O’Sullivan and Selby! Scottish Open Final 2020 – Shorts Thoughts

The Scottish Open final has just concluded as Judd Trump was unable to continue his sweep of the Home Nations events. But that can be forgiven considering what he had just gone through the weekend prior (link at the bottom to read that). Instead, we were treated to a potential classic between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby as they come face-to-face for the first time since their semi-final epic at the World Championship.

Typically, when we reach the final of an event, we’re able to witness two players who have been performing the best over the course of the tournament, in the hopes that we’d see the two form players bring out the best in each other for a spectacle. Sadly, this wasn’t the case given that only one of the participating players was in this kind of zone. Selby has been flying throughout the Scottish Open and the final was no different as the Jester aimed to successfully defend his crown from last year.

O’Sullivan, on the other hand, had been struggling throughout the course of the week, including being 4-1 down in his semi-final match against Li Hang. Nevertheless, he was able to reach his second final of the season where he had the unfortunate task of playing an in-form Selby. And his struggles were evident throughout the final.

Selby was playing exceptionally well as he raced into a 3-1 and 6-2 lead over his opponent. This final was a clinical performance from the 3x World Champion as his long potting was as good as it was when he won his most recent title in 2017. It was a confident display of long potting and break-building where Selby didn’t really need to get too involved in the safety battle.

Although, he was getting help from O’Sullivan. Plenty of help. Simple misses, lapses in concentration and weak safety allowed O’Sullivan to only capture three frames in the entire final. And this was consistent during the whole contest. Even during positional play, where no one is better, O’Sullivan was struggling. One example of this was in Frame 10 where O’Sullivan played a screw shot on the black and over-worked it massively so that he was glued on the next red. There was a significant margin for error with that shot, yet he still managed to find it.

Regardless, Selby finished strong as audiences didn’t have to stay up too late in order to watch the conclusion of this final. A decisive 9-3 victory meant that Selby was not only able to defend his Scottish Open title, but also win his 11th consecutive ranking final. Something he has not been beaten in since 2016. In this form, Selby would give Trump a great run for his money and I would love to see them contest a final where both are in this kind of top-level form.

As for O’Sullivan, he’ll just be pleased to reach another ranking final. It’s a bittersweet feeling if you’re an O’Sullivan fan (antics aside) because while you’ll be upset that he didn’t get the win, you’re also kind of elated that he’s still reaching finals to this day. It shows that it still takes the very upper echelon to be able to overthrow him. Another Home Nations trophy has slipped his grasp, but who knows what’ll happen in the remainder of the season.

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What An Ending! UK Championship Final 2020 – Shorts Thoughts

It may not have been the fireworks of a match many were hoping for in terms of consecutive centuries and big breaks, but the narrative of the match went exactly how one would expect a Neil Robertson/Judd Trump epic to go. And that was right down the wire, all the way to the very end. This is the UK Championship final, and what a fascinating late night ending we were treated to.

This isn’t going to follow the usual format of me providing a breakdown and then a separate afterthoughts, rather just combining the two into one and highlighting the key moments that occurred, particularly in the latter stages of the contest. The final played out closely fought as many would’ve expected, but neither player was firing on all cylinders. Rather, the match was primarily decided on a series of safety battles and lengthy frames.

It was level pegging throughout, where neither player was able to establish more than a one frame lead. However, it was during Frame 18 where things started to get theatrical. Requiring one frame for victory at 9-8 up, Trump was in seemingly good form as he was clearing his way through the table and towards his second UK title. Whilst on 48 – and the commentators praising Trump on how excellent he’s been over the past few years - a gentle split from the blue when slightly wrong, leaving him hampered to pot the next red.

A display of terrific potting and one of the best pressure brown balls you could ever hope to see led to Robertson countering with the best 72 clearance he has ever made. In a situation where Robertson could have rolled in behind a baulk colour, he showed his true character as he took on a pot most wouldn’t have dared. Thus, forcing the decider.

And it was a decider that took us into the next day. Taking over one hour long and coming down to the final colours saw an unbelievable series of events. Firstly, Trump potting a green with his right hand under these circumstances and screwing back perfectly to lay behind the brown. The score was 34-47 and Trump needed all remaining colours. The following brown was arguably the key behind what followed, given he didn’t get into the cue ball enough to land near the blue.

Nevertheless, Trump potted the blue well to leave himself with a pink that certainly wasn’t a sitter. However, it was still the kind of ball you’d expect Trump to knock in with his eyes closed. Make sense? Well, I’m sure you’ve seen what’s happened at this point. An overcut pink that would’ve sent shockwaves through the audience (had one been present) allowed the cue ball to travel up the table far enough for Robertson to attempt the pink where the balls were left.

And the rest is history. Robertson picked up his third UK title after a tremendous effort as he levels his ranking tally alongside his cohort at 19. It was a monumental undertaking for both players, and also the audience that stayed up to watch the match through to its conclusion. While it may seemed to have dragged on at certain points, all was forgotten once we arrived at the deciding frame and both players were just trying to get over the winning line.

Robertson showed true tenacity as he once again is able to turn a deficit on its head, very similar to last year’s Champion of Champions. And Trump is continuing to redefine the landscape of snooker with his superior potting and formidable match play. These two always bring out the best matches and they showed at the UK that the best matches don’t necessarily need to be all about the centuries.

Many like to mention pressure, ‘bottling’ or an assortment of other factors that led to the result of this final but to me personally, the difference maker was undoubtedly the green juice.

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Should the UK Championship Revert to the Old Format?

For the longest time in snooker, the UK Championship was the second most coveted ranking event on the circuit. Not only in terms of prestige, but also prize money. Nowadays, there are a number of international events that overshadow the UK to the point where some don’t consider it much of a ‘major’ anymore. One of the chief suggestions to shining the light back on the UKC is by reverting to the old format, but would this be a successful approach?

In 1993, Ronnie O’Sullivan became the youngest player to win a ranking event at age 17 – a record that still stands to this day (but was almost broken by Yan Bingtao in the 2017 Northern Ireland Open). This was also the year where the format was altered so that the final was contested over a best-of-19 (first to 10). Prior to 1993, the final of the UKC would be battled over a significantly longer best-of-31 (first to 16).

The other element of the UKC that made it a different challenge to other events was that all matches (with the exception of the final) from last 64 through to semi-finals, were contested over an enduring best-of-17 (first to 9). Similar to the World Championship but unlike other tournaments, competitors had to go through multiple rounds of matches which could be considered as finals by today’s standards.

Since 2011, the format was tweaked once more so that best-of-17 matches were axed from the competition until the semi-finals. It was instead changed to best-of-11 (first to 6), which brought a lot of backlash to Barry Hearn when he proposed the movement. The reasoning for this was to allow more televised snooker in the early rounds. However, from 2014, the semi-final was the last to lose its best-of-17 nature as it was also lowered to a best-of-11 format.

And this is how things have been for the UKC for the past number of years. While some are used to the current format as it stands, there are those who consider it to be ‘just another event’ carried only by its history. It’s difficult to dispute this argument considering almost every tournament on the tour consist of multiple rounds of short-form matches, concluding with a best-of-17/19 final. Rinse and repeat for the following weeks.

So would changing back to the old format restore the UKC to its former glory? Well, it would certainly help things. Currently, the only tournament that results in a longer final than a best-of-19 are the Shanghai Masters and Tour Championship (that is, if WST go back to best-of-25 this season). Bringing the final back to a multi-day session of snooker would perhaps provide more classics down the line such as Higgins/Davis in 1983, where Higgins lagged 7-0 behind; or Hendry/Davis in 1990 that included one of the bravest blues you could ever see.

However, it shouldn’t just be the final that goes back to the old ways. The rest of the tournament should follow suit so that the UKC can stand out as the gruelling event it once was. Obviously, it would be tricky logistically considering the UKC is surrounded by the NI and Scottish Open, so there would need to be some shifting in the calendar to allow the UK to take up the extra time it would require if it were to go back to this format.

It may not be TV friendly, but it would certainly result in some incredible matches particularly in the earlier stages where players are truly tested. And it would also give more reason to look forward to the UKC, even if they can’t match the prize money of events which offer more. The flat draw argument is something else which is often mentioned, but that’s a discussion for another time.

What do you think of the UK Championship? Are you content with how it currently operates, or would you like to see some changes so that it was considered more of a Triple Crown?

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Déjà Vu? Northern Ireland Open Final 2020 – Shorts Thoughts

I could have sworn that I’ve been here before. Didn’t this match happen already? Twice? With the same result? It seems as if the stars were aligned for a third successive year so that we could witness the World Champion and World No. 1 go head-to-head in another Northern Ireland Open final. Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump meet once again, but is the result any different? Spoiler alert: no.

Breakdown

Given how their last few encounters have gone, I don’t think anyone would have been surprised to see Trump establish a 3-1 lead. It wasn’t a vintage start from either player and the result could have been on the other foot if O’Sullivan had a better start, like we’re used to seeing. Even the frame he won during the opening mini-session was a result of a fluke green.

Though, it wasn’t until the final couple of frames in the afternoon session where we began to see more of a typical performance from Trump and O’Sullivan, as they made breaks of 128 and 130, respectively. This led to an evening session where Trump had gained a 5-3 advantage over his veteran opponent.

Trump took the opening two frames of the evening session aided by breaks of 89 and 55 to extend his lead to 7-3. It seemed that the end was near at this point for O’Sullivan however, he was able to minimise losses as he clawed back the following two frames. Trump inched closer to the finishing line thanks to a miss from O’Sullivan opening the pack, which allowed him to make a contribution of 115.

Although, it didn’t stop there. O’Sullivan had been on the back foot this entire match and somehow managed to find the momentum he needed at the right time. Breaks of 93 and 74 gave O’Sullivan a chance to snatch the NI Open trophy away from Trump. And he had the first chance in the frame that could have led to a decider. While on 32, O’Sullivan left himself little angle to work with on the black which, in turn, led to a subsequent miss on the following red. An importance clearance of 89 from Trump allowed him to secure his third consecutive NI Open title.

Afterthoughts

I always had a feeling that if O’Sullivan and Trump somehow managed to meet in the final of this event, it would result in a 9-7 score-line. And as the tournament progressed, and each player was making it through the competition, it was evident that this prediction was soon to become reality. And the match went exactly as most would have expected.

Given how well Trump has performed over the past couple of years, it’s very difficult to compliment his victories without repeating words that have been written before. Trump is at a stage of his career where his level is so beyond the rest of the field, he can afford to take on shots many would deem ‘courageous’, because his potting is that exceptional and he’ll always manage to get back on the table. Even though he is the undisputed World No. 1, he still needs to focus his efforts on the majors, and I think he knows that.

The legion of O’Sullivan fans may be disappointed with the result of the NI Open, but one should really consider how well O’Sullivan did to get to this stage of an event. In all honesty, if he played anyone else but Trump, chances are he’d be the one lifting the trophy. But Trump seems to have that ‘bogeyman’ on O’Sullivan that Selby once had on him. When O’Sullivan comes up against someone with a noticeable attacking playstyle such as Trump, he tends to find things a little more difficult.

Now, I’m not saying that O’Sullivan will never beat Trump. But at this stage of both their careers, Trump will win most of their encounters. And that’s nothing to be disappointed with. The fact that O’Sullivan is still competing at this level and running it close against Trump every time they play is a magnificent feat. And it’s only a handful of individuals that can still beat O’Sullivan, so don’t worry about him not winning this particular event.

It’s a shame that O’Sullivan doesn’t really bring out the same level of concentration or A-game that he does against someone like Higgins or Selby. Many of his opening frames required multiple visits and his safety wasn’t as sharp as it normally is. Coupled with a few unexpected misses, such as the pink off the spot in Frame 1 and with the rest in Frame 5 led to punishable responses by his opponent.

As for Trump, this win puts him at 19 ranking titles, surpassing Robertson and Selby. It doesn’t seem like things will be stopping there as he lies within reachable distance of Williams, who sits at 22. The question is, will Trump enter the all-time Top 5 this season? What do you think?

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