Haikou World Open Preview

It's time for the Haikou World Open, the ranking event that first took place their last year and was won by Mark Allen, his first ranking title of his career, even after he criticised the venue and surroundings. Last year's runner-up Stephen Lee, will not be there of course. Lee is still suspended because of the match fixing allegations against him and it doesn't seem like he'll be returning to the baize any time soon.

It was also announced this week that Ali Carter would not be in Haikou. The reason for this withdrawal is unfortunately due to the effects of the horrible Chrone's disease that continues to trouble him and he was advised by his doctor not to travel over.

Tips for the tournament

My personal tips to win each individual quarter and get through to the semi finals are Mark Allen, Ding Junhui, Judd Trump and Mark Selby. As I mentioned earlier Mark Allen is the holder of this tournament and won't want to give the title up easily. However, he has a tough first round draw against Ryan Day. Day hasn't head the best of seasons, but we all know how good a player the former top 16 player.

As for Ding Junhui, he started to show signs of returning to form in the Welsh Open earlier this month. He made it to the semi finals there and will be looking for the same again, to try and please his home crowd in on the Chinese island. How far he goes in this event may, again, be all down to the temperament that he shows up with and how much he wants to win, because when he wants to be there he's as good as anyone in the world.

Judd Trump also had a good run to the semi-finals in Wales and will be looking to return to his best form and hold on to his newly gained world No.1 spot. Judd has a tricky first round match against either Mark Joyce or wildcard Noppon Saengkham, and if Joyce makes it through he'll be looking to get rid of the demons of his 1st round exit to Joyce in the UK Championship after being 3-0, 4-1 and 5-2 ahead. I think that if Trump can get through that early test his confidence will grow and he'll have every chance of going home with the £85,000 first prize.

Finally, Mark Selby won both of the triple crown events either side of Christmas taking the UK Championship and Masters titles. Selby was quite unlucky in both Berlin and Newport, losing at the Quarter final stage at the German Masters to Barry Hawkins, having beaten Ding Junhui earlier on the same day. He showed good form against Steve Davis in the Welsh Open qualifiers before falling in the 1st round 4-0 to Joe Perry who performed magnificently and completely shut out the "Jester from Leicester". If he can play consistently this week he has to be one of the favourites to walk off with the title next Sunday.

1st Round Draw

Mark Allen Vs Ryan Day
Mark Davis Vs Robert Milkins
Ricky Walden Vs Peter Ebdon
Stephen Maguire Vs Marcus Campbell
Mark Williams V Marco Fu
Ding Junhui Vs Michael Holt
Stuart Bingham Vs Andrew Higginson/ Zhao Xintong
John Higgins Vs Alan McManus/Lin Shuai
Judd Trump Vs Mark Joyce/Noppon Saengkham
Ali Carter V Nigel Bond/Zhu Yinghui (Bond/Yinghui has a walkover to Round 2)
Matthew Stevens Vs David Gilbert/ Lu Ning
Shaun Murphy Vs Martin Gould
Neil Robertson Vs Dominic Dale
Graeme Dott Vs Jamie Cope/ Wang Yuchen
Barry Hawkins Vs Ian Burns/ Saleh Mohammad
Mark Selby Vs Simon Bedford/Lu Haotian

The tournament can be seen live on Eurosport 1 and 2 as well as ITV 4 who are screening their first ranking event for 20 years.

I hope you enjoy watching this tournament as much as i will (hopefully!)

Thanks for reading,
Michael