The majority of the hot favourites and top 16 players made it into the Last 32 of the Haikou World Open, with stars like Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, Mark Selby, Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy all having relatively easy wins, while Stephen Maguire fell in a decider to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Joe Perry was beaten by injured Kurt Maflin. The likes of Barry Hawkins and Ricky Walden meanwhile survived final frame deciders to book their Last 32 places.
Ding Junhui wasn't all that impressive, but he didn't need to be as he was let off of the hook several times by Li Yan, while the likes of Neil Robertson, Shaun Murphy and then Judd Trump did put in impressive shifts, while twice defending champion Mark Allen was as good as he needed to be against Mike Dunn, and Selby's match with Hamilton was quite a scrappy affair.
Last 64 Results:
Mark Allen 5-2 Mike Dunn
Mark Williams 5-1 Yuan Sijun
Ken Doherty 5-2 Barry Pinches
Ricky Walden 5-4 Alfie Burden
John Higgins 5-1 Alex Davies
Michael White 5-3 Aditya Mehta
Matthew Stevens 5-0 Yu De Lu
Judd Trump 5-0 Chen Zifan
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 5-4 Stephen Maguire
Andrew Higginson 5-2 Craig Steadman
Graeme Dott 5-2 Tian Pengfei
Ryan Day 5-4 Michael Wasley
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Jimmy White
Mark King 5-2 Cao Yupeng
Pankaj Advani 5-4 Xiao Guodong
Ding Junhui 5-1 Li Yan
Mark Selby 5-3 Anthony Hamilton
Noppon Saengkham 5-2 Gerard Greene
Liang Wenbo 5-1 Scott Donaldson
Mark Davis 5-0 Adam Wicheard
Robert Milkins 5-2 Rod Lawler
Alan McManus 5-1 Martin Gould
Dominic Dale 5-4 Michael Leslie
Stuart Bingham 5-3 Steve Davis
Barry Hawkins 5-4 Matt Selt
Mark Joyce 5-2 David Morris
Ali Carter 5-3 David Gilbert
Kurt Maflin 5-1 Joe Perry
Marco Fu 5-3 Anthony McGill
Michael Holt 5-1 Nigel Bond
Rory McLeod 5-4 Tom Ford
Neil Robertson 5-1 Jamie Jones
Last 32 Preview:
Mark Allen Vs Mark Williams - This match sees the battle of the Mark's in the Last 32, and I think this will be a fairly even contest between 2 players that are only separated by a couple of places in the rankings these days. Allen seemed to start off more positively in the Last 64, and I think he'll be the firm favourite for this one, having good memories of Haikou and having never lost there to this day.
John Higgins Vs Michael White - This will be a very interesting game with both players coming through scrappier matches in the Last 64, but Higgins seemed to be coming back into something nearer his best form in the Welsh Open and in Championship League group 7 so I think he will have the edge in this one over the up and coming Michael White.
Andrew Higginson Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - This match could be decided on the flip of a coin, and could well go to a deciding frame. Higginson had a routine Last 64 win and his form seems to be improving over the last month or so. As for Un-Nooh, he had a brilliant win against Maguire in the Last 64 and he is so dangerous when at his best. With Thepchaiya needing the wins to hold on to his tour place, the extra pressure will be on him and that may increase Higginson's chances if Un-Nooh can't respond.
Graeme Dott Vs Ryan Day - This is sure to be another close match, between another 2 very evenly matched players. Ryan Day had to come from 4-1 down to beat Michael Wasley in the Last 64, which doesn't bode well for his chances of having a good run. Graeme meanwhile, had a much more routine win against Tian Pengfei, and you'd have put him as the slight favourite on paper anyway, and i'll think he'll just edge this one.
Robert Milkins Vs Alan McManus - This will be another interesting game, with Alan beating Martin Gould convincingly today and having a good season so far, while Milkins has had a pretty poor season since semi-final appearances at the Australian Open and Wuxi Classic. I think Alan is the kind of player that can grind Robert down, and when that happens Milkins can let things get to him pretty quickly. I fancy McManus to win this one.
Stuart Bingham Vs Dominic Dale - Stuart seems to be back into some good form, winning the Asian Tour event 4 last week, and playing well in his win against Steve Davis in the Last 64. Meanwhile, Dale had to scrape through from 4-2 down to beat Michael Leslie (who I've been less than convinced with in his 2 years on tour). If Stuart is playing well here, and is back to his Pre-Christmas self, I can't see Dale stopping him.
Ding Junhui Vs Pankaj Advani - Ding Junhui has been absolutely awesome all season, and showed again in his match today against Li Yan that he does what he needs to do on the day. He also says that he's relaxed playing in this tournament which will make it even tougher for anyone to beat him and make him a more dangerous animal. I simply can't see Advani having a chance of beating him here.
Mark Selby Vs Noppon Saengkham - This will be a tough game for Mark who came through a scrappy game against Hamilton in round 1 here, while Saengkham had a good (but expected) win against Gerard Greene. However, I did say Selby would win the tournament from the start, and as good a player as Noppon is, I don't see any reason to change that prediction just yet.
Mark Davis Vs Liang Wenbo - Liang Wenbo has been playing really well lately, and he showed this again in the opening round against Scott Donaldson, while Mark Davis came into the tournament in reasonably poor form, and didn't seem to be that impressive in a convincing win against amateur Adam Wicheard. I fancy that Liang is getting back to something like his best form, and when he does he really is a top top player.
Barry Hawkins Vs Mark Joyce - Mark Joyce played well today it seemed against David Morris, while Barry Hawkins Last 64 match saw him hold on, having let a 4-0 lead slip, to beat Matt Selt 5-4. That is not particularly convincing from Barry, but I don't think he'll repeat those mistakes again tomorrow against Mark.
Ali Carter Vs Kurt Maflin - This could be another case of beware the wounded beast as, despite shoulder injuries picked up in a car accident a few days ago, Kurt still got his scoring boots on again to beat Joe Perry 5-1 in the opening round. As for Ali, his start didn't seem convincing against David, but I still make him favourite to beat Kurt tomorrow, especially if his injuries catch up with him the further the week goes on. Will still be a very close match though.
Ricky Walden Vs Ken Doherty - Ken hasn't had the best season so far, struggling for large parts of it, and it's not getting any easier for him here against Walden. Having scrapped hard to beat Pinches I round 1 Ken now has to play a Ricky Walden who didn't have a great start, but still made a deciding frame century to beat Alfie Burden today, which could be a good measure of how he's playing this week.
Judd Trump Vs Matthew Stevens - Both players here had 5-0 wins in the Last 64, and will be pleased with how they've played in those games. Judd scored heavily in his win over Chen Zifan, and will be high in confidence after his Championship League tournament win last week, and I think he can run deep in this event. Matthew had a run to the final here a year ago, beating Trump along the way, but Trump was very much out of form at the time, and playing a lot worse than he is now, while Stevens will need to improve a fair bit if he is going to match his performances from 12 months ago.
Marco Fu Vs Michael Holt - Marco Fu had a good start today against Anthony McGill, seeing off the Scotsman's late charge to record a 5-3 win, while Michael Holt had a simple win and did what he had to do to beat Nigel Bond. I think Marco is in slightly better form coming into this, and Holty will need to raise his game a notch if he is to beat Fu here, but it should be a close game either way. If it goes scrappy though, there is only one winner in my mind.
Shaun Murphy Vs Mark King - Shaun was sublime today against Jimmy White, in what I thought was a very impressive performance, coming off the back of some good recent form. King meanwhile, did what he had to against Cao Yupeng, and will need to step it up quite a bit if he is to really trouble Shaun tomorrow and make it a close game.
Neil Robertson Vs Rory McLeod - These 2 met at the Welsh Open on the TV table a couple of weeks back and Rory really looked quite poor, while Robertson did enough to win the game quite comfortably in the end. I can't really see a lot changing here, with the match being on a TV table again tomorrow, and Robertson playing very well against Jamie Jones and looking hungry for more century breaks. McLeod seemed to be playing ok in the Wildcard round and the Last 64 on outside tables against easier opponents but he will be right up against it here.
It should be another good day of snooker though tomorrow with a lot of close matches in the Last 32, and a lot more thrilling snooker in prospect as the draw starts to thin out. I'll be back tomorrow to preview the Last 16 action and quickly look back at what happened in the Last 32.
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