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2004-5 –
Review of the Season... Part
Two
 As
the New Year began it wa s
back to Prestatyn for the Welsh Open qualifiers where
Steve James not only got his first win of the season but
progressed right through to the final stages. Robin Hull,
restored to full fitness at last, also came through for
the third event in a row.
Sean O’Neil, Stefan Mazrocis and Brian Morgan also
collected their first wins of the campaign and Andrew
Norman made it to the final stages for the first time.
Others to come through from the first round were Rory
MacLeod, Shokat Ali, Ding Junhui and Tom Ford who became
only the third player to make four centuries in a best of
nine match.
 The
Irish Masters qualifying followed immediately and Steve
James, who has indicated this may be his last seaso n,
was on the winning trail again but his run ended in round
three. Gary Wilson reached the last 48 before falling to
Ian McCulloch.
This event was player right down to the last 32 and the
seeded casualties included John Parrott who lost to Nigel
Bond, Quinten Hann, Rob Milkins, Joe Perry, Dominic Dale,
Ali Carter, Mark King, Drew Henry and Joe Swail, beaten by
Robin Hull whose revival continued. Gerard Greene at last
picked up his first win of the season. Paul Davies was the
only one to come through all four rounds.
 The
Welsh Open returned to its original home at The Newport
Centre for the final stages. Steve James’ first match at a
final venue for some time ended in defeat by Mark King.
Neal Robertson, Rod Lawler, Barry Hawkins, Shokat Ali and
Ryan Day all beat seeded opp osition
to reach the last 32 round where there was still no luck
for Matthew Stevens who lost to Mark King. Robertson,
Hawkins and Day continued their good form at the expense
of Jimmy White, Paul Hunter and Steve Davis respectively.
With Mark Williams going out to Ali Carter and Dominic
Dale failing to stop John Higgins, Ryan Day was the only
Welshman left. Chris Small again failed to win his opening
match and Stephen Lee and Alan McManus were also ousted at
this stage.
 The
three unseeded players all won through to the quarter
finals, Robertson beating Higgins, Hawkins defeating Ebdon
and Ryan Day putting out Carter.
They were joined in the last eight by the defending
champion. Ronnie O’Sullivan, former winners, Ken Doherty
and Stephen Hendry, Peter Ebdon and Mark King who ended a
good run by John Parrott which ensured he would climb a
few places up the rankings.
O’Sullivan just squeezed past Roberson 5-4,Hendry beat
Doherty and Mark King ended Welsh hopes putting out Ryan
Day. Barry Hawkins reached his first ever semi-final with
a 5-3 win over Ebdon.
The semi finals resulted in old rivals Hendry and
O’Sullivan meeting in the final. Stephen got off to the
better start and led 7-5 but then Ronnie turned it on
winning the next three to lead 8-7.
Stephen came back to force a decider but Ronnie made a
great break using mostly the minor colours to clinch the
title making ten centuries during the week.
 Qualifying
for the China Open, which was returning to the circuit
after a break of a couple of seasons, began at Prestatyn.
All three of the Chinese players withdrew, as they would
take their places in the wild card round when the final
stages took place in Beijing.
Sean O’Neill was the most success ful
of the rookies reaching the fourth round before going out
to Michael Holt. Ricky Walden and Tom Ford both came
through all four rounds to earn a trip to the Far East
putting out Drew Hendry and Joe Perry respectively in the
fourth round.
UK champion, Stephen Maguire was surprisingly beaten by
Dave Harold and other top 32 seeds to fall were Mark King,
Tony Drago, Dominic Dale, Joe Swail, John Parrott and Ian
McCulloch. Taking their places were Stuart Bingham, Mark
Davis, Jimmy Michie, Ryan Day, Adrian Gunnell and Nigel
Bond.
In an unusual step, the WSA announced that there would be
no less than 16 wild cards in Beijing, each of which would
meet one of the qualifiers.
 None
of the four local wild cards caused any real problems for
the qualifiers when the Malta Cup opened at the Hilton
Conference Centre in Portomaso. Tom Ford had an extra
match to play as Tony Drago’s match had been held over but
the 21-year-old from Leicester ended the home fans hopes
with a 5-4 victory.
Ford then went on to be at
Chris Small, still without a win, and Ken Doherty before
going out to Stephen Hendry in the quarter finals. Matthew
Stevens at last won his first match of the season edging
out Shaun Murphy 5-4 but then got past Mike Dunn and Alan
McManus to make the semis.
Quinten Hann pulled out with a broken wrist leaving Ronnie
O’Sullivan with a bye but he then looked out of touch and
suffered a 5-0 thrashing by Graeme Dott who then breezed
past Steve Davis to take his place in the last four.
Neil Robertson ,
one of the stars of the season, added to the woes of Mark
Williams with a 5-1 win and then put out Jimmy White
before going down to John Higgins. It was therefore three
Scots and a Welshman battling for the title.
 Hendry
had looked the man to beat all week and he ended Stevens’
run while Dott took the last four frames to squeeze past
Higgins 6-5. In the final Dott again recovered from 4-7
down to level at 7-7 but Hendry took the next two for his
36th ranking title.
The results from Malta left O’Sullivan still well clear at
the top of the ranking list despite his defeat but it will
be a worrying time for Mark Williams, Alan McManus and Ken
Doherty over the coming weeks as they try to hang on to
their long standing top 16 status.
© Chris Turner - February 2005 |
