After 2 days of tasty action at the International Championship in Chengdu the Last 64 has been completed and tomorrow sees all of the Last 32 games across the 3 sessions. The main casualties of the opening round were Graeme Dott, Dominic Dale, John Higgins, Kurt Maflin, Matthew Stevens and Stephen Maguire. Meanwhile the usual suspects in Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy got through comfortably while Judd Trump came through a decider against Jimmy Robertson and Ronnie O'Sullivan turned over a 3-1 deficit to beat Ben Woollaston 6-4. Marco Fu and Joe Perry also overturned sizeable deficits to win their games against Liam Highfield and Mike Dunn respectively.
Here are the Last 64 results in full so you can see how your favourites went:
Last 64 Results:
Mitchell Mann 6-5 Wang Zepeng
Michael White 6-0 Aditya Mehta
Ian Burns 6-5 Dominic Dale
Craig Steadman 6-1 Graeme Dott
Stuart Bingham 6-4 Robbie Williams
Ryan Day 6-5 Mark Joyce
Martin Gould 6-4 Joel Walker
Mark Allen 6-0 Nigel Bond
Barry Hawkins 6-4 Jimmy White
Mark Williams 6-1 Oli Brown
Sam Baird 6-2 Kyren Wilson
Mark Davis 6-2 Dechawat Poomjaeng
Li Hang 6-1 John Higgins
Zhao Xintong 6-3 Kurt Maflin
Anthony McGill 6-4 Alan McManus
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 Ben Woollaston
Neil Robertson 6-3 Matt Selt
Joe Swail 6-2 Andrew Higginson
Zhou Yuelong 6-1 Chris Melling
Ricky Walden 6-3 David Morris
Joe Perry 6-3 Mike Dunn
Peter Ebdon 6-1 Andrew Pagett
Jamie Burnett 6-1 Matthew Stevens
Judd Trump 6-5 Jimmy Robertson
Shaun Murphy 6-1 Yu De Lu
Robert Milkins 6-2 Barry Pinches
Xiao Guodong 6-2 Eden Sharav
Noppon Saengkham 6-5 Stephen Maguire
Marco Fu 6-4 Liam Highfield
David Gilbert 6-4 Zak Surety
Fergal O'Brien 6-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Rod Lawler 6-3 Oli Lines
So, a few results in there have opened the draw up a little bit ahead of the Last 32 with a few top players falling in qualifying and in the Last 64 there are chances now for guys down the rankings to go a long way in this event.
Now it's time for me to take a look at the Last 32 draw and have my thoughts on what I think some of the outcomes could be of tomorrow's games.
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Michael White Vs Mitchell Mann - To start off the Last 32 we have 2 very good young players that are both climbing up the rankings at the different stages of their career. Mann had to come through a wildcard before making a 142 on the way to beating Wang Zepeng in today's Last 64. Mitchell is a top class young player from what I've seen and heard but he doesn't necessarily have much tour experience yet having only been on tour half a season which puts him at a slight disadvantage, especially in Chinese conditions. Michael White however is in cracking form having beaten Mehta 6-0 to start the week and he did have a very good run in Shanghai to the quarter-finals in September as well as making the semi-finals in Bulgaria earlier this month. If White continues like that there's only one winner here.
Ian Burns Vs Craig Steadman - Ian Burns and Craig Steadman are very evenly matched in my opinion and this is a match that could quite easily go either way tomorrow and could be decided by one decisive frame at a key point of the match. Craig Steadman I would say has been the marginally better of the two in the last 12 months and his win in round one proved that, not to just beat former world champion Graeme Dott, but to batter him 6-1. Ian also had a good victory against Dominic Dale on Sunday but it doesn't seem as though he played perhaps as well as Steadman did, and I'd say that Steadman is probably the better of the two players in Chinese conditions, which will play as big a part this week as any other Chinese ranking event.
Stuart Bingham Vs Ryan Day - I'm not always one for predicting correct scores particularly well (or even outcomes for that matter) but I certainly believe that this match is going to go a fair distance, being won 6-4 or 6-5 either way. Both guys are playing well at the moment with Ryan having a 147 on the way to the Asian Tour quarters last week, and he's certainly got his big scoring boots back on of late as he showed again in his 6-5 win over Mark Joyce on Sunday. Ryan is consistently putting in good performances in now, and wins in matches like this are ones that will soon have him back in the top 16 of the rankings. After the last couple of months for Stuart with wins at the Shanghai Masters and the AT2 event last week, those 2 titles added to his account have put him in a good place for another good run this week if he continues playing as he is. He started slow against Robbie Williams, coming from 4-3 down to win 6-4 but he does seem to start slower in the Chinese ranking events, improving as the week goes on if he can stay in the event. It's going to be tight, but I have a feeling that Stuart will come from behind and move into the Last 16.
Mark Allen Vs Martin Gould - Another very close match is in prospect here as Mark Allen, winner of the Paul Hunter Classic and runner-up at the Shanghai Masters this season, takes on Martin Gould who is climbing back up the rankings thanks to a good run in Wuxi and a run to the final of the Bulgarian Open. Mark started his week off in a very convincing style with a 6-0 win over Nigel Bond, while Martin Gould had a slightly tougher time against Joel Walker, taking the final 2 frames there to win 6-4. Over a longer format though I just fancy Martin Gould slightly less because his record in shorter format events like PTC's is much better than full ranking events, whereas Mark Allen is a proving ranking event winner and has potential to win one of the games very biggest events very soon, and that just gives him an edge in games like this which is all either player will want in a game like this.
Barry Hawkins Vs Mark Williams - This is a repeat of a recent Last 32 match at the Shanghai Masters last month, which saw Mark Williams win 5-4 in a match that certainly went right down to the wire. Mark Williams has been playing a little better just lately and I think that could be testament to the fact that he has been working hard on and off the table, with a new cue in hand for this season and the absence of a few pounds after some work on his fitness, which a lot of players have been doing recently and in most cases it's led to improvements in their form. (Not to try and put 2 and 2 together). Barry Hawkins though seems to be suffering a little bit from early season blues that troubled him at the beginning of last season. He's hardly in terrible form but his form is also not to the standard we've seen in the second half of the last couple of seasons with his good runs in the last 2 World Championships being his main source of ranking money. Like their Shanghai match I think this is going down to the wire, but i'll give the Welshman the edge that will be needed to win.
Mark Davis Vs Sam Baird - Mark Davis is in some ways twice the player in Asia that he is in the UK and I think with the conditions being a lot poorer in China this week for playing snooker, that will suit Davis more than Baird who relies heavily on getting into a good rhythm. Sam did have a good win 6-2 over Kyren Wilson and he played very well in that match too looking at the breaks. Davis had a good 6-2 win also against Poomjaeng and his extra experience could tell in a match that I think Sam will push close if he plays as he did in the Last 64. Either way though, I fully expect Mark to come through this one.
Li Hang Vs Zhao Xintong - This match should be a very good match between 2 very classy young Chinamen who have had some very good wins to progress to this stage. Li Hang's 6-1 win over John Higgins is a result that massively stands out from the Last 64 and I had a feeling that he would win that one, and I'm disappointed not to have made that call. Zhao Xintong is a young man that has a very bright future ahead of him. With the results he's had as a wildcard in the last year, I've gotten to the stage now I'm ignoring the fact that he has won. This week Jamie Jones and Kurt Maflin have been the 2 men unfortunate enough to come up against him and get the Xintong treatment and as a pro playing an amateur that's always hard to take and because of the nature of the game, Zhao's opponents will be putting themselves under a lot of pressure to win before the game has even begun. He is a classy player though and results at last years International brought that to the attention of everyone in Snooker and it would be very good for him to repeat that performance with a victory tomorrow.
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Anthony McGill - Ronnie O'Sullivan struggled a lot in the early stages of his match against Ben Woollaston. I think he was a little bit too relaxed and came across to many watching as care free throughout the match, and although he started to make some big breaks in the second half of that 6-4 win, he needs to change his mentality in order to raise his game ready for what will be another strong test tomorrow against McGill. Anthony played very well looking at the breaks in order to overcome in form Alan McManus to get into the Last 32. These two players met at this event in the Last 64 last season and Ronnie won quite convincingly on that occasion but only because the Scot failed to take his chances. If McGill gets as many chances as he did that day and as Ronnie gave to Ben on Sunday, he certainly has a very good chance, but I expect Ronnie to sharpen up now he's got past that dodgy opening round fixture.
Neil Robertson Vs Joe Swail - As we enter the bottom half of the draw we have the world number 2 taking on Northern Irishman Joe Swail in what will be another tricky contest for the big Australian. Neil had a tough match today against Matt Selt who was very well in making keeping him to 3-3 having lost the first 2 frames to Robertson. However, Neil found that extra gear that sets him apart from the majority and that powered him on to a 6-3 win. Joe is a very dangerous player and he'll be full of confidence after beating Andrew Higginson 6-2 earlier on today but if he does push Neil Robertson close, I expect Neil to find that extra gear again that will get him into the Last 16.
Ricky Walden Vs Zhou Yuelong - Ricky Walden had to dig in earlier after going 2-0 down to David Morris in the Last 64, but he seemed to find his form from there and he made 2 centuries on the way to winning 6 of the next 7 frames to power into the Last 32. He certainly has the wood on Zhou Yuelong in terms of experience and that could play the vital part in this match. Zhou may have had a convincing win against Chris Melling today 6-1 but I can't see past Ricky for the win here.
Joe Perry Vs Peter Ebdon - This has all the makings of a very tense and close match (and with Ebdon a lengthy one too). Joe today overcame Mike Dunn who played well to lead that match 3-0 early doors, but Joe soon found his form and won all of the next 6 frames to win that one 6-3. Peter Ebdon though is in very good form after his showings in the last European and Asian Tour events to reach the semi and quarter-finals of those 2 respectively and he had a very easy match in the morning session over Andrew Pagett taking that one 6-1 and I fully expect Peter to have a very good run this week out in Chengdu after his runs in the last 2 years. Joe is a very tough player to beat, but they don't come much tougher to beat than Peter Ebdon. That may have changed a bit in recent years but when Ebdon is on his game as he is at the moment I wouldn't want to face him.
Judd Trump Vs Jamie Burnett - At first glance I can only see this game going one way and that is comfortably the way of Judd Trump. However, having looked back at todays results Jamie's 6-1 win against Matthew Stevens is a very convincing one against a fairly solid player (even if Matt has hit a downwards turn in the last year or 2). Judd on the other hand had a tough time of things against Jimmy Robertson, losing 3 frames from 2-0 up to trail 3-2, at which stage he was becoming increasingly frustrated, before winning the next 3 to go 5-3 in front only for Jimmy to force a decider, but those efforts were in vain as Judd took the match 6-5. It's tough for me to see past Judd in this encounter though.
Shaun Murphy Vs Robert Milkins - Shaun Murphy is in incredible form at the moment having won 3 titles in 2014, one of which was this month as well as reaching the final of the invitational General Cup. He continued this form today against Yu De Lu, who may have made a few mistakes, but Murphy continued his renaissance of the attacking snooker he was known for in his early career and had some very good breaks in there. Robert Milkins also had a good win against Barry Pinches 6-2 in what have been tough conditions this week at times with the atmospherics not being great for snooker playing. Robert and Shaun always have good games, and while the head to head may favour Shaun a touch, their games are always close and I'm sure this one will be too. With the form he's in though, I'd find it hard to tip against Murphy against most players.
Xiao Guodong Vs Noppon Saengkham - In this encounter, Xiao Guodong will be a clear favourite with his continued progress in the rankings as he becomes a more consistent player. His win today against Eden Sharav 6-2 came from a position of 2-2 at the interval and shows just what the Chinaman is capable of in reeling off a series of frames in quick succession and that is the big danger for Noppon Saengkham tomorrow. Noppon was very lucky to get through today against Stephen Maguire and Stephen will be wondering how exactly he lost that match. Stephen made all of the big contributions in the match and Noppon was just able to hang in there and take advantage when his chance came right at the very end. I don't think though that if Xiao gets in front in frames and in the match as a whole tomorrow that he'll leave the door open for Noppon, such is his clinical nature shown today.
Marco Fu Vs David Gilbert - This match is quite a tough one to call tomorrow with neither player playing particularly well today as both players could've been on their way home at this point. Marco trailed Liam Highfield 4-2 at one stage having led 2-0 before coming back to win 6-4 but in the latter parts of the game he seemed frustrated sat in the chair and his body language didn't look great with his shoulders slumped at times like a man that had given up. Against a more experienced pro he'd have been beaten. The same goes for Gilbert who seemed to struggle early on against Surety before winning 6-4. Neither player has had a particularly good season to this point, with both struggling for the ability they have, but the winner tomorrow could see this moment as the one where they kick start their season. Marco is certainly the most likely candidate on that front.
Fergal O'Brien Vs Rod Lawler - The place to start with this match is not by pointing out the obvious (how long the match could be) but by going back 12 months to when these 2 played each other at the same stage of this very event. On that day Fergal O'Brien took the spoils 6-4. Fergal played well today against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to come back from 3-1 and 5-4 down to win 6-5 with a century in the tenth frame and another very good break in the decider. Rod did what he always seems to do today and find a way of winning games that on paper you think are close but don't expect him to come through beating Oli Lines 6-3 and a performance of a similar level tomorrow will see him take this match very close. Fergal in my mind is a big favourite with the way he's been playing in the last few months, ever since his appearance in the Gdynia Open final. I fully expect the Irishman to take the same spoils that he did 12 months ago.
There looks like some very good games there for tomorrow and it should make for some very good watching on the TV or streams wherever you are. I'm sure there will be more big performances from some of these youngsters, while the top players will try and keep warming up to peak at the vital times in this tournament.
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