It has been a great week of snooker over in Australia and the tournament is now set as world number one Mark Williams prepares to take on qualifier Stuart Bingham over in Bendigo…
It has been a long time coming for Basildon’s Stuart Bingham but following an emphatic 6-2 win against Shaun Murphy this morning the world number 15 is through to the first ranking event final of his 16-year career.
As far as the match was concerned it was the definition of ‘one of those days’ for Shaun as he missed a number of balls that you would not have expected, the effect of which was compounded by a tough run of the ball, but take nothing away from Stuart who deserved the win.
In the post-match interview (a welcome addition), Stuart was understandably emotional and that defeat to Ding Junhui at the Crucible back in April suddenly feels like a distant memory. Regardless of what happens in the final it has been a tremendous week for a player who by my reckoning at the age of 35 could become the oldest first-time ranking event winner since Doug Mountjoy back in 1988.
It was also nice to see Stuart paying tribute to coach Steve Feeney of SightRightUK following his match as having started work with him early last season it is surely no coincidence that Stuart’s consistency has improved so significantly in that period of time. It would not work however without the hard work that Stuart has put in to embrace his coaching and he is now reaping the rewards.
Tomorrow however will be his toughest test yet as Mark Williams produced another fine performance today to see off a below-par Ken Doherty in the second semi-final.
Perhaps surprisingly for a player so renowned for his tactical nous, it was Ken’s safety game which proved to be his achilles heel as he achieved a safety success rate of just 79% and failed to apply any real pressure to the world number one. Strangely he also struggled with his break-off shots, catching the blue on three separate occasions which did not help his cause.
It has though been a much-improved week for Ken who without having rocketed up the rankings as you might expect, has eradicated the gap that had opened up between him and those in the mid-20’s and is now well-placed to climb if he can continue to play well.
Mark though looked in ominous form as he made top breaks of 110 and 106 on his way to victory and will enter tomorrow’s as the rightful favourite.
As we have seen this week however, anything can happen and you can bet that Stuart will be determined to give it everything that he has got. Looking forward to it…
Saturday Results
Shaun Murphy 2-6 Stuart Bingham
Mark Williams 6-2 Ken Doherty