World Snooker Championship 2013

[Hugo Sanchez]

100% O'Sullivan won't win it

He's on fire ... Looks unplayable atm.

[Soar Fox]

Love watching Ronnie play when he's in the mood for it.

[Guest MattP]

This is quite frankly frigthening after a year off.

[foxfanazer]

Love watching Ronnie play when he's in the mood for it.

Nobody better to watch. When he starts switching hands as well it's a joy to behold. Love how fast he is around the table

[Manwell Pablo]

This is quite frankly frigthening after a year off.

I'm starting to think there was something in what Selby was saying about being burnt out, not just him so not much of an excuse, but the whole of the top 16. They've got to the stage where evern Tennis players get more of a rest than they do. Every single player I've seen in the top 16 has looked well below their best and the quality of the tournament on the whole has been poor compared to previous years. When you compare them to Ronnie, bareing in mind he hasn't played all year but has the benefit of not travelling round the world for 11 months.....it's shocking really.

Barry Hearn should be paying attention.

[Guest MattP]

Could be right there, has to be some sort of excuse for the standard.

When Bingham has reached the World's top eight you know something is wrong.

[Libertine Dream]

I thought at the start of the tournament he'd get beat in the semis and I still think that now.

And fully agree Manwell

[kingfox]

Afternoon's scores...

O'Sullivan 7-1 Bingham

Walden 6-2 M.White

As I can tell a lot of you seemed to be watching Ronnie this afternoon, after his game with Carter, Ali said himself when Ronnie plays like he did against me, there is only one winner of this tournament. Yet again today Ronnie proved that he will be hard to beat, despite having numerous months out. Bingham gave him chances though, and easy chances they were, a poor shot in the first frame cost him, as Ronnie piled on two half centuries to win the frame, was the same in the next frame, and then the next after that as Ronnie made a century of 111. Final frame before the mid session, saw the frame being close, but Bingham let Ronnie in, and Ronnie being Ronnie cleared up to go 4-0 ahead. After the mid session, Ronnie claimed three more frames on the spin, putting three more big breaks together, first an 87 followed by a top class century of 133, then won another frame with a break of 78. Bingham captured the final frame of the session, but if O'Sullivan keeps this up it could be wrapped up tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile Ricky Walden seemed in good form against Michael White, Walden came out all guns blazing this afternoon by winning the first four frames of the session, to take a 4-0 lead going into the mid session interval. First frame he made a break of 93, second frame a 58, then third frame a break of 59. After the mid session, Walden seemed to have another lapse like he did against Milkins, as White then claimed two frames in a row to make it 4-2, despite the scoreline, White's highest break was still about 40. White could of easily made it 4-3 though, but missed the green, which then led to Walden clearing the table to roar ahead 5-2, Walden then wrapped up the session 6-2, with a century break of 113. Walden could well be the darkhorse in this tournament now; however as I mentioned he usually loses his way in matches too often, he let Milkins back in their match yesterday, and he let frames get away from him today, as the first session could of easily finished 5-3, not 6-2.

Bring on tonight, can Judd comeback or will his struggles continue?

Hawkins and Ding is set up to be a close one, will one of them come out all guns blazing, or will it still be close by the end of session?

[kingfox]

I'm starting to think there was something in what Selby was saying about being burnt out, not just him so not much of an excuse, but the whole of the top 16. They've got to the stage where evern Tennis players get more of a rest than they do. Every single player I've seen in the top 16 has looked well below their best and the quality of the tournament on the whole has been poor compared to previous years. When you compare them to Ronnie, bareing in mind he hasn't played all year but has the benefit of not travelling round the world for 11 months.....it's shocking really.

Barry Hearn should be paying attention.

Mark Allen has moaned about this in particular, in my opinion there shouldn't be so many tournaments abroad, it maybe good for the game in Hearn's point of view, but it isn't for the players, he has gone with a 128 player open field in many tournaments now, meaning the top 16 don't get seeded for those particular tournaments now. Plus I doubt many players can't pay fees to go to the likes of China every so often. In my opinion the PTC events based in UK and European Cities is a good thing and that's a 128 open field, but doing it in other tournaments is quite a joke. Instead of so many tournaments abroad, I would of preferred it if Barry put on tournaments, in Ireland, Scotland like the old days. He changed the Grand Prix into the World Open, and flogged that to China. When I was just getting into Snooker, you had the Irish and Scottish Masters, British Open and the Grand Prix. You don't have these events now, but I would 100% like to see those types of events back. It would be much easier for players to travel around the UK and not China.

[Guest shearfox]

Ronnie in this form, everyone might as well pack up their cues and go home now, this is as good as I have ever seen Ronnie. Impressive.

[isaidno]

The new format gives a lot of new faces a chance to come through, but there are far too many tournaments. If you don't attend these you don't get the ranking points , so I agree with what Selby and Allen are getting at

[kingfox]

There's now an Asian tour - what's that all about?

Wuxi Classic is pointless

Australian Open is pointless

International Championship is pointless

World Open is pointless - Change it and get it back to the UK

Six Reds a bit of fun but still that's even abroad

Out of the events abroad, they should keep the Shanghai Masters, China Open, German Masters and PTC Events, and scrap the rest.

[isaidno]

There's now an Asian tour - what's that all about?

Wuxi Classic is pointless

Australian Open is pointless

International Championship is pointless

World Open is pointless - Change it and get it back to the UK

Six Reds a bit of fun but still that's even abroad

Out of the events abroad, they should keep the Shanghai Masters, China Open, German Masters and PTC Events, and scrap the rest.

They should be invitational, and award prize money and no ranking points . Save the ranking points for the classics.

[Bert]

This is because Barry Hearne is a greedy bastard. Nothing to do with the sport, nothing to do with making the game exciting.

Snooker is a love it or hate it game.

[Guest shearfox]

I don't have a problem with tournaments going around the world, it is giving snooker a higher profile and bringing in new players and fans. Tennis players play consistently all year and have tournaments all over.

[kingfox]

They should be invitational, and award prize money and no ranking points . Save the ranking points for the classics.

They could do it that way, but still as you said in your first post there's too many abroad.

Shanghai Masters has been going on a while, China Open is a big event, PTC's are good and German Masters is a great event, and get's big audiences.

The rest I see no point in, International Championship only just came in this year I think, he should bring the World Open back here, scrap the six reds or play it in the UK, Wuxi and Australian should be scrapped altogether, or scrap them then make two tournaments in the UK, maybe one in Ireland and one in Scotland or England somewhere like Preston or Prestatyn.

[Manwell Pablo]

I don't have a problem with tournaments going around the world, it is giving snooker a higher profile and bringing in new players and fans. Tennis players play consistently all year and have tournaments all over.

Tennis is a different game more suited to that kind of calender, mental fatigue also has less of an effect as there is more adrenalin involved. Plus you've got to be outstanding to be a top level player in your mid 30's. Snooker you could quite easily be one in your 40's if it weren't for the fact that you don't want to spend half your adult life living out of a suit case. This is why some many of the games best players have quit or are thinking about quitting.

I think Snookers calender is even more high demand than Tennis now Amazingly, and it is far easier to fall down the rankings if you don't play, there is a reason why Ronny is ranked 28 having not played all year, and Nadal is still 5 despite not playing for nearly the same amount of time , plus there is more pressure to play prestigious non ranking events in snooker

I think Hearn does have the right idea he has just pushed it far too much, made the season far longer than it should be, and gone over board on the number of tournaments.

[kingfox]

Tonight's Scores...

Murphy 8-8 Trump

Hawkins 9-7 Ding

The comeback well and truly happened tonight, as Judd turned on the style and played his brand of "naughty" Snooker. It seemed more of the same in the first frame however, as Murphy made an impressive 91 break, Judd responded in style though making a break of 93, only for Murphy to then win the next frame. After that Judd found his form, and after the mid session interval, he was racking up frames like nobody's business, winning five frames on the spin, with one frame including a century break of 118. It's funny how some players don't play well in the morning, but play well in the afternoon and night sessions, and Judd is certainly one of those players, to get back on level terms from 8-3 down is incredible going. What a finish this will be tomorrow afternoon.

On Table 2, Hawkins managed to keep his 2 frame lead in tact, by claiming the second session 9-7. Hawkins won the first two frames of the night, clinching the first frame with a break of 65, Ding managed to pull one frame back though. Hawkins responded though, as Ding sat looking depressed in his seat as Barry notched up a break of 79. Thankfully for Ding the mid session interval came at the right time, as he returned from the mid session interval in style, by claiming two frames in a row, one of which included a break of 58, Hawkins won the next frame though with a break of 75 to go 9-6 ahead, but Ding won the final frame of the session with a break of 72. Another close game, and another close finish could be in store tomorrow for this pair, this finishes tomorrow morning.

[Manwell Pablo]

This is just silly

I know Ronnie is playing well (although I've seen him play far better) but it's like he's playng Snooker World Championship on his Playstation and has turned the difficulty down to easy, Bingham is handing it to him.

[kingfox]

11-1

Bingham has been shocking.

This Ding v Hawkins match hasn't been the best quality, but it's a fascinating watch, Hawkins has just gone 12-7 up by fluking the pink, he missed it shot back up the table and went into the top pocket.

DRAMA

[dogadug]

This is just silly

I know Ronnie is playing well (although I've seen him play far better) but it's like he's playng Snooker World Championship on his Playstation and has turned the difficulty down to easy, Bingham is handing it to him.

Good way of putting it!

[kingfox]

This Morning's scores...

O'Sullivan 12-4 Bingham

Ding 7-13 Hawkins

O'Sullivan was just class this morning, apart from the last two frames when he actually missed some pots. O'Sullivan didn't score as heavily this morning, as he did yesterday and against Carter. Breaks of 59 and a century of 104 today, while Bingham made a break of 70 to make it 12-3, then took the final frame of the session on the black, to force the match into another session. They will probably only come back tonight for one frame, as O'Sullivan wins 12-4, usually happens.

Hawkins pulls off another surprise victory, he beat Lisowski when people though Lisowski would actually win that match, he knocked our very own Mark Selby out who is probably player of the season, and now beats Ding who has just won about everything apart from the Worlds. It wasn't the best quality, especially by Ding who didn't win a single frame this morning, but Barry just kept to his game didn't looked fazed, kept his cool and managed to get himself over the line. Barry made breaks of 64 and 60, while he also clinched one frame, by fluking the pink. So it will either be Hawkins, Walden or White in the final of the World Snooker Championships, Hawkins never made it past Round 2 until now, Walden has never won a match at the Crucible until now, while White is making his debut.

Trump v Murphy & Walden v White this afternoon

[kingfox]

Murphy v Trump is a great battle.

This frame is flaming class.

[kingfox]

TRUMP V MURPHY DECIDER

[ScouseFox]

This is friggin tense.