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Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Snooker Overdrive

The Champion of Champions 2014 final was one of the best finals in terms of standard I have ever seen. Both players had a pot success near 95% at the end of the match. I can't remember seeing an easy ball missed. Two top players pushed each other to the absolute limit.

What other finals had a similar or maybe even higher standard?

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Skullman

This may not count but the PTC Grand Final between Robbo and Ding was great. Robbo has 96% (Not entirely sure) and Ding had 99% (And he had lost the first three frames).

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Andre147

Good thread here SO, I shall name a few that have not been mentioned already:

2011 PTC Antwerp Final: Ronnie v Judd, one of the very best Best of 7 matches ever

2013 IC Final: Ding v Fu, arguably the best Final standard wise from last season.

2003 World Champs Final: Williams v Doherty, I didn't watch it live as I only started watching snooker 2 years later, but have watched it full on Youtube and must say standard wise it was one of the best World Finals ever.

2003 British Open Final: Hendry v Ronnie, one of the best Final I've ever watched, at one point in this Best of 17 Final both players had 5 consecutive tons in between them, 3 from Ronnie, 2 from Hendry, don't think both players missed an easy shot, it was very very high standard of play.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby TheRocket

I'd chose the match yesterday. Both players were at the absolute peak of their powers and if you are a fan of breakbuilding and scoring , you basicially can't ask for more. And especially the way , both players are playing the game (fast, make it look easy) makes it better to watch.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Roland

It was a good final, both players played well. It wasn't the best final of all time though. It was attacking and easy on the eye as is usually the case when these two play well so it was good to watch. Ronnie was always winning it though I thought. Pity Judd didn't level at 8-8 then it could've had more twists but it was good enough. I enjoyed it.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby TheRocket

Well, as usual ,at the end of the day it just depends on the person/personal opinion. If you are fan of breakbuilding and scoring , I don't think, you can ask for more. This was as good as it can be to be honest.

But I know of course that there are Snookerfans who love the tactical battles more than anything and that little twists in the frames which makes this sport very interesting as well. And that's why we all have different favourite players.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Roland

There is a generation around these days I guess who are too young to remember just how good the big four were at the turn of the century. What you saw yesterday wasn't unlike a typical final between any of Hendry/O'Sullivan/Higgins/Williams in terms of breaks and standard 10-15 years ago.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Snooker Overdrive

Roland wrote:There is a generation around these days I guess who are too young to remember just how good the big four were at the turn of the century. What you saw yesterday wasn't unlike a typical final between any of Hendry/O'Sullivan/Higgins/Williams in terms of breaks and standard 10-15 years ago.


Ronnie had a pot success of 96%, Trump 94% in a best of 19 final. They made 6 centuries and 17 50+ breaks in 17 frames. I can't remember a single simple pot being missed.

Yesterday was very special. I doubt that these "typical" finals 10-15 years ago can match these stats.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby mantorok

Roland wrote:It was a good final, both players played well. It wasn't the best final of all time though. It was attacking and easy on the eye as is usually the case when these two play well so it was good to watch. Ronnie was always winning it though. Pity Judd didn't level at 8-8 then it could've had more twists but it was good enough. I enjoyed it.


Well this is a good point because you can still have a high standard of play but there wasn't quite enough drama to make it a classic, which is why I rate the 2006 Masters final as better, simply because both players played exceptionally well, and Higgins forced the decider, then when Ronnie missed match ball only for Higgins to win on a total clearance?

Find a more complete final than that and you would be hard pushed, of course if you want drama there's always Ebdons first world title, even if the standard wasn't as high it was still exciting, and how about the 1985 world final.

Sometimes the drama is more exciting than high-standard fluent play, but to be honest if I'm watching my favourite player of course I will go for that and can't be doing with the drama :-D

Yes Selby, I'm looking at you >-(

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby TheRocket

Roland wrote:There is a generation around these days who are too young to remember just how good the big four were at the turn of the century. What you saw yesterday wasn't unlike a typical final between any of Hendry/O'Sullivan/Higgins/Williams in terms of breaks and standard 10-15 years ago.



Indeed, I'm probably too young as I'm watching Snooker only since 2003 (I'm 22) but in all the 11 years I've been watching this sport now I must say I haven't seen many finals like this in terms of breakbuilding or scoring. The 2005 or 2007 Masters final where O'Sullivan destroyed Higgins/Ding was maybe similar but it was an One-man show at the end of the day while this time both were scoring absolute superb.

And yes, it just shows the obvious thing that Hendry and O'Sullivan are the best breakbuilders/scorers of all time and that the players of today are not in the same league with them.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby TheRocket

Snooker Overdrive wrote:
Roland wrote:There is a generation around these days I guess who are too young to remember just how good the big four were at the turn of the century. What you saw yesterday wasn't unlike a typical final between any of Hendry/O'Sullivan/Higgins/Williams in terms of breaks and standard 10-15 years ago.


Ronnie had a pot success of 96%, Trump 94% in a best of 19 final. They made 6 centuries and 17 50+ breaks in 17 frames. I can't remember a single simple pot being missed.

Yesterday was very special. I doubt that these "typical" finals 10-15 years ago can match these stats.


Yeah true, the stats are just outstanding. I highly doubt you'll find any other final with that stats, even in the golden times of the golden four.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Roland

Snooker Overdrive wrote:
Roland wrote:There is a generation around these days I guess who are too young to remember just how good the big four were at the turn of the century. What you saw yesterday wasn't unlike a typical final between any of Hendry/O'Sullivan/Higgins/Williams in terms of breaks and standard 10-15 years ago.


Ronnie had a pot success of 96%, Trump 94% in a best of 19 final. They made 6 centuries and 17 50+ breaks in 17 frames. I can't remember a single simple pot being missed.

Yesterday was very special. I doubt that these "typical" finals 10-15 years ago can match these stats.


Yeah the standard was through the roof. Ronnie was hitting the ball so well throughout and I just love his left-handed rail shots because they never touch the sides when he's on it. Judd had nothing to lose when he finally started firing and he was brilliant in the 4 frame burst from 8-3. In terms of breaks and potting it was a spectacle. Fireworks. Similar to when Van Gerwin plays Lewis in darts, they feed off each other with the speed of play and play at their natural pace.


I realise I posted off topic. I've seen so many good finals it's hard to remember them all, some have been mentioned here. The benchmark was certainly set in the Liverpool Victoria when Ronnie stormed to 8-8 from 8-2 in about 20 minutes only for Hendry to step up and knock in a 147. That's the final everyone talked about for years after as being the best final they'd ever seen.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Andre147

Roland wrote:
Snooker Overdrive wrote:
Roland wrote:There is a generation around these days I guess who are too young to remember just how good the big four were at the turn of the century. What you saw yesterday wasn't unlike a typical final between any of Hendry/O'Sullivan/Higgins/Williams in terms of breaks and standard 10-15 years ago.


Ronnie had a pot success of 96%, Trump 94% in a best of 19 final. They made 6 centuries and 17 50+ breaks in 17 frames. I can't remember a single simple pot being missed.

Yesterday was very special. I doubt that these "typical" finals 10-15 years ago can match these stats.


Yeah the standard was through the roof. Ronnie was hitting the ball so well throughout and I just love his left-handed rail shots because they never touch the sides when he's on it. Judd had nothing to lose when he finally started firing and he was brilliant in the 4 frame burst from 8-3. In terms of breaks and potting it was a spectacle. Fireworks. Similar to when Van Gerwin plays Lewis in darts, they feed off each other with the speed of play and play at their natural pace.


I realise I posted off topic. I've seen so many good finals it's hard to remember them all, some have been mentioned here. The benchmark was certainly set in the Liverpool Victoria when Ronnie stormed to 8-8 from 8-2 in about 20 minutes only for Hendry to step up and knock in a 147. That's the final everyone talked about for years after as being the best final they'd ever seen.


Yeah good example there Sonny, I'm also a bit young (22 like TR) but I love watcing classic and great finals, and that Liverpool Victoria one I have watched it full and yeah it was also one of the very best. There have been so many great finals standard and drama wise, the Masters 2004 and 2006 a great example, Masters 2010 isn't that far off too, and then other great Finals I already mentioned here like the Worlds 2003 Final between Williams and Doherty, as well as the 2003 British Open Final between Hendry and Ronnie, I have watched them all and all I can say is they are just great to watch.

This Final between Judd and Ronnie also one of the very best standard wise, those stats are simply out of this world, and in a funny way this was exactly the type of match everyone expected to see when both met at the Worlds semis last year, unfortunately it didn't turn out that way with both players not exactly playing their best there. But boy did they make things right with this wonderful Final :-D

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Wildey

Snooker Overdrive wrote:
Roland wrote:There is a generation around these days I guess who are too young to remember just how good the big four were at the turn of the century. What you saw yesterday wasn't unlike a typical final between any of Hendry/O'Sullivan/Higgins/Williams in terms of breaks and standard 10-15 years ago.


Ronnie had a pot success of 96%, Trump 94% in a best of 19 final. They made 6 centuries and 17 50+ breaks in 17 frames. I can't remember a single simple pot being missed.

Yesterday was very special. I doubt that these "typical" finals 10-15 years ago can match these stats.

These Stats was not available back then so who Knows

The Coc Final was right up there with some of the Greatest finals ive seen its debatable if it was the Very best but who cares its all about the day and the performance given on the Day.

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Odrl

There have been some really great major finals in the time I've been watching snooker...

I don't think any of the tournaments from the 2011-2012 "purple patch" have been mentioned yet.

2011 China Open: Trump's breakthrough tournament. He was probably the underdog in every match he played, but he still hardly dropped a frame until the final. Selby came through after a really good tactical match against Ding the semi-finals, and I expected him to outplay Trump tactically in the final and win reasonably comfortably, but Trump held his own and prevailed in the end. The standard of breakbuilding was superb, 16 breaks over 50 in 18 frames, including six centuries, three for each player.

2011 World Championship: Maybe not up there with the best matches, but compared to other World finals in the last decade this was a very good one. Trump dominated the first day, but didn't really get a great lead, and Higgins came back very strongly on Monday. This was a great tournament in general, remembered also for Trump's very impressive wins over Gould and Dott, as well as the great semi-final between Trump and Ding.

2011 UK Championship: A great end to a very good year for snooker. Once again Trump was involved in a very high-quality final against Mark Allen, with 15 breaks over 50 in 18 frames this time, five centuries between them. Trump hardly missed a ball in getting to an 8-3 lead, but Allen started playing some flawless snooker with his back against the wall and he got back to 9-8, before Trump won the last frame in one visit.

2012 German Masters: Ronnie O'Sullivan's first ranking title in almost three years, and the start of a really strong period for him. He was 4-0 down to Andrew Higginson in the 1st round, on the verge of dropping out of the top16, but the match turned around when Higginson snookered himself on an easy pot with the winning line in sight. O'Sullivan then got himself to the final without any fireworks, and probably started as the underdog, because Stephen Maguire played really well in the other half and had whitewashes over Higgins and Murphy. The final started with four successive centuries, one from O'Sullivan and three from Maguire. It was looking like Maguire was the stronger player at that point, but he "only" got a 5-3 lead out of the first session, and O'Sullivan came back really strong in the evening to win 9-7.

2012 Shanghai Masters: This was another great scoring display from both players, once again featuring Trump. He does seem to get involved in some pretty high-quality finals, doesn't he? He led 5-0 in this match, hardly missing a ball in the first part. Higgins then responded with a 147 break, but still lost the session 7-2. He won the first six frames of the evening, playing pretty much the way Trump had been playing earlier. The match went 10-9 in the end, Trump getting the first chance in the decider, but Higgins then knocking in a crazy long red and clearing up. Again there were 16 breaks over 50 in the match, with four centuries.

Outside of this period I enjoyed the 2006 and 2010 Masters finals, the former being my favourite match of all time. O'Sullivan started with two total clearances in the first three frames to take a 3-0 lead, but then didn't really get another chance for the next five frames, as Higgins played some tremendous safety and took his chances in the balls. This wasn't one of those high-break exchanges, but it still had very few mistakes over 19 frames, and the safety was excellent. It also had one of the most dramatic finishes ever, although I suppose that's not what this thread is about. The 2010 final had higher scoring, five centuries and 16 breaks over 50, but it's also mostly remembered for the drama rather than the standard. O'Sullivan played some of his best snooker up to 9-6, then went for a somewhat ambitious shot that left Selby in the balls (not the infamous green), and Selby found his form and slowly clawed his way back into the match to win 10-9. The century he made in frame 17 in particular was tremendous, and would be called genius if it was made by his opponent. ;-)

I also agree with the mention of the 2013 International Championship final. Crazy scoring from both players, with seven centuries between them. At one point it was looking like Hendry's record of seven centuries in a match was under serious threat, and that record has withstood three and four-session matches at the Crucible, but this was only a two-session match and Ding still came pretty close. The amazing thing was he only just led the match after making five centuries, and even went behind later on, because Fu was playing so well himself. In the end Ding won the decider in one visit, as he did so many times last season when it really mattered.

And finally, going back a little further, I really enjoyed the 2004 British Open final between Higgins and Maguire. It was the last time this tournament was held, and it ended on a really high note. Higgins had not won a ranking event for a few years at that point, but he played really well that week, ready to withdraw from the tournament at any point in case his wife went into labour. He made three breaks over 140 in the tournament, which I suspect has never been done before or since. He beat Murphy 6-0 in the semi-finals, Murphy turning to the crowd before the last frame and asking what else he could have done. In the other half Maguire played just as well, at one point making five centuries in a row over two matches, and his 6-1 win over O'Sullivan in the semi-finals was very impressive. The final definitely lived up to expectations, 13 breaks over 50 in 15 frames this time, and hardly a ball missed.

There we are, although I'm sure I must have forgotten a few. :-) I definitely agree that it's the drama that makes finals most exciting, so there are quite a few others I really loved, but these were all great matches. Hoping for a few more this season. :-)

Re: Finals with the highest standard of play

Postby Roland

Good post Odrl. Yes the Selby v Trump China Open final was a very high standard, as was the 2011 International between Ding and Fu. So too the German Masters final between Williams and Selby but that was more a tactical battle rather than a quick-fire break-fest but nonetheless it was notable for its quality.