Australian Open Preview

Such a short time after the Wuxi Classic in China and Neil Robertson's triumph, the snooker tour goes down under to Bendigo for the Australian Open's 4th staging with 32 players in the running for another big title, and with 2 Australian wildcards playing in addition could we be seeing some future Australian snooker stars. However, as always there are a number of top players missing including World No.1 and World Champion Mark Selby, defending champion Marco Fu, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui.


What this means then is that this title is well and truly up for grabs this week and as we've seen in previous years someone could very easily come out of the blue to win their first ever ranking title. Here's who I think will be the big players this week in Australia:

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Neil Robertson Vs  Andrew Higginson/ Matthew Bolton
Stephen Maguire Vs Jamie Jones
Robert Milkins Vs Liang Wenbo
John Higgins Vs Tom Ford


The top quarter of the draw here features plenty of top players like last years runner-up (though the winner and current World No.1 haven't entered) and home man in Neil Robertson, whilst we also have more big names in Stephen Maguire, Liang Wenbo, John Higgins and Robert Milkins who are all capable of winning this quarter. Liang Wenbo really impressed me last week at the Wuxi Classic where he got to the Last 16 making 4 centuries and beating Mark Selby in the Last 32. If he can hit that form again in this event I certainly think he can beat Robert Milkins in the first round and then beat John Higgins who has been very inconsistent in the last year to make the quarter-finals. However, I don't know if he quite has enough to go on and completely win the quarter as I think it'll depend on performances of certain others.


One of those others is Neil Robertson who won the Wuxi Classic just today which may give him a slight disadvantage ahead of his home event, because in my view it's now a very short turnaround for him flying out on Monday to Australia and then having to play on Wednesday and then every day after that until Sunday to win the title it's a big ask after playing so much the week before to win in Wuxi. It may be the start of the season but I don't think Robertson will be able to quite ease through the draw again and he did look vulnerable in Wuxi and there are certainly players here who can stop them.


One of those players is Stephen Maguire. Stephen himself had a very good run in Wuxi showing some really good early season form and for him a good run is certainly possible this week. Stephen made the quarter-finals in Wuxi just losing out in a decider to Martin Gould and it'll be tough for Maguire to work out how he lost that one. I think though he'll be able to use that as inspiration in Australia this week and take the positives after a disappointing season last season to kick on and challenge for the title this week. He's certainly capable of beating Neil Robertson and getting through a tricky draw to give himself a great chance of a spot in the last 4 and a shot at a win next Sunday.


Quarter Winner: Stephen Maguire

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Stuart Bingham Vs Scott Donaldson
Ryan Day Vs Mark Joyce
Mark Davis Vs Dominic Dale/ Johl Younger
Shaun Murphy Vs Jack Lisowski


Here in the 2nd quarter we also have some top players like Shaun Murphy, former winner in Australia Stuart Bingham, Ryan Day, Mark Davis and Dominic Dale. We haven't seen any of Mark Davis yet this season and based on his form of the back half of last season it's difficult to say that he will be challenging for the title this week though. It's also difficult to say that with Dominic Dale given this event is first full one of the season so for a surprise package in this quarter we'll be looking at Ryan Day who had a very good end to the season last time around and certainly looks to be getting back to his best form as he showed again in Wuxi making the Last 16, and the one thing he needs to do now is keep up a consistent level of performance and if he could challenge for this quarter he'd be doing that.


Stuart Bingham is a man that has good Bendigo memories having won his first ranking event title out at the Australian Open and he showed signs that he is getting back to the form he showed in the first half of last season at the Wuxi Classic where he made the Last 16 and he only lost out there in a decider to Marco Fu so who knows how far he could've gone if he could've got over the line in that one. He was one of the best player of the first half of last season before falling away in the second half but I think he can get over that and go well again this week and I'd be very surprised if he didn't go on and reach at least the quarter-finals and for me he is one of the main contenders for the title this week.


Another of the main contenders for the title this week is Shaun Murphy who had a good start to the season making the quarter-finals at the Wuxi Classic and he knows that he should've made the semi-finals missing an easy red in the decider close to victory against Neil Robertson. However, having only got past the Last 16 twice last season to make it to the quarter-finals of the first event of the season is a huge positive for him and he struck the ball well in Wuxi which all bodes well for Australia. In my opinion in the back half of last season Shaun Murphy almost made a second breakthrough re-discovering his form and what it is that works for him with his attacking snooker. Now that he's back on the attack he's gained in confidence and is bound to win regular titles again like he did at the start of his career.


Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Judd Trump Vs Rory McLeod
Joe Perry Vs Alan McManus
Michael Holt Vs Martin Gould
Ricky Walden Vs Marcus Campbell


As we head into the bottom half of the draw, I feel that this quarter if all about Judd Trump, Joe Perry, Martin Gould and Ricky Walden as I can't see too many people coming from an outside position to win the quarter. The bottom little section looks like it'll be all about Ricky Walden and Martin Gould in my opinion. Ricky Walden I felt would have a slow start to the season and he showed that with an early exit in Wuxi at the Last 32 stage and he has a tough little draw here if he's to get any further than the Last 16. Martin Gould however is in good form having made the semi-finals in Wuxi and that will be a huge confidence boost for him as he heads into this event and the rest of the season. I think he'll have enough in the tank after a short turnaround to make it into the quarter-finals here but not to get much further than that.


I feel like the quarter winner will come from the top section of quarter 3 and one of the 2 main contenders from there is Joe Perry. Joe Perry has been in great form within the last year with his best ranking performance in the last year and for a very long while coming in Wuxi where he was runner-up in a deciding frame to Neil Robertson. Even though overall it's been a positive week for Perry I think that he may be feeling a little bit down about missing his chance to win his first ever ranking event. That paired up with a short turnaround from the Wuxi final to his Bendigo campaign points out to me that the possibility of a repeat performance this week is slightly lower if someone can really test him this week I think they'll come out on top.


Someone that can really test Joe Perry of course is Judd Trump. Judd overall would have been very disappointed with his performances in Wuxi simply not showing any form in his Last 16 loss to Stephen Maguire and I think the signs were there that he may have just been a little rusty in his first full event of the new campaign. However, his draw in Australia is not quite as tough if he can pick up a good win against Joe Perry and shake off those early signs of rustiness and get into some good form at the start of the campaign. Judd doesn't usually make the trip to Australia so he'll want to do well this week to get something out of it and make it worth his while so that could be the inspiration he needs to get back into form.


Quarter Winner: Judd Trump

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark Allen Vs Fergal O'Brien
Matthew Stevens Vs Luca Brecel
Xiao Guodong Vs Liam Highfield
Barry Hawkins Vs Peter Ebdon


The final quarter of the draw also has plenty of stars including former winner Barry Hawkins, Mark Allen, Xiao Guodong, Matthew Stevens and young Luca Brecel who could always make a surprise run. Firstly, after not making Wuxi this really is the first full event for both Matthew Stevens and Luca Brecel though Brecel had to play 3 matches to qualify so has more momentum than Stevens who's game has been on the decline in the last year so I think Brecel can record an outside win. Xiao Guodong though could definetly go on and outside run with the confidence he would've gained from his rise in the rankings and Shanghai Masters final last year but he's not started this season too well and appears to be coming in a little rusty and out of form as he showed in his loss to Hull. I could see him making the Last 16 but it would take him to raise his game a lot since Wuxi if he's to go any further.


Another man that may be a little rusty as this is his first event of the season and his game against O'Brien will be his first since his World Championship exit competitively. Basically, the form that he'll show and how far he gets in this event will depend on the work he's put in during the off season. He didn't have a great start to the season and his peak was around October-December once he'd warmed up and went on to win 2 European tour events and make the UK quarter-finals during this period. Also, he's not a Bendigo regular so we're lucky to be seeing him this week and I think he'll be coming in a little undercooked which could be the difference between him winning the event and exiting at the quarter-final stages.


One man that certainly isn't under cooked coming into this event is Barry Hawkins. Barry is always working hard so he came into the Wuxi Classic in fairly good shape and after getting rid of a few cobwebs on the way to the Last 16 he got a lot stronger beating Marco Fu in a decider to make the semi-finals where he was at 3-3 with Neil Robertson before the eventual champion pulled away. But with Barry in good form and with good memories of Bendigo which bought him his first ranking title he'll be full of confidence and in with a great chance of winning this whole event never mind the quarter. In my view it would be a great achievement for him to win his 2nd Australian Open title


Quarter Winner: Barry Hawkins


Tournament Runner-Up: Barry Hawkins


Tournament Winner: Shaun Murphy




Whatever the outcome is of this event I hope it is a successful one with some really exciting snooker matches and some big crowds because the Australian Open hasn't been well supported in the past and there is obviously a threat that if it isn't well supported in the future it will be taken off of the calendar which would be a real shame. I hope to be back with some updates throughout the event, and luckily this year we will also get to watch one session a day on Eurosport and hopefully they will have highlights from the earlier sessions that take place at "unsociable" times in the UK so you can all enjoy the event as much as I hope to.

Quarter-finals time in Wuxi

It's time for the quarter-finals in Wuxi as we are down to 8 after todays exciting and close quarter-finals with plenty of great snooker being played in conditions that are far from easy for the players this week given the dampness and humidity out there at present.


As I mentioned early there were plenty of exciting games with good snooker played as Marco Fu overcame Stuart Bingham in an exciting and tense deciding frame while Shaun Murphy ended the challenge of Chinese wildcard Zhao Xintong and their were comfortable wins for Neil Robertson and Barry Hawkins.


Last 16 Results:


Neil Robertson 5-1 Michael Holt
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Zhao Xintong
Marco Fu 5-4 Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins 5-2 Alan McManus
Martin Gould 5-3 Ryan Day
Stephen Maguire 5-0 Judd Trump
Robin Hull 5-1 Cao Yupeng
Joe Perry 5-2 Liang Wenbo




So then we've got some brilliant quarter-finals to look forward to tomorrow and it's now time for me to take a look at what we can expect from Friday's action:


Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)


Neil Robertson Vs Shaun Murphy - This should be another very open match between 2 very attacking players that on their day are great long potters and excellent scorers in amongst the balls. Conditions have been slightly tougher this week as they always are in China but that hasn't stopped Neil Robertson making centuries in both of his matches so far and he's played very well for his victories and he's probably favourite in my mind to win this match if he can keep it up. Despite beating Zhao Xintong comfortably in terms of the score today Shaun Murphy could've been pushed a lot closer and possibly beaten on another day as the match went very scrappy and Shaun struggled to make anything more than a 40 break on the day, so he'll certainly have to improve tomorrow if he's to have any chance of making the win. With Murphy set to attack, and Robertson likely to do that as well it will be the player that makes the most of his chances and makes the big breaks that will win the game rather than it being decided on tactical exchanges. So far this week, the heavy scorer has been Neil so he has the edge going into it.


Barry Hawkins Vs Marco Fu - These 2 players have been very evenly matched this week looking at their performances with both having to come through deciders at some stage while both have also had some slightly easier wins. Marco Fu made 2 centuries today in beating Stuart Bingham, but with him it's always about whether he can produce this consistently and he has been doing that a lot more in the last couple of years. He also seems to play slightly better than Barry Hawkins in Chinese conditions which is especially useful as this weeks conditions (especially today in the last 16) have been even tougher than normal for China. Despite all of this, Barry has still been able to score and play well in his matches despite being pushed very close by a wildcard in the Last 32, and even though he was able to dig in and get the win someone with more experience like Marco Fu would've been able to punish him and probably knock him out. So for me, I think if Fu can keep up his consistency, Hawkins will have to up his game which is something I think he struggles with more on Chinese soil.


Stephen Maguire Vs Martin Gould - Both of these guys have played some very good snooker this week and recorded some very good wins. Maguire has to overcome some incredibly tough opponents in David Gilbert and Michael White before whitewashing his toughest opponent of the lot in Judd Trump, though Maguire won several frames that Trump simply kept gifting him, and he won't get such gifts tomorrow against Martin, but when he's really had to and been under pressure Maguire has scored well and his safety play was very impressive against Judd today. I've not seen any of Martin Gould this week but you can see from the scores he's been close to his best making the bigger breaks again and even though he only had to overcome amateurs in his first 2 matches he did it wasting little energy, which may have proved decisive in a very good win against a very tough player in Ryan Day. With both seeming to score well I can see this being a very close match that is decided on big safety battles and who really gives the most chances away. Looking at how he played today tactically I'd have to say that Maguire will be keeping it the tighter of the 2 here.


Joe Perry Vs Robin Hull - The first thing i'll say about this match is how good an achievement it is that Robin Hull has got to the quarter-finals this week and I'd also like to say how well he has played an scored throughout the week as he's really got back into things on the tour now having been back a year now after a long layoff. However, this is also the furthest Hull has got since getting back on tour and with it being so long since his last quarter-final in a ranking event this is maybe a little bit of unchartered territory for him and with that will come extra pressure. Joe Perry on the other hand has been making a lot of quarter-finals in the last year or so and having made another here with 3 very comfortable wins playing pretty well and scoring pretty well he'll be eager to make the semi's and try to convert this one into his first ranking event title. I think he's got a great chance of winning the title and an equally good chance of getting that first major after such a long time in the game.


Whatever the outcome of tomorrow's quarter-final games I'm pretty sure we'll be in for some very interesting action with plenty of close games and tension, but also 4 brilliant players to make up our semi-final line-up as the matches are upped to best of 11's for Saturday's semis and best of 19 for Sunday's final. I hope you enjoy all as much as I will and i'll be back tomorrow to look ahead to those semi-finals.


Whatever the outcome of these matches we're going to have 4 great semi-finalists and some great snooker to complete the week here in Wuxi, and I'm sure you'll all enjoy as much as I will. More tips to come from me again tomorrow ahead of the semi's.

Wuxi Classic Last 16 Preview

It's been another very eventful day out in China for the Wuxi Classic as the first ranking event of the season continues to hot up. Most of the matches today went according to the "script" although current world champion Mark Selby lost out to Liang Wenbo and Wuxi champion of 2 years ago Ricky Walden lost another to another Chinese player in Cao Yupeng, while a good day was completed for the Chinese with my tip of the day coming in as Zhao Xintong beat Jack Lisowski rather convincingly.


Today's Last 32 results in full:


Michael Holt 5-2 Sam Baird
Zhao Xintong 5-2 Jack Lisowski
Stuart Bingham 5-4 Anthony Hamilton
Alan McManus 5-4 John Higgins
Martin Gould 5-1 Oliver Brown
Joe Perry 5-0 Robert Milkins
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Chris Wakelin
Neil Robertson 5-3 Michael Georgiou
Marco Fu 5-3 Jamie Jones
Cao Yupeng 5-3 Ricky Walden
Robin Hull 5-3 Graeme Dott
Liang Wenbo 5-3 Mark Selby
Stephen Maguire 5-3 Michael White
Barry Hawkins 5-4 Yan Bingtao
Judd Trump 5-3 Ben Woollaston
Ryan Day 5-2 Mark Williams


What that all sets up is an incredibly interesting day tomorrow in the last 16 with a lot of tight matches in prospect and some very tough calls for me to make here. Time for me to get on with my preview of all 8 of tomorrow's games:


Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)


Neil Robertson Vs Michael Holt - Neil Robertson looked a little shaky at the start of his match today against Michael Georgiou but that was understandable as it was only his 2nd match of the season and his first in this tournament, but when he got going he made a century and looked fairly good and was too strong for Michael in the end. Playing his second Michael in 2 days against Holt here will be another tough test as Holt has started the season nicely and is playing some decent snooker both this week and also last week at the AT1 event. Holt certainly has a good chance of victory in this match but in my opinion it all depends on how the defending champion plays. If Neil is on top form or pretty close to it as he was at the back end of today's match he should go through, but if he is slightly off of his game as he was at the start Holt will be able to take advantage. These days though Robertson doesn't have too many off days so i'll be going with the former.


Shaun Murphy Vs Zhao Xintong - This is one match certainly not to count your chickens on with many people seeing it as a top 16 player against a wildcard but there's a lot more to it than that. From what I've seen of Zhao Xintong he seems to be a quick and attacking player who's also quite a quick thinker and decision maker when in amongst the balls and he scores heavily so he's certainly a dangerous player. Shaun on the other hand has also played some decent snooker this week and feels like he's striking the ball well and he'll be happy with the way he's playing. This match I think certainly has the look of one that will go close and should make for entertaining viewing. In the end it could well come down to experience and that is something that Murphy has lorry loads more of than Xintong and that may well be the deciding factor.


Marco Fu Vs Stuart Bingham - Looking at the rankings, the way these 2 guys have been playing both this week and in the last couple of years there is incredibly little to choose between Fu and Bingham. Stuart could very well have lost today when he was 4-2 down to Anthony Hamilton but he battled on nicely and was able to get over the line as Hamilton failed to kill the match off. It seems as though Stuart is coming to form again after a difficult few months and he has a decent record in China making the final of this 2 years ago and previously winning 3 Asian Tour events. Marco Fu has also been playing very well over the last couple of years and his consistency has been improving with that. He hasn't played stunning snooker this week as yet, but he's also not played badly or look in any trouble unlike Bingham. Fu has simply done what he's had to on each given day. Marco also has a good record in China and if anything I'd say he plays slightly better in China than Stuart does which could well be a deciding factor. Both of these players have gone under the radar this week again so this should make for an entertaining contest.


Barry Hawkins Vs Alan McManus - Barry Hawkins had to survive a scare of his own today as he came through in a decider against young wildcard Yan Bingtao, but he still seemed to be playing some good snooker and scoring fairly well when he had to. Alan meanwhile scored another very nice win against John Higgins playing reasonably well but it seemed as though John may well have been a little under par again showing how the consistency in his game is starting to go. Barry Hawkins though is a very different prospect as he is very consistent these days and is playing some of the better snooker of his life and even when he's not playing at his peak he still finds a way to win the matches that you'd feel he should be winning which is a very good trait to have. At the end of the day, this is another of those matches that you'd expect Barry to win and with his form being reasonable and his game always seeming to be in good shape these days, so I'm pretty sure that he'll find a way to win it either the hard or the easy way.


Ryan Day Vs Martin Gould - This encounter also has the making of being an incredibly close one as both Ryan Day and Martin Gould's form is improving and they're looking to get back into the top 16 and this will be a big match to win in terms of ranking for whoever can win it. Both Day and Gould have also played some good snooker this week to get 2 good wins, with both only dropping 2 frames in the process. Of the 2 Gould has probably been scoring slightly better, while Day seemed like he had to battle quite a bit for his win against Mark Williams. I think this match is certain to go the full 9 frames and it will all come down to nerve and possibly stamina. Martin Gould has only had to play 2 amateurs so far and although they have been tough matches on paper he has saved a lot of energy by winning them both quite comfortably and that could be the tiny difference that is needed to win this game.


Judd Trump Vs Stephen Maguire - Judd Trump and Stephen Maguire have played some pretty good snooker this week and are very evenly matched ahead of this one. Stephen has scored very well so far in 2 very tough matches against Gilbert and White but he has still been pushed fairly close by both. After an easy win on Monday where he didn't have to score, Judd Trump looked in much sharper form today as he had to battle quite a bit up front against Ben Woollaston before eventually filling his boots and pulling away at the end. The head to head for this match points to Maguire but they haven't met in quite some time so that really shouldn't come into play. I tipped Judd Trump at the start of the tournament though and I haven't been shown much to make me change my mind, especially as I'm not sure that Stephen Maguire is much of an early season player.


Cao Yupeng Vs Robin Hull - Both of these 2 players have pulled off 2 wins so far very much against the odds as Yupeng has played well in beating King and Walden, while Robin Hull has been superb in overcoming even tougher opponents in Guodong and Dott. Robin Hull certainly seems to be coming back into some form after his health problems and his showing his heavy scoring off once more, which was particularly highlighted today against Dott as he started with 2 breaks in excess of 130. Cao Yupeng has also played well, but probably not as well as Hull and he probably doesn't share the same consistency as Robin or maybe even that top quality when really at his best. So far this week I'd say that Hull has played the better snooker, against better opponents and in my view I think he'll slightly edge the win and make it to the quarter-finals.


Joe Perry Vs Liang Wenbo - Joe Perry hasn't drop a frame yet in either his Last 64 win or more impressively today in the Last 32 against Robert Milkins scoring very nicely and continuing on from where he left off last season in what was one of the best seasons of his career. He's scored very nicely and if he can keep that up who knows, it may well be his week. Liang Wenbo will certainly have something to say about that after beating world champion Mark Selby today and making 3 centuries in his opening match he's certainly in good form too. However, while Perry has been able to sneak under the radar, all of the pressure will now be on Wenbo to follow up his win from today while Joe will just be able to go about his business as usual as he has been all week with little pressure on him, which could provide him with an edge.




Whoever the winners and losers are tomorrow in the last 16 at the Wuxi Classic you can guarantee we will have a thrilling conclusion to the week and some very good quarter-finals on Friday. I'll be back again tomorrow to round off the Last 16 and look ahead to those quarter-finals.

Wuxi Classic Last 32 Preview

It's been an interesting couple of days in China with the start of the Wuxi Classic on Monday and Tuesday producing 3 wildcard winners from the 4 wildcard matches, with 2 of those guys going on to win their Last 64 matches as well. Meanwhile Amateur Oli Brown got another win under his belt but there were routine wins for all of Selby, Hawkins, Trump, Murphy, Perry, Fu and Bingham and there are some really good matches to look forward to tomorrow as we head into the Last 32 and the tournament really starts to hot up.


Now it's time for me to look ahead to the Last 32 ties all of which are played tomorrow, and hopefully i'll be able to pick out a few winners:


Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)


Michael Holt Vs Sam Baird - Michael Holt is in good form at the moment and dug in well in the first round to come back from the brink at 2-4 to beat Rory McLeod 5-4 and when he's playing well it takes some of the very top players for him to be stopped. Sam Baird however has been a promising talent for some time but seems to be unable to make his big breakthrough which is letting him down at the moment but he's still an incredibly dangerous player on his day. It'll be a tough match for Holt but with his experience I expect him to just edge the win.


Jack Lisowski Vs Zhao Xintong - This should be an incredibly exciting match between 2 very exciting talents. Zhao Xintong is a player that always seems to impress me with some of the wins he gets and the manner in which he gets them beating some very good players by quite a decent margin. He seems to consistently cause upsets and is a player that will be one of the best players in the future, no doubt about it. Lisowski is also an exciting talent, but also a player that has been struggling for form for a long while now and doesn't seem to be able to string too many wins together. This is a great chance in my view for the brilliant young chinaman to produce another good victory.


Stuart Bingham Vs Anthony Hamilton - Stuart Bingham and Anthony Hamilton both seemed to play fairly well in their last 64 wins against Drago and Maflin respectively, but the big question is who will be able to show the consistency and get the win in this one. Hamilton is always a great player when he can get going but those days seem to be fewer and fewer now, while for Stuart he's hit a period in the last couple of years where he's now playing the best snooker of his life and games like these for him seem to be his bread and butter when he's near his best. After a tricky spell last season at the back end I think he's back close to his best so he has to be the favourite to win this one.


John Higgins Vs Alan McManus - This is sure to be another hard fought match between this Scottish pair after their hard fought match most recently at the Crucible where McManus got the win and made the quarter's. Higgins though will be a lot better for his few weeks having a rest, and spending some time with his family and if you look at the last 2 seasons he seems to play his best snooker nearer the start. Meanwhile, McManus wouldn't have wanted last season to end such was the run of form that he'd hit but he has a lot of positives to bring into this campaign and he will push Higgins all the way again. After his time off though I think Higgins will be playing as well as he can nowadays and for me I think he just slightly edges this match-up this time around.


Martin Gould Vs Oliver Brown - Amateur Oli Brown has played some really good snooker so far this season particularly in his 2 matches at the Wuxi Classic in Gloucester last month and today in the main arena to beat Ding Junhui and another promising young talent Oliver Lines only dropping the odd frame which really is some going. It's not just me that is impressed with Brown but seemingly most of the people that follow snooker closely have stamped him as one to watch. Meanwhile, the more experience Martin Gould appears to be slowly climbing back to his best and building his way back up to his peak in the top 16 a couple of seasons ago. Since then it's been a rocky road for Martin but he's been working hard and battling well and I think some of the rewards of this are beginning to show. Oli will push him all the way here but the quality as well as experience of Gould should be another to see him over the line.


Joe Perry Vs Robert Milkins - This was one of the match-ups I predicted before the start of the tournament and before the start of the tournament I would've given Perry the slight edge over Milkins. Milkins had to struggle through in round one beating David Morris in a decider without a break above 50, while Perry had a convincing 5-0 win against one of the other wildcard winners. Put all that together along with my initial reasoning that Milkins form certainly seems to have dipped over the last 6 months while Perry's 2013/2014 season was probably one of the best of his career, there is nothing that makes me want to change my initial pick of a very close game with Joe just sneaking over the line.


Neil Robertson Vs Michael Georgiou - We haven't seen much of Neil Robertson this season as he has only played his Last 128 match to make the venue after receiving a walkover to the Last 32. Michael Georgiou however has pulled off 2 very good wins against 2 good players straight after coming through Q School as well and it's pretty clear to see that he deserves his place on tour. However, against the defending champion who should be fresh and raring to go here I can't see Michael having too much of a chance and I think Neil would have to be short of his best if he is to lose this one.


Shaun Murphy Vs Chris Wakelin - Shaun Murphy in my book here should be a comfortable favourite for this match after playing some decent snooker in his first round win against Lawler and with Wakelin really playing very below par snooker in a lengthy battle in the later session out in China against Joe O'Connor. On his day Wakelin could cause a lot of trouble for Shaun, but Wakelin has got off to quite a slow start this season, while Murphy has been working pretty hard and feels that he's striking it well. If Shaun is striking it well and playing pretty close to his best there is only one winner.


Marco Fu Vs Jamie Jones - 6 months ago this would've been a much easier match for Marco Fu than it will be now. 6 months ago Jamie Jones was still continuing to struggle with his form and not showing any of the potential that we all know he has. Now though after a lot of hard work his form is slowly starting to return and he's been able to put a few results together once again. However, Marco Fu's form in the last year has been brilliant and he is back to playing some of the best snooker he ever has. Fu has also been working on his consistency and that seems to have improved as he's not been losing as many matches like this where he has been the strong favourite but really been below par. If he can keep all of that up he should win this one as well.


Ricky Walden Vs Cao Yupeng - Speaking of consistency one man that has struggled a lot with that in the past and does still struggle with that is Ricky Walden. One day he can produce a great performance and a really convincing win (like his whitewash here in the Last 64 of Peter Lines) but the next day he can have a shocker and only just get over the line against a similar opponent (someone like Cao Yupeng perhaps). Cao though also produced a very good win and performance against Mark King with a 5-1 victory there and we all know that Yupeng is a very good player when he is playing well and capable of pushing the best very close. I'm sure he'll push Walden close here, but my hunch as that Walden will still just sneak over the line unless he really collapses given his good display on Monday.


Graeme Dott Vs Robin Hull - This is an incredibly tough match to call between Graeme Dott who doesn't play as well consistently these days but is always incredibly gritty and a very tough man to beat, and Robin Hull who has come back onto the tour last season after health problems and now started playing snooker like he can again scoring very well, taking his chances and putting some good wins together. This for me has all the makings of a 5-4 either way and given how hard Graeme is to beat and taking into account that Hull is only now getting back close to the snooker he's capable of after a long time out, I think that little edge that could be the difference would go to Dott.


Mark Williams Vs Ryan Day - This was another of the match-ups that I picked out ahead of the tournament as a near certainty and a match that should it happen would be another extremely close tie. Mark Williams has struggled in the last season to produce the snooker he knows he can, but with age no longer on his side something he's finding it very hard to do. Ryan though has been working hard and picking up some better results after a lean couple of years and last season he played very well, started climbing back up the rankings closer to where he belongs and if he can pick up this season where he left off last April he will pick up a lot more good results, starting with this one.


Mark Selby Vs Liang Wenbo - Fresh from his World Championship win and with a decent start to this tournament playing and scoring well in a 5-1 win against Robbie Williams, Mark Selby will be on cloud nine full of belief and confidence to go with his endless ability and that is why he was able to get stronger through last years World Championship because of all of the confidence boosting wins. Liang Wenbo today though against Jamie Burnett looked superb in the balls, making 3 centuries and starting off his campaign full of confidence in this match with some very fluent snooker. Should he keep that up tomorrow he'll give Mark Selby a lot of problems and possibly cause a good upset, but with Mark's confidence back these are the type of games he loves and the type of games he always seems to win.


Barry Hawkins Vs Yao Bingtao - Without wanting to be harsh to Yao Bingtao here, because he has played well to win his wildcard round match against Yu DeLu and then beat Barry Pinches in the Last 64, but there is no way that someone of Barry Hawkins class should be losing to a 14 year old wildcard in Bingtao and without wanting to completely count the youngster out, I can't see past Barry Hawkins winning and making it into the Last 16.


Judd Trump Vs Ben Woollaston -  Neither of these 2 players played at all well in the Last 64 on Monday, but they both did what they had to do and found a way to win. Judd beat David Grace 5-1 without a break of 50 and did seem to get a lot of opportunities gifted to him which allowed him to relax and maybe why he didn't play as well as he felt he wasn't going to need to. Ben Woollaston though came through a much tougher and closer game seeing off Fergal O'Brien 5-4, battling hard as the Leicester cueist also failed to make a half-century break. However, given the nature of his first round win I think Trump will have a lot more left in the tank for this one than Woollaston and that could just give him the small edge that pushes him to victory.


Stephen Maguire Vs Michael White - Stephen Maguire seemed to start a little slowly against a tough opponent today in David Gilbert but once he got close to his best he was able to pull away and win. Meanwhile, Michael White threw away a 3 frame lead against Jamie Cope only to end up winning 5-3 in the end, but it seemed like he was inconsistent throughout the match which is something that is becoming all too familiar when you talk about young Michael White. If he can play a good consistent game tomorrow he'll have a very good chance of winning, but right now he's nowhere near his best and anything close to Maguire's best will be enough to see him through.


It should be a great day of snooker then tomorrow as the start of the new snooker season continues, but who will emerge into the Last 16, and who will lay down the big marker for the rest of the tournament? I'll be back tomorrow to see how it's all gone and look ahead to Thursday's Last 16 action.

Wuxi Classic Preview

It's time then for the first full ranking event of the season starting on Monday with the Wuxi Classic out in China. Of course with this being the first proper event of the season after the Asian Tour 1 event has just been completed there's not going to be much form to go on so you might see me make a few more punts than usual here. The big news before the event starts is that Ding Junhui lost out to Oliver Brown in qualifying so he won't be at the event that came after his breakthrough and is located in his local area.


However, there are plenty of other big name players that will be battling it out for the first ranking title of the season, so it's time for me to take a look at who I think will go far in the next week:

Quarter 1:

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in bold)


Neil Robertson W/O Alexander Ursenbacher
Michael Georgiou Vs Marcus Campbell
Michael Holt Vs Rory McLeod
Fraser Patrick Vs Sam Baird
Chris Melling Vs Andrew Norman/Zhao Xintong
Jack Lisowski Vs Lu Chenwei
Chris Wakelin Vs Joe O'Connor
Shaun Murphy Vs Rod Lawler


This quarter for me is all going to be about Neil Robertson, who has a bye into the Last 32 due to Ursenbacher's visa problems, and Shaun Murphy who will also be looking for a very good start to the season. Michael Holt made a good start to the season by making it to the final of the first Asian Tour event where he lost out to Ding Junhui and he's certainly the front runner from his section of 4 for a place in the Last 16 and he has the capabilities to go even further. Young Jack Lisowski also has a good chance of making the Last 16 here, expecting him to beat one of the new Chinamen to the tour in Lu Chenwei and from their he'll also be fancied to beat Chris Melling, Zhao Xintong or Andrew Norman in the Last 32 and he again has what it takes to even go on and win this quarter if he can keep his head down.


Shaun Murphy though is one of the hot favourites and he will be full of confidence after his brilliant second half of last season and you wouldn't be surprised if he walked away with the title this week as well and if it is to be a quarter-final between him and Neil Robertson you know he'll push him all the way. Neil Robertson though will be the favourite for this quarter and as defending champion he'll certainly want to defend his title this week and win even more titles than the two titles he managed this season and it will be even more interesting to see how close he can get to his enormous tally of last season and in my opinion in terms of what he achieved last season and his overall quality he has the edge on everyone else in this quarter


Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson

Quarter 2:

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in bold)


Marco Fu Vs Craig Steadman
Jamie Jones Vs Ken Doherty
Kurt Maflin Vs Anthony Hamilton
Stuart Bingham Vs Tony Drago
John Higgins Vs Anthony McGill
Alan McManus Vs Gary Wilson
Barry Pinches Vs Yu DeLu/ Yan Bingtao
Barry Hawkins Vs Lee Page


This little quarter seems to be filled with much more talent with guys like Marco Fu, Barry Hawkins, Stuart Bingham and John Higgins fighting for a place in the semi-finals while guys like Kurt Maflin who has been climbing up the rankings at a superb rate over the last couple of years and Jamie Jones who looks to be getting back close to the snooker he played on his way to the 2012 World quarter-final.


One man that is far from his best is John Higgins and after the poor season he had last time out I doubt he'll be full of confidence for the start of this, especially after losing to a Chinese amateur in the early rounds of the first Asian tour event. Stuart Bingham will be aiming for a good start to the season after a poorer end to the 2013/2014 season after a very good start, but I think Stuart will have been working hard over the close season and will be back to his very best very soon and it may even be in this tournament.


Barry Hawkins after the form he's shown in the last 2 seasons will be one of the favourites for every tournament he enters and he'll be wanting to have a better start to the season than he did a year ago where it took him until the UK Championships to really start firing again. It'll take some fine displays to beat him if he's at his best, but I think Barry would've taken more of a break in the close season and it may take him a couple of tournaments to really get back into his stride. Marco Fu though is contender for every tournament he plays in just like Hawkins, though he may not be the most consistent player he certainly gives every tournament his all, all season through. Fu has certainly been working hard on his game in the last couple of seasons and I think he's at the stage of his career now where the hard work should be paying off into regular titles.


Quarter Winner: Marco Fu

Quarter 3:

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in bold)


Oliver Lines Vs Oliver Brown
Martin Gould Vs Michael Tomlinson
Ryan Day Vs Matt Selt
Mark Williams Vs Mark Joyce
Stephen Maguire Vs David Gilbert
Michael White Vs Jamie Cope
Fergal O'Brien Vs Ben Woollaston
Judd Trump Vs David Grace


This quarter maybe lacking on a host of top quality names, but there are still so many players in here that could easily walk away with the quarter and go far in the tournament. The likes of Judd Trump, Stephen Maguire, Ryan Day and Mark Williams will be the favourites for the quarter, but guys like David Gilbert and Michael White are well capable of causing a few upsets and going on deep runs in this event.


The Welsh duo of Ryan Day and Mark Williams will be battling away for a quarter-final place in my opinion as they are clearly the 2 best players in that top little section and I was impressed with the way that Ryan Day got back into some form last season and I hope that he gets back to where he belongs in the top 16 before too long. Martin Gould can also be a threat in that section and I expect him to come back into form this season because he's been working very hard on his game and he's too good not to see the results of that hard work very soon.


The main contenders for this quarter though will be Stephen Maguire and Judd Trump who will probably meet in the Last 16 if things go as I expect them to. From there though it will be an incredibly close game I'd have thought with both players failing to win a title last season with Maguire's last coming in February 2013 and Trump's last in November 2012 which really is too long for players of their class. Maguire though really has been struggling for some time and things really seemed to be picking up for Trump towards the back end of last season and surely a title is not too far away for Trump with his talent and I'm sure he'd have been working hard on his game to get back to his best.


Quarter Winner: Judd Trump

Quarter 4:

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in bold)


Ricky Walden Vs Peter Lines
Mark King Vs Cao Yupeng
Xiao Guodong Vs Robin Hull
Graeme Dott Vs Zhou Yuelong
Joe Perry Vs Scott Donaldson/Chen Zifan
Robert Milkins Vs David Morris
Liang Wenbo Vs Jamie Burnett
Mark Selby Vs Robbie Williams/ Niu Zhuang


The lead man in this quarter is of course the new World No.1 and World Champion Mark Selby, though of course the likes of Joe Perry, Ricky Walden, Graeme Dott, Robert Milkins, Xiao Guodong and Liang Wenbo are all capable of going on runs that would see them into the semi-finals.


Wenbo, Dott, Guodong and Milkins are all clear outsiders for this section but I think they can all go far. It wouldn't be surprising to me though if Xiao Guodong made it into the quarter-finals as I think it may take Ricky Walden a couple of tournaments to get into his season after the close season that he's had, while I think Graeme Dott is at the stage now where he is the kind of player that uses the close season for a break more than to practice perhaps.


In the bottom section of this quarter though I think we will have our semi-finalist. Robert Milkins went on a very nice run to the semi-finals of the Yixing Open AT1 last week and he started last season very well before tailing off quite badly and he'll be hoping for another good start to this season and this time to carry it on for a more consistent season. Liang Wenbo may have fell at the first hurdle in the first Asian tour event but he was back close to his best last season and it would be good to see him get back to where he belongs as well as he is a very classy player. Mark Selby would be an obvious favourite for this quarter given his triumph at the back end of last season, but after winning the world title it will always be tough to follow that up so soon afterwards and I think more than anything the close season for him would've been an opportunity for him to let things sink in and the first couple of events of the season will be a chance for him to get back into his stride. However, in all of this I think that after the consistent season Joe Perry had last season he will sense an opportunity for another good run here and possibly a chance to win his first ever ranking title, after the hard work he's been putting in over the last couple of years, and right now he's playing some of the best snooker of his life.


Quarter Winner: Joe Perry


Tournament Runner-Up: Marco Fu


Tournament Winner: Judd Trump


It'll be good to see the return of live snooker at the start of the 2014/2015 season with the Wuxi Classic live all week on Eurosport and I'm sure we are in for another week of brilliant snooker to start the season with things coming along thick and fast from this point on with a lot of titles to be won between now and next May.

Season Review 2013/2014: Part 2: The Masters - World Championships

This is the second part of my 2013/2014 season preview, and in the first part I had a look back at the early parts of the season featuring the first triple crown event of the season and many of the years tour events in Europe and Asia. In the first half of the season we saw a more oversees domination in many of the ranking events spearheaded by China's Ding Junhui, so in the second part of the season it was time for the Brits to hit back. Meanwhile, at the foot of the rankings the race for tour spaces for the 2014/2015 season and beyond was really warming up as a lot of players started to feel the pressure in the later ranking events.


The second half of the season then is marked at both the start and the end by the 2 remaining Triple Crown events with January's Masters and the World Championships culminating the season in May. In between times there were a further 5 ranking events, the final Euro and Asian Tour events, the Championship League and the short format Shoot-out event.


So, it's time to resume my event-by-event summary of how things went down in the second half of the 2013/2014 season starting at London's Alexandria Palace:


The Masters: The first proper event of 2014 was of course the 2nd Triple Crown event of the season and the most prestigious invitation event in the game of snooker. With a lot of top names showing up in London for this one you'd have expected it to be a closely contested event, and a lot of games were very close. However, Ronnie O'Sullivan really did dominate the tournament only dropping a few frames in the whole event producing "snooker from the Gods" to beat Ricky Walden 6-0 in the quarter-finals recording 556 unanswered points in a match that lasted about an hour. He then went on to face Stephen Maguire in the semi-finals (who'd beaten Joe Perry and Neil Robertson in his 2 games) and he gave poor Stephen a thrashing as well 6-2. Meanwhile Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy contested the other semi-final after Selby came through 2 deciders against Mark Davis and John Higgins while Murphy had produced 2 good comebacks to beat Ding Junhui and Marco Fu. However that semi-final was a rout for Mark Selby as he beat Shaun 6-1 and Murphy played poorly and he said that really was a defining low. Selby couldn't get close to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the final though as Ronnie took the title with a massive 10-4 victory and he really did deserve it.


Snooker Shoot-out: At the end of January was another fun weekend at the Blackpool Tower with the 1 frame snooker shoot-out. A freshly blonde Dominic Dale took the ever increasing prize money there beating Stuart Bingham in the final. The players all seem to let there hair down a bit at this event as we saw with Dale singing a bit of Sinatra before lifting the trophy.


German Masters: Just a few days after the fun of Blackpool we were back to serious business and one of mine and many of the players favourite events at the Tempodrome in Berlin for the German Masters. We certainly had a surprise semi-finalist with Rod Lawler making it to the last 4 before losing out 6-1 to Judd Trump while Ryan Day showed us what he's still capable of by making the semi-finals before losing out in a tight game against Ding Junhui. It was Ding that went on to win his 4th ranking event of the season and deny Trump his first ranking event since November 2012 running away with the final after a close start.


Gdynia Open (ET8): The final European tour event of the season took place in Poland in mid-February and there was a lot to play for guys hovering around the 24 mark on the European order of merit with the Top 24 qualifying for the Grand Finals. Shaun Murphy was 24th on the order of merit coming into the week so he knew he had work to do. In the end he played brilliantly from start to finish romping to victory in the final 4-1 against Fergal O'Brien who also played himself in the Grand Finals. There were also good weeks for Sam Baird and Matt Selt who made it to the semi-finals, culminating a very good series of ET's for Baird.


Welsh Open: The Welsh Open in Newport was another big case of Ronnie O'Sullivan domination as he eased once again to yet another title. No-one could really get close to him as he pulled out some more brilliant snooker including a 147 to win the frame that clinch him the title in the final against Ding Junhui. Ding having already won 4 ranking title this season would've been very disappointed not to more than 3 frames in the best-of-17 final. There was also a brilliant week for young Joel Walker to show himself on the global stage making the quarters and showing some of his great potential as he led Ding 4-2 in the quarter-final only to lose 5-4.


Asian Tour 4: Stuart Bingham was back in the winners circle in the 4th and final Asian Tour event of the season beating Liang Wenbo who finished off his Asian Tour season with another cracking result. There were also good runs to the semi-final for Yu De Lu and Chinese amateur Cai Jianzhong.


Haikou World Open: This was a massive event for Shaun Murphy's season after his win in Poland to win his first ranking event in 3 years given the players that he beat all within the same week and his performances throughout the week were superb to beat Ding Junhui, Graeme Dott and Mark Allen to reach the final where he met Mark Selby who overcame a tough semi-final with Marco Fu. Shaun Murphy started the final off like a rocket to lead 7-2 after the first session with some great breaks included and his match play was good in the final session to hang on and win the match beating Selby 10-6 which added another final defeat to Selby's growing collection during the 2013/2014 season. The flat draw produced some more surprises in Haikou as well as Mark Joyce and Alan McManus made it to the quarter-finals, and McManus in particular was in the middle of a brilliant season where he had and would continue to pick up some great results.


Players Championship Finals: This event seemed to be a little bit of a damp squid in the end with a lot of the top players bowing out early and the event only being best-of-7 throughout for a full ranking event with big prize money. However, Yu De Lu continued his good form to reach the quarter-finals in Preston beating Ronnie O'Sullivan along the way, while Gerard Greene surprised everyone by making the final, just as he did in making the Paul Hunter Classic final. Marco Fu continued one of his more consistent seasons by making the semi-finals before being shocked by Greene who also beat Mark Allen in the quarter's, and Judd Trump looked very good before he crashed and burned in the second half of his semi-final against eventual champion Barry Hawkins who whitewashed Gerard Greene who found his first ranking event final a bridge too far.


China Open: The penultimate ranking event of the season and one of the signature Asian ranking events came just a couple of days after the Players Championship finals which saw a number of players pull out including Mark Allen and Barry Hawkins. What the tournament did see was one the completion of one of the tours greatest comebacks and a huge tournament shock as Mike Dunn made the semi-finals in Beijing to somehow guarantee tour safety before even going to the World qualifiers, having been very low down at the seasons start. The most dramatic moment for Dunn was his quarter-final win over a poor Mark Selby, although he couldn't reproduce in the semi-finals losing out 6-0 to home favourite Ding Junhui. In the opposite half of the draw we had another very big story as Neil Robertson somehow made the final of the event against high odds as he came into the event really quite unwell having contracted a bad virus that he said he wouldn't got on the plane to Beijing knowing the full extent of. However after 3 deciding frame victories, a tight quarter-final win against Graeme Dott and a great performance to beat Ali Carter 6-2 in the semi-finals, the Aussie did make it to the final only to lose out to Ding Junhui who won his 5th ranking event of the season.


World Championships: As always the season ended with the greatest tournament on the planet, the World Snooker Championships at the Crucible theatre in Sheffield. The qualifiers were also held in Sheffield at the Ponds Forge Leisure centre where some equally big stories developed with tour survival reaching it's climax and an end to a very long era coming in as defeat for Steve Davis to Craig Steadman relegated the legend from the tour, although Jimmy White managed to survive courtesy of Dominic Dale's Last 16 win over Michael Wasley. Some of the other stories from the qualifiers were that for the first time in a very long time all of Peter Ebdon, Mark Williams, Graeme Dott and Matthew Stevens would miss out on the Crucible losing their qualifying matches while 2 games that saw Robbie Williams beat Fergal O'Brien and Michael Wasley beat Robert Milkins went down to re-spotted blacks in deciding frames.


Onto the final stages itself and there was one huge opening round shock as the seasons biggest ranking winner in Ding Junhui fell as the first hurdle in a deciding frame to Crucible debutant Michael Wasley while former champion John Higgins fell to Alan McManus who made it to the quarter-finals. The early stages of the tournament were dominated by twice defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan after he survived a Last 16 scare to beat Joe Perry before thrashing Shaun Murphy in the quarters and Barry Hawkins in the semis each with a full session to spare. Meanwhile, Neil Robertson made it to the semi-finals and was able to bring up his century of centuries for the 2013/2014 season while his semi-final opponent Mark Selby had quietly gone about his business to get to that stage. It was a very close semi-final, and going into the last session the score was level at 12-12 but it was the Jester that was just the stronger in the final session pulling away for a 17-15 victory and a place in the World Final for the second time.


The final seemed to be going the way of Ronnie O'Sullivan as he led the match 10-7 after the opening day having led 10-5 at one stage, but in the 3rd session on the Monday afternoon Selby won all of the opening four frames to take an 11-10 lead in the match, with the final 2 frames of the session being shared as Selby took a 12-11 lead into the final session with a possible 12 frames to play due to an early finish. Selby took 3 of the opening 4 frames of that session to lead 15-12 at the final mid-session break and be just 3 frames from his first world title. Ronnie then won the next 2 after the break though to close the gap to one at 15-14 before Selby pulled away again winning 3 frames in a row and taking the 18-14 win.




That brings my 2013/2014 Season review to a close then, and what a season it was with endless amounts of brilliant snooker, quality tournaments with plenty of people winning tournaments all over the world and lots of other young players and players further down the rankings making a name for themselves as the Flat 128 structure was introduced.


What can we expect from the 2014/2015 season? Well i'll be bringing you my thoughts on that in the next couple of weeks but one things for sure, it's bound to be another exciting season packed full of brilliant events.

Season Review 2013/2014: Part 1 Wuxi - UK Championships

The 2013/2014 snooker season was another cracking season that saw a lot of people in the winners circle, some returning and others dominant while other players lower down the rankings were fighting for their tour places while others started to make their impressions on the tour and it all outlined some big names for the future.


In this little piece here i'll be looking back on the first part of the 2013/2014 season that was book ended by the Wuxi Classic last June and the UK Championships in December with 7 European Tour, 3 Asian Tour and a further 4 ranking events in between as well as the new Champion of Champions event that replaced the Premier League, just because there simply wasn't enough time for it's weekly instalments on the calendar with Barry Hearn's ever expanding regime.


Time to do an event by event review of last seasons action from June to December:




Bulgaria Open (ET1): Prior to the first ranking event of the season we had the small matter of a couple of Tour events starting off with the first European Tour event in Bulgaria. This won was dominated by some brilliant snooker from John Higgins who had no trouble seeing off some top stars on the final day like Shaun Murphy, Ronnie O'Sullivan before beating Neil Robertson in the final who beat Barry Hawkins from 3-0 down in the semi-finals. So, John Higgins and Neil Robertson were the guys laying down the early marker.


Yixing Open (AT1): Prior to the Chinese ranking event of the season was of course the first of the Asian Tour events, which always see high numbers of Chinese amateurs in attendance and fairly low numbers of top pros. However, the cream rose to the top on this occasion as Joe Perry won his first professional event with any kind of ranking importance beating Mark Selby in the final. This really set up what turned into one of Perry's best seasons in his career. This event also set up a very good season for young Scott Donaldson who made the semi-finals here and went on to make the Players Championship Grand Finals.


Wuxi Classic: The Wuxi Classic was not only the first ranking event of the season but it was also the first full ranking event to adopt the new Flat 128 structure for ranking events, and with all pro's starting from round one, it produced some large upsets. Both Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy missed out on qualification losing their matches in the Last 128 round which was played as qualifiers in the UK. The main event itself also produced some more surprises as it signalled the start of better opportunities for lower ranked players to get through the system. On this occasion it was David Morris and Cao Yupeng who took advantage making the quarter-finals. However, there were no shocks when it came to the end result with John Higgins and Neil Robertson making the final as in Bulgaria, but this time with the opposite result with Higgins losing to World No.1 Robertson 10-7.


Australian Open: The following ranking event in Australia always seems to come across as quite a small event with many of the top players choosing to give it a miss, mainly due to the long flight over and the cost to play against the small prize money on offer. However, it didn't stop Marco Fu picking up his first ranking event for many years in Bendigo, just denying Neil Robertson a win in his home event, which would really have given Australian snooker a big boost. However, there was a big boost here for Robert Milkins who started off his season by making both the semi-finals here and in Wuxi to lay down a marker for things to come. There was also a big boost to Mike Dunn's murky tour survival prospects by qualifying for this event. It was certainly a much needed boost for him.


Rotterdam Open (ET2): After the Australian Open was quite a quiet spell on the snooker tour with summer only producing 3 consecutive European Tour events. The first was in Rotterdam where Mark Williams was the victor and Mark Selby continued his good start to the season by making another tour event final, losing out in a decider here. The semi-finals also went down to deciders where David Gilbert and Gary Wilson were the unlucky players that just missed out on the chance to make the final.


Bluebell Wood Open (ET3): The third European Tour event followed some ranking event qualifiers down at the Doncaster Dome and many of the players (and some fans) didn't like it as a snooker venue. However it didn't matter to Ricky Walden who took the trophy and the winners cheque with some very good performances over the weekend beating Marco Fu in the final. The week also saw Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui make the semi-finals after a quiet starts to the season.


Paul Hunter Classic (ET4): The Paul Hunter Classic is always a very special event out in Germany and many professional players believe that it should be a full ranking event to be a proper tribute to the great Paul Hunter. It was another brilliant event that was played in his memory, this time producing Ronnie O'Sullivan's first title of the season as he whitewashed Gerard Greene in the final, who had an incredibly good weekend just to get to this final. On this occasion Mark Selby was a losing semi-finalist to Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ali Carter suffered a shock semi-final defeat to Greene.


Shanghai Masters: After a long break since the last full ranking event, the Shanghai Masters came at a very good time for snooker fans, and also started a very good period in Ding Junhui's successful season. It was also an event that brought lot's of surprises even though it was being played on the old tiered event structure. Xiao Guodong had his best ever ranking finish by making the final, losing out in the end to Ding Junhui and it was this all-Chinese final at a Chinese ranking event and the absence of a British full ranking winner during the first half of the season that saw people claim a new Asian snooker domination was incoming. There were further surprises in this event as young Kyren Wilson made the quarter-finals of this one and Michael Holt had several good results to make the semi-finals before losing out to the runner-up Guodong.


Asian Tour 2: This event also saw a number of surprise results with a number of the Chinese amateurs that enter these events going into the latter stages. In fact 6 of the 8 quarter-finalists were Chinese amateurs, with Lu Chenwei making the semi-finals while it was amateur player Ju Reti that was the best of the bunch that week by beating Michael Holt in the final to walk away with the trophy and surely a place on the tour next year via the order of merit.


Ruhr Open (ET5): As the tour returned to Germany for the second time of the season we had the start of Mark Allen's dominance in the European Tour events as he took first prize on that weekend in Germany beating the equally dominant Ding Junhui in the final. There was also a very good weekend for young Robbie Williams who boosted his tour survival hopes by making the semi-finals.


Indian Open: The first ever ranking event to take place in India was next up on the calendar as the world snooker tour tried to attract more Indian fans. It was certainly helped by some stunning performances in the event by it's tour stars Aditya Mehta and Pankaj Advani who took their home advantage well. The pair made it to the quarter-finals where they played each other with Mehta winning on this occasion, and he went on to make the final of the event only to lose out to Ding Junhui who won his second ranking event on the trot with a very easy victory. Meanwhile, Robbie Williams was able to continue his good form by making the semi-finals as he did in Germany just a few weeks before.


Asian Tour 3: The penultimate Asian Tour event on the calendar was once again dominated by the Chinese players, but this time it was the professionals doing the damage. It was Liang Wenbo who rediscovered some of his better form to win the event beating Chinese teenage sensation Lu Haotian in the final, while Xiao Guodong continued to impress by making the semi-finals and carry on climbing up the ranking list.


International Championship: The last Chinese ranking event of 2013 and also the biggest Chinese ranking event on the calendar was next up as the snooker tour headed to Chengdu for the International Championship. The end result was that it was quite simply the continuation of Ding Junhui's domination at the top of the game by winning is 3rd ranking event in succession having already won the Indian Open and the Shanghai Masters. This one wasn't all plain sailing for Ding though as he had to win a very tough and tight final against Marco Fu which was one of the Classic matches of 2013 going all the way to a decider, Ding winning 10-9. Both semi-finals were also very tight with Ding overcoming Graeme Dott 9-7 and Joe Perry continuing his great season by reaching the semi's but just losing out 9-8 to Marco Fu.


Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup (ET6): Next stop on Barry Hearn's tour bus was Gloucester for the 6th European Tour event of the year and what may turn out to be the final ever UK PTC after Barry Hearn announced there would be no UK PTC's in the 2014/2015 season that could spell the end of such events. In the actual event itself known as the "Pink PTC" it was Mark Allen who won consecutive European Tour events beating Judd trump this time in the final. Jamie Jones and Graeme Dott also had very good runs to make the semi-finals, while young lads like Chris Wakelin, Sam Baird and Joel Walker all made it to the quarter-finals, continuing there nice runs in the ET events.


Antwerp Open (ET 7): The penultimate European Tour event of the season in Belgium saw another 2013 classic match as Mark Selby won his first event of the season by beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-3 in a brilliant final filled with plenty of drama. There were also semi-final appearances for another Leicester player in Ben Woollaston and Jack Lisowski while Joel Walker made it consecutive ET quarter-final places to really boost his standing on the Euro order of merit to try and hold onto his tour card.


Champion of Champions: Shortly after the conclusion in Antwerp it was off to the Ricoh Arena for the new Champion of Champions cup featuring 14 off last seasons top-ups while Shaun Murphy and Mark Davis were the highest ranked players not already in so they made up the numbers. The format was meant to be a group format with each group playing on each day though effectively the group semi-finals were Last 16 games and the group finals were effectively quarter-finals. The group winners (or semi-finalists) were Mark Selby, Stuart Bingham, Neil Robertson and Ronnie O'Sullivan with O'Sullivan beating Robertson in a decider in the second semi-final and Stuart Bingham overcoming Selby in the first. That left a Bingham Vs O'Sullivan final that was an incredibly close encounter with Bingham holding onto O'Sullivan almost throughout the match before a late Ronnie O'Sullivan burst gave him the title.


UK Championships: Finally, the first half of the season (and part 1 of my season review) came to a close with the UK Championships in York which was the first Triple Crown event of the season, but also the first ever ranking event to have the Flat 128 draw with all matches being played at the venue, rather than the Last 128 being played earlier in the year as qualifiers. The Flat 128 draw for the UK Championships did produce some upsets as young amateur Mitchell Travis defeated Marco Fu in the Last 128 round before then beating Kurt Maflin to make it into the Last 32. The problem the event had was with there being sometimes 4 or 8 tables going on at once, it didn't feel like the event even got started until the quarter-finals when they were down to the usual 2 tables. It was at this stage that Ronnie O'Sullivan fell on his birthday to in form Stuart Bingham. It was Bingham and Neil Robertson that produced a classic semi-final with Robertson racing into an 8-3 lead before Bingham won 5 frames in a row to force the decider only for Robertson to win the decider and make the final anyway. Meanwhile in the other semi-final Mark Selby made the 100th professional 147 in thrashing Ricky Walden 9-5. So the final was between defending champion Mark Selby and the World No.1 Neil Robertson, and it was Neil Robertson that stopped Mark Selby from defending his title by coming back from 5-2 down to beat him 10-7 and complete his own Triple Crown.






Well that's it for part 1 of my season review from last season, and there was a lot of good snooker in there but a definite absence of a British ranking winner, with Neil Robertson starting his season off well by winning 2 titles and Ding Junhui playing the best snooker of his career to win 3 ranking titles in a row.


In Part 2 of my 2013/2014 season review I will be looking at how things went from The Masters in January to the World Championships that concluded in early May.