Ding and Ronnie served us a marvellous match this afternoon. It was high quality from both, it was played in great spirit. Ding produced some magic and still lost… Here are the scores:
Ding Junhui made history at the MrQ Masters by becoming the first player to make two 147s in snooker’s biggest invitation event, but finished second best to Ronnie O’Sullivan who ran out a 6-3 winner to start his bid for an eighth title.
Ding’s magnificent maximum, only the fourth in the 49-year history of the tournament, drew the loudest roar of the day from a 2,000-strong crowd at Alexandra Palace. But O’Sullivan’s army of fans in London went home happy as he progressed to a quarter-final tie with Neil Robertson or Barry Hawkins on Thursday afternoon.
In December, O’Sullivan won his 40th ranking title, and 22nd Triple Crown success, at the UK Championship, beating Ding 10-7 in the final to take his tally of UK crowns to eight. And he’s now looking to match that figure by extending his record Masters success, having lifted the trophy in 1995, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2014, 2016 and 2017. Despite not having hit a ball in professional competition since that final in York 36 days ago, the 48-year-old looked sharp, making two centuries and three more breaks over 60.
Runs of 67, 87 and 106 helped put him 4-0 ahead at the interval. Ding’s 147 helped him recover to 4-3, only for O’Sullivan to take the last two frames with 127 and 93.
“Ding was never out of position once on the 147, his cue ball control is better than anyone else. He’s a delight to watch, I am envious of the way he does that,” said the Rocket after reaching the quarter-finals of this event for the 25th time, on the 30th anniversary of his 1994 debut. “My cueing is not great, I am trying to manufacture stuff out there. I play as if I’m playing at the club. I feel tense before the match, but then when it starts, I go for it. I have learned to play from a place of abandonment. I enjoy playing in front of good crowds, and playing in the different places we get to travel to.”
MAXIMUMS AT THE MASTERS
ONLY THREE PLAYERS HAVE SCORED A 147 AT THIS EVENT
1984 Kirk Stevens 2007 Ding Junhui 2015 Marco Fu 2024 Ding Junhui
Ding, who is in line to bank the £15,000 high break prize this week and could earn a huge £147,000 bonus if he makes another maximum at the Cazoo World Championship, told BBC Sport: “I had a lot of chances at the start of the match but I messed up. After the interval I didn’t think I would play that well. To make a maximum was amazing, it has been along time since I felt like that. Early on in the break, the way the balls were, I thought I had a chance. Ronnie was playing so well, he was winning frames in one visit.”
DING’S EPIC 147
And here are the images shared by WST
And the videos shared by Eurosport on YouTube:
Frame 1
Frame 4
The final frame
And thank to Kalacs for pointing this one to us.
Following Ronnie on his first day at the 2024 Masters … from breakfast to post-match
Yesterday, Michael Holt won his third Q-Tour event of this season, and, whatever happens from here is sure to top the Q-Tour order of merit, and regain his professional status next season.
Holt Wins Thriller in Sofia to Seal Main Tour Return
Michael Holt has defeated Alfie Davies 5-4 to win the sixth event of the Q Tour UK/Europe season at the National Snooker Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria and in doing so guarantee his return to the World Snooker Tour from the start of the 2024/25 season.
With three titles won from six contested so far, the former Shoot Out champion now cannot be caught in the Q Tour Rankings with one event still to be played in Leeds next month, after his closest challenger Liam Davies fell at the quarter-final stages earlier today.
Success for the popular Holt ensures that he will return to the top table in our sport with a fresh two-year tour card from the start of next season, following an absence of two years after he was relegated at the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
Having reached the final day with wins against Bratislav Krastev and Chris Totten on Saturday, he added victories against Yu Kiu Chang and Matthew Glasby to reach the title match in Sofia. Holt was bidding to become the first player to win back-to-back Q Tour events since the launch of the Tour in 2021 and to seal the number one ranking with an event to spare.
Awaiting him was 23-year-old Welsh talent Alfie Davies, who enjoyed a breakthrough weekend with wins against Halim Hussain, Simon Dent, Iulian Boiko, second ranked Liam Davies and Harvey Chandler to reach his maiden Q Tour final.
Level at 2-2 at the interval, it was Davies who looked the more likely winner as he quickly added the next two frames to move two away from the title at 4-2. It was Holt, however, who would find an extra gear when he needed it most, with breaks of 140 and 128 the highlight of a three-frame surge that took him to the title and a return to the professional game.
“I think Alfie played a bit better than me,” said Holt. “I just battled and then from 4-2 down it was backs to the wall time and I thought go out and go for this, trust yourself and they all seemed to go in – apart from I nearly lost to go 4-4 – but in the last frame to pot a great long red like that and win the frame, I’m chuffed.
“It was a disaster dropping off [the World Snooker Tour] but this year I have reset, set my stall out to get back on and I was more focused to get back on inside, so yeah I’m really pleased. To do it with one to go, especially having missed the first one, I’m chuffed to bits with that.
“I’m proud of myself because it has been tough not being on the Tour. I tell myself, I tell anyone in this position, this isn’t the mountain. I’m just at base camp. The mountain is the rankings, I know that, I’m obviously going to have to play more and dedicate more time to it, which I’m excited to do because I have missed it.
“I’m going to work really hard but my main goal is just to enjoy it. The biggest tragedy of my first 23-year stint is that I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should have. So I think dropping off, although it was a disaster at the time, it might work out to be a good thing, but you never know. My main goal is to enjoy it and to play like I can and if I can do that I have got a chance against anyone.”
The first day at the 2024 Masters was a bit disappointing in that both matches were pretty one-sided.
In the afternoon match, Luca Brecel was very poor as he has been all season so far. No matter how gifted you are you don’t get away with partying for over half a year and not putting the work in. Going by his post-match interview, Luca is well aware of that now, but will he be able to turn it around and save his season? I’m not sure.
In the evening match, Zhang appeared to be a bit overawed by the Ally Pally atmosphere, or conditions1. He played nowhere near his best, he struggled to close frames out, and Shaun duly took advantage. In fact there were three centuries in that match – it wasn’t a bad standard at all – and Zhang scored two of them but he couldn’t win the closer frames.
Jack Lisowski put on a stunning display to beat World Champion Luca Brecel 6-2 in the first round of the MrQ Masters, despite branding the event as the scariest to play in.
Lisowski came into the 2023 running of the Masters having never won a match at the iconic Alexandra Palace. He suffered defeats in his first three appearances, at the hands of Ding Junhui, Kyren Wilson and Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Last year the Gloucester scored momentous wins over John Higgins and Hossein Vafaei to make the semi-finals and rectify that, but suffered a crushing 6-0 defeat at the hands of Mark Williams.
Seeded in 16th position, Lisowski had a nervous wait to secure his place at the Masters. He had to rely on results at the MrQ UK Championship to go his way to secure his berth, having been dumped out in the first round 6-4 at the hands of Jamie Jones.
This afternoon’s victory sets up a quarter-final clash with either 2015 winner Shaun Murphy or International Champion Zhang Anda, who contest this evening’s first round tie.
Defeat sees Crucible king Brecel continue his difficult first season as World Champion. His first event of the season saw him make the final of the invitational Shanghai Masters, where he was runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan, but since then he has failed to go beyond the last 16.
Lisowski came flying out of the traps this afternoon and breaks of 70, 100, 96 and 69 saw him take the first four frames in just 49 minutes ahead of the mid-session interval.
When play resumed the Belgian Bullet showed signs of resistance, making breaks of 80 and 72, to cut his arrears in half and make it 4-2. That resistance was short lived and runs of 63 and 68 saw Lisowski wrap up victory.
“I got very nervous coming into it. For me it is the scariest tournament to play in. I started well and it turns into a great place to play. Then you can start enjoying it.“
Jack Lisowski – 16th Seed
“I felt really good after the first frame. I settled and felt like I was concentrating really well. He is the World Champion, so I couldn’t relax at any point. I tried to keep my concentration and intensity to get over the line,” added 32-year-old Lisowski.
“That’s what you play for. When you are getting beat, like I had a stinker at the UK Championship and lost qualifiers. It gets you down. Today was such a big occasion. I don’t know what I’d have done if I lost that game. I was really thinking that I wanted to win it.”
“It was terrible. If I keep playing like this then you will see me in 2025 Q School,” said a frustrated Brecel.
“I can recapture the form and I know I will, but at the moment it is just not good enough. Jack is a good player and I am happy for him.”
World number six Shaun Murphy defeated debutant Zhang Anda 6-2 to set up a mouth-watering quarter-final showdown with Jack Lisowski at the MrQ Masters in London.
The Magician is competing in the Masters for the 20th time in his career this week. It is an event which Murphy holds fond memories of having completed the Triple Crown with victory at Alexandra Palace in 2015. The Englishman had already won the World Championship in 2005 and the UK Championship in 2008.
By contrast, Zhang was making his maiden appearance at the Masters this evening. The Chinese cueman, who first turned professional in 2009, earned a spot in the top 16 by winning his first ranking title at the International Championship earlier this season.
Murphy now faces a blockbuster meeting with Lisowski, who has beaten him in their last three meetings. The pair will cross cues on Thursday evening.
A fiercely contested first three frames of the evening saw Murphy establish a 2-1 advantage. The last before the mid-session looked to be going the way of Zhang, when he moved 61-0 ahead. However, Murphy pulled off a superb clearance of 65 to steal on the black. After depositing the final ball, he clenched his fist before exiting the arena 3-1 up.
When play resumed it was soon 4-1, courtesy of a run of 86 from Murphy. Zhang reduced his arrears by taking the sixth, but breaks of 71 and 89 saw Murphy over the line for an impressive victory. Afterwards he admitted that stealing the fourth frame was a key moment.
Murphy said: “He had to think about it for 20 minutes. If we rolled straight into frame five and racked the balls up, it perhaps wouldn’t have left the same kind of mark. Those types of frame losses leave marks and scars. To then have to sit in his dressing room thinking about it and rueing that mistake is tough.
“He’s been one of the best players of all season. I thought that I had my work cut out here. If I didn’t play properly, he would have turned me over. With that in mind I’ve worked very hard in the background, I’ve not told anyone about it, I was delighted to see that come out there.
“The ladies and gentleman who have a ticket for Thursday night are in for a treat. Neither of us pull our punches. I don’t think it will take very long, whoever wins, and Jack is showing how much talent he has. He is ready to win big. This could be his week. I hope not, but I am going to give it everything I’ve got.”
MURPHY EASES PAST ZHANG
It’s often very humid and rather cold in the arena, and noisy too. It’s a huge hall and it “echoes” easily. ↩︎
After narrowly avoiding relegation in Group One of the 2024 BetVictor Championship League Invitational, Chris Wakelin returned as the winner of Group Two, sealing a spot in March’s Winners’ Group …
Wakelin beat local favourite Mark Selby 3-2 in the final in Leicester as he made a fine start to 2024, having enjoyed the best year of his career so far in 2023.
Selby, Wakelin, Kyren Wilson and Ali Carter all won four matches out of six in the group phase, to progress to the semi-finals. Wakelin then edged out Wilson 3-2 while Selby made two centuries in a 3-1 success against Carter. The first four frames of the final were shared, before Wakelin finished in style with a break of 110 in the decider.
He said: “It was a tough match against Mark, but when my chance came in the decider, I took it. I’ve had had time off over Christmas and you can see it in my game – my long game is nowhere near where I’d like it to be and my safety was poor. Sometimes you get away with it but you’ve still got to pot the balls.
“There was a couple times today when I didn’t even think I was going to get out of the group stages, but a couple of big clearances got me into the semis and gave me a free run.
“Every event is a bonus. Compared to where I was 12 months ago, I wouldn’t have dreamt of qualifying for this tournament in the first place. It’s a prestigious event and the winner gets through to the Champion of Champions. Winning takes a lot, especially up against the field we had today – all in the top 16 and well-established winners. To come through, I’m delighted.”
Wakelin joins Stuart Bingham in the Winners’ Group on March 1st-2nd. Selby, Gary Wilson, Kyren Wilson and Ali Carter will return to join Barry Hawkins, Tom Ford and Neil Robertson in Group 3 at the Morningside Arena, Leicester on February 5th.
In other news …
WST has completely revamped their site and the news scoring system is finally ready. It’s too early to have a definite opinion on it all. The site looks nice enough, as does the scoring system, although I preferred the old one simply because the presentation was more compact, which matters when we have many matches underway concurrently.
Stuart Bingham sealed a spot in March’s Winners’ Group after a 3-0 final victory over Gary Wilson at the 2024 BetVictor Championship League Invitational at the Morningside Arena in Leicester, live on Matchroom.Live in the UK and Ireland, DAZN in the United States, Viaplay in Scandinavia and theBaltics as well as other broadcasters worldwide.
Bingham came into Wednesday in desperate need of points to reach the play-offs, having only managed one win in Tuesday’s opening sessions. Victories over Robert Milkins, Chris Wakelin and Noppon Saengkham boosted him to third place in the group, and he went on to beat Kyren Wilson 3-0 in the semi-finals.
After taking the opening frame against Gary Wilson in the final, former World Champion Bingham made excellent clearances of 61 and 62 in the next two frames to wrap up a 3-0 success.
“I didn’t practise loads over Christmas, but enough that I felt I was coming here with a bit of form. I’ve won every game today so I’m over the moon,” said Basildon’s Bingham.
“I felt really good in the balls and I’m feeling really calm at one pace around the table. A couple times I missed the ball today when I tried to quicken up and get on with it, and then missed it! Trying to stay calm did the trick today!”
Bingham’s victory sealed the first spot in Winners’ Group, which will see each winner from Groups 1-7 return on March 1st-2nd.
Gary Wilson, Kyren Wilson, Ryan Day and Chris Wakelin will join Mark Selby, Ali Carter and Matthew Selt back here at the Morningside Arena tomorrow as Group 2’s action begins.
The famous Tempodrom in the heart of Berlin once again hosts the BetVictor German Masters in 2024, and the draw and format have now been confirmed, following the completion of the qualifying round.
The tournament will run from January 29 to February 4 …
There’s a new format this season, as matches involving the top eight seeds have been held over to the final stages in Berlin. They are:
Defending champion Ali Carter v Michael White – Monday January 29th, 3pm Shaun Murphy v Xu Si – Monday January 29th, 3pm Mark Allen v Manasawin Phetmalaikul – Monday January 29th, 8pm Judd Trump v Germany’s top player Lukas Kleckers – Monday January 29th, 8pm Ronnie O’Sullivan v Julien Leclercq – Monday January 29th, 3pm Mark Selby v Marco Fu – Monday January 29th, 3pm Neil Robertson v Sanderson Lam – Monday January 29th, 8pm Luca Brecel v Ishpreet Singh Chadha – Monday January 29th, 8pm
Home favourite Kleckers will play at the Tempodrom for the first time
Other star names in the field include Mark Williams, John Higgins, Kyren Wilson and Barry Hawkins.
Fergal O’Brian has confirmed that this season will be his last as a pro
Over the Christmas break, Fergal was interviewed by RTE and confirmed that this season will be his last as a professional (source twitter). I have met Fergal on many occasions, on tour and at exhibition tournaments organised by Jason Francis. He’s a lovely man, a family man, and a lot of fun to be around off the table. He’s also a very, very good player … although his style is not my favourite 😉. In recent years, he’s been going more and more commentary work and he’s excellent at it. I’m wishing Fergal the very best for the future and I do hope that we will still see him with a cue in his hand in the World Seniors Tour.
Ryan Watterson is the new WPBSA Media Officer
The news was shared on social media
Ryan is the grand-son of Mike Watterson, the man who “discovered” the Crucible … actually his wife did. The whole family is deeply into snooker.
Ding Junhui came back from 5-1 down to beat Ronnie by 6-5 at the Peak Showdown exhibition today.
Congratulations Ding!
Here is the trophy ceremony. Ronnie didn’t look disappointed or unhappy in any way. It seems that there was a good crowd in attendance.
Without sound but… beautiful traditional dresses …
And thank to Kalacs, the last two frames before the MSI. Ronnie scored a 80 and a 119 to lead 3-0.
And the last balls of the match…
Both players had recovered from altitude sickness and were feeling well. The presenter – a Chinese version of Johnny Depp 🤔 – had introduced Ronnie as the “39 ranking event winner” … the fans on Weibo were not impressed.
It transpired on Weibo that there had been plans to stream the exhibition, but it wasn’t possible because of contractual restrictions. Once again, I don’t understand. This is an exhibition, absolutely nothing is happening on the Main Tour, the Seniors Tour or the Q-Tour during the New Year extended week-end. What harm would it do to authorise it?
And of course … on this first day of 2024, I’m wishing all of you, and those dear to you, the very best for the year ahead: health, peace of mind, success in your endeavours and joy in your life!
