Home Nations £1m tournament

Yes, and no, surely. Getting through one round, sure, but he's had to beat the rest by himself, hasn't he? But yes, it's a curious coincidence how it's panned out as yet.

Wells got to 4-0 and 5-2 against Allen, but then the better man rallied with some centuries and prevailed 6-5. He subsequently bemoaned spending too much time drinking all week.

Tubs Murphy got off to a strong start against Judd, and despite signs of a comeback, Tubs got through 6-3. So this should make another panto end to 2018.

Allen got to a 6-3 lead, but then Tubs came back well to lead 7-6. Allen stepped it up to win 9-7 and thank god for that. He's presumably the most advanced player in 2018.

Welsh Open starting today

A controversial century that never was for Ronnie today. He potted the pink for 101, then played the next red before the ref had re-spotted it, and the foul was called on the pink rather than the red, so it wasn't a century. But then he got century #992 in the next frame, before winning the match 4-2.
Some criticism that Ronnie wasn't showing enough respect for his opponent, Sanderson Lam, by going all out attacking on every shot, but the fact is that by doing that, he gave him more chances than he might otherwise have had.

The draw seems oddly random in places - Selby v McGill seems a bit starry for a 1st round, when Xintong v Page was another offering. Ali Carter got whitewashed I see after his Sunday heroics.

Neil Robertson finished his 4-1 1st round win with a 147 and then 140 clearance.

Judd Trump loses 4 -2 to Duane Jones much to the delight of the totally biased commentary team, referee was pretty cute though. Like a young Vanessa Paradis.

Was that EuroSport, or the dire prospects of BBC2 Wales (I'm guessing not the latter)?

Amused that ES listed the "shock exits" of Trump... Kyren Wilson... and Tubs Murphy. Only 2 of those might be construed as shocks, if you ask me...

The shocks continued, and there are now more than half the field left who are long-shots.