PTC Finals 2013 Preview

This week sees the conclusion of the Players Tour Championship for this season, with the final 32, as taken from the 2 order of merits (European and Asian), will battle it out for the £100,000 first prize in Galway. The draw certainly looks as though it is has one much stronger half, with 4 of the top 5 in the rankings in that half.

If i had to pick the 4 semi-finalists this week, i would probably go for Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham.

Mark Selby has a tough opening match against Jack Lisowski, who was the runner-up in the first UKPTC, but Selby himself won both the first and sixth European tour events and finished top of the European order of merit. The winner would then face the winner of the match between Tom Ford, who finished sixth on the Asian order of merit, or Martin Gould who won UKPTC2. Again both quality players, but i think that Selby would be too strong for them, even though Gould got to the final of the first Grand Final in 2011. In the other half of this quarter, John Higgins who won the UKPTC4 will play German Masters champion Ali Carter. Meanwhile German Masters runner-up and finalist of UKPTC3 Marco Fu plays Mark Joyce, who is only here because Ding Junhui qualified on his place in Asian order of merit, rather than the European one. I expect Higgins to come through out of those 4 but i think his form has been a bit short over recent months, and therefore i think Mark Selby might just edge it and get into the semi-finals.

Neil Robertson faces a repeat of the European Tour 2 final in the first round against Jamie Burnett, one which Robertson won 4-3 and i would heavily back him to do so again. The winner would then face Barry Hawkins or Li Hang, the latter of which is a currently not on the tour and was runner-up to Stuart Bingham in Asian PTC3. In the other half of this section Graeme Dott, runner-up in the very last European PTC event, plays Xiao Guodong, who is only at Galway because of holder Stephen Lee's suspension. That is a match that i expect Graeme to win, but the chinaman did have a good run to the quarters last year and beat Judd Trump. Speaking of Judd he too is in this half of the draw that is crammed with stars and plays Alfie Burden in a match that Judd will fully expect to win, but Alfie did have a good run to the semi-finals of UKPTC2. Judd and Neil do look the strongest two in this quarter and i have to say that i think that Robertson will just edge it.

As for Mark Allen, winner of European tour event 3, he faces another current world no.17 Mark Davis. Looking at Mark Davis' current form i fully expect that recent World Open champion Allen will come through. The winner will either play Stephen Maguire or Joe Swail, who dropped off of the tour at the end of last season and was runner-up to Mark Selby in the Paul Hunter Classic. Maguire will be the firm favourite to win, but don't underestimate Swail, who has been practicing with Mark Allen. As for the other half of this quarter, Ding Junhui, winner of European tour 5, plays former PTC grand final semi-finalist Andrew Higginson and Robert Milkins plays Anthony Mcgill. Mark Allen should come through this section, however Maguire was the recent Welsh Open winner is in good form and Ding Junhui has also improved his recent form.

Finally, Stuart Bingham is in a section of the draw featuring only 2 top 16 players. Bingham plays World No.19 Joe Perry in what will be a tough start to the tournament, but one i expect Bingham to take by the odd frame. The winner would play either out of form Mark Williams or Leicesters Ben Woollaston, in a match that i think Ben will have a great chance of causing an upset. In the other matches in this section home favourite Ken Doherty will be playing with fresh confidence against Norway's Kurt Maflin and UKPTC3 winner Rod lawler plays Cao Yupeng who's 2013 hasn't been as good as his 2012 form was, so far. So Bingham is by far the best player in what is the worst section of the draw for big matches, and i will be shocked if isn't in the semi-finals in all honesty.

First Round Draw

Mark Selby Vs Jack Lisowski
Martin Gould Vs Tom Ford
Marco Fu Vs Mark Joyce
John Higgins Vs Ali Carter
Neil Robertson Vs Jamie Burnett
Barry Hawkins Vs Li Hang
Graeme Dott Vs Xiao Guodong
Judd Trump Vs Alfie Burden
Ding Junhui Vs Andrew Higginson
Robert Milkins Vs Anthony McGill
Mark Allen Vs Mark Davis
Stephen Maguire Vs Joe Swail
Rod Lawler Vs Cao Yupeng
Ken Doherty Vs Kurt Maflin
Mark Williams Vs Ben Woollaston
Stuart Bingham Vs Joe Perry

Tip for the tournament: Neil Robertson to go one better than in recent tournaments.

Should be a good event and one i really enjoyed watching last year.
Hope you enjoyed reading my preview and have fun watching it this week.