Peter Ebdon went from Force to Farce last night with his abject display against Marco Fu, who breezed through to the semi-finals of the Ladbrokes Mobile Masters a 6-0 winner after encountering little resistance.
While Ebdon struggled badly, Fu was fluent and will need to be again to beat Mark Allen, who has already knocked Ronnie O'Sullivan and Neil Robertson out of the tournament.
Allen was not quite a year old when his compatriots Dennis Taylor and Alex Higgins contested the 1987 Masters final.
The Antrim potter is the finest prospect Northern Ireland have had since. His amateur record included wins at every level and his professional career has been impressive. He reached the top 16 very quickly - proving it can be done - and has a number of wins over big names under his belt.
What Allen wants, though, is titles. He has already won the invitation Jiangsu Classic but has lost in five ranking event semi-finals.
His fearless style of play and ability to compete on the big stage means most of his fellow players regard him as a likely winner of a big title soon.
It could well be tomorrow at Wembley Arena, although Fu has played well this week and will be no pushover.
Ding Junhui endured an emotional meltdown at Wembley four years ago when he lost in the final to Ronnie O'Sullivan but that is all in the past now and his performance against Graeme Dott suggests he is in the right frame of mind.
Jamie Cope played poorly against Shaun Murphy but much better to beat Mark King and defeated Ding in the Shanghai Masters earlier this season.
A strange tournament doesn't mean it won't be an exciting weekend.
The Masters is one of snooker's showpiece events and the fight for the title over the next two days will be full of the usual twists and turns that make top level snooker so fascinating.
11 comments:
Ding will win it
If Ding and Fu both get to the final will it be the first all-Asian snooker Final?
its been a great tournaments even though top players like John Higgins, Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy went out very early. good to see other players getting a look in. maybe now world snooker will concentrate more on highlighting more of the top 16 instead of just a very select few (one)
Allen is not a bad player ,but bottom line is he chokes when he's in a semi final.Fact
5.32) Good hypothesis...however the Ronnster will carry on getting favours and special treatment just like Jimmy did years after his prime.
The difference is Jimmy doesn't piss people off like ROS does.
Ron conceding frames in his match with Allen when only needing one snooker shows a leopard will never change his spots.
Tournaments like this where the supporting cast gets more publicity is good for snooker whatever brannon says.
Unless brannon sees a century or maximum every 15 minutes he would think it's dull and boring without appreciating the physcological aspects of the game and how players handle pressure.
Pitiful support from the crowd tonight. I think I heard one single "Come on Jamie" in the whole evening. If they came to see a home victory, why didn't they pipe up some? Wow thats some great national pride you've got there...
Shame.
The Ding/Fu Final will probably generate a global TV audience in the region of 150 million.
Which might be a record for snooker.
Happy days.
5.33) A tad unfair to say Mark Allen choked against Fu.
Fu's five comeback frames featured perfection breakbuilding and safety play of the highest quality which would have beat anybody on any given day.
For snooker insiders it would have been reminiscent of their Championship League Final.
Why should they automatically support Cope? What rubbish!
11.51PM - you're probably right about 150 million world wide. But the good old BBC will probably go to a repeat of Antiques roadshow midway through the afternoon session (even though it's a Sunday and Antiques roadshow isn't meant to be on!)
Lets not get too excited about the numbers of viwers. It is China. Scooby Doo wouuld prob get 150 mill
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