After a day off it was back to Sheffield and the Crucible Theatre for the start of the last 16 matches. Click below to read about my day…
Pre-match
With the lack of a morning session today, I arrived at the Crucible at around 12:20pm ahead of the afternoon session and had a look around Stage Door to see if anyone was around. For a while it was quiet but to the surprise of many, Ronnie O’Sullivan came sprinting down the steps and headed off into town to get something to eat. While many of the autograph hunters desperately chased after him, I decided to stay put and was rewarded with this excellent photo of Michael Holt who arrived in good spirits ahead of his match with John Higgins.
Stephen Hendry also came in but as if often the case ahead of a match, he was focused solely on his clash with Ding and wasted no time in getting up the stairs. As everyone else was in the venue I decided to have a wander round and have a look at the various snooker art exhibitions in the Winter Gardens opposite the Crucible. Usually art is not really my thing but I was really impressed by some of the work on display. If any of you have the opportunity to visit the Crucible during the tournament I would recommend having a look.
Hendry/Ding
Still, onto the serious business and that of the match between Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui which would get the last 16 stage of the tournament started. As a Hendry fan I was looking forward to seeing him in action for the first time this week and as it turned out, it proved to be the most enjoyable session of the tournament for me.
While both players are at their most comfortable when in amongst the reds, the first frame proved to be a tactical affair as both were keen not to give anything away and produced some high quality safety play to keep the other out. Although Hendry got himself in with the first big chance, his break ended when he screwed back into the left-centre pocket after potting a red and soon enough Ding was in to clear with 59. As an aside there was a hilarious moment early on when a cameraman move to where Hendry needed to be to take his next shot and Stephen walked up and gave him the most piercing stare!
Stephen had little chance in the next frame though and Ding punished a mistake with a fabulous century of 112 and already looked to be right on top of his game. It was important for Stephen to respond though and this is exactly what he did, punishing an error from Ding with a well-taken 91 break which could have been a century but for a miss on the final brown.
After Ding’s strong start it looked like Hendry would get to the break level at 2-2 and limit the damage, but when in prime position he missed an absolute sitter of a red on 16 and Ding duly punished him with 88. Although we were just four frames into a best of 25 frame match, it looked like this might be a key moment in the contest as Stephen was visibly furious with his miss and as he walked into the interval at 3-1 down, he picked up a red on the table and slung it across into the far pocket – I don’t think I have ever seen him as outwardly emotional in the arena as I have this week.
Worse still when they came back, Ding took advantage of yet another failed long-red from Stephen (he had missed five out of five attempts at this stage), and looked set to move 4-1 up and like he might begin to run away with it.
However, it was soon to be Ding who was frustrated as he ran out of position having seemingly played for a red that was not actually pottable. He was clearly rattled by this error and immediately played a crazy plant in frustration, missing comfortably and giving Stephen a chance to counter. Though the balls were not ideally placed for a clearance, Hendry did the business and completed an excellent break to move back to just one behind at 2-3.
You could sense the momentum switch at this point and better was to come from Hendry in the next frame when having trailed by over 50 points, he produced a trademark clearance of 49 to snatch the frame on the pink and level the match. Again the break was not straightforward here and in particular a lovely final red along the bottom cushion showed that he is cueing nicely at the moment.
Stephen pushed on and completed a three frame winning streak to lead for the first time at 4-3, but Ding showed that he is still right in the match and playing nicely himself with a nice couple of breaks in the last frame to get out at 4-4.
Overall it was a thoroughly entertaining session and one that sets things up very nicely for tomorrow. From a Hendry point of view his safety looked to be reasonably good and barring a couple of bizarre misses he looked dangerous in the balls, but his long game is going to have to improve significantly if he is going to go on and win the match. Unlike against Williams when I got the feeling that he never at any stage felt like he could win, he looked to be really up for this one and I think will keep on fighting until the end.
Ding meanwhile looks pretty strong all-round, as ever I get the feeling that it is going to be his temperament which decides how the match unfolds. If he plays to his best (like in the first two and a half frames), I think he will have too much for Stephen, but if (as has been in the case in each of his three sessions at the tournament so far), he starts off well before experiencing a poor spell after a few frames, he could falter. Going to be very interesting…my heart says Hendry, but head says Ding though.
Post-match
Following that match I quickly headed round the back to see if I could catch Stephen but he had already made it into a waiting car by the time I had walked round, with Ding still to follow. I did not need to wait for Ding though as he kindly signed a photo of me and him from 2008 earlier in the day and of course took a photo on Tuesday following his dramatic victory over Liang Wenbo.
It transpired that many of the waiting fans were waiting for John Higgins to come out following his 10-5 win over Michael Holt but with that many people there I concluded that he would not waste too much time hanging around when he did emerge and headed off round the front of the building to see what was happening. Just before I left though I did manage to catch Jamie Burnett on the way in for the conclusion of his match with Stephen Maguire, which was won by 10-5 by the world number two by the time I had got home.
Round the front having seen Michael Holt relaxing in the pub opposite the Crucible, I managed to catch Steve Davis leaving the CueZone following the conclusion of his TV work, before also bumping into BBC presenter Rishi Persad who chatted about his love for horse racing amongst other things. It was the first time I had met him and he seems to be a friendly enough bloke so good luck to him as he continues to cover the tournament in Hazel Irvine’s absence.
Time was getting on though and I soon left to get the train back to Hull. As expected, Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen had completed their session by the time I had got back (level at 4-4), I guess it was never going to be a long one! Sounds like Ronnie did not play too great so perhaps Mark will live to regret not getting out of the session with a lead. Personally I hope not as I would love to see him go far in this tournament.
Now looking forward to my next trip on Saturday!