Allen on course for semis

Mark Allen gave his hopes of reaching the 2012 Premier League semi-finals a huge boost with a hard fought 4-2 win over Peter Ebdon on Thursday (Premier League outright – Mark Allen 8/1 with bet365).

Former world and UK champion Ebdon took the lead in a scrappy first frame but Northern Irishman Allen hit back with an impressive break of 84.

Ebdon wasted a great chance in the third frame when leading 30-5 but missed a relatively straight-forward red to allow Allen the chance to step in and take the lead, and the 26-year-old seized the opportunity with both hands as he produced a break of 76 to take the frame.

The Pistol then opened up a two frame lead but Ebdon responded with a 108 break in the fifth to give himself a chance, but Allen then sealed the victory with a break of 69 to move into second place, behind Ebdon, in the Group B table.

Allen was pleased with the victory and felt he deserved his win against 42-year-old Ebdon.

“I started slowly, feeling a bit nervous out there. But I think after that I settled down and played pretty well,” Allen told Sky Sports.

In Thursday’s other tie, Masters champion Neil Robertson sealed a 4-2 win over Shaun Murphy despite twice falling behind (Premier League outright – Neil Robertson 4/1 with bet365).

The Australian is also on course for a spot in the semi-finals having won all of his Group A fixtures to date.

No China crisis for O’Sullivan

Ronnie O’Sullivan, who is a 5/1 joint favourite for world glory next year after taking the title in 2012, has announced his return to snooker action.

The maverick cuesman took a break from the game after refusing to sign the official players’ contract, however the 36-year-old is now back and tweeted he is “happy” with the development.

‘The Rocket’ said he was not happy with the proposed plans for the World Snooker schedule but it appears the stand-off has now been resolved.

His representatives have confirmed the player will take part in the inaugural International Championship in China as well as the UK Championship in York.

O’Sullivan beat Ali Carter at the Crucible in May to land his fourth world snooker title following glory in 2001, 2004 and 2008.

Judd Trump is also 5/1 to win the World Championship in 2013 with this year’s runner-up Carter a 33/1 shot.

Rocket to bow out on a high?

Ronnie O’Sullivan is the 2/9 favourite with bet365 to win the World Snooker Championship but he has revealed that this year could be his last in the sport.

The Rocket has looked in superb form throughout his Crucible run and demonstrated his unparalelled ability with a cue in a 17-10 destruction of two-time runner-up Matthew Stevens in the semi-finals.

Three-time champion O’Sullivan has appeared to have rediscovered his love of the sport, and that has shown on the baize, but now he is considering calling time on his career.

The Crucible has already witnessed the end of one snooker legend’s career when Stephen Hendry retired following his defeat to Stephen Maguire, and now O’Sullivan could be about to follow suit – and he wants to end in style with a fourth world title.

Standing in his way is the man who he beat 18-8 in the 2008 final to land his third world crown, with not many giving Ali Carter a chance of exacting revenge (Carter +5.5 4/5, O’Sullivan -5.5 10/11 handicap Betting with bet365).

O’Sullivan is relaxed going into the final and would love to bow out on a high, and he insists he has made the right call – although retirement is not guaranteed.

“I don’t intend to stay in the game long, even though I feel in a lot better place,” O’Sullivan said.

“I’ve made that decision and this might – I’m not saying it is – be my last time in this tournament.

“There’s no better way for me than to have a good run at Sheffield and get to the final and if I win it, great, absolute bonus.

“I’ve had a fantastic time and it’s got to come to an end sooner or later. I don’t want to drag it out too long. I always said I’d like to go out on a high and getting to this final has been great. I’d love to go on and win it now.”

O’Sullivan enjoying his Crucible run

Ronnie O’Sullivan has revealed he is enjoying his run at the World Snooker Championship, for which he is now the 8/13 outright favourite with bet365, but insists he will not be too downbeat if it comes to an early end.

Although he fell 5-3 behind to Neil Robertson in his quarter-final, ‘The Rocket’ looked in great touch on Wednesday to win 10 of the next 15 frames, which included six on the bounce, to book his place in the semi-finals.

O’Sullivan has not made it to the final since he last won it in 2008 and has found it hard to motivate himself, seemingly falling in and out of love with the game.

However, he has found the balance needed to get his focus right and it appears to be paying off as he looks to become the oldest champion since Ray Reardon in 1978 and win his fourth world crown.

“It’s nice to enjoy the game and play it with a bit of openness, that’s my natural game. So as long as I’m cueing well I can be quite aggressive with the balls and that’s the key, because that’s my game,” O’Sullivan said.

“It would be great to win another one but there’s a long way to go and everyone left in it is capable of winning this event. Neil was the man to beat and then I saw [Stephen] Maguire beat Stephen Hendry, so it’s down to a roll of the dice.

“I just need to make the most of these occasions now. I’m just pleased I’ve had a little run and if I get through another match, great. If I don’t, no big deal.

“I’ve enjoyed it, but there’s more to life than snooker and if it falls apart, it falls apart, what can I do about that?”

Standing in his way in the semi-finals is two-time runner-up Matthew Stevens (Stevens 7/2, O’Sullivan 1/5 Match Betting – bet365), who eased past compatriot Ryan Day with the minimum of fuss, 13-5, while Stephen Maguire takes on Ali Carter in the other last-four clash.

Hendry confident of Worlds success

Former world champion Stephen Hendry (8/1 World Championship Outright with bet365) believes he still has the game to win the world title, after beating defending champion John Higgins 13-4 to reach the semi-final at the Crucible.

Over the last year or so, the Scot has started to show glimpses of the form that took him to seven world titles in 1990s and after beating his compatriot Higgins, is now amongst the favourites to once again win the sport’s biggest tournament.

The 43-year-old will face Stephen Maguire in the last eight in Sheffield after he beat Joe Perry 13-7 earlier this week, in what is sure to be a classic match-up (Maguire 8/15, Hendry 6/4 – Match Betting).

Hendry is understandably full of confidence ahead of Tuesday’s clash and believes he still has the ability to claim a record eighth world championship.

“Of course I can [win it],” Hendry, 43, told BBC Sport. “But there are a few other players who will have something to say about that.

“I’m hitting the ball as well as I have for a long time and there’s no place where I feel more comfortable than the Crucible.”

Dale guarded against Trump chances

Dominic Dale may well have been sent packing by Judd Trump in the first round of the World Snooker Championship but he has suggested the ‘Juddernaut’ should not be the favourite at 7/2 in the outright betting with bet365.

The world number two had to abandon his ‘naughty’ brand of snooker to book his place in the next round after almost pulling out of the tournament due to food poisoning.

Last year’s runner-up had been suffering right up to his first match, which started on Tuesday, but managed to grind out a 10-7 win over the world number 27.

Dale is in doubt that Trump has the potential to be huge in the sport but has intimated that there are perhaps more likely candidates to triumph this time around.

“Most of the other players look at Judd as a guy who’s a devastating potter and break-builder,” said Dale, who led 7-6 before Trump won four straight frames.

“But I always think you need more to your game than Judd has at the minute.”

Three-time world king Ronnie O’Sullivan is the second favourite at 9/2 in the outright betting with bet365, with 2010 winner Neil Robertson priced at 9/2 and defending champion John Higgins available at 7/1.

Bingham primed for Hendry showdown

World number 16 Stuart Bingham is in confident mood ahead of his first-round meeting with seven-time champion Stephen Hendry at the World Snooker Championship (First-round matches – Stuart Bingham 10/11, Stephen Hendry 10/11 with bet365).

Bingham could be forgiven for ruing the luck of the draw after being handed the snooker legend, who was forced to qualify for the tournament at the Crucible after slipping out of the top 16.

However, the 35-year-old, who won his first ranking event at the 2011 Australian Goldfields Open, insists he is all set for his match-up with Hendry.

“I feel quite good about it, you know what you are going to get with Stephen,” he told BBC Essex.

“He’s the best player that’s ever picked up a cue. It’s easy to get up for that.”

Bingham managed to reach the second round of the World Snooker Championship last year, after seeing off Peter Ebdon in the first round, but he was knocked out by Ding Junhui in a close contest.

Bingham’s first-round match with Hendry begins on Saturday, the opening day of the tournament, at 14.30, and the final session will take place on Sunday evening (World Snooker Championship Outright – Stuart Bingham 80/1, Judd Trump 5/1f).

O’Sullivan eyes fourth world title

The draw for the first round of the Betfred.com World Snooker Championship has been made and there are plenty of intriguing first-round ties, with Ronnie O’Sullivan taking on 1997 champion Peter Ebdon among the tasty opening Crucible clashes.

Unpredictable O’Sullivan (1/4 to win) can be both brilliant and frustrating in equal measure but he is expected to get the upper hand of Ebdon (7/2) as ‘The Rocket’ attempts to stake a claim for a fourth world title and is on offer with bet365 at 13/2 to go on and win the Sheffield showpiece outright.

Following Monday’s draw, other stand-out games in the first round see seven-time champion Stephen Hendry who had to qualify this year, take on Stuart Bingham (both 5/6 to win), while defending champion John Higgins (1/5) is expected to have too much for Liang Wenbo (10/3).

Neil Robertson is among many observers’ fancies to win the Crucible event outright (8/1) and he should not have too many problems making it into the second round despite being drawn against another former winner, Ken Doherty.

Mark Allen (1/9) is the overwhelming favourite to beat relative unknown Cao Yupeng (5/1) and Stephen Maguire (2/9) is equally tipped to progress past Luca Brecel (3/1).

Judd Trump is the outright favourite with bet365 at 5/1 and is the shortest price at 1/12 to win his first-round encounter against Dominic Dale, who is on offer at 6/1 to cause a real upset.

Matthew Stevens (4/5) takes on Marco Fu (10/11) in one of the more evenly balanced opening games while Ali Carter (1/2) is expected to edge out Mark Davis (6/4) in their clash.

The action in Sheffield begins next week on April 21 and finishes on the Bank Holiday weekend on May 6.

Maguire on song in China

Stephen Maguire has been cut into 10/11 favouritism for the China Open with bet365 after he followed up his 5-4 success over Ronnie O’Sullivan with a much easier 6-2 win over an in-form Stephen Lee.

Maguire saw off the Rocket with a treble on a re-spotted black in the deciding frame on Friday and made a great start to his semi-final clash by taking the opening frame with a break of 75, before edging a scrappy second.

Lee had beaten defending champion Judd Trump in their last-eight match-up and he responded with breaks of 67, 47 and 39 to get back on level terms.

However, it was one-way traffic after the interval with Maguire producing breaks of 51 and 53 to move back in front, before further efforts of 66 and 71 took him to the point of victory.

The world number nine had saved his best until last though when he knocked in a break of 91 to wrap up the win and seal his second appearance in the final in Beijing, having beaten Shaun Murphy to win the tournament in 2008.

A victory in Sunday’s final, where he will face either Ding Junhui or Peter Ebdon, would of course be the perfect preparation for the World Championships (Maguire 16/1 Tournament Outright with bet365), which gets underway on April 21.

Rocket sets up Maguire meeting

Ronnie O’Sullivan (1/2 – match Betting with bet365) continued his dominance of Mark Williams as he crushed the Welshman 5-1 to set up a quarter-final clash with Stephen Maguire (6/4) at the China Open.

O’Sullivan who came back from 3-0 down to beat Marcus Campbell on Wednesday, showed no signs of the illness said to be affecting him as he dominated Williams from the start.

The Rocket, who now leads their head-to-head meetings 23-7, will meet the Welshman again in the second round of the World Championship if both players win their first-round matches at the Crucible.

Maguire, who beat Ricky Walden 5-4, is up next for O’Sullivan but world number one Mark Selby has withdrawn from the event with a neck injury.

His last 16 opponent Ding Junhui has been handed a walkover into the quarter-finals, much to the dismay of the Beijing fans who were anticipating another classic clash between the two rivals who have had some fiery contests in the past.

“I’m absolutely gutted to have to pull out and to let down the Chinese fans as I was really looking forward to playing Ding,” Selby told worldsnooker.com.

“But I have been suffering with neck pain and I struggled through my first round match. I don’t want to do any more damage, especially with the World Championship coming up, so I’m going back to the UK to get some treatment.”