Victoria Bulgarian Open (European Tour 1) Discussion !!

Andre147 PGC wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:Overall this tournament was a success for Ronnie. He turned up, he had the right attitude, made a couple of centuries and reached the semi final. Not bad.

Yeah that's the way we have to look at it, but still his streak of recent losses against Higgins hurt a lot more whereas had he faced another opponent in the semi and lost wouldn't have been so bad, but anyway..

Like I said, hope he plays in more events and gets his revenge on Higgins, a Major match encounter would be even more tasty.

True. If he had lost to someone like Mark Davis or Barry Hawkins I wouldn't have minded but Higgins

Every streak ends sometime. And Ronnie is far too good to not beat Higgins anytime soon. Also if he had had just a little bit of luck in that 3. frame we now would be talking about Ronnie being the unstoppable force in snooker.

if robbo can keep this form he can skip a few events prior to worlds next year

Casey wrote:It's a completely different Higgins to the one we seen during the first 6 months of the year. Is he due one last push in his career?

He was strong early season last year as well and only petered out near the end. He's still as good, he just doesn't have the stamina for these new busier times. If he manages his season better, he could still be a force.

TheRocket wrote:I'm sure, Robertson will win. Robertson are like Williams a player who fears Ronnie more than Higgins.
And Robertson always looked good against Higgins. I expect him to win.

Good observation. I share your view.

Snooker Overdrive wrote:

Andre147 PGC wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:Overall this tournament was a success for Ronnie. He turned up, he had the right attitude, made a couple of centuries and reached the semi final. Not bad.

Yeah that's the way we have to look at it, but still his streak of recent losses against Higgins hurt a lot more whereas had he faced another opponent in the semi and lost wouldn't have been so bad, but anyway..

Like I said, hope he plays in more events and gets his revenge on Higgins, a Major match encounter would be even more tasty.

Every streak ends sometime.

So MJW will have a winning streak against ROS soon then?

Higgins is much the better player and has won four times as many world titles as Robbo.

But neither player really captures the imagination so I don't really care who wins. It's a shame they can't both lose the match.

wild

any idea whats robbos longest winning streak

Skullman wrote:

Casey wrote:It's a completely different Higgins to the one we seen during the first 6 months of the year. Is he due one last push in his career?

He was strong early season last year as well and only petered out near the end. He's still as good, he just doesn't have the stamina for these new busier times. If he manages his season better, he could still be a force.

Couldn't agree more, in this time in his career he could play about half of the events or a little bit more and it would be better for him cause on his day he still is as good as ever.

Skullman wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:

Andre147 PGC wrote:

Snooker Overdrive wrote:Overall this tournament was a success for Ronnie. He turned up, he had the right attitude, made a couple of centuries and reached the semi final. Not bad.

Yeah that's the way we have to look at it, but still his streak of recent losses against Higgins hurt a lot more whereas had he faced another opponent in the semi and lost wouldn't have been so bad, but anyway..

Like I said, hope he plays in more events and gets his revenge on Higgins, a Major match encounter would be even more tasty.

Every streak ends sometime.

So MJW will have a winning streak against ROS soon then?

Why not? Although Ronnie had Williams always firmly in his pocket since that 2010 Masters semi final, O'Sullivan will eventually have a bad day against Mark and in a short distance match like in a PTC event, Williams might finally get the better of him.

But this is less likely because it's been over a decade since MJW beat Ronnie and most of the time comfortably while Higgins always only edged Ronnie in the last couple of years.

EDIT: I misread your post, of course Williams will never have a winning streak against Ronnie again but a single win in a PTC, why not?

Muppet147 wrote:Higgins is much the better player and has won four times as many world titles as Robbo.

Career overall? Certainly.

Right now? Robertson.

O'Sullivan is a mental midget when he plays Higgins. He has only beaten him once in a real match in about 8 or 9 years. The rest of the tour, with the exception of Selby should be ashamed of themselves.

vodkadiet wrote:O'Sullivan is a mental midget when he plays Higgins. He has only beaten him once in a real match in about 8 or 9 years.

That's the first time I agree with you. Indeed. Ronnie O'Sullivan isn't able to play his full ability against Higgins (since 2005). His last big win over Higgins was the 2005 Masters final.

I doubt many people will bother to watch the final. It's a shame as most of them were probably hoping to watch the world champion play.

Muppet147 wrote:I doubt many people will bother to watch the final. It's a shame as most of them were probably hoping to watch the world champion play.

most people of Bulgaria, Europe and the World thought the World Champion wouldn't even show up so that's a load of cobblers to start.

TheRocket wrote:

vodkadiet wrote:O'Sullivan is a mental midget when he plays Higgins. He has only beaten him once in a real match in about 8 or 9 years.

That's the first time I agree with you. Indeed. Ronnie O'Sullivan isn't able to play his full ability against Higgins (since 2005). His last big win over Higgins was the 2005 Masters final.

The 2006 Masters final is what turned the mental advantage in Higgins favour. I think he cleared up with 65 to win on the black in the final frame. Prior to that there was the Grand Prix final in 2005 when Higgins beat him 9-2 when he hardly missed a ball.

Muppet147 wrote:Looking forward to Ronnie thrashing Higgins and Hawkins humiliating the over-rated Aussie.

So it should be a repeat of the world final. That would be cool!

DavieMac wrote:

Muppet147 wrote:Looking forward to Ronnie thrashing Higgins and Hawkins humiliating the over-rated Aussie.

So it should be a repeat of the world final. That would be cool!

Yes, I am certainly on the ball!

vodkadiet wrote:

TheRocket wrote:

vodkadiet wrote:O'Sullivan is a mental midget when he plays Higgins. He has only beaten him once in a real match in about 8 or 9 years.

That's the first time I agree with you. Indeed. Ronnie O'Sullivan isn't able to play his full ability against Higgins (since 2005). His last big win over Higgins was the 2005 Masters final.

The 2006 Masters final is what turned the mental advantage in Higgins favour. I think he cleared up with 65 to win on the black in the final frame. Prior to that there was the Grand Prix final in 2005 when Higgins beat him 9-2 when he hardly missed a ball.

Yes, this two matches had massive impact. Since then O'Sullivan was never able to produce solid stuff against Higgins, let alone producing his best game. The strange thing is. If Higgins is playing bad and producing mistakes, O'Sullivan is even getting worse. I'm not a psychologist but O'Sullivan looked even very uncomfortable when he entered the arena and after Higgins made it 2:2 he already gave up and produce two amateurish mistakes to give Higgins the match.

So yes, as I mentioned before. He surely has a mental barrier when playing against Higgins. Like Williams,Carter and Ding has it when they play O'Sullivan.
Or another prominent example. Like Federer has it against Nadal.

lets see if muppett is right and nobody watching the final

no muppett is wrong.

new season but same old crap from him

Hope it's a good match whoever wins.

Neil is playing a lot faster than he usually does. Nice to see.

Hope it goes 4-3. May the best man win.

robbo

Robbo takes the first.

unlucky for higgins

Unlucky split for Higgins... but doesn't look like anything's on.

careless from robbo

Bit negative from Robbo. Gave up control and let Higgins in. Lucky for him he hasn't been put in too much trouble.

Don't understand that decision of Robertson. Now hes in trouble.