Day 10, Part 2 Snooker: World Championship

The most naturally gifted player ever to grace the game. That is a

cracking pot. Come on, Ronnie, make sure you get this century. For he

is surging away from Mark Williams. That was the session where Ronnie

O'Sullivan was absolutely magnificent. To sit watching and

what winning frame after frame. He want nine frames in a row from Mark

Williams. Unbelievable form. public love watch Ronnie play. He

is such a natural player and makes it look ridiculously easy. It is

the ridiculously hard game in Look at this positional shot.

break of 126, it is not often a break which is not a maximum a

earns a standing ovation. I do not think any other player could have

I interviewed him on the eve of the tournament and he seemed very

relaxed. He was saying that only John Higgins out there at his best

could beat me at my best. Now, there is no John Higgins left in

the tournament and that is ominous for the other players. I think if

there was any doubt beforehand, there is no doubt now that Ronnie

O'Sullivan is a major contender this year. He seems to be in the

right frame of mind and when he is in that frame of mind, he is very

hard to stop. After that sensational session yesterday,

Ronnie O'Sullivan was immediately installed as the new favourite for

the Betfred.com World Championship. But his immediate priority is to

get past Mark Williams and book a place in the quarter-finals. The

original be key's favourite, Judd Trump, the original 5-1 favourite,

was involved in an amazing matched this afternoon against the Ali

Carter. Judd Trump was three frames ahead with only four to play. It

was a match which left the audience What a chance. Can he hold himself

together? Just 35 points remaining and 47 points behind. That equates

I think Ali Carter's heart has get And he has got me snooker! Would

There is an gap around behind the But that is too hard. Another

chance for Ali Carter. That is it. That is frame and match. One of the

When I was that far ahead I thought I was over the line, but then my

brain became the size of a pea. I could not see anything. I had to

suffer for another 10 minutes. knew stranger things had happened.

I knew it would be tough. But even if any had got that, I am not so

sure I could have cleared up. It is disappointing the way I handled the

pressure today. I will have to learn from it. I could see how

gutted he was in his eyes. He is the great player and has been great

for the game, there is no doubt about that. But there is no -- more

to this game than smashing the balls and and I think I showed that

today. The rout the all competition, I never really got going. But I

cannot make excuses. But you have to battle for 17 days here and I do

not handle it as well as I should. It is the massive win for me, but I

want to progress through, but now I am going to savour the moment and

And two Welshmen, when 8-8 and then 10-10, but it was the man with

greater experience, Matthew Stevens, who progresses into the quarter-

finals for the first time in five years. Yes, it was exciting. It

always seems to happen to me at the Crucible. I was pleased with the

way I handled myself. It is nice to win at one now and again and I am

pleased to get through. No, the match between Judd Trump and Ali

Carter, the best match of the tournament so far? Yes, it was very

exciting from start to finish. do you think made the difference

for Ali Carter? Well, people will point to a lot of things, but I

think he showed a lot of guts and more than anything. His experience

played a lot into it. And what of Judd for the future? He will learn

a lot from this. He has been tweeting all his force to say he

will be back stronger next year. For the now, are we going to see

the same sort of comeback tonight? Perhaps not likely, with a mean 12

Mark -- Mark Williams trailing Let us get Rob Walker on the case.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen, what a remarkable D we have already

had at Betfred.com World Championship. The Crucible is

absolutely rocking once again. We commence play to finalise the line-

up for the last eight of the tournament. We are in for a great

session of snooker. Please welcome, a player into the second week of a

great tournament. He took his chances last week to give himself a

great chance, please welcome the Welsh warrior, Jamie Jones

MUSIC: "Sexy And I Know It" by LMFAO eight what his opponent has

also had a superb run thus far, starting with the defeat of Stephen

leave. He is still very much in this match. This is the big one for

the Widnes Vikings, Andrew Higginson.

MUSIC: "Love Will Tear Us Apart" by Joy Division Please welcome a

player he yesterday produce some of the best form we have seen from him

in years. He was quite simply sublime. On the verge of the 14th

Crucible quarter-final. Blink and you will miss them, "The Rocket",

Ronnie O'Sullivan! MUSIC: "Let Me Entertain You" by

at his opponent, one of the finest will sportsmen end spot. He won the

last couple of frames yesterday to give itself some belief. Twice the

for Mark world champion, he is the Welsh potting machine, Mark

Williams! you can follow the match between

Jamie Jones and Andrew Higginson online or on the red button, but we

will join our commentators Willie WILLIE THORNE: As Dennis Taylor

mentioned before the start, Ronnie O'Sullivan managed to win 9 frames

and a row from the two-time world JOHN PARROTT: Her he is, at a

London-three, he must have been tempted to look for the exit, but

he hung in there and took the last His great friend, the renowned

artist Damien Hirst has been with him. I think he has been made

For a we have got to world champions one shot and we have the

world darts champion watching. He has been a fantastic champion, as

Nice to find a plant at the corner of the pack and now just rolling up

There is not a huge advantage in this at the moment, as the he reds

are all grouped very tightly and it would take a very loose shot from

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What a clever little shot that was and I think he is on the pink into

I said it was unlikely that he would go further red, but he

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He did not want that to bomb off the middle pocket, but it could

He might play a bit of the shot to Not too bad. There are a couple of

reds available, but neither of them would allow him to get the white

back behind the baulk line. I do not see how he can get round the

back of the black here. Well, he Bacher which you how well he is

These are pot-shots with this super-fast cloth. It is hard to get

them right. That said, I am surprised at how poorly he has

The last thing you want to do with The one on any pink spot, he could

cut very thin and get back, but he is looking at he wanted he left of

that. He has but a shot where he could drop on to me one on to beat

What has he found? Whatever it was, The black has found itself in a

difficult position, so he may have to work with the pink for a few

shots. A Yes, and he will have to watch when he pink his re-spotted.

Yes, that is a good point. I do not know if Ronnie has spotted that. If

that is the scenario, he would be much better taking the blue. The

but, he clearly feels that it going on the black spot is not going to

prove the problem. Actually, seeing the look on his face, I do not

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Pink and black are out of commission, but he will be quite

happy getting the points from the blue all the time. His touch is

quite remarkable, it really is. You see some players losing position on

the blue after two or three shots, but he is always the right side of

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Saying that, you are now under It just left handed, it is

unbelievable. What an advantage There was a little bit of mileage

in and may be nudging the black away. But he is actually played at

Where the pink and black where at the beginning of this break, it was

hard to see anyone hitting more than 30 points, but he is now up at

Just wanted to flick that red out. No surprise to see that that was

But at the start of this, did it on as we look as if he could win the

But he is now going to win the frame from this. We all get excited

about century breaks, but this has been a very good at every bit as

He has taken five blue and three He was just checking to see what

colour he may need to be able to make a century break. What a pity.

But he goes one from victory at 12- There are, we thought it was

unlikely that Mark Williams would be able to stage a comeback and

that is looking even more unlikely. Tiny cage what his mood is like?

has been in good shape mentally. I always feel that the second week of

the tournament is when the runners and riders sure about all form. But

he is definitely in the type of form which could win the World

Championship for him. When you think of the rollercoaster he has

been on. It was only a couple of months ago that he won the German

Masters and managed to avoid having to qualify for this tournament.

that is largely down to the amount of tournaments in the schedule now,

but even so, it was a big event for him to win. There are very few

players that the people in the commentary box bowed down to, but

just the standard of play is If so will, Mark Williams has got

it all to do if he is to beat Ronnie for the first time in years

JOHN PARROTT: Well, he gets any early chance, as an attempted

safety shot by a Ronnie caught the WILLIE THORNE: Has he lost he cue

Do you think he is already thinking about the maximum break already?

Well, if you are 12-five behind, then this is one way to make a few

quid out of the tournament. He is one of the best in the game at

these slow roll shot. The key to them is hitting men playing ball,

but he put it a bit of unwanted The red here at the back of the

cluster will pot and spread de reds all over the place. Let us see if

he plays this with top spin or Now he has finished, he can count

Just seeing what he has to leave Not a great amount of alternatives

There is a cuttable red which Ronnie might take on. He might be

Doesn't fancy EVA of the pottable reds in the middle. -- either of

The cue ball is tight enough to the top cushion, so it is difficult to

Can't see where he's going to leave That was about as good as he could

do, really. Always difficult. Mark Williams has got one in the centre

Well played, Mark Williams. He was up of the cue very quickly. I think

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he thought he missed it for a All credit to Mark Williams. The

professional pride is still there. Ronnie still needs one frame, but

Not the desired kiss, but he still has the green available in the

middle. He still has the choice of playing the the blue, but a lot

more difficult than it would have Good recovery. I don't think he's

A lead of 39 for Mark Williams. He can play the one near the top near

the baulk line or he may choose to move the rain -- red off the left-

Right through the middle of the That is just unbelievable, win you

consider this match is over 25 frames. Half the time, you are

playing a shot to nothing. I guarantee you, 81% is the highest

If he can clear up from here, it is He doesn't have a great angle on

No problem, when you're so A lot of players can't hit the ball

Matthew Stevens is obviously pretty These next two shots will tell

whether Mark Williams is going to spend any more time in this world

He was literally two shots away from going into the quarter-finals.

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A colour and a red, and Mark So that unexpected miss from

O'Sullivan leads Mark Williams to And well done to him. Showing a

Mark Williams has kept this match alive. He reduces the deficit.

Ronnie looked like he was all out It is difficult to make any excuses,

really, it looked initially like he was going to play it ordinary, he

got the extension, but you would expect him to knock it off straight,

no reason for him to miss that, the balls he has potted today, but he

did, and Mark Williams against to clear up. Well done to him, he is

still in there, punching away. Mission impossible, really, but

Mark Williams has gone out at the hands of Ronnie three times in the

last six years. When you come up against the St opponent all of the

time, does it begin to get to you, does it become a mental block?

suppose it can. It helps if he can beat him in other events to get a

glimmer of hope, but you're not too sure with Mark whether he does

study the form guide that strongly. He probably feels, as do many, that

O'Sullivan is such a genius with the cue, that anything he does is

overshadowed, and Mark Williams said earlier, he is unfortunately

up against somebody who has more I'm sure Ronnie O'Sullivan is

hoping his -- this is the last time he breaks off this evening. I'm

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sure he wants to get as much rest He was up on that shot very, very

quickly. The middle one of the three will pot. And there is the

chance of the black here, I wonder if he will risk it. There is your

You know what is in his mind at the Two very good at Kent this

afternoon to you called Stephen Hendry's total on the first day. --

The red to the left of the black is What he tells me is he is keen to

get this match over with. As you sit, nice to get it done and dusted,

back to the hotel, have a nice Oh dear, that was careless. Massive

gap to go through the reds to get onto the black. I know he has got a

relatively new tip on, which is obviously playing well, but he

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I don't see that he can hit that red. I thought he was playing the

one nearest the pocket. I can't understand why he would want to

play that. I think he may be struggling to hit the one near the

We often talk on commentary about how cushions slide, if you happen

to hit the Third cushion, it widens even more. He was 40 points in

front of you minutes ago, now it is only 28. -- a few minutes ago. I'm

The funny thing is, the last when he has played is probably the right

way to play it. He was playing for three cushions come now he is

It is not quite the record yet. Might be a record for Ronnie,

though. I haven't seen him miss It's led by again. -- it ex-leader

I don't know if Ronnie has some way to go, he has just look at his

That is not going to get there, either. An inch further to the

right, Ronnie, and you will he do He has hit it, well done! He gave

36 point away! It was the only way I have done that myself, plenty of

times. You don't make up your mind what shot to play, and in the end,

you don't play any. He was thinking He needed a lot of cue power there.

He has decided to play for the black, that is dangerous. It would

Ronnie knew how important that He has mishit that pipe two or

three inches. -- by two or three inches. He would be very

disappointed not to wrap up the We never shot at the result when

people like Hendry and O'Sullivan play, but I was quite surprised at

the score line. I thought this one would be a close match, but I

thought it would be 13 too late, This really is a fabulous chance

He was absolutely virtuoso yesterday afternoon. Six frames of

the finest snooker I have ever seen played at the Crucible. Mark

Williams just had to sit and watch and appreciate it. When he is it in

this form, and has focused as he is, he is a serious handful for anybody

in this tournament. He has now gone 2-1 favourite, with Judd Trump

having gone out. What a match in prospect we have, with Neil

Robertson, I thought the second part of his opening session was

absolutely awesome. So it is a He would be pretty pleased with

himself, it will be interesting to see his press conference, to see if

he feels he is playing well. He certainly looks like he's playing

as well as he has done for a couple We could have had a century in this

frame, but Ronnie O'Sullivan looks superb. Williams offers his hand in

congratulations, O'Sullivan wins the match and goes through to the

Ronnie, clock-watching at one point, we are coming to the end of our

transmission, a quick reaction from them hopefully. In the end,

straightforward, but he had it all to do in that session. Yes, I think

he moved a bit through the gears. Mark Williams has had a good season

early on, perhaps faded a bit towards the end, he will be a bit

disappointed, but sometimes when you sit there watching him play,

you have to say, well done. We will pass on our congratulations.

Those six frames gave you a superb platform, that was fantastic to

watch. Credit to Mark Williams, he is one of the top three players in

the world, he has had a good season, he got to the final of the first

two ranking event, he has been to be the most consistent player over

the last few years, massive credit to him, he made it hard for me out

there, that is why I played as well as I did, because I had to.

look as though you are really up for this World Championship.

know about being up for things, you are the most up person I have met!

You're certainly cueing well, people are getting excited about

your run. The feeling is in my fingers. Well done, Ronnie.

He is not giving much away. Assess his prospect against Neil Robertson.

Three centuries from him so far, 5 from Neil, and 11 breaks of 50 plus.

Fantastic form. A clash of the big guns, the early in the quarter-

final stages, a few surprises, names in on not going to be in the

quarter-finals, you could argue on paper but Neil Robertson versus

Ronnie O'Sullivan could have been the final. Neil Robertson, aiming

for a second world title, he won it in 2010, and Rory won it Formica

times. Who is going to be in the quarter-final line-up? Just to