posted May 1, 2008

I love it "I think the winner of Hendry O'Sullivan will be tired too if it is a classic semi, (especially if it is Hendry because of his age)". Hendry's only 39 not 79

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posted May 1, 2008

If I'd read the report that Joe Perry had beaten Stephen Maguire 13-12 without watching the match, I wouldn't have been overly surprised. Granted, Maguire was a huge favourite, but Perry's played some very good grinding stuff against Dott and Bingham while Maguire had received little more than a bye against Hamilton and Robertson only started playing when it was too late. Besides, once it goes to a decider anybody can win.

However, I would never have believed that Joe Perry absolutely dominated every single statistic going, and was in front of roughly half the frames that Maguire won before breaking down and letting Stephen clear the table.

So, in reality, no only was Joe Perry a worthy winner, but 13-12 is incredibly generous to young Stephen Maguire. Perry could, and perhaps should, have won 13-7 and saved himself a lot of grief.

Credit to the ever-honest Maguire, who admitted that he didn't give Perry enough respect and expected to win comfortably given his form and the fact he beat Perry last year quite easily. He's still learning, at least.

Anyway, with Maguire out of the picture, we're assured an Englishman in the final. We're also assured a new finalist, which was going to be the case whoever won the Perry/Maguire match.

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posted May 1, 2008

Come on Perry - Please put in a better display vs a very good snooker player in Ali Carter.

Great match vs Maguire - The best of the tournament so far in my opinion.

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posted May 1, 2008

lets face it o'sullivan has no respect for anyone let alone hendry my guess is if he keeps his emotions in check he will win easy but if he lets hendry get inside his head hendry will walk it

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posted May 1, 2008

srmgin the average age of the winner at the Crucible is 28. It's no accident. To play something like 80-100 frames of - match - snooker in eight days, where every miss adds to the stress level - is rather different from playing 250 frames down the local club!

The long potting seems to go in the late 30s (Hendry, Davis, remember Willie Thorne, notably Cliff Thorburn etc ); and the mental reflexes are less sharp. Hendry had a very tough opening round and do not be surprised if we see him have a poor session during this match.

Of course if Ronnie plays like he did in the last four frames against Williams he'll win the tournament.

IF.

But only two years ago Dott got inside his head taking a semi-final session 8-0, and Ebdon superbly frustrated him last year with his deliberately, shall we say, pedantic, approach.

And believe me Stephen will try every trick in the book to do the same!

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posted May 1, 2008

Ronnie v Ali for the final, the two maximum breakers seems to be the ones for the showdown for me!! The prospect of a Hendry, Perry final doesn't sound as appealing but may the best men go through.

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posted May 1, 2008

Hendry wins the 2008 888 World Championship for the 8th time, making 8 centuries in the process. Gr8.

And throw in a couple of 147's to get his record back...

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posted May 1, 2008

Actually, it would be his first and only time winning the 2008 888 World Championship. He's won the Embassy World Championship on seven occasions, none of which were in 2008 which is the year in which we are currently living and not every year previous to this one. Hope that helps!

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posted May 1, 2008

I love to watch both Ronnie and Hendry at their best. Lets hope they can both produce the level of snooker they are both capable of. If so this will be a century-fest...

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posted May 1, 2008

A 140 break in the first frame...

Good start!

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