Mark Selby succesfully defended his Scottish Open title yesterday, beating Ronnie very comprehensively by 9-3. Mark has now won 11 consecutive ranking finals, equalling Stephen Hendry’s record. This is Mark’s 19th ranking title, on par with Judd Trump and Neil Robertson. 

Congratulations Mark Selby!

Here are the reports by WST:

Afternoon session

Selby Secures Lead In Final

Defending champion Mark Selby emerged from the first session of his Matchroom.Live Scottish Open final with World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan leading 6-2.

It’s the first time the pair have met since their epic World Championship semi-final clash earlier this year. On that occasion, O’Sullivan rallied from 16-14 down to win 17-16. He’ll be hoping for a similar turnaround this evening.

Selby is aiming to win the Stephen Hendry Trophy and the £70,000 top prize for the second year in a row, after sealing the title with a 9-6 win over Jack Lisowski in the final 12 months ago.

They shared the opening two frames this afternoon, before a century run of 102 saw Selby move 2-1 up. He then claimed a tightly contested fourth frame to head into the mid-session 3-1 ahead.

When they returned, Selby had looked to be on the verge of taking the fifth, but a stunning clearance of 58 saw O’Sullivan steal on the black and make it 3-2.

Selby added the sixth and seventh frames to his tally and had looked set to claim the eighth, when he established a commanding 59-0 lead in the frame. O’Sullivan embarked on another spectacular clearance to steal. However, having done the hard work, he inexplicably missed a straightforward red to the top right corner and allowed Selby to seal his 6-2 lead.

They will return at 7pm to play the best of 17 frame tie to a conclusion.

Evening session

Selby Storms To Scottish Open Title

Mark Selby beat World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan 9-3 in the final of Matchroom.Live Scottish Open to lift the title for a second consecutive year.

The win sees world number four Selby secure the £70,000 top prize and the Stephen Hendry Trophy. The Jester from Leicester remains undefeated in the Scottish Open, having won the title in his first appearance in the event last year. Selby defeated Jack Lisowski 9-6 in the final 12 months ago.

He has now won his last 11 ranking final appearances in a row, you have to go back to the 2016 Shanghai Masters final for his most recent defeat. That sees Selby equal the record for consecutive final wins with Hendry.

This evening’s victory avenges a gut-wrenching World Championship semi-final defeat to O’Sullivan in the most recent meeting between the pair. On that occasion O’Sullivan rallied from 16-14 down, to win 17-16. O’Sullivan remains ahead of Selby in head-to-head meetings, leading 16-11.

Selby has now amassed 19 ranking titles over his career so far. That draws him level with Neil Robertson in seventh position on the all-time ranking event winner’s list.

Selby established a commanding 6-2 lead during this afternoon’s first session. When they returned this evening, the 37-year-old showed no signs of relinquishing his hold on the match. Selby fired in breaks of 78 and 51 in the first frame of the night, to extend his advantage to 7-2.

O’Sullivan kept himself in contention by claiming the tenth frame, but a run of 61 helped Selby to come from behind and take the eleventh to move one from victory. The Rocket had looked set to extend the match, when he embarked on a 147 attempt. However, he missed a routine red on 64 and opened the door for Selby, who ruthlessly crafted a run of 74 to secure victory.

“To win any tournament is fantastic, but when you are going back as defending champion, it is always nice to try and win it again,” said three-time Crucible king Selby. “You never want to go out early as a defending champion. Thankfully for me, I’ve managed to come here and do a good job. I think I’m 100% in the Scottish Open. I’ve only played in it twice and won it twice.

“It is fantastic to equal Stephen Hendry’s record for consecutive wins in finals. He is one of the all-time greats and was one of the players I looked up to as a young lad growing up. To equal a record of his is amazing. I had a phase many years ago when I was getting to ranking finals and not converting them into wins. Now it is going the other way.

“I am a perfectionist and if I’m not doing something how I want it to be, then I get down on myself. I’m always striving to get better. I’m not getting any younger, but there is no reason while you are healthy that you can’t try to get better. That’s what I’m aiming for so I will still be back on the practice table tomorrow working hard for the World Grand Prix.”

O’Sullivan said: “That’s just the way snooker goes sometimes. Some days you are the bug and some days you are the window screen. Today I was the bug.

“It has been a tough week, apart from the first round where I was pretty flawless. From that moment onwards I’ve had tip problems and it was like I was on a slide downwards, rather than one going upwards. Each match got worse and worse. It is really hard to turn that around.”

Here are some more quotes as reported by Phil Haigh

Mark Selby

It was a straight forward victory for the three-time world champion, in a contest in which he was never behind, but he was happy to add a bit of spice to proceedings after the match.

While he described O’Sullivan as the ‘best player to play the game’ he also made subtle digs at the Rocket’s recent comments about his cue action and troublesome tip.

‘To win any tournament nowadays is great, I’m really really happy,’ Selby told Eurosport.

‘Don’t feel as though I played fantastic today, could have played a lot better, I felt like I was searching for my cue action all day.

‘In patches in some matches I feel like I’ve played as good as I can play, still a lot of things to work on.

‘A few shots I wasn’t happy with, didn’t cue them that well. A lot to work on on the practice table but the signs are good.

‘If I was to choose to win a tournament I’d choose to play Ronnie in the final every time.

‘He’s the best player to play the game, but today he didn’t play fantastic, I don’t feel like I played great, I probably need a new tip on.’

O’Sullivan also continued his recent policy of playing on in frames in which he needs multiple snookers, far more than is realistic to win.

….

‘I don’t know, it is what it is. I went into the match knowing he was going to do that so I was ready for it and prepared,’ said Selby. ‘It was a strange one, you’d have to ask him.

‘One thing I will say is if that was me doing it, carrying on from 80 behind I know the commentators would have absolutely crucified me and slaughtered me.

‘I’ve watched it this week, him carrying on against other players, and everyone’s scared to say anything because it’s Ronnie so they don’t say anything.

‘If that had been me, for sure I’d be crucified by social media and the commentators as well.

‘I’m not going to stoop down to that level. People say I’m slow enough, I ain’t going to carry on on the pink and black for another half hour.’

…

Actually there were some negative comments on Eurosport during matches this week. But Mark is right to an extend, he would probably be attacked on social media much more than Ronnie has been.

Ronnie

O’Sullivan made no excuses for his below-par performance in the final, crediting the champion for outplaying him.

‘Mark played fantastically well, I’ve got no complaints, I didn’t really do a lot wrong,’ the Rocket told Eurosport.

‘Just some days you just don’t score enough points and put your opponent under enough pressure.

‘When you get to finals you expect to have to do that, I just didn’t do that good enough.’

Here are the scores:

There were only two positive points in that match for Ronnie: he tried very hard right to the last balls and the 58 clearance he made in frame five was a gem. Other than that he missed too many relatively easy balls, and his long potting was inexistent.

This is how he felt after missing the last red in frame 8. It should have been 5-3, not 6-2 but … 6-2 it was. If I’m honest I was feeling the same when that happened …

Mark Selby has won yesterday’s evening semi-final by 6-1, and will play Ronnie in the final today. Some fans are still seeing the Home Nations tournaments as a bit of a lottery because of the short format in the early rounds but there have been no real surprise winners over the last years. Today will see the Defending Champion play the World Champion in the Final and we had exactly the same scenario at the Northern Ireland Open last month.

Mark Selby had far too much for Jamie Jones. Here is the report by WST:

Stunning Selby Reaches Final

Defending champion Mark Selby thrashed Jamie Jones 6-1 to reach the Matchroom.Live Scottish Open final.

Selby will now face a familiar foe in World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan for the Stephen Hendry Trophy and the £70,000 top prize. They will contest tomorrow’s final over the best of 17 frames. O’Sullivan holds the edge in head-to-head meetings between the pair, leading 16-10.

Selby, a winner of 18 career ranking titles, remains undefeated in the Scottish Open. His 9-6 win over Jack Lisowski in last year’s final saw him win the event in his maiden appearance. This week’s run puts him one match away from winning the title for a second consecutive year.

The Jester from Leicester has also won in all of his previous ten ranking finals, including this season’s BetVictor European Masters, leaving him one behind the record of 11 consecutive wins set by Stephen Hendry.

Defeat for Jones sees him bow out with the consolation of £20,000. This run to the semis is his best showing since returning to the tour via Q School earlier this year. Jones has comfortably earned his place in the top 32 of this season’s one-year list and will be at next week’s World Grand Prix.

In a breathtaking display, Selby fired in breaks of 123, 128, 101 and 53 on his way to establishing a 5-0 advantage. A run of 99 from Jones saw him claim his solitary frame, before Selby ruthlessly charged over the line with a break of 93.

Selby said: “It was more or less a faultless performance. The first frame was a bit edgy, but after that every time I got a chance, I won the frame. It was pretty much the perfect performance.

“I’m very close to my best form. If you play like that then you can beat anybody on your day. It is good to know my game is still there. Sometimes you question yourself when you are struggling, but I think I’ve been really consistent this season and played well the majority of the time. It has taken a good performance to beat me.

“I know Ronnie is still at the top of the game, but you don’t know how much longer he is going to play for. He is great for the game and a genius on the table. He is one of the all-time greats depending on what people say, whether it is Hendry or O’Sullivan. For me I’d go Ronnie as the greatest ever. When you get the chance to play him, whether it is in the final or not, it is always a great occasion.”

And this is how Ronnie became the first Finalist earlier in the day

I was surprised how comprehensively Jamie Jones had beaten Kyren Wilson. Now here is an explanation:

Kyren is still in pain. Hopefully he will get better before his next match in the World Grand Prix.

Speaking about the World Grand Prix, the line-up is known, but the draw, made on the base of strict players’ seeding in the one year list, can still change.  Ronnie is currently 5th in that list and set to play Ali Carter, but a win today would see him climb to 4th, swapping with Kyren Wilson, and he would then play Kurt Maflin instead.

The World Grand Prix starts tomorrow evening, with four matches:

Neil Robertson (2) v Robert Milkins (31)
Barry Hawkins (12) v Ricky Walden (21)
Joe Perry (14) v Anthony McGill (19)
John Higgins (7 ) v Xiao Guodong (26) 

When WST published the linked article, Jamie Jones could still have superseeded  John Higgins by reaching the Final.

Based on what we have seen so far this week, Mark Selby has to be favourite to win today. Mark has won the last ten ranking finals he has been involved in, as mentioned in the above report,  and he’s on form. He will have the extra motivation of equalling one of Hendry’s records. Ronnie played OK yesterday in the second half of the match, but still not great. One thing though that he has shown this season is a strong competitive spirit and will to win.

Ronnie came from 4-1 down to beat Li Hang by 6-4 at the 2020 Scottish Open. He will play the defending Champion, Mark Selby today in the final.

Here are the scores:

Ronnie was playing with yet another tip, and was missing a lot in the early stages of the match. His long potting in particular was non-existent. But, as he has done all week, he competed and never stopped trying. He started to play much better after the MSI.

Here is the report by WST:

Rocket Fightback Floors Li

World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan battled back from 4-1 down to beat China’s Li Hang 6-4 in the semi-finals of the Matchroom.Live Scottish Open.

The Rocket is now through to a remarkable 55^th ranking final of his career, where he will face Mark Selby or Jamie Jones for the Stephen Hendry Trophy and the £70,000 top prize.

Li conquered former World Champions Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump during a superb run this week. However, defeat today means he will have to settle for £20,000 in prize money. That ensures his place in the field for next week’s 32-player World Grand Prix.

It was Li who made the strongest start today, composing breaks of 77 and 62 to establish an early 2-0 advantage.

O’Sullivan, who was playing with his fourth tip of the week after problems in previous matches, got his first frame on the board with a sublime century run of 123.

Li then appeared to take a stranglehold on proceedings, firing in breaks of 73 and 66 to move 4-1 ahead. He then spurned a golden opportunity to move a frame from victory, breaking down on 49 in the sixth frame. That allowed O’Sullivan to summon a break of 84 to make it 4-2.

The seventh followed a similar pattern, with the six-time Crucible king composing a sensational contribution of 87 to come from behind in the frame and close to 4-3.

O’Sullivan restored parity, before breaks of 93 and 59 helped him to make it five on the bounce to secure his 6-4 win.

O’Sullivan said: “I don’t know how I’ve come out winning that one. I’m really shocked to be honest with you. I’ll take it and it is nice to be in the final.

“If the other guy is penetrating through the ball and you’re not, then he is always going to boss you about a bit. I had to compete, which I’m quite good at, I’m a bit of a competitor. That gave me a chance to stay in the game. The minute I sensed that something could be turning, I was ready.

“I’m sure at some point down the line this will do me good. I haven’t played in a lot of tournaments over the last five or six years, I’ve picked and chose. Maybe that has caught up with me a little bit. I’ve never really doubted myself, maybe twice in my career. I get thoughts now that maybe I’m not capable of dominating like I used to. I still do alright and it will be interesting to see if my game can get a bit stronger from playing a few more matches.”

There were also reports by Eurosport:

This is the report on the match:

SCOTTISH OPEN SNOOKER 2020 – RONNIE O’SULLIVAN BATTLES BACK TO BEAT LI HANG AND REACHES THE FINAL

Ronnie O’Sullivan was trailing 4-1 shortly after the mid-session interval as Li Hang played some of his career-best snooker, but the Rocket showed greating fighting spirit to come back and book his place in the final where he will meet Mark Selby who beat Jamie Jones 6-1.

Snooker Scottish open – O’sullivan’s fluke against Li
Image credit: Eurosport

Ronnie O’Sullivan fought back from 4-1 down to beat Li Hang 6-4 and secure his place in Sunday’s Scottish Open final at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.

Li produced some excellent, attacking snooker to craft a three-frame advantage but ran out of steam against the Rocket, who staged a remarkable comeback – on the back of runs of 84, 87, 93 and 59 – to progress to his 55th ranking event final. However, the 37-time ranking event winner felt his performance left a lot to be desired, telling Andy Goldstein in the Eurosport studio that he should never have won the match.

I’LL TAKE A WIN ALL DAY LONG. I SHOULD NEVER HAVE WON IT. THE CUE ACTION WAS NOT GREAT TODAY I WAS STRUGGLING. I COULDN’T GET ANY PENETRATION THROUGH THE BALL.

“I was really trying to get any grip and I was losing the white quite a bit and I had to stay patient,” added O’Sullivan.

The world number 37, who knocked out Judd Trump 5-4 on Friday night, was tipped as a potential problem for six-time world champion O’Sullivan and Li showed why as he got off to a terrific start when he raced into a 3-1 lead at the interval, notching a quartet of half-centuries.

Li extended his lead after the break with a 66, but O’Sullivan showed once again why he is considered one of the game’s greatest players as he pulled back three frames to level. He cleared for an 84 before emptying the table with a brilliant 87.

O’Sullivan continued to show nerves of steel as Li began to look visibly frustrated, and the world champion pulled it back to 4-4 by cross doubling the red on the cushion into the bottom right before mopping up the colours.

The 45-year-old O’Sullivan then took the lead with a break of 93 and went on to grab the victory with a break of 59 – a win which looked so unlikely at the mid-session interval.

And this is their report on the post-match ES Studio interview:

O’SULLIVAN: THE SNOOKER GODS WERE LOOKI
NG AFTER ME

Ronnie O’Sullivan made it through to a 55th career ranking event final after a 6-4 comeback win against Li Hang on Saturday. However, the world champion was far from happy with his performance, telling Andy Goldstein in the Eurosport studio that he should not have won the match. He will play the winner of Mark Selby and Jamie Jones in Sunday’s final.

Ronnie O’Sullivan may have won five frames on the bounce to prevail 6-4 against Li Hang in the Scottish Open at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes but felt he was fortunate to get past the world number 37.

The six-times world champion at times cut a frustrated figure as he struggled for consistency as Li opened up a three-frame advantage. However, the Rocket would steady himself, winning five frames on the bounce – behind breaks of 84, 87, 93 and 59 – to seal progression to Sunday’s final.

Yet the 37-time ranking event winner told Andy Goldstein in the Eurosport studio after the match that he was lucky to win.

I’LL TAKE A WIN ALL DAY LONG. I SHOULD NEVER HAVE WON IT. MY CUE ACTION WAS NOT GREAT TODAY. I WAS STRUGGLING. I COULDN’T GET ANY PENETRATION THROUGH THE BALL.

“You can see why he beat Judd because he looked sharp and he didn’t miss much. But towards the end maybe the snooker gods up there were looking after me,” he added.

O’Sullivan changed his cue tip earlier in the tournament, and he has wrestled with his action since, but he added that he drew on his wealth of experience to compete with and eventually overhaul Li.

I HAD ABOUT 20 DIFFERENT CUE ACTIONS OUT THERE. I WAS TRYING TO GET A PAUSE BECAUSE I WAS MISTIMING EVERYTHING.

“One thing I do know is how to compete and how to somehow get a result sometimes. That’s good to have that but you need a cue action in this game to compete with the top guys in the long run.”

O’Sullivan will face either Mark Selby or Jamie Jones in Sunday’s final.

As usual there were a few short clips shared by WST and Eurosport on social media:

I was tempted to give this post a different title, simply because I love to play with words… ” Judd bites the dust, Ronnie bites his tip”. I decided against it because it could have come across as nasty towards Judd Trump who certainly deserves nothing but praise for his efforts this season so far. The season started on 13th of September, that’s only three months ago. In those three months, Judd has played 46 matches, 316 frames, won two tournaments, played two more finals, and, before yesterday, reached at least the semi-finals stage in every event on the calendar so far. That he even played in the 2020 Scottish Open after losing the marathon UK Championship Final last Sunday, or rather actually last Monday, shows how dedicated he is. He must be absolutely drained mentally. Yesterday’s QF against Li Hang was the match too far. That said Li Hang still had to win it, and he showed lots of resolve and heart in doing just that.

Here is WST report on the 2020 Scottish Open QFs 

Friday 11 Dec 2020 11:37PM

Li Hang defeated world number one Judd Trump 5-4 in a thrilling quarter-final to reach the last four of the Matchroom.Live Scottish Open.

Victory sees world number 37 Li reach the semi-finals of a ranking event for only the second time in his career. His other trip to the semis came at the 2017 China Championship.

Trump’s hopes of landing a unique Home Nations grand slam end after today’s nerve shredding loss. The Ace in the Pack won the first two events of this season’s series, by claiming the titles at the English Open and the Northern Ireland Open. Until today, he had won a remarkable 18 consecutive Home Nations matches.

The pair shared the opening frames this afternoon. Trump claimed the opener with a break of 67, before Li levelled up with a run of 81. Bristolian Trump then took the third frame, but they headed to the mid-session all square after Li fired in a century break of 100.

China’s Li had a clear game plan of keeping the match tight and played exemplary safety throughout. That was never more clear than in an intriguing 45-minute fifth frame, which he eventually won on the pink.

By contrast, Trump rapidly restored parity with a quickfire run of 104 to make it 3-3. A break of 67 took Li one from victory, but 2019 World Champion Trump refused to back down and took the game to a decider.

Having established a commanding lead in the frame, Li struggled to finish the tie off. Eventually got over the line when Trump went in off on a black to leave himself requiring snookers.

Li said: “I was quite nervous towards the end. My hand started shaking, but I have experienced some quite big tournaments in the past years and I tried to settle myself down to get over the line.

“I did a lot more safety today, because I know Judd is the kind of player that will finish the match in the blink of an eye if he gets the chance. I just focussed more on safety to play against him.

“I cannot quite believe that I have got a win over Judd. He is in his peak and he keeps winning. I knew I was the underdog, but I feel really relieved and I cannot believe I have beaten him.”

Li will face World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in the semis. The Rocket came through 5-4 against Asian number one Ding Junhui to seal his progression.

O’Sullivan will require a fourth tip of the tournament in tomorrow’s match. He has now removed his tip at the end of his last three matches.

Despite his ongoing tip struggles, it had looked as if O’Sullivan was set for a more comfortable win this evening. He led 4-2, before Ding surged back into contention by winning two on the bounce, including a fine break of 114, to restore parity.

O’Sullivan got the job done in the decider, making a break of 50 on his way to securing victory.

Jamie Jones is through to his first semi-final since returning to the circuit this season, after securing an emphatic 5-1 defeat of Kyren Wilson.

Jones regained his professional status at Q School earlier this year, having fallen off the tour following a suspension in 2018.

The Welshman composed breaks of 59, 64 and 63 on his way to victory and will face defending champion Mark Selby in the last four.

“I am very happy with the way I finished the match off. Someone like Kyren can always come back at you,” said former World Championship quarter-finalist Jones. “It was a very big game for me. I am used to playing out the back, and being on the TV table was a bit strange. I thought I handled it all very well.

“My attitude these days, is that I come to the tournament and try my best. If it isn’t good enough I go home and re-gather. In years gone by I was quite hard on myself and if I had a couple of bad results it would affect me for the next tournament. I just try my best, I give 110% every round and I feel my attitude is great now.”

Selby came through an enthralling encounter with Ricky Walden 5-4. Selby has never lost a match in the Scottish Open, having won it on his first appearance in the event last year.

The three-time World Champion fired in a breaks of 58 and 29 to take today’s decider, after Walden had battled back from 4-2 down.

Mark Selby’s win yesterday means that he will definitely finish 3rd in the race to the World Grand Prix, and is set to play Liang Wenbo in the first round next week.

I didn’t expect Jamie Jones to beat Kyren Wilson yesterday, never mind by a 5-1 score. That said, Kyren also has played a lot of snookerover the last three months: 38 matches, 215 frames… Jamie is really making the most of his “second chance” after his ban. He’s a quick and dangerous player and it will be interesting to see how he deals with Mark Selby … or indeed how Mark Selby deals with him.

The Ronnie vs Ding match was pretty horrible by all accounts. The conditions in Milton Keynes, especially on the match table, have not favoured the touch players. Judd Trump mentioned that during the 2020 UK championsip. Such conditions suit neither Ding, nor Ronnie. Read more about that match here.

Ronnie will play Li Hang and I’m not sure what to expect. Ronnie hasn’t played well all week but he has applied himself in exemplary fashion. Whether tip number four will be to his tastes or not is anyone’s guess. Li Hang may gain confidence from beating Judd Trump or he may suffer a hang-over. Anything can happen really …

It was another frustrating day for Ronnie whose quest for a suitable tip continues. This one, the third to be chewed off in five matches played this week, was “spongy” …

Here are the scores:

This was vey low scoring by Ronnie’s standards. Ding had two centuries; the 135 he made in frame two was the 550th in his catreer.

Here is the report by WST… 

O’Sullivan will require a fourth tip of the tournament in tomorrow’s match. He has now removed his tip at the end of his last three matches.

Despite his ongoing tip struggles, it had looked as if O’Sullivan was set for a more comfortable win this evening. He led 4-2, before Ding surged back into contention by winning two on the bounce, including a fine break of 114, to restore parity.

O’Sullivan got the job done in the decider, making a break of 50 on his way to securing victory.

I,m not too sure that interviewing Ronnie whilst he’s eating crisps is such a great idea…

This is a more comprehensive report by Eurosport:

SCOTTISH OPEN SNOOKER 2020: RONNIE O’SULLIVAN OUSTS DING JUNHUI AGAIN TO REACH SEMI-FINALS

Ronnie O’Sullivan was out of sorts but victorious against his rival Ding Junhui as he recorded a 5-4 victory to reach the semi-finals of the Scottish Open in Milton Keynes. It was the third quarter-final of the day that went to a deciding frame, and he can look forward to a meeting with Li Hang, who defeated Judd Trump earlier on Friday.

Ronnie O’Sullivan – Scottish Open
Image credit: Eurosport

Ronnie O’Sullivan continued his fantastic head-to-head record against Ding Junhui, beating his rival 5-4 to reach the Scottish Open semi-finals.

The Rocket faces Li Hang, the conqueror of world number one Judd Trump in the last four and could face a potential final against Mark Selby, following their thrilling World Championship semi-final in August.

The first frame was a cagey affair, with neither player managing to put together a big break. Ding won a lengthy battle for the blue but O’Sullivan pulled out a fine pink into the corner pocket before potting the black to steal the frame.

The second was altogether more straightforward, with Ding rattling off a total clearance of 135 to draw level.

O’Sullivan pulled ahead once more, taking advantage of a costly miss on a corner red from Ding to fire off a break of 60, which proved to be an insurmountable margin for the world number nine.

After a Ding miss on the blue, O’Sullivan had a chance to rattle through the fourth frame, but he missed a black and his rival cut the arrears to one.

And Ding had a chance to draw level but a costly miss, coupled with a fantastic long red, gave Ronnie the chance to record a break of 69 and move one frame away from victory.

Ding and O’Sullivan spent much of the seventh frame trading snookers before the former put together a good break to reduce the deficit to one. He then rattled off a century to ensure the third quarter-final of the day went the distance.

The Rocket went through the gears at the start of the decider but was left frustrated when a red came off both sides of the pocket. It did not cost him, and when Ding could not get out of a snooker, he conceded.

The sentence I have put in a lighter grey doesn’t make much sense as it is. It should probably read “fifth frame”  rather than “fourth frame”.

And Eurosport again shared short videos on twitter as the match unfolded

Before it started

Pre MSI

MSI – the dump shot

Post MSI

Post match

Ronnie and Li Hang have played each other only twice before and Ronnie won both times. Their last match was at the 2017 Scottish Open. Li however is a much improved player nowadays, he’s much stronger mentally,  so we souldn’t read anything in these stats. We just have to hope that tip nimber four will be a good one!

A bit late maybe but here goes…

Moving day in the Home Nations is always interesting as 32 become just 8. This is the quarter-finals line-up that yesterday “produced”

There are still five of the top 16 in there, and the two who are set to clash are Ronnie and Ding. Practice ahead of the 2021 Masters then? Just kidding.

Ronnie’s presence in this line-up is testimony of his sheer will to win yesterday, as he struggled badly with tip problems all day. Read about Ronnie’s matches here.

As usual there was no report by WST about the last 32 round. Actually the only surprising result in that round was Shaun Murphy’s 4-2 defeat to Jamie O’Neill, and it wasn’t actually that surprising given that Shaun has been unable to prepare for tournaments properly for some time now because of the quarantine rules enforced in Ireland.

This is WST report on the last 16 round

Rocket Survives Day Of Tip Trouble

World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan produced battling displays to come through two rounds on Thursday, beating Tian Pengfei 4-3 and Robbie Williams 4-1, to reach the quarter-finals of the Matchroom.Live Scottish Open.

The Rocket was playing with a new tip today after biting the previous one off at the conclusion of his 4-1 win over Chang Bingyu yesterday. However, he visibly showed his frustration with the replacement throughout today.

Neither O’Sullivan or world number 84 Williams managed to produce their best in this evening’s encounter. However, 37-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan dug in to craft a run of 60 to secure the opener, before taking a tight second frame to lead 2-0.

Williams got a frame on the board by claiming the third, but O’Sullivan responded immediately to move one from victory and lead 3-1. The Rocket then took a tense 27-minute frame to get over the line and secure a 4-1 win.

Next up O’Sullivan faces a mouth watering quarter-final with Ding Junhui, who beat Jamie O’Neill 4-3.

O’Sullivan said: “Really happy to come through considering the tip. I’ve just got no touch and feel, so mentally you are always battling, no matter how well you play. You can’t hit every shot perfectly and this tip requires you to hit every shot perfectly. There’s no forgiveness in it at all. I was cueing alright, so I could have little spells where it was ok, but I couldn’t keep it going for long enough.

“I’ve been cueing ok for quite a while now. I just haven’t practised a lot, when I say I don’t practise, I do but it is four or five hours a week. That keeps my eye in. As far as cueing, I feel there are a few victories around the corner. I’m not chasing anything and I’m not worried. I’m just enjoying playing, which is a good place to be.”

Kyren Wilson edged out Barry Hawkins 4-3 in a high quality contest, to set up a quarter-final meeting with Jamie Jones, who beat Eden Sharav 4-3.

Wilson got his first frame of the evening with a sublime break of 134. The Warrior then missed the last black before the colours on 113, going for a maximum break, to lead 2-1. Further runs of 83 and 81 were enough to see the Crucible finalist through by a single frame.

World number one Judd Trump beat Mark Williams 4-1 to book his place in the quarter-finals.

Trump is aiming for a unique clean sweep of Home Nations events, having won the first two this season at the English Open and the Northern Ireland Open. He faces Li Hang in the last eight.

Mark Selby beat Lyu Haotian 4-1 to secure his progression to the quarters, where he will face Ricky Walden, who beat Mark Allen 4-3.

Ricky Walden’s win over Mark Allen may be a bit unexpected, but then Ricky has been a very top player before back injuries derailed his career. He was ranked as high as 6th in the World five years ago. He’s a very entertaining player to watch when on form, and I’m glad to see him playing well again.

Li Hang beating Stuart Bingham isn’t a big surprise. “Ballrun” has shown no form to speak of in recent months and Li is a very, very solid player who is badly underrated by most fans.

Jamie Jones is clearly putting the work in and determined to put his ban and the events that caused it behind him. He beat Eden Sharav in the last 16 yesterday, and Eden’s presence at this stage of the tournament is hopefully a sign that he’s turning the corner after a few torrid and horrid months.

Yesterday’s results mean that the line-up for the World Grand Prix is now confirmed

World Grand Prix Field Confirmed

The line-up of 32 players for next week’s World Grand Prix is now confirmed. The ITV4-televised tournament will run from December 14 to 20.

Thursday’s action at the Matchroom.Live Scottish Open concluded with the top 32 players on the live one-year rankings sure of their place in the draw next week.

Michael Holt took the 32nd and last place

Six players are tied on a tally of £26,000, from Li Hang in 29th place down to Graeme Dott in 34th. As usual the ‘countback’ rule applies, which means that players are ranked on the basis of their performances in the most recent events.

Dott was knocked out in the first round this week while Thepchaiya Un-Nooh lost in the second round, so they miss out as the four players above them reached at least the third round. Li’s 4-3 win over Stuart Bingham on Thursday night (from 3-1 down) proved crucial as it vaulted him into the top 32.

But while the line-up will not change, the draw cannot be confirmed yet, as the seedings are sure to change before the end of this week’s event. The World Grand Prix draw will see the number one seed play number 32, number two face number 31, and so on. The only two matches already confirmed are:

Judd Trump (1) v Michael Holt (32)
Neil Robertson (2) v Robert Milkins (31)

Further matches and the schedule will be confirmed as this week’s event progresses. The 32 players are:

Judd Trump
Neil Robertson
Mark Selby
Kyren Wilson
Zhou Yuelong
John Higgins
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Lu Ning
Martin Gould
Ding Junhui
Barry Hawkins
David Grace
Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy
Stuart Bingham
Jamie Jones
Jack Lisowski
Anthony McGill
Yan Bingtao
Ricky Walden
Jak Jones
Zhao Xintong
Mark Allen
Robbie Williams
Xiao Guodong
Hossein Vafaei
Ali Carter
Kurt Maflin
Hang Li
Wenbo Liang
Robert Milkins
Michael Holt

I’m not sure why some of the Chinese players’ names have been written in the “wrong order”  whilst the others are correct… Wenbo Liang? Hang Li?

Ronnie won his two matches yesterday, but it wasn’t pretty. He struggled all day with tip problems, but applied himself, and battled his way to victory. 

Here are the scores:

There was no report by WST on the lat 32 match, but Eurosport made up for it.

Ronnie was very unhappy wit his performance against Tian

SCOTTISH OPEN 2020 – ‘IT WAS TERRIBLE’ – O’SULLIVAN LAMENTS PERFORMANCE IN WIN OVER TIAN PENGFEI

Ronnie O’Sullivan replaced his tip following his win over Allan Taylor and was not happy with how it performed in his meeting with Tian Pengfei at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes. He closed the match with an excellent break of 78, having knocked in a 93 when 3-2 behind, and will face Robbie Williams in the next round.

Ronnie O’Sullivan has described his performance in the 4-3 win over Tian Pengfei in the Scottish Open as “terrible”, and lamented the state of his tip.
The world champion was off colour for much of the contest, but saved his best for the final two frames – and breaks of 93 and 78 sealed his place in the last 16.

O’Sullivan faces Robbie Williams later on Thursday, and is aware he will need to up his game to keep his hopes of winning the tournament alive.

“It was terrible,” O’Sullivan told Eurosport of his 4-3 win. “Probably as bad a performance as you could do. That’s how it is sometimes.”

O’Sullivan replaced his tip following his win over Allan Taylor in the first round, and felt his cue action in victory over Chang Bingyu masked problems with the tip.

“The tip is not great,” he said. “I don’t want to make excuses but in the first match I kind of felt I was cueing well so you can override it but when you know something is not right with it, it starts to dent your confidence.

I JUST DID NOT FEEL GOOD, SO I HAD TO TRY AND FIND A DIFFERENT CUE ACTION WHICH WOULD COMPENSATE FOR IT. I FOUND SOMETHING IN THE LAST TWO FRAMES, BUT YOU HAVE GOT TO HIT EVERYTHING OUT OF THE MIDDLE WITH THAT TIP. THERE IS NO FORGIVENESS. SOME TIPS DO GIVE YOU SOME FORGIVENESS.

The sound of the ball off the cue would not be unusual to the average snooker player, but O’Sullivan was unhappy with the noise.

“I want to put some headphones on as the noise is so bad,” he said. “When you have a good tip the noise is beautiful.

“I play snooker by sound and if it sounds good I get a bit of a buzz, but if it sounds bad it’s a hard day at the office.

I WAS MISSING SO MANY BALLS BY A LONG WAY. I WAS NOT TIMING IT TERRIBLE, BUT IT WAS NOT PERFECT AND WHEN YOU HAVE TO TIME EVERYTHING SO GOOD IT MAKES IT HARD.

Reflecting on his break of 78 in the final frame, which was started by a brilliant long red, he said: “It was frustration after a hard day at the office; you just throw caution to the wind.”

Interestingly, Reanne Evans had been tweeting this during the match:

About the last 16 match against Robbie Williams, there were reports by WST and Eurosport.

Here is the WST report:

Thursday 10 Dec 2020 11:27PM

World Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan produced battling displays to come through two rounds on Thursday, beating Tian Pengfei 4-3 and Robbie Williams 4-1, to reach the quarter-finals of the Matchroom.Live Scottish Open.

The Rocket was playing with a new tip today after biting the previous one off at the conclusion of his 4-1 win over Chang Bingyu yesterday. However, he visibly showed his frustration with the replacement throughout today.

Neither O’Sullivan or world number 84 Williams managed to produce their best in this evening’s encounter. However, 37-time ranking event winner O’Sullivan dug in to craft a run of 60 to secure the opener, before taking a tight second frame to lead 2-0.

Williams got a frame on the board by claiming the third, but O’Sullivan responded immediately to move one from victory and lead 3-1. The Rocket then took a tense 27-minute frame to get over the line and secure a 4-1 win.

Next up O’Sullivan faces a mouth watering quarter-final with Ding Junhui, who beat Jamie O’Neill 4-3.

O’Sullivan said: “Really happy to come through considering the tip. I’ve just got no touch and feel, so mentally you are always battling, no matter how well you play. You can’t hit every shot perfectly and this tip requires you to hit every shot perfectly. There’s no forgiveness in it at all. I was cueing alright, so I could have little spells where it was ok, but I couldn’t keep it going for long enough.

“I’ve been cueing ok for quite a while now. I just haven’t practised a lot, when I say I don’t practise, I do but it is four or five hours a week. That keeps my eye in. As far as cueing, I feel there are a few victories around the corner. I’m not chasing anything and I’m not worried. I’m just enjoying playing, which is a good place to be.”

 

This is Eurosport report about the match:

SCOTTISH OPEN SNOOKER 2020 – RONNIE O’SULLIVAN EASES PAST ROBBIE WILLIAMS TO REACH QUARTER FINALS

World champion Ronnie O’Sullivan bounced back from a disappointing display against Tian Pengfei earlier in the day to ease past Robbie Williams. He opened up with an excellent break of 60 and never looked back. He has been unhappy with his tip, but it did not prevent him from advancing to the quarter finals of the Scottish Open at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes

Ronnie O’Sullivan moved into the last eight of the Scottish Open with a 4-1 win over Robbie Williams.

The 45-year-old produced a mixed bag of snooker. Early in the contest he looked totally transformed from earlier in the day, as he struck the ball cleanly and with confidence, but the momentum stalled in the third frame and it became a grind to reach the quarter finals, where he will face Ding Junhui who fought back to beat Jamie O’Neill 4-3.

Having described his performance against Tian Pengfei as ‘terrible,’ there was a doubt as to what sort of form he would bring to his meeting with Williams.

There were positive early signs as he opened up with a break of 60, but he had to dig in – which to his credit he did to set up a meeting with either Ding Junhui or Jamie O’Neill.

Williams began with a couple of excellent long reds but was unable to convert them into decent scoring chances, and paid the price.

O’Sullivan was out of sorts for long spells of his win over Tian earlier in the day, but he found some form towards the end of the 4-3 win – and carried the momentum into the meeting with Williams.

He took the opener with a break of 60 and began the second frame with a contribution of 38.

O’Sullivan chewed off his tip after his first-round win over Allan Taylor, and he mimicked doing the same when missing a black in the second. It did not derail his momentum and he sealed a tight frame when potting an excellent long blue.

The third was a scratchy affair that lasted 27 minutes, with the highest break being a mere 15. At one stage, O’Sullivan muttered “I can’t play with this any more” in reference to his tip as his game descended to the levels of the early stages of his match with Tian.

Williams was able to keep his composure and take the frame to reduce the deficit to one.

World number 85 Williams had a chance in the fourth frame, but missed a black to hand the table to his opponent and the world champion hoovered up a break of 51 to restore a two-frame gap.

An excellent red handed O’Sullivan an opening in the fifth and he put together a break of 50 to get within sight of the winning post. A missed blue handed a lifeline to Williams, who won a safety battle before getting his chance.

However, he broke down from blue to pink and later went in-off off the pink to allow O’Sullivan to get over the line.

‘I GOT AWAY WITH IT TONIGHT’ – O’SULLIVAN ON ‘MIRACLE PERFORMANCE’

O’SULLIVAN WOULD DESCRIBED HIS WIN AS A “MIRACLE PERFORMANCE” IN THE EUROSPORT STUDIO AFTER THE MATCH.

“I thought I did really well considering the tip,” O’Sullivan said. “I was struggling to get any touch and feel.

UNLESS I WAS BANG BEHIND THE BALL, IT WAS TOUCH AND GO. I THOUGHT I PROVIDED A MIRACLE PERFORMANCE. I WAS HAPPY, I FEEL LIKE I WAS PLAYING WELL.

Commenting on his tip, O’Sullivan said: “It is like a bullet, it is so hard and I have no touch and feel.
I HAVE TO CHANGE IT, OTHERWISE I HAVE NO CHANCE. I GOT AWAY WITH IT TONIGHT.

In his post-match with Eurosport,  Ronnie pleaded for lower ranked players to have the opportunity to practice on the main table, because, as it is, they are put at a disandvantage.

 “I feel sorry for Robbie, as I think they should change it,” he said. “He has played all his matches on the outside tables, he’s grafted for four days and come on now. If he comes up against someone who has been playing their matches on there and he hasn’t he has no chance.

IT IS REALLY UNFAIR THAT THEY HAVE GRAFTED THAT HARD AND AGAINST SOMEONE LIKE ME THEY ARE 100/1 AGAINST ME OR JUDD [TRUMP] OR NEIL [ROBERTSON].

“They should at least be given an hour, two hours. I felt sorry for him as I could see he was cueing well. Some of the shots he was hitting, it’s just because of the table.

“It’s like playing golf at your local course and then going out and being stuck on Augusta and you are hitting it in the lake. It is impossible. They need to change the rule. They work hard for three or four days and are then stuck on that, they have no chance.

“There was time between my match and tonight. He should be given that chance. He could have gone on after my match. If you’d asked him he would have taken that table time.

“If they are coming from an outside table to that one – you can’t adapt that quickly, it is impossible.”

Ronnie can be very critical towards the lower ranked players at times, but he’s also one of the very few who speaks for them, asking for changes when he feels that they are put at a disadvantage because of circumstances completely out of their control.

He also recognises why young talents struggle so much to get through. Here is an exceprt of an article by Phil Haigh on the subject:

‘In general I do think that the young players coming through are not as good as they was years ago,’ O’Sullivan told the Track and Ball Podcast.

‘There’s a lot of people who are 35, 40, 45 that I grew up with coming through the game. They’re very good players, they might be top 64, top 80 players and they’re still around.

‘You’d think there’d be a lot of teenagers coming along and taking the game by the scruff of the neck and there isn’t.

‘I put that down to there isn’t enough money put into the grassroots of snooker.

‘In football there’s so much money in the sport, they’re getting hold of these kids at a young age and there’s great academies. Whereas in snooker you’ll be hard pushed to find a snooker club.

‘It’s not like it was when I was kid there’d be seven or eight snooker clubs within a three or four mile radius of my house, now the nearest snooker club is probably 20 miles from my house. There’s just not the places for them to go and play.

‘There’s no amateur game, there’s no competitions. I was probably playing three competitions a week when I was 11 or 12, now you might find one every six or seven weeks, one!

‘I was playing 24 competitions in the spell that they’ll get the chance to play one. Imagine how match sharp I was! Practice will only take you so far, it’s competing that really fine tunes yourself.

‘That has to be the reason that the younger generation are not really developing like we did. It’s not a criticism of them, but the opportunities aren’t there for them to learn.’

O’Sullivan, picture aged 10 in 1986, was competing against adults from a very young age(Picture: Getty Images)

O’Sullivan is aware of a handful of very promising young talents in snooker, he just feels they do not have the grounding that his generation, the likes of John Higgins and Mark Williams, had.

O’Sullivan picked out Leicester’s Louis Heathcote and Cork’s Aaron Hill as two standout talents, while China’s Zhao Xintong could be the best player he has ever seen, but is still lacking the abilities O’Sullivan learned from hours of match play as a youngster.

‘There’s a couple, I like this guy Louis Heathcote. Aaron Hill from Irealnd has got very good potential. There’s one or two other ones that are UK-based that could be decent,’ he continued.

‘Then there’s quite a big batch of good Chinese players because they have invested in the younger generation, they have some very good academies in China.

‘They’re doing well but not as well as they could do, the language barrier for them is very hard.

‘There’s one kid, for me he’s the most talented snooker player I’ve ever seen, I call him the Roger Federer of snooker, but he hardly wins a match because he doesn’t know the game.

Zhao Xintong is very highly rated but extremely inconsistent (Picture: VCG via Getty Images)

‘I’ve tried to talk to him, he quickly gets it, but it’s very hard because there’s that language barrier.

‘I get very frustrated with him because he could be unplayable, but he probably won’t ever do anything because he needs someone who’s experienced in the game to sharpen him up.’

As usual Eurosport shared some short clips on social media:

Hopefully, Ronnie can find a good tip and play better today. He will need to against Ding.