BetVictor Welsh Open Final Discussion

Williams had a proper resurgence after that but Higgins is the man who ruined it after Williams ruined Higgins circa 1999/2000 when he beat him in 2 world semis. Higgins win against Williams in the 2011 semi signalled the end of MJW as we knew him unfortunately. That was the dagger that followed nicking the UK final off him from needing a snooker.

Wildey wrote:

TheRocket wrote:

Wildey wrote:The Ronnie v Higgins match was over-hyped to the extreme by Fans and Pundits alike But The Final is justifiably Hyped big time because Between them they have won with this one 8 Titles in 6 months this season.

Ronnie vs Higgins matches are justifiably hyped because those two men are classacts. No one of the current crop is ever gonna reach the league of these two players and they gave us super games in the history. Just because the game wasn't good doesn't mean the hype was senseless. Higgins said it perfectly. Ding and Robertson are winning titles but this match is the biggest and he's right.

Higgins v Ronnie matches are or more accurately was class but sport moves on we are in 2014 now not 2004 and Higgins cant cut it and it was never going to be anything other than a Ronnie Rout.

a 5-1 win over Higgins this week meant nothing in Reality beating Ding will mean more to Ronnie than any match hes played for a Hell of a long time.

You say sport moves on but one of the two old men is still dominating the sport and other man had a rubbish form but still reached the quarter final by beating one of the biggest topplayers and the alleged supertalent Judd Trump.
Reality is that the quality of the successors is so low that you still look for the old Ronnie Higgins rivalry.
And another reality is that we don't even have good rivalries. Tell me one rivalry which is as good as Hendry-O'Sullivan and O'Sullivan-Higgins. No of the other rivalries come even close.

Snooker Overdrive wrote:

Wildey wrote:

TheRocket wrote:

Wildey wrote:The Ronnie v Higgins match was over-hyped to the extreme by Fans and Pundits alike But The Final is justifiably Hyped big time because Between them they have won with this one 8 Titles in 6 months this season.

Ronnie vs Higgins matches are justifiably hyped because those two men are classacts. No one of the current crop is ever gonna reach the league of these two players and they gave us super games in the history. Just because the game wasn't good doesn't mean the hype was senseless. Higgins said it perfectly. Ding and Robertson are winning titles but this match is the biggest and he's right.

Higgins v Ronnie matches are or more accurately was class but sport moves on we are in 2014 now not 2004 and Higgins cant cut it and it was never going to be anything other than a Ronnie Rout.

a 5-1 win over Higgins this week meant nothing in Reality beating Ding will mean more to Ronnie than any match hes played for a Hell of a long time.

I'm sure hammering Mark Selby in the Masters final meant a lot to Ronnie too

Yeah I've no doubts about that too.

Obviously a win against Ding here will mean a lot more because he'll win the title from it, lol.

Sonny wrote:Williams had a proper resurgence after that but Higgins is the man who ruined it after Williams ruined Higgins circa 1999/2000 when he beat him in 2 world semis. Higgins win against Williams in the 2011 semi signalled the end of MJW as we knew him unfortunately. That was the dagger that followed nicking the UK final off him from needing a snooker.

I agree, that was a fatal blow. And the 2 defeats in Australia and Shanghai were the final nails in the coffin.

But I think he would have done better against Ronnie in all these matches in recent years if he had beaten him in Wembley.

Snooker Overdrive wrote:

Sonny wrote:Maguire said he didn't want to be a fat World Champion which is a quote from around the time aimed at Murphy. Since then he's put on weight and has stopped being a real contender. I'm sure he's eating his words now

Unfortunately Murphy isn't a real contender neither for a couple of years now.

He still is and always will be a World Champion though. And I think he's thinner than Mags now to boot.

Snooker Overdrive wrote:

Sonny wrote:Maguire said he didn't want to be a fat World Champion which is a quote from around the time aimed at Murphy. Since then he's put on weight and has stopped being a real contender. I'm sure he's eating his words now

Unfortunately Murphy isn't a real contender neither for a couple of years now.

I enjoy watching Murphy much more than Maguire.....For some reason, I don't like Maguire much.

Sonny wrote:Williams had a proper resurgence after that but Higgins is the man who ruined it after Williams ruined Higgins circa 1999/2000 when he beat him in 2 world semis. Higgins win against Williams in the 2011 semi signalled the end of MJW as we knew him unfortunately. That was the dagger that followed nicking the UK final off him from needing a snooker.

Probably the Shanghai final against Selby and that whole red or pink thing which did it, because MJW was still going through the competition like a hot knife through butter after the Worlds. Even the loss to Bingo in Bendigo didn't deter him.

Wildey wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:

Wildey wrote:

TheRocket wrote:

Wildey wrote:The Ronnie v Higgins match was over-hyped to the extreme by Fans and Pundits alike But The Final is justifiably Hyped big time because Between them they have won with this one 8 Titles in 6 months this season.

Ronnie vs Higgins matches are justifiably hyped because those two men are classacts. No one of the current crop is ever gonna reach the league of these two players and they gave us super games in the history. Just because the game wasn't good doesn't mean the hype was senseless. Higgins said it perfectly. Ding and Robertson are winning titles but this match is the biggest and he's right.

Higgins v Ronnie matches are or more accurately was class but sport moves on we are in 2014 now not 2004 and Higgins cant cut it and it was never going to be anything other than a Ronnie Rout.

a 5-1 win over Higgins this week meant nothing in Reality beating Ding will mean more to Ronnie than any match hes played for a Hell of a long time.

I'm sure hammering Mark Selby in the Masters final meant a lot to Ronnie too

But Selby hasent been on top of his game hes been struggling badly and the masters on the whole was no exception.


Ding though has won 4 rankers out of the last 5 played and in another final now . that's dominance by anyone's standards.

Yea, but Ronnie only played in one of those.....when he's in the field and you win, it means more, IMO.

Two. IC and German Masters.

my mistake.

Wildey wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:

Wildey wrote:

TheRocket wrote:

Wildey wrote:The Ronnie v Higgins match was over-hyped to the extreme by Fans and Pundits alike But The Final is justifiably Hyped big time because Between them they have won with this one 8 Titles in 6 months this season.

Ronnie vs Higgins matches are justifiably hyped because those two men are classacts. No one of the current crop is ever gonna reach the league of these two players and they gave us super games in the history. Just because the game wasn't good doesn't mean the hype was senseless. Higgins said it perfectly. Ding and Robertson are winning titles but this match is the biggest and he's right.

Higgins v Ronnie matches are or more accurately was class but sport moves on we are in 2014 now not 2004 and Higgins cant cut it and it was never going to be anything other than a Ronnie Rout.

a 5-1 win over Higgins this week meant nothing in Reality beating Ding will mean more to Ronnie than any match hes played for a Hell of a long time.

I'm sure hammering Mark Selby in the Masters final meant a lot to Ronnie too

But Selby hasent been on top of his game hes been struggling badly and the masters on the whole was no exception.


Ding though has won 4 rankers out of the last 5 played and in another final now . that's dominance by anyone's standards.

You've got a point there.

Standard wise Ding is on another level compared to Selby right now. But I'm sure Ronnie enjoys playing Ding more than Selby. That Masters victory wasn't just some win, it was special, especially after what happened in 2010.

No matter how Selby has been playing atm SO is right that win at the Masters was very special and a key win for Ronnie, so please don't try to suddently devaluate Ronnie's win there because even though Selby didn't play his best Ronnie put pressure on him right from the off and Selby couldn't stay in touch with him.

Andre147 PGC wrote:No matter how Selby has been playing atm SO is right that win at the Masters was very special and a key win for Ronnie, so please don't try to suddently devaluate Ronnie's win there because even though Selby didn't play his best Ronnie put pressure on him right from the off and Selby couldn't stay in touch with him.

Yes and let's not forget the same Mark Selby completely outplayed Shaun Murphy just one day earlier and nearly won the UK a month before that making a 147.

But anyway what matters here is this dream Final between Ronnie and Ding, arguably the 2 best players atm and of the season, even though Ronnie didn't play in everything but has already won a PTC, CoC and Masters and now reaching this final.

Should be an absolute cracker and hopefully one to watch for many years to come.

By the way, we talked about how terrific that 2013 IC final was, so I looked up how many post have been made in that IC final discussion thread: 120 posts. Here in the Welsh Open final discussion we now already have 105!

Well Ronnie's here in this final so about ten people who only show up for his matches are commenting. Plus I was away that weekend so that halves the post count.

Anyway, number of posts doesn't mean better match.

Skullman wrote:Well Ronnie's here in this final so about ten people who only show up for his matches are commenting. Plus I was away that weekend so that halves the post count.

The International Championship final also started very early in the morning in Europe, so a lot of people made the very poor decision to sleep instead.

Really looking forward to today, is this the first-time Ding and Ronnie have met in a long format final since that Masters final? I know they played in the PL final a few years back.

Will be interesting to see how Ding reacts, if Ronnie sweeps past him like in the Masters, but I can't see that happening.

Skullman wrote:Well Ronnie's here in this final so about ten people who only show up for his matches are commenting. Plus I was away that weekend so that halves the post count.

Anyway, number of posts doesn't mean better match.

And that final started about 6am and didn't contain Ronnie which are two more factors.

In 2014 Ronnie is yet to be beaten in a match.

2014 Masters:
Last 16 Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 (11) 1 Robert Milkins
Quarter-final Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 (11) 0 Ricky Walden
Semi-final Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 (11) 2 Stephen Maguire
Final Ronnie O'Sullivan 10 (19) 4 Mark Selby

2014 Welsh Open:
Last 128 Ronnie O'Sullivan 4 (7) 1 Mitchell Travis
Last 64 Ronnie O'Sullivan 4 (7) 1 Barry Pinches
Last 32 Ronnie O'Sullivan 4 (7) 1 Xiao Guodong
Last 16 Ronnie O'Sullivan 4 (7) 1 Ricky Walden
Quarter-final Ronnie O'Sullivan 5 (9) 1 John Higgins
Semi-final Ronnie O'Sullivan 6 (11) 2 Barry Hawkins

That's 10 in a row now. And he didn't just win his matches, there wasn't a single close result so far, not even in the best of 7s. Ronnie is bossing his opponents right now. Frame score: 55-14

Ding also had a terrific 2014 so far, only losing one match.

2014 Masters
Last 16 Shaun Murphy 6 (11) 4 Ding Junhui

2014 German Masters
Last 64 Ding Junhui 5 (9) 1 Mike Dunn
Last 32 Ding Junhui 5 (9) 1 Mark Williams
Last 16 Ding Junhui 5 (9) 3 Dominic Dale
Quarter-final Ding Junhui 5 (9) 2 Joe Perry
Semi-final Ding Junhui 6 (11) 5 Ryan Day
Final Ding Junhui 9 (17) 5 Judd Trump

2014 China Open
Last 128 Ding Junhui 5 (9) 0 Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon

2014 Welsh Open
Last 128 Ding Junhui 4 (7) 2 Gary Wilson
Last 64 Ding Junhui 4 (7) 1 Jamie Cope
Last 32 Ding Junhui 4 (7) 3 Ben Woollaston
Last 16 Ding Junhui 4 (7) 0 Scott Donaldson
Quarter-final Ding Junhui 5 (9) 4 Joel Walker
Semi-final Ding Junhui 6 (11) 4 Joe Perry

That's 13 in a row. Unlike Ronnie he had close matches but managed to win them all but one. Frame score: 71-37

Without a doubt, these two are the best players in the World right now.

Something I've come to realise about this forum is that there are a lot of strong Ronnie fans but also a lot of obvious Ronnie .. well haters is a strong word but it does seem like that, so .. haters.

The other players seem much less divisive overall, even John Higgins.

When Ronnie plays close or at his best he makes the new open 128 snooker format look a bit laughable. I'm sure Barry Hearn was hoping for lots of newcomers to appear and shake up the old guard. Not happening. All the top players are reaching the latter stages of all the events. Some of the much lower players must be really dire (by pro standards)!

I reckon the most disliked player of the circuit is John Higgins. But the players are wise enough not to say how they feel about his er.. 'incident' with that beloved newspaper: News of the World. Whatever happened to that newspaper?

Ronnie to win today and then say "I could have played better."

This Final is compelling for a few reasons that I can think of:

-The form of the two players in the last year or so.

-The generational gap.

-The new stages in the maturation process for both players.

-Possible last meeting before maybe another one at the all important WChamps.

-Ding's resilience and ability to perform when it most matters -- in finals. His record in ranking finals is very impressive and he'll need to show similar resolve and big match presence to get the job done today.

-Today a big winning streak will end.

Holden Chinaski wrote:

NNear wrote:Something I've come to realise about this forum is that there are a lot of strong Ronnie fans but also a lot of obvious Ronnie .. well haters is a strong word but it does seem like that, so .. haters.

The other players seem much less divisive overall, even John Higgins.

Greatness inspires awe and respect but also jealousy and hate.
Some people are a bit biased against Ronnie, no matter how brilliant Ronnie plays they will always say they are not impressed.

It can do. Perhaps though there is personality thing with Ronnie that is off-putting to many of the viewers that others of us find to be actually endearing somehow (nonchalant and frivolous mannerisms). It isn't like he's been getting in the way and been annoying to the winning aspirations of the rest of the tour other than being deadly in the Triple Crown events (winning 3 of the last 6).

Ding needs to beat Ronnie here more than Ronnie needs to beat Ding, IMO.

Holden Chinaski wrote:

NNear wrote:Something I've come to realise about this forum is that there are a lot of strong Ronnie fans but also a lot of obvious Ronnie .. well haters is a strong word but it does seem like that, so .. haters.

The other players seem much less divisive overall, even John Higgins.

Greatness inspires awe and respect but also jealousy and hate.
Some people are a bit biased against Ronnie, no matter how brilliant Ronnie plays they will always say they are not impressed.

And it's entirely predictable. If Ronnie wins today the usual suspects will just say Ding didn't play his best, or Ron left lots of chances. It's actually commendable how they don't get called out more often for their ridiculous 'anyone but Ronnie' bias. The reality is Ronnie over the past 2years has steam-rolled many opponents, played some of the best snooker ever played whilst winning major titles. Yes he could do this or that better but it's funny how even when not playing his best he still manages to win often at ease even against the very best.

If you can't enjoy watching greatness then pop a pipe in your mouth, slide your slippers on and stick on the lawn green bowls instead.