During the mid-session interval of this afternoon’s UK Championship final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump, the draw was made for the first round of this season’s Dafabet Masters, with defending champion O’Sullivan drawn against Ricky Walden, while the stand out tie of the round is that between Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy…
He might have fallen to the unheralded James Cahill at the last 32 stage of the 2014 UK Championship yesterday, but after this tournament Ding Junhui will become world number one for the first time in his career, replacing Mark Selby at top spot.
Down to the last 64 at the UK Championship as the BBC and Eurosport begin their live coverage of the event from here at the Barbican Centre.
Click below for my thoughts and player reaction as the day unfolds…
Day two of the UK Championship in York this Wednesday as the field is whittled down from 128 to 64 and as was the case during the opening day, it has so far been very much a day for the top seeds, with few upsets at the Barbican Centre.
Click below for my thoughts on the day from the venue so far…
With the advent of flat draws in snooker, not all of the mid-season seedings revisions that we see in the sport are as important as they once were, but as we head into this week’s UK Championship at the Barbican Centre in York, there are a number of key placings to be determined ahead of the December revision.
In particular, we have a three-way fight for the world number one ranking, while there remain places available at the Masters in January. Click below for a round-up of the various permutations following the ET4 event and links to all of the important lists…
Following a weekend in Germany for the Ruhr Open, the snooker circus heads to York on Tuesday for the start of the second most prestigious ranking event on the calendar, the UK Championship in York.
Click below for my thoughts on the tournament in general, as well as the shape of the draw and confirmation of which opening round matches will be streamed prior to the start of the televised stages at the weekend…
Following a quiet week on the snooker circuit, the professionals (and amateurs), will return to action this week in Germany, as the fourth event of this season’s European Tour gets underway.
The tournament in question is the Ruhr Open, its inaugural staging last season having been won by Mark Allen, who despite having already long since secured his place in the Players Championship Grand Finals, returns to defend his title in 2014.
When it was first announced that World Snooker would move away from the traditional tiered format of events a couple of years ago, the concern amongst some was that it could lead to a situation where big names might crash out of tournaments at the qualifying stages, resulting in venues and broadcasters being left without their big names.