By elliott west
China always brings out the best in players and great snooker as a result.
The final today between Shaun Murphy and Ronnie O’Sullivan is a sparring that fills every snooker fan’s heart with joy and produces a thriller that brings tension and genius to the green baize. On the day, both players made the most of their opportunities and Murphy player a lot better than I thought he would. The Ronnie cyclone is never an easy feat to manage and you must take your chances when they are given. Murphy had two chances in the match taking a 6-5 lead and then when it looked like O’Sullivan should take frame and match, Shaun got the run of the ball and started to pull back. However when he could have taken it to a last frame decider, he lost position on a red and Ronnie killed off the match with a fabulous cross-double red.
O’Sullivan now takes this title for a third time and takes his career earnings to a whopping £11 million courtesy of today’s £200,000 cheque, a run that has been as a result of winning consecutive matches. Ronnie looks very focused this season and this is probably down to his mini season regime. By only playing in several tournaments, the current announcement being four, O’Sullivan can keep the anguish of mental health at bay and play the way we all know he can. You may not see him much on the main tour anymore but when you do he almost always produces a spectacular display of snooker!
Murphy can leave this final with his head held high, a final that he didn’t think he would be in several weeks ago as it was dubious whether he would be able to enter the tournament. Dancing with his daughter at home to Disney’s Greatest Hits left Shaun with a leg injury. Fortunately this cleared up and in the end he suffered a mild 11-9 defeat in the final. This feat is highly important when looking at Shaun’s form and played a lot better than when he suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Judd Trump in the International Championship earlier in the season. A key point to note is Shaun’s demeanour in this match. I noticed that his body language remained positive throughout and especially when he was confined to his chair. You can never let your opponent get into your head in snooker and Shaun managed to bat off Ronnie’s negative vibes throughout the match.
Whoever becomes his opponent in any of these finals will have to produce their best to have any chance of beating O’Sullivan and can never afford to let their guard down. So the Shanghai Masters draws to a close and we have a brief pause before the China Championship begins on 23/09/19.
