Snooker news - Welsh open - Higginson in the final

After beating Stephen Maguire 6-3 on the semi-finals Andrew Higginson meets Neil Robertson in the final. Higginson got the opening frame with a modest 48 break, follwed by Stephen`s 55 break. They did the same thing again, but now with 79 for Higginson and 71 for Maguire. 2-2 score lead the match to the mid-session where Higginson takes the lead with three breakes over 50 points. Even if Stephen takes another frame, Andrew Higginson makes it 6-3 and moves to the final meeting Neil Robertson. Andrew Higginson provisonaly ranked 63 before this season, now he goes for the first time under the last 48. Being in the last 16 of Malta cup and now in the final of Welsh open brought him to place 40 in the provisional ranking.

Snooker news - Welsh open - Robertson in the final

After beating the veteran Steve Davis, Neil Robertson meets on of the semi-finalists Andrew Higginson or Stephen Maguire in the final.
Robertson decide to go to the final of the Welsh open winning four frames in a row ( 41 , 70 , 107 and 79 breakes ) against the six-time world champion. Davis tryed to reduce the difference with a 54 and a 91 break, but he couldn`t withstand Neil`s good shape.

Snooker news - Welsh open - Robertson goes further

Neil Robertson passes over Ronnie O`Sullivan in the quarter-final and goes further to the semi-finals where he meets Steve Davis. Robertson started the match against Ronnie with a consistent break of 135 points, putting his opponent in the chair for a long time. Robertson also took the second frame but Ronnie came back to equal the score with a 69 and a remarkable 122 points break. On the second session O`Sullivan takes the lead making again a century break of 109 points. Even if Ronnie missed an easy yellow shot and let Robertson win the sixth frame, he takes back the seventh frame winning a long safety battle. The fourth century break - 124 lead the match into the decisive game. Strangely, Ronnie misses a red letting Neil to clean the table and go into the semi-finals.

Snooker news - Welsh open - Higginson interviewed

After making the maximum break and reaching the semi-finals of the Welsh open, Higginson speak a bit of his evolution :
"I had to leave the arena and compose myself after the 147 because I was shaking like a leaf," he added.
"I had to pot a few good balls from difficult angles. I can't tell you how happy I am with that, just playing on TV is brilliant but to get a maximum is unbelievable."
"For the next two frames that is all I was thinking about, I was just numb and going through the motions. But that helped me because I was potting balls without thinking about it."
"I've come from the first qualifying round and just to play these players is fantastic, but to be in the semi-finals is beyond my wildest dreams.
"I always knew I was capable of playing well but to do it on a stage like this is fantastic."

Snooker news - Welsh open - Murphy is history

Shaun Murphy makes history in the 2nd round of Welsh open against Jamie Cope, winning 5-0. This Victory was so special because the 2005 World-Champion managed to produce 4 consecutive century breaks in a first-to-five match. He started in the first frame with the best break - 135 points followed by 123 , 102 and 101 points. Of course he tryed to produce the fifth century break, but he lost position at 31 points. John Higgins managed to make 4 consecutive century breaks at 2005 Grand prix against Ronnie O`Sullivan, but in a fisrt-to-9 match. If Murphy could have produced that fifth century break he would the first in history to realize five consecutive century breaks. After the match Muprhy declared :
"That was disappointing because I wanted five on the bounce. That would've been something”,
“I'm really proud but I'm sure the record will be beaten in years to come. Standards are improving all the time.”
Jamie Cope that scored just 32 points compared with Murphy`s 556 said at the post-match conference :
“That's the best anyone has ever played against me”,
“Shaun played brilliantly and everything fell perfectly for him. He was flawless and it was good to watch.”

Snooker news - Welsh open - Davis is still playing

The 49-year-old snooker veteran, after beating the world champion Graeme Dott 5-3 declared that his objective is to remain in the first 16 before his 50th birth. He also added:
"It would be great to stay there when I turn 50, especially as I won't have to go back to the qualifiers at Prestatyn," said Davis.
"I started my career at Pontin's but I don't want to end it there - I haven't got enough 50p's for the meter!
"To beat the world champion and someone whose put me to bed a few times in recent years is great."
"I'm hitting the ball quite straight at the moment and when you're confident about your potting you can devote a greater percentage of your concentration to positional play.
"The cloth is very fast so you have to be precise."
In conclusion these Newport conditions are helping the veteran and we hope to see him advance on the world ranking.Steve Davis will meet Anthony Hamilton in the quarter-finals and Robertson or O`Sullivan in the semi-finals.

Snooker news - Welsh open - Higginson`s maximum break

Andrew Higginson continues his amazing progress passing trough Ali Carter 5-1, and produced his first break of 147. His effort brings him £22000, a great sum comparing to his earning in 12 years of pro-career £70000. He played constantly and produced 4 big breakes after the first short frame - 147 , 83 , 48 and 104 in the last frame. The 29-year-old is just 63rd in the world ranking and has never been beyond the last 48. On the last month at the Malta cup he met Ken Doherty, and lost the match. Now he will meet Shaun Murphy- 2005 World Champion that just passed trough Jamie Cope 5-0 and Stephen Maguire in the semi-finals

Snooker news - Welsh open - Ronnie can win 60%

After beating Ian McCulloch 5-1 on Wednesday Ronnie declared : "i can win at 60 percent", "I can play crap and still win tournaments. That's how good I am"
Ronnie O`Sullivan also added:
"I'm not being big-headed but I can win events playing 60 per cent. I can cover up problems with instinctive snooker, but that's no good to me."
"Over the next 18 months I'm going to rip my game apart in the same way that I did after I lost to David Gray in the first round of the [2000] World Championship. I can't accept carrying on playing so badly."
"Unless I reach the standard I know I'm capable of I just don't enjoy the game at all. I don't know about other players, but titles, trophies and money mean nothing to me."
"If I mess up my game and can't pot a ball, so be it. In my mind I've got nothing to lose."

Snooker news - Welsh open - Ebdon is out, Ronnie goes further on

While Peter Ebdon loses in front of Dave Harold 5-4.Ronnie O`Sullivan goes further on to the first 16, with a 5-1 victory against Ian McCulloch. World number three Ronnie started the match very good, with an 85 break. After Ian gets the score to 1-1, Ronnie come back with a very constant and calm game and wins the match 5-1, even if Ian produced a 49 break in the fifth frame. In the other game Ebdon has a bad play in the begging of the game and a lost of concentration, letting Dave to get the match to 4-1. Even if Ebdon comes back to the table with a very good way to play and get the match to the decisive game, he couldn`t win and Harold goes to the last 16.

Snooker news - Welsh open - Selby eliminated Stevens

Mark Selby, used to be a modest player, he eliminated Matthew Stevens making a sensational game, winning 5-1. Selby made a great game against Stevens producing breaks of 65, 64, 133, 80 and 68. Even if Stevens shouldn`t see a problem in this match, surprisingly the 23-year-old Eight Ball Pool World Champion puts pressure on Stevens with his constant game and big breaks and goes further on to the first 16.

ATP - Blake defetead by Karlovic

The world number-six Blake was ruined by Karlovic modest number 103 world number 6-7 7-6 6-4. Karlovic being in shape registred 29 aces, and smashed a powerful forehand to advance in the quarter final where he meets another American, the fifth seed Mardy Fish. "I had it on my racket," Blake said. "I was up 5-3, 30-0. No one to blame but myself for that. I made some errors, missed a few serves and that was that. It was my fault." As he said too, the eighth game of the second set was his break from a good game to a modest game. Karlovic confirmed "When I lost my serve I knew I had only once chance to break so I was more aggressive and then I got more confident and my level went up"

Snooker news - Welsh open - Gilbert excited of the second round

After winning over James Wattana 5-1 , David Gibert steps into the second round excited, as he says meeting Steve Davis is a big step of his career. "It's great to be at a venue and to feel like a player," he said. "It will be the biggest game of my life against Davis, especially if it's on the TV table." "He's a legend. He was a winner and that's what I want to be. He's still in the top 16 and he's nearly 50, which is phenomenal."If Gilbert, provisionally ranked 52nd in the world beats the six-time world champion Davis, he will meet Graeme Dott or Gerard Greene in the last 16.

Snooker news - Welsh open - McManus hopes for the best

Alan McManus hopes after winning his first match in the Welsh open he will get back to the top 32 , winning 5-2 in front of Rod Lawler on Monday. The 26 year old, even he was two times finalist on the Welsh open he started this season low rated, just on the 51 place on world ranking. He comes with confidence at this open , hoping on getting back to the first 32. "I'm touch and go for the top 32 and that's my main target for the rest of the season," said the Glasgow-based player." Alanc McManus will face Stephen Maguire on the second round of the Welsh open.

San Siro empty Celtic - Milan

Celtic will play against Milan without fans. San Siro is not allowed to accept suporters anymore because isn`t respecting the safety norms. After a policeman was killed on fans conflicts, all stadiums including Serie A have to respect all safety norms that Italian interior minister Giuliano Amato decided to.

Ayala will join Villarreal

Roberto Ayala will join Villarreal in this summer after ending his three-year contract. Ayala attracted attention to Villarreal when helping Los Cha advance UEFA Champions League, and now he will sign a contract with them. Even if Villarreal is not in the first places in the Spain league, we will see Ayala playing with them.

Snooker news - Malta Cup - Shaun Murphy interviewed

The Malta Cup winner Shaun Murphy declared that his main objective is number one world ranking. Murphy decided to work on his game and not to accept mediocrity, as after winning the Malta cup and climbed to the fifth place in world ranking, he declares with confidence :

"To be world number one would be better than being World Champion, it's my ultimate goal," said the 24-year-old champion.
"When I get home I will sit down and work out what I need to do to get there. I won't be aiming for number two."
"I have shown people that I am not a flash in the pan and I am a winner of tournaments - plural. When we get to the next event and I look in the programme it will say I've won two ranking titles, not one."
"When I won at the Crucible there was a lot of expectation that came with it, suddenly I was among the favourites for every tournament."

Edwards and Yamaha succes

Edwards works well at Yamaha, making the team happy with his great results on the MotoGp tests at Sepang in Malaysia. Edwards tested his new 800cc bike from Yamaha and unlike the last time he felt confortable resulting a very good lap time 2:02.175, just a second slower than his team-mate Valentino Rossi. Edwards said: "I'm pretty happy with today's work; I'm already fast and the bike keeps on feeling better and better. We only used two different rears so it's clear that the tyres are working well too. This test resulted in great performance on brakes and suspension, following the tires test with Michelin. "We concentrated on Yamaha stuff today and we made a huge step forward with the rear shock." said Edwards ending proudly the testing day.

Italian stadium safety norms

Italian fans won`t be allowed to see football matches at stadium until those won`t respect the safety standards. As The Italian interior minister, Giuliano Amato said, all stadium that not respect this standards won`t be allowed to accept fans to see matches there. Even if fans are not so sure they can see the matches from tribunes, they can be sure they are allowed to see the match in front of TV, as players won`t delay any match because of this problem. "We will not allow fans to go into a stadium that does not respect the current safety norms," said Amato. He is sure to put this standards in practice after a fight between fans having result a policeman killed.

Snooker news - Malta Cup - Murphy unbeatable

Murphy is Champion again, after winning by far in front of Ryan Day. Murphy wouldn`t let Ryan steal his trofee and started very determined, playing constantly and leading with four games. Ryan Day took the fifth game playing a safe game. After this Murphy concentrated and lead the match in the final game 8-2. Ryan didn`t gived up and steal another two games from Murphy. Even if Ryan concentrated on his game he couldn`t compare with Shaun Murphy. As Murphy says "I've learnt a lot in the last couple of years and nowI've for the silverware to prove it."

Dementieva out of Paris Open

Elena Dementieva will miss the Paris open due to a serious injury. Dementieva, number 8 in the world ranking will miss this competition, replaced by a wild card Alize Cornet number164 and awaits for the next tournament.

Malta Cup - Good day for Ryan Day

Ryan crashed Peter Ebdon in the semifinals of Malta Cup. Peter Ebdon, World Champion in 2002 started with one amazing break of 123 points, putting Ryan in disadvantage. Even if Ryan was forced to see Ebdon beating him from the first match, he overcame with more powers and strategy and moved to the lead. Ryan manage to build up his game resulting a 91 break and a constant play, ending with a 52 points break to win. Day will remember this day when the crowd at Hilton Conference Center acclaimed his name. Amazing victory for Ryan, but he goes further on the finals where is facing Shaun Murphy.

Malta Cup - Murphy in the finals

Shaun Murphy plays better as getting closer to the finals.Murphy started the match with Ali Carter with a great advance, doing the first break over 100 in this first game. As this wasn`t enough Murphy puts pressure on Ali winning the next two games with two breake also 73 and 59 points. From this point Murphy was leading the match, not just from the score view, but psihologically too. Even if Carter tries to get back to the match winning the fourth game, Murphy hit him again with a 115 points wonderful break. Final score Murphy-Ali 6-3, Murphy wins via a 80 points break. This victory leads him to the final where has to face Peter Ebdon or Ryan Day.

Race of Champions 2007 in London

As the event organiser Frederik Johnsson announces that Race of Champions will be hosted in London. Race of Champions will begin on 5 December 2007 ending on 16 December 2007 at the Wembley Stadium. Race of Champions is organized since 1988 and Great Britain is the fourth country to host this competition after Germany, Spain and France in the last three years.

Ekstrom got the Cup of Champions

Mattias Ekstrom passes over Sebastien Loeb and wins the Race of Champions in 2006. As this wouldn`t was enough Mattias Ekstrom put out Heikki Kovalainen and Sebastien Bourdais. To the great public astonishment Ekstrom wins against Loeb driving a Citroen Xara like the one that Loeb won the world title. After the race the sweden said: "That was more than cool. I just thought it would be flat-out, but I knew it would be so tough to beat Seb in his own car. If you ask anybody, they would say it"s not possible. As a reply Loeb said: "Mattias has done a great race, he"s a good ride on track iand in rally. He was just faster." Loeb accept this defeat but he`s waiting for the Race of Champions 2007.

Loeb winner at Monte Carlo

Sebastian Loeb takes easy victory at Monte Carlo in front of his teammate Dani Sordo. Sebastian Loeb was 38.2 seconds ahead Dani Sordo, that makes him start this year with a surplus of confidence. The first non-Citroen driver was Marcus Gronholm on the third place, followed by this race surprise Mikko Hirvonen. On the 5th place we find Chris Atkinson just 0.8 second behind Mikko. After all Monte Carlo race was a victory for Sebastian Loeb and Citroen too.

Rossi + Yamaha 2007-2008

Valentino Rossi put off his idea to join four-wheel motorsport and resigned the contract with Yamaha untill the end of 2008. Rossi is proud saying "The past three years with Yamaha have been very positive and this is why I am pleased to stay. The atmosphere in our garage is always relaxed and happy and I think that this is something very special and difficult to find". Valentino Rossi see this new contract as a new title as he says "I'm very happy I renewed the contract with Yamaha until the end of 2008 so now I can just concentrate on racing this season".

Formula 1 - Williams recovery

Williams takes 2007 season as a very serious role. The team owner of Williams, Patrick Head said he`s ashamed of the 2006 season where his team takes just the eighth place in the formula 1 ranking. The whole team has put effort in the new car, that is a great progress from 2007 as Patrick said. Williams is now prepared for the new year, with a new driver too. Mark Webber left Williams for Redbull and was replaced by Alexander Wurz, their test driver. As Wurz said "There is a really high sense of motivation in whole team" Williams starts 2007 with confidence.

Roger Federer`s tactics

Many observers and experts see Federer as being the greatest tennis player in the history. Unlike many players Federer rarely loses control of he`s intention, emotions. Hours and hours of practice maked him almost perfect. He never hurries in his game, he got quick reactions and a very good anticipation. To all this he adds loads of power and he got an awesome forehand, maybe the best in the whole world. His serve is not so powerful, but it`s very accurate and consistent. After all these combined, all of us know that Federer is the best player at the moment.

Williams "smashes" Sharapova

Serena Williams smashes Maria Sharapova as quick as the lightning in just an hour 6-1 6-2. After she falled down to the 81th place on the world ranking because of a serious knee injuree she comes back to 14th place after winning again the Australian Open. For Serena this title it`s the Third Australian Open and the eighth Grand Slam title. As Sharapova sais " You can never underestimate her as an opponent" most of us know that Serena Williams is the most feared female tennis player at the moment.

Maria Sharapova out of the Pan Pacific Open

Maria Sharapova , world number one is out of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo because of a bad leg injury. Even if she received treatment , she was forced to retire , to make Ana Ivanovic this year Pan Pacific Open finalist . Ana Ivanovic meets in the finals a great opponent : Martina Hingis that comes in the final with confidence after defeating Elenta Dementieva 6-4 6-3 . "It`s always difficult to end the tournament this way" says the 19-year-old Russian.

Malta Cup - Shaun Murphy - Champion or not ?

Shaun Murphy takes on Graeme Dott, and goes further on to the semi-finals where he finds the greatest surprise of the tournament, Allister Carter that won against Stephen Hendry. Will Shaun Murphy repeat the performance of being champion or will the young talent Allister go further to the finals?

Malta Cup - Allister Carter takes on Stephen Hendry

Allister Carter is a new surprise in Malta cup, taking up other favourite player, Stephen Hendry. Allister goes to the semi-finals on Malta cup by winning the quarter finals in a decisive game. Over all we had a well balanced quarter final, surprising again the public. Allister Carter awaits his opponent, Shaun Murphy , with more confidence than he expected.

Malta Cup - Hendry , Ebdon or Doherty ?

As no one expecting , Ding Junhui , Ronnnie O`Sullivan , Steve Davis and John Higgins are out before the quarter finals of Malta cup. Hendry takes the greatest chance between he and Doherty or Ebdon to win the Malta cup . As the Malta cup doesn`t stop to surprise us we can see Hendry, Ebdon or Doherty out to see a cup just between young talents.

Malta Cup - O`sullivan is out

Surprisingly, O`Sullivan lost the eighth in front of world number 21, Micheal Holt. He couldn`t repeat the performance that maked him the Masters winner, refusing to comment this lost at the post-match conference. Some of the snooker experts thought that Ronnie passes trough a bad period, followed by this lack of concentration showed in the last game against Holt.