by elliott west
They say “that time races on for no man” but in snooker this rule of thumb does not seem to apply. On a packed schedule of snooker in Crawley on day three of the English Open, play was brisk with the headline match of the day being Ronnie O’Sullivan’s battle against Yuan Sijun. Ronnie seems to be taking a leaf out of Mark Selby’s rule book whilst playing in this tournament by winning a match from being on the back foot. O’Sullivan trailed his opponent 3-1 and with the Chinese player only needing one more frame to win the match, Ronnie did something that only a true professional player can achieve, push forward when the chips are down. With breaks of 81, 84 and 87, Ronnie took the next three frames and won the match.
Ronnie would probably have been annoyed that he had to win this way as he is very self-critical of his game and will want to tweak his play before his next match. That said, I have watched O’Sullivan over his entire career and his handling of pitfalls is a hundred percent better than it was in the past. He no longer explodes in a match situation and that is largely due to his sport’s psychologist Steve Peters and the close team around him. Expect a strong campaign from Ronnie this week as he aims to seize this title even if he publicly says that if he is knocked out, he will return as a pundit to the Eurosport couch.
The main shock of the morning session was that last year’s winner Stuart Bingham was sent packing. On what could be described as a player’s off day Stuart didn’t turn up for this match and was clearly outplayed by his Chinese counterpart. Si Jiahui dominated this match and as is the case with all best of seven matches the favourite can lose. Bingham’s avoidance of a whitewash will be of little comfort to Stuart who was keen to reach the final again. This was a bad day at the office for him and this 1-4 loss will hurt, but Bingham being Bingham he will regroup and prepare for his next tournament installment.
Elsewhere David Gilbert again has made a superb start to his English Open campaign carrying on his winning streak with a 4-0 drubbing against Ryan Davies. With breaks of 130, 136 and an attempted maximum, Gilbert looks on course to go deep into this tournament. He is one of the players that I would dearly love to win a major title and this could be his year if he can survive the snooker opposition and pitfalls in his path. I am frankly fed up with labeling him the “nearly man” and want him to assume the title of victor instead.
The big guns of snooker also managed to cross the match play minefield with wins for Mark Allen, Barry Hawkins, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and Judd Trump. Out of those matches, Murphy’s encounter with Sunny Akani led to a break of 133 in the fourth frame and chalked up his 150th century career breaks, only the eighth player to reach this incredible landmark. A blistering 4-1 win ensued.The only other defeat worth mentioning was by Ryan Day who was foxed by Elliot Slessor, 2-4. Slessor is a player who I greatly admire and has a game that is bold and not afraid to push the boat out when required. A demon potter and high break builder this man from the North deserves to do well in Crawley.
The English Open will incur casualties along the way and the mighty and meek will fall but just to be clear this week will weed out the best player to win the English Open title and if your game slips then the exit door beckons. Snooker can be a cruel sport but it is all about getting up dusting yourself down and starting again. The greatest players of snooker have all experienced the roller-coaster that is snooker but that is what makes a good player.; “You have to be in it to win it!”.
