North London, Great Britain
12-19 January, 2014
Sunday, 12 January
1pm
Mark Selby 6-5 Mark Davis
7pm
Stuart Bingham 2-6 John Higgins
Monday, 13 January
1pm
Judd Trump 5-6 Marco Fu
7pm
Stephen Maguire 6-4 Joe Perry
Tuesday, 14 January
1pm
Ding Junhui 4-6 Shaun Murphy
7pm
Ronnie O´ Sullivan 6-1 Robert Milkins :-)
Wednesday, 15 January
1pm
Neil Robertson 6-5 Mark Allen
7pm
Barry Hawkins 5-6 Ricky Walden
Thursday, 16 January
1pm
QF2 - Marco Fu 4-6 Shaun Murphy
7pm
QF1 - Mark Selby 6-5 John Higgins
Friday, 17 January
1pm
QF4 - Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-0 Ricky Walden :-)
7pm
QF3 - Neil Robertson 2-6 Stephen Maguire
Saturday, 18 January
1pm
SF1 - Mark Selby 6-1 Shaun Murphy
7pm
SF2 - Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-2 Stephen Maguire :-)
Sunday, 19 January
1,30pm and 7,00pm
Final
Mark Selby 1-7 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Mark Selby 4-10 Ronnie O'Sullivan :-)))
All matches up to and including the semi finals will be best of 11 frames and the final will be best of 19 frames (8/11).
THE MAN OF THE MOMENT
Dave Hendon
January 19, 2014
Cometh the hour, cometh the man. And, make no mistake, Ronnie O’Sullivan is still The Man for snooker’s biggest occasions.
His victory in the Dafabet Masters at Alexandra Palace in London tonight means he has now collectively won snooker’s big three titles – World Championship, UK Championship and Masters – 14 times, one fewer than Steve Davis and only four from Stephen Hendry’s record haul of 18.
O’Sullivan described himself as a member of snooker’s ‘older brigade’ and at 38 he is, but he remains fit, focused and clearly able to produce outstanding performances when it matters.
He may yet overhaul Hendry as the modern era’s most successful player. O’Sullivan tonight said his aim is to win a world title at 40, which would be in 2015.
But I have always felt that, when it comes to Ronnie, it is less about bare facts and statistics and more about moments and the memories they generate.
None of us who were at the Ally Pally or watching on TV on Friday afternoon will forget his display against Ricky Walden in a hurry. Similarly, his various maximums and other moments of genius will live long when mere scores have been forgotten.
O’Sullivan makes people happy. He makes them want to watch snooker. He makes them want to come to snooker. He makes them want to be part of it.
He is a crowd pleaser, an entertainer. He is snooker’s biggest star by some distance.
His sabbatical last season seems to have done him good. It gave him a break from the sport he has been consumed by since boyhood but enough of a break to realise that he did miss it: not just playing but the people at tournaments, the banter and the buzz of being part of something special.
O’Sullivan also seems happy. He was with his children, Lily and Ronnie, plus many friends and supporters. He was great with the media and genuinely pleased to win a title he first secured 19 years ago when still a teenager.
We know from long experience of his life and career that things change and controversy sometimes invites itself in, like an irresistible force.
But perhaps the key to O’Sullivan’s continued success is his maturity. Tonight, he wasn’t off for an all-night party. He was taking his children home and then settling down to watch the TV. Whatever you think of Celebrity Big Brother, O’Sullivan has earned the right to indulge in this guilty pleasure.
1995 doesn’t seem that long ago but the boy has become a man, and one who has embraced stability rather than run from it. This perhaps makes him more dangerous than ever on the game’s biggest stages.