4.2.12

THE LAST FOUR

A truly great finish by Stephen Maguire saw off Judd Trump 5-4 on the black last night to complete an intriguing semi-final line-up at the German Masters in Berlin.

Maguire showed tremendous grit and determination to recover a 4-2 deficit and fight his way over the winning line. He reward is a meeting with Shaun Murphy, himself in good form of late, who beat Mark Selby 5-3.

I thought it rather unfair on Selby that he should have to play two matches yesterday and Murphy only one. Mark himself wouldn’t use this as an excuse but it surely could have been avoided.

Mark Williams was in the same boat and he was beaten 5-3 by Stephen Lee, who had had the afternoon off.

It’s Lee’s first ranking event semi-final since the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy, surely far too long for a player of his class.

His record is not great against Ronnie O’Sullivan, who has been magnificent since trailing Andrew Higginson 4-0.

Whatever O’Sullivan says about the top 16, it is hard to believe it hasn’t been a motivating factor this week. As I said in my preview, he has always responded well with his back to the wall, when he feels he has a point to prove.

He is proving it rather well thus far in Berlin.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Seems the monster that is Twitter has exposed Mark Williams and Michael Holt as egotistical maniacs.
Last night they were involved in nasty spats with a couple of respected snooker bloggers who love the game.
Disappointing and classless.

Anonymous said...

111, i dont think the journos involved are classless

i think daves a great guy.

i think mjw and mh are great guys too