I thought Mark Selby was very impressive in completing his 10-6 victory over Ricky Walden.
Sometimes, players who resume with a 6-3 overnight lead panic a little as they know they could not forgive themselves if they squander their advantage.
But Selby held strong. He started off the session with a century and made two more in running out the winner.
All facets of his game were on show. His safety was good and he fashioned openings from which he made big breaks to win frames.
Mark knew he had to be on his game after drawing the dangerous Walden, who beat him in the semi-finals of this season’s Shanghai Masters.
They’ve known each other since their junior days and it was always going be a tough match to call, but the fact Walden was making his Crucible debut proved to be a factor: he made a bad start and never recovered.
So Selby is through and looks a good bet to go a long way.
The draw doesn’t get any easier. He has Graeme Dott now to possibly play John Higgins with Ronnie O’Sullivan looming in the semi-finals.
However, I’m not sure anyone would want to draw Selby if he’s on top form.
17 comments:
I didn't see a ball potted in the Selby match. After enduring the King/McLeod match my system needed time to recover!
Since the point of punting has been raised again, surely backing whoever plays King in the next round must be like finding money in the street, as is 10-4 Maguire.
He was very impressive. It's one thing having the chances, it's another thing taking them. A worthy second favourite.
Did you know that Selby's nickname is the Jester from Leicester; and that he has a good sense of humour. I know this because Dennis Taylor mentions it in every match of Selby's he commentates on. Do you think he'll tell us again just in case we've forgotten?
not everyone has tuned in and heard it loads of times
do you want him to take note of everything he says and just say them once, assuming everyone hears it that one time?
get a grip!
Dott will send him packing 13-10.
A nice bit of snooker sarcasm mr. 9:52.
Nicely done by Selby and it is great to see the players be in good spirits. By the way, aren't we well on course to see a new century record? Maybe it just feels that way.
played well a ronnie semi would be mouthwatering
off topic but is ken doherty working for beeb as I have yet to hear him? Plus Simon Barnes in Times wrote a cracking piece in the Times today on snooker.
fu seems on top form as well
Anon @ 10.02
Yes I would like him to take notes and not repeat himself. After all, he is supposed to be a professional broadcaster, isn't he?
What this banal cliché laden drivel shows is that Taylor is not intelligent enough to be in the commentary booth.
Let me see - Clive Everton or Dennis Taylor - who would you prefer?
It is clear the BBC are sacrificing professional broadcasters in preference for - how should I put it - less intelligent but more 'user friendly' pundits. It shows how far the BBC have descended into tabloid broadcasting as it tries to appeal to a nation that cannot comprehend anything other than dull platitudes.
However, please spare a thought for those of us that have a decent level of education. Not all of us prefer the dumbing down of TV.
Spot on Anon at 11.36pm, my sentiments exactly. The BBC are obsessed with getting rid of professional broadcasters and replacing them with former sportsmen, and it's a scandal. There are too many former players of sports who now commentate or summarise on sporting events.
The Beeb are also axing Mark Saggers from 5live, one of the best broadcasters on the radio – no doubt some ex-pro will get his job instead.
Look at talksport and Ian Wright – the bloke cannot string a coherent sentence together (a bit like Alan Brazil).
Selby was breathtaking on times today, but during the last 12 months, we've never been sure which Selby was going to turn up from one day to the next.
If he'd played as well as he did today every time, he'd have picked up at least two major titles this season.
Time will tell whether he can go all the way. I was, however, most impressed with my tip (unlike Mark Williams ha ha) Marco Fu today.
Can I just say a big thanks to Eurosport for adding Phil Yates to the commentary box. He is one of the best around and I feel he's under-used by other broadcasters, especially since Sky stopped covering ranking tournaments.
Selby looked very good yesterday. Could be dangerous.
To play devil's advocate for a moment, the BBC aren't the only ones guilty of using ex-sportsmen to front programmes - Sky do it far worse with their cricket coverage, where the only qualifications are that you have to be an ex-England captain, and virtually every TalkSport programme is co-presented by a sportsman.
Indeed, ITV's coverage of snooker was even more of an old boys club -apart from Peter Drury towards the end of their coverage (late '90s), I can't remember them using anyone in the commentary booth who wasn't an ex-player, though people like Ray Edmonds and Dennis Taylor were good.
Actually, as it happens, I don't mind Dennis Taylor, and I think out of the ex-pros commentating on snooker, he is the best - both respectful and knowledgable.
But even so, I'm sure Dennis himself would much prefer to have someone like Clive alongside him in the box on a regular basis. Viewers don't appear to happy at the decision to sideline Clive, and I find it hard to believe that his colleagues do either.
As for the Saggers example, he is being replaced by a roster of regular 5 Live sports presenters, so no chance of an ex-sportsman being involved.
Selby did play well but he was given an awful lot of chances by Walden, if he'd taken his chances it may have been a very different result. I don't think Dott will make the errors that Walden did and having given Selby a good beating in China I think it's Selby who'll be going into this one more worried myself.
Devil's Advocate- when ITV covered snooker in the 80s, their commentary team was: John Pulman, Ray Edmonds, Dennis Taylor, Mark Wildman, Rex Williams and Jim Meadowcroft.
There were one or two others at various times, such as the Silver Fox, David Taylor, who was alongside Pulman when Steve Davis made his 147 in the Lada Classic in Oldham. Before my time, but I've seen enough footage of ITV snooker from this era to confirm it's about right.
When ITV largely dropped snooker in around 1992, their only coverage for a good few years was the Charity Challenge, which used Phil Yates, Dennis Taylor and Willie Thorne, as I recall. Coverage was on a regional basis, with Central being the most enthusiastic. other parts of the country tended to dip in and out of coverage, or show much shorter programmes.
When ITV returned to coverage in the late 90s, it was presented by radio presenter Russ Williams, with Steve Davis as studio pundit. Commentary came from Phil Yates, Peter Drury, Terry Griffiths, Willie Thorne and occasionally Mark King. Dennis Taylor had joined the BBC long before.
On balance, ITV tended to go for the journalist and ex-pro together, which in my view worked far better.
Dennis Taylor is blundering fool. What was he on about the other day with the subliminal messages hidden in the reds? Is he on acid or something? How is he still commentating and Clive being phased out? It's a disgrace. Evertons summings up are always informative and entirely relevent. He hits it on the nose every time and is waffle free. The poster above is right when they said he's not intelligent enough.
As for Selby's opponent after Dott, I expect it to be Jamie Cope and not John Higgins.
mon the haggis!!!
I don't expect Selby to do very well this year simply for the fact he has the toughest draw. He had a dangerous opener, and next he has a tough match-player who comes into his own at the Crucible. A tie with John Higgins will be the tough to call and I doubt Mark will be able to out-pot Higgins like he might do with Dott. In all likelihood he will have to go through the last three world champions just to reach the final, which could ironically be his easiest match if he gets that far.
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