Eurosport and ITV pundit Neal Foulds with his half-time World Snooker Championship verdict
Eurosport pundit Neal Foulds delivers his half-time report for this year's World Snooker Championship, with Ronnie O'Sullivan earning high praise.
A week from now and we’ll be into the final day of this year’s Betfred World Championship, with two men left battling it out for the biggest prize in snooker.
We’ve had a terrific first week, with some brilliant sport and plenty of drama. At the time of writing, we’re only a matter of hours away from having the final eight for the quarter-finals confirmed, and even if Neil Robertson can't come through Monday night’s match with Jack Lisowski, a stellar line-up still awaits.
Hands off the Crucible
As is always the case, plenty has been said about the Crucible Theatre and the staging of the World Championship here, but I for one don’t want to see the tournament moved from Sheffield, or indeed the Crucible.
If you had your time again, perhaps the venue would have been extended a little, and nobody is arguing that everything is perfect. But the Crucible has such a rich history now and it means so much to so many fans and players alike. It just wouldn’t be the same anywhere else.
The other crucial point to make is that once the tournament reaches the semi-finals stage, and the venue switches to the one-table set-up, there is nowhere better in the world to play or watch snooker. The atmosphere is like nothing you will experience anywhere else and that’s the big carrot for all the players.
And with tickets for the Crucible always in such high demand, and those in charge of making such decisions understanding what Sheffield has done for snooker, and what snooker has done for Sheffield, it isn’t going anywhere.
Yan/Selby tussle moment of the week
That atmosphere certainly played its part in a quite brilliant match between Yan Bingtao and Mark Selby which came to an absorbing climax on Saturday.
I was on commentary and I have to say that it was one the best matches I’ve seen all season. It was certainly my highlight of this year’s World Championship so far.
Both players were brilliant, throwing everything at each other, and to begin with I must commend Selby for how well he performed on the back of the season he’s had and his struggles off the table. It was a colossal effort and he should hold his head up high – he was just beaten by an ironman on the night.
And that’s what Yan is: an ironman. In many ways, both men are a throwback to how the game used to be played. Selby waits for his chances and then goes in for the kill when his opponent is most vulnerable. Yan is much the same and for the first time, Selby met his match – an extraordinary thing when you consider that Yan still only 22 years of age.
Yan has now beaten Selby in each of their last four meetings. His safety is top-class and his patience is as good as I’ve seen for a long time. With his scoring coming together now, he’s going to be a tough nut for anyone to crack.
Williams the best so far
Yan will face a much different test when he comes up against Mark Williams in the quarter-finals, though, and you’d have to say that the Welshman has been the player of the tournament so far.
He’s tinkered with his technique and I’m not sure that across his whole career he’s ever scored as heavily as he has done of late. He made four centuries in the first round against Michael White and six more when picking apart Jackson Page in his next match. It was brutal stuff.
He’s not missing anything from range and having suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Selby here last year, I think he’ll be much happier facing Yan in the last eight. He won’t get suckered in by Yan – he’s too smart and wise for that – and this is a match I’m really looking forward to.
Ronnie watch
Williams just gets my vote for player of the tournament so far, but Ronnie O’Sullivan isn’t too far behind and like everyone else, I’ve been really impressed with him.
He looked terrific in comfortable wins over David Gilbert and Mark Allen, and while we all know that he’s the best frontrunner in the game, the way he put two class players away was really encouraging.
As I've said before, his game might now be based more on playing the percentages than even a few years ago, but it’s still an attacking one and that will have everyone else in the draw looking over their shoulder. He’s realised he can’t be as gung-ho as he once used to be, and he’s cut out those loose shots that have occasionally cost him. It all makes for a very potent formula.
I’ve seen a little bit of him around the venue and he seems in a good place, and his interviews for Eurosport and the BBC have been forthright and very interesting. I think he means business and it’s no secret that O’Sullivan’s long-time friend, sports psychiatrist Steve Peters, has been at the Crucible in the last week.
O’Sullivan looks really focused and I think he’ll fancy beating Stephen Maguire in the next round. Maguire enjoyed a fine win over Zhao Xintong in the first round, but O’Sullivan has beaten him three times at the Crucible before and will feel his game is well placed to do so again.
I suspect O’Sullivan will be more worried about Robertson were they to meet in the last four, and he won’t be the only one watching that finish with Lisowski with interest on Monday evening. The whole draw will suddenly open up if Robertson crashes out in the second round.
O’Sullivan certainly knows how to finish the job from here – he’s done it six times before – but Robertson or no Robertson, plenty of big fish remain and we're all set for a thrilling finish to this year’s World Championship. Let’s just sit back and enjoy the ride.
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