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.
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