Hallett & Hendon

Mike Hallett: Outsiders to the snooker circuit might think that Ricky Walden's victory in Shanghai was a bit of a shock, but those more familiar with the game will be less surprised. It is great to see another first-time ranking tournament winner, but Ricky should possibly have lifted a trophy before now. He has been around the fringes of the top players for a while now without really breaking through, but he has done that now and it will be a huge relief.

He has played with confidence all week and beaten some fantastic players. Perhaps we were thinking that a final against an in-form Ronnie O'Sullivan might be a match too far for him but it clearly wasn't.

He showed in the first session his fighting spirit when he came out only 5-4 down despite Ronnie playing really well in patches, and in the second session Ricky has taken the game to Ronnie and won 10-8. All credit to him.

David Hendon: Whenever I have seen Ricky in the qualifiers, he has played really well and I have thought to myself: "Why is he not in the top 16?"

It must just come down to a slight lack of confidence at the venues themselves, perhaps not being used to playing on television or in front of thousands of people at the bigger venues.

But he has had a great run in Shanghai and grown in confidence every round - because he has beaten a great player in every round. No-one could say that the draw opened up for him or that he had an easy run to the final - he has played a legend in every round.

MH: I said earlier in the week that I thought it was going to be a Ronnie O'Sullivan - Mark Selby final, and then after Mark got knocked out I thought that it was going to take an really good performance to stop Ronnie winning the trophy. And that is exactly how it turned out; Ricky played superbly.

All credit to him. He will be on a massive high, although he will want to come down pretty quickly for the next tournament, the Grand Prix in Glasgow, which starts in just a few days time. I guess he will go home and celebrate for a couple of days, but then it will be back into work again because he wants to keep his form going.

All players at this level, once they get on a bit of a run they want to keep it going. You tend to find that players will hit form and play well for two or three tournaments at a time.

Ricky has got Ryan Day in the first round in Glasgow; after that we don't know because we have got an FA Cup-style draw so he could be up against anyone. But if he gets a favourable draw then there is every chance he could make it through to the latter stages again - and then we might find that he is provisionally in the top 16 afterwards, which is where every player is fighting to be.

DH: I think Ricky will be on the up-and-up and I expect him to get into the top 16 and I expect him to win more tournaments. This win in Shanghai will lift him to 17 in the provisional rankings, so these are some exciting times for him.

I know Ronnie rates Ricky really highly and although he will be disappointed at losing and winning his third ranking tournament in a row, he will be happy that Ricky has won his first tournament.