Snooker Weekly (September 3, 2007)

by Alex Holowczak

Welcome to Snooker Weekly, an weekly article about the happenings and going on in the global phenomenon that is the world's favourite cuesport.

Video of the Week

So far

1. Hendry made a 105 break to lead 1-0.
2. White made breaks of 70 and 47 to level the match at 1-1.
3. The closest frame of the match as Hendry won a black ball game after both players missed chances. He lead 2-1.
4. White made a 100 break to level at 2-2.
5. A tight frame that took over half an hour with a lot of safety exchanges. Foul and a Miss rule came into play before White went into a 3-2 lead.
6. Hendry touched the black and called a foul on himself, but White missed his chance and Hendry won the frame to level at 3-3.
7. A close frame that White won on the pink to lead 4-3.
8. Poor play from Hendry - nervous misses from him handed the frame to White, who led 5-3.
9. Good start from Hendry. White fought back, but Hendry closed the frame out, to trail 5-4.
10. Another win for White, a break of 43 took him over the line, to go into a 6-4 lead.
11. Hendry was behind all the way, but an error from White at the end gave Hendry a chance, that he took, to be only 6-5 down at the mid-session interval.
12. Hendry was winning the frame, until White fluked the yellow and position on the green. It won him the frame and gave him a 7-5 lead.
13. White dominated the frame after bad play from Hendry to lead 8-5.
14. White made two 30 breaks to extend his lead to four frames at 9-5.
15. Hendry took advantage of a mistake from White to reduce his deficit to 9-6.
16. A strong break from White who won to extend his lead to 4, and a 10-6 lead.
17. A 40 break from White to start, and then a consolidation break of 50, to give himself a 5 frame lead at 11-6.
18. A 134 break from White gave him a 6 frame advantage to lead 12-6.
19. Hendry fights back with an 86 break, to reduce his deficit to 12-7.
20. Another frame won by Hendry, and he is back within four at 12-8.
21. White won the frame comfortably to extend his lead to 5 at 13-8.
22. A great long red paved the way for White to go 6 ahead at 14-8, and move to within four frames of victory.
23. Chances for White, but Hendry responded to pinch the frame, and move only 5 frames behind.
24. White looked certain to win the frame and lead 15-9, but Hendry cleared magnificantly with a 64 break, after White missed an easy red. So 14-10 into the evening session.
25. Hendry stole the frame from White, and the lead was reduced to 14-11.
26. Another error from White left Hendry in to reduce his deficit to 14-12.
27. Hendry won his fifth frame in a row to narrow the gap to 14-13.

Frame 28

Other News

• The IBSF World Under 21 Championship took place over the last week. Passakorn Sunnawat was expected to do well, but came up against Michael Georgiou in the last 16, who was on inspired form, winning 5-4. Vincent Muldoon was also expected to do well after a good performance at the EBSA European Championship. He came up against Georgiou in the Semi Finals, and lost 8-5 in a tense Semi Final. In the other half, Daniel Wells was exptected to be strong, and reached the Semi Final against surprise Chinese Anda Zhang. But Wells was beaten 8-6, setting up a Final against Georgiou. Georgiou trailed 4-2, but rallied to win 11-6, to take the World Under 21 title. The tournament high break was 135 by Vincent Muldoon. This could spawn a professional career next season.

This week

• The IBSF World Billiards Championship starts tomorrow!
• Qualifiers for The Masters takes place later this week.
• The opening night of the Premier League is this week, with Ronnie O'Sullivan in action against John Higgins.
• The Home International Series starts this weekend, featuring the top amateur players from the Home Nations, i.e. England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.