7.5.08

FINAL WORD ON THE CRUCIBLE

As the 888.com World Championship recedes into memory, here are my highlights...

SHOT OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Ronnie O'Sullivan's 13th black in his 147. Forcing an angle to free one of the two remaining reds from the pink he played the perfect cannon.

SHOCK OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Although the scale of Ali Carter's defeat of Shaun Murphy surprised me, I'd go for Joe Perry's quarter-final victory over Stephen Maguire, who had been playing superbly up to this point.

CHARACTER OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Liang Wenbo was a refreshing presence for various reasons, not just his all-out attacking approach.

BREAK OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Hard to choose between the two 147s but Ali Carter just takes it because it was his first and, given his tendency to feel the pressure in the past, he held himself together brilliantly.

QUOTE OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
'I played like a man with no arms' - a decidedly un-PC Dave Harold after losing to Shaun Murphy.

PERFORMANCE OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Stephen Maguire's 8-0 demolition of Neil Robertson in the first session of their second round match had to be seen to be believed, even outstripping Ronnie O'Sullivan's thrashing of Stephen Hendry.

MATCH OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Liang Wenbo v Joe Swail had it all: youth v experience, close frames, unexpected misses, controversy, premature celebrations, a deciding frame finish and recriminations afterwards. Classic stuff.

PLAYER OF THE CHAMPIONSHIP
Who else but the winner? Ronnie O'Sullivan, ever enigmatic, ever his own man, joined the pantheon of players to have won three world titles and provided great entertainment along the way.

Roll on 2009!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you think about Hendry's statement? He said after losing to O'Sullivan that he didn't do his best this time at the Championship and that he could have won if he had played at "full power". Which is your opinion concerning Hendry's evolution at the Championship?

Dave H said...

He played very well at times and had O'Sullivan under pressure early on but faded as Ronnie grew in strength

Good to see Hendry back competing again

Anonymous said...

dave could you please tell us how it will be next season calendar...? thx

Anonymous said...

O'Sullivan's victory was like one of Davis's victories in the 80s eg 83, 88 or 89. Untroubled in the early rounds before meeting an opponent exhausted by the 17-day long process of getting to the final.