Players Championship Grand Finals Preview

After a much needed week off from snooker for the players (and for the bloggers it has to be said) since the Haikou World Open, snooker is back with a bang this week as we return to the UK and the Guildhall at Preston for the Players Championship (PTC) Grand Finals. The Grand Finals were due to be in Thailand but after some unrest in the country they were moved back to the UK, which doesn't make things easy for the players in both this and the China Open, which kicks off in Beijing just 2 days after the semi-finals and final next Saturday in Preston. So, with the World Championships in mind, it wouldn't be the worst thing for some of the players if they had an early exit.


So lets have a look ahead at what to expect in this weeks best-of-7 frames PC Grand Finals:

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark Allen Vs Jamie Jones
Fergal O'Brien Vs Michael Holt
Sam Baird Vs Anthony Hamilton
Ricky Walden Vs Gerard Greene


At first glance, it could be said that this quarter looks a little bit bare in terms of the big names, in comparison to the other quarters of the draw, but there are still plenty of experienced names that could win the quarter, and even go on and win the event. The likes of Mark Allen and Ricky Walden will be the favourites to win this quarter, but Michael Holt, Fergal O'Brien and Anthony Hamilton all have the ability to have a great run in this event over the short format.


Mark Allen is my clear favourite to win this quarter as the top seed, having won 2 of the 8 European tour events during the season and coming into this event with decent form after making the semi-finals of the World Open. He's well overdue a tournament win and this could well be his week, especially as I feel he enjoys the UK tournaments more than the overseas events and enjoys the shorter formats as well, as he showed winning the ET5 and ET6 at the back end of 2013. Ricky Walden meanwhile is not in great form at the moment, but has been unlucky at times this year with some of his draws and he will certainly be a match for Allen having won a ET event of his won in the Uk this season, winning ET3 in Doncaster in August. From the rest, Holt and O'Brien certainly have abilities showing that with runner-up performances on either the European or Asian Tour this season, but I'm not sure either one has the form to challenge Allen for the quarter win, but that will certainly make for a brilliant Last 32 match.


Quarter Winner: Mark Allen

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
John Higgins Vs Jimmy Robertson
Ding Junhui Vs Ben Woollaston
Marco Fu Vs Gary Wilson
Mark Williams Vs Lu Haotian


This quarter sees 2 ranking event winners from this season, with Australian Open champion Marco Fu and 4 times ranking winner of the season Ding Junhui, while we also have 2 Euro Tour winners from this season with John Higgins winning ET1 and Mark Williams winning ET2. Meanwhile, young Lu Haotian was the runner-up of AT3 and Gary Wilson could cause an upset having had a brilliant season so far.


Ding Junhui will be one of the favourites for the quarter and the event having won 4 ranking events this season, and he's as good in the short format (winning the Indian Open with that being best-of-7 until the best-of-9 final) as he is in any other format, and he's played brilliantly all season through in all conditions, and form like that will make him very hard to beat again this week. As for Marco Fu, he has been a little inconsistent at times this year with a Last 128 exit in the UK Championship and a Last 64 exit at the German Masters being spread out with his Australian Open win, International Championship final place, and a semi-final appearance in the recent Haikou World Open. He could be vulnerable in the opening round to Gary Wilson, but if he can get through that he will be a massive challenge to Ding Junhui in this quarter, as he was in the International final where he only just fell short. It would be very easy to underestimate John Higgins and Mark Williams in this quarter, with the feeling now certainly being that their best days are behind them, but John showed glimpses of his former self in victories at both the Welsh Open and World Open against Judd Trump, while Mark Williams highlighted how dangerous he can still be when he beat Neil Robertson in his home event. Both of those men could certainly win this quarter, but these days it is about consistency, which seems to be one of the things that these 2 have lost nowadays.


Quarter Winner: Ding Junhui

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Scott Donaldson
Liang Wenbo Vs Yu DeLu
Stephen Maguire Vs Barry Hawkins
Stuart Bingham Vs Ryan Day


This quarter looks incredibly tasty with the likes of current World, Masters, Welsh Open and ET4 Paul Hunter Classic champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, AT3 winner Liang Wenbo, AT4 winner Stuart Bingham, AT4 semi-finalist Yu DeLu, Welsh Open semi-finalist Barry Hawkins, German Masters semi-finalist Ryan Day, Stephen Maguire and young prospect Scott Donaldson completing a section packed with potential quarter and event winners.


Ronnie O'Sullivan is always favourite by a mile for any tournament he enters these days and deservedly so as he is playing some of the best snooker of his life right now, with nobody being able to come close to him when he's on top form. The only chance there is of anyone beating him this week is that anything can happen in the shorter best-of-7 format, not that that has had much effect in the ET events he has entered this season, nor did it have an effect in the Welsh Open. Meanwhile, Liang Wenbo will fancy his chances of first beating DeLu and then beating Ronnie as he did at the International Championship, and Wenbo's game has seen particular improvements this season after he went off of the boil after the previous few seasons. He could be a dark horse in this section.


Stuart Bingham is another man coming back to form having won the AT4 event recently, and he's now into the top 4 in the rankings which shows how far he has come in the last 2 seasons, but he has a very tough draw here and with possible distractions away from snooker Ryan Day, who has been playing very well since the turn of the year, will definetly think he has a good chance of victory. Stephen Maguire and Barry Hawkins looks another spicy Last 32 encounter between 2 men who are very evenly matched and could easily go on and win the quarter. Maguire has been a little inconsistent this season, but I don't think that Hawkins enjoys the shorter format as much as Maguire after he only just made it here thanks to Bingham winning the AT4 spot and the extra spot on the European Order of merit going to Barry, however that could well spur him on, despite his own inconsistency and possible lack of motivation this season.


Quarter Winner: Ronnie O'Sullivan

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Shaun Murphy Vs Neil Robertson
Judd Trump Vs Ju Reti
Joe Perry Vs Mark Davis
Mark Selby Vs David Gilbert


This quarter sees some incredibly big names, but also a lot of guys in form in what is certainly the quarter of death. We have recent Haikou World Open and Gdynia Open champion Shaun Murphy, UK Champion Neil Robertson, Asian Tour 1 winner Joe Perry, Antwerp Open winner, UK, Masters and World Open runner-up Mark Selby, AT2 winner and amateur Ju Reti, Mark Davis and David Gilbert.


Shaun Murphy has to be the form man coming into the event, but that really means nothing in a short best-of-7 format where he has Neil Robertson in the first round in what would be one of the matches over a longer format. Neil's recent record against Shaun is superb, but Murphy will have a lot of friends and family behind him in what is effectively his home tournament which could spur him on or add to the pressure. Either way that looks a very tough game.


Judd Trump should really beat Ju Reti in the opening round, but his Last 16 will be very tough so he'll want to not use up too much energy beating Ju if he can. His form has been decent in the second half of the season, but he just hasn't had the luck that you need sometimes to go and win the bigger events, but if that could turn around this week, his game is in a very good shape for him to have a good week. The short format is also good for Trump as it means that he can breeze through matches pretty quickly if he's playing at his very best, which he will need to do in order to win this section.


Mark Selby has had some good results recently without playing at his best all the time, and grinding out a lot of results, and I don't suspect that he can get away with such a thing in a quarter filled with top stars, if he has big aims for the week. However, I saw someone suggest during the World Open that Selby's so called "B Game" of grinding out results has actually become his "A Game" now because what used to be his best is shown so little that you could actually forget it exists, and that he is truly at his best when his safety game is on form and he is able to grind wins out.


Joe Perry's game with Mark Davis will be another interesting game, but one that I have a very clear favourite for on the seasons performances. Joe has improved so much this season, and it seems like he has re-discovered his best form again and is looking very confident. However, despite the start to the season Mark made and the improvements to his game in the last couple of years, he has had quite a poor few months on the table, losing games you would have expected him to win 12 months ago and not showing any kind of form. If Davis can't improve that this week, there is only one winner here.


Quarter Winner: Think Judd Trump can do the business in the short format.


Predicted runner-up: Ding Junhui


Predicted Winner: Ronnie O'Sullivan




Whatever the outcome at the end of the week, it will be another quality week of snooker, with a lot of brilliant matches to look forward, just in the Last 32 alone, and a bottom half packed with great players lends itself to a thrilling and fast-paced event. I'm really looking forward to this one, and I'm sure the people of Preston are too on snookers return to the area.