Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Selby in action at World Grand Prix snooker 2021 - LIVE updates
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Updated 15/12/2021 at 23:01 GMT
Ronnie O'Sullivan headlines the afternoon session at the 2021 World Grand Prix and we will be bringing you live updates of all the action. The Rocket will be taking on Andy Hicks at the tournament, which is being held this week at the Coventry Building Society Arena. Stream top snooker action live and on demand on discovery+
'Brecel should be at Masters' - O'Sullivan
Ta-ra!
Around the table
Neil Robertson 4-1 Anthony Hamilton
Selby 2-1 Allen (71-26)
As such, we're going to leave it here. Check back in the morning for detail as to what's gone on, and join us again at 12.45pm GMT for another banging afternoon!
Selby 2-1 Allen (71-26)
Allen tries to ruffle one loose, and does, but he just leaves it for Selby who sinks it to right corner and adds a black. But on his way to a red that's now in baulk, he catches the middle knuckle, so plays back into the row but develops one into a cut-back. Allen, though can only send it into the jaws, so Selby needs red-colour-red; he takes the easy one and floats up for the blue, but he's high on it so has to go up the table and screw off the side cushion to get at the one in baulk. He sends it down, takes another blue, and though he leaves the next red he goes at over right corner, Allen needs three snookers. He keeps going because as long as there's a red on the table, a free ball is an option, but this is very close to 3-1 because who takes a frame off Selby from here?
Selby 2-1 Allen (51-11)
I guess it's a massive challenge for Allen: can he out-patience the most patient man ever to have existed? Well he's doing a good job, but looking for a thin contact he fouls, pushing Selby closer to the winning line. The reds are now five along, and one above the innermost one, but Allen really needs to do something because it's him trailing and there's not a chance Selby is going to help him along. In the 38 years I've been watching this crazy game, I don't think I've ever seen a frame like this.
Selby 2-1 Allen (47-7)
Goodness me, Allen knocks one over the pocket ... and the white only sticks to the brown! Much laughter doth ensure, both players involved, then Selby cues over it to make the pot. He could then despatch the blue and try and develop something off it, but instead he sticks it on the side cushion and plays safe; of course he does. I've no idea how Allen doesn't just lamp the lot of them and home something goes in, but he doesn't; then Selby releases one and Allen knocks it in. A pink follows, but he doesn't play it with the pace required to bring some reds into play, and a touching ball means we're back playing safety.
Selby 2-1 Allen (46-0)
The seven remaining reds are serried on the top cushion in what's roughly a horizontal line, and we could be here some time.
Selby 2-1 Allen (46-0)
Allen jawses a red to right corner and immediately, Selby is back at it. But trying to finish high on the blue and dig into the pack, he forgets to make sure of the pot to left corner, so has to make do with 46 and the white safe.
Around the table
Neil Robertson 3-1 Anthony Hamilton
Selby 2-1 Allen
Allen will be delighted to win a Selby frame, and we're in for a long stint here.
Selby 2-0 Allen (31-74)
Another foul from Selby, coming around the back of the final red, through a tiny gap between it and the top cushion, means that Allen is close to the frame, and he sees it away, follows it with a blue, and he's right back in the match.
Selby 2-0 Allen (31-57)
Allen rams a red into the yellow pocket and adds a pink, but winds up in the cluster, so a safety exchange doth ensue. Allen sticks Selby tight behind the brown, and with only three reds on the table, one of them close to the side cushion, hitting is a problem; he misses three times, but leaves nothing when he hits and there's plenty mileage remaining in this frame.
Selby 2-0 Allen (31-35)
And that's all he can manage, but when Allen sinks one, he misses a simple yellow. It looks for all the world like he's going to cannon the pack, but somehow yellow and white collide with the pink and all evade it. Incredible. And it's Allen who gets in next, but he can't make it count, and this is getting scrappy, with five reds still stuck together.
Selby 2-0 Allen (16-29)
Allen's not potted a ball yet, so clearly he's freezing cold ... ahahaha! He smashes home a long red and looks settled in, but a poor positional shot means he's got to shove one long to the yellow pocket, and doesn't get that close. So to extract the urine, Selby plays a similar shot that's actually a bit harder and down it goes. There are six reds still clustered, but in the meantime he's picking off strays.
Around the table
Neil Robertson 2-0 Anthony Hamilton
Selby 2-0 Allen
A poor positional shot ends the break on 78, and Selby will be naused to have missed the century, but he's purring here.
Selby 1-0 Allen (55-0)
I quite fancied Allen to win this - in fact I backed him in my already-defunct accumulator - but at the moment, he's got the best in the house to watch an all-time great perform his art.
Selby 1-0 Allen (27-0)
This time, Selby gets in quicksmart, and he looks a different player to the one we saw yesterday, rubbing it in by boshing home a plant. A decent yellow follows, then a red to right corner that has him splayed over the table, and this is now a really good chance for 2-0.
Around the tables
Neil Robertson 2-0 Anthony Hamilton
Selby 1-0 Allen
An excellent 87 from Selby punishes an unexcellent plant from Allen, and rightly so.
Selby 0-0 Allen (57-0)
Already, Selby's played better here than he did in beating Basher Hawkins, and the 57 he's on as I type is a higher break than he mustered in the entirety of that match. Te frame isn't secure yet, but you don't doubt it soon will be.
Selby 0-0 Allen (7-0)
We start wit a safety exchange, of course we do, then Allen clobbers a non-existent plant and hands Selby a starter.
Tom speaks
"I went out there and basically gave him a 2-0 head start," says Tom. He then found some form, but reckons it was a strange match, which it was, some good play and some useless play. Asked about the red that kicked off the winning break, he says that he didn't want to be driving home thinking about the shot he didn't play - a lesson for life there, we tend to the stuff we don't, not the stuff we do. He also reckons that when he beat Higgins, Higgins wasn't focused, and isn't bothered whether he meets Selby or Allen next, but doesn't think he's ever beaten the latter.
Around the table
Martin Gould 0-4 Yan Bingtao
Tom Ford beats Judd Trump 4-3!
First Higgins,now Trump! Tom rolls the black in calmly - more calmly than he's done most things in this frame - and what a serving that is! He meets Allen or Selby next!
Trump 3-3 Ford (51-54)
He glides home the pink, knocks the black into play...
Trump 3-3 Ford (51-48)
And it's Tom who gets the next chance, a red that needs clipping from centre to left corner ... and he drains it! Whata shot! The colours will take him into the last eight, the black the difficult one, near the side cushion but not far from the middle pocket....
Trump 3-3 Ford (51-27)
Tom plays a poor shot on the blue, nerves hauling him through the white far too hard. But a felicitous cannot gives him a shot at a pot to the yellow pocket, from close to the side cushion towards the opposite corner ... and he misses, but knocks the red safe. You could cut the atmosphere with an atmosphere cutter!
Trump 3-3 Ford (43-9)
OH MY DAYS! Bridging slightly awkwardly Judd misses a black of its spot! He'll be raging, but he knows that the table is no longer so inviting and 42 is a presentable lead in a decider. Other hand, there are no especially difficult balls save the black which he won't necessarily need.
Trump 3-3 Ford (43-9)
T-E-N-S-I-O-N! Tom botches a straightforward black off its spot, and that's how this has gone: players getting in, then missing when you least expect them to. Judd will clear up here, you'd imagine, but really who knows? What on earth is going on?
Trump 3-3 Ford (35-8)
But have a look! Judd misses a regulation pink to right corner, the hard work already done, and what a chance this is for Tom! THIS GAME!
Trump 3-3 Ford (35-0)
Oh man, Judd smashes into the pack off the black, his cue-power frankly revolting, and the split means he should dish f&m at this visit.
Trump 3-3 Ford (19-0)
Here we go, and Judd leaves a tempter to left corner off the break! But Tom can't see it away and Judd rockets home a tremendous cut to the same pocket! A lovely shot on the yellow follows, bringing play up to the black spot, and this is the chance for which both players will have been hoping.
Around the table
Martin Gould 0-3 Yan Bingtao
Trump 3-3 Ford (37-59)
That got very tense, and I'm expecting nothing different from what's next. Ooh yeah!
Trump 3-2 Ford (37-69)
Judd leaves the green, Tom sinks it, brown, blue and pink, and bring on the decider!
Trump 3-2 Ford (37-59)
Judd lays his snooker off the green, blocking the route with the pink, and Tom not only misses the object ball, he hits the black. A four-pointer and Judd could draw; now he can win, though the black is now safe.
Trump 3-2 Ford (30-59)
Not for long. A poor safety from Tom entices Judd to play a pot for left corner, he misses, and Tom can put further distance between the two. Clinching the frame at this visit is an ask, because of those two side-cushioned red, but he doubles the first, adds the blue, and now Judd needs a snooker. He then goes again with another double, but can't make it, so Judd returns to the table and starts removing balls.
Trump 3-2 Ford (22-41)
But he can't take them, missing a red to left corner thinking about position,. Judd despatches it, but winds up on nothing, and with four reds left, two on or close to the side cushion, we'll have a bout of safety.
Trump 3-2 Ford (16-23)
As I said! Judd doesn't clinch frame and match, playing a safety that allows Tom to clip home a starter, and there are plenty of easy points awaiting him.
Trump 3-2 Ford (16-23)
It's Tom in first in frame six, but he ends up on the top cushion after a poor black leaves him a horrible red; he sinks it, then has a think about whether to take on what is a very nasty cut-back. He can't really refuse it, but if he misses it might be curtains, and he gets close but not close enough. Judd, though, has some tricky shots of his own to negotiate before he can really think about securing f&m, and when he misses a red to green pocket - by far enough that he got up and walked back to his seat without waiting to see what happened - Tom has a really good chance to force a decider. Except he then misses a red to the yellow pocket! Neither man can put anything together!
Around the tables
Martin Gould 0-2 Yan Bingtao
Trump 3-2 Ford
Both players had chances, but it's Judd who goes back in front. Mind, though, that he's not playing so well nor Tom so badly that you can't see the latter winning.
Trump 2-2 Ford (64-20)
Tom tries a really difficult red, trying to pot it off the other one that's left into left corner. It doesn't come of, it does put Judd in, and this will, at last, be 3-2.
Trump 2-2 Ford (50-20)
Or not! Judd misses a red and with two left on the table, we're back playing safety. This is a proper tussle now.
Trump 2-2 Ford (48-20)
But trying to disturb a pair of reds on the side cushion and near the yellow pocket, by focusing on the cannon he takes his eye off the pot, and from a position of relative strength, at the table and with momentum, he'll probably have to win two straight to progress.
Trump 2-2 Ford (41-15)
But have a look! He misses the green off its spot, and this is another phat-up chance for Tom.
Trump 2-2 Ford (20-0)
Tom tries a starter to left middle, misses, and Judd takes one to right corner. The balls are scattered about the table, but he enjoys swinging the white about, so will, I imagine, enjoy the challenge of clearing some of them.
Around the tables
Martin Gould 0-2 Yan Bingtao
Trump 2-2 Ford
The kick stole that frame from Judd, but it was Tom who drove the getaway car.
Trump 2-1 Ford (17-66)
Again, Tom is grabbing his opportunity with calmness, composure and no little skill. He misses a long green, but Judd stays in his seat!
Trump 2-1 Ford (17-2)
Judd takes on a long red to left corner and misses, but gets lucky with how little he leaves; Tom prods a red along the cushion, then snuggles in behind the black. It's not a great shot - Judd has a shot on to right-middle - but he hits the far knuckle. That allows Tom to send him down the table to baulk, and it looks a decent safety, but Judd can do stuff, and he sends the white most of the length of the table to glance in a starter to right corner. That's a tremendous pot, it really is, except a kick quickly ruins the break; he tries a pink with the rest, misses, and Tom is now at the table with points available.
Around the tables
Martin Gould 0-1 Yan Bingtao
Trump 2-1 Ford
Superb from Tom, his 133 the highest break of the tournament - the previous mark, 130, was also his.
Trump 2-0 Ford (5-61)
On 40, he's got a chance to really dig into what remains of the pack, but he opts to be cue and hit the top red half-ball; it doesn't work,so he can either try to send one long to the yellow pocket, knowing that missing might mean the frame, or try and find a safety. He has a long think, then slides a very nice pot into the side and frees almost everything by potting the pink! Well played sir!
Trump 2-0 Ford (5-1)
Oh Thomas. Trying to land on a red, he foul-misses, but worse still - much worse still - he leaves a red and an easy route to the black. But Judd plays a careless former, so needs to attack the latter off the side cushion ... and he misses! Tom cannot afford to ruin this opportunity.
Around the tables
Martin Gould 0-1 Yan Bingtao
Trump 2-0 Ford
Judd's still not playing that well, and maybe that's a good thing - last week, he was devastating in the early rounds, then played like a drain against the first elite-level opponent he faced. Tom has work to do, and lots of it.
Trump 1-0 Ford (81-0)
Tom returns to the table 70 behind with 69 on the table and promptly goes in-off. He's yet to trouble the scorers in this frame, but he's had plenty of chances, so will be both annoyed and reassured. Meantime, Judd unfurls some naughty snooker.
Trump 1-0 Ford (53-0)
Judd pots a red extremely thinly - it was high up the table, so needed the slightest touch, as Five star once sung. I'm not sure he played that, and sat in his seat, Tom shakes head sadly. It's beginning to look a lot like 2-0. But wait! A poor positional shot saves Tom, then a poor safety hands it back to Judd.
Trump 1-0 Ford (25-0)
But trying to bounce off the top cushion and through a gap between reds, too much side takes him into one little cluster, so it's end of break - much earlier than Tom will have feared.
Trump 1-0 Ford (7-0)
Judd plays a decent safety but somehow a red rolls towards right middle. Tom can't afford to miss this but he's got to go at it dead slowly ... and he contacts the far knuckle. I hate to say it, but this could easily be 2-0, because there are a fair few points just sat there.
Around the tables
Martin Gould 0-0 Yan Bingtao
Trump 1-0 Ford
Not a blazing start for the defending champ, but a plenty good enough one.
Trump 0-0 Ford (66-21)
Judd makes an error on 50 - I don't see what because my SkyGo crashes. This brings Tom to the table with the frame well in the balance - he played really well in beating John Higgins yesterday and in his pre-match interview, did a good job of sounding like he believes he can win this. But on 21 he misses a difficult red, playing the shot with no apparent sense of safety, so Judd gobbles it up to left middle and this is going to be 1-0.
Trump 0-0 Ford (29-0)
Judd jabs a starter from semi-circle to right middle and quickly works his up the table to being eliminating reds with blacks. Already, he's manufactured a serious chance.
The boyz baize
And off we go!
Evening all!
On the menu tonight, we have:
Judd Trump v Tom Ford
and
Martin Gould v Yan Bingtao
followed by:
Mark Allen v Mark Selby
and
Anthony Hamilton v Neil Robertson
Yesterday's results
- 13:00 - Mark Selby 4-1 Barry Hawkins
- 13:00 - Ricky Walden 3-4 Stuart Bingham
- 15:00 - John Higgins 2-4 Tom Ford
- 15:00 - David Gilbert 1-4 Ali Carter
- 19:00 - Judd Trump 4-2 Ben Woollaston
- 19:00 - Anthony McGill 0-4 Stephen Maguire
- 19:00 - Neil Robertson 4-0 Noppon Saengkham
- 19:00 - Mark Allen 4-1 Cao Yupeng
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Top 10 shots from the Scottish Open featuring O'Sullivan, Trump, Brecel
'Like walking on a bouncy castle'
Neil Robertson has revealed he is relieved to return to the snooker table after health problems forced him to miss the Scottish Open last week.
The English Open champion made breaks of 54, 65 and 100 in a 4-0 victory over world number 39 Noppon Saengkham on Tuesday at the World Grand Prix as he set up a meeting with Anthony Hamilton in the last 16 on Wednesday night.
Robertson lost 6-2 to amateur John Astley in a shock defeat in the first round of the UK Championship last month and revealed he could not have continued his defence of the title due to a battle with pulsatile tinnitus in his ears which prompts dizziness and balance problems.
“It has been a tough couple of weeks. I was building up for the defence of the UK Championship, then on the eve of it, this cropped up. Even if I had won my first match there, I would have had to withdraw," said Robertson.
For the next few days, I felt as if I was walking on a bouncy castle, my balance was all over the place. They put me on steroids for a week, and I had to pull out of the Scottish Open.
“I still have a little bit of ringing in the ears in the morning, but nowhere near as bad as it was. And the pulsing has stopped, with my heart racing a million beats a minute for no reason. Hopefully it stays the way it is now.
“For the past week, I have been able to practise. I tried to gradually extend my practice time, bit by bit during the week. I was a still a bit dizzy until the last five or six days when I was back to normal. I’m happy to be in this event because it’s a fantastic tournament to be involved in.”
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