2017 UK Championship 28/11 - 10/12

Joe_ Public

Easy in the end for Ronnie, another great set of stats for a final.

Question now is: can he retain this freshness and focus for business end of the season? Can he win the masters and the worlds? Has never won all 3 in the same season, in this form no reason why he shouldn’t.

Akrasia

Top notch from Ronnie. Seems to be enjoying the game again. He has equalled Hendry's record, now his goal is to beat it

Joe_ Public

This also will push Ronnie back up to No.2 in the world. Or very close anyway if my sums are any way on the mark.

pconn062

Some step up in performance from Ronnie there in that evening session, the best I've seen him play all week. He has to be a strong favourite for the Masters in this form.

It's interesting to see how consistent he manages to be compared to the younger guns like Trump, Selby, Ding and Robertson,

Arthur Daley

We have seen Ronnie play better than this through a tournament though. He is missing the few easy ones that can get him knocked out before he gets to blow you away in the final like he did again tonight. was very nearly gone Thursday night.

Expect Selby, Ding and Trump need to pick it up now after Christmas. They all went off the boil for this one. Great to see so many real contenders and anything can happen any given match.

pconn062

Arthur Daley wrote: »

We have seen Ronnie play better than this through a tournament though. He is missing the few easy ones that can get him knocked out before he gets to blow you away in the final like he did again tonight. was very nearly gone Thursday night.

Expect Selby, Ding and Trump need to pick it up now after Christmas. They all went off the boil for this one. Great to see so many real contenders and anything can happen any given match.

Agreed, that's what I was thinking up to this evenings session. Ronnie was playing decently but didn't look his useful fluent self around the reds and black. A lot of dodgy shots and positional play. Still goes to show that even with his B game he is still the best player in the world.

Joe_ Public

He blew hot and cold this tournament, I thought anyway. Could have lost to Akani, maybe should have lost to Akani, but did play some sublime snooker in between the odd patchy bit. Safety was top notch for the most part. Short priced fav for the masters in my book. I was of the belief that another world title, with its grueling 2 week schedule, was beyond him again, but not so sure now. In thus mood and form, i’d always fancy him.

_feedback_

Ronnie really was in top form last night. Hendry made a good call on commentary after the mid-session interval when Murphy was 5-7 down. he said Murphy couldn't afford to miss one pot for the rest of the evening. It was so true, as any misses he did have lost him the frame.

Ronnie came across the most sincere I have seen him recently in his post-match interview. Seems to be in a good place.

Unreal to have matched the record, and he actually seemed to appreciate it rather than brushing it off as he usually does!

melon_collie

Ronnie's safety won him the match yesterday. He put Murphy in all kinds of bother.

Murphy's safety wasn't as good but he was still cueing very well and knocking on the long pots when the opportunities were there. I'd really question some of the shot decisions (safety) that Murphy made during the latter half match. They weren't great in my view. If there's one thing he could work on between now and January it would be his safety play.