Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2009 Shanghai Masters
Ronnie O'Sullivan lay down the gauntlet for the coming season when he convincingly beat the world's top players to win the 2009 Roewe Shanghai Masters, his third ranking title in China. His 10-5 defeat of Liang Wenbo, China's local hero, earned him the first ranking event trophy of the new season.
Along the path to victory Ronnie beat three of China's top players. First to go was Marco Fu. Ronnie, fresh from a convincing 5-0 whitewash of Scotland's Graeme Dott, claimed a 5-2 victory for a place in the quarter-final.
The champion of China, Ding Junhui, was next to suffer. His 5-2 defeat ended what many thought was China's dream of winning the title.
The dream though was still alive in Liang Wenbo who had played magnificently to reach the final, beating Allister Carter, Ricky Walden the defending champion, and later, in a tense 6-5 deciding frame victory, disposed of Shaun Murphy in the semi-final.
He had never previously been past the quarter-finals of a ranking event. His brilliant run in the tournament placed him in the top16 for the first time with a leap of 14 places to No 13 in the provisional rankings.
Ronnie though, was on firing on all cylinders. His form had been consistent throughout the tournament and Wenbo would need all his skill to stop the rocket. Ronnie approached the final following an outstanding 6-1 defeat of the current world champion and provisional number one, John Higgins. The final was no different, as Ronnie finished off the Chinese challenge with a convincing 10-5 defeat of Wenbo.
Ronnie's title victory, which moved him back into second place in the provisional rankings, clawed back some of the ranking points he desperately needed in his attempt to keep his number one position.
At the start of the season John Higgins was comfortably placed in the provisional number one position 7125 points ahead of Ronnie and aiming to consolidate his place.
The semi-final match was the first of what would be many challenges on John's position as the season progressed. The result was just what Ronnie had been aiming for and his victory narrowed the gap between them to 4605 points.
The tournament witnessed the welcome return of Ken Doherty to the later stages of a ranking event. Ken, whose form had been suffering for the previous two seasons, appeared in his first ranking quarter-final for 30 months and was rewarded with a jump of 18 places to No 37.
| Date | 1430 | 1930 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday 7 September | WC1, WC2, WC3, WC4 | 51, WC5, WC6, WC7 | |
| Tuesday 8 September | 1, 10, 2, 13 | 16, 3, 12, 7 | |
| Wednesday 9 September | 11, 5, 4, 6 | 9, 8, 14, 15 | |
| Thursday 10 September | 22, 24, 19, 20 | 21, 17, 18, 23 | |
| Friday 11 September | QF1, QF2 | QF3, QF4 | |
| Date | 1330 | 1930 | Saturday 12 September | SF1 | SF2 |
| Sunday 13 September | FINAL | FINAL | |
All matches up to and including the quarter-finals are the best of 9 frames. The semi-finals are the best of 11 frames. The final is the best of 19 frames (9/10). | |||
THE SHANGHAI MASTERS - TOURNAMENT HISTORY
In 2007 The Shanghai Masters - a brand new tournament - was staged for the first time at the Grand Stage in Shanghai. A few months before the start of this inaugural tournament a title sponsor was announced in Roewe, the Chinese motor vehicle company.
The tournament was underwritten by the Chinese Billiards and Snooker Association, with the East Asia Group as the officially appointed promoter. The commercial agreement signed between the CBSA and World Snooker guaranteed the staging of the Roewe Shanghai Masters and its partner tournament in China, the China Open, for at least the next five years.
The tournament produced the first surprise of the 2007-08 season when outsider Dominic Dale lifted the trophy, ten years after capturing his first ranking event in the 1997 Grand Prix. He won eight successive frames to beat fellow Welshman Ryan Day 10- 6 and take the title and the prize of £48,000, plus an extra £2,000 for his high break of 143 in the 10th frame.
The 2008 event was outstanding for Ricky Walden who pulled off an incedible 10-8 defeat of Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final to win his first ranking event title. It had not been an easy road to the final and Walden certainly did it the hard way, knocking out Hendry, Steve Davis, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby before meeting Ronnie.
In 2009 Ronnie won the event by defeating both Chinese heros, Ding Junhui, and surpise finalist Liang Wenbo who he beat 10-5 to lift the trophy. The tournament also proved to be a testing ground for Ronnie as he sought to defend his number one ranking postion against provisional number one John Higgins. He beat Higgins 6-1 in the semi-final and narrowed the gap between them to 2520 points.
| 2009 - Ronnie O'Sullivan bt L.Wenbo 10-5 | 2007 - Dominic Dale bt R.Day 10-6 |
| 2008 - Ricky Walden bt R.O'Sullivan 10-8 |
