Indian Open Preview

The Indian open runs from Monday to Friday this week, the first ever ranking event in India. As good a tournament as it should be, the format of best of 7 up to the final, and a best of 9 ranking event final is pretty poor in my book, as in my book no ranking final should be less than best of 17. There have also been 7 players pull out for a number of reasons, but also because of a cyclone heading towards India, but really nowhere near Delhi, making it even more ridiculous.

Quarter 1

The top quarter features some big in form names like Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui, with Ding in particular playing really well in the last couple of weeks or so. John Higgins is another big name in this section, who could well go far in this tournament, and is due a good run in a ranking event by his standards. A couple of other guys that could be capable of a run this week, as a surprise package are Ryan Day and Liang Wenbo. Out of this quarter, the draw lends itself to more to Neil Robertson, who has a slightly easier run to the quarter-finals which could save him a lot mental energy for later in the week.

Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson

Quarter 2

This quarter features players such as Barry Hawkins, Ricky Walden and Joe Perry who are the favourites to make it out of this quarter. As all 3 of these players are in the same section,  a surprise package like Doherty, Higginson or Jamie Burnett could also get into the semi-finals if they get on a role. Hawkins has to be my favourite out of all of these as he is in marginally better form, while Perry and Walden have both won PTC events this year so cannot be ruled out either, but I think that Hawkins may just be too good for them this week.

Quarter Winner: Has to be Barry Hawkins

Quarter 3

Marco Fu, Stephen Maguire and Mark Davis are the big headline acts in this quarter, whilst there are also a lot of other guys that could have a good run such as Tom Ford, Dominic Dale, Michael Holt and Michael White. Out of all of these guys Stephen Maguire has to be the best of the lot, while Mark Davis won the 6 Reds in Thailand last month. Marco Fu won the Australia Open earlier in the year, and Michael Holt got to the final of the Asian Tour 2 event. For me though Stephen Maguire has the best chance of winning the event, while Marco Fu will offer him the biggest challenge in this quarter.

Quarter Winner: Stephen Maguire.

Quarter 4

Finally, the bottom quarter is full of top players whilst also being home to the 2 home favourites Pankaj Advani and Aditya Mehta. Mark Selby, Mark Allen, Stuart Bingham and Mark Williams are the top players in the section, with Allen being the most in form at the moment having won the most recent event, the Ruhr Open. Mark Williams could do with a good run in this event to get him back in the top 16, whilst Mark Selby can never be ruled out of a good run, I feel that a good ranking event run is overdue for Selby and he is one of my favourites for the title this week, but anything can happen in this shorter format, which basically makes it a glorified PTC.

Quarter Winner: Mark Selby

Tournament Winner: Mark Selby

Despite the shorter format, and lack of TV coverage (the tournament is only being streamed in Europe) I am still looking forward to the event and it should produce a lot of shocks, and some all-round good snooker. Hope you all enjoy it as well.