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Hello. This is Alexandra Palace. Ali Pali in north London. The PVC darts | :00:32. | :00:40. | |
boys and girls have packed away the arrows, they have had their fun, | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
they have at the moment, and now it is the turn of snooker. The 16 top | :00:45. | :00:48. | |
players in the world have turned up here, hoping for a very happy start | :00:49. | :00:54. | |
to 2017, as the Masters champion, the second longest running event in | :00:55. | :00:58. | |
snooker. And arguably, this is the greatest field we have ever | :00:59. | :01:02. | |
assembled. For the first time, every one of the players involved already | :01:03. | :01:06. | |
owns in major world ranking title. That's the first. But none of them | :01:07. | :01:10. | |
in this field has mastered this great event more offered than the | :01:11. | :01:13. | |
man who will be taking those off this afternoon - the six time | :01:14. | :01:16. | |
champion, the defending champion, the Rocket, Ronnie O'Sullivan. | :01:17. | :01:23. | |
Ronnie O'Sullivan, playing his best ever of the week to take the Masters | :01:24. | :01:33. | |
title. I'm a Londoner. Being in London, I'm looking forward to it. | :01:34. | :01:42. | |
MUSIC It looks like his fourth Masters | :01:43. | :02:11. | |
title now... I love winning, I love it! | :02:12. | :02:24. | |
and, like running, the only other six time winner of the Masters, | :02:25. | :02:46. | |
Stephen Hendry, is trying to look cool calm and collected at the | :02:47. | :02:50. | |
prospect of perhaps losing that record. Warning on a roll, going for | :02:51. | :02:56. | |
a seven. Steve Davis, he has long since worried about other people | :02:57. | :03:00. | |
making his record! Happy New Year to you both. What are the chances of | :03:01. | :03:04. | |
Ronnie itching himself alone in the history of this event. He has as | :03:05. | :03:11. | |
good a chance of anybody -- Ronnie itching himself into the history of | :03:12. | :03:14. | |
this event. He has been slipping up against the other top players. | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
He has been beating players, maybe not fancying it so much against the | :03:20. | :03:27. | |
top players. He won this last year in superb fashion. Obviously he | :03:28. | :03:34. | |
loves the big occasion,... It's an interesting point. You look back at | :03:35. | :03:37. | |
the last three months. He's been in a big final three times, he lost the | :03:38. | :03:42. | |
Judd Trump, John Higgins, and of course Mark Selby Dustin December. | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
How do you read that form? No disgrace to lose the those three | :03:48. | :03:51. | |
players. -- just in December. It is getting more difficult to guaranteed | :03:52. | :03:56. | |
to win events. All you can really do is get your solving the frame and | :03:57. | :03:59. | |
give yourself a chance. He is getting there. So will get yourself | :04:00. | :04:10. | |
in the frame. It's just getting over the line has always been difficult | :04:11. | :04:12. | |
and will be more difficult. Is he going to be nervous with that record | :04:13. | :04:15. | |
in the last three months, though? I don't think he looks at it that way. | :04:16. | :04:18. | |
He's had lots of match practice. When it comes to this event, this is | :04:19. | :04:21. | |
a massive crowd now. It's like a big auditorium. One table, all eyes on | :04:22. | :04:25. | |
the one match. As Stephen said, a big occasion player. This, I've | :04:26. | :04:30. | |
probably said it before, this is his office, he is harder to beat here | :04:31. | :04:33. | |
than anywhere else in the world. Is going to be fascinating over the | :04:34. | :04:36. | |
next week or so. Ronnie O'Sullivan and the world number one Mark Selby | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
drawn to face each other in the final at the top and bottom of the | :04:43. | :04:45. | |
order. There are a huge number of very capable, very expert players | :04:46. | :04:47. | |
who could take this title themselves. | :04:48. | :04:52. | |
First up it's O'Sullivan against China's charismatic Liang Wenbo, a | :04:53. | :05:02. | |
real firecracker. A home event for the Essex boy. Flamboyant Judd Trump | :05:03. | :05:11. | |
meets Marco Fu, he was informed. World number two Stuart Bingham | :05:12. | :05:13. | |
playing the Gentleman Joe Perry tomorrow. The only debit and this | :05:14. | :05:19. | |
year, Kettering's Ireland Wilson. 2015 winner Shaun Murphy playing | :05:20. | :05:25. | |
last year's for up Barry Hawkins. And the world number one meets Mark | :05:26. | :05:30. | |
Williams. It gets going in a couple of moments when Ronnie O'Sullivan | :05:31. | :05:34. | |
works out to this great arena, 2000 strong, against Liang Wenbo this | :05:35. | :05:38. | |
afternoon. As you know, this time last year he came to Ali Pali off | :05:39. | :05:42. | |
the back of a seven month sabbatical away from the sport, not the first | :05:43. | :05:45. | |
time he's done that. He's also had something of a bit of a love hate | :05:46. | :05:49. | |
relationship with snooker. He's in love with a together the moment | :05:50. | :05:52. | |
because he tells us that he would now love to be viewed as the Lionel | :05:53. | :05:58. | |
Messi of this game. People that are watching, they're saying, he don't | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
just win, but he delivers on it. I think it's very important. Sometimes | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
people say like you can't play like that, but Lionel Messi proves that | :06:07. | :06:10. | |
you can, Tiger Woods and Roger Federer do. I want to try and be one | :06:11. | :06:16. | |
of them. Arguably he has been that, one of those great entertainers all | :06:17. | :06:20. | |
of his career. This is his 23rd campaign in the Masters. Let's meet | :06:21. | :06:24. | |
the man he is going to be playing today. 29-year-old Liang Wenbo. This | :06:25. | :06:28. | |
fella could cause a few problems. The odds have been stacked against | :06:29. | :06:31. | |
Liang Wenbo consider the previous match-ups. Ronnie with five wins the | :06:32. | :06:38. | |
Wenbo's one. The recent contests have been pretty close. Ronnie has | :06:39. | :06:42. | |
reportedly given Liang Wenbo one or two pieces of playing device. It | :06:43. | :06:46. | |
will be interesting to see what difference it makes today. And how | :06:47. | :06:51. | |
about this? Liang getting his big first title in the English open in | :06:52. | :06:55. | |
October, really that. Loved A lot of people will remember he was in the | :06:56. | :06:59. | |
UK championship final two years ago. A quirky character, a heavy scorer. | :07:00. | :07:05. | |
I wonder how many questions he is capable of asking Ronnie today? As | :07:06. | :07:10. | |
you said that, I think his heavy scorer, he is going to have to do | :07:11. | :07:14. | |
that today. You know, Ronnie is going to be well up for this match. | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
Liang has to match in the scoring department. His temperament also, | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
he's got to keep that in check. You know, he concedes a lot of times, | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
Liang, he shows his emotions. He starts swearing, shaking his head, | :07:29. | :07:31. | |
his he smacks himself in the face. He's got to keep his temperament in | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
check as well stop like the crowd will be thoroughly behind Ronnie | :07:36. | :07:37. | |
O'Sullivan. That is a withering experience for a player in the past. | :07:38. | :07:41. | |
Good luck you do well in by the final it is the full crowd. | :07:42. | :07:53. | |
But this is round one, you are right in the deep end. It's a shock to the | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
system for every player that comes here. Usually you is your solving | :07:58. | :08:01. | |
the tournament. Wenbo has a bit about him, though. So you is | :08:02. | :08:08. | |
yourself into the tournament. Perhaps the early start, it would be | :08:09. | :08:11. | |
good for Wenbo to get off to a good start from his perspective. But this | :08:12. | :08:16. | |
tournament is a shock to the system. A blogger made a very good point, it | :08:17. | :08:21. | |
is required reading. Ronnie seems to like playing. If you watch his body | :08:22. | :08:25. | |
language, he is always smiling against Wenbo. Do you get that | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
impression about him? They are very good friends off the table. Liang | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
amuses Ronnie, possibly off the table as well. He likes his antics | :08:34. | :08:37. | |
around the table, he's a breath of fresh. So many of the players | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
nowadays show very little emotion at all, if any. He is different from | :08:42. | :08:49. | |
that, he's good to watch and good to play against. He has a 5-1 | :08:50. | :08:51. | |
advantage, he is comfortable with that. From the perspective of | :08:52. | :08:55. | |
Stephen, my perspective from my rack and Stephen's era, we prefer to have | :08:56. | :08:58. | |
an aura around us that we were untouchable. We didn't make friends | :08:59. | :09:03. | |
too much with our opposition, if at all. Do such an extent that we were | :09:04. | :09:10. | |
quite disliked! But it seems different now, the game has changed | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
enough. But I don't like the thought of getting too friendly with another | :09:15. | :09:20. | |
player. Judd Trump did it in the UK championship, he had dinner with the | :09:21. | :09:23. | |
guy who beat him. And suddenly it's a different culture now. You see | :09:24. | :09:27. | |
them before talking to each other before they go out, we would never | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
have done that. OK, I don't know who is buying goods to write, but we'll | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
find out. Liang is -- buying dinner tonight. Ronnie is 13 and Liang is | :09:38. | :09:46. | |
11. But this 2000 strong crowd is already the start. It will be lively | :09:47. | :09:49. | |
and crackling with anticipation. As we get ready to get underway, the | :09:50. | :09:56. | |
honour is being done by the man who won this great title exactly 30 | :09:57. | :10:04. | |
years ago, Mr Dennis Taylor. Would you please welcome into the arena, a | :10:05. | :10:08. | |
player who lifted his first title just a couple of months in ago in | :10:09. | :10:15. | |
Manchester. The reigning English professional champion, Liang Wenbo! | :10:16. | :10:18. | |
APPLAUSE And his opponent, would you please | :10:19. | :10:53. | |
give a warm welcome, he is the defending Masters champion. He is | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
five times a world champion, six times in Masters champion, it's the | :10:58. | :10:59. | |
rocking Ronnie O'Sullivan! It's lively, all right! A quick | :11:00. | :11:35. | |
sprint into the commentary box. You have done your Sunday work-out | :11:36. | :11:40. | |
already! Sit back and revel in one of the great sporting occasions of | :11:41. | :11:44. | |
any year, is the Masters, best of 11 frames in the opening round. We'll | :11:45. | :11:48. | |
get a win this afternoon. Dennis on his way to meet three-time Masters | :11:49. | :11:53. | |
champion John Parrott, good afternoon, John. | :11:54. | :12:00. | |
COMMENTATOR: Welcome to a very lively Alexandra Palace. The top 16 | :12:01. | :12:04. | |
players in the world put into the melting pot. And usually when you do | :12:05. | :12:08. | |
that combination, it comes out to be very exciting. Away we go for what | :12:09. | :12:21. | |
should be fascinating week of Sugra. -- a week of snooker. | :12:22. | :12:32. | |
I don't think he has covered the outside read here. This is a chance | :12:33. | :12:38. | |
for Ronnie. Not easy of course, first shot in this year's event for | :12:39. | :12:40. | |
him. So, not to be. I agree with the | :12:41. | :13:04. | |
boys, his attempt at the long pot. It's very important to get a good | :13:05. | :13:08. | |
start at any match. Particularly against Ronnie O'Sullivan, | :13:09. | :13:12. | |
ineffectively his own backyard. He has got the score to date, Liang, | :13:13. | :13:14. | |
and heavily. I love watching Liang Wenbo play. He | :13:15. | :13:27. | |
really is very exciting. Bit of a character as well. | :13:28. | :13:36. | |
And he's one of those players who just loves a stage like this. Packed | :13:37. | :13:43. | |
house at the Alexandra Palace. He plays his best snooker under these | :13:44. | :13:47. | |
conditions. What conditions they are. Look at this wonderful venue. I | :13:48. | :13:52. | |
think it was 1500 couple of years ago, now it is 2000 capacity. A very | :13:53. | :13:57. | |
popular event here in London, and why not? We should be in for a treat | :13:58. | :14:01. | |
here this week. The tournament first started in | :14:02. | :14:21. | |
1974-75 season by the late, great John Spencer. He was beaten in the | :14:22. | :14:28. | |
final. It has kept going ever since. From 79-2006 it was a conference | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
centre. The next five years it went to the arena, and then for the last, | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
well, this will be the 60th year at Ali Poly. This was seamlessly taken | :14:38. | :14:41. | |
over as a great host for a wonderful event -- the 16th year at the Ali | :14:42. | :14:47. | |
Paoli. Of course we mustn't forget the New London Theatre in Drury | :14:48. | :14:51. | |
Lane. It was played there. That was a terrific venue. Well-established | :14:52. | :14:56. | |
now, as you say, John, almost packed out here. | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
I always used to love playing this event, Dennis. There's a real buzz | :15:03. | :15:09. | |
about it. It's your reward for playing well throughout the year and | :15:10. | :15:12. | |
being a top player. You know full well you've got to be at it right | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
from the get go. There's nowhere to hide here. You're the centre of | :15:16. | :15:20. | |
attention, only one table, and you've got to bring your stuff with | :15:21. | :15:24. | |
you, no good trying to find it, because you won't win this event by | :15:25. | :15:29. | |
doing this. You've got to win here by bringing to a game. -- your a | :15:30. | :15:32. | |
game. Well, that could be the end of | :15:33. | :15:45. | |
break. He was just a bit unlucky. He didn't get quite enough right-hand | :15:46. | :15:50. | |
side when potting that brown. Justin Gilbert Moorside and he would hit | :15:51. | :15:55. | |
the pink and red. -- just a bit more on the side. He will be | :15:56. | :16:01. | |
disappointed, his first proper visit on the table and it was a big target | :16:02. | :16:11. | |
for him to hit. Liang Wenbo 27. Decided to have a go at the double. | :16:12. | :16:15. | |
The only red he could leave was the one he tried to double. He has left | :16:16. | :16:19. | |
a chance for Ronnie to follow that red. Can you put the camera away, | :16:20. | :16:27. | |
please? They did mention no cameras, please. The referee just emphasising | :16:28. | :16:28. | |
that. I don't know whether he saw the red | :16:29. | :16:44. | |
going and he kept the angle to get into the pack like Liang did. Wow. | :16:45. | :16:54. | |
You know, his angle and that wasn't the same as Liang's, it was more of | :16:55. | :16:57. | |
a difficult shot. Couldn't quite get the side on. | :16:58. | :17:09. | |
Yes, it's so easy to going off that last shot on the attempted. That's | :17:10. | :17:17. | |
the angle he had. You need to hit it at the right-hand side and avoid the | :17:18. | :17:19. | |
middle pocket. Didn't quite manage that. | :17:20. | :17:29. | |
Even though it's the best of 11, it's always nice to get off to a | :17:30. | :17:37. | |
good start. And he's had plenty of good starts in the match, six times | :17:38. | :17:39. | |
in Masters champion. Yes, I think some of Ronnie's best | :17:40. | :17:50. | |
snooker ever has been played at this event. The 10-3 was as close to | :17:51. | :17:57. | |
perfection as you could see. The demolition of Ding Junhui was | :17:58. | :18:02. | |
absolutely outstanding. He has played some great stuff here. | :18:03. | :18:09. | |
Not particularly appetising for Liang. He's just got to be careful | :18:10. | :18:16. | |
here. Probably trying to drop in the back of the pack here. | :18:17. | :18:26. | |
We always talk about Ronnie being the greatest break-builder of all | :18:27. | :18:52. | |
time. He's got a fabulous tactical and safety game, which you have to | :18:53. | :18:53. | |
have. You have to be able to mix it. Not the best safety this time from | :18:54. | :19:10. | |
Ronnie. Liang Wenbo can have a go at this red and get himself onto the | :19:11. | :19:13. | |
black. It's a bit of a free shot. The only ball he can leave will be | :19:14. | :19:20. | |
the red. If he misses it, you can quite easily send it into the pack. | :19:21. | :19:24. | |
It's a half chance. He is pretty good at this type of pot. | :19:25. | :19:40. | |
He concentrated so hard on getting the pot, which was difficult in | :19:41. | :19:46. | |
itself. Straight in the centre of the pocket, but just lost the white. | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
If it stops there, it would have been perfect. Not much he can do | :19:51. | :19:52. | |
here, really. Just going back to the venues, John, | :19:53. | :20:11. | |
the Wembley conference centre. You were so far away from the table. | :20:12. | :20:18. | |
Here you are closer to the table. It was quite a long walk back to your | :20:19. | :20:22. | |
seat, it took a lot of getting used to in that venue. But there again, | :20:23. | :20:27. | |
you would have 2700 people there for the final. | :20:28. | :20:33. | |
Many a time players forgot where they were and tripped over the | :20:34. | :20:38. | |
plants in that place! That's a terrific shot. I think you | :20:39. | :21:03. | |
can take the brown because there is a red just the right of pink that is | :21:04. | :21:04. | |
available. Oh! He didn't see that coming. He | :21:05. | :21:21. | |
was perfectly on the red. A second chance for Liang. Just caught the | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
near jaw. Now, perfect position on the blue. | :21:26. | :21:37. | |
This is a lovely pack to go into. The red next to the pink is making | :21:38. | :21:42. | |
it even better. If he can hit that one, the red and pink together, it | :21:43. | :21:47. | |
should open up lovely. He has just got to be careful that the pink | :21:48. | :21:50. | |
doesn't head towards the left corner pocket when he cannons into them. | :21:51. | :21:57. | |
Well, is he on that red? I thought he would hit them a little harder | :21:58. | :22:01. | |
than that. I think he got a little bit lucky to finish there. They were | :22:02. | :22:05. | |
begging to be hit hard. He is an one. | :22:06. | :22:15. | |
I'll tell you what, this table looks beautiful. I thought he was going to | :22:16. | :22:21. | |
come up short on the blue, but it's very quick and the players like it | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
that way. He has a nice shot here. He pops this blue and leaves it low | :22:26. | :22:34. | |
on the red, he can split the pack up that way. He needs the cue ball to | :22:35. | :22:37. | |
go a bit more. If it does, that's what he's looking for. If it does, | :22:38. | :22:42. | |
what the red and Canada into the pink, quite a few open in the plate | :22:43. | :22:47. | |
-- cannon into. I'd love to have another couple of inches of role and | :22:48. | :22:53. | |
that cue ball, it would have been perfect. With the 34 point | :22:54. | :22:58. | |
advantage, he can win the frame if he can play the shot that John | :22:59. | :23:02. | |
suggested. Is it a little too straight from the red to do that? | :23:03. | :23:03. | |
Not a lot of room there. So, a change of plan. Is he going to | :23:04. | :23:16. | |
go far enough? I think is going to have to take the pink. He's going to | :23:17. | :23:21. | |
split the reds. Straightaway he gets the rest out. It's a natural angle | :23:22. | :23:25. | |
to pot the pink and split those five reds. We have seen it already, but | :23:26. | :23:29. | |
both players have had a go on the brown and in quite get enough of the | :23:30. | :23:34. | |
side of the cue ball in the frame. Sometimes on these new cushions, | :23:35. | :23:37. | |
they throw a little bit different. If he judges this correctly... | :23:38. | :23:44. | |
Well, missed the pack. And this has all come from the one off the blue. | :23:45. | :23:52. | |
If he had just got the right angle on the bottom red, it was from over. | :23:53. | :23:58. | |
Not from as wide as he fought and missed the back. -- not thrown as | :23:59. | :24:02. | |
wide as he thought. He might have a 41 point leave here, | :24:03. | :24:13. | |
Liang. This is a dangerous board. If he hits the roads here, only the | :24:14. | :24:18. | |
brown in an awkward position, he has to be very careful. | :24:19. | :24:37. | |
Well, this will require good cueing. He can only just see enough of this | :24:38. | :24:44. | |
thread. He has had a look at that. -- of this red. | :24:45. | :24:58. | |
Just a safety shot. He needs a good cue ball here. | :24:59. | :25:13. | |
That's not bad, but there is a half chance for Liang. He is a | :25:14. | :25:19. | |
devastating long putter, and runny nose that. He practices enough with | :25:20. | :25:24. | |
this Chinese player. -- and Ronnie knows that. This is not | :25:25. | :25:27. | |
straightforward. He has defined the Gap back around the table. -- he has | :25:28. | :25:35. | |
defined the gap. What damage has he done here? Mis-hit that completely. | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
What a chance for Ronnie to get right back in this opening frame. | :25:40. | :25:44. | |
It's not only the damage of missing it, he flipped the red off the side | :25:45. | :25:51. | |
cushion, a double whammy. He brings the red into play. A good chance... | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
It should have been. Can he just sneak back the yellow | :25:55. | :26:01. | |
enough to pot the green? Just a bit of noise. There is a | :26:02. | :26:34. | |
latecomer coming into a seat, and somebody is making noise there. It | :26:35. | :26:40. | |
has been spotted. Just a couple of flights, I think. They might be the | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
line of sight, which is off-putting -- a of lights. | :26:46. | :26:55. | |
Just reflecting on to the railings. They are catching Ronnie's I. | :26:56. | :27:10. | |
He is going to wait to get the light off. It is putting him. He knows it | :27:11. | :27:16. | |
is quite a good chance to get himself back into the frame. We've | :27:17. | :27:23. | |
got to find the switch that will get rid of that blue light. There is | :27:24. | :27:27. | |
just one red that is safe here that could come to Liang Wenbo's rescue. | :27:28. | :27:31. | |
The one near the ocean, as John mentioned, he knocked the other red | :27:32. | :27:37. | |
red out into the open. -- the one near the cushion. Frank Baker just | :27:38. | :27:44. | |
heading off. The light is safely switched off. I suppose, Dennis, we | :27:45. | :27:52. | |
mentioned the top cushion. Ideally Ronnie would like to get into the | :27:53. | :27:56. | |
black and only dropped the red in to get it back on the spot. In a | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
perfect world, that is what he would like to do. | :28:01. | :28:05. | |
The Wiggo, if you can get on the black now... -- there we go. | :28:06. | :28:17. | |
Change of plan. He did play on the black there. | :28:18. | :28:28. | |
This is a lively cloth. He has overhit that by the way. This is a | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
little cut back. Can he avoid the contact on the | :28:33. | :28:43. | |
brown? Of all he will have to put a little juice on it. Only just. | :28:44. | :28:54. | |
I haven't used that term before, a little bit of juice, another word | :28:55. | :28:58. | |
for a little bit of side. I mentioned earlier, it looked like | :28:59. | :29:12. | |
a dangerous position for Liang, even though he was a few points in front. | :29:13. | :29:17. | |
The ball is in a portable position, with maybe the exception of the | :29:18. | :29:21. | |
brown. You can see Ronnie trying to work out the best way. Ideally, as I | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
say, he'd like to drop the black and play on the loose red. This has got | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
counter clearance by the North Everett. -- written all over it. | :29:32. | :29:37. | |
Liang could kick himself with the chances he has had in this frame. | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
Doing exactly as you predicted, getting the black back on the spot. | :29:43. | :29:45. | |
And he doesn't want to be dead straight, though. And that looks as | :29:46. | :29:51. | |
if it is almost straight. Not much of an angle. | :29:52. | :29:59. | |
Yes, that could always happen. Trying to play the snookering behind | :30:00. | :30:11. | |
the black. -- the snooker in. Very little angle to work with. In fact, | :30:12. | :30:14. | |
the red jumped a few times. Not the best safety Liang Wenbo has | :30:15. | :30:42. | |
ever played. On the other hand, this is far from easy. | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
What a pot! What a cracking pot that is! Ronnie O'Sullivan special. All | :30:48. | :31:05. | |
about brown to blue now, that's going to be the key factor. | :31:06. | :31:20. | |
I agree with you Dennis, this cloth is lively, hardly touched that. | :31:21. | :31:29. | |
Straight back. Perfect angle. Deserves to win the frame. Has he | :31:30. | :31:38. | |
left himself a decent angle or is he a little bit straight? | :31:39. | :31:52. | |
Had that little bit of angle. Is it going to come up a little bit short? | :31:53. | :32:05. | |
He only needs the pink, no problem, doesn't matter about getting on the | :32:06. | :32:06. | |
plaque. -- the black. It has to be said, Liang Wenbo had | :32:07. | :32:25. | |
if you chances to take the opening frame and he didn't, Ronnie | :32:26. | :32:30. | |
O'Sullivan takes the frame and he leads 0- one. The defending champion | :32:31. | :32:40. | |
off and running, effectively a tale of. Yes, one that Ronnie turned | :32:41. | :32:46. | |
down, you can see the situation here, he looked at they read a | :32:47. | :32:50. | |
couple of times and perhaps if he is 2-0 or 3-0 in front he takes it on, | :32:51. | :32:56. | |
but he knows the importance of this frame so he refuses it and place the | :32:57. | :33:00. | |
safety shot and gets in. Looks like he was possibly going to win the | :33:01. | :33:05. | |
frame. The next long red and we are going to see is when you had to take | :33:06. | :33:11. | |
on, there is no safety shot. Hardly hit it, this was just all timing. | :33:12. | :33:20. | |
Also in stroke as well? Yes, came straight at the red on the top | :33:21. | :33:23. | |
cushion but looks to be cueing very nicely on what looks to be a | :33:24. | :33:28. | |
lightning fast piece of cloth, snooker on ice effectively and no | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
better player than Ronnie O'Sullivan per controlling the cue ball on fast | :33:32. | :33:36. | |
conditions. And perhaps that safety shot that Liang Wenbo played, when | :33:37. | :33:40. | |
it rolled a few more inches down the table gave Ronnie the chance. Safety | :33:41. | :33:47. | |
becomes difficult on fast clots, everything is tricky on a very fast | :33:48. | :33:52. | |
cloth. There were a few nervous moments as you would expect from | :33:53. | :33:56. | |
both men and I think that lends to the intensity and intimacy of this | :33:57. | :34:01. | |
venue. Liang Wenbo will be disappointed, he had three or four | :34:02. | :34:04. | |
chances in the frame and if he keeps needing that he will get beaten | :34:05. | :34:09. | |
today so he has to up his game if he wants to win. Back we go, the second | :34:10. | :34:17. | |
frame. COMMENTATOR: I would agree with Stephen Hendry, Liang Wenbo | :34:18. | :34:24. | |
cannot carry on as he did in that opening frame. Had a few decent | :34:25. | :34:28. | |
chances. But he knows that only too well John. Yes. Playing against the | :34:29. | :34:37. | |
very best chances seem to be few and far between and he had enough of | :34:38. | :34:41. | |
them in the opening frame but have to make the most of them. | :34:42. | :34:56. | |
That certainly will help his confidence. It was a long red | :34:57. | :35:02. | |
similar to that that he hit two thick in the previous frame. No | :35:03. | :35:05. | |
problem this time, right in the centre of the pocket. This is a | :35:06. | :35:13. | |
really good chance. Reds spread around, could score plenty of points | :35:14. | :35:17. | |
before you need to get down to the nitty-gritty of opening up the pack. | :35:18. | :35:19. | |
Could score a few here. The pink is out of commission at the | :35:20. | :35:42. | |
moment, but the black has a red either side of it. In a few shots | :35:43. | :35:48. | |
time he could have the black in the open. Got to be very precise with | :35:49. | :35:55. | |
this, needs to pull up a little bit. That looks to be absolutely perfect. | :35:56. | :36:04. | |
Yeah, he is on the black, you can tell by his body language. Looks a | :36:05. | :36:11. | |
bit tight but I think he's OK. If he is on it it's the best shot he has | :36:12. | :36:15. | |
played in the match. Have already mentioned how quick the cloth is. | :36:16. | :36:23. | |
That's a fabulous shot. Excellent control. But his heart was in his | :36:24. | :36:27. | |
mouth when the cue ball was running. And now he has the black in the | :36:28. | :36:39. | |
open, that truly was a superb positional shot. | :36:40. | :36:54. | |
I remember a good few years ago we were in the commentary box and I | :36:55. | :37:00. | |
remember seeing I thought Liang Wenbo was the next big thing. I had | :37:01. | :37:04. | |
seen him play and thought his cue ball control and scoring was | :37:05. | :37:08. | |
absolutely fantastic and I thought this boy would going to win lots of | :37:09. | :37:12. | |
events and it's fair to say he went missing for a few years but | :37:13. | :37:14. | |
thankfully he is back on the big-time here in top 16. Won a | :37:15. | :37:22. | |
ranking event in 2016, he has found something from somewhere and it's | :37:23. | :37:25. | |
good to have him back because he certainly supremely talented. | :37:26. | :37:39. | |
Well, this might have just gone astray. Misjudged the cannon, think | :37:40. | :37:47. | |
his left things very difficult for himself. | :37:48. | :37:57. | |
This is tough, it will just go past the blue up into the corner. A | :37:58. | :38:03. | |
beauty! Yes, excellent recovery. Could have | :38:04. | :38:23. | |
easily been disappointed from the shot he played before. Really had to | :38:24. | :38:32. | |
do so little with the cue ball on this cloth, it is zipping around the | :38:33. | :38:38. | |
angles. Just got to make sure that this next positional shot, it's | :38:39. | :38:42. | |
important, got to get the right angle. | :38:43. | :39:17. | |
Isn't it ironic John, when he played the previous shot in the first frame | :39:18. | :39:24. | |
to split the reds he did not get enough side, that time he got too | :39:25. | :39:27. | |
much side on. He was thinking about the shot he played as we show you | :39:28. | :39:32. | |
out again, this time getting too much side on it. No easy safety | :39:33. | :39:38. | |
shot, has to just roll into them, cannot do everything else. Ronnie | :39:39. | :39:48. | |
cannot run away up the table. Of that red. Closest to the tank. | :39:49. | :40:05. | |
Following a similar pattern to the opening frame here where Liang Wenbo | :40:06. | :40:15. | |
was leading by 40 points. Once again the safety shot has to be very | :40:16. | :40:21. | |
careful. Have to get the cue ball glued to the bottom fusion cushion. | :40:22. | :40:39. | |
That's pretty good but there is an easy safety shot for Ronnie of the | :40:40. | :40:53. | |
reds just to the left of the pink as we look at them. | :40:54. | :41:03. | |
He needs the green to come to the rescue here. It's not. Round of | :41:04. | :41:10. | |
applause but there is a gap through to this red. This would be some shot | :41:11. | :41:18. | |
but knowing Liang Wenbo he will play at. This will be interesting to | :41:19. | :41:25. | |
watch because it was a long part in the opening frame when he was in | :41:26. | :41:28. | |
front and not in much trouble that caused him to ultimately lose the | :41:29. | :41:37. | |
frame. What will he do here? That was not the cue action I'm afraid. | :41:38. | :41:40. | |
Looked like a lot of pressure on that. | :41:41. | :41:45. | |
Let's have a look, the reds sitting on the black spots will have to go | :41:46. | :42:09. | |
directly behind because of the other spots are occupied. I think that | :42:10. | :42:20. | |
last part that Liang Wenbo missed, he's just concerned about who's | :42:21. | :42:25. | |
coming behind him, he's got Ronnie O'Sullivan, the six time Masters | :42:26. | :42:28. | |
champion and that puts a much pressure on a part like that and | :42:29. | :42:30. | |
that's where the mental strength comes in, you have to try to forget | :42:31. | :42:36. | |
what you are playing and think about what you're going to leave. But that | :42:37. | :42:46. | |
is easier said than done. I think the red goes that is closest to the | :42:47. | :42:53. | |
black, but he cannot get on that red, the angle he has left the pink | :42:54. | :42:57. | |
but there is no problem, plenty of other choices. Usually manages to | :42:58. | :43:05. | |
sort out which way to go doesn't he? Adept at seeing the table and | :43:06. | :43:08. | |
getting the computer working, where to leave the cue ball. To make the | :43:09. | :43:15. | |
break as easy as possible. Fair to say he's been fairly useful at that | :43:16. | :43:17. | |
over the years. He can leave that red next to the | :43:18. | :43:59. | |
black for the time being. He played the last red, playing to try to come | :44:00. | :44:03. | |
dead straight on the pink to run through for the red next to the | :44:04. | :44:06. | |
black, did not quite get there are so a change of plan. Just trying to | :44:07. | :44:13. | |
leave himself that angle to run through and get on that red by the | :44:14. | :44:19. | |
black. But if you don't quite manage it you have to change the way you go | :44:20. | :44:20. | |
about it. And he is they are now. -- there | :44:21. | :44:42. | |
now. A couple of tricky reds, the one next to the blue is available | :44:43. | :44:46. | |
only in corner pockets. That one jumped quite a bit but did not | :44:47. | :44:50. | |
affect the shot. The one that is near the right side cushion is | :44:51. | :44:54. | |
slightly awkward, I wonder if he will try to develop that? A little | :44:55. | :45:03. | |
risky. That's what he's played. And didn't develop it. | :45:04. | :45:26. | |
Just having a look to see if the red passes the blue to the green pocket | :45:27. | :45:30. | |
which I think it does. I think that was the table again, | :45:31. | :45:48. | |
the reaction he got. It really is so fast. This is awkward because he's | :45:49. | :45:57. | |
so close to the red. And look at that shot. APPLAUSE | :45:58. | :46:06. | |
Difficult to pick the angle out when you're so close to it and he can | :46:07. | :46:11. | |
take the green here and swing this around the angles to head towards | :46:12. | :46:17. | |
that last difficult red. Here comes the cue ball, where is it going to | :46:18. | :46:29. | |
vanish? Just slipping past it. 15 in front, they are all on. Needs a good | :46:30. | :46:31. | |
snooker here. APPLAUSE I think he'd have to use web around | :46:32. | :47:08. | |
this stick at the edge of it. It's quite tricky to judge with the blue | :47:09. | :47:12. | |
and green playing with a touch of swerve. Where is the red going? | :47:13. | :47:28. | |
Well, this will pot, to take the second frame. | :47:29. | :47:41. | |
For all the world and looks like 2-0 now to Ronnie O'Sullivan. If I was | :47:42. | :48:01. | |
Liang Wenbo I would be sitting in that chair kicking myself because | :48:02. | :48:04. | |
the scoreline at the moment is self-inflicted. Two long reds, one | :48:05. | :48:09. | |
in the opening frame that he missed by a mile and that one there in the | :48:10. | :48:13. | |
last frame that he missed when he was 40 points in front... | :48:14. | :48:21. | |
That's the one in the first frame that he missed by a mile. Cost him | :48:22. | :48:28. | |
the frame. And then this one which was a really good opportunity for | :48:29. | :48:34. | |
someone of his class. Because of those looks like he's going to be | :48:35. | :48:36. | |
2-0 down. Well, no fireworks just yet but | :48:37. | :48:58. | |
Liang Wenbo could have quite easily led 2-0 but the scoreline currently | :48:59. | :49:04. | |
reads Ronnie O'Sullivan 2-0 Liang Wenbo. | :49:05. | :50:05. | |
Defending champion has a 2-0 lead and John Parrott summed it up, | :50:06. | :50:12. | |
self-inflicted he said from the perspective of Liang Wenbo, do you | :50:13. | :50:18. | |
agree? Of course, Liang Wenbo wins his first ranking event, his stock | :50:19. | :50:22. | |
rises and with that comes different problems and one of those is | :50:23. | :50:25. | |
expectation. Now Liang Wenbo possibly going to come into | :50:26. | :50:29. | |
tournaments from now on in expecting it to do better and that puts | :50:30. | :50:35. | |
pressure on. Only his second appearance at the Masters, on his | :50:36. | :50:40. | |
debut last year, this is a 23rd appearance for Ronnie. How | :50:41. | :50:42. | |
intimidating is this place when you're just getting used to it? You | :50:43. | :50:47. | |
are battling against the Ronnie O'Sullivan show when you come here, | :50:48. | :50:50. | |
you have you have to have tremendous mental strength to get through it. I | :50:51. | :50:55. | |
remember when I used to play Jimmy White at the old Wembley conference | :50:56. | :50:59. | |
Centre and it was the same thing. Forget about the surroundings and | :51:00. | :51:05. | |
just, anyone who plays a top player, cut out the unforced errors and | :51:06. | :51:09. | |
you'd be amazed how well you do. It's quite obvious when you are | :51:10. | :51:12. | |
looking at all these factors, he has been caught cold in the first couple | :51:13. | :51:17. | |
of frames, couple of misses that you could put in the easy category, how | :51:18. | :51:22. | |
do you set yourself down? It's just an unforced, it's trying 100% | :51:23. | :51:27. | |
concentration into every shot. He needs to win frame quickly in this | :51:28. | :51:34. | |
match. COMMENTATOR: We always say you never really settle until you | :51:35. | :51:37. | |
get your first frame on the scoreboard. And that is what Liang | :51:38. | :51:42. | |
Wenbo will be thinking about, must get a frame sooner rather than | :51:43. | :51:45. | |
later. Now, has that red cover of the one | :51:46. | :52:00. | |
near the pocket? I don't think so, Liang Wenbo can get through to cut | :52:01. | :52:06. | |
this in. And I think he will avoid cannoning into the bunch of reds and | :52:07. | :52:12. | |
the pink. Even if he did it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world but | :52:13. | :52:16. | |
it's all about making sure of the pot and letting the quite take care | :52:17. | :52:18. | |
of itself. -- the white. Come through a gap that I didn't | :52:19. | :52:41. | |
see. That is what he was looking at, wasn't absolutely certain about the | :52:42. | :52:45. | |
cue ball, but to find the gap was a bonus as we show you the shot again. | :52:46. | :52:49. | |
Not the gap he played for but he'll take it. Just giving himself a | :52:50. | :52:58. | |
little bit of extra time here to make sure that he gets the next shot | :52:59. | :53:07. | |
right because if he can get good position he can give himself an | :53:08. | :53:09. | |
early chance here in this third frame. | :53:10. | :53:19. | |
I think the pink is out of commission looking at it, the black | :53:20. | :53:25. | |
still a little awkward, like it was in the earlier frame. This is a much | :53:26. | :53:30. | |
more difficult chance than the one he had in the second frame, the | :53:31. | :53:39. | |
black is really awkward. Taking his time, I don't blame him. He is 2-0 | :53:40. | :53:46. | |
down after all. If it goes 3-0 down I cannot fancy him at all. Somehow | :53:47. | :53:52. | |
he has to get around and under the blue, so how does he find the path | :53:53. | :53:56. | |
round there? He's just checking to see if the pink would possibly going | :53:57. | :54:00. | |
to the right middle pocket. Looks a bit tight. We'll find out shortly, | :54:01. | :54:04. | |
the way he plays best shot. That has been overhit by quite some | :54:05. | :54:18. | |
way. That's just a little bit of tension there. We mentioned how | :54:19. | :54:28. | |
quick the cloth is, that such a difficult shot to play on a really | :54:29. | :54:30. | |
quick cloth, of the side cushion. May have left Ronnie along red on | :54:31. | :54:45. | |
the right-hand side. He's looking at the black, but I don't think it | :54:46. | :54:52. | |
pots. Very tight if he was to leave it where he is cueing, maybe he can | :54:53. | :54:56. | |
get on that if he stuns the white through. He had an angle to come an | :54:57. | :55:09. | |
and off the cushion to get on the black. Unexpected miss from Ronnie | :55:10. | :55:19. | |
O'Sullivan and a chance for Liang. We know the black is available. | :55:20. | :55:25. | |
Little bit street, but looks as if he's going to miss to the right of | :55:26. | :55:29. | |
the pocket as we watch cueing but safely in. This will open the black | :55:30. | :55:33. | |
up. Little run through to land on the | :55:34. | :56:09. | |
loose red. I know we keep going on about it but if you're going to have | :56:10. | :56:13. | |
a future in this match Liang he's got to score now. | :56:14. | :56:36. | |
Need to keep going, he wanted to have an angle. Looks of it straight. | :56:37. | :56:47. | |
We'll have to power this through with lots of side. Going to be a bit | :56:48. | :56:57. | |
close to the condition but he's got the red lives near the right corner. | :56:58. | :57:05. | |
Quite cleverly played. Often say to people how do you make a break, you | :57:06. | :57:08. | |
try to leave yourself in positions where there are a couple of options | :57:09. | :57:13. | |
so that was well played, knew he didn't get on the other red near the | :57:14. | :57:15. | |
black he still had this one. APPLAUSE | :57:16. | :57:33. | |
Very well controlled. Really well controlled. You can sense already | :57:34. | :57:42. | |
that Liang knows how important this is. And he knows how important this | :57:43. | :57:49. | |
next shot is going to be, leaves himself on the black to split up | :57:50. | :57:53. | |
this bunch of reds, that's going to be key. This is the one that could | :57:54. | :58:01. | |
pave the way. To taking his first frame in this match. It's not the | :58:02. | :58:06. | |
best pack of reds to go into, needs to get plenty of action on this. | :58:07. | :58:14. | |
That red is available to him. Just run through and leave himself on the | :58:15. | :58:35. | |
pink or black. Well once again he finds himself with an almost 40 | :58:36. | :58:38. | |
point lead and really there is no excuse from here. Somebody of his | :58:39. | :58:43. | |
quality, this is an excellent chance. To take the frame. | :58:44. | :59:08. | |
You can see Liang taking a nice deep breath as he walks around. | :59:09. | :59:19. | |
Deep breath and go again. Maintain that concentration level. | :59:20. | :59:49. | |
This is what he is very good at, Liang, close control around the pink | :59:50. | :59:58. | |
and black area. Scored very heavily and very quickly. A series of little | :59:59. | :00:06. | |
stuns and screw shots. Racks up the points very quickly. | :00:07. | :00:14. | |
Yes, he knocked in 30 centuries last season. Nearly 18 this season. He | :00:15. | :00:23. | |
has just let the white run a little further than he intended. Safely in. | :00:24. | :00:33. | |
And there you can see, 67 ahead with 59 remaining he can relax a little | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
bit. Certainly is an excellent response. | :00:39. | :00:48. | |
We said at the start of this frame, this is what he has to do to score. | :00:49. | :00:52. | |
A little bit of help for Ronnie in this frame, it has to be said. I | :00:53. | :00:57. | |
didn't expect Ronnie to miss. But nevertheless, he has taken things | :00:58. | :01:03. | |
very well. Ronnie's shot, we thought he would come off of the black, but | :01:04. | :01:07. | |
not to be. Showing very good character here, Liang. | :01:08. | :01:24. | |
He has got a lovely swagger around the table, a very confident swagger. | :01:25. | :01:31. | |
Liang Wenbo is a lovely lad. But when he's playing well, you know, | :01:32. | :01:36. | |
it's as if I'm the boss! The big boss! | :01:37. | :01:42. | |
You remember that, John, Bruce Lee, the big boss. | :01:43. | :02:01. | |
No reason why he shouldn't go on to make a century break. The first one | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
of this year's masters. His cue ball control has been exemplary. | :02:08. | :02:13. | |
I have a funny feeling he won't be the only one this week. There will | :02:14. | :02:17. | |
be a few of them, John. A magnificent break from Liang | :02:18. | :02:36. | |
Wenbo. And coming just at the right time for him and his supporters. | :02:37. | :02:45. | |
That really set this first-round match up. After the two frames, no | :02:46. | :02:52. | |
fireworks. Well, we've had a few in this frame, all coming from the | :02:53. | :02:56. | |
Chinese player. It doesn't matter about the pink. Ronnie missed an | :02:57. | :03:03. | |
easy red here. Wenbo got one chance, and didn't he take it well? He | :03:04. | :03:08. | |
missed a century break, but he still trails 2-1. | :03:09. | :04:11. | |
It very much needed frame for Liang. If there was a shot in that frame | :04:12. | :04:18. | |
that was a surprise that Ronnie played, with mentioned he played a | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
drag shot. I thought it was strange, he played with a lot of bottle just | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
hold for the black. That's the drag shot but you mention, when you hit | :04:29. | :04:31. | |
the ball on the bottom, swinging backwards, take all of the off of | :04:32. | :04:39. | |
it. It reverts into top spin, as you can see. It lands on the object ball | :04:40. | :04:44. | |
softer. That is what he was trying to do with the black, it didn't | :04:45. | :04:48. | |
quite work out. Consequently, Liang went on to win the frame. Once | :04:49. | :04:56. | |
again, it's amazing from the break of shot, look at the red either side | :04:57. | :05:00. | |
of the black. What has happened in all three frames so far, the red | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
they are hitting seems to be sitting on either side of the black. I think | :05:06. | :05:10. | |
it is an indication, the pack is really opening. | :05:11. | :05:18. | |
Actually a very good break off from Ronnie. Can he just get past that | :05:19. | :05:27. | |
blue just need that read. It looks as if he can. Paul Collier is having | :05:28. | :05:31. | |
a good look to see. The reason the referee looks is because if you were | :05:32. | :05:34. | |
to miss it altogether he'd have to get it back, but he can, and he can | :05:35. | :05:40. | |
avoid it if he hits it than enough. He can play and swerve, even write | :05:41. | :05:46. | |
up this. That's what he's done. That's what you call a containing | :05:47. | :05:47. | |
shot. Ronnie just tapping the table. Nothing wrong with that shot. | :05:48. | :06:01. | |
Sometimes that's all you've got. He thought one pocket might be in the | :06:02. | :06:05. | |
wake if you didn't get it right, he chose to play that one. Sometimes | :06:06. | :06:09. | |
you put yourself back into the bit of trouble, but that's all that you | :06:10. | :06:10. | |
can do. Well, the crowd have got so involved | :06:11. | :06:55. | |
this afternoon. It's the opening match, a packed house. | :06:56. | :07:01. | |
He didn't get it in the jaws of the pocket. | :07:02. | :07:07. | |
This is what the game of snooker is all about, playing, a one-table | :07:08. | :07:14. | |
situation, 1700 people in, this is what the players turned professional | :07:15. | :07:19. | |
for. And they strive for it. They've got to play an awful lot of events | :07:20. | :07:23. | |
these days that are the best of seven frames, mostly cabled venues. | :07:24. | :07:26. | |
But this is what it's all about. This is your reward. Well, Ronnie, I | :07:27. | :07:33. | |
think you found the plant here. Just having a look at it. Trying to see | :07:34. | :07:39. | |
whether it is on the near jaw locked. Which side he is going to | :07:40. | :07:43. | |
hit it. Of course, it depends a little bit on how much of a gap | :07:44. | :07:49. | |
there is between the two reds. It looks like it's on to me. If it is | :07:50. | :07:53. | |
so close and he doesn't get it correctly, he can squeeze the second | :07:54. | :07:57. | |
read away from the pocket. That is why he is taking extra care -- the | :07:58. | :08:02. | |
second red. It is going is to the left of the pot. Which means he | :08:03. | :08:05. | |
would have to make sure that he gets the correct contact on the first | :08:06. | :08:12. | |
round. It's not a foul shot if you can lift your feet off the table | :08:13. | :08:15. | |
when you are looking at the short! But you can't do it while you are | :08:16. | :08:16. | |
playing the shot. Well, we've got a perfect picture to | :08:17. | :08:25. | |
see whether he judges it or squeezing it away from the pocket. A | :08:26. | :08:28. | |
foul and MS. -- and a miss. I think because he was striking down | :08:29. | :08:49. | |
on it, the Kiwis going down and he swerved it, it bounced straight into | :08:50. | :08:58. | |
the blue. -- the the cue. The final thing that happened in that shot, | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
the black Kayumova and rested on the plant and moved it. Everything | :09:02. | :09:07. | |
happened there apart from the lampshade for on his head! -- the | :09:08. | :09:09. | |
black Kayumova. Of course, the balls wouldn't have | :09:10. | :09:29. | |
to be placed back, because it is not a miss. It is just a far shot. And | :09:30. | :09:38. | |
that is a player with quite a bit of confidence. And that century break | :09:39. | :09:43. | |
has given Liang Wenbo back fat confidence. That was a terrific long | :09:44. | :09:47. | |
pot. It certainly was -- a bit of confidence. The second frame he hit | :09:48. | :09:54. | |
right across it. It was excellently cued. He won't be bullied by the | :09:55. | :10:01. | |
fact that he has seen a couple of mistakes from morning. It is nice | :10:02. | :10:05. | |
when your opponent is missing one or two poor shots. It helps with your | :10:06. | :10:07. | |
confidence. Ronnie at 85%, Liang my device | :10:08. | :10:21. | |
percent. His potting success rate. -- at 95%. 95 is quite high | :10:22. | :10:25. | |
considering he lost the first two frames. If Liang hasn't got high | :10:26. | :10:31. | |
enough on the pink, that a stinker. It wasn't easy shot to get up there, | :10:32. | :10:36. | |
but maybe he's just sneaked an angle out of it. One thing he had to be | :10:37. | :10:40. | |
there was above the pink to go back down for the reds. Have a look. He's | :10:41. | :10:44. | |
just made it. And that's OK. So much reverse side on that shot. I | :10:45. | :11:03. | |
mean, I don't think the crowd realised how much side he had to get | :11:04. | :11:04. | |
onto that. You can see the whites spinning off | :11:05. | :11:13. | |
the cushion and heading towards the red. That normally would have run | :11:14. | :11:19. | |
out into the middle of the table. Yes, quite a bit of work to do with | :11:20. | :11:25. | |
this chance. It's not a great one. It would be helped if he can get the | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
blue back on the spot, that's for sure. Just drop this in and get the | :11:30. | :11:32. | |
angle on the loose red, that would help. | :11:33. | :11:39. | |
I'm just wondering whether the black goes in the centre pocket. He is | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
coming round to have a look. If you can drop this into get that handle, | :11:45. | :11:49. | |
he may get the black back in play. Yes, it does. It looks to have come | :11:50. | :11:52. | |
well, a natural angle to get back in there. | :11:53. | :12:05. | |
All of the spots are occupied. The black will have to go behind its own | :12:06. | :12:12. | |
spot, behind that red there. It shouldn't really put it out of | :12:13. | :12:17. | |
action. Oh, we've got a wasp! It's a bit early, sorry, a bit late for one | :12:18. | :12:18. | |
of those, John. Missed it! Well, that's it now, the refs at it, | :12:19. | :12:32. | |
it'll be coming after you in a minute! I think you got a kick when | :12:33. | :12:41. | |
he had a go at that wasp! -- I think EE got a kick. | :12:42. | :12:51. | |
Well, that was looking like not a very promising visit to the table. | :12:52. | :12:57. | |
But he's negotiated is very well, Leanne. -- Liang Wenbo. He has the | :12:58. | :13:07. | |
blue back on the spot. Black might still be available. A lot better | :13:08. | :13:12. | |
than a few shots ago. More importantly, he has started off | :13:13. | :13:13. | |
dangerous. It is amazing how many top | :13:14. | :13:37. | |
left-handed players or in the game nowadays, and all terrific players. | :13:38. | :13:44. | |
Answer me this, why do they all look so good? That's the other thing. | :13:45. | :13:49. | |
It's like the top-class golfers, left-handed looks brilliant. Bob | :13:50. | :13:52. | |
Charles, I remember him, and elegant golfer. | :13:53. | :14:18. | |
Yes, is definitely warming to the task. A bit of a shaky start. Down | :14:19. | :14:28. | |
by 40 points -- up by 40 points in the opening two frames and lost both | :14:29. | :14:32. | |
of them. A century in the last frame. Going well here. He is | :14:33. | :14:36. | |
looking like the player who won that English Open back last year. He met | :14:37. | :14:39. | |
Judd Trump in the final. He has got a slight problem here. He | :14:40. | :14:51. | |
didn't get on the pink as he intended. He is going to get a | :14:52. | :14:55. | |
cannon. I think he can come off the crush and looking at that angle and | :14:56. | :15:00. | |
hope to bring water or two reds in the plate -- off the caution. Lots | :15:01. | :15:04. | |
of top spin, I don't know if there is a possible planned there. He's | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
got a bit of a kick there. He may have been attempting the plant. Yes, | :15:09. | :15:14. | |
Dennis, I think that's what he's playing for. That was a terrible | :15:15. | :15:18. | |
kick. 48 up in the air of Mike both balls. He's already had a look at | :15:19. | :15:22. | |
that. This is not totally straightforward. Quite a bit of | :15:23. | :15:28. | |
distance between these two reds. They look easy from behind the | :15:29. | :15:31. | |
pocket, but when you actually see the gap between the two of them... | :15:32. | :15:37. | |
Well, he's picked the spot on the cushion where he's going to set the | :15:38. | :15:45. | |
first round to make that angle. Well, that was just... He didn't | :15:46. | :15:51. | |
have the angle. I'm thinking he was lucky there. | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
Boy, didn't he give that a good old belt? He has covered the one with | :15:56. | :16:01. | |
the blue, but there is another to the right corner. | :16:02. | :16:06. | |
Be careful you don't touch that white, Ronnie, he was clearing | :16:07. | :16:14. | |
something away and very close to the cue ball with his finger, there. | :16:15. | :16:22. | |
Now, then, Mr very straightforward in the previous frame which cost him | :16:23. | :16:30. | |
-- missed a very straightforward red. I didn't collecting the missed | :16:31. | :16:34. | |
this. It looks like he's got away with it. He has had the right | :16:35. | :16:40. | |
result. He will be very happy to have left the cue ball where he has. | :16:41. | :16:45. | |
It could have been a lot easier for Liang year. Here. | :16:46. | :16:58. | |
Much too thick. He was just hoping to bring the black back into play | :16:59. | :17:25. | |
there. But he got it particularly wrong. He has just gone slightly out | :17:26. | :17:32. | |
of sorts for a frame and a bit, Ronnie. Not his usual high matchplay | :17:33. | :17:37. | |
standard at the moment. Needs to keep running to finish on | :17:38. | :17:55. | |
the black. Look at that. Once again, it looked as if it was going to come | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
up short. It's just beautiful to play on. When you're cueing well, | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
it's beautiful to play on. I don't know if he has got two straight on | :18:05. | :18:07. | |
this black, though. It looked like he had a few inches on the cue ball | :18:08. | :18:11. | |
to leave an angle. He's got a little bit. You couldn't force much out of | :18:12. | :18:17. | |
that cue ball. To be honest, he didn't you it very well either. -- | :18:18. | :18:25. | |
he didn't Huw it. He cued the plant poorly before. It was fairly | :18:26. | :18:29. | |
straight. A few players would have got a bit more out of that than he | :18:30. | :18:31. | |
did. Well, there is a half chance for | :18:32. | :18:48. | |
Ronnie here. If you can get himself onto the black, we will show you the | :18:49. | :18:56. | |
miss from Liang Wenbo. Yes, he's got a gap. He can avoid three reds and | :18:57. | :18:57. | |
get round and black or blue. He doesn't want the cannon on the | :18:58. | :19:14. | |
blue. It has finished a little awkward. Had he have missed the | :19:15. | :19:17. | |
blue, he'd have been perfect on the black. | :19:18. | :19:34. | |
Now, the way the red Czar, you'd have to say that Liang Wenbo is a | :19:35. | :19:40. | |
strong favourite, but you never know with Ronnie O'Sullivan -- the way | :19:41. | :19:41. | |
the reds. Absolutely superb. Beautifully, all | :19:42. | :19:57. | |
of the work that he gets on the cue ball, it goes past the blue. Run | :19:58. | :20:02. | |
inside the back with this red. Can you believe it? Liang Wenbo has come | :20:03. | :20:09. | |
out of his seat. He can't believe it. That red was a bit of a | :20:10. | :20:14. | |
distraction, leaning over the two reds. Still, what a mess. -- a miss. | :20:15. | :20:26. | |
I suppose, at 2-0, Liang Wenbo would be thinking, if I can get just 3-1 | :20:27. | :20:36. | |
down I would be quite happy. The way it's going coming he's going to be | :20:37. | :20:43. | |
all square. He's going to be all square after missing a couple of | :20:44. | :20:44. | |
chances as well. Even better. Ronnie has had breaks of 55, 30 | :20:45. | :21:02. | |
five. I don't think that's happened very often. Last week he was on only | :21:03. | :21:09. | |
55, but that's what's happened today. He was good enough to lead | :21:10. | :21:14. | |
2-0, but disappointed going into the interval 2-2. Leanne will be | :21:15. | :21:18. | |
delighted. Game on again. -- Liang Wenbo. | :21:19. | :21:29. | |
Just over one hour and three minutes before the first four frames. It has | :21:30. | :21:41. | |
been pretty fluent staff. -- fluent stuff. | :21:42. | :22:05. | |
Could have played to move the red, but decided, being a left-hander, | :22:06. | :22:11. | |
I'll just dropping behind it. It doesn't matter if he misses this. | :22:12. | :22:15. | |
He'd like to clear it, but it doesn't really matter. | :22:16. | :22:26. | |
He lost a bit of concentration. Now the frame as well and truly over. A | :22:27. | :22:33. | |
shaky start the Liang Wenbo, but I'll tell you what committee didn't | :22:34. | :22:37. | |
half finish in style. He goes to the mid-session interval all square. | :22:38. | :22:41. | |
It's two frames each. STUDIO: We thought there would be a | :22:42. | :22:46. | |
turnaround in that frame, but Ronnie misses a relatively simple red. You | :22:47. | :22:50. | |
could hear the audio bowl last of the audience when that happened -- | :22:51. | :22:55. | |
be audible gasp. So from that happens. You play a bit of | :22:56. | :22:58. | |
brilliance, and the some reason you miss the next shot. Either you think | :22:59. | :23:03. | |
it is easy or you put too much pressure on yourself. Have those | :23:04. | :23:07. | |
ever happen to you? No? I didn't think so! Many times! It | :23:08. | :23:14. | |
interesting. Ronnie O'Sullivan goes 2-0 up, you think he is the best | :23:15. | :23:18. | |
frontrunner there has ever been. You think, that's it, he's going to push | :23:19. | :23:22. | |
on now. He missed a long red with a drag. And he has been pulled back to | :23:23. | :23:28. | |
2-2. A couple of unforced errors from Ronnie. The confidence levels | :23:29. | :23:31. | |
you could see beginning to surge through the anchor. He makes the | :23:32. | :23:39. | |
will -- through Liang. He has missed a couple of long once, he is now | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
needing help from Ronnie to get into the match and he got it. You got to | :23:45. | :23:48. | |
say the Wenbo, perhaps Wenbo a number of years ago wouldn't have | :23:49. | :23:52. | |
had the strength of character that perhaps take the next smack frames, | :23:53. | :23:55. | |
but he's an experienced winner now and he is using all of that to good | :23:56. | :24:00. | |
as dead -- the next two frames. It wasn't as pretty as he would have | :24:01. | :24:06. | |
liked -- he is using all of that experience. Will Ronnie be feeling | :24:07. | :24:10. | |
despondent at this stage about how he has performed? No, I think he | :24:11. | :24:16. | |
plays on a pretty, he is pretty level-headed about it, in his | :24:17. | :24:19. | |
attitude to matches and how they go these days. He is prepared to win | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
ugly. Winning the match is the most important thing. Sooner or later, he | :24:24. | :24:28. | |
would be too disappointed. It is interesting. Ronnie has won this | :24:29. | :24:32. | |
Master six times, as we know. He has also been in five other finals as | :24:33. | :24:37. | |
well, and incredible strike rate over 23 years, this is his 23rd | :24:38. | :24:42. | |
campaign. He is just wanting to win here, but what has been interesting, | :24:43. | :24:46. | |
and interesting he did on BBC radio five Live and indeed on the telly, | :24:47. | :24:50. | |
he was very keen to stress that he wanted to win with style. We showed | :24:51. | :24:53. | |
you the quote about him wanting to be the Lionel Messi of snooker. He | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
has been in rather expansive form in that chat with Jamie Elliott. -- | :24:58. | :25:01. | |
Jamie earlier. It'd be great to get another | :25:02. | :25:14. | |
Masters. I does want to win another Masters. I want to win another world | :25:15. | :25:19. | |
is. I want to win another Welsh, and China Open. I just want to win more | :25:20. | :25:27. | |
tournaments. What are your memories of last year, and how well do you | :25:28. | :25:30. | |
think you played between the corners? I was struggling last year, | :25:31. | :25:35. | |
because I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to play properly again | :25:36. | :25:38. | |
because of my back. Seven or eight years ago I would probably have | :25:39. | :25:44. | |
thrown in the towel. I had to fight to win matches that normally I | :25:45. | :25:47. | |
wouldn't win. It was good for me, you know. Do you take a lot of | :25:48. | :25:52. | |
positives out of getting to the final of the UK championship? I know | :25:53. | :25:56. | |
it wasn't the result you wanted, but for the neutral watching it was an | :25:57. | :26:00. | |
amazing final? For me, it was about people coming to watch, you know, it | :26:01. | :26:05. | |
was on the TV, good entertainment. But I want to win it with style. I | :26:06. | :26:09. | |
want to play an exciting, aggressive, attacking game. So that | :26:10. | :26:13. | |
the people watching say, you know what, he doesn't just win, he | :26:14. | :26:16. | |
delivers entertainment as well. I think it's important. Some people | :26:17. | :26:20. | |
say, you can't play like that and when. But Lionel Messi proves that | :26:21. | :26:24. | |
you can, Tiger Woods does and Roger Federer. I want to try and be one of | :26:25. | :26:33. | |
them. Does it worry you, the lack of development, particularly the | :26:34. | :26:36. | |
amateur game in the UK and Europe? When I turned professional, in 1992, | :26:37. | :26:41. | |
I think. They basically just allowed everybody to turn pro, there's no | :26:42. | :26:43. | |
amateur game, there is nothing further to go and do. You turned | :26:44. | :26:49. | |
pro, go and get beaten 6-0. That's what's happening now, all of these | :26:50. | :26:53. | |
pros turning pro who are not good enough to be professional. A lot of | :26:54. | :26:56. | |
guys are wasting their time really. A lot of players are struggling to | :26:57. | :27:00. | |
stay on the tour financially. They are playing lots and lots of | :27:01. | :27:06. | |
variance. And it's training them. -- lots and lots of events, and it is | :27:07. | :27:10. | |
training them. If you're glad wanted to be a pro, would you encourage | :27:11. | :27:17. | |
him? I've told him, he's not allowed to. I'm going to be strong on that. | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
I said to my daughter, I know that girls play snooker, but I don't want | :27:23. | :27:25. | |
you to play. I don't think it is a good life for a snooker now coming | :27:26. | :27:29. | |
into the game. If you are Selby, me or John Higgins, or Judd Trump, yes, | :27:30. | :27:37. | |
but for the other 120 if you like, it's a nightmare. They are literally | :27:38. | :27:40. | |
struggling to put food in the fridge. You know, I don't want my | :27:41. | :27:44. | |
children being brought up in a system that only benefits the top, | :27:45. | :27:49. | |
top people, know. It's a bit like the banking world, you. Everyone | :27:50. | :27:54. | |
else is struggling to kind of make ends meet when the top people get | :27:55. | :27:58. | |
fortunes. It's like that in snooker. I don't want my children being | :27:59. | :28:01. | |
involved in an industry where that is the culture, you know. I want | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
them to be in something where it's a bit more even, you know. Do you feel | :28:05. | :28:08. | |
that you are playing at the level that you are happy with, or would | :28:09. | :28:13. | |
you feel that you can't lay better? I think I'm OK. For six weeks I had | :28:14. | :28:18. | |
-- you can play better. I had to really struggle. The last 16 was a | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
good result. I could have got beat early. My form over the last, say, | :28:23. | :28:29. | |
November to December, I had a really good plate when I fault had with my | :28:30. | :28:32. | |
game, I was confident and enjoying it, and it was good. My game is a | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
lot better place now than it was, say, early September. Your champion, | :28:39. | :28:43. | |
Ronnie O'Sullivan! Is there a bit more expectation, it is a London | :28:44. | :28:48. | |
tournament, and most of the fans are behind you and want you to do well? | :28:49. | :28:53. | |
I no longer here to put all of my eggs in one basket. You know, I | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
think the winner Masters, this is the bonus, for me. I don't ever now | :28:58. | :29:03. | |
make snooker my number one goal. This is part of what I do, is not | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
everything I do. I don't take it too seriously no more. I enjoy having | :29:08. | :29:11. | |
that freedom of not being a slave to the sport as much as I used to be. | :29:12. | :29:15. | |
And it's just about having it in my life rather than dominating my life. | :29:16. | :29:22. | |
I enjoyed coming in this room here day after day, playing for three or | :29:23. | :29:26. | |
four hours. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad. But other things I've been | :29:27. | :29:31. | |
doing really good fun, you know. You get to meet different people. I feel | :29:32. | :29:34. | |
it has made me a happier and better person by taking the pressure off | :29:35. | :29:37. | |
and just playing snooker. So I think it's more important for me at this | :29:38. | :29:42. | |
stage of my career but I have a happy, stress-free life. I'm not | :29:43. | :29:46. | |
going to be regretting, you know, on my tombstone it won't be, you know, | :29:47. | :29:50. | |
I wish it was seven world titles instead of five, I don't think it | :29:51. | :29:53. | |
actually matters when it comes to Judgment Day. It's just about | :29:54. | :29:57. | |
enjoying whatever it is that I'm here to do. I love to play and I | :29:58. | :30:01. | |
love to compete. I've got my book coming out, that's been great. I | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
love doing my exhibitions. I've enjoyed doing the American show. | :30:06. | :30:08. | |
That's enjoyment for me. Believe it or not, I know its work, but I see | :30:09. | :30:13. | |
it as enjoyment. This is work, coming to place Newco, talking about | :30:14. | :30:17. | |
snooker, that's work. Because that's where I'm scrutinised, and that's | :30:18. | :30:20. | |
where I Judd myself and where everybody judges me. You are really | :30:21. | :30:26. | |
under the microscope. All the other stuff, just being myself, you know, | :30:27. | :30:30. | |
I haven't got to be the best pundit in the world, I haven't got to be | :30:31. | :30:34. | |
the best tour guide in the American show, just got to have a laugh. | :30:35. | :30:39. | |
He has broken out and is doing other projects were other TV stations, he | :30:40. | :30:47. | |
has a lot in his life. We drill down to the specifics of the titles and | :30:48. | :30:51. | |
the number of titles, he says it doesn't matter if he wins seven | :30:52. | :30:58. | |
world titles or Masters titles. But I am interested, the other side of | :30:59. | :31:02. | |
that airs this is the first time he can actually own one of the records | :31:03. | :31:07. | |
in snooker's three major events outright. He has chased you two over | :31:08. | :31:14. | |
the last 20, 25 years, your title of six in the UK he now co-owns and | :31:15. | :31:19. | |
your total of six in the Masters and seven in the World Championship, he | :31:20. | :31:24. | |
can overtake you and that is a watershed moment potentially for the | :31:25. | :31:28. | |
sport. Discuss. CHUCKLES I think it's right, when I was | :31:29. | :31:34. | |
playing, I had something in the distance all the time I was going | :31:35. | :31:39. | |
for. Ronnie has got the same and it's good to have that target. But | :31:40. | :31:45. | |
listening to that it looks like he's not bothered about it, whether he | :31:46. | :31:49. | |
does it or not. I think when he gets on the table he's a winning animal | :31:50. | :31:55. | |
like both of us wear. But he's given himself that comfort zone of if he | :31:56. | :31:59. | |
doesn't win then he's looking back and saying it doesn't really matter. | :32:00. | :32:04. | |
Secretly, deep down, how much do you feel it would matter to him as a | :32:05. | :32:10. | |
professional, as a snooker animal? What you have to recognise is that | :32:11. | :32:14. | |
is a 40-year-old man talking and I don't think a 40-year-old will have | :32:15. | :32:19. | |
the aspirations of a 25-year-old or even a 30-year-old. What is coming | :32:20. | :32:22. | |
out of his mouth is how years trying to deal with the daily pressures of | :32:23. | :32:27. | |
playing in a competitive game. He's unloading the pressure a little bit | :32:28. | :32:30. | |
by saying it doesn't matter, a 20-year-old doesn't say that, nor | :32:31. | :32:34. | |
does a 30-year-old, they are committed and focused. So when you | :32:35. | :32:39. | |
listen to him talking about other players in the game, you have to | :32:40. | :32:43. | |
consider its not ill informed but it's coming from his perspective | :32:44. | :32:47. | |
because it absolutely rubbish that Ronnie O'Sullivan says the rest of | :32:48. | :32:50. | |
them should not be professionals. You have aspirations as a young | :32:51. | :32:54. | |
player coming through, you might not be good enough at the moment but you | :32:55. | :32:58. | |
practice hard, do like Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham have done and | :32:59. | :33:01. | |
suddenly you can improve your standard and could be one of the | :33:02. | :33:05. | |
players to get through and makes the money. You cannot say the player | :33:06. | :33:13. | |
ranked hundred and 20th is wasting his time because the player at 120th | :33:14. | :33:16. | |
is not wasting his time, he has got a dream. Ronnie O'Sullivan does not | :33:17. | :33:22. | |
have a dream any more, at least not in snooker. But these other players, | :33:23. | :33:28. | |
it doesn't mean it's not worth achieving or chasing. It's a | :33:29. | :33:31. | |
political dimension to this discussion that we address that the | :33:32. | :33:35. | |
UK championship, we did a feature on the economics of the current regime. | :33:36. | :33:43. | |
For Ronnie to say it's not a career he would now have his son going to | :33:44. | :33:50. | |
or his daughter, it's a strong statement. The great thing is that | :33:51. | :33:54. | |
he won't have a choice in the matter because if his son wants to be a | :33:55. | :33:58. | |
professional snooker player he will be. What is your take on all of | :33:59. | :34:03. | |
this? When you started out at 13, 14 and you are looking at the records | :34:04. | :34:07. | |
and were having to get your bottom skelter couple times in matches back | :34:08. | :34:13. | |
then, how did you go about processing? There were so many | :34:14. | :34:18. | |
deserting voices sing I was too young when I was coming through at | :34:19. | :34:22. | |
16, saying I would lose my love for the game but when you're younger you | :34:23. | :34:28. | |
dream. You think what could happen if I have some success in this game | :34:29. | :34:33. | |
that you love playing and you have to keep that focus and that belief. | :34:34. | :34:39. | |
That you can do something. I am sure somewhere in the back of his mind | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
the target of seven 's Masters title and owning something outright, it is | :34:45. | :34:50. | |
a huge shining goal for 25 years of your life. It should be but I think | :34:51. | :34:53. | |
possibly if you try too hard as you get older you put too much pressure | :34:54. | :34:57. | |
on yourself so secretly he wants it as much, but perhaps the way to | :34:58. | :35:03. | |
achieve it is to say it's not as important any more, that might be | :35:04. | :35:07. | |
the way to do it. Fascinating stuff but it will work out over the next | :35:08. | :35:12. | |
seven frames potentially. Before we go to the match, we saw Dennis | :35:13. | :35:17. | |
Taylor introducing the players in some style, 30 years ago this year | :35:18. | :35:21. | |
was when he beat Alex Higgins and 9-8, he is partial to a final frame | :35:22. | :35:27. | |
decider. He still has a couple of tricks up his sleeve. Six times | :35:28. | :35:33. | |
world champion, seven times world champion, this is a difficult trick | :35:34. | :35:36. | |
shot I am going to attempt, send a height of three cushions, it should | :35:37. | :35:43. | |
come between the gap in the queues. Very difficult shot, under pressure. | :35:44. | :35:47. | |
Let's see what happens, go on, get up there. Go and knew little beauty. | :35:48. | :35:57. | |
Go on! CHEERING APPLAUSE | :35:58. | :36:08. | |
Fantastic Dennis, you never lose it. It's good but you are going to | :36:09. | :36:11. | |
struggle to beat one of the trick shots that you might have seen, it | :36:12. | :36:16. | |
has just gone viral on social media, 400 million views on this one from | :36:17. | :36:22. | |
the all stars snooker club in Bristol. If you have not seen this, | :36:23. | :36:28. | |
watch this. Starts at the top of a flight of stairs, the golf club does | :36:29. | :36:34. | |
the damage. It took four hours to set up, four hours of tinkering | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
before it all came right, over 90 attempts before they actually nailed | :36:40. | :36:43. | |
it. The cue ball sent on its way with the golf putter, the brainchild | :36:44. | :36:50. | |
of the general manager. They set it up at closing time in the club, they | :36:51. | :36:56. | |
kept tinkering with the set and till dawn when the cleaners were about to | :36:57. | :37:00. | |
come in and the club was about to open. It involves the stairs, the | :37:01. | :37:07. | |
snooker table, these two are mesmerised by this, two American | :37:08. | :37:15. | |
pull tables, six English pool tables and even a role across the floor. | :37:16. | :37:21. | |
What do you think? It's a good job the floors are level. It's quite an | :37:22. | :37:27. | |
architectural feat of engineering. It's fascinating, shows what you can | :37:28. | :37:31. | |
do with some imagination and a few snooker cues. There have been things | :37:32. | :37:35. | |
like this before with dominoes on the table, it's a magnificent | :37:36. | :37:39. | |
effort, the Labour of love that has gone into this is fantastic. It's | :37:40. | :37:43. | |
the first time it's been done from table to table, this has been seen | :37:44. | :37:47. | |
on the Internet before, but the sophistication of this, the area it | :37:48. | :37:53. | |
takes up in the club... This is the sticky point. That is where the | :37:54. | :37:58. | |
floor needed to be a fraction of level. Using pool tables and snooker | :37:59. | :38:05. | |
tables, I don't know if it goes to the dartboard? No. It's over 500 | :38:06. | :38:11. | |
feet and for about two minutes they are already planning to top this but | :38:12. | :38:16. | |
look at this. Onto the bar. Some golf required at the end of this. | :38:17. | :38:23. | |
Here we go. The best all in one you will ever see. Extraordinary isn't | :38:24. | :38:30. | |
it? Have you ever seen anything so elaborate? That goes back to the old | :38:31. | :38:35. | |
dominoes. Dennis I know you were watching that, the man who set that | :38:36. | :38:39. | |
up is going to come in during the final next Sunday so has some tips | :38:40. | :38:43. | |
to give you and perhaps you can give him some in return? I am looking | :38:44. | :38:48. | |
forward to it, I might introduce that into my routine but it would | :38:49. | :38:53. | |
take about a week to set up. That was absolutely incredible. Something | :38:54. | :38:57. | |
I have been thinking about, wouldn't it be great if we got some of you | :38:58. | :39:01. | |
guys to think about maybe doing something at home and sending in | :39:02. | :39:07. | |
videos? I am just thinking good job they never assured that before the | :39:08. | :39:16. | |
Dennis! Absolutely, before we get back to the action, tonight 's | :39:17. | :39:19. | |
match. Kyren Wilson the only debit and | :39:20. | :39:31. | |
tear, the youngest and lowest ranked player here, ranked number 16 but | :39:32. | :39:37. | |
earned his place after victory in the Shanghai matters last season. He | :39:38. | :39:41. | |
will be making his debut this evening. Let's hear a bit more and | :39:42. | :39:43. | |
introduce you to master Wilson. Good old foot massage. Most | :39:44. | :40:01. | |
definitely James Bond, Daniel Craig. My dad playing in his best mates, he | :40:02. | :40:08. | |
had a pool room built and I was too young to go in and play so I was | :40:09. | :40:11. | |
banging on the door trying to get in. Dedication. Bad loser. I once | :40:12. | :40:19. | |
wrote happy anniversary to my fiance on the sand in the beach. He took it | :40:20. | :40:22. | |
well. Not really, I am quite laid back | :40:23. | :40:32. | |
when it comes to that sort of thing. Ranji jumping naked. -- bungee | :40:33. | :40:38. | |
jumping naked. Chilling out with my fiance and my | :40:39. | :40:50. | |
son and lovely warm weather. After winning Shanghai I bought myself a | :40:51. | :40:55. | |
new car. In just about a year he has managed to vault into the top 16 and | :40:56. | :41:01. | |
is now amongst the elite, earned his place here. Fantastic temperament, | :41:02. | :41:06. | |
what do you make of his potential? Yes, he's improved a lot, I remember | :41:07. | :41:10. | |
commentating on him to three years ago at the Crucible and he did not | :41:11. | :41:14. | |
look comfortable at all. Last year he was a dark horse to win the World | :41:15. | :41:21. | |
Championship. I disagree slightly about his temperament, I think you | :41:22. | :41:24. | |
can let things get to them, when his opponent is getting good luck you | :41:25. | :41:28. | |
start pulling faces so that might be a weakness but a tremendous potter. | :41:29. | :41:34. | |
I am sure he is taking that on board because he's a very bright guy. As | :41:35. | :41:41. | |
for his opponent, Ding Junhui, the first Asian winner of this title in | :41:42. | :41:47. | |
2011, has not won a match at Alexandra Palace since. | :41:48. | :41:51. | |
Extraordinary. It is, you can only put it down to the fact that the | :41:52. | :41:55. | |
first-round series against the top 16 player, you are not that much of | :41:56. | :41:58. | |
a favourite. The first round of other events you are much more | :41:59. | :42:04. | |
likely to get off to a good start as one of the top players. But still, | :42:05. | :42:09. | |
for Ding Junhui who has won five ranking events in a season and has | :42:10. | :42:15. | |
been very strong, amazing. Probably coincidence, just the way it | :42:16. | :42:19. | |
rumbles. He's already won avec tournament this season, was in a | :42:20. | :42:23. | |
final where he was dumped by Mark Selby and was a Crucible finalist. | :42:24. | :42:30. | |
Given the history, is he vulnerable? I worry a little bit, I think in | :42:31. | :42:35. | |
York he went out with a whimper, did not look like he was enjoying | :42:36. | :42:40. | |
himself, bad attitude for such a big tournament. Interesting to see how | :42:41. | :42:43. | |
the break over Christmas and New Year will change his attitude. That | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
match will be on the red button from 7pm this evening. If you have other | :42:49. | :42:54. | |
plans I will be back at 11:45pm on BBC Two with the highlights. But we | :42:55. | :43:01. | |
have this opening match of the Masters to conclude, it has become a | :43:02. | :43:07. | |
best-of-7 frames, let's see if Dennis has managed another trick by | :43:08. | :43:10. | |
sprinting into the commentary box to join John? | :43:11. | :43:14. | |
COMMENTATOR: I just made it! Not as quick as I used to be. | :43:15. | :43:29. | |
Liang Wenbo will be hoping to continue where he left off. That's a | :43:30. | :43:37. | |
pretty decent break-off shot. Hazel asked just before the | :43:38. | :44:05. | |
interval, do you think you'd be disappointed with his early | :44:06. | :44:08. | |
performance, I spoke to Ronnie in the interval, had a cup of coffee | :44:09. | :44:12. | |
with him and he said he is enjoying being out there, just happy to be | :44:13. | :44:15. | |
playing. Seems very level-headed it all. Did he mention anything about | :44:16. | :44:25. | |
the tip? When I passed him he was looking for sandpaper. Yes, he did | :44:26. | :44:28. | |
give some surgery to the end of it but he seems fine now. No great | :44:29. | :44:37. | |
issues. In good spirits. Last weekend we were over in Dublin, | :44:38. | :44:44. | |
Ireland played England in Legends match, it was fabulous and Ronnie | :44:45. | :44:45. | |
was in form. Mark Selby was there. Kyren Wilson will be on tonight, he | :44:46. | :45:13. | |
played really well, the Irish crowd took to him. That wasn't as easy as | :45:14. | :45:19. | |
it looked. A pot you would expect him to make | :45:20. | :45:37. | |
here of course but positional is -- play is difficult of this. Don't | :45:38. | :45:44. | |
think he can hold for the blue. Just having a look to see which way the | :45:45. | :45:47. | |
cue ball will go if he plays a screenshot. -- screw shot. No | :45:48. | :45:56. | |
problem with the opening Marin but what's he going to get on? He thinks | :45:57. | :46:02. | |
he can pot this, go past the blue, come off the side cushion and get | :46:03. | :46:06. | |
somewhere close to that red he was looking at and get somewhere near | :46:07. | :46:07. | |
the black. This will be some shot. Seemed to have a little bit of | :46:08. | :46:22. | |
movement on that shot. Didn't cue that one as smoothly as he had been | :46:23. | :46:28. | |
cueing the ones before the interval. Those shots with a bit more pressure | :46:29. | :46:33. | |
on them, you just ten to see an more function in the cue action with | :46:34. | :46:41. | |
Liang occasionally. What a chance he has left Ronnie O'Sullivan now. | :46:42. | :47:00. | |
Had a 55 break in the second frame but look at how the reds are | :47:01. | :47:07. | |
situated here. All the colours are in open play. | :47:08. | :47:14. | |
You're not going to mention the M word are you? It's a bit too early | :47:15. | :47:24. | |
but as you can see, they are sitting nicely. | :47:25. | :47:34. | |
Even though we are not mentioning it I am going to talk about it. Three | :47:35. | :47:46. | |
maximum is made here in the history of this tournament, do you know all | :47:47. | :47:50. | |
three of them? I remember Stevens with a white shoot making the first | :47:51. | :47:59. | |
one -- suit. Jimmy White made one. I'm not sure about that. It was Ding | :48:00. | :48:07. | |
Junhui. And the other was Marco Fu. Jimmy White was playing against a | :48:08. | :48:13. | |
Canadian, Kirk Stevens, when he made his. | :48:14. | :49:24. | |
Chatting away there, no chance of a maximum in this frame. Highest break | :49:25. | :49:31. | |
in itself is well worth winning, ?10,000 for the highest break here. | :49:32. | :49:37. | |
Not to be sniffed at. Ronnie will be trying to put a marker down for that | :49:38. | :49:39. | |
one. Taking these very well so far, | :49:40. | :50:30. | |
Ronnie. The break helped by Liang at the start of it. Poor shot on the | :50:31. | :50:36. | |
Marin, should not be missing those. -- on the red. | :50:37. | :51:10. | |
Looks like his concentration is back in order, Dennis. Yeah, I think the | :51:11. | :51:17. | |
interval came at the right time to Ronnie, just to get in and get a cup | :51:18. | :51:23. | |
of tea, relax. But this is him showing all his experience. | :51:24. | :51:47. | |
Frame safe. Concentrate on a possible century. 856 centuries he | :51:48. | :52:03. | |
has made in his career. There is a strong possibility he could go on to | :52:04. | :52:09. | |
be a player that makes a thousand century breaks in a career? APPLAUSE | :52:10. | :52:18. | |
Just hit the wrong red, might have spoiled the century. Just cannoned | :52:19. | :52:26. | |
the wrong red otherwise he would have cleared the table. Just had to | :52:27. | :52:40. | |
try. But OK, it might be in, no. But he's come out firing on all | :52:41. | :52:44. | |
cylinders after the mid-session interval is. The fabulous break | :52:45. | :52:48. | |
enough to take the frame. Ronnie O'Sullivan back in front. | :52:49. | :52:52. | |
At one point the M word was being mentioned, the maximum, there have | :52:53. | :52:59. | |
been seven already this season, Mark Davis, the first of his career in | :53:00. | :53:03. | |
the championship league just last week. Tell me about the demeanour of | :53:04. | :53:09. | |
Ronnie O'Sullivan as he's wandering around the table, he has the swagger | :53:10. | :53:14. | |
and it will do him good to have got a semi-decent sized break? It was | :53:15. | :53:21. | |
lovely. Again supplied by a bad miss from Liang Wenbo. You would think | :53:22. | :53:25. | |
having got himself back in the match at 2-2, presented with a great | :53:26. | :53:29. | |
chance, missing an easy red in the middle. He's done well to get back | :53:30. | :53:34. | |
to 2-2 but that's not job done, you have to keep your focus and | :53:35. | :53:38. | |
concentration. After that it looked inevitable that Ronnie was going to | :53:39. | :53:45. | |
win the frame. Their personal series so far has been emphatically in | :53:46. | :53:49. | |
Ronnie's favour with this 5-1 record but Liang Wenbo has been getting | :53:50. | :53:54. | |
closer, a final frame decider in September in Shanghai so he knows | :53:55. | :53:59. | |
how to get close to him. He has lots of grit and determination apart from | :54:00. | :54:03. | |
being a heavy scorer. The difficulty for players like Liang Wenbo to | :54:04. | :54:09. | |
become regular winners is how do you outplay your opponents, not just | :54:10. | :54:13. | |
beat them. You have to outplay them and put your authority on matches | :54:14. | :54:16. | |
and that's not easy playing against this standard. But every time you do | :54:17. | :54:22. | |
miss an easy shot and let your opponent in your progress and run | :54:23. | :54:26. | |
halts so it's back to square one again. They start the match off, | :54:27. | :54:31. | |
lose the first frame, start the session, lose the first frame and | :54:32. | :54:36. | |
play catch up. It is still tense, don't feel the match is caught fire | :54:37. | :54:43. | |
as yet. No, no real fireworks. Every frame has had mistakes so it's not | :54:44. | :54:47. | |
been flawless by any stretch but it has been interesting. Very | :54:48. | :54:56. | |
interesting indeed. A stunning final previously between Mark Selby and | :54:57. | :54:57. | |
Ronnie O'Sullivan. Back we go. COMMENTATOR: Not quite on the | :54:58. | :55:21. | |
cushion with the cue ball. One shot the players do practice a lot these | :55:22. | :55:23. | |
days, this type of shot. APPLAUSE | :55:24. | :55:38. | |
Cue ball needs to pull up. It just keeps on rolling, all he can do is | :55:39. | :55:45. | |
nestling behind the brown. Good opening pot. | :55:46. | :56:14. | |
Nice pot, but that fast cloth prevented him from stopping nicely | :56:15. | :56:23. | |
on the right colour. He's fouled that. I think he touched the brown. | :56:24. | :56:38. | |
Trying to get a bit of swear bonnet. -- a bit of swerve bonnet. I think | :56:39. | :56:53. | |
Liang Wenbo had put it so close to the brown it made it quite difficult | :56:54. | :56:54. | |
to get the angle. In the end just got a bit too much | :56:55. | :57:34. | |
on it. But left one to the middle pocket. | :57:35. | :57:44. | |
If he is this red into the left middle pocket it would be perfect on | :57:45. | :57:57. | |
the black. Would like to stun it in that makes the shot slightly more | :57:58. | :58:03. | |
difficult. Hampered slightly. Actually, not too bad. If he can get | :58:04. | :58:07. | |
some screw on it will get closer to the black. | :58:08. | :58:32. | |
Doesn't quite seem to cue as well when there is that little bit of | :58:33. | :58:35. | |
INAUDIBLE APPLAUSE | :58:36. | :58:44. | |
The trouble is when you have this man following new you tend to pay | :58:45. | :58:54. | |
your mistakes. Quite a good chance already with that was red at the | :58:55. | :58:56. | |
back of the pack. Ideally Ronnie would like to play | :58:57. | :59:09. | |
this with the cue ball slightly low on the bottom red, could pot that | :59:10. | :59:17. | |
and bring a few more into play. That's what he's played for. | :59:18. | :59:30. | |
Had to play the run-through, but again promoted a read. -- red. | :59:31. | :00:02. | |
Has a choice of shots here. Can either move the packed out or screw | :00:03. | :00:09. | |
and move the loose red away. That's the one he played on. | :00:10. | :00:24. | |
25. 26. Ideally he would like to stand up into the pack here. Played | :00:25. | :00:34. | |
the screw shot, could not have come out any better. APPLAUSE | :00:35. | :00:38. | |
33. Looks like he's going through the | :00:39. | :00:47. | |
gearbox. One of the best in the business at that particular type of | :00:48. | :00:50. | |
shot, so much action on the cue ball, it stops in the pack and then | :00:51. | :00:52. | |
keeps on spinning. Last frame lasted under ten minutes, | :00:53. | :01:13. | |
break of 89. This frame is not going to last very long by the looks of | :01:14. | :01:18. | |
things. No, not while he looks as focused as he does. The interval has | :01:19. | :01:24. | |
been very good, I agree. Simple shot into the loose red on | :01:25. | :02:00. | |
the outside. Left on the three will be available. | :02:01. | :02:14. | |
Bottom one on the right is also available. Better position for him. | :02:15. | :02:25. | |
He has taken these supremely well, and once again, I think he has done | :02:26. | :02:32. | |
well, it looks very simple. Potting that red has cleared the path for | :02:33. | :02:41. | |
the other two to the right corner. You see the difference, 61 in the | :02:42. | :02:49. | |
frame already, and already safe. Once again, a matter of whether he | :02:50. | :02:56. | |
can make a century. Will not be easy with the read out on the side | :02:57. | :03:02. | |
cushion. Almost got the century in the previous frame. Little cannon | :03:03. | :03:08. | |
may have spoiled it. All about winning frames this century is nice, | :03:09. | :03:20. | |
but... APPLAUSE You would have to be a spectacular | :03:21. | :03:23. | |
red down the cushion to keep this effort going. He will not be too | :03:24. | :03:32. | |
concerned about that. He just got the one chance, and what did he do, | :03:33. | :03:38. | |
he won the frame with that chance. Now, Ronnie O'Sullivan opens up a | :03:39. | :03:42. | |
two frame advantage. 4-2, to the Rocket. One shop there that paved | :03:43. | :03:52. | |
the way, plays it so well, black when you go into the reds, a lot of | :03:53. | :03:55. | |
people stick in the reds, but the way that Ronnie plays, the way that | :03:56. | :04:00. | |
a lot of the top players play, they make it look so easy. Playing with | :04:01. | :04:04. | |
lots of bottom, deft hand side, because it is not a good pack to go | :04:05. | :04:10. | |
into, but when he hits it, it stops and keeps on spinning. A lot of | :04:11. | :04:13. | |
players will play this, there will not be a lot of work -- enough work | :04:14. | :04:18. | |
on the cue ball for it to come back, I prefer when you play that shot you | :04:19. | :04:23. | |
play a stamp up into it, it's the -- cue ball up into the table. This is | :04:24. | :04:28. | |
what happens with the cue ball. You can see the back spin, spinning | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
away, spinning away, and then, whenever he hits the red, because he | :04:33. | :04:38. | |
has so much spin on it, it does not stop, it keeps on spinning, and | :04:39. | :04:42. | |
eventually, it works its way through the reds, and he played it | :04:43. | :04:49. | |
perfectly. That is a great example there, we have seen, with the | :04:50. | :04:51. | |
special black and white ball, made by Stephen Hendrie, I think. -- | :04:52. | :04:55. | |
played. STUDIO: Was that you? It was! 89 and | :04:56. | :05:06. | |
80, and suddenly looks like he is in the groove. Seems to have found an | :05:07. | :05:11. | |
extra gear, to really punish Liang Wenbo, amazing how, losing an | :05:12. | :05:17. | |
insignificant shot, but when Wenbo misses the red in the middle in the | :05:18. | :05:21. | |
fifth frame, since then, it has been Ronnie O'Sullivan, in the balls now, | :05:22. | :05:27. | |
he looks like he is a certainty to win the frame. Wenbo was first in | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
there, and it was punishing once again. The best players in the world | :05:33. | :05:39. | |
convert more chances among the balls than the players further down the | :05:40. | :05:42. | |
rankings. Even so, a little smile from Wenbo, I think he has got | :05:43. | :05:48. | |
himself into the game, a couple of frames, has not got the | :05:49. | :05:51. | |
embarrassment of being whitewashed, anything like that. He just has too | :05:52. | :05:58. | |
see how much he can dig in again. I think the smile there from Ronnie | :05:59. | :06:03. | |
O'Sullivan, back to the action. COMMENTATOR: Wenbo's turn to break | :06:04. | :06:06. | |
off. Good opening part, what will the | :06:07. | :06:36. | |
attempt on the green, will he attempt something special? He is, he | :06:37. | :06:42. | |
is, look at the action on that cue ball. What a positional shot that | :06:43. | :06:54. | |
is. My goodness... APPLAUSE CO-COMMENTATOR: What a shot, what a | :06:55. | :06:56. | |
shot! Work on the angles, superb. Left this purposely low, pops this | :06:57. | :07:24. | |
red... All about the positioning, manoeuvring reds into play. -- pots | :07:25. | :07:32. | |
this red. If you take the black on, good luck. He is looking at the | :07:33. | :07:42. | |
black, I tell you what... Almost typed on the cushion. Wow, this is | :07:43. | :07:54. | |
tough. The odds slightly against that going in. | :07:55. | :08:05. | |
Tough shot, even for the greats. Found himself 2-0 down in this | :08:06. | :08:17. | |
match, nice to claw his way back to 2-2. Two friends down again. And he | :08:18. | :08:22. | |
is going to do exactly the same thing again now. -- two frames down | :08:23. | :08:31. | |
again. If it were 5-2, that would end the match. That is the | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
importance of this visit. We said when we were 2-0 down, test | :08:35. | :09:46. | |
of his character. Did very well to go to the mid-session all square. Is | :09:47. | :09:52. | |
he up to it again? Another test. Did not want to be straight, slight | :09:53. | :10:10. | |
angle, might just be able to stun onto the red on the right of the | :10:11. | :10:13. | |
pack, that will develop things, enough angle to stun onto the red to | :10:14. | :10:20. | |
the right. At one of these early in the match, just sneaked past it, did | :10:21. | :10:25. | |
not quite get it, he needs to get the edge, as long as he does not hit | :10:26. | :10:35. | |
it hard, just click the edge. APPLAUSE | :10:36. | :10:39. | |
Good shot. Just got the cannon how he wanted. Made it look easy but | :10:40. | :10:59. | |
those are tough shots. I think the bottom red on the cluster will part. | :11:00. | :11:04. | |
Also have the red on the left-hand side as well. -- will pot. Should | :11:05. | :11:16. | |
have after he has ported the black. Well played. Could not hold a cue | :11:17. | :11:23. | |
ball for that. Scrapping for cue ball control the, | :11:24. | :11:39. | |
not perfect on every shot he has had on the last few. Obviously you would | :11:40. | :11:44. | |
expect him to pop this but he has not had the cue ball under maximum | :11:45. | :11:45. | |
control. 32. Good pot, not quite on the | :11:46. | :12:12. | |
black, he is going to have to play the cannon announced, the red was | :12:13. | :12:18. | |
available, but you can't really hold for that, so it'll be the cannon. | :12:19. | :12:28. | |
And just got a little bit too much on it, hoping he's pushed the red | :12:29. | :12:32. | |
into a plank there. That would be a bonus. He should be buying a lottery | :12:33. | :12:39. | |
ticket, because that would be incredible if he's made that into a | :12:40. | :12:42. | |
plant, looks pretty much spot on. What a result that is. One thing he | :12:43. | :12:48. | |
has got be careful on, and we will show you the attempted cannon, if he | :12:49. | :12:53. | |
hits the other red, and he plays the plant, the white will go close to | :12:54. | :12:57. | |
the left corner pocket, he needs to avoid cannon ink-jet. -- he needs to | :12:58. | :13:09. | |
avoid cannon -- cannoning it. INAUDIBLE | :13:10. | :13:16. | |
Wow! That is amazing. That was basically going to be frame | :13:17. | :13:42. | |
ball there are, could position of the green. -- good position of the | :13:43. | :13:48. | |
green. Little bit more to do now, of the angle. As I say, it has been the | :13:49. | :13:54. | |
feature of this break, hasn't quite have the cue ball perfect. Keeps on | :13:55. | :13:56. | |
going. Another difficult positional shot. | :13:57. | :14:32. | |
Personally played. We have seen this afternoon, one or two shots have had | :14:33. | :14:37. | |
extra ball. Did not cue them very well but cue that one beautifully. | :14:38. | :14:43. | |
Great recovery. Deserves everything he gets after that shot. | :14:44. | :14:55. | |
I don't think any of these three ribs are available. Another key shot | :14:56. | :15:13. | |
coming up here. Might just be OK, if that red keeps on running, yes, I | :15:14. | :15:16. | |
think he has a choice of reds, into both middle pockets. For a moment, | :15:17. | :15:27. | |
stuck on the red, but he is OK. Now you see it, now you don't. This | :15:28. | :15:36. | |
really has been an excellent contribution, on more than one | :15:37. | :15:38. | |
occasion through this break, cue ball was not perfect, what he has | :15:39. | :15:42. | |
managed to make a break and keep going. -- but he has managed. What | :15:43. | :15:53. | |
was that shot? 52 in front, and that is the reaction from Liang Wenbo, | :15:54. | :15:57. | |
because he knows he is not safe, Ronnie needs one snooker, but how | :15:58. | :16:02. | |
did he manage to get the white there, with the red over the middle, | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
I think you just made sure of the black. The only needed to stun the | :16:07. | :16:10. | |
black and then he could pop the red over the middle, he didn't have to | :16:11. | :16:14. | |
screw back, very strange shot. Chance of sniggering yourself if you | :16:15. | :16:18. | |
play the full screw shot but if he stands it, puts the red over the | :16:19. | :16:22. | |
middle pocket, game over. -- chance of snooker in yourself. -- | :16:23. | :16:28. | |
snookering. Liang Wenbo still the massive | :16:29. | :17:11. | |
favourite to win this, but there is enough friends to know that when you | :17:12. | :17:14. | |
should win a friend, get it over with, the last thing you want to do | :17:15. | :17:17. | |
is give yourself another 15, 20 minutes of aggravation, trying to | :17:18. | :17:21. | |
get back into this match from two friends behind. Should have got it | :17:22. | :17:33. | |
over a lot quicker. APPLAUSE What a pot that was. | :17:34. | :17:44. | |
The pot was difficult enough playing with your opposite hand but to screw | :17:45. | :17:56. | |
it back for the black? Just checking the scoreboard, to see the high | :17:57. | :18:02. | |
value colour, which one he can take, so he still only needs the one | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
snooker, he is OK, he has a future work with. -- he has a few to work | :18:07. | :18:14. | |
with. All of a sudden, a friend that should have been over a few minutes | :18:15. | :18:18. | |
ago, Liang Wenbo is going to have to suffer for a while. Didn't mean to | :18:19. | :18:24. | |
hit the pink, that cue ball, close to the corner pocket... Needing a | :18:25. | :18:31. | |
snooker, not a bad thing to hit the pain. He has left him a lovely angle | :18:32. | :18:37. | |
to play a thin clip off, not the worst. | :18:38. | :18:46. | |
See this read full ball, he can stay in behind the yellow and the red | :18:47. | :19:56. | |
backed up the table. And he could do, that may have spoiled things, | :19:57. | :20:01. | |
catching the middle jaw. -- red. -- back. It was a certain snooker. If I | :20:02. | :20:08. | |
was Liang here, I would be concentrating on the long pot, | :20:09. | :20:11. | |
putting everything into it, because this is a frame that could go wrong, | :20:12. | :20:16. | |
he should have had it one already, and the chance with a bump, | :20:17. | :20:21. | |
concentrate, knock this read in, get the frame over. -- should have added | :20:22. | :20:28. | |
won already. What was he going towards... What was he doing going | :20:29. | :20:32. | |
towards the middle pocket with the cue ball, if it had gone in, need | :20:33. | :20:40. | |
could have lost the frame! That was close. This is a good effort, this | :20:41. | :20:49. | |
is a very good effort. Is it hard enough? Just coming up a little bit | :20:50. | :20:53. | |
short. APPLAUSE | :20:54. | :22:21. | |
Well played. Some shop, that. Just wondering whether if he swerves | :22:22. | :22:27. | |
this, checks on the cue ball, could not hit enough of it... -- some | :22:28. | :22:34. | |
shot, that. Is thinking, if Ronnie potted this | :22:35. | :23:01. | |
read he would have to get the black, and then would still only need one | :23:02. | :23:05. | |
snooker, you want to keep the red on the table, more chance of a snooker. | :23:06. | :23:10. | |
Looking to see if he cut this read, and can he hold for the black, | :23:11. | :23:16. | |
because the yellow is never brown... That is what he has played. Is he on | :23:17. | :23:26. | |
the black? He can still take the black up into the corner, had he | :23:27. | :23:30. | |
have missed the cannon, would have gone on the black, potted it, up for | :23:31. | :23:34. | |
the yellow, in behind the brown, that was his plan. Needs to pot | :23:35. | :23:47. | |
this. That jump, jumped quite a bit. Ronnie O'Sullivan, one. The chance | :23:48. | :23:52. | |
has gone, it will be a relief yang Wenbo. Both the black jumped and the | :23:53. | :24:00. | |
cue ball. -- this will be a relief for the end Wenbo. -- Liang Wenbo. | :24:01. | :24:13. | |
Foul. Liang Wenbo two, Ronnie O'Sullivan four. He has decided... | :24:14. | :24:38. | |
Too difficult to get the snooker is required, Liang Wenbo has stopped | :24:39. | :24:42. | |
the rot, he has a frame back. STUDIO: Like sweating blood to get | :24:43. | :24:52. | |
that one in the end, over the line, did well to keep the break going, | :24:53. | :24:56. | |
one plant in particular that allowed him to do so, the crowd were doing | :24:57. | :25:02. | |
and dying, but he settled in nicely. Missed a cannon, but he created | :25:03. | :25:07. | |
this, not a difficult shot. -- oohing and ahhing. The pressure | :25:08. | :25:13. | |
shot, this could have cost him, if he had missed this, lovely pot. The | :25:14. | :25:21. | |
facial expressions, by Wenbo, were going ten to the dozen, but it | :25:22. | :25:24. | |
should have been over, he should have kept going because it is a lot | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
of aggravation, as John Parrott would say. He was always playing | :25:29. | :25:34. | |
catch up, I think Wenbo is improving his confidence, that shows, that | :25:35. | :25:41. | |
blue, struck in nicely. He is gritty and as the match goes closer, if it | :25:42. | :25:44. | |
does, we will see more facial expressions from Liang Wenbo, as it | :25:45. | :25:50. | |
gets closer to the end, every player begins to live and die... Burning... | :25:51. | :25:55. | |
A little bit, we all do that, even the best in the world. -- gurning. | :25:56. | :26:01. | |
He has endeared himself, over the last couple of years, he has become | :26:02. | :26:05. | |
far more popular because you can see some of his internal thoughts, he | :26:06. | :26:08. | |
wears his heart on his sleeve. For us watching, makes it interesting, | :26:09. | :26:13. | |
we have said, we were never ones to show any emotion, quite miserable, | :26:14. | :26:18. | |
we cornered the market in miserable as. Definitely good value. Ronnie | :26:19. | :26:33. | |
certainly knows he's in a match. Ronnie O'Sullivan to break. | :26:34. | :26:37. | |
CO-COMMENTATOR: He certainly is in a match, 4-3 ahead, some stuff from | :26:38. | :26:43. | |
the boys in the studio there, I agree with them, if you were looking | :26:44. | :26:50. | |
for... INAUDIBLE COMMENTATOR: Saw them both outside | :26:51. | :26:56. | |
the bar last week, I asked what they were doing, they said, waiting for | :26:57. | :27:05. | |
happy hour to finish... (!) -- I agree with them, if you were looking | :27:06. | :27:10. | |
for two more unhappy fellows, you couldn't do better than those two. | :27:11. | :27:26. | |
The two lads were talking early on, the fact that the players are a lot | :27:27. | :27:32. | |
more friendly these days, and some of the players go out for dinner | :27:33. | :27:36. | |
together. In their day, that would not have happened. Having a giggle | :27:37. | :27:41. | |
at their expense. Those two would not give you too much! 13 world's | :27:42. | :27:52. | |
titles between them. Seven for Stephen, 64 Steve It obviously | :27:53. | :28:01. | |
worked. -- seven for Stephen, six for Steve. So it obviously worked. | :28:02. | :28:09. | |
Good shot that he has played. Moving roads around. Up near the yellow and | :28:10. | :28:14. | |
the brown, that is one you have got to cover. A bit more pressure on | :28:15. | :28:17. | |
this. -- moving those around. There might be a gap through to that | :28:18. | :28:56. | |
one. Tight, but maybe the brown... Can't pot that. | :28:57. | :29:21. | |
Read into the right corner, not very inviting, because he cannot get on a | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
colour. -- red. Not often you see a player playing a | :29:27. | :29:46. | |
safety shot up this end of the table. That was the case there. | :29:47. | :30:26. | |
Just looking to see where he can leave the cue ball err on the side | :30:27. | :30:34. | |
cushion. Playing off the loose red the back of the pack. Obviously he | :30:35. | :30:42. | |
wants to cover the red, so it is not easy for Liang to get down. But as | :30:43. | :30:47. | |
he hit it just a little bit too hard? He might have left that red is | :30:48. | :30:50. | |
just to clip of past the yellow. That has just helped the situation. | :30:51. | :32:48. | |
It is brought to the pink into play. The match is tied up at the moment. | :32:49. | :32:59. | |
I think Oblak is tied up. Liang can play off the face of this red. You | :33:00. | :33:03. | |
have to be careful with the red going across and hitting the pack of | :33:04. | :33:09. | |
reds. They might be something across the other corner. Even with a shot | :33:10. | :33:13. | |
like this, you have to be a little bit careful. | :33:14. | :33:35. | |
He played that really well. Didn't cannon into anything else. Good | :33:36. | :33:40. | |
touch. I think the brown is going to come | :33:41. | :34:11. | |
to the rescue. As he covered it? I think he has. It is imperative that | :34:12. | :34:20. | |
he got a good cue ball there. I think Liang is just seeing if he can | :34:21. | :34:29. | |
leave the cue ball at the top cushion, just hit the red half ball. | :34:30. | :34:33. | |
I don't think he can pot that. If he was away from the cushion, I think | :34:34. | :34:38. | |
he could but it is not a shot that is available to him. Of course he | :34:39. | :34:44. | |
could come off the side cushion and play that red but either way it | :34:45. | :34:48. | |
looks like that is what he's going to have to do. Alessi has better | :34:49. | :34:53. | |
eyesight than both of us. That was a better shot than the one | :34:54. | :35:22. | |
I was looking at. Had he played the other red, he could have left that | :35:23. | :35:27. | |
red to cut back. In much better choice of shot than mine. He red the | :35:28. | :35:40. | |
pot but boy, is that a test of your cueing. Here goes. Change of plan. | :35:41. | :36:03. | |
Ronnie O'Sullivan has been very measured. He hasn't taken any undue | :36:04. | :36:15. | |
risks. That is what we call playing the percentages. He knows if he can | :36:16. | :36:21. | |
get this frame under his belt, he will only need one and Liang Wenbo | :36:22. | :36:24. | |
would have to win three. They have both played some excellent | :36:25. | :36:40. | |
safety shots but that one is coming up a little short. At first glance, | :36:41. | :36:44. | |
it looks like everything is covering each other. | :36:45. | :37:12. | |
He played that has a shot to nothing. This is pretty difficult to | :37:13. | :37:25. | |
do. And there is another one. It happens quite a lot, Dennis, on | :37:26. | :37:30. | |
these fast clocks. You are trying to be too delicate. And then he has on | :37:31. | :37:40. | |
to hit it. It is so easy to hit it a little bit of -- a little bit hard, | :37:41. | :37:51. | |
just trying to nestle onto it. He is taking the brown. An extra red. | :37:52. | :38:06. | |
That would look a lot more different than it would. He had that lovely, | :38:07. | :38:23. | |
didn't he? Yes, it was a clever shot. They were all covering each | :38:24. | :38:28. | |
other, as you mentioned. One good positional shot away from giving | :38:29. | :38:32. | |
himself an early opportunity here, in a frame that could get him back | :38:33. | :38:40. | |
all square. He may just have to take a chance of playing into an area | :38:41. | :38:45. | |
here, if he lands on one, which he has done. That could not have come | :38:46. | :38:53. | |
out much better. Left-handed, even better. | :38:54. | :39:04. | |
He is quite a tall lad, Liang Wenbo. Around the 6-foot mark. | :39:05. | :39:15. | |
He could have played the last shot a bit better. One thing he did not | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
want to do with this is leave himself straight on. It looks like | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
an easy shot, but there are limits to what you can do. He has played | :39:26. | :39:31. | |
that particularly well. Make no mistake about it, he will | :39:32. | :39:47. | |
consider this to be a very good chance to draw level in this match. | :39:48. | :40:06. | |
Not the best with the cue ball there. The cue ball has run eight | :40:07. | :40:16. | |
inches to fire there. I don't really know what he played | :40:17. | :40:49. | |
on there. Just make sure he gets the green in, which is obviously the | :40:50. | :40:53. | |
priority. But he has come on the red into the middle pocket, and that is | :40:54. | :40:58. | |
a bit of a result. He has taken the slightly more difficult one. If he | :40:59. | :41:01. | |
was right-handed, it would be straightforward. He has a slight | :41:02. | :41:07. | |
angle, and he can get it away from the cushion, but he needs a little | :41:08. | :41:18. | |
bit of existence with the extension on the cue there. -- a little bit of | :41:19. | :41:23. | |
assistance. And he has played it well. I think is going to need one | :41:24. | :41:34. | |
more cannon to put himself into a prime position. That was a better | :41:35. | :41:42. | |
shot than it looked on the screens. Pretty tricky. He negotiated it very | :41:43. | :41:50. | |
well. Now the cannon. It is pretty good. What a chance this is. | :41:51. | :42:01. | |
Following a pattern of the frames before the interval, to nail down, | :42:02. | :42:14. | |
he paid it back to 2-2. -- 2-0 down. It was in the club, he would not be | :42:15. | :42:16. | |
missing these. In the club, it is well documented | :42:17. | :42:32. | |
that Liang Wenbo, when he practices, he very rarely misses. A lot of | :42:33. | :42:40. | |
players like that, but it is the really special ones that can take it | :42:41. | :42:47. | |
to the practice table. Taking it on to the match arena, that is the key. | :42:48. | :42:57. | |
I would be slightly annoyed having to play this way. Playing for the | :42:58. | :43:04. | |
other two on the left, you have to take it down a little bit. You may | :43:05. | :43:10. | |
have a choice here. The pink mingle in the middle. It certainly does. | :43:11. | :43:15. | |
And black it is. He is still OK. He has gone a little | :43:16. | :43:40. | |
bit further than he intended. He had the one that was near the middle | :43:41. | :43:41. | |
pocket. And they are absolutely sitting | :43:42. | :43:48. | |
perfectly now. And once again he has taken these | :43:49. | :44:11. | |
very well. Still punching. One thing is for | :44:12. | :44:26. | |
sure, he will not give him the match today. Ronnie is going to have to | :44:27. | :44:27. | |
win it. Ronnie has an awful lot of support | :44:28. | :44:37. | |
here at the Alexandra Palace, as he has all over the world. Always a | :44:38. | :44:42. | |
fear crowd here. If the opponent is knocking the ball is in, they give | :44:43. | :44:47. | |
them the utmost respect and this is exactly what Liang Wenbo is doing | :44:48. | :44:54. | |
here. The great Ray Reardon, a six time world champion, used to say, | :44:55. | :44:58. | |
keep potting balls and you will get the crowd your side. -- get the | :44:59. | :45:04. | |
crowd on your side. A couple of pots away from levelling | :45:05. | :45:39. | |
the match at four each. A fabulous fight back. And a very | :45:40. | :45:51. | |
important frame coming up. If he can win the next frame, what a | :45:52. | :46:14. | |
lovely feeling. Your opponents needed the last two to be true. You | :46:15. | :46:17. | |
are not over the line but I know which scenario I would prefer. -- | :46:18. | :46:26. | |
needed the last two to beat you. Liang Wenbo will be hoping the | :46:27. | :46:31. | |
pattern of the match changes because Ronnie won the first two, lost the | :46:32. | :46:36. | |
next two, won the next two, lost the next two. | :46:37. | :46:51. | |
There is something about him, I like watching Liang Wenbo. I like his | :46:52. | :46:58. | |
mannerisms. He has that little swagger. He is good on the eye. But | :46:59. | :47:07. | |
that is not very good on the eye. But he has done more than an offer. | :47:08. | :47:11. | |
Liang Wenbo takes another frame and all of a sudden it is all square at | :47:12. | :47:17. | |
four frames each. STUDIO: Shone and Dennis were saying it is a familiar | :47:18. | :47:22. | |
pattern, and it is all even Stevens. From Liang's point of view, he has | :47:23. | :47:27. | |
to take charge instead of doing the chase. He has himself into the | :47:28. | :47:31. | |
position to effectively take it. Ronnie O'Sullivan is still the | :47:32. | :47:35. | |
person dominating the match, in some ways, therefore it becomes a bread | :47:36. | :47:39. | |
and butter match to get over the line in which ever way you can. Some | :47:40. | :47:46. | |
good scoring. 83-65, 109, solid stuff from Liang Wenbo. He is doing | :47:47. | :48:01. | |
very well. It is turning into a good match. A lot of the time when we | :48:02. | :48:08. | |
watch Ronnie it is like an occasion. But it has turned into a bit of a | :48:09. | :48:12. | |
grind, a real high quality snooker match. I would agree. It feels | :48:13. | :48:18. | |
different to the normal Ronnie occasion. There is definitely a bit | :48:19. | :48:23. | |
of tension. It is not a done deal. As for winning with style, it is | :48:24. | :48:26. | |
perhaps not the messy performance he was hoping, more like a solid | :48:27. | :48:34. | |
midfielder. -- Messi performance. A couple of years ago, the whole thing | :48:35. | :48:40. | |
seems like the Ronnie show. No two years are the same, but as we have | :48:41. | :48:43. | |
also said on many occasions, the general standard of the top 16 is | :48:44. | :48:49. | |
getting better and better. It is tighter and tighter. Every first | :48:50. | :48:52. | |
round match is more of a potential banana skin. On that subject, at the | :48:53. | :48:56. | |
top of the show we mention that this is the first time we have had 16 | :48:57. | :49:01. | |
players who are qualified to be there. Often times it was invitation | :49:02. | :49:05. | |
but now you are here on merit. It is the first time that everyone has | :49:06. | :49:09. | |
been a major world ranking champion in their own right. That underlines | :49:10. | :49:15. | |
the quality. You could almost make a case for maybe not every single | :49:16. | :49:18. | |
player but most of them, for winning this. And actually, an interesting | :49:19. | :49:25. | |
exercise, obviously the bookmakers do not often get it wrong but let's | :49:26. | :49:29. | |
say, just for interest, that you were to bet on every outsider of | :49:30. | :49:37. | |
every match, how you would fear. -- how you would they are. Ronnie has | :49:38. | :49:44. | |
been the bookies favourite, although Mark Selby has been the number one | :49:45. | :49:47. | |
for some time. Ronnie, back we go. He attempted a long pot but he has | :49:48. | :50:07. | |
not left the red. Everything is safe. He could be deemed fortunate | :50:08. | :50:16. | |
there. The fact that he was snookered on the green and brown in | :50:17. | :50:22. | |
the ball area, it makes Liang's city shot more difficult. -- in the baulk | :50:23. | :50:30. | |
area. Not much he can do with the cue ball | :50:31. | :51:19. | |
because it is so close to the cushion. | :51:20. | :51:27. | |
A difficult frame. Wonderful horrible frames you get when the | :51:28. | :51:34. | |
players keep tapping the balls. -- one of those horrible frames. | :51:35. | :51:39. | |
Because they cannot leave that red in the baulk area. Sometimes the | :51:40. | :51:42. | |
frames end up looking like rear racks. -- re-racks. The players do | :51:43. | :51:51. | |
not like these frames either. Either player cannot run away up | :51:52. | :52:25. | |
into the right corner of the table because they would leave themselves | :52:26. | :52:30. | |
in trouble. Once again, tight on the cushion, | :52:31. | :52:57. | |
preventing Liang Wenbo from being able to get any back spin on the | :52:58. | :53:07. | |
ball. You do not want to leave a part, that is the priority. Just | :53:08. | :53:15. | |
make sure the cue ball is away from the cushion, bring it back. -- you | :53:16. | :53:17. | |
do not want to leave a pot. It looks as if he's going to take | :53:18. | :53:45. | |
this very difficult spot on. Where is the ball going? It is going past | :53:46. | :53:53. | |
the blue. It does not want to go into the pocket. I thought when he | :53:54. | :54:05. | |
was getting down to take that on... OK, he hit it a little thinner than | :54:06. | :54:10. | |
intended, but it was always a distinct possibility. He looks a bit | :54:11. | :54:11. | |
confused. Directory just asking the crowd... | :54:12. | :54:45. | |
It is OK to have an atmosphere, but when one player shouts out, it | :54:46. | :54:48. | |
doesn't help the player that is at the table, even though they mean | :54:49. | :54:51. | |
good. It can work against you. Usually, when the pressure is at its | :54:52. | :55:16. | |
highest, the best players produce the most. And this is a good chance | :55:17. | :55:22. | |
already but if he plays the cannon up into the pack here, he could | :55:23. | :55:26. | |
force a few reds out. Obviously he has a choice of shots. A few open | :55:27. | :55:32. | |
reds that he could play, but there is the chance to storm into the pack | :55:33. | :55:38. | |
if he wanted it. He decided to play the loose one. | :55:39. | :56:26. | |
It is all about the split here. Deep screw. How is your luck? | :56:27. | :57:07. | |
I am not surprised he hangs his head. He really did give that a good | :57:08. | :57:20. | |
old belt. He needed two force it but he did not have too it that hard. | :57:21. | :57:26. | |
And that is what he thinks of it. -- he did not have to hit it that hard. | :57:27. | :57:33. | |
It is little shots like that that can get you annoyed. He is 39 in | :57:34. | :57:39. | |
front. Most of the time, he would go on and make enough to secure the | :57:40. | :57:40. | |
frame. It is not an easy chance by any | :57:41. | :57:54. | |
means but it is a chance that Liang Wenbo was not expecting. Good for | :57:55. | :58:01. | |
him to knock the black in and get that back on its spot. It will help | :58:02. | :58:02. | |
to get that out of commission. Up in the corner, that is the one he | :58:03. | :58:26. | |
will take. In the context of the level of snooker we are playing at, | :58:27. | :58:32. | |
this constitutes a chance. And a pretty big one at that. Two cannons | :58:33. | :58:38. | |
away here from making this a brilliant opportunity. And he pulled | :58:39. | :58:43. | |
himself together? -- can he hold himself. | :58:44. | :59:16. | |
You just want to be straight on this but he is not. A nice angle. Coming | :59:17. | :59:23. | |
round for the loose red at the bottom. He played that nicely. | :59:24. | :00:03. | |
Those rates that are above the rate, I don't think he will be parting in | :00:04. | :00:08. | |
any pockets, they will have to be moved at some point during the | :00:09. | :00:10. | |
break. Excellent chance, not totally | :00:11. | :00:36. | |
straightforward. -- those reds. 33. Cue ball into a position where he | :00:37. | :00:40. | |
was going to have a choice of green, brown or blue, believe it or not. | :00:41. | :00:59. | |
Interesting to see how he goes about this. No problem with the loose | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
thread, there are near the pink spot, but those other two, how is he | :01:06. | :01:12. | |
going to open those up? Just play on it, on the red, and onto the cannon, | :01:13. | :01:21. | |
or is he going to do something else, interesting. The beauty of this | :01:22. | :01:26. | |
game, Dennis, all players see it differently. | :01:27. | :01:39. | |
No problem getting on the red to the left of the pink spot, thought he | :01:40. | :01:44. | |
may have been able to leave the blue in such a way that he potted the | :01:45. | :01:47. | |
blue and cannon and the two reds, leaving himself a few options. | :01:48. | :01:53. | |
Another way that he can play it, he can drop the blue in, pot the red, | :01:54. | :01:57. | |
flick the other one out on it, if he wants to do that... But now it looks | :01:58. | :02:06. | |
like he is going to get good position of this and cannon off the | :02:07. | :02:13. | |
black. This is the big part of the match here, can you negotiate the | :02:14. | :02:18. | |
cannon off the black and put the two reds up? I'm pretty sure that they | :02:19. | :02:20. | |
do not pot. Has he gone a little further than he | :02:21. | :02:36. | |
wanted, he has the cannon, he is OK, you need to get plenty of screw on | :02:37. | :02:41. | |
this to get the cannon. Not stick on it, either. | :02:42. | :02:48. | |
That is a poor shot. I think that was just down to a little bit of | :02:49. | :02:55. | |
tension, he knew the importance of that 1-shot, new new, if he got the | :02:56. | :03:00. | |
cannon Wright, he could win the frame. -- one shot. -- he knew. Only | :03:01. | :03:21. | |
11 in front. -- if he got the cannon right. Safe on the side cushion. | :03:22. | :03:29. | |
This is not the best safety shot he has ever played. Liang Wenbo, 50. | :03:30. | :03:39. | |
Nice 50 break, though. APPLAUSE It is a good 50. But a couple of | :03:40. | :03:43. | |
very poor shots on the end of it, shouldn't have missed the cannon, | :03:44. | :03:47. | |
you don't do that plain good safety, and that wasn't. But he hasn't been | :03:48. | :03:49. | |
punished for it. Is this... Where is this thread | :03:50. | :04:53. | |
going to finish? -- red. It was a tough one that he took on there. | :04:54. | :05:01. | |
Certainly at this stage of proceedings, a lot of pressure on | :05:02. | :05:12. | |
that attempt. Liang Wenbo looking to see if he can avoid the cannon on | :05:13. | :05:16. | |
the green if he pops the red, at this stage of the frame, the | :05:17. | :05:20. | |
priority is to knock the object ball in, which is the red, of course, | :05:21. | :05:25. | |
sometimes you get the pot, sometimes you have to stand for position. | :05:26. | :05:38. | |
Could avoid it. Good pot. And now... He has the angle, little bit of | :05:39. | :05:41. | |
pressure on the black, to say the least. | :05:42. | :05:57. | |
Just the pace. Any harder, that would have wobbled and stayed out. | :05:58. | :06:06. | |
If it pops on red and black, he's going to need the yellow... Beside | :06:07. | :06:15. | |
it... Going to need the yellow even if you played for the black, much | :06:16. | :06:19. | |
easier to get position when you're close to the ball colours, so good | :06:20. | :06:26. | |
thinking there from Liang Wenbo. Just means he has got to pot a few | :06:27. | :06:37. | |
more balls. Good stuff from Liang Wenbo... Mistakes at the end of the | :06:38. | :06:43. | |
50 break. Didn't get punished by Ronnie, holding himself together | :06:44. | :06:50. | |
very well here. The tournament favourite, if he's going to get | :06:51. | :06:53. | |
through in this round, news going to have to do it the hard way, he's | :06:54. | :06:56. | |
going to have to win the last two frames of his opening match. The | :06:57. | :07:07. | |
pattern has been broken, two for one player and two for another player. | :07:08. | :07:11. | |
This will be three in a row for Liang Wenbo, and... | :07:12. | :07:24. | |
Doesn't matter the fact that he has finished close on the pink. Not far | :07:25. | :07:32. | |
away. Not far away! 43. APPLAUSE | :07:33. | :07:46. | |
Well, what a gritty performance from the Chinese buyer, he has won the | :07:47. | :07:52. | |
last three frames, now gets himself one ahead, he needs one for a famous | :07:53. | :07:56. | |
victory, it has to be said. -- Chinese player. | :07:57. | :07:59. | |
STUDIO: Looking so comfortable for Ronnie, and now three on the bounce | :08:00. | :08:06. | |
for Liang Wenbo, a shot in the air, you sensed Ronnie's frustration, | :08:07. | :08:12. | |
tried to force it. Little bit of pace required, steered it, hooked it | :08:13. | :08:16. | |
to some degree, later on in the frame, missed a long read, hit the | :08:17. | :08:20. | |
wrong side of it, hats he has missed his cue action for the day, can | :08:21. | :08:24. | |
sometimes happen, in his chair, doesn't look like he has too much | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
adrenaline pumping around, a bit flat at the moment. Somehow, he's | :08:29. | :08:33. | |
got to dig himself out of a hole. The way that the match is completely | :08:34. | :08:38. | |
swung away from him, how do you read it? You've got to give credit to | :08:39. | :08:41. | |
Liang Wenbo, as himself right back into it, looks... Steve said, his | :08:42. | :08:46. | |
attitude looks definitely better, looks more alert, and in his chair | :08:47. | :08:53. | |
and at the table. Pool is, that black, by Ronnie, and a couple of | :08:54. | :08:58. | |
long pots which he did not even get close, either he is relaxing and | :08:59. | :09:01. | |
letting his concentration slip, or he's feeling the pressure. -- poor | :09:02. | :09:12. | |
miss. Talking about attitude to the game, Ronnie is in his 40s, the one | :09:13. | :09:16. | |
thing that became harder as you got older was the fire in your belly | :09:17. | :09:20. | |
every match, right from the off. And possibly, mentally, he hasn't got it | :09:21. | :09:27. | |
as much as he needs to to apply the killer instinct early on and now, | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
somehow he's got to switch the switch, which is a lot harder to do. | :09:32. | :09:35. | |
Is going to have to win the last couple of frames. The defending | :09:36. | :09:38. | |
champion is really under it. COMMENTATOR: We have seen him under | :09:39. | :09:46. | |
it on many occasions, sometimes that is when he produces his best. He's | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
going to need it now, against Liang Wenbo, who is growing in confidence. | :09:54. | :09:59. | |
We always say, the hardest frame to win is the one that gets you over | :10:00. | :10:03. | |
the line, not so much for the players right at the top, Liang | :10:04. | :10:09. | |
Wenbo climbing that world ranking ladder. APPLAUSE | :10:10. | :10:20. | |
Good opener, close to the cushion, showing you the pot again. | :10:21. | :10:36. | |
Just had the one victory against Ronnie, Ronnie has had five wins. | :10:37. | :10:49. | |
Close match in the Shanghai Masters, not that long ago. Ronnie won that | :10:50. | :10:58. | |
on the deciding frame, 5-4. But they had never played each other in the | :10:59. | :10:59. | |
Masters. That is a cracking shot, if he's | :11:00. | :11:43. | |
held that for the black. APPLAUSE Pinpoint accuracy there. But that | :11:44. | :11:53. | |
certainly wasn't pinpoint accuracy with the positional shot. | :11:54. | :11:56. | |
CO-COMMENTATOR: I bet you he can believe he didn't get the cannon | :11:57. | :12:05. | |
there. Just played, just to nudge that out of the way, stay on the | :12:06. | :12:10. | |
other one, but it didn't happen. He can put this in, can't he? Not like | :12:11. | :12:17. | |
that he can. -- not like that he can't. The blue may have come to his | :12:18. | :12:25. | |
rescue. Ronnie O'Sullivan, eight. And it has. Not the worst for | :12:26. | :12:29. | |
Ronnie. That is a poor shot from Liang | :12:30. | :12:52. | |
Wenbo. OK, not straightforward to get good position. Played some very | :12:53. | :12:56. | |
good safety shots but that was not one of them there. I said it wasn't | :12:57. | :13:05. | |
going to be easy to get on a colour, look where he has finished. Not only | :13:06. | :13:14. | |
that he has knocked a red over the pocket, so that at that, of all the | :13:15. | :13:20. | |
possible outcomes. Usually know your way around a table, how does he get | :13:21. | :13:24. | |
out of this one... Playing the yellow, even if he hits it, can he | :13:25. | :13:33. | |
get it safe? Foul. Ronnie O'Sullivan, one, Liang Wenbo, four. | :13:34. | :13:36. | |
Into the left corner pocket, having a look at that... He has decided to | :13:37. | :13:41. | |
put it back... He will have to go back to that, if the position had | :13:42. | :13:46. | |
been easier, of the other, off the red on the left, he would have taken | :13:47. | :13:50. | |
it, the fact he could not see the one over on the right, didn't fancy | :13:51. | :13:54. | |
it, even if Ronnie hits this yellow, will do very well to get it safe. | :13:55. | :14:04. | |
Foul, miss, Liang Wenbo, four. Coming back again because it is | :14:05. | :14:12. | |
covering the pocket. Nice situation for Liang Wenbo at the moment. Just | :14:13. | :14:19. | |
that read that he had over the pocket, wasn't sure what was going | :14:20. | :14:22. | |
to happen to the cue ball, had the worst possible outcome. Third time | :14:23. | :14:24. | |
lucky... APPLAUSE Was always going to leave the red | :14:25. | :14:38. | |
that was over the pocket. Similar scenario for Liang Wenbo, to get | :14:39. | :14:49. | |
onto a colour. Always tricky, these, to try to get up for the colour, as | :14:50. | :14:54. | |
you say, getting trapped. Tried to drop it in. I think he was playing | :14:55. | :15:04. | |
on the pink, in the middle. A bit of pressure on the long blue, if he | :15:05. | :15:08. | |
wants to take a go. Really need one more frame. Good long potter, wee | :15:09. | :15:15. | |
bit of pressure on this because there are red is available into the | :15:16. | :15:24. | |
left corner. Just got to make sure he finishes his cue action here, | :15:25. | :15:27. | |
right back and right through, low movement. The pressure. | :15:28. | :15:35. | |
APPLAUSE Me nice and clean, right in the | :15:36. | :15:44. | |
centre of the pocket. Not out of the woods yet, where | :15:45. | :15:51. | |
position is concerned. This is a great performance from the | :15:52. | :16:19. | |
Chinese player, he only played once before in the Masters, losing 6-4, | :16:20. | :16:23. | |
two John Higgins, at this stage last year. -- losing 6-4, to John | :16:24. | :16:30. | |
Higgins, every match in the Masters is like a world final, John. It | :16:31. | :16:37. | |
wasn't in any doubt about Liang Wenbo's ability turning up today, | :16:38. | :16:41. | |
but it was about his ability to handle the situation and the | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
occasion. Very intimidating playing Ronnie O'Sullivan here, 2000 people, | :16:45. | :16:50. | |
99% of them supporting Ronnie, so you are playing against the table, | :16:51. | :16:53. | |
the balls, Ronnie O'Sullivan and most of the crowd. You have to have | :16:54. | :16:58. | |
a certain mentality to be able to cope with all of that. | :16:59. | :17:05. | |
That's pretty poor, a little bit of tension in the arm, he's in no man's | :17:06. | :17:14. | |
land with the cue ball, so easy to get on the pink or the blue, if you | :17:15. | :17:18. | |
want to screw back. Why did he's done it, needs to be a screw shot, | :17:19. | :17:24. | |
if he plays the screw shot, pink or blue, to stand it, give yourself | :17:25. | :17:28. | |
less of a chance of being on the pink, can only be tension. That was | :17:29. | :17:33. | |
a very easy shot for him to make a mess of. | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
What about this for a shot he is taking on. | :17:40. | :17:55. | |
I think he was so disappointed with his previous positional shot that he | :17:56. | :18:03. | |
thought he'd have a go on that, but that was a disappointing shot, under | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
the circumstances. Classic example of not happy with the positional | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
shot you played beforehand, so onto a better expression, pushed the boat | :18:15. | :18:24. | |
out. Will it be costly, though? Mind you, Ronnie didn't play a good shot, | :18:25. | :18:28. | |
wrong side of the blue, now he's having to pull out another good shot | :18:29. | :18:37. | |
here. That's a pretty good recovery there are! APPLAUSE | :18:38. | :18:54. | |
It's gone wrong. Then again, lively cloth... He wanted a full ball, not | :18:55. | :19:21. | |
half-ball contact on that cannon. Ronnie O'Sullivan, 12. One of those, | :19:22. | :19:26. | |
I think you might have been snookered on the black, with the jaw | :19:27. | :19:30. | |
of the pocket, one of those he is pleased the reds did not go in. -- | :19:31. | :19:43. | |
red. Yeah, got a couple of shots he can play here but might roll onto | :19:44. | :19:46. | |
the red that is just above the cue ball, on the side cushion, could | :19:47. | :19:50. | |
drop of that, could play the one near the paint, go behind the | :19:51. | :19:54. | |
yellow, bring it back near the black, a few shots he can play. -- | :19:55. | :20:02. | |
near the pink. What's the sure, it's not going to be an attacking shot. | :20:03. | :20:12. | |
-- Watts for sure. -- what's for sure. He has got to make sure he | :20:13. | :20:19. | |
covers the red that is near the green pocket. I don't think he has, | :20:20. | :20:33. | |
he's left a path through for that. OK, an awful lot of distance between | :20:34. | :20:39. | |
the cue ball and the object ball, but there is a situation which Liang | :20:40. | :20:44. | |
Wenbo, not dead straight, one good pot here, you would think he would | :20:45. | :20:49. | |
come up for the blue, certainly get on a colour. Test of cueing, this. | :20:50. | :21:03. | |
Well done! APPLAUSE What a chance now for the Chinese | :21:04. | :21:10. | |
player, required terrific cueing, could not hit it any better. | :21:11. | :21:27. | |
Well, this is getting tense, big smile from Liang Wenbo. He can | :21:28. | :21:36. | |
smile, Dennis, but that is a terrible shot, honestly, that is a | :21:37. | :21:41. | |
stinker, such an area there to fit, to do that... Honestly, that was as | :21:42. | :21:47. | |
close to frame and match as you were going to get, with that chance. | :21:48. | :21:52. | |
While! What a mistake. -- Wow! Cannon on either of the two reds | :21:53. | :22:13. | |
next to the pink. Promoted those towards the corner, ones in the | :22:14. | :22:14. | |
middle... Liang Wenbo, six. He's doing his | :22:15. | :22:35. | |
best to lose this frame...! Really tough shots to take on. One. Red, | :22:36. | :22:48. | |
next to the brown, no problem. Four reds, near the pink, not | :22:49. | :22:55. | |
perfectly placed, by any means... The one just to the left of the pink | :22:56. | :23:13. | |
is still available, angle to cannon... Two reds that Liang tried | :23:14. | :23:20. | |
to cannon. APPLAUSE Played perfectly. 12. He can pop | :23:21. | :23:28. | |
this and flick the other red away from the pink. -- pot. He can do, | :23:29. | :23:36. | |
Patsy is thinking, maybe, do I want to take the chance, in case it goes | :23:37. | :23:40. | |
slightly wrong...? Doesn't look a natural. -- it does look natural, to | :23:41. | :23:46. | |
pot that red and flick the other one away from the pink. | :23:47. | :23:55. | |
Straightforward in the end, as you said, I think he was thinking, I | :23:56. | :24:08. | |
don't really want to be risking any little cannons at this stage. Played | :24:09. | :24:10. | |
it well. 20. Every chance now that we're going to | :24:11. | :24:28. | |
have a deciding frame, in the opening match, in this Masters | :24:29. | :24:37. | |
contest. 27. Ronnie O'Sullivan, looking good in | :24:38. | :25:11. | |
this frame. Not just yet... Well... That's an interesting... Ronnie | :25:12. | :25:16. | |
O'Sullivan, 34. What a chance this is. Why didn't he drop in the pink | :25:17. | :25:20. | |
and secure the frame? I think he's head went a little bit because of | :25:21. | :25:24. | |
the previous shot. Not inking straight at the moment. Potted a | :25:25. | :25:32. | |
few... If Liang knocks this one in, it could be frame and match... | :25:33. | :25:35. | |
APPLAUSE Wobbled its way into the pocket. But | :25:36. | :25:48. | |
that last... Very strange from Ronnie... Just drop it in, and... He | :25:49. | :25:55. | |
could pinch the match by just one point. Nine. | :25:56. | :26:08. | |
14. Wants to get absolutely plumb on the black to make it | :26:09. | :26:16. | |
straightforward. Needs to bounce off the cushion. APPLAUSE | :26:17. | :26:24. | |
This one could be going... Right into the pocket. A little bit of | :26:25. | :26:28. | |
pressure on it, but this will be very slow. No! Can you believe it! | :26:29. | :26:43. | |
All he had to do was drop the black in. Get in! Ronnie O'Sullivan | :26:44. | :26:52. | |
thought he was out, we all thought he was out, the crowd thought he was | :26:53. | :26:58. | |
out, but how did Liang Wenbo misjudge getting the black in, hit | :26:59. | :27:01. | |
it a little bit harder than he needed, but it is all square, 5-5. | :27:02. | :27:07. | |
STUDIO: You cannot get your breath, in the palm of his hand, and we are | :27:08. | :27:14. | |
into a decider. We have all been there as players, the expectation | :27:15. | :27:17. | |
level therefore Liang Wenbo was to steal the match, he has had his | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
chance, whatever happens now, he cannot complain, how he must be | :27:23. | :27:24. | |
feeling at the moment, nothing worse in the game then missing a | :27:25. | :27:30. | |
relatively easy match ball. You have been there, more often than not you | :27:31. | :27:33. | |
have come through successfully, what a lifeline for Ronnie. To be honest, | :27:34. | :27:39. | |
I did not fancy Wenbo to clean up, he was perfect on every single shot, | :27:40. | :27:43. | |
just... Obviously wanted to be straight on the black, but, I just | :27:44. | :27:47. | |
didn't fancy him putting it, for some reason, I don't know why, he | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
needed the black on the spot, I think... The magnitude of the | :27:52. | :27:56. | |
victory against Ronnie, in a game like this just got to him. Getting | :27:57. | :28:00. | |
over the line at the best of times against Ronnie O'Sullivan is tough | :28:01. | :28:03. | |
but in this atmosphere, 2000 people watching you, the tension of this, | :28:04. | :28:08. | |
Ronnie has not been out in round one for five-year is. When 2000 people | :28:09. | :28:14. | |
go dead quiet, it is on you! Trains the enough, when he was playing pink | :28:15. | :28:18. | |
to black, talking about which way to go, I thought that if he goes of the | :28:19. | :28:22. | |
side cushion and plays the run-through, I think he gets on the | :28:23. | :28:25. | |
black better. Stunning it down, there was the chance that he would | :28:26. | :28:29. | |
leave himself low. Perhaps it is just me thinking about the way that | :28:30. | :28:33. | |
I would have played it myself but Ronnie missed the pink in the middle | :28:34. | :28:36. | |
pocket, must have thought there was a chance that had gone begging. | :28:37. | :28:42. | |
Looked OK for Liang Wenbo at that stage, Ronnie O'Sullivan is back in | :28:43. | :28:46. | |
its now. Those of you who remember last year 's Masters will remember | :28:47. | :28:49. | |
the final decider, Mark Williams against Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ronnie | :28:50. | :28:54. | |
came through it and went on to hammer Barry Hawkins, 10-1, in the | :28:55. | :28:59. | |
final. Goodness me. Then we go. Deciding frame. First match of the | :29:00. | :29:04. | |
Masters, first decider. COMMENTATOR: Not the best of Rachel | :29:05. | :29:14. | |
shots. Cover that one. Nice little touch. Patted Ronnie before the | :29:15. | :29:18. | |
start of the frame. The cannon on the black has come to | :29:19. | :29:33. | |
his rescue there. Because he would certainly have left Liang Wenbo in | :29:34. | :29:35. | |
among them. CO-COMMENTATOR: We are in a decider, | :29:36. | :30:00. | |
I don't know where we are, look at this again, why not play it dead | :30:01. | :30:04. | |
weight, first day of the tournament, love is then, sliding in a little | :30:05. | :30:09. | |
bit, drop it into the jaws, let it drop in, gravity would have taken | :30:10. | :30:15. | |
that one in. He will need some mental fortitude to get that behind | :30:16. | :30:20. | |
him to get the final frame. -- not the best of break-off shots. Should | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
have been all over. Ronnie hoping to cover the red. To | :30:25. | :30:45. | |
the left of the blue, this cuts into the middle pocket. Wouldn't it be | :30:46. | :30:49. | |
ironic, after missing the black, if Liang Wenbo were to put this in. Cue | :30:50. | :30:55. | |
ball looks as though it will career into the pink, if this goes in, it | :30:56. | :30:59. | |
could open things up. Black over the pocket but what a big shot. | :31:00. | :31:10. | |
. He played a very positive shot. He is unlucky not to finish on the | :31:11. | :31:20. | |
black. But after the easy black he missed to knock the defending | :31:21. | :31:23. | |
champion out, that was a great opening red. That was a great part | :31:24. | :31:34. | |
but you know what it is like, Dennis, when you miss opportunities | :31:35. | :31:38. | |
in this game, the snookered gods do not forgive you. -- that was a great | :31:39. | :31:45. | |
pot. Expect a bad run of the balls. He got one there. That was an | :31:46. | :31:48. | |
excellent box. That is probably the best pot of | :31:49. | :32:02. | |
this match so far. Fully stretched, you could hear the | :32:03. | :32:24. | |
groans from Ronnie. It is not about opportunity. -- not a bad | :32:25. | :32:33. | |
opportunity. I think that red, closest to the | :32:34. | :33:26. | |
black is available. He will have to be careful. The cue ball was always | :33:27. | :33:30. | |
going close to the corner pocket. This is not an easy part. And you've | :33:31. | :33:38. | |
seen the black that Wenbo missed in the last round, nothing is easy. | :33:39. | :33:50. | |
One player is a little better than the other are getting over the line. | :33:51. | :33:57. | |
It is all about experience and he has done it so many times. Hard to | :33:58. | :34:01. | |
believe that this is his 23rd Masters. He has been a champion six | :34:02. | :34:06. | |
times, runner-up on three occasions. He has seen everything there is to | :34:07. | :34:25. | |
see in the game of snooker. This is slightly awkward here. He has | :34:26. | :34:36. | |
decided to pool for the black. You might have thought he would go for | :34:37. | :34:42. | |
the blue but he did not fancy playing through the gap. | :34:43. | :34:48. | |
Whoever wins this deciding frame, they have a few days off and will | :34:49. | :34:57. | |
not play again until Thursday. You say whoever wins this game but I | :34:58. | :35:01. | |
think this is all over. There is pressure in this final frame but he | :35:02. | :35:04. | |
has been given a massive lifeline. He knows full well he should have | :35:05. | :35:09. | |
been out of this year's event. But like all the great champions, and | :35:10. | :35:11. | |
there are a couple in the studio this afternoon, they note that if | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
they ever got a second bite of the cherry, they would not let it go | :35:17. | :35:17. | |
begging. And how many times did we see them | :35:18. | :35:28. | |
do it in style? Finish with a match-winning break. Just taking a | :35:29. | :35:37. | |
little bit of time to make sure that he does not play an unnecessary | :35:38. | :35:44. | |
cannon, to get out of position. Trying to do it without playing a | :35:45. | :35:48. | |
cannon, to take that risk element out of it. He is worried about the | :35:49. | :35:54. | |
growing himself behind that red. Like all great champions, he can | :35:55. | :36:01. | |
smell blood. He knows immediately that this is the chance to win the | :36:02. | :36:06. | |
frame and the match. In a match he should have lost. | :36:07. | :36:10. | |
This will be a sore one for Liang. He will be thinking about that black | :36:11. | :36:27. | |
for a long time. A black that would have knocked out the defending | :36:28. | :36:32. | |
champion. Just a few more pots away from keeping himself in this year's | :36:33. | :36:36. | |
Masters. I think we can use to the idea that | :36:37. | :36:53. | |
there will be many more of these in this year 's event. You have to feel | :36:54. | :37:04. | |
sorry for Liang Wenbo. He played so well, losing the two opening frames, | :37:05. | :37:10. | |
he came back and won three in a row. He was just one point away from | :37:11. | :37:22. | |
knocking out Ronnie O'Sullivan. But how well has he taken these? He has | :37:23. | :37:27. | |
waltzed around the table like he is in the club. He really is one of the | :37:28. | :37:32. | |
best closers of matches I have ever seen. This has been him at his best | :37:33. | :37:41. | |
in the final frame, when it matters most. Top-class performance in the | :37:42. | :37:58. | |
final frame. A tricky red. That might just finish it. | :37:59. | :38:10. | |
What a time to make your highest break of the match. A frame that | :38:11. | :38:16. | |
takes you into the next round. And the crowd will be delighted that | :38:17. | :38:40. | |
their favourite has stayed in. Quite a few players will be gutted that he | :38:41. | :38:42. | |
has. I think we are going to keep on | :38:43. | :38:58. | |
clapping like the way through this frame. They might as well. Well, you | :38:59. | :39:10. | |
cannot take it away from the defending champion, Ronnie | :39:11. | :39:15. | |
O'Sullivan. Big smiles and hugs from his good frame, Liang Wenbo. Just | :39:16. | :39:20. | |
one pot away from knocking out the defending champion, but in the end, | :39:21. | :39:25. | |
he did it, as great champions always do it, in style, with that | :39:26. | :39:30. | |
magnificent break of 121. And he goes through to the next round, | :39:31. | :39:34. | |
beating Liang Wenbo six frames to five. HAZEL IRVINE: The two are | :39:35. | :39:41. | |
great frames but what a dramatic let off for O'Sullivan and what a way to | :39:42. | :39:44. | |
complete that incredible match. Your reaction to that? That is the most | :39:45. | :39:52. | |
focused he was all match. That comes automatically. You have either got | :39:53. | :39:55. | |
that or you have not and that is what separates the best from the | :39:56. | :40:00. | |
rest. What a let off. Wenbo will not have a great night's sleep. But it | :40:01. | :40:05. | |
Ronnie O'Sullivan my sometimes you need is the adrenaline pumping | :40:06. | :40:08. | |
through his body and throughout that match, it was not that type of | :40:09. | :40:14. | |
match. There was no real danger at 4-2. But when it looks like he's | :40:15. | :40:20. | |
going out and Wenbo misses the final black, Ronnie O'Sullivan is on red | :40:21. | :40:23. | |
alert. He was never going to make any mistakes in that last frame. And | :40:24. | :40:30. | |
how close was he? Not that close. It will be interesting to see how he | :40:31. | :40:35. | |
feels about it. A fantastic way to finish but that was pretty close. I | :40:36. | :40:40. | |
know I have won but I did not deserve it. It was there for the | :40:41. | :40:44. | |
taking. I did not play very well today. I know what it feels like to | :40:45. | :40:51. | |
be one ball away from winning the match. It will be hard for him to | :40:52. | :40:57. | |
deal with that one. What were you thinking when he was on that shot? I | :40:58. | :41:02. | |
was thinking I might have a nice week off, because I am not feeling | :41:03. | :41:09. | |
that well. I have felt really tired. I have trouble vision out there. I | :41:10. | :41:13. | |
am shaking and I just wanted the match to be over. I am hoping that I | :41:14. | :41:18. | |
will feel a bit better. You looked a little flat in the chair towards the | :41:19. | :41:22. | |
end. You coming down with something? I have at this for about a month. I | :41:23. | :41:29. | |
will probably give it to you. -- I have had this. In terms of the | :41:30. | :41:32. | |
adrenaline kicking in, it was therefore you. I did not feel any | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
adrenaline. I did not feel like I was involved in the match, I was | :41:38. | :41:41. | |
just going through the motions. Just trying my hardest, hanging in there, | :41:42. | :41:45. | |
trying to stay professional. I did not expect to win, because I thought | :41:46. | :41:49. | |
that he would have finished me off, but I got lucky. In the build-up, | :41:50. | :41:55. | |
you talk about winning with style, and presumably it fell a bit short | :41:56. | :42:02. | |
from your standards. I don't mean like I tried to go out there and do | :42:03. | :42:06. | |
that, I just mean that my style over 20 years has been to play a pretty | :42:07. | :42:12. | |
game, if you like, to try to win a game in one visit. You cannot always | :42:13. | :42:18. | |
do that. I think I have done all right over 25 years, and I just | :42:19. | :42:25. | |
enjoy winning. I do not get much pleasure out of playing poorly. | :42:26. | :42:29. | |
Maybe Steve and Stephen were different. They were much more | :42:30. | :42:32. | |
ferocious animals. I just want to play well, even in practice, | :42:33. | :42:39. | |
otherwise I get down on myself. We were talking during the match about | :42:40. | :42:43. | |
your chances of breaking Stephen's record and getting seven Masters | :42:44. | :42:48. | |
titles. And for the first time, warning that record outright. I know | :42:49. | :42:54. | |
that you do not try to put too much pressure on yourself but it would be | :42:55. | :42:56. | |
a significant achievement if you pulled it off. If I do not get it | :42:57. | :43:02. | |
this year, I have a good chance that you're after. I do not look around | :43:03. | :43:06. | |
and see anyone else doing anything fantastic. If I stay fit and | :43:07. | :43:13. | |
healthy, I have half a chance. Obviously, there are not a lot of | :43:14. | :43:16. | |
grassroots coming through. I will play until I am 50, I suppose. Well | :43:17. | :43:22. | |
done, Ronnie. Get their head down, and you have a few more days until | :43:23. | :43:25. | |
your next March against Robinson or Ali Carter. -- your next match. And | :43:26. | :43:33. | |
there is live coverage of that game from 7:00pm. I am back at 1145 | :43:34. | :43:37. | |
tonight were the highlights. And tomorrow, we're back with John | :43:38. | :43:41. | |
Higgins taking on Mark Allen. Just to distract you from work on a | :43:42. | :43:45. | |
Monday afternoon. If you need fresh air, ski Sunday is on at 6:15pm this | :43:46. | :43:53. | |
evening. A classic weekend from Wengen. And at ten o'clock tonight, | :43:54. | :43:58. | |
Match of the Day too, with Everton city and Man United. From all of us, | :43:59. | :44:05. | |
you want a drama, you always get it. From our victor today, Ronnie | :44:06. | :44:08. | |
O'Sullivan, and all the crew, thanks for being with us. | :44:09. | :44:19. |