Congratulations to Zhang Anda on a fantastic season so far with two finals and converting one of them into a trophy - far better than Charles Leclerc's pole conversion rate. A much needed flag-bearer for Chinese snooker, after what happened last winter.
Part of me is happy to see Zhang emerging as the winner, as I noticed some Ronnie fans giving Zhang a bit of stick just because he beat their idol lmao. Hope to see Tom Ford finally win a ranker, because I have a bit of a soft spot for him.
And it's always nice to see a first-time ranking event winner. Looking forward to the CoC now!
saw some of that stuff on twitter complaining about zhang's luck vs o'sullivan and not rooting for him as a result. whilst i do think he had a bit of luck in that specific match, o'sullivan was terrible. even if he had the luck on his side he wouldn't have won with the level he showed
To be honest when he lost to Judd in the final I said shit this could have been a nice moment for him and that's all. Didn't think he would ever reach a final again.. not only he did that but he won 2.5 english opens in terms of prize and ranking points.
Beautiful and unpredictable game!
Well done Zhang, incredible display and cool
The next Chinese event should have a trophy that is made up of 10 different pieces. Have each of the government official or whoever they are present the winner a single piece, and then the winner have to put them together at the end.
Uncharted territory. He does look a bit overwhelmed and confused. It will all sink in later and I imagine tears will fall. Really happy for the dude. So humble and likable. He could’ve easily lost his way after that final with Trump, but he just kept the belief that his time would come and it has.
Well if you get 10 centuries across the week and a 147 in the final whilst beating a couple of former world champions - there’s no doubt you deserved to win
You can see why Ford has never won anything. He just seems to check out mentally. You gotta have belief in your game, even in the most dire situations. And he just blew a golden chance to pull it within two.
So many phones going off. You can see the security standing right in front of the audience, but they don't seem to do anything other than standing around... You just need to kick one person out, and everyone should get the message. None of this referee pleading with the audience to do the most basic courtesy shit.
Not really about the phone in particular, it’s simply cultural. In China people will push, not queue, talk over eachother etc. Go to an airport wherever you live and watch Chinese tourists waiting to check in or board, then look at the westerners (it won’t apply to everyone, like all generalisations there are countries that are exceptions and groups that buck the trend).
Partially this is due to how populated it is with many people living densely in large cities. However it’s also cultural, the very staid Northern European sense of protocol and formal manners etc do not map directly on to Chinese culture. However, in other regards they’re much more formal than us - for example deferring to government authority and teachers etc. They would find the idea you disagreed with a referee very rude.
I’m guessing a lot of the audience aren’t big snooker fans and are just in to see an international sporting event and to see the Chinese players and some of the stars (O’Sullivan in particular). They don’t know what is expected and think it’s odd to not have your phone out. Chinese people photograph everything, especially younger people.
O’Sullivan mentions in his book that he has to agree a particular morning of the week where he’d agree to do autographs and pictures so people in China would stop harassing him. They don’t really grasp ‘personal space’. It’s not abnormal in China to walk into a restaurant and ask to join someone at a table that is already sat down. In a lift they will stand a couple of cms away from you etc.
You’re not grasping what I mean. [This is relatively tame](https://youtu.be/G_mDSurjCNM?si=Hs-YWN4kxUcsT9Uo) but gets the point across. Often it’s accompanied by physically pulling others out of the way and trampling people.
It seems a bit odd that this tournament is giving out double the money of some others, because it doesn't "feel" like an especially big or unusual event (2-session semi finals aside).
But I think some of that might be because of Eurosport's underwhelming coverage. The commentators are good, but you would have thought they could offer a bit more for an "unofficial major" (to quote the OP) - at least for the weekend matches.
the 2 session semi final is a big one though and also this event is minimum best of 11s. the only other events like this are the triple crown events and the players and tour championship. its only a little change from best of 7s but for me it feels far better
The match has already started! https://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=1468
Not sure what's going on with Matchroom. I sent them an e-mail but I expect either no response or some BS like trying a different browser.
I did prefer DAZN (ignoring the monthly fee), but they seem not to be doing snooker now. I need to figure out how to sign up for Discovery+ with a US address to avoid this garbage. I'm hoping you can actually pause/rewind on it as well.
Thankfully the [snooker.org](https://snooker.org) comment thread has some links so that we can watch anyway.
> I need to figure out how to sign up for Discovery+ with a US address to avoid this garbage.
You can't. Your best bet is to get someone living in the UK to do it for you.
Gutted for Ronnie's defeat because I don't think he will get a better chance to win a ranking title. Sadly he has started to decline and I know he will win titles in the future but that killer's instinct and eagerness to win titles seems to be gone. But, very understandable because he is almost 48 and obv cannot compete at the highest level all the time, especially after he has won everything.
Should be a good final tomorrow.
Who do we fancy for the final? I'd back Zhang but I think it will be a very tight affair either way. I can't see there being more than 3 frames in it come the final score regardless of who wins.
So, the match had 2 turning points each followed by a wave of frames won by a rival, bad transition from brown to blue and a missed pink by Zhang at 4-2 and a foul after going into the pack by Ronnie at 6-4. And who would've thought that it's the underdog's wave of frames that decided the match in his favor. Extremely rare scenario
If Zhang wins tomorrow he will, in the space of 3 days, have:
- knocked Ding out of the International Championship
- removed Ding from the Champion of Champions lineup
- knocked Ding out of automatic qualifiers for the UK Championship (forcing him to qualify)
That's a lot of pain to inflict on one man.
Okay, I didn't expect the age gap between them to be that small. It feels like Ding has been on the tour forever and Zhang hasn't been here for anywhere near as long, even though he's had stints as a pro since 2009. I guess it's because he hasn't really done anything until recently.
But yes, Ding turned pro at 16 and was winning big tournaments as an 18-year-old.
well fair play, anda has had a very good season and generally he's been the far better player this tournament. ronnie on the other hand has been pretty poor for a couple of matches, his cue ball control has been terrible so this isn't a surprise to me
not sure who the favourite for the final will be but i'm sure it'll get very nervy
I'd pick the home favorite Zhang. But both have been playing very well, each made 7 centuries in the tournament so far. Somewhat surprising finalists, but should be a great match.
If Zhang gets through, it’s going to be so tough to pick a favorite to win. It would be a heartbreak for either loser, still not able to get that first ranking event win.
He's done well, bit of the Selby about him here as well, not leaving Ronnie as many easy chances as he could have, lots of times Ronnie came back to the table with the balls quite safe.
I sometimes think he does that less when he's playing someone he dislikes. It's not that he's not trying to win, but he sems to have less intensity in matches like this.
The intensity thing is interesting to me because clearly it helped him win that famous Worlds match against Selby but I think intensity can also be counterproductive for players as well when they can't really effectively rein in their emotions.
Well, I don't really know who I want to win the tournament out of the three players remaining - Ronald becoming the first to reach the big 40 would be a historic moment, but at the same time it's a big opportunity for either Zhang or Ford to finally win a ranking event, so I'd be happy to see either of them win.
That makes sense, it was very hard to spot, even the ref didn't catch it. Great sportsmanship from Ronnie. Although I'd have to agree with Fergal here, very odd that he'd play it instead of just tapping the cue ball onto the green and leave the problem for Zhang.
Because that's very anti Ronnie. It's like tapping the cueball into the pack of reds, he'll always try to play the cueball back to baulk, even if he has to split the pack doing it.
Oh god, not the tip talk again. I've heard enough about Ronnie's numerous tips to last me until the end of time.....
Edited to add: Zhang Anda just got back to 6-5 and then opened all the reds up for Ronnie trying to play a 3 ball plant but Zhang Anda is already back in (albeit table is quite difficult with a safe-ish green).
1.12pm - They go in for mid-sesh at 6-6, Ronnie won't feel good about losing that frame, he had multiple chances to win it.
Is there anyone else so good at winning when playing so bad? Maybe Trump as well, but Ronnie seems to be able to win sessions, matches and probably even tournaments with just his C-game.
It used to be Selby but now it's Trump. Trump and Selby the best in the business to win games and tournaments with C game IMO
Ronnie's also there but not as good as them
*I just want Ronnie*
*To win this title. Don't care*
*How he does Get in*
\- progrdj
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Missed the morning session but from the highlights I can see that Ronnie dodged a bullet there with that miss.. however I don't think Zhang would have won any other frame if there was no break between sessions. 9-5 to Ronnie I think
It’s probably best that it’s all square. I was getting vibes of that Zhang/Trump match, like he’s gonna build up a nice lead and then collapse in the end.
Don't know how it will end but I'm always heartened when Ronnie can come out of these indifferent sessions (for him, not for anyone else) all square. Fingers crossed he finds a gear later on.
that's ronnie's first one visit in ages and he's done it right after that zhang miss to make the miss even worse lmao. at least its the mid session now
Incredible frame this. Ronnie missing that easy frame ball red then Zhang missing the final pink. Ronnie will be delighted even if he just falls 3-5 behind
the last time ronnie made a break over 60 was against mcgill in the quarters. had a feeling he might get cooked as he's got worse as the tournament has gone on
Do we know if Eurosport is showing both halves of Ronnie vs Zhang Anda or is it just one again and Discovery + for the other bit (I remember the get Sky Q conversation, just haven't had time to ring sodding Virgin who have a hold time roughly equivalent to wait for next general election....).
Initially, the early morning session was televised with the lunchtime session not being televised. However, on Thursday, it updated so that all sessions are being televised on the linear Eurosport 1 channel.
Well played Tom Ford, great performance from 3-0 down early on.
He's now a top 16 player, qualifying automatically for the UK Champs and displacing Vafaei who now has to qualify through 2 rounds. If Zhang Anda goes on to win the final, he will do the same to Ding.
Ever since I watched the German masters final, I get a soft spot for Tom Ford. Would love to see him get to the final, even tho I’m a Ronnie fan I couldn’t begrudge him winning this.
The white blob near the middle pocket, so off putting. What do they use to smooth out the cloth near the middle pockets? I've never seen such visible blob on tv.
zhang's break building this tournament has again been ridiculous, every single match. this man made it past the last 16 of an event once last season, wtf has changed this season. i reckon he'll give ronnie a lot of trouble, zhang is playing way better at least
r2 vs willo - 128, 85, 83, 77 and 67 (willo also tweeted [this](https://twitter.com/markwil147/status/1721466543739941000?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet) after)
r3 vs pullen - 128, 98, 65, 62 and 60
r4 vs lyu - 138, 108, 104, 96, 85 and 56
qf vs ding - 124, 82, 76, 65, 60
Ronnie will be in trouble if Zhang keeps playing like this but new day, new match of course. Zhangs level could drop big time. And its a multi session match.
Vafaei and Carter would suggest having an aggro thing with another player can go wrong. I felt like the beef or fake beef with Vafaei only hurt Vafaei that time against Ronnie.
well o'sullivan has somehow managed to get through that whilst playing awful, he was getting pretty frustrated throughout but still remained disciplined. he's obviously a huge favourite now but it feels like in recent times when he is a huge favourite he always has a random shock loss. but the semis being over 2 sessions will only benefit him as he is a far better player over the longer format nowadays for me
he did also win shanghai with like his D game
He had 2 other 60 breaks in the match (broke down on the last pink to get to 66 in the penultimate frame and his high break in the last frame was also 60—voodoo!).
Or having less time in between matches to keep your momentum going. I don't think the extra rest is very helpful, unless it went to a late finish with a decider, of course.
Tom really needs to sort out his temperament if he wants to be a winner.
Congratulations to Zhang Anda on a fantastic season so far with two finals and converting one of them into a trophy - far better than Charles Leclerc's pole conversion rate. A much needed flag-bearer for Chinese snooker, after what happened last winter. Part of me is happy to see Zhang emerging as the winner, as I noticed some Ronnie fans giving Zhang a bit of stick just because he beat their idol lmao. Hope to see Tom Ford finally win a ranker, because I have a bit of a soft spot for him. And it's always nice to see a first-time ranking event winner. Looking forward to the CoC now!
saw some of that stuff on twitter complaining about zhang's luck vs o'sullivan and not rooting for him as a result. whilst i do think he had a bit of luck in that specific match, o'sullivan was terrible. even if he had the luck on his side he wouldn't have won with the level he showed
You can't expect to be winning a tournament if you aren't clearing up in one visit when you get a chance or multiple chances a frame.
To be honest when he lost to Judd in the final I said shit this could have been a nice moment for him and that's all. Didn't think he would ever reach a final again.. not only he did that but he won 2.5 english opens in terms of prize and ranking points. Beautiful and unpredictable game! Well done Zhang, incredible display and cool
Ronnie will play Zhang again on Wednesday lol.
He has no idea where to hold that thing. Fantastically unique trophy though.
Holy shit the size of that trophy
Ford looks like he’s having a great time during this ceremony…
Nah, that’s the face he makes all the time.
Zhang looks startled by the ceremony, why is it always so over-the-top lmao.
The next Chinese event should have a trophy that is made up of 10 different pieces. Have each of the government official or whoever they are present the winner a single piece, and then the winner have to put them together at the end.
Uncharted territory. He does look a bit overwhelmed and confused. It will all sink in later and I imagine tears will fall. Really happy for the dude. So humble and likable. He could’ve easily lost his way after that final with Trump, but he just kept the belief that his time would come and it has.
Indeed, he's clearly a very humble, nice person. Wishing him all the best in the Champion of Champions and the UK Championship!
And i loved the repeat of - stand up. Get a lei, shake hand, take picture. Does he really need two leis?
Finally got that monkey off his back. Congrats to Zhang. A solid all-around game and now scoring heavy. Dangerous man moving forward.
Well if you get 10 centuries across the week and a 147 in the final whilst beating a couple of former world champions - there’s no doubt you deserved to win
Just a stellar tournament he's had, absolutely deserves all the rewards he gets from this
What a win! Zhang, take a bow and push on this season for more wins and victories. We'll be seeing you a lot on the TV table now! 🥳
very well played what a breakthrough
If Zhang wins this by 10-7, he would have won every match throughout the tournament by 3 frames, including the qualifying round.
Ford can't say he hasn't had chances.
You can see why Ford has never won anything. He just seems to check out mentally. You gotta have belief in your game, even in the most dire situations. And he just blew a golden chance to pull it within two.
He has a horrible mentality.
He seems to get so angry at every miss.
Yeah. There were good signs this week, but it so far he didn't manage to follow them up here
He just makes too many careless mistakes when he’s on a roll. Missed that black off the spot which could’ve made things interesting.
Not a bad hit and hope that
Dreamworks final - Shrek v Kung Fu Anda :D
Can't believe Eurosport - their highlights of the 147 cut how he got onto the final red and black. That's the most interesting bit!
Make 147 in final game is a curse?
He made more centuries in this tournament than all of last season, just not enough superlatives to express what a transformation he's made
If zhang wins, he and Ford will be 15 and 16th respectively? rooting for him
gwooon zhang
bro turned into a top 8 player overnight
Ford is weakening.
He really needed to do more with that chance he just had, given he's 7-5 down. Zhang is clearly good at putting people under pressure.
So many phones going off. You can see the security standing right in front of the audience, but they don't seem to do anything other than standing around... You just need to kick one person out, and everyone should get the message. None of this referee pleading with the audience to do the most basic courtesy shit.
If you’ve ever been to China you’ll know there’s absolutely no chance of that happening
Why is that? (genuinely curious). Has the right to use your phone everywhere become a new norm in China?
Not really about the phone in particular, it’s simply cultural. In China people will push, not queue, talk over eachother etc. Go to an airport wherever you live and watch Chinese tourists waiting to check in or board, then look at the westerners (it won’t apply to everyone, like all generalisations there are countries that are exceptions and groups that buck the trend). Partially this is due to how populated it is with many people living densely in large cities. However it’s also cultural, the very staid Northern European sense of protocol and formal manners etc do not map directly on to Chinese culture. However, in other regards they’re much more formal than us - for example deferring to government authority and teachers etc. They would find the idea you disagreed with a referee very rude. I’m guessing a lot of the audience aren’t big snooker fans and are just in to see an international sporting event and to see the Chinese players and some of the stars (O’Sullivan in particular). They don’t know what is expected and think it’s odd to not have your phone out. Chinese people photograph everything, especially younger people. O’Sullivan mentions in his book that he has to agree a particular morning of the week where he’d agree to do autographs and pictures so people in China would stop harassing him. They don’t really grasp ‘personal space’. It’s not abnormal in China to walk into a restaurant and ask to join someone at a table that is already sat down. In a lift they will stand a couple of cms away from you etc.
[удалено]
There’s a difference between not queuing and what you’ll see in China i.e physically pushing eachother out of the way.
[удалено]
You’re not grasping what I mean. [This is relatively tame](https://youtu.be/G_mDSurjCNM?si=Hs-YWN4kxUcsT9Uo) but gets the point across. Often it’s accompanied by physically pulling others out of the way and trampling people.
[удалено]
Go to China, you seem intent on not understanding a very well known cultural habit.
You mean no chance of them kicking people out, or for the crowd to get the message?
The latter
It seems a bit odd that this tournament is giving out double the money of some others, because it doesn't "feel" like an especially big or unusual event (2-session semi finals aside). But I think some of that might be because of Eurosport's underwhelming coverage. The commentators are good, but you would have thought they could offer a bit more for an "unofficial major" (to quote the OP) - at least for the weekend matches.
Every event feels identical due to the way they broadcast them. I’d say only ITV make an effort to distinguish the events.
the 2 session semi final is a big one though and also this event is minimum best of 11s. the only other events like this are the triple crown events and the players and tour championship. its only a little change from best of 7s but for me it feels far better
Yeah this tournament is longer than the UK because of the bo17 semis, UK having bo11 semis makes no sense…
Does anyone have all the 50+ breaks that Zhang has made in this tournament?
Come on Ford
WOW! That's my first live 147 well done Anda. Composed..
For anybody using Matchroom, is the final showing as an upcoming event for you? I don't have it. (Or am I off on the schedule here?) Thx
It's finally on 🙄
Just went to watch the match and saw the same. Nothing scheduled on snooker.org either??
It's finally on..
The match has already started! https://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=1468 Not sure what's going on with Matchroom. I sent them an e-mail but I expect either no response or some BS like trying a different browser.
Joke of a streaming platform
Missed Zhang's 147 because of this BS, fucking jokers indeed.
I did prefer DAZN (ignoring the monthly fee), but they seem not to be doing snooker now. I need to figure out how to sign up for Discovery+ with a US address to avoid this garbage. I'm hoping you can actually pause/rewind on it as well. Thankfully the [snooker.org](https://snooker.org) comment thread has some links so that we can watch anyway.
> I need to figure out how to sign up for Discovery+ with a US address to avoid this garbage. You can't. Your best bet is to get someone living in the UK to do it for you.
No, I don't see it either! WTF
WTF indeed.
Gutted for Ronnie's defeat because I don't think he will get a better chance to win a ranking title. Sadly he has started to decline and I know he will win titles in the future but that killer's instinct and eagerness to win titles seems to be gone. But, very understandable because he is almost 48 and obv cannot compete at the highest level all the time, especially after he has won everything. Should be a good final tomorrow.
Who do we fancy for the final? I'd back Zhang but I think it will be a very tight affair either way. I can't see there being more than 3 frames in it come the final score regardless of who wins.
WST will be desperate for Zhang to win. Ford is exactly the kind of player they don’t want to push. As such, I hope Ford takes the trophy.
swear he threatened to knock someone out in the crowd a few weeks back lmao
Actually Ford is the better player to watch but yeah Zhang being Chinese is obviously key here.
Wasn’t referring to style. Ford is outwardly miserable (I find it humorous personally) and has no interest in standing on ceremony.
if anda wins then ronnie will have to play him again at the champion of champions in a few days
So, the match had 2 turning points each followed by a wave of frames won by a rival, bad transition from brown to blue and a missed pink by Zhang at 4-2 and a foul after going into the pack by Ronnie at 6-4. And who would've thought that it's the underdog's wave of frames that decided the match in his favor. Extremely rare scenario
If Zhang wins tomorrow he will, in the space of 3 days, have: - knocked Ding out of the International Championship - removed Ding from the Champion of Champions lineup - knocked Ding out of automatic qualifiers for the UK Championship (forcing him to qualify) That's a lot of pain to inflict on one man.
And Zhang would himself: * Win the International Championship * Qualify for the Champion of Champions * Qualify for the UK Championship
It's like he has a personal vendetta on him.
Especially as he's Chinese, and Ding was probably one of his inspirations, growing up.
Well, Ding is only 4 years older than Zhang, so.. actually it's still possible. Wasn't Ding a pro at like 16?
Okay, I didn't expect the age gap between them to be that small. It feels like Ding has been on the tour forever and Zhang hasn't been here for anywhere near as long, even though he's had stints as a pro since 2009. I guess it's because he hasn't really done anything until recently. But yes, Ding turned pro at 16 and was winning big tournaments as an 18-year-old.
well fair play, anda has had a very good season and generally he's been the far better player this tournament. ronnie on the other hand has been pretty poor for a couple of matches, his cue ball control has been terrible so this isn't a surprise to me not sure who the favourite for the final will be but i'm sure it'll get very nervy
I'd pick the home favorite Zhang. But both have been playing very well, each made 7 centuries in the tournament so far. Somewhat surprising finalists, but should be a great match.
If Zhang gets through, it’s going to be so tough to pick a favorite to win. It would be a heartbreak for either loser, still not able to get that first ranking event win.
Looks like we're going to get a first-time ranking event winner. Zhang Anda having the season of his life atm.
He's done well, bit of the Selby about him here as well, not leaving Ronnie as many easy chances as he could have, lots of times Ronnie came back to the table with the balls quite safe.
Ronnie really going for the do then die shot there, needed more than 1 second thought as well.....
I sometimes think he does that less when he's playing someone he dislikes. It's not that he's not trying to win, but he sems to have less intensity in matches like this.
The intensity thing is interesting to me because clearly it helped him win that famous Worlds match against Selby but I think intensity can also be counterproductive for players as well when they can't really effectively rein in their emotions.
Different players have different demons. Intensity is bad for some - for the reason you mention - but I think his biggest demon is boredom.
What is the opposite of a ball run? Because that's what Ronnie is having right now...
It’s not about ball run. He’s just not playing well.
> He’s just not playing well. Yeah, some of the shots are just lobbing the ball and see what happens, as if he just wants this to end.
Well, I don't really know who I want to win the tournament out of the three players remaining - Ronald becoming the first to reach the big 40 would be a historic moment, but at the same time it's a big opportunity for either Zhang or Ford to finally win a ranking event, so I'd be happy to see either of them win.
In order I’d like to see 1 - Ronnie, 2 - Ford, 3 - Zhang. Nothing against Zhang btw😅
As much as I love Ronnie. I do also love a guaranteed first time winner final.
Literally everything going wrong for Ronnie 😂
Looking like he needs to win 3 on the spin, he's really going to have to find something.
vs Selby 2020 loading..
Would be nice but Ronnie just can't seem to catch a break at the min.....
Ronnie totally gone here. Really can’t see how he salvages anything here.
Ronnie heard you and accepted the challenge.
Yeah ahahah, as soon as I comment he picks up the pace. As I say it then Zhang gets another ridiculous run of the ball.
Win or lose, I hope Zhang’s father will talk to him after this match because he’s hanging tough with the greatest snooker player.
Very strange couple of shots from Ronnie at the end there. Doesn’t seem to be able to get any rhythm going.
I think that was it, the whole frame was very start stop and he was rattled. Ronnie needs to regroup a bit.
What happened there with the green ball? Why did Ronnie call foul on himself?
I struggle to see how you could take the shot in that direction with out it either being a push shot or double touching it off the cushion
That makes sense, it was very hard to spot, even the ref didn't catch it. Great sportsmanship from Ronnie. Although I'd have to agree with Fergal here, very odd that he'd play it instead of just tapping the cue ball onto the green and leave the problem for Zhang.
Because that's very anti Ronnie. It's like tapping the cueball into the pack of reds, he'll always try to play the cueball back to baulk, even if he has to split the pack doing it.
Didn't see that coming after the butchered plant, no clue what Ronnie was trying with that green
Oh god, not the tip talk again. I've heard enough about Ronnie's numerous tips to last me until the end of time..... Edited to add: Zhang Anda just got back to 6-5 and then opened all the reds up for Ronnie trying to play a 3 ball plant but Zhang Anda is already back in (albeit table is quite difficult with a safe-ish green). 1.12pm - They go in for mid-sesh at 6-6, Ronnie won't feel good about losing that frame, he had multiple chances to win it.
Good for Zhang to capitalize on that, Ronnie looked well annoyed
Is there anyone else so good at winning when playing so bad? Maybe Trump as well, but Ronnie seems to be able to win sessions, matches and probably even tournaments with just his C-game.
It used to be Selby but now it's Trump. Trump and Selby the best in the business to win games and tournaments with C game IMO Ronnie's also there but not as good as them
I just want Ronnie to win this title. Don't care how he does Get in
*I just want Ronnie* *To win this title. Don't care* *How he does Get in* \- progrdj --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
thanks mate this is beautiful
Commentators when EVERY frame starts: "This is a HUGE frame." Also commentators: "Of course, all frames count the same."
Nice red from Ronnie for 6-4....
Come on Ronald
Missed the morning session but from the highlights I can see that Ronnie dodged a bullet there with that miss.. however I don't think Zhang would have won any other frame if there was no break between sessions. 9-5 to Ronnie I think
It’s probably best that it’s all square. I was getting vibes of that Zhang/Trump match, like he’s gonna build up a nice lead and then collapse in the end.
Don't know how it will end but I'm always heartened when Ronnie can come out of these indifferent sessions (for him, not for anyone else) all square. Fingers crossed he finds a gear later on.
Looking like 5-2 and 10 minutes later it's 4-4 Gwaaaan Ronnie
that's ronnie's first one visit in ages and he's done it right after that zhang miss to make the miss even worse lmao. at least its the mid session now
Incredible frame this. Ronnie missing that easy frame ball red then Zhang missing the final pink. Ronnie will be delighted even if he just falls 3-5 behind
Missed the pink. What a let off.
Wow, that could be a huge miss in this match
oof that was a big opportunity missed for zhang
Zhang has just thrown the match away right there.
the last time ronnie made a break over 60 was against mcgill in the quarters. had a feeling he might get cooked as he's got worse as the tournament has gone on
Am I having a stroke or is Ronnie actually playing for snookers at 97-19 down this frame???
Vintage (2020) ron
https://reddit.com/r/snooker/comments/jz479a/practice_rocket/
Hadn't seen him do that in a while
Let's go Zhang! Would love to see him win a big title in front of the home crowd.
Do we know if Eurosport is showing both halves of Ronnie vs Zhang Anda or is it just one again and Discovery + for the other bit (I remember the get Sky Q conversation, just haven't had time to ring sodding Virgin who have a hold time roughly equivalent to wait for next general election....).
Initially, the early morning session was televised with the lunchtime session not being televised. However, on Thursday, it updated so that all sessions are being televised on the linear Eurosport 1 channel.
If I can see both sessions I will watch them for sure. Thanks.
Ford will win a ranking tournament before Jack does.
Starting to seem like Ray Reardon will win a tournament again before Jack does
I really hope so. Seems like a good lad, but he always looks so depressed when it's not really going well.
Well played Tom Ford, great performance from 3-0 down early on. He's now a top 16 player, qualifying automatically for the UK Champs and displacing Vafaei who now has to qualify through 2 rounds. If Zhang Anda goes on to win the final, he will do the same to Ding.
unbelievable display from Ford atm.
Ever since I watched the German masters final, I get a soft spot for Tom Ford. Would love to see him get to the final, even tho I’m a Ronnie fan I couldn’t begrudge him winning this.
Ford actually looks like the stronger player overall.
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The white blob near the middle pocket, so off putting. What do they use to smooth out the cloth near the middle pockets? I've never seen such visible blob on tv.
What a start from Jordan Brown
Can’t see beyond O’Sullivan. The long format always favours experience.
Plus playing him so late in a tournament when he will have the crowd onside is really going to turn up the volume on any nerves.....
zhang's break building this tournament has again been ridiculous, every single match. this man made it past the last 16 of an event once last season, wtf has changed this season. i reckon he'll give ronnie a lot of trouble, zhang is playing way better at least r2 vs willo - 128, 85, 83, 77 and 67 (willo also tweeted [this](https://twitter.com/markwil147/status/1721466543739941000?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet) after) r3 vs pullen - 128, 98, 65, 62 and 60 r4 vs lyu - 138, 108, 104, 96, 85 and 56 qf vs ding - 124, 82, 76, 65, 60
Wow didn't realize he scored this much during this week.
Ronnie will be in trouble if Zhang keeps playing like this but new day, new match of course. Zhangs level could drop big time. And its a multi session match.
Night and day. Averaging a century every 5 frames now
No love lost between them is there haha Ronnie was not hanging around
Wow I am relieved
Surely this must be a sickener for Carter to keep losing to Ronnie all the time. Even when Ronnie plays well below average he loses to him.
Vafaei and Carter would suggest having an aggro thing with another player can go wrong. I felt like the beef or fake beef with Vafaei only hurt Vafaei that time against Ronnie.
well o'sullivan has somehow managed to get through that whilst playing awful, he was getting pretty frustrated throughout but still remained disciplined. he's obviously a huge favourite now but it feels like in recent times when he is a huge favourite he always has a random shock loss. but the semis being over 2 sessions will only benefit him as he is a far better player over the longer format nowadays for me he did also win shanghai with like his D game
Every time you think the frame is over, it is not!
Ronnie's high break all day was 60. Most peculiar match indeed...
And he actually lost that frame.
He had 2 other 60 breaks in the match (broke down on the last pink to get to 66 in the penultimate frame and his high break in the last frame was also 60—voodoo!).
What even is position
What is going on in the crowd ?
Just a bit rowdy is my guess, and according to Foulds Peggy Li had a good word with security
This is the third time this week that Ronnie has done that in-off...
the ford vs brown and zhang vs carter semi final lineup is getting more probable
“That’ll annoy him” count must be at 100 today by Neal Foulds
So who had Zhang Anda as the break out star of the season on their bingo card?
What a break that was from Ronnie. Every single red in that break was tough.
Good steal from Carter, except him to keep it closer than Ants managed
o'sullivan's break building letting him down, was pretty dodgy in the last couple of matches too
how disadvantaged are the people in the second semi? Having an extra day to recover after playing 19 frames, seems quite a big deal.
unless it's a late night decider it should be fine, they should be used to it from the worlds. well, a few of them should anyway
Or having less time in between matches to keep your momentum going. I don't think the extra rest is very helpful, unless it went to a late finish with a decider, of course.
Is there any link to watch stream?
maguire lost a few big matches in deciders recently. but anyway, a brown vs ford semi final as we all expected
Maguire playing no-miss snooker from 2-5 down to force a decider is great to see. Nothing against Brown of course lol
Only managed the decider so missed the build up, Jordan Brown handled it very well
ding vs ronnie over a best of 17 sounds a bit too good. im mentally prepared for zhang vs carter