30 to February 3) are the only remaining counting events in the Race to Cheltenham. Sunny Akani currently occupied 32nd position with £41,500, but just £5,500 separates him from Scott Donaldson in 41st. For more on that race click here.
Mark Allen’s runner-up prize of £75,000 in York put him top of the one-year list with £283,000. Semi-finalist Stuart Bingham moved one place up to eighth while Tom Ford got to the semis of a Triple Crown event for the first time, and his career-biggest pay day of £35,000 sees him jump from 48th to 21st.
As it stands there are:
Eight players inside the top 32 of the one-year list who are outside the top 32 of the official rankings.
Four players inside the top 16 of the one-year list who are outside the official top 16.
Three players inside the top eight of the one-year list who are outside the official top eight.
In the official two year world rankings, O’Sullivan remains in third place but closes the gap on top two Mark Selby and Mark Williams and looks set for a three-way battle for the top spot over the coming months.
Allen is up to sixth, equalling his career highest, while Ford leaps eight spots to 28th.
The Race to the Masters concluded in York with Jack Lisowski finishing in 16th place and earning a debut in snooker’s biggest invitation event, to take place from January 13 to 20 at Alexandra Palace. For details of the draw click here.
There are just two events to go before the field is set for this season’s Coral World Grand Prix which is set to be held at The Centaur, Cheltenham Racecourse for the first time.
Forming part of the new three-part Coral Series, the tournament will be played at 4-10 February 2019 and as in recent seasons will once again see 32 players contest the title, with a top prize of £100,000 to be won.
Although there are just under two months to go until then however, with invitational events including the Masters and Championship League dominating the month of January, there are in fact just two counting ranking events – the Scottish Open and the German Masters – still to be completed before the important cut-off date.
Mark Allen currently tops the one-year ranking list
Who will qualify?
As was the case last season, the top 32 players on the one-year ranking list will earn their places at the World Grand Prix. But how does this ranking list differ from the world’s official ranking order?
While the official world ranking list is calculated over a rolling two-year period, the one-year ranking list used to determine qualification for Cheltenham includes only prize money earned since the start of this season at the 2018 Riga Masters, through to and including the 2019 German Masters in Berlin. This covers a total of 11 counting events, nine of which have already been completed, with the Scottish Open due to start on Monday morning in Glasgow.
For the avoidance of doubt, this does not include prize money earned from maximum or high break prizes, or invitational events such as the Shanghai Masters or Champion of Champions.
The state of play
Last season saw the final qualifying place taken by Robert Milkins with £57,000 and this year’s final total looks likely to fall somewhere close to that tally.
On looking at the latest Race to the World Grand Prix standings, including prize money earned at this week’s Betway UK Championship, those either side of the crucial cut-off include:
24th – Xiao Guodong – £51,600 25th – Yan Bingtao – £51,500 26th – Marco Fu – £51,000 27th – Matthew Stevens – £48,000 28th – Yuan Sijun – £46,500 29st – Gary Wilson – £45,600 30th – Stuart Carrington – £44,500 31st – Ding Junhui – £44,000 32nd – Sunny Akani – £41,500 —————————————————————————— 33rd – Zhou Yuelong – £40,000 34th– Eden Sharav – £39,100 35th – Luca Brecel – £39,000 36th – Robert Milkins – £38,600 37th – Anthony Hamilton – £38,500 38th – Peter Ebdon – £38,500 39th– Hossein Vafaei – £37,000 40th– Lyu Haotian – £36,000 41st – Scott Donaldson – £36,000 42nd– Graeme Dott – £33,000 43rd– Chris Wakelin – £32,725 44th– Thepchaiya Un-Nooh – £31,225 45th– Ricky Walden – £31,000 46th– Matt Selt – £30,100
Of the players currently ranked within the world’s top 32, ten are currently outside of the same positions on the one-year ranking list based on their prize money earned this season.
Perhaps most notable among them is former world champion Shaun Murphy (65), who despite currently being ranked inside of the world’s top ten finds himself well down the one-year list having earned just £19,500 during the first half of this season.
Other big names in danger include 13th ranked Luca Brecel (35), as well as Scottish duo Anthony McGill (68) and Graeme Dott (42), while Liang Wenbo (48) also needs a significant run at one of the two remaining events to bring himself into contention.
The others who currently stand outside of the top 32 on the one-year ranking list are Zhou Yuelong (33), Robert Milkins (36), Anthony Hamilton (37), Ricky Walden (45) and Martin Gould (57), the latter having not entered the Scottish Open.
On the rise
Among those looking to qualify for The Centaur at the expense of those above are of course Martin O’Donnell (16), some 43 places higher on the one-year list than his actual ranking following his career-best start to the season.
Also performing above their ranking are Thailand’s Noppon Saengkham (18), English Open finalist Mark Davis (19) andTom Ford (21), who reached his first triple-crown semi-final this week in York.
Zhao Xintong (23) is also well inside the current qualification standings despite being on the first year of a two-year tour card, with Matthew Stevens (27), Yuan Sijun (28), Gary Wilson (29), Stuart Carrington (30) and Sunny Akani (32) also in the mix ahead of Scotland and Germany.
Mark Allen is through to the semi-finals of the BetVictor Scottish Open after a 5-0 whitewash victory against Alfie Burden in Glasgow.
Shaun Murphy claimed his place in the last four with a 5-0 whitewash of Sam Baird.
Shaun Murphy scored one of his best wins of the season so far, beating Kyren Wilson 4-3 to reach the quarter-finals of the BetVictor Scottish Open in Glasgow.
Up next Burden will face Mark Allen, who downed Scotland’s 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott 4-2 to book his place in the quarter-finals.
Scotland’s four-time World Champion John Higgins produced a magnificent display, including a 147 break, to down Gerard Greene 4-0 at the BetVictor Scottish Open in Glasgow.
Recent Northern Ireland Open champion Judd Trump put on a blistering display to brush aside Leicester’s Ben Woollaston 4-0.
Chinese number one Ding Junhui put on a blistering display to sweep aside compatriot Niu Zhuang 4-0 on day one of the BetVictor Scottish Open .
Top Scottish star John Higgins overcame a broken rib to secure his place in the last 64 with a narrow 4-3 win over amateur Adam Duffy.
Judd Trump surged to a comfortable 4-0 whitewash of ten-time ranking event winner Jimmy White in under an hour to progress to the last 64 of the BetVictor Scottish Open in Glasgow.
Ronnie O'Sullivan 