Timothy wrote:
Ronnie's bottled this. Selby is the style of player that always seems to give Ronnie problems.
It was disappointing. Whatever anyone says about Selby and how well he did or didn't play, Ronnie missed chance after chance all match long. And his safety wasn't in the same class as Selby's at any point. I think he was average by his own standards all tournament long. Selby, for me, is a boring player that I can't stand watching. He's made of granite, I'll give him that, and he can focus on each and every safety shot for long periods of play like only a handful of others before him, but he's an average break builder for the most part and has very average cueball control. He wears his opponents down and that's why he's suited to these long matches.
Ronnie just didn't have the mental fortitude to hold himself together in the face of Selby's excruciatingly slow play and the 40 minute frames that resulted. He couldn't make the breaks when it really mattered, and Selby just had to maintain his intensity and the quality of his safety and it was almost a guaranteed win once he'd got back into the match.
Gutted because I really thought Ronnie had a chance of getting to Stephen Hendry's 7, and it was fun watching the arrogant and miserable old Scot squirm at the prospect. Not sure he'll win another one now if I'm honest.
Anyway, well done to Peter Ebd...I mean Mark Selby. He deserted it in the end, Ronnie wasn't good enough.
