Snooker Season 2019/20 Review – Shorts Thoughts

This is effectively a direct follow up to the mid-season review of the 2019/20 campaign which I published back in November, after the Northern Ireland Open. At that point in time, it would’ve been quite difficult to accurately predict the events and their winners that followed. Nevertheless, that’s the great part of snooker, which is to expect the unexpected!

After Trump defeated O’Sullivan in the NI Open to secure his third ranking title of the season so far, he had the momentum to carry himself to the UK Championship along with the added pressure of being able to capture all Triple Crowns in the same calendar year. In one of the major shocks of the season, veteran Nigel Bond managed to secure a 6-3 victory over the World No. 1, as well as impressively reach the quarter-finals.

However, it was Ding Junhui – yeah, that’s right – who was able to find and hold his form to win the UKC as he claimed his first ranking trophy since 2017. This led to the final ranking event of the season and decade, which entailed Mark Selby cruising through Glasgow (more or less) to secure his second ranking title of the season. The Masters saw another underdog clinch the title as Stuart Bingham became the oldest champion at age 43, with a 10-8 victory over Ali Carter – who wasn’t even supposed to be in the tournament until O’Sullivan withdrew, earning him a £100,000 cheque.

The following few weeks though, belonged to Neil Robertson. Similar to earlier in the season where Trump reached three consecutive finals, losing only one of them to Robertson, parity was restored as Robertson made it to three consecutive finals and won two of them (European Masters and Grand Prix). But what about the third? Alas, Trump would return the favour in the German Masters during the second week. This made for an interesting race between the two best players as they battled for the newly created European Series bonus.

Before we get to the last of the Coral Cup events, we should acknowledge Michael Holt winning his first ranking title at the Shootout, as well as Trump managing not only to equal Hendry, Ding, Selby and O’Sullivan with five ranking titles in a season, but one-upping them as he added the Players Championship and Gibraltar Open to his collection for the season.

Unfortunately, this was the time where snooker was coping with the challenges of a global pandemic, which saw the remainder of the season played without the presence of a crowd. This made for a bittersweet moment as Trump lifted his sixth ranking title with great pride to an empty arena. Nevertheless, the show must go on, by which snooker took the reins in bringing the Championship League back to television. A group high break as well as a solid final day performance led to Luca Brecel’s first non-ranking title.

Other winners included Shaun Murphy who added a second title to his cabinet this season with a dominant 9-1 victory over Wilson in the Welsh Open final. Furthermore, Stephen Maguire impressed all as he defeated Robertson, Trump and Allen to win the Tour Championship, along with the Coral Cup bonus that comes with the top performer in the series.

It took over a month following the Tour Championship, but we did eventually get the World Championship that players and viewers were yearning for. And if you’ve been following my tweets, or checked out the last few Short posts that have been written, then you understand my general reaction to the events that unfolded in the WSC. The main result being that O’Sullivan takes advantage of the lacking crowd presence in order to lift his sixth World Championship to close out the season. A WSC that included the best day of semi-final matches one could ever hope to see with both contests going to the 33rd frame.

Overall, the season provided something for all fans to enjoy. Even though Trump didn’t succeed in his Triple Crown ventures, he dominated everywhere else as he still remains the best player in the world by following his WSC win with a phenomenal follow-up this season. He also managed to make 102 centuries throughout the season; just one shy of Robertson’s record in 2013/14. Trump now holds three of the top five spots when it comes to most centuries made in a single season.

Selby managed to break his drought as he claimed two ranking titles as well as finishing the season by finding the form that helped him win previously. Murphy and Robertson also added two ranking titles while O’Sullivan ended the season as well as he started (if we just ignore the middle).

But I want to know what you think! Do you think any of the matches topped Robertson and Trump at the Champion of Champions? Was there any better clearance this season than Trump’s brilliant counter-clearance against Maguire in the Players semi-final? Which player(s) this season impressed you the most? And what are your predictions for next season?

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Ronnie O'Sullivan's Journey To His Sixth World Title

Ronnie O’Sullivan’s sixth world title definitely didn’t come to him without its challenges, or more specifically, its challengers. One could argue that out of his six World Championships, this past year proved to be the most difficult of his journeys to the trophy. If we look at his list of opponents during the 2020 WSC, we’ll quickly learn that his venture this year shouldn’t go unnoticed when matched with prior victories.

Round 1

This commenced with his first round match against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Despite the score-line, at first glance, O’Sullivan certainly could have had an easier/less experienced opponent to face off against. Not to mention, someone with a similar style and pacing as himself. Much like other sports, styles make matches and O’Sullivan tends to find himself challenged when playing someone similar to himself i.e. Judd Trump. Nevertheless, O’Sullivan capitalised on the mistakes of Un-Nooh to breeze to victory in what was the fastest Crucible match in history at 108 minutes (10-1 victory).

Round 2

The simple pots missed by Un-Nooh in Round 1 were patched by his second round opponent, Ding Junhui, who seemingly didn’t miss at all when amongst the balls. This provided O’Sullivan with his first real challenge of the championship, particularly as he lost to Ding in their last WSC encounter in 2017. Despite O’Sullivan making trivial errors, he was able to maintain a level playing field against Ding at 4-4 and 8-8, before running away with it in the final session. This was partly aided by Ding’s poor long potting success, often winning his frames off the mistakes of his opponent.

Quarter-Finals

However, the tides did turn as O’Sullivan reached the quarter-finals to contest against Class of ’92 fellow, Mark Williams, whose long potting was fantastic. Things were looking very one-sided as Williams established a 7-2 lead, but during the second session O’Sullivan found some terrific form and nerve as he closed the gap to 8-8 and 10-10, to which point he ran away with victory in a match which saw him make five centuries and seven further 50+ breaks.

Semi-Finals

At this time, O’Sullivan hadn’t made it past a quarter-final and reach a one-table setup for six years. And his opponent was none other than Mark Selby, arguably the toughest opponent to play in the Crucible, especially when in form – and Selby was in form this championship. They contested one of the best semi-finals in years (click here to read my thoughts on that match) which many viewers considered the true final. But keeping it short, Selby held a lead for almost the entire match and was a hair away from the final at 16-14 up. However, O’Sullivan displayed a three-frame-blitz which we’ll probably never see again to win 17-16.

Side note: the final session of this semi-final had an average audience of 1.7 million viewers (peak 2.27m) on BBC Four alone.

Final

The stages of difficulty for O’Sullivan as he progressed through the harder half of the 2020 draw ramped up, much like a video game as you reach towards the end. While most expected the result that followed in the final, his opponent Kyren Wilson was one of the form players throughout the tournament, as he eliminated the defending champion. Although, Wilson succumbed to the pressure of reaching his first world final as O’Sullivan ran away with the first and third session to win his sixth world title 18-8.

The final wasn’t as easy as the score-line would indicate, particularly if you watched the second session where Wilson almost overturned an 8-2 deficit into a 9-8 lead. This was probably O’Sullivan’s worst session of the tournament which encouraged him to indulge in a little technical practice of the morning of the final day. A practice, which resulted in a much finer session as he won seven frames in a row, requiring only one frame in the evening session, which he claimed immediately for No. 6.

Conclusion

To be honest, I still don’t know what impresses me most about O’Sullivan’s journey to this title. The calibre of opponent he had to face to get there? The age at which he did all this? The fact that he won it all with his B game? Probably all of those things. For me, it was down to many people thinking he was done with the sport and should retire. This was the first ‘bad’ season he’s had for quite some time leading up to the WSC and many were stating he should put his cue to rest.

Obviously, it was a WSC played under different circumstances, but the frames still needed to be won and the balls needed to be potted. O’Sullivan showed his bottle and will numerous times throughout as there were a number of times where he was considered out of the tournament. But he continues to play the game on his own terms which makes him capable of winning any tournament, while the rest of the field try and push him out of the top of the rankings.

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Snooker Rankings Update (End of Season 2019/20)

The last (and first) time I did an update on the overview of the rankings was back in February whilst we were in the middle of the Welsh Open. We are now at the end of the season and despite the challenges the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign had to deal with, the snooker did go on as we observe some movements among the rankings from where we last left off.

Due to it being the end of the season and the rankings following a two-year rolling total structure, it’s quite simple to follow as there are no 2017/18 prize funds to worry about anymore – meaning we can now just look at the totals from the past two seasons. So what’s changed since February?

It’s probably easier to start with what hasn’t changed, and that’s the World No. 1, Judd Trump’s position. It was clear even back then that Trump would remain at the helm of the rankings given his very strong performance this season. However, he continued to add to his successes with victories in the Players Championship and Gibraltar to further add to his tally. This only extended his already significant lead in the rankings from the rest of his fellow competitors. It would only take multiple major wins from the rest of the field to be able to close the gap.

Although, Ronnie O’Sullivan – formerly World No.6, now World no. 2 – has made a formidable effort in reducing the arrears with his historic win at this year’s World Championship. His efforts saw him overtake Robertson in the rankings as Robertson’s position remained fairly stagnant for the rest of the season. O’Sullivan’s ranking position was looking fairly bleak since we last saw it, particularly with the deduction of his earnings from his impressive 2017/18 season. However, his current standings would have welcomed this injection of ranking points from his venture at the Worlds.

The difference between 2 and 3 is approximately £150,000 while the gap between 3 and 4 stands at just over £200,000, meaning that the top three respectively, are running away with their rankings, leaving the others to try and catch up. Mark Selby is one of those individuals who will try and accomplish this as he returned to form at the WSC; a performance which saw his ranking improve three places to No. 4, as he gained an extra £100,000 in ranking points.

Previously, I warned that some players could stand to lose a substantial amount of ranking points should they not perform at the WSC. Kyren Wilson, who could have potentially fallen to the lower end of the Top 16, raised his own bar by reaching the final of the WSC – which not only protected his position, but improved his ranking by two places as he becomes World No. 6.

On the other hand, Mark Williams (winner of WSC 2018) lost around £375,000 in ranking points as his winnings from two years ago are subtracted from his rankings, subsequently dropping him from No. 3 to No. 10. Furthermore, Barry Hawkins who I previously mentioned could fall out of the Top 16 now resides at No. 17, as the ranking success that came with his string of WSC semi-finals have expired. Also, something worth noting is that Joe Perry (current No. 16) has £276,500 in ranking points and I consider those within £100,000 reach of him as viable threats to that ranking position. Therefore, those up to Top 32 have a good chance of catching up to this threshold.

Other notable changes worth mentioning include Noppon Saengkham rising ten places to No. 32. Despite his earnings from the WSC only netting him £21,000 in ranking points, this jump in placement shows just how close rankings are around this part of the table. This is similarly true for Kurt Maflin, who jumps sixteen places to No. 27 and Anthony McGill, who rose seventeen places to No. 22, following their noteworthy performances at the Worlds.

I think the upcoming season will act as motivators for specific individuals. Players like Mark Allen, whose position had been protected by his solid performance a couple of seasons ago, will see those points chipped away as the new season gets under way. As will someone like John Higgins although, he will have until the end of the season before drastic deductions are made to his rank. Also, those that reside from No. 7-16 will see some fluctuation in their rankings throughout the following season as they aim to protect their elite, Top 16 status.

Personally, I can’t wait for the upcoming 2020/21 season to commence with the Championship League – which has been upgraded to ranking status for this season as the first event of the calendar. Who do you think will be the climbers in the rankings? And which players, if any, do you think will lose their top positions? Let me know in the comments!

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One of the Best Days in Snooker Ever? – Instant Classic

It may not be until a week or so post World Championship by the time this releases but I am writing this up almost immediately after semi-finals day (14th August following the final sessions of both semis) while everything is still lingering in my head. I have a feeling that WSC 2020 semi-finals will easily be remembered as one of the best days in snooker history and I’m still trying to collect my thoughts. So what happened?

Wilson vs. McGill

McGill had the advantage with a 16-15 lead over Wilson although, The Warrior (aptly named) edged back to a point where the pair produced one of the best deciding frame thrillers ever seen in snooker (not just Crucible) history! McGill found himself snookered at one point where he conceded 35 points in fouls and looked to be eliminated from this alone. What an awful way to lose the semi-final if that did turn out to be the case.

Nevertheless, the frame went on until an incredulous fluke on the green by Wilson left McGill requiring snookers. In such a dramatic atmosphere, the last thing a player wants is to win in this way, and Wilson clearly shared this notion. Ultimately, the final frame came down to pink and black in which Wilson potted the pink he required to reach the final, with a final score of 103-83. Yes, THAT was the score-line.

The pair embraced in a handshake at the close of the match (if you’re reading at a future date, this occurred during peak virus times), which was wonderful to watch as a spectator. It was already being coined by commentators and pundits as one of the greatest final frames they’ve ever seen and it shows that you don’t need to have big names to produce long-lasting moments. If only the day ended with that…

O’Sullivan vs. Selby

I don’t even know where to begin with this one. With the exception of the first session, Selby led O’Sullivan the whole match, and this included the final session up to the, you guessed it, deciding frame. Selby garnered a 16-14 lead on his ‘unpredictable’ opponent and the only reason he even got to 16 was due to O’Sullivan basically throwing the frames at him. I’m talking ‘hit and hope’ snooker escapes and more than ambitious potting efforts.

But what transpired from 16-14 was magical. Truly. O’Sullivan was clearly resigned to losing the match as he was outplayed for the most part, particularly in the second session, however was able to keep at the heels of Selby despite being 13-9 down at one point. But whether it was desperation (his words) that led to the inspiring performance that followed or otherwise, we saw a little of peak O’Sullivan shine through.

O’Sullivan cleared the next two frames; the first with a 7 minute or so 138, followed by a 71 to set-up a decider with a shell-shocked Selby. Completely bemused, Selby, who had the final in his hands, was now teetering on the edge. And O’Sullivan was in first with an excellent series of opening pots which led to a 64 break. Unfortunately, he couldn’t finish in the one clearance which led to a near comeback from his opponent. And from there was one incredible bout of safety and snooker escapes which culminated to the brilliant final red that O’Sullivan potted to secure his first world final for six years.

While his style was erratic, it clearly stumped Selby. And it took ‘going out on the attack’ to a whole new meaning. However, what some may overlook is that O’Sullivan’s potting, especially from range, saw a significant improvement in the final session. The long opening pots he took on in the last few frames were literal match-losers if he missed. But he didn’t.

Stephen Hendry was a busy man this day as he commentated on both endeavours and everyone was just in shock and awe with what they had just witnessed in the day’s events. I honestly wish I could describe it better and my words are probably all over the place writing this. All I can do is implore you to watch the deciding frame of the Wilson/McGill match and the final four frames or so of the O’Sullivan/Selby contest.

I can comfortably say without regret that World Snooker Championship 2020 semi-final day was one of the best in snooker (not just Crucible) history. I will recall this day for years to come as an Instant Classic, a Throwback, a Shorts Thoughts and just everything all in one. I’m still trying to process it.

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Like this Short? Click here to read: World Snooker Championship 2020 - Shorts Thoughts

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