BetVictor Welsh Open Quarter Finals Discussion !!

Wildey wrote:It was always going to be a miss match. John just not at the races at the moment and Ronnie on a different level to him.

The sad thing is that John's probably never reach the high level again at this age. Ronnie just manages it somehow to keep playing at that high level,not sure how long though.

And a close tie between the Wizard and Rocket was predicted. What a fail!

Anyway, I hope Marco gets through tonight as he's more likely to give Ronnie a game. Even if Ronnie's mentally stronger, Marco has the game to take him. He's one of the few people to beat Ronnie in the first round at the Crucible and beat Ronnie for his first ranking title.

Trumpster wrote:The Fraud hits the sword!

warning

any more of fraud talk and you will be hitting a sward.

TheRocket wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:

TheRocket wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:Nonetheless I'm relieved Ronnie finally got that monkey off his back. Of course it can't be considered payback because this isn't the Higgins from 3 years ago but it still feels good.

3 years ago Ronnie wasn't the Ronnie of today either, so it doesn't make any difference for me. I could say 09-11 was a horrible period for Ronnie but peak John beat him fair in all those matches so I can't complain about Ronnies form.

That sounds like you're saying Ronnie was better back then. Because he wasn't...

Did it sound like that(?) because I wanna say the total opposite. I'm not an English native speaker but what I want to say is that Ronnie had a horrible period in 09-11 and of course Ronnie now is better than Ronnie of 09-11 and they played 6 or 7 times during that time. I could say here that John won because of Ronnie being bad at that time but I don't do that because win is a win like it is today. So it doesn't matter for me so much that Higgins played not good today.

Thanks for clearing that up

I fully agree with everything you said.

TheRocket wrote:

Wildey wrote:It was always going to be a miss match. John just not at the races at the moment and Ronnie on a different level to him.

The sad thing is that John's probably never reach the high level again at this age. Ronnie just manages it somehow to keep playing at that high level,not sure how long though.

Maybe we'll get a close match again when both have declined

Snooker Overdrive wrote:Maybe we'll get a close match again when both have declined

Maybe in seven years we'll have the greatest seniors match of all time. Plus MJW will be there and maybe they'll have declined to same level again.

masterdoctorgenius wrote:what did ronnie in the post match intervie? can any1 summarize it?

Thorne asked him about his tip, Ronnie said he had no plans to change it as it was only slightly bruised by the miscue. He also said something like he's happy to be challenging the likes of Ding, Robertson and Selby who are the most consistent players on tour.

Said he expects Walker to win tournaments in the future, just needs to adjust one or two things like getting his hand closer to the cueball.

Forgotten one or two other things he said but not ground-breaking either way.

All I do know is it's essential for Ron to go for another chinese tonight

Skullman wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:Maybe we'll get a close match again when both have declined

Maybe in seven years we'll have the greatest seniors match of all time. Plus MJW will be there and maybe they'll have declined to same level again.

And Stephen Lee is back from his suspension, the class of 92 back reunited...

Snooker Overdrive wrote:

Skullman wrote:Maybe in seven years we'll have the greatest seniors match of all time. Plus MJW will be there and maybe they'll have declined to same level again.

And Stephen Lee is back from his suspension, the class of 92 back reunited...

That'll be after twelve years.

Skullman wrote:Anyway, I hope Marco gets through tonight as he's more likely to give Ronnie a game. Even if Ronnie's mentally stronger, Marco has the game to take him. He's one of the few people to beat Ronnie in the first round at the Crucible and beat Ronnie for his first ranking title.

Fu. I am not sure, but I don't think, he's got what it takes to threaten Ronnie right now. He's been struggling with positional play.

Skullman wrote:Anyway, I hope Marco gets through tonight as he's more likely to give Ronnie a game. Even if Ronnie's mentally stronger, Marco has the game to take him. He's one of the few people to beat Ronnie in the first round at the Crucible and beat Ronnie for his first ranking title.

Yeah Fu will be the slightly tougher opponent I feel but I think it's been a while since Marco last beat Ronnie.

Fu can be such a clinical scorer sometimes, it's really admirable. Sometimes you think, the guy's never gonna miss.

Jester82 wrote:

Skullman wrote:Anyway, I hope Marco gets through tonight as he's more likely to give Ronnie a game. Even if Ronnie's mentally stronger, Marco has the game to take him. He's one of the few people to beat Ronnie in the first round at the Crucible and beat Ronnie for his first ranking title.

Fu. I am not sure, but I don't think, he's got what it takes to threaten Ronnie right now. He's been struggling with positional play.

Two 70+ and a ton in his last match is struggling?

However I think Ronnie will beat whoever he plays tomorrow.

Skullman wrote:

Jester82 wrote:

Skullman wrote:Anyway, I hope Marco gets through tonight as he's more likely to give Ronnie a game. Even if Ronnie's mentally stronger, Marco has the game to take him. He's one of the few people to beat Ronnie in the first round at the Crucible and beat Ronnie for his first ranking title.

Fu. I am not sure, but I don't think, he's got what it takes to threaten Ronnie right now. He's been struggling with positional play.

Two 70+ and a ton in his last match is struggling?

I did not mean the last match, but over a longer period. Well, let's see.

Jester82 wrote:I did not mean the last match, but over a longer period. Well, let's see.

To be honest, Marco is so inconsistent, you can only look at his performances in the tournament he's in.

Higgins ain't the real deal. The sooner he retires the better.

Skullman wrote:

Jester82 wrote:I did not mean the last match, but over a longer period. Well, let's see.

To be honest, Marco is so inconsistent, you can only look at his performances in the tournament he's in.

Yeah, inconsistent may be the proper word, if you look at his results.
But you got a point. In this tournament, he's done a good job.
I hope, he keeps up at the World Championship.

Agree with everyone on Fu, I'm always worried when Ron faces him, a real top player on his day.

Blavdes wrote:Agree with everyone on Fu, I'm always worried when Ron faces him, a real top player on his day.

He's a really nice guy too, a top bloke. And he has that trademark dickie bow that always looks a bit funny, in a nice way. Ding has the talent, but Marco has the better and tougher mind.

Hope Ronnie keeps this up, only 5 frames conceded up to a semi in a flat 128 structure of a full ranking event. You would probably bet against such a smooth run continuing to the finishing post but after what he did at the Masters you never know.

The worrying thing for the opposition is that if Ronnie is routinely thrashing good players in sprints, then come the World Championship what chance do players other than Ding and Robertson have in a best of 25 against him! Historically you always had the possibility of a kind of mental meltdown, these days Ronnie is far more mentally strong and he is likely to still play his solid B game when trailing.

Trumpster wrote:Higgins ain't the real deal. The sooner he retires the better.

Yeah, maybe when Higgins retires your hero Trump might have a chance at winning something

Arguably Ding and Ronnie have been the players of the season so far. Wouldn't it be fitting if these 2 meet in the final?

Snooker Overdrive wrote:Arguably Ding and Ronnie have been the players of the season so far. Wouldn't it be fitting if these 2 meet in the final?

Ding is on such a high atm and playing wise maybe better than everyone else but the thing with Ronnie is that if his opponents starts playing great he rises up his level too so it's definitely gonna be a cracker if this happens. Ding is capable of beating Ronnie and Ronnie capable of beating Ding. It's as simple as that.

TheRocket wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:Arguably Ding and Ronnie have been the players of the season so far. Wouldn't it be fitting if these 2 meet in the final?

Ding is on such a high atm and playing wise maybe better than everyone else but the thing with Ronnie is that if his opponents starts playing great he rises up his level too so it's definitely gonna be a cracker if this happens. Ding is capable of beating Ronnie and Ronnie capable of beating Ding. It's as simple as that.

I would say Robertson is also up there standard wise but Ding seems to be going deep in nearly every tournament.

However I think Ronnie has the mental edge over him because Ding's only meaningful win over Ronnie still remains the 2006 Northern Ireland Trophy final. And that could make all the difference in a tight match.

Ding surely could have won that CoC match. Was 50+ in front in the decider by making a brillant break after Ronnie played a bad break off shot but luckily for him Ding's split had gone wrong which was the key obviously. Otherwise he would have cleared up. Ding is mentally really strong atm and I don't think, the mental barrier will affect him as much.

And we shouldn't roll up this mental barrier thing everytime. Because like it is against MJW, Ronnie somehow always plays great against Ding. This are not only my words, the stats are provin it. So it's gonna be difficult for Ding anyway, no matter mental barrier or not.

Well looks like Ronnie won the match right after I left home

A win is a win, and even though this isn't the Higgins of 3 years ago, I'm glad Ronnie won this match. Wasn't at his best, far from it, but did enough to win.

Funny fact Ronnie has only lost 1 frame in each of his 5 matches.

Interesting discussions going on here too, agree with everything most said.

Fu I think will be a tougher opponent for Ronnie because he has a good record against him, but Fu too can easily switch from near perfect to very very bad in an instant, so it's not garanteed if he faces Ronnie things will get close.

But many shouldn't discount Hawkins so easily, Ronnie has won most matches against him yes but almost all of them have been pretty close and Hawkins plays well against Ronnie, so I think whoever gets through it won't obviosuly be a walkover for Ronnie.

Still, he should win and then maybe Ding or Selby in the Final, this time I would prefer Ding.

Higgin's long pot success was low. I think that says a lot.