A word about Martin Gould.
Sport is all about seizing your chance when it comes along. Gould has certainly done that.
There were encouraging signs when he finished off against Marco Fu with a break of 90 in the decider, rather than stumbling over the line.
But his performance against Neil Robertson has been sensational. He appears to be playing without nerves and enjoying himself fully.
Robertson, a little like John Higgins, has experienced the pressure of being a heavy favourite.
But he's also come up against someone playing career best snooker at the Crucible, something most players only dream of.
Credit to Gould. He's seen his opportunity and grabbed it with both hands.
12 comments:
Or has he?!
No!
Yes,Yes,Yes - Most people's tip for the title - Neil Robertson gets another chance to do a demolition on Steve Davis!
Then again,in their 2009 meet - the Nugget had no form prior to their match.
This time,I expect Davis to push Robbo quite close.
Is Robertson's name on the title after his awesome comeback from
5-11 to 13-12 ? (could be)
Congrats to Davis himself on a well deserved win over Higgins.
25 years since the 1985 blackball final - Surely Davis' prime motivation in his resurgence.
Poor lad. Still, hopefully he can come back stronger. We will see more of him no doubt.
Stelios was in attendance again today.
Got a text from my brother who saw him.
:-)
You also said the smart money was on Higgins to do Davis 13-4 or 13-5 Chrisk5 not very smart are you LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anon 8.51pm - Glad you noticed that.
I also said that if the Nugget was on his A game (which he was) & John Higgins was at his B or C level (which he was)- then Davis would have a chance.
That's exactly how it played out.
As for mentioning 13-4 or 13-5 to Higgins.
Anon - That was simply to throw a curveball into the quite predictable Davis renaissance.
25 years since the 1985 Final - The Nugget was always gonna give it everything & much more.
Also of note - When Davis made the Quarters in 2005 - he lost to the eventual champion Shaun Murphy (who was also a 1st time winner).
Will that pattern repeat with Robertson in 2010 ?
After that it could well be Robbo's name is on the cup, 2 matches won without finding his best.
Snooker could do a lot worse than have this australian as its world champion, it would certainly lead to a major championship down under.
Martin will have learned much about himself and maybe he will kick on with that extra little bit of belief.
For the first time he took his practise game to the arena until the unfamilier situation finally got to him. Robbo certainly didn't.
Dave - I hope Steve's win convinces you that the snooker in the 80s wasn't just about "characters" but it also produced snooker players of an exceptionally high standard. The difference being the way they approached winning a frame was not as attacking as today.
You've said on here that you are fed up with people harping back to this period through rose-tinted glasses (or words to that effect).
Steve played to that standard, or better, almost every time he played and to beat him you had to be good, very good. If today's standard is so much better than then how does the current World Champion and provisional World number 1 lose to a 52 year old qualifier?
What I actually said was that harking back to the 'characters' of the 80s didn't do modern snooker any good. I never disputed they could all play.
Lets not lose the run of ourselves here.
Fantastic achievement that it is for Davis to reach the quarters, Higgins was well below par - perhaps feeling the pressure of being defending champion, just as Davis was in'82 when he lost 10-1 to Tony Knowles.
Who knows? He might do it again against Robertson. Im giving up making predictions after tipping a "landslide" victory for Higgins.
Davis has one advantage though. The pressure on him to perform is minimal. Theres no expectation. Hes already surpassed all expectations and has everything to win and nothing to lose - the ideal state of mind for a snooker player apparently.
I was gutted for Gould.
He was my nap in the first round and I made a tidy sum on him. I would have loved him to turn over Robbo. He was a breath of fresh air with his no nonsense potting game and would have provided a fascinating clash of style against The Nugget in the quarters.
Great tournament so far. I think im stuck to my armchair and am badly in need of fresh air.
Ah well. We'll get plenty of that next week.
Davis was well below his 'par' as well, where we define 'par' as his performance level in the world championships 1988!
Perhaps slightly flippant...but the bottom line is that Steve exerted enough pressure on John to prevent him from playing his normal game.
I think Steve has got a real chance against Robertson this year.
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