Jamie Cope. There’s a conundrum.
Terrific potter, heavy scorer, but he hasn’t kicked on since reaching two ranking finals in the 2006/07 season.
Given that early promise a top 16 place beckoned but he is yet to get there, although had John Higgins not beaten him 13-12 from 12-10 down at the World Championship last year he would have got in.
Does Cope go for too many low percentage pots? Possibly, but he struggles more often than not against less attacking players so at least he’ll know today’s last 16 match in Newport with Ronnie O’Sullivan will be an open affair.
It’s not unfair to say O’Sullivan doesn’t regard the Welsh Open as a major priority. He wasn’t pressured against Stuart Bingham and could conceivably coast to the title but there will surely come a time when someone will play against him and he will have to decide whether to dig deep or surrender.
He buried Cope 9-2 last time they played at the 2007 UK Championship. It may be closer today but that doesn’t necessarily mean there will be a shock.
Matthew Stevens made what could, in the context of his future career, be a crucial 75 clearance to pink to see off Shaun Murphy in the deciding frame of their first round match.
He faces Mark Allen this afternoon full of confidence. One ranking title is too poor a return for a player of Matthew’s class. At 32, there is still time to make amends.
John Higgins holds a 9-5 career advantage over Graeme Dott but has lost their last four meetings.
He said Dott is better than half of the current top 16 and is well placed to comment as he practises with his fellow Glaswegian.
Higgins looked very good yesterday but obviously expects a tough battle and he may well get one.
Can Andrew Higginson continue another Newport fairytale? Mark Williams will be hoping not and the form the Welshman is showing right now suggests a third Welsh Open success is entirely possible this weekend.
30 comments:
Hi Dave, very cheeky this but would you consider putting a link to my blog on your site? snookerbacker.wordpress.com I've only had it up a week and I've had a couple of thousand hits already. It's a light hearted snooker only blog with a betting slant. No worries if you don't want to link, I will reciprocate obviously.
Cheers
snookerbacker
well i caught a nice little double yesterday on day and cope so i have invested a few quid on williams to win welsh open and another bet on him to win the worlds in april as i think he is starting to play some proper snooker again good luck mark and good luck to my lads mr earls snooker team up here in sunny wigan for tonights big game with pem central
Fantastic, thank you very much Dave.
And reciprocated by the way!
Dave, off subject I know but.....
I think many snooker fans are getting a little fed up with the interviews of Ronnie O'Sullivan, not necessarily because of the player himself, but I for one would like to see Davis, Parrott, Doherty, Persad and Hazel to have enough bottle to ask him tougher questions as I believe they treat him with kid gloves.
So, any chance if we can have a thread in the future with "Questions you would ask Ronnie if you were interviewing him".
I will start it off with the following. "In nearly every interview you have done over the past 18 months you have said you played terrible, where most people watching and most players you played would think otherwise. Are you deliberately saying that to belittle them".
Such potential and he is wasting it. His shot selection is almost as bad as Trumps and under pressure he does some truly stupid things.
Clearly Jamie could not Cope. He dished it up, but Ronnie looked good today, if no one tests him then he will win it, but I think a Williams or Carter will give him a game before it's over.
Off topic, but interesting tweet you made about Andy Murray and the reason some people don't get behind him. I personally think it is down to his sullen and obnoxious demeaneour. I personally believe though in individual sports we should support not because of nationality, but on the individual themselves. Murray is playing for himself not Britain. I support England in team events, but I just don't get why in tennis a lot of people seem to feel they should support their home player. It doesn't happen in snooker much though which is a good thing I think.
I support him because he's an excellent tennis player
I don't need my sportsmen to be cracking jokes every two minutes or in the tabloids for falloing out of nightclubs
ha ha, sullen and obnoxious behaviour? This from a fan of Ronnie O'Sullivan
Priceless!
Talking of nationality. It would appear that either the current Masters or World Champion will be on the invisible table tonight, with Williams no doubt taking top billing. Will it be Selby Dave? Don't you think the Welsh take this nationalism a bit too far? Williams would be the loser at any other tournament.
It will be Selby missing out, yes, but BBC Wales are the host broadcaster and they want their home players in front of the cameras
Do the players mind being out the back? It's a bit of a comedown for Selby from last week. It's snooker backer by the way!
I'd imagine Mark won't be thrilled by it but he is professional enough to just get on with the job in hand
There have been scream ups in the past in this situation but that's a story for another day!
I'll look forward to that one Dave!
Surely my last post has not been stopped because of what I said about Ronnie?
This isn't a tennis blog. Take it elsewhere.
To be fair there was snooker in there, and this about the fourth time you have done this with one of my comments. I wouldn't mind if my comments were libellous, but they never are. I was responding partly to the person who slagged me off about supporting Ronnie, surely I deserve the chance to have my say when criticised.
Nice to see they have changed the format around to accommodate O'Sullivan tomorrow afternoon. Goodness knows the last time he started a night match on the bbc. Nice to have consistency.
Right. Now you've had your say.
@anon 4:28
Didn't it occur to you that this was done most probably to accomodate the two Welsh players so that local people who work during daytime have a chance to watch them in evenings?
No of course not ... it must be ROS.
It's done for TV. BBC Wales are live all afternoon so want the main attraction, which is Ronnie O'Sullivan.
Does anyone know who is on when tomorrow?
O'Sullivan v Allen and Higgins/Dott v Selby/King in the afternoon
Its not great for those who have scheduled their visit to the arena, not knowing who would be on, or trying to guess if it will be changed or not...especially if you cant make afternoon and night.
Guess Dave is correct with his comment Monique and your guess posting at a different anonymous was just that, a guess.
Thanks fo rthe update Dave. Very reliable!
Excellent chance to see Ronnie in his first clash versus Allen since their absorbing Crucible clash.
Although the third table here isn't the televised table, the three tables are actually in a straight line with the non tv table in the middle of the row.
So they're not "out back" as in some tournaments, forgotten by the audience.
If you sit a few rows back on the middle table you can still get a tidy view of tables 1 and 2.
Just for confusion table 3 is in the middle!
It turned out tonight that Selby v King was the last match left on but the whole block of seats in front of them was full, as obviously a lot of fans may have moved over as the Williams and Higgins matches finished.
I know I bumped into a rather tired Wayne Griffiths (Terry' son), who'd brought up a party of the youngsters from the Matchroom and there was no way the kids were going home until they'd had their value. After they'd cheered on Mark Williams they all insisted on going in to watch the two Marks finish their match.
PS: If anyone wasn't lucky enough to see the Mark Williams match tonight. Get onto the BBC i-player tomorrow to watch the highlights of it.
A simply brilliant performance with a few truly amazing shots in the course of his win.
Snooker © The Fine Art Method
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Hi Dave
How are you! Congratulations lad on the popularity of your blog, it proves something Dave when other blog owners are asking for your help.
Being a learner to this blog lark I presume you are the only person Dave that combines questions and answers with TV commentating.
What is the difference lad between your programmes and say the Global Snooker people? Is there a prize for attracting the most customers, and who awards the Prize?
The fluctuations in a players game or form seems to be a favourite subject, why doesn’t the punter give an opinion on why a shot is missed or a shot is extraordinary. Are opinions on professionals classed as a form of ridiculing?
The Two lads that were out played by Ronnie O and Mark Williams were great players last year, so what did they get wrong this year? There’s an obvious answer or answers, the skill and ability, presumable is still there.
Mr hey you
To the guy who said "Davis and Parrott don't ask O'Sullivan any tough questions"
When do they ever ask anyone a tough question? When does any sports pundit ask someone a tough question about their conduct?
interesting post. I would love to follow you on twitter.
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