Betway UK Championship Semi-Finals !!!!!

Tuesday 27th of November ~ Sunday 9th of December at the York Barbican, England

Semi-Finals time of the UK Championship, and all 4 Quarter-Finals ended up being one sided matches. First up we have defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan up against surprise semi-finalist Tom Ford, whilst Mark Allen plays Stuart Bingham, both having won a tournament already this season.

Can O'Sullivan get to an 8th UK Champs Final or can Tom Ford cause a huge upset? And can Mark Allen get to a 2nd UK Final, or could Stuart Bingham get to another Triple Crown Final, having won the World Champs in 2015?

All to play for in the first BBC event of the season.

DRAW

Semi-Finals

Ronnie O'Sullivan v Tom Ford O'Sullivan leads 4-1
Stuart Bingham v Mark Allen Allen leads 5-4

ORDER OF PLAY

Ronnie and Allen to progress to what would be a mouth watering finale. Allen to lift the silver.

Ronnie v Allen would be the best possible Final, but ROS playing Bingham wont be bad either.

I agree with TR earlier in the day... if ROS somehow lost it would be the biggest disappointment since probably David Gray in 2000.

Ron 1/2
Allen 4/1
Bingo 9/2
Fordy- Whatever you like cos it aint happenin.

That Allen v ROS Final almost happened at the CoC... hope Bingo doesnt spoil it this time.

Allen wasn't that great today. Bingham will beat him unless he improves.

Anything other than a Ronnie v Allen final would be a big load of rubbish.

Ash147 wrote:Anything other than a Ronnie v Allen final would be a big load of rubbish.

ROS v Bingham wont be bad either... but I agree thats the best outcome.

Ford v Allen please

What a tremendous standard we have these days. Luke Simmonds, Zhou Yuelong, Jack Lisowski and Martin O'Donnell have won less frames combined against O'Sullivan than Ken Doherty alone. And of course a 'well past his best' Doherty played in an era where the standard was awful and no one could make a 20 break.

This is an era of mental midgets and you will get more of the same when Tom Ford collapses like a cheap tent.

Alex0paul wrote:Ford v Allen please

what a disgusting post.

vodkadiet wrote:What a tremendous standard we have these days. Luke Simmonds, Zhou Yuelong, Jack Lisowski and Martin O'Donnell have won less frames combined against O'Sullivan than Ken Doherty alone. And of course a 'well past his best' Doherty played in an era where the standard was awful and no one could make a 20 break.

This is an era of mental midgets and you will get more of the same when Tom Ford collapses like a cheap tent.

I do agree that ROS route to the final has been a joke. For Ronnie fans to cheer this is a little bit sad IMO.

I know that if you dare to say he is not God on here, you risk alienation but the list of opponents he has faced is laughable. Not his fault I know but remember that when he faced Judd - as many a Ronnie fan will tell you is a weak player - he got his hairy bottom spanked.


However, I have a cheap tent and it has yet to collapse.

vodkadiet wrote:What a tremendous standard we have these days. Luke Simmonds, Zhou Yuelong, Jack Lisowski and Martin O'Donnell have won less frames combined against O'Sullivan than Ken Doherty alone. And of course a 'well past his best' Doherty played in an era where the standard was awful and no one could make a 20 break.

This is an era of mental midgets and you will get more of the same when Tom Ford collapses like a cheap tent.

That’s one thing I do agree with you on, the standard these days is rubbish. A lot of the players that are doing well these days wouldn’t stand a chance against the class of players at their peak from the early 90’s through to the early 00’s.

The fact that the class of 92 are all still in the top 4, when they past their peak a long time ago really shows how the quality has gone downhill.

Trump can beat Ronnie as many times as he likes to. Its not about doing well against one particular player but against the whole field. And over the years ROS has done this better than anyone else.
He keeps destroying these journeymen with ease.

Trump won the Northern Ireland Open in great style. He looked in very good shape and some people believed he could get on a roll and finally start doing well in the majors. But he's lost to a journeyman and proved one more time he isnt capable of becoming a consistent or serial winner.

And thats why he'll never reach the heights of players like O'Sullivan.

Badsnookerplayer wrote:

vodkadiet wrote:What a tremendous standard we have these days. Luke Simmonds, Zhou Yuelong, Jack Lisowski and Martin O'Donnell have won less frames combined against O'Sullivan than Ken Doherty alone. And of course a 'well past his best' Doherty played in an era where the standard was awful and no one could make a 20 break.

This is an era of mental midgets and you will get more of the same when Tom Ford collapses like a cheap tent.

I do agree that ROS route to the final has been a joke. For Ronnie fans to cheer this is a little bit sad IMO.

I know that if you dare to say he is not God on here, you risk alienation but the list of opponents he has faced is laughable. Not his fault I know but remember that when he faced Judd - as many a Ronnie fan will tell you is a weak player - he got his hairy bottom spanked.


However, I have a cheap tent and it has yet to collapse.

You talk as if he hasnt beaten Trump in big matches before... Worlds 2013 Semi, UK Final, CoC Final, need I say more?

He lost the NI Open Final, so what? Big deal.

Yes his draw has been a joke here, nobody said it hasn't.

But he's still in the tournament, even with a joke draw. Mark Selby for instance lost to James Cahill. Enough said.

Andre147 wrote: You talk as if he hasnt beaten Trump in big matches before... Worlds 2013 Semi, UK Final, CoC Final, need I say more?

He lost the NI Open Final, so what? Big deal.

Yes his draw has been a joke here, nobody said it hasn't.

But he's still in the tournament, even with a joke draw. Mark Selby for instance lost to James Cahill. Enough said.

Don't forget the 2017 Shanghai Masters final.

If 9-7 is considered a "spanking", I dread to think what a 10-3 scoreline is.

Besides, as if Ronnie has to prove anything. Didn't be beat Selby at the NI? Smash Higgins at the CoC? Beat Kyren twice in 2 multi-session matches this season? Beat all those top 10 players at the Shanghai Masters and the CoC this season?

Given the way Ding's form is right now, Ronnie would've offered a similar 6-1 scoreline and last time Ronnie played Ding he beat him 6-3 at Players Championship and 10-3 at the 2018 World Grand Prix final.

Anyway... Ronnie has had a joke draw, that much is evident. But he's still in the tournament with a great chance to get to an unprecedented 8th UK Final! Some of the top players lost to journeyman or amateurs, which is even worst.

The UK format isn't great, but you still need to put a decent performance to win the tournament. Other players didn't and paid the price for it.

Bastardised, watered-down version of a once-great tournament.

Pink Ball wrote:Bastardised, watered-down version of a once-great tournament.

The best of 11 format for a semis is awful, but at least Bazza said yesterday on TV that they're upping the prize fund to £1m in 2019 to match the China Open.

Rightly, too. A tournament with the title 'major' shouldn't be lagging behind so much in prize money/ranking points.

Has Bingham got the bottle?

Come on Bingo

Ronnie's the only player on the tour who actually beats the players he's supposed to on a regular basis.

If other "top" players were able to do this his draw (both this year and last year) wouldn't have been so easy.

But regardless, if he wins today and he's to lift the trophy he'll have to beat one of two players who have been great in great form.

Ronnie has gat a aura Hendry and Davis had before him the other top players haven't got that gives you about 3 frames before you hit a ball against most players that makes life easy for him against lower ranked players.

Wildey wrote:Ronnie has gat a aura Hendry and Davis had before him the other top players haven't got that gives you about 3 frames before you hit a ball against most players that makes life easy for him against lower ranked players.

Definately.

The joke draw Ronnie's got is only as good if he can make the most of it. So far he could, and no reason whatsoever why he cant reach the Final. Like Iranu said, other top players couldn't make the most of the easy draw, and Ronnie's the only player who beats the players he's supposed to beat more often than the others.

Changing subject...

The Masters draw is made live tomorrow during the Final isn't it?

Tom Ford in the semis!

Blimey.

Had our Planck Music studio christmas dinner last night couldn't watch a ball.

Now about to drive to Bristol, a spontaneous decision. Fingers crossed will get there for Ronnie at 1!

The BBC can afford to have a 90 minute build up to this afternoon's match.

1pm: Intro & build up
2.30pm: First 4 frames
3.10pm: Extended mid session interval
3.45pm: Final 2 frames
4.05pm: After match analysis and interviews

I'm eating beans on toast.

SnookerFan wrote:I'm eating beans on toast.

Have you tried those Heinz 5 bean mix?