Stevens through in style

Higginson leads all-English clash with Lee after tight first session

 

Matthew Stevens cruised into the last 16 of the Betfred.com World Championship with a 10-3 demolition of Marco Fu. The Welshman - twice a losing finalist at the Crucible - had put himself on course for a comfortable victory after taking the opening eight frames. Fu did attempt to launch a fightback when they returned to the table on Monday evening, taking the opener thanks to a run of 65 before also coming out on top in a scrappy frame that followed. However, Stevens took two out of the next three to seal victory in an opening-round match that didn't feature a century break from either player.

 

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Robertson sees off Doherty

World Snooker Championship 2012: 12BET odds 4/23 9:30PM GMT+8

 

Hendry relishing match-up with Higgins in round two. The 2010 world champion Neil Robertson completed a 10-4 victory over Ken Doherty to set up a second-round clash with England's David Gilbert. Dubliner Doherty - world champion 15 years ago - entered the session 7-2 in arrears and there was no way back. The Australian, who lost to Judd Trump to relinquish his title in round one last year, said: "It's nice playing this year without being the defending champion. It's nice coming in under the radar."


Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry overcame a wobble to convert his 8-1 overnight lead over Stuart Bingham to a 10-4 victory. When the evening's opening three frames went to Bingham, it raised the prospect of a comeback, but Hendry soon quashed that and goes on to tackle defending champion John Higgins in the second round. The 43-year-old Scot, who finished off Bingham with a break of 96, said: "Everyone wants to be 8-1 up but it's hard to have the same intensity you had at the start of the match. I was pretty flat tonight and I think it showed. But I finished it off well.


"Overall I played really well in the match, topped off by the maximum which I'm delighted about.


"Now it's John and I can't wait, I'm really looking forward to it."

 

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Stephen Maguire vs Luca Brecel match preview

World Snooker Championship 2012: 12BET odds Stephen Maguire vs Luca Brecel 4/22 5PM GMT+8

 

Scotland’s Stephen Maguire has so far failed to fulfil his potential in the World Championships but has been as high as 2 in the World rankings and following a lean period he has got back on track and is now climbing again, currently seventh in the world. Maguire is one of the title favourites and is very backable at 14/1.

Brecel has put out preston’s Ian McCulloch in the first round 10-2, McCulloch has made it to the semis beforehand, the young Belgian didnt stop there when he put out Barry Pinches 10-3, Michael Holt 10-9 and finished the job against former top sixteen player Mark King 10-8 so he is certainly inform and could make this tough for Maguire.

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Match preview John Higgins vs Liang Wenbo

World Snooker Championship 2012: 12BET odds John Higgins vs Liang Wenbo 4/21 5PM GMT+8

John Higgins has told Judd Trump he'll have it "tough" if he is go one better than last year at the Betfred.com World Championship. Trump made it all the way through to the final last year - after beating defending champion Neil Robertson in the opening round - but came off second best against Higgins in the Crucible showpiece. The 22-year-old has since climbed to number two in the world rankings on the back of winning this season's UK Championship. But Higgins, who won his first world title at the age of 22, has warned Trump things won't come easy for him as he returns to Sheffield. The Scot said: "It's going to be tough for him because he's fancied now and he's obviously the favourite for the event. "If someone had said to him last year when he was going into the event, 'Next year, you're going to be favourite for it', he wouldn't have believed you, but it only goes to show how far he's come. "Obviously there's lots of people out there who want to see him go back and go one better."

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Trading Places Help Raise PHF Cash

Trading Places Estate Agents have donated 500 pounds to the Paul Hunter Foundation via Ricky Walden's manager Lee Gorton.

Gorton is one of a group of 'players and others' from the snooker world running the Sheffield Half Marathon next month to raise cash for the Foundation.
"To my knowledge this is the single largest donation so far and I am extremely grateful," said Gorton.
"I think Liam Highfield will run the other 33 of us into the ground and it is just my aim to complete the course and not finish last (of the whole field ....not the 34). Secretly, I would like to finish ahead of Steve Davis but he's training on hills and mountains so I'm not holding out much hope.
"It's great to take part with so many legends of the game for such a worthy cause. I'm sure Paul Hunter would be overwhelmed at the response the run has had and how many are prepared to give up their time to train to raise as much money as they can."

 

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Rocket to face Ebdon at Crucible

Former world champion Ronnie O'Sullivan will face Peter Ebdon in the first round of the World Snooker Championship.

Ebdon booked his place at the Crucible by beating Alfie Burden 10-0 in the final round of qualifying and his reward is a first round clash with three-time winner O'Sullivan. John Higgins returns to the Sheffield arena as defending champion and his quest for another title begins against Liang Wenbo, who last year's runner-up Judd Trump faces Dominic Dale in the opening round.

Luca Brecel will become the youngest competitor in Crucible history when he takes on Scotland's Stephen Maguire with world number one Mark Selby drawn against fellow Englishman Barry Hawkins.cRecord seven-time champion Stephen Hendry had to come through the qualifiers and he will now face England's Stuart Bingham. Ireland's Ken Doherty secured his place in the Crucible via the qualifiers and he has the daunting task of trying to beat 2010 winner Neil Robertson.

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Hendry books Crucible place

Scot overcomes Yu to reach 26th consecutive World Championship

 

Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry held his nerve to book his place at yet another Betfred.com World Championship. Hendry, 43, succeeded where six-time champion Steve Davis and six-time runner-up Jimmy White both failed this week by coming through the qualifying tournament, beating Chinese player Yu Delu 10-6.

"I'm very pleased to be through," Hendry said. "I'm used to playing at the World Championship and it puts that little bit of extra pressure on you, to have to play an extra match to get there."

Hendry, who last had to qualify in 1988 and has been ever-present at the Crucible since 1986, has fallen to 23rd in the world rankings. He awaits Monday's draw, knowing he will have to take on one of the 16 seeded players. He reached the Crucible showpiece after firing in breaks of 73, 69, 76 and 88 in converting an overnight 6-3 lead into a 10-6 victory. On Saturday he recorded breaks of 129 and 107.

"I played quite nicely," Hendry said. "I won a lot of frames in one visit.

"The most important thing was to just go out with the mindset of needing to win the match, no matter how I played, just get the match won."

Meanwhile, Belgian teenager Luca Brecel shattered Hendry's record to become the youngest player to earn a place at the Crucible. Brecel, who at 17 years and 36 days old is two months younger than Hendry was in 1986, beat Essex's Mark King 10-8 in the final round of qualifying, his fourth win of the week. And he will feature in Monday's first-round draw for the event which begins in Sheffield on Saturday.

 

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Crucible aim for Hendry

Scot not letting his head drop at having to qualify

Seven-time champion Stephen Hendry has vowed to do his all to qualify for the Betfred.com World Championship. The world number 23 has fallen so far down the rankings he is incredibly no longer guaranteed a place at Sheffield's Crucible theatre. Hendry is due to take on Chinese cueman Yu Delu and the 43-year-old admits having to go through qualifying is 'not enjoyable'. The Scot, who dominated the sport during the 1990s, knows the importance of approaching the game with the right attitude, stating any negative thoughts will result in defeat.

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Higgins hails Crucible

World champion ready for nervous start at the Crucible

John Higgins will be sick with nerves before he walks out at the Crucible to defend his World Snooker Championship title, but insisted there was nowhere that could match the Sheffield stage.

Higgins has won three of the last five world titles and is again amongst the big favourites to lift the trophy when the Betfred.com World Championship gets underway on April 21. The Wizard of Wishaw will bring the curtain up on this year's tournament as he plays a qualifier on the opening morning of the event, and he admits he will be full of nerves.

"The nerves are really there just before you walk out at the Crucible, you'll probably feel physically sick, but once the match gets underway there's no better place to be than playing in the World Championship," Higgins said. "I'm just concentrating on winning that first match, once that's out the way you feel like you're in the tournament and you can see where you go from there."

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Hearn: Hard work is paying off

Hearn believes Crucible event is the pinnacle of British sport

World Snooker chairman Barry Hearn insists hard work has saved the game as he pledged to make every player a millionaire.

Hearn has turned around the sport in the two-and-a-half years he has been at the helm with now almost 30 tournaments on the calendar with the promise of an even busier 2012/13 season. Hearn, speaking at the launch of the Betfred.com World Championship which gets under way in Sheffield on Saturday, April 21, is convinced the recession would soon be consigned to history if everyone bought into his philosophy. He might have echoed David Jason's Del Trotter as he said: "We're going to make everybody millionaires." But Hearn was gushing with pride as he spoke of the huge strides snooker has taken.

"This is the year that snooker went back to work," he said.

"These kids, these boys, these men, are playing better than they've ever played before. In the year that we're trying to get the country back to work, snooker is leading the way.

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Perfect Ten For McGill

Anthony McGill stormed to a 10-0 whitewash over Adam Wicheard to reach the penultimate qualifying round of the Betfred.com World Championship.

Glasgow's 21-year-old McGill, playing his second season on the main tour, fired in breaks of 57, 63, 64, 57 and 52 in setting up a match with Anthony Hamilton. He needs two more wins to reach the Crucible.

China's Yu Delu thrashed Michael White 10-2 with top runs of 85, 79, 76 and 67 to earn a meeting with Matthew Selt, while another member of snooker's Chinese army, Xiao Guodong, saw off Aditya Mehta 10-4 with a high break of 140.

However the third Chinese player in action on Monday evening, Li Yan, suffered a 10-6 reverse against Thailand's James Wattana. Former World No 3 Wattana led 4-0, then trailed 6-4, then won the last six frames.

Former Crucible semi-finalist Andy Hicks beat Liam Highfield 10-3 while Ben Woollaston came from 3-1 down to beat Daniel Wells 10-4 and set up a match with Steve Davis.

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Superb Brecel Thrashes McCulloch

Luca Brecel beat former Crucible semi-finalist Ian McCulloch 10-2 to reach the second qualifying round of the Betfred.com World Championship.

Belgian teenager Brecel, playing his first season on the pro tour, has scored some excellent results in recent weeks and dominated against Preston's McCulloch. Brecel knocked in breaks of 95, 61, 62, 59 and 68 to set up a match with Barry Pinches, with three more wins needed to reach the Crucible.

Brazil's Igor Figueiredo scored his second win in the event, beating Andrew Norman 10-8. Figueiredo came from 6-4 down to lead 8-6 and held his nerve in the closing stages to earn a meeting with Liu Song.

Sheffield's Adam Duffy stormed to a 10-2 win over Lucky Vatnani, aided by runs of 50, 68, 58, 91, 52, 81 and 97.

Justin Astley, who started in the section for WPBSA members not on the tour, edged out Sam Craigie 10-9, winning a 64-minute decider by potting blue and pink.

David Grace won the last two frames to beat Sam Baird 10-8 while David Gilbert made a 135 in beating Stuart Carrington 10-7.

Rod Lawler saw off Dechewat Poomjaeng 10-8 in a match lasting eight hours 21 minutes. Lawler saw his 6-1 lead gone at 8-8, but recovered to win the last two frames.

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Indian Express Denies Pagett

India's top player Aditya Mehta came from 8-6 down to beat Andrew Pagett 10-8 and reach the second qualifying round of the Betfred.com World Championship.

Welshman Pagett went all the way to the Crucible last year, but fell at the first hurdle this time as Mehta came good in the closing stages.

Pagett led 5-4 after the first session, making a break of 102 in frame three while Mehta knocked in a 103 in the ninth. Pagett extended his lead to 8-6, only for his opponent to win the last four frames with a top break of 69. Mehta now plays Xiao Guodong and needs three more wins to get to the Crucible. Former Crucible quarter-finalist Patrick Wallace was edged out 10-9 by China's Yu Delu in a seven hour 49 minute tussle. Wallace came from 7-4 down to lead 8-7 and 9-8, but Yu won the last two frames with 63 and 60. Daniel Wells beat two-time Crucible semi-finalist Joe Swail 10-5 in a match between two players who have struggled for form all season. Wells, who came within a frame of qualifying for the Crucible in 2009 but lost 10-9 to Barry Hawkins in the final round, went 7-1 up on Swail with top breaks of 55 and 52 and was able to nurse his lead through the second session. China's Li Yan continued his impressive debut season with a 10-4 defeat of Paul Davison, his top breaks 51 and 61.  Stoke's Liam Highfield made a 101 in beating Matthew Couch 10-5, while Adam Wicheard saw off Tian Pengfei by the same scoreline with a best effort of 87.

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Hossein Set For Pro Tour

Hossein Vafaei Ayouri will make history next season as the first professional snooker player from Iran.

The talented 17-year-old from Abadan won the IBSF World Amateur Championship last December, which has earned him a place on the professional tour for the next two years. He will be eligible to compete in all ranking events, starting with the Wuxi Classic qualifiers in early June.

Hossein, who beat Welshman Lee Walker 10-9 in the World Amateur final, said: "It was the best feeling of my life. My father passed away last year and it was his dream for me to become a professional and world champion, which I achieved for him. Hossein, who will soon move to a practice base in the UK, added: "I am very proud to be the first Iranian pro and I hope I can do well to make my people happy. My Federation has supported me enormously and I hope I can do well to make them proud.

Hossein, who names John Higgins and Jimmy White as his snooker idols, first played snooker at the age of seven. "There was a club opposite my house and I was curious to see what it looked like inside," he said. "One day I asked my father about the club and he held my hand and took me inside. From then on I fell in love snooker. I used to go to the club after school and even finished my homework there."

WPBSA Chairman Jason Ferguson said: "We're absolutely delighted to see an Iranian player on the professional tour for the first time. Snooker is growing globally like never before and we are keen to see the sport develop in every country and for gifted players to come through. Hossein played extremely well to win the World Amateur title against a very strong field and he deserves his place on the tour.

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Davis Considers The Long Run

Steve Davis believes that running the Sheffield Half Marathon this May will help him prolong his snooker career.

The 54-year-old snooker legend is joining other green baize stars such as Shaun Murphy, Peter Ebdon and Michael Holt for the 13-mile run in Sheffield on May 27, to raise money for the Paul Hunter Foundation.

And six-times World Champion Davis, now playing his 34th consecutive season on the main tour, hopes he's still got plenty of time on the professional circuit.


Next Wednesday, Davis competes in the Betfred.com World Championship qualifiers at the English Institute of Sport - Sheffield. He'll face either Joe Swail, Daniel Wells or Ben Woollaston in his first match, and if he wins that he'll face Dominic Dale for a place at the Crucible.




Davis also had some words of encouragement for his son Greg, who will attempt to qualify for the pro circuit when he plays in Q School in Sheffield in May. He added: "It will be fascinating to see how he gets on. I know he is practising his head off to be ready and I just hope he enjoys it. He'll have more eyes on him than most of the other players, but hopefully he'll be able to relax and play well.

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Reg Davies Turns 80

Renowned coach Reg Davies, currently studying on the WPBSA Coaching course at the South West Snooker Academy, is celebrating his 80th Birthday today.  Davies recently won a coaching award in recognition of his work with young players in Manchester. Paul Mount, Chairman of South West Snooker Academy and Terry Griffiths, Director of Coaching at SWSA, presented Reg with a cake.

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Tabb to referee World final

Scot to take charge of biggest match for second time

Michaela Tabb will take charge of the Betfred.com World Championship final for the second time next month.

The 44-year-old, snooker's top female official, will referee the final at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on May 6 and 7.

Tabb has refereed professional snooker since 2001, and officiated the world final for the first time in 2009 when John Higgins beat Shaun Murphy 18-9.

"I was absolutely elated when I found out I was doing it again this year," she said. "I loved it when I did the final in 2009. It went really well for me without any mistakes so I just hope it will be the same this time.

"It's such a huge tournament with a lot of history and potentially hundreds of millions of people watching on television. And there's no venue like the Crucible in terms of the atmosphere. When it falls silent it is so intense.

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Maguire books final spot

Scot will face revitalised Ebdon in Sunday's final

Stephen Maguire is through to the final of the China Open after streaking clear of in-form Stephen Lee to triumph 6-2 in their Beijing semi-final.

Maguire won four frames in a row to seal the win after his opponent had battled back from 2-0 down to level the scores. But the Scot, who edged past Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last eight on a respotted black in the final frame, had six breaks over 50 as he set up a meeting against former world champion Peter Ebdon. Maguire won this tournament in 2008 and started strongly here, taking the first frame with a 76 break and then edging a scrappy second as he punished Lee for not taking his chances.

Lee beat reigning champion Judd Trump in the last eight and the 37-year-old battled back to level after four frames. He won the third frame on the back of a 67 and then drew level, breaks of 47 and 39 enough to get over the line. But he simply had no answer to Maguire after the mid-session interval as the 31-year-old raced away with the match. The Scot knocked in a 51 and a 53 to restore his lead and improved from there. He rattled in breaks of 66 and 71 to take the match away from Lee before saving the best till last, a run of 91 handing him victory in emphatic fashion.

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