Players Championship

Mark Selby is punishing Ronnie big style.
Absolute snooker clinic so far.
4-0.

6-0.
And every bit a 6-0 as well btw.
Ronnie just couldn't get going and Selby punished him over and over again.
Rarely have I seen O'Sullivan dispatched with such merciless ease.

Earlier Mark Allen eventually saw off Gary Wilson 6-4 in a drawn out battle.
Wilson missed key shots with the rest and made too many errors in the balls.
Allen capitalised and deserved the win.

A real shock defeat for the rocket.
Selby showed nerves of steel tonight.
A well deserved win for Mark Selby.

Selby had the mojo today. Ronnie didn't really start to play until the 6th frame, but he was already 5-0 down and even a 58 break wasn't enough for him to get a frame off Selby.

There was an early error from the referee not giving a warning to O'Sullivan after two successive missed escapes from an awkward position when he could see a red direct. Her realization of the error after a further missed attempt gave rise to a reaction that must have lit up the eyes of Selby. Ronnie smashed the reds open seemingly in frustration.
There was much tittering going on around me in the audience but my instant thought was 'bloody hell Ronnie has Selby got in your head already?'.

From there Selby maintained a vice like grip on the contest and everything his opponent tried failed to work.
It felt like a perfect storm. Selby was in punisher mode and Ronnie just could not get anything going. That smashing of the reds set the tone I felt.
It was a blunder that I felt was always likely to fill Selby with belief.

Whether a drubbing like that affects their next encounter I am not so sure but it is a brutal end to Ronnie's winning run for sure.

Desislava Bozhilova is worth the price of admission all by herself

Zhang Anda is through to face Selby in the last four after seeing off John Higgins.
Anda surged into a 5-1 lead against his idol before the Scot launched a stirring fightback to 4-5 down. It was in vain though as the man from China prevailed to win 6-4.

Zhang is likely on a hiding to nothing against Selby anyway, but a good semi-final showing.

Carter's out at last. Mark Allen hasn't had his mojo against Wilson and Carter like he had against Mark Williams, but he's battling hard and getting victories.

I've done my maths and Carter still hasn't done enough to overtake Tom Ford for no.8 in the 1YRL. But unbelievably, Mark Selby was no.10 on the 1YRL before the tournament, so if he wins tomorrow and gets into the Final he gets into the Tour Championship qualifying places as it stands and Ford and Carter would be 9th and 10th respectively with it all to do at the World Open to qualify for the Tour Championship.

By the by, I do appreciate your ranking update comments, not something I keep track of but interesting to learn of.

Allen v Selby tomorrow, most likely, but maybe Zhang has more surprises up his sleeves.