The 2023 Shanghai Masters was played at the Grand Stage in Shanghai, from 11 to 17 September 2023. The prestigious invitational tournament featured only 24 players and all four Grove players featured in that elite group. Ronnie O’Sullivan was the defending champion.
The first round saw twelve professionals and four Chinese wildcards compete to reach the “last 16″ round. Ding was involved in that round and he beat Si Jishui by 6-2. This was Ding’s first match of the season.
In the last 16, Ding and Neil Robertson faced each other, …
The 2023 World Snooker Championship was a particularly happy one for the Grove players. Luca Brecel won it, beating Mark Selby in the final. Mark was trying to win a fifth World Title but ran across an inspired Luca Brecel. Luca – who is back at the Grove – won the final by 18-15 to become the first World Snooker Champion from mainland Europe. For Mark though, getting this far after battling severe mental health issues in recent years was a great achievement and something extremely positive. Mark was full …
Neil Robertson beat Judd Trump by 10-9 in the Final of the 2020 UK Championship, winning the Triple Crown event for the third time. He had previously won this prestigious event in 2013 and 2015. Only three players have more UK crowns: Ronnie O’Sullivan (7, Steve Davis (6)), and Stephen Hendry (7). This is Neil’s 19th ranking title, bringing him on par with Judd Trump, and one better than Mark Selby.
The tournament was held in Milton Keynes, under social distancing rules. It started on November 23th and finished on …
Congratulations to Judd, the 2019 World Snooker Champion!
He beat John Higgins by 18-9 in a record-breaking final. Judd made seven centuries in that final, more than in any other Crucible final. The match had 11 centuries in total, more than any other match. And this World Championship saw 100 centuries made, the 100th bu the new champion. Also, by winning the World Championship, Judd became only the 11th player in history to hold the “Triple Crown” – UK Championship (2011),, Masters (2019), World Championship (2019)
Neil Robertson and Ali Carter reached …
Having reached the Final at the Masters for the first time, Judd Trump went on to win the title in emphatic manner. He completely outplayed Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final, beating him by 10-4. Judd made most of the damage in the first session, which he won by 7-1.
Ronnie came fighting back in the evening, but could only share the session. All week Judd played solid snooker. His safety game was excellent, his potting devastating, and, above all his discipline was impeccable. After the match, Judd thanked his family …
The 2023 Northern Ireland Open was played at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast from 22 to 29 October 2023. The event was won by Judd Trump, who beat Chris Wakelin by 9-3 in the final.
Neil Robertson was the only Grove player in the draw, He lost to Jordan Brown in round 2 (L64) by 4-1.
All the results are available on snooker.org.
The 2023 Wuhan Open marked the return of ranking snooker in China, after the long gap caused by the covid pandemic. It was the first staging of this tournament, so there was no defending Champion. Judd Trump emerged the winner again, beating Ali Carter by 10-7 in the final.
It was a bit of a disaster for the Grove team.
Luca Brecel withdrew from the event. His first-round opponent got a bye to round 2. Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson, and Mark Selby all lost in round 2, the first round of …
The 2023 English Open was played from 2 to 8 October 2023 in Brentwood, Essex. The event was won by Judd Trump who beat Zhang Anda by 9-7 in the Final.
It wasn’t a great event for the Grove players,
Neil Robertson didn’t qualify for the television stages: he was beaten by Sanderson Lam in the first round. Mark Selby was the defending champion, but exited the tournament in round 2, beaten 4-2 by Martin O’Donnell. Ding Junhui and Luca Brevel met in the last 16 round. Ding won the match by …
The 2023 European Masters was the first “non-league” ranking event of the 2023/24 season. It was played in Nuremberg, Germany from 22 to 27 August 2023.
From the Grove, only Neil Robertson and Mark Selby had entered the event. Neil didn’t make the trip to Germany as he lost in the qualifiers. Mark reached the semi-finals, where he lost by 6-4 to the eventual champion, Barry Hawkins.
All detailed results are available on snooker.org
The reigning World Champion, Luca Brecel, was invited to visit Hong Kong by the General Club, the club that used to host the General Cup, a very high-profile pro-am that saw many top players compete over the years. Accompanied by his girlfriend Laura, and his manager Django Fung, Luca really enjoyed the experience. It was his first visit to Hong Kong. He got to meet the fans, and do exhibition stuff.
Here are pictures, shared by Patsy Cheung, a huge snooker fan and one of the persons involved in the …
