Wednesday 25 February 2015

Fantasy Snooker: Points Update and Gdynia Players

After a busy week of snooker at the Welsh Open, I've updated all of the points for that tournament and of course made the plans for the next tournament which is this weekends Gdynia Open European Tour event 6 which sees an even busier weekend.

Updated Points after the Welsh Open:

1st: Andrew Brooker 473 points
2nd: SnookerFollower 358 points
2nd: Ezgi Ulutas 358
4th: Michael Coudray 348 points
5th: Gary 325 points
6th: Sean 312 points
7th: Gorkem Kurt 307 points
8th: TungstenDarts 273 points
9th: LTD 270 points
10th: Anthony Ward 248 points
11th: Guillermo 240 points
12th: Kjetil 202 points

As you can see, still nothing in it really from 2nd to 7th in the points table, and I'm sure there could be some important swings in Gdynia this week so it's important to make some good picks.

Gdynia Open: (Deadline Friday 27th February 8am)

Rather than me listing all of the players in the event, it will be a lot simpler for me to say that most of the players will be priced up in the same way as last weeks Welsh Open so it is best for you to make your picks based on that, and if you have any concerns about money or a players price simply tweet me in the usual way.

Otherwise it's the same story for this week in that you can pick two players with the £8 million allocated for you to spend, along with any leftover money from previous tournaments.


The last word from me this week is simply to say: Good Luck and Happy Tipping!!!

European Tour 6: Gdynia Open Preview - A Huge Weekend

Friday sees the beginning of the Professional stages of the sixth and final European Tour event of the season as the snooker tour goes back to Poland for the Gdynia Open. As the final European Tour event of the season it's going to be a huge three days of snooker, with plenty to play for this week. Naturally, there are a large amount of players fighting for places in the top 24 in the Order of Merit to get into the Players Championship Finals and join the eight players qualifying via the Asian Order of Merit. Also, the top eight players not already qualified to stay on the tour for next season by currently sitting in the top 64 on the end of season seedings list, will earn a two year tour card via the Euro order of merit. The Gdynia Open also marks the final event of qualifying for the World Grand Prix, with the top 32 on a money list from the beginning of the 2014 World Championships to the end of this tournament getting in. Meanwhile, the guys hovering around the 64 mark a few places either side will want good runs in order to help their chances of staying on the tour for next season, and after all of that there is a tournament to win as well.

Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Allen and Barry Hawkins are the notable absentees from this event, which also means O'Sullivan won't be in the Players Championship Finals having not already qualified, unlike the other three. Shaun Murphy is obviously the top seed, as the seedings are done for these tournaments based on the European Order of merit, with Shaun winning both of events 3 and 4 this season. Shaun is also the defending champion this week though and I'm sure it would mean a lot for him to have a good run at defending the title that sparked the turnaround we've seen in him in the last year. Of course all three days of professional action from Friday to Sunday will be broadcast on Eurosport in Britain and on the continent and their coverage of the European Tour events has been superb so far this season so hopefully that keeps up.


Let's take a look at how the draw lines up for what really is a vital weekend:

Quarter 1

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Jak Jones
Allan Taylor Vs Zak Surety
Kyren Wilson Vs Andrew Pagett
Joe Swail W/O Zhou Yuelong
Mark King Vs Dave Harold
Graeme Dott Vs Lu Ning
Kurt Maflin Vs Amateur Qualifier
Alan McManus Vs Amateur Qualifier
Michael White Vs Mitchell Mann
Craig Steadman Vs Amateur Qualifier
Noppon Saengkham Vs Michael Georgiou
Dominic Dale Vs Amateur Qualifier
Marco Fu Vs Vinnie Calabrese
Chris Melling Vs Chris Norbury
Ben Woollaston Vs Barry Pinches
Robert Milkins Vs Amateur Qualifier

There are a few guys in this section with plenty to play for and one of the main guys on that front is Joe Swail, while Jak Jones needs a couple of wins to try and get a tour card via the order of merit route, but a first round tie with Shaun Murphy is going to make that very tough. Allan Taylor is a nice £600 ahead of the likes of Jak Jones and is currently the 6th highest ranked player not already qualified, so a first round win against Zak Surety would put him fairly safe, but on the flip side he certainly does need that win or he may well lose that place. Andrew Pagett needs a small miracle to be honest, as probably only a run to the quarter-finals would get him a tour card via the EOoM, but he's supposedly giving up snooker at the end of the season anyway, realising he has no chance of staying on tour. Dominic Dale could still qualify for the Tour Finals here, but again he would need to reach the quarter-finals and I don't think his form is quite good enough to do that.

Joe Swail has interests all over the place in the different ranking lists. His walkover in the first round further consolidates that if he does finish outside of the top 64 at the end of the season, he will pick up a brand new two year tour card via the European Order of Merit, as he is currently the 2nd highest player not already qualified for next  year and is well clear of 9th on that front. That doesn't end Swail's interests on the European Order of merit as his walkover against Zhou Yuelong has lifted him into 28th place and just £800 behind 24th place, but his walkover there does mean that he would have to get to at least the Last 16 to have any chance of breaking into the top 24, and his possible Last 32 opponent could be Shaun Murphy, so it certainly won't come easy given that Shaun is the top seed with good reason.

Mark King is also looking to qualify for the Players Championship Finals, but is in the much greater position of 19th on the order of merit and around £700 clear of 25th place and dropping out of the qualifying spots. All that Mark really needs to do is to win his opening round game and that should see him nicely qualified, and that Last 128 match is against Dave Harold, who has been on a horrible run of form this season, and Kingy has been playing decent as always so I expect him to win that one comfortably.

Noppon Saengkham's eyes are firmly on saving his tour spot this weekend. The Thai is in the 4th spot for players not already qualified to get a tour card via the European order of merit and he shouldn't have any problems getting a new two year tour card via that avenue. On the other hand, Noppon is only 69th on the provisional end of season seedings and around £11,000 behind 64th place so a good run this weekend could perhaps help his bid to save his tour card in the regular fashion, but not qualifying for both China and India has well and truly hurt his cause on that front, and a tough first round draw this weekend against in-form Michael Georgiou, isn't going to see things getting any easier for him.

Marco Fu comes into this event as someone that cannot afford an early exit, which can sometimes happen with Marco because of his inconsistent traits. He is 20th on the European Order of Merit coming into this event and is £700 ahead of 25th place. I can't see Marco slipping up and out of this top 24 mind you, and he seemed to be in reasonable form in Wales so he is certainly a contender for a very good run this week, so it wouldn't be a surprise to see him make the quarter-finals by any means.

Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy is the defending Gdynia Open champion from last season, but is the top seed for this event by winning two of the five European Tour events this season in Bulgaria and Germany for events three and four, meaning he's won 50% of the last six ET events and can certainly go far again this week. Shaun's been cueing well this season, and despite an early exit at the Welsh Open, he'll still be confident and with a lot less pressure on his shoulders than he was under this time last year when he needed a good week to secure his place in the Players Championship Finals. If you let Shaun relax and play his natural game he's always an incredibly dangerous player and one of the favourites for any event.


Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy


Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Matt Selt Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Amateur Qualifier
Oliver Lines Vs Amateur Qualifier
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Amateur Qualifier
Neil Robertson Vs Amateur Qualifier
Anthony Hamilton Vs Michael Leslie
Fraser Patrick Vs Tony Drago
Chris Wakelin Vs David Grace
Ricky Walden Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Joyce Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jamie Cope Vs Jack Lisowski
John Higgins Vs Cao Xin Long
Jamie Jones Vs Ian Burns
Mike Dunn W/O Lu Haotian
Jimmy White Vs Jamie Burnett
Judd Trump Vs Amateur Qualifier

Again there are quite a few things for us to keep an eye on with the guys in this quarter, but most of the stuff seems to have sorted itself out nicely. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is 63rd on the end of season money list, so could do with all the money he can get to ensure his tour survival, but a run to the final of the Asian Tour event 3 has put him in the Players Championship Finals already giving him a nice money boost. Dechawat Poomjaeng is 31st on the Order of Merit, but only £800 behind 24th place and a run to the Last 16 would certainly put him in the mix for a tour finals place. Fraser Patrick is 3rd out of the players not already qualified and is a cool £2,500 clear of the ninth so his tour card is sealed, along with Chris Wakelin who is 17th on the order of merit and should make the tour finals too. Jimmy White is 5th on this list and a nice 1.5k clear of the ninth place so only a catastrophe would see him fail to regain his tour card, but he is 68th on the End of Season rankings and 9k behind 64th, so a good run this week and he might not need that tour card come May. Jimmy though does have a very tough draw for this week.

Jamie Jones has one thing on his mind this weekend in terms of the ranking lists and that is qualification for the Players Championship Finals. The Welshman is presently 28th on the Order of Merit, and around £800 away from 24th place and qualifying which means he could be in with a big shout if he can get two or three wins. His first round opponent is Ian Burns which presents a tricky match, but certainly one that he'll go into as the favourite, and fancy his chances of winning, while thanks to a walkover, he knows that his Last 64 opponent would be Mike Dunn if Jamie can beat Burns, and again he'd fancy his chances of getting a victory there if he can get that far. Overall, it's not beyond the realms of possibility that Jamie can make it into the Players Championship Finals.

John Higgins still has a chance of getting into the Tour Finals sitting £1,200 behind 24th place in the listings with the knowledge that a run to the quarter-finals would put him in very good position to qualify for Thailand next month. Of course Higgins is the man to beat after winning the Welsh Open last week, and if he can continue that form this week there is no reason why he can't run deep in this event and break into the top 24. One thing standing in his way is a much tougher draw than the one he faced in Wales. A possible Last 32 meeting with Ricky Walden and a potential Last 16 tie with Judd Trump, make reaching the last 8 a much tougher ask than it seems on paper, and it's always made tougher in these best-of-7 sprints.

Judd Trump is under no pressure at all this weekend, so again he can relax safe in the knowledge that not only has he qualified for the Tour Finals next month, but that he will also be one of the top 16 seeds to be drawn against the bottom 16 seeds in the actual event. Judd is another player in great form this season, though more in the first half than since Christmas, but he can take steps towards righting that with a big run this weekend.

Neil Robertson is a man whose Tour Finals spot is hardly a certainty as yet, sitting in the exact same seat as Marco Fu in 20th place in the order of merit around £700 clear of 25th place, but in a similar vain to Marco, I don't expect him to lose early on this week, especially not to an amateur qualifier which is who he will face in the Last 128. However, Neil will be determined not just to seal his place in the Grand Finals, but to win the event and get the best possible seeding and I certainly wouldn't rule him out of that. Neil has won this event before, a couple of seasons ago, so he will have good memories of playing in Gdynia, and he has been playing decent stuff on and off since Christmas without really going on and winning a title after his Masters final thrashing and unlucky quarter-final defeat at the German Masters. A big run here in Poland this weekend would make him feel a bit better, and put a lot of this right.

Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Selby Vs Rory McLeod
Tian Pengfei Vs Amateur Qualifier
Liam Highfield Vs Ian Glover
Stuart Bingham Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Williams Vs Lee Page
James Cahill Vs Tom Ford
Andrew Higginson Vs Peter Lines
Rod Lawler Vs Ali Carter
Anthony McGill Vs John Astley
Gary Wilson Vs Marcus Campbell
Zhang Anda W/O Xiao Guodong
Joe Perry Vs Matthew Stevens
David Gilbert Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Davis Vs Amateur Qualifier

As we look at the bottom half of the draw, there are still as many things to keep an eye on this weekend, though this quarter does have markedly less. Joe Perry in this quarter is the 24th man on the European Order of merit, but having qualified via the Asian Tour for the Players Championship, that simply means that the European listing would get the extra place. Tom Ford faces a tough match with James Cahill as he sits around £6,000 of 64th place on the end of season rankings, while Marcus Campbell also has a tough draw sitting in 66th place and in big trouble.

James Cahill again has his tour place destiny presently in his own hands, as he sits in the 7th tour card qualification spot on the European Order of Merit, but only £400 clear of Elliot Slessor who is just outside of the places. James has a very tough match against Tom Ford in the first round and if he were to lose to Tom there, the likelihood is that Stuart Carrington and Elliot Slessor would both leapfrog and leave him in the position where he would probably drop off of the tour. Arguably, despite reaching the UK Championship Last 16 this season, you could say his match with Tom Ford is the biggest match of his career so far, because if he loses he will probably have to go back through Q School to regain his tour place.

Rod Lawler has interest this weekend in the World Grand Prix Money list, as he sits in 32nd place, with the top 32 qualifying and he is only around £1,000 clear of 33rd place Fergal O'Brien. Even though Fergal may have to make the Last 16, while a Last 32 berth could see him sneak in, Rod has an incredibly tough match in the Last 128 round against Ali Carter, and if he does lose to Ali there, that throws the doors wide open for Fergal to try and pounce. That match then for Rod is set to be a huge one then, and he'll go into the match as second favourite against a player of Ali's class.

Mark Williams will have his main target of the week in the back of his mind, and that is ensuring qualification for the Players Championship Finals. He is 22nd on the order of merit and around £500 clear of 25th place, so he you still feel that he needs a couple of wins to make certain his trip to Thailand for the finals. His first round opponent is Lee Page and I can't honestly see Mark losing to Lee. Mark Williams is in good form though and will be happy with his run to the Welsh Open semi-finals which is his second major ranking event semi-final of the season after his run to the International Championships in October, and the Welshman is again in with a good chance of another good run this week, and you wouldn't rule him out of a big run in this quarter and the event as a whole. Mark's is a similar situation of course to Shaun Murphy's of last year when he came to Gdynia without a title of any kind in some time, and scrapping for a tour finals spot, yet he went on to win the tournament. I don't think we can rule out the same eventually for Williams here either.

Joe Perry is presently that man occupying that 24th place on the European order of merit, but he has no need to finish in the top 24 on the list, having finished in the top 8 on the Asian Tour rankings after his victory at Asian Tour event 3. He is only £100 ahead of the chasing pack and could well be overtaken here as his first round opponent is a very tough one against Matthew Stevens, though I expect Perry to come through. In fact, after two wins on the Asian Tour, it may be about time that Joe Perry started to show what he can do properly in these European events, so don't be surprised that with the pressure off, he does well this weekend.

Mark Selby also has no pressure upon his shoulders either having qualified for the Tour Finals after winning the very first European Tour event in Riga, so he can relax this weekend, looking to continue on with his good form. Mark won the recent German Masters, and although he was knocked out by Luca Brecel at the Last 16 stage in Cardiff, he's still playing very good snooker at the moment and seems to have found his range now after some struggles this season. His draw isn't the easiest to go on far and run deep this weekend, but when has that ever stopped Mark?

Stuart Bingham is 25th on the order of merit coming into this week and £100 behind Joe Perry, but again the King of the Asian Tour has once again qualified via that order of merit, winning the second Asian Tour event this time to win yet another PTC event out in China. Despite all of his success in Asian Tour events, Stuart still hasn't quite come into his own at these European Tour events as I expected him to this season, and I thought he'd make at least a semi-final in one of these events, but it certainly isn't too late for him to do that now. The Championship league overall victory a couple of weeks ago would've boosted his confidence, and given him plenty of match practice, so he will certainly come into this tournament feeling sharp and a good run is certainly a great possibility.

Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham

Quarter 4

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Peter Ebdon Vs Scott Donaldson
Sam Baird W/O Ahmed Saif
Elliot Slessor Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jimmy Robertson Vs Amateur Qualifier
Fergal O'Brien Vs Lu Chenwei
Ryan Day Vs Ken Doherty
Gerard Greene Vs Alfie Burden
Martin Gould Vs Amateur Qualifier
Luca Brecel Vs Hammad Miah
Michael Holt Vs Igor Figueiredo
Nigel Bond Vs Alex Davies
Aditya Mehta Vs Robin Hull
Michael Wasley Vs Steven Hallworth
Stuart Carrington Vs Amateur Qualifier
Joel Walker Vs Amateur Qualifier
Stephen Maguire Vs Ross Muir

This quarter is certainly the one to watch for twists and turns on all four counts to keep check of in this tournament that I outlined at the beginning of the piece. Jimmy Robertson is 28th on the Order of merit and only around £800 away from 24th, but having already from the Asian order of merit for Tour finals the extra place would simply go to the Euro order of merit were he to get into the top 24, and the same goes for Ryan Day who is 26th on the order of merit and only around £300 behind 24th place. Fergal O'Brien is one man with the most realistic chance of getting into the World Grand Prix that doesn't currently sit in the top 32, as he is 33rd on that list and around £1,000 behind, so if he could get into the last 16 he would have a genuine chance. Ken Doherty is 34th on that list, and also in this quarter but he is so far behind that only a semi-final finish for Ken would see him in with a shout. Nigel Bond meanwhile, is currently the lucky man sitting in 64th on the end of season seedings and is around £5,000 clear of 65th so he needs good performances in basically all events to keep himself one step ahead, but a tough first round match against Alex Davies could make things very interesting here. Robin Hull is 70th on the end of season seedings and may be £11,000 behind but having qualified for China and India and with the World qualifiers to come he is still in with a chance, and a couple of wins this weekend would do him no harm, and his first round game with Aditya Mehta has a lot riding on it. Alfie Burden has a tough first round tie with Gerard Greene, and he is only £7,000 clear of 65th place in his current position of 60th on those end of season seedings.

Elliot Slessor is a man who is clinging on to hope of getting a tour card for next season, as he searches for one via the EOoM standings. He is presently the 9th best player on this list to not already have a tour card provisionally for next season, and is £300 away from getting into that top 8 not already qualified where he needs to be, and that is simply the difference of one match. His first round draw sees him play an amateur qualifier though, and £400 behind James Cahill a man he can catch playing Tom Ford, things could certainly turn around in Elliot's favour, but only time will tell.

Stuart Carrington is in a very similar position to Elliot, though he is the 8th highest player on the EOoM not already qualified for next year, but only being £300 ahead of Elliot he has to win his first round game. Stuart is also 67th on the End of season rankings and is £9,000 away from 64th place, so he can still theoretically save himself by the ordinary means of getting into the top 64. A good run here won't hurt on either count though, and his first round draw sees him play an amateur qualifier, so he could certainly have had tougher as he looks for at least one win.

Luca Brecel has interest on two order of merits as he looks to qualify for two tournaments this weekend. Firstly, he is 18th on the European Order of merit and sits £800 clear of 24th place, so he should be able to seal his spot in the Players Championship Finals this weekend, but a first round win should guarantee him that spot. Things are also tight for him on the World Grand Prix seedings where he is currently 31st after his good run of form that saw him make the Welsh Open semi-finals last week. Again a win or two this weekend should see him qualify in the top 32 of that list quite nicely and get him some more good tournament experience. With the draw he has first up against Hammad Miah, and the good run of form he is on at the moment, I can certainly see things turning out his way.

Michael Holt is struggling at the moment having failed recently to get past the Last 128 stage by losing both of his qualifiers for India and Beijing, but also suffering a first round exit in Wales, so he could certainly do with qualifying for the World Grand Prix, where things currently hang in the balance. He needs a victory in his tough match against Igor Figueiredo you would feel to be certain of his qualification, presently sitting in 30th, but with a potential Last 64 clash with Luca. I fancy that Michael will just about be in the World Grand Prix next month though.

Aditya Mehta has interest in one particular thing this weekend, and that is qualification for the Players Championship Finals. He presently sits in 27th, but with 24th, 25th and 26th coming into this event, qualifying by the Asian Tour rankings he would presently be the 24th man via this list. He is only £400 behind 24th placed Joe Perry anyway, but the key will rest in his first round match I feel with Robin Hull. Robin is a very tough player and I fancy that Hull has a very good chance of beating him. If Mehta does get through though I'd fancy him to carry on and get to the Last 32 and that would certainly put him well and truly in the mix for Players Championship finals qualification.

Michael Wasley is also eyeing qualification for the Players Championship Grand Finals, and at 23rd in the present Euro Order of Merit, the ball is firmly in his court coming into this weekend. He is only £300 clear of 25th such is how tight it really is around these final qualifying spots, and one slip up could see him right out of the qualifying positions. The question is, will he slip up in the first round against Steven Hallworth? If Steven can push Michael like he did Shaun Murphy in the Welsh Open last week, than he'll certainly be in with a chance of upsetting Michael's apple cart.

Peter Ebdon sticks out as one of the biggest players in this quarter of the draw, particularly as he has qualified for the Tour Finals already, so has no worries on that front, and he's certainly been in very good form this season with a run to the semi-finals in Bulgaria, while he made the quarter-finals of one of the Asian Tour events earlier in the season too and the only man that has been able to stop him in the last two major ranking events is Mark Selby, at both the Last 16 stage in Berlin, but also the Last 32 stage in Cardiff. I think this all points to Peter having another nice run this weekend, and I think he'll make it to at least the Last 16 on Sunday given the form he has been showing.

Stephen Maguire is at the very top of his game at the moment at the moment it would seem. He has had good runs in basically every event since and including the UK Championships. It was a tournament victory in Lisbon straight after the UK's that ensured that he would qualify for the Tour Finals next month, and runs to the semi-finals in the German Masters and UK Championships as well as quarter-finals in the Welsh Open and the Masters have threatened that there is certainly a lot more to come from the Scotsman's cue, and his early round draws don't look particularly tough, so he looks like being a good bet for this weekend too.

Quarter Winner: Stephen Maguire

Tournament Runner-Up: Stephen Maguire

Tournament Winner: Neil Robertson 


It's sure to be a tight and a very exciting weekend of snooker for us to watch as fans and viewers, but one things for certain, there's going to be a lot of tension out in the arena with lots of players playing for a lot of different causes. It's always tough to keep a blog updated with results and news during the long days of these European Tour events, but I will try my best to tweet all of the important results, so those of you following the blogs account @CueActionBlog have that to look forward to.

Monday 23 February 2015

Two Years of Cue Action Snooker Blog

On Saturday 23rd February 2013, I decided to start writing Cue Action Snooker Blog. Sitting here on Monday 23rd February 2015, two years down the line and 241 blog posts later it's been a fair journey. As I said in my one year post, I didn't think this would last more than a couple of months like my other projects, so for me to have already been writing this two years is quite the achievement.

While the first year of blogging saw a number of great posts and features, the second has seen me cover a lot more tournaments in more depth with day by day updates on pretty much all of the major ranking tournaments in the last year, rather just doing a few as and when I felt like it. Since this day a year ago, I've had the pleasure to interview players like Mark King, Fergal O'Brien, Kurt Maflin, Scott Donaldson, Michael Holt and Joe Perry to go with the interviews I did in year one. What else have I done other than the interviews, tournament previews and other tournament news? Well, there was of course my "Day in the Life of the commentator" feature with the brilliant Neal Foulds and that was a lot of fun. I also continued my 12 Classic Matches feature for 2014 over Christmas, and added to that period the round-up of my best Players and Moments of the snooker year in 2014.

A year ago when writing my one year anniversary piece I said I'd like to do more interviews, and that certainly gets a big tick with the amount I've done in the last year. The Player of the Year feature went well as I hoped it would when coming up with the idea a year ago, and of course so have some of the features I've done with guest bloggers, but I'm hoping to get a lot more people involved with stuff like that.

However, I still didn't get half of the new features up and running that I would've liked to in the past 12 months, so my aims for the next year are certainly do to take the blog down several different new avenues and angles with the features I run. I'll obviously continue to cover all of the main tournaments on the calendar in great depth, and of course cover the smaller European Tour events as well, but I'd like to do a great deal more in terms of guest blogs and interviews, just so that you as the reader get to hear more voices and opinions. I'd also like to look in-depth more at certain aspects within the game, and get more expert opinions on these things, whether that be by me doing more in-depth research based pieces on here, but also perhaps by restarting the Twitter Debate Panel. I think there's also a certain lack of diversity on the blog and that as a man who is a fan of his comedy it would be nice to take a light-hearted view on snooker and do some more comedy snooker pieces. What else have I got in my locker? Well, I'd like the blog to focus a little more on amateur snooker, because every world champion has had to start at the very bottom, and there are a lot of events on the amateur circuit that some of you may not even know about.

Finally, I'd just like to say that it would've been a much tougher two years of blogging without the interactions of the people on Twitter and I'd like to thank everyone that has helped to get the blog off of the ground by reading or appearing in features. A particular mention has to go to the regular readers and people that regularly comment on Twitter, but also to Shaun Murphy who has certainly appeared in his fair share of interviews and features for the blog in the two years of it's running.


Thank You All,

Michael Annison
The Original Cue Action Blog

Sunday 22 February 2015

Woollaston to contest Welsh Final with Higgins

Ben Woollaston has made it into his first ever ranking event final at the Welsh Open, and in the final he will play one of his boyhood hero's in John Higgins at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff. The pair both came through tight semi-finals over the best-of-11 frames to set up this best-of-17 encounter today, and it should be a very exciting and nervy occasion for both as Higgins hasn't won a ranking title for two and a half years, and an even been in a ranking event final for a year and a half. Ben Woollaston meanwhile, has far less experience in these big matches, as his best performance in a full ranking event prior to this week was the quarter-finals.

John Higgins saw off another young player in new found territory as he took on Luca Brecel in Luca's first ever ranking event semi-final. John started with consecutive centuries and could've gone 3-0 in front had he potted the last red down the cushion, but when Brecel cleared that helped him settle and a good break in frame four had the match level at 2-2 at the interval. Brecel won a scrappy fifth to make it three frames in a row, but John Higgins looked like he'd take control when he turned it around to lead 4-3. While Brecel levelled again, a poor safety left Higgins right in in frame nine, and a superb 135 could've been even better had he have potted the final black to make a 142 and steal the high break in the tournament from Luca. Higgins needed a few chances to kill it off, but when Brecel missed a black with Higgins only needing one more red, that was that and John was into the final with a 6-4 win.

The second semi-final was another pendulum affair between Ben Woollaston and home favourite Mark Williams. Mark looked very nervy in the early stages, and a couple of good breaks helped Ben to capitalise and take a 3-1 lead at the mid-session break. Mark went on to the practice tables in that break to find some form, and Ben started to look under some big pressure as a big break in frame five, while a big steal in frame six in a frame Ben should've won saw and it was all square at 3-3. That didn't faze Ben though as he won the next two to lead 5-3 and go one away fro his first ever ranking final. The fact that this was the case soon started to tell as Ben missed several good chances, including a huge chance on the colours on frame ten to kill off the match but Williams won it to force the decider. Again, Ben needed two chances in the decider but after he wasn't punished for his miss and let back in immediately, he made a superb break under pressure and held it all together nicely to win the match 6-5 and knock out the last Welsh hope.

Final Preview

John Higgins Vs Ben Woollaston - If you look at the history of these two players and how many titles John Higgins has won in his career (including this tournament three times) and the fact that Ben Woollaston had never even made a ranking event semi-final before this week, you have to say that Higgins is a strong favourite. Although, Higgins hasn't won a big ranking title in two and a half years and four years since winning a ranking event in the UK. One thing you have to say about the Scot though, is that in his semi-final against Luca Brecel he looked thoroughly back to his brilliant best, and he has also showed that at several other points in this week, and that all he needed to do was put together a consistent week to win another ranking title, because even though he'd gone missing from the winners circle a bit in the last couple of years, his brilliance was still there but he just couldn't find it consistently.

Ben Woollaston deserves to be in this final 100% given the way he's played this week, the players he's beaten and the way he has scored throughout the week. Having seen off Mark Davis, Mark Allen, Ali Carter and Mark Williams he's showed his class and talent and confirmed that he can do it on the big stage in a big ranking event, and not only in the minor European Tour events. The obvious thing that is going to hamper him in this final, is the thing that very nearly cost him the match last night and that was nerves and pressure. Ben won't be used to the nerves and pressure of turning up on the Sunday of a ranking event to contest the final of it over the best-of-17 frames, in front of a sell out crowd. Meanwhile, John Higgins will have this experience in bags, and while he'll obviously still be affected with the nerves, you'd also think he can deal with these and get off to a good start. For me, Ben has to be no worse than 4-4 after the first session of eight frames this afternoon, because if he gives John Higgins any kind of lead here he could go from strength to strength, sensing his chance and possibly demolishing Woollaston. What Woollaston can't afford to do is succumb to the nerves and pressure in the opening frames and miss many easy ones because again, Higgins has that experience to punish him big time and it could be 4-0 at the interval and end up at 6-2 at the end of session, which would be game over. A strong start for Woollaston today is a must for him to have any chance of taking the title.

Prediction: 9-5 win for John Higgins


It should be a good final, between two players that thoroughly deserve to be in it, and of course the snooker keeps on coming thick and fast at this time in the season, so the loser won't have too much time to be disappointed with the Gdynia Open European Tour event 6 starting on Friday.

Saturday 21 February 2015

Williams, Woollaston, Higgins and Brecel make up Cardiff Semi's

What happens when an Englishman, a Welshman, a Scot and a Belgium walk into an arena? They play themselves into the semi-finals of the Welsh Open of course. Well, at least that's what Mark Williams, Ben Woollaston, John Higgins and Luca Brecel have done this week at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff.

Yesterday's quarter-finals started off with a still disappointed John Higgins beating his fellow Scot Stephen Maguire by a convincing 5-1 scoreline, which certainly flattered Higgins. John didn't play all to well and had to rely on bits and pieces breaks in the 30's to put Maguire under pressure, and a very handy run of the ball in John's favour compounded Maguire's frustrations, and while it could have been much closer it was still Higgins who was the first into the semi's. Next up in the afternoon, Mark Williams hoped to keep the Welsh flag flying in his quarter-final against Marco Fu. Marco did very little wrong in the opening four frames, yet he found himself 4-0 down as Mark made two centuries and two other big breaks to go into the interval a very happy man. Marco threatened to make it close at one stage when he came out from the break with a century and was 30 points ahead in the sixth before Williams made a very composed clearance to seal a 5-1 win.

In the evening, Luca Brecel and Ricky Walden played on the televised table, with Gary Wilson and Ben Woollaston the unfortunate pair who played the only quarter-final which wasn't televised. Ben Woollaston recovered from 2-1 down in that match to see of Wilson's challenge with a handsome 5-2 win. Meanwhile, on the TV table Ricky seemed to be in good rhythm in the early stages and with a high break of 98 he took a comfortable 3-0 lead. The match may well have turned as we went into the break though as Walden missed what could only be described as a half chance to steal the fourth frame from Brecel, but Luca won it and made it 1-3. From there Walden really collapsed, having several chances in most frames from there but he didn't really threaten to put another frame on the board and in very unlikely fashion, a fired up Luca Brecel beat Ricky Walden 5-3.


Quarter-Final Results:

Mark Williams 5-1 Marco Fu
Ben Woollaston 5-2 Gary Wilson
John Higgins 5-1 Stephen Maguire
Luca Brecel 5-3 Ricky Walden

Semi-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Williams Vs Ben Woollaston - This semi-final in the evening is certain to bring in yet another big Welsh crowd, who hope to cheer their home favourite into another ranking event final. Mark Williams has played very well at times this week, but particularly in his match against Marco Fu yesterday and if he can keep that form up I think he'll take some stopping this weekend. His relaxed and laid back nature never really seems to see him get too frustrated if things aren't going his way, which they haven't done in large periods of the last couple of years until this season. An International Championship semi-final decider defeat to Mark Allen would've made him more determined to come back stronger and that's what he's done this week and showed some more of the gritty determination and top form that he showed during the International, and to be honest I'd convinced myself he was going to win that week. Ben Woollaston may be in only his first ranking event semi-final, but he is certainly a formidable opponent here for Williams. He's been cueing well this week and will be full of confidence after reaching the Championship League semi-finals putting him in a match sharp position for this week, and it was only a couple of months ago in Lisbon that he made his first professional maximum break. Mark just has that little extra experience here though, and even though both will be confident and this will surely be close, I think Mark will just edge this.

John Higgins Vs Luca Brecel - I've gone against John Higgins in a lot of his matches already this week, simply because of the inconsistencies he's showed in tournaments and even within matches in the last few months. Yesterday he was poor against Maguire and struggled for large parts of the match to make breaks that totalled much more than 30. However, his good safety play, and the pressure he was able to put on Stephen by taking a 30 or 40 point lead early in every frame proved enough to see him through, but he's going to have to improve for his match against a much more patient and mature Luca Brecel. Luca's turnaround this week is simply through the extra work he's done on the practice table, but also on the mental side of the game with Chris Henry. Luca has always had the potential to be a big star in the game, and he needs to start showing it consistently. He seems to have matured, but also grown in belief and confidence that he can perform on the big stage. When Luca reached the 2012 UK quarter-final and twitched a couple of shots at match ball, that seemed to kill his confidence and belief but also take away his motivation when things did become a struggle, but now we're really starting to see what this boy is made of, but what has impressed me is his determination, the same determination that Shaun Murphy and Peter Ebdon (another couple of guys who've worked with Henry) have in huge amounts. Once you change that mind set, it is both easy and very tough to sink back into old ways. There will be times when you have a set back and start losing a little belief, but once you've seen a transformation in your mind set it is very tough to go back to old ways, because of the fact you know exactly what it was like before. However, John will be determined himself to prove his critics wrong now he's in the last four, and right all the people that have said he'll never win another ranking event or get back to his best, and that could be a deciding factor in what's set up to be a very close contest today.


I'm expecting a gripping day of action in these best-of-11 frames semi-finals and two worthy winners to come back tomorrow and contest what should be a very good feast of snooker over the best-of-17 frames. Yet, even though we're down to only 4 players remaining in this tournament, I can't yet call a winner of this event. When we know the final line-up, i'll certainly have a go then.

Friday 20 February 2015

Selby, Trump and Robertson fall at Last 16 stage

Mark Selby, Judd Trump and Neil Robertson all fell to lower ranked opposition at the Last 16 stage of the Welsh Open, meaning that no-one out of the top 7 ranked players in the world coming into this event, has made it into the quarter-finals. The day started off with Mark Selby seemingly taking control of his match against Luca Brecel as an early century helped him into a 2-0 advantage before he was pegged back to 2-2. Mark responded again though with his second century, while Luca then made a century of his own and then took control of the decider and snatched an unlikely 4-3 victory. Judd Trump was next up against home favourite Mark Williams and Judd didn't show up really as Williams cruised to a simple 4-1 win, which could've been even better if Mark would've been successful in doubling the final black in frame four. The evening kicked off with the only other Welsh hope being dashed as Marco Fu came back from 2-1 down once again to make two centuries and beat Matthew Stevens 4-2. Finally, the evening saw a slightly bizarre match between Neil Robertson and Gary Wilson. Gary took the first frame but Neil then took more control of the match as he went into a 2-1 lead. An 81 in the fourth from Wilson squared the match at 2-2 before Neil Robertson proceeded to lose the fifth frame of the match on the three misses rule, whereby he could see a red full ball, but failed to hit anything on three consecutive occasions. That frazzled Robertson and fired up Wilson who made another good break in the to secure the best win of his life beating Neil Robertson 4-2.

On the non-televised tables, John Higgins saw off the charge of Michael Georgiou with a 4-2 victory, while Ben Woollaston continued his fine form with consecutive centuries in the middle of his 4-2 win over Ali Carter. In the evening, Stephen Maguire whitewashed Alan McManus to win the all Scottish Last 16 tie, and set up an all Scottish quarter-final with John Higgins. Finally, International champion Ricky Walden overcame Shanghai Master Stuart Bingham to set up a quarter-final with the young Belgium who started the days drama.

Last 16 Results:

Marco Fu 4-2 Matthew Stevens
Mark Williams 4-1 Judd Trump
Ben Woollaston 4-2 Ali Carter
Gary Wilson 4-2 Neil Robertson
John Higgins 4-2 Michael Georgiou
Stephen Maguire 4-0 Alan McManus
Ricky Walden 4-2 Stuart Bingham
Luca Brecel 4-3 Mark Selby

Quarter-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Marco Fu Vs Mark Williams - Once again, the final Welsh hopes rest on the shoulders of Mark Williams, and his quarter-final opponent is the man who killed the Welsh hopes of Matthew Stevens and finished off the Welsh hopes last season in this event beating Williams in the Last 16. In fact, Marco Fu's recent record against Mark Williams has seen the man from Hong Kong beat him several times within the last two or three years and when he's playing well he's pretty tough for any man to beat. The way Marco has actually played this week has been pretty mixed. He's started a number of matches off slow, falling 2-1 behind in all of his last three matches before coming back to win 4-2. Over the longer best-of-9 frames format with an interval after four frames, that will allow Marco to gather himself if he makes a similarly poor start today against Williams, but once he's fallen behind he has played a lot better and scored very well so he proves a very very tough opponent, especially if you make a poor start yourself. Mark Williams form has also been very patchy at times this week and despite getting into the quarter-finals he has only been playing well for parts of matches throughout the week and struggling badly at other times. If he doesn't make a good start today he could easily be blown away by Marco, so the pressure is going to be heaped upon him even more than in his other matches right from the very start. When Marco gets to these stages of events, he very often kicks into gear, because he simply doesn't get to these stages often enough and has to make the most of it when he does and that is the reason why I think he'll edge this contest.

Ben Woollaston Vs Gary Wilson - Ben Woollaston has been playing very good snooker throughout this week, and has already beaten two top players this week, so being in the quarter-finals this week will not faze him at all. His breaks against Mark Allen demonstrated how well he was cueing, but I wasn't sure he'd carry it on against Carter, but consecutive centuries in the middle of the match really put him in control and he'll be very pleased overall how his game is, and it seems that the Championship League has helped to boost his confidence. Gary Wilson will very much be on cloud nine after comfortably the biggest win of his professional career yesterday, but he needs to come down quickly and prepare for this match otherwise Ben will blow him away. Gary had had a very poor season prior to this tournament and I was starting to wonder what had happened to his form. Woollaston just has a little bit of extra experience in the latter stages of these events, and with the confidence in his game to know that he's playing well, he must be sensing an opportunity to go even further this week and that is why I think he'll win this match.

Stephen Maguire Vs John Higgins - This all Scottish quarter-final could be set-up to go all the way with both players playing very well this week. John has been cueing fairly well, and continuing to knock in the breaks, but that hasn't been his problem over the last few months. The problem has been his consistency through a match, and that won't help his confidence too much, though he knows a lot about Maguire so will be hoping he can get the victory. Stephen however, has won all of the meetings between the pair since August 2011 and that is a record that's seen him win a large number of games, and in the final stages of big tournaments too. Maguire is also in very good form making the latter stages of all of the recent events, including this one now of course and he has his confidence back in full and is scoring very heavily once again. Stephen also won this event two years ago, and because of the two year ranking system, he'll be determined to kick on now and fully defend his ranking money from this. It's going to be close, but the closer it gets the more I fancy Stephen to just come through.

Ricky Walden Vs Luca Brecel - Luca Brecel has had a very good week so far, losing only one frame in his first three matches, including a victory over Robert Milkins, before he played very well in seeing off world champion Mark Selby. Luca says he has his motivation back and says he was struggling to motivate himself to keep coming over to the UK and playing in the qualifiers. A lot of his turnaround in the last few weeks could well be down to his decision to get back with coach Chris Henry and he also says that with this he has been working heavily on the mental side of the game to get the confidence and belief that he can beat the best players once again. This is what he had when he made the quarter-finals of the 2012 UK Championships, and who did he beat in the Last 32 that year? His opponent today Ricky Walden. Luca will certainly have the belief that he can win, but when Walden is on form he is an incredibly tough player to beat. It seems that Ricky has found his rhythm this week, and he is one of the biggest examples in snooker of a player that relies on good rhythm to play well, and when he has that he'll score well, has a very competent safety game and generally looks confident too. It would be easy to predict another Luca upset against Walden, because Ricky can be quite inconsistent, but he's also very fresh coming into this week and will be determined to win a ranking title in the UK having won all of his three ranking tournaments in China. I think more than anything both players will be reliant on a good start, and if both get that it will go close, but I fancy that Ricky is in the better form to win, and has a lot more experience at this stage of major tournaments.


Now that the quarter-finals are up to the best-of-9 frames with mid-session intervals we've finally got some proper matches to look forward to and with many of the top players beaten this week so far, and the remaining top players very evenly matched it's so difficult to try and pick a tournament winner from here, but I'm sure the longer format matches for the final three rounds will ensure that the best man wins at the end of the week.

Thursday 19 February 2015

Top seeds made to battle on day 3

Day 3 of the Welsh Open from Cardiff saw all of the top seeds being made to work hard in their matches, with many matches going to deciding frames, while Ronnie O'Sullivan lost out to Matthew Stevens, Mark Allen lost out to Ben Woollaston, Joe Perry lost out to Gary Wilson and the likes of Neil Robertson and Mark Selby had to come through deciding frames in their matches, and Trump and Williams were also pushed hard but did at least make it into the today's Last 16. Ali Carter was also pushed hard by the much improved Matt Selt from 3-1 up to win 4-3 and Graeme Dott was beaten 4-3 by Michael Georgiou. The Scottish charge of Stephen Maguire, John Higgins and Alan McManus had things pretty comfortable in the evening session and Bingham beat Michael White convincingly despite losing the opener.

Last 32 Results:

Matthew Stevens 4-3 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Marco Fu 4-2 Ashley Carty
Mark Williams 4-2 Jamie Jones
Judd Trump 4-2 Michael Wasley
Ben Woollaston 4-3 Mark Allen
Ali Carter 4-3 Matt Selt
Gary Wilson 4-2 Joe Perry
Neil Robertson 4-3 Jamie Cope
Michael Georgiou 4-3 Graeme Dott
John Higgins 4-0 Liang Wenbo
Stephen Maguire 4-2 Sam Baird
Alan McManus 4-0 Aditya Mehta
Stuart Bingham 4-1 Michael White
Ricky Walden 4-2 Martin Gould
Luca Brecel 4-0 Oliver Brown
Mark Selby 4-3 Peter Ebdon

Last 16 Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Marco Fu Vs Matthew Stevens - It would be easy to say after the tough matches and the way he's made easy enough matches on paper into very difficult ones that Marco Fu would lose to Matthew who comes off of the back of a win over O'Sullivan. However, Fu has had to battle back hard in those games and has really started to play good stuff when he's been put under pressure and if this one goes close Matthew is more likely to crumble while Fu will do what he does and grind out the win with some good match play snooker. Another thing to point out with Matthew is that he's played well in patches of all of his first three games, but in others he's played very badly, and was lucky that Ronnie was totally poor yesterday otherwise he could've been knocked out of this tournament at any stage so far, and I don't think his run will continue.

Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams - On paper this looks like a very close match between two players who have played some good stuff this season and in patches so far this week. They may have both struggled at times in their Last 32 matches last night, but equally they both played very good stuff at times too, and Judd responded to the pressure Michael Wasley put him under very very well which could be the difference in this match. Mark is much less consistent through a match, and if he has a bad 3 or 4 frame spell today the match will be over, while if Judd does that you still feel he'd get chances and put some of them away. Judd's recent record against Mark is good and all of the pressure to perform is on Mark who of course is battling for a top 16 place at the Crucible and wants to win for his home crowd, while Judd can relax and play his own game.

Ali Carter Vs Ben Woollaston - Both of these guys played very well against very good opponents yesterday and will be relishing the opportunity to get into another ranking quarter-final. Ben is very good over the best of 7 frames and can beat anyone on the circuit over a short format if he gets a decent start and that's what he did with Allen yesterday. Ali had to battle back hard yesterday after seeing Matt Selt play tough match snooker to take away Ali's 3-1 lead and force a decider, and Ali will be determined to have a big run here and really announce his return after struggling to properly get back into snooker after his treatment for cancer and a couple of early round exits. Carter's shear determination and that little bit of extra experience in the latter stages of full ranking events could play a part here as Ben seems like he feels a lot more pressure at these stages of events against the big players.

Neil Robertson Vs Gary Wilson - As good as Gary Wilson's run has been this week to get to the Last 16 and beat Joe Perry, I honestly can't make a case for him beating Neil Robertson here, as strong as Neil's game is in these best-of-7 frame matches against lower ranked opposition. However, he didn't have it all his own way against Cope yesterday and when he starts to struggle and get a bee in his bonnet about the conditions, it can de-stabilise his concentration and if that happens today Wilson needs to play well and take advantage. If it goes close though, it all comes down to experience and of course Neil has a lot of class and experience in those situations in the back end of big events.

John Higgins Vs Michael Georgiou - This match could go either way, and really which way it goes depends entirely on John Higgins performance. Michael Georgiou is likely to maintain his base standard like a lot of players in his position would do, and play a similar game to that of what he produced against Dott yesterday and play a decent standard. That standard will get him over the line if Higgins plays some more of his inconsistent snooker that he has over the last year and miss a few easy balls when in amongst them, because I've been impressed with the results Georgiou has been producing this season so far, and that will him a lot of belief. However, Higgins played fantastic snooker yesterday to barely give Liang Wenbo a look in, and when you do that not many players are going to beat you. While he hasn't been able to follow those sorts of performances up as much in the latter stages of events over the last year, Higgins will also have it in the back of his mind that he could do with another couple of wins to secure his top 16 seeding for the World Championships.

Stephen Maguire Vs Alan McManus - This match is another very close one on paper, especially as McManus thrashed Maguire 5-1 when they last met in the Shanghai Masters earlier this season. What has changed since then? Stephen has gotten his belief and confidence back is the simple answer. He knew he needed a good week this week to maintain his top 16 seeding for the World Championships, especially as he won this event two years ago and needs to do something close to that in order to defend that money. Maguire is also in top form having made the latter stages of all the recent tournaments scoring well on a consistent basis and taking his chances against all players. We all know that his temperament is a little suspect though, and if Alan can keep it tight like he usually does, he could frustrate Maguire, but as I say Stephen is taking his chances and scoring well at the moment with his good form, and he's sure to get quite a few openings in this match.

Stuart Bingham Vs Ricky Walden - Stuart Bingham and Ricky Walden are very evenly matched on paper. In the rankings there isn't more than a couple of places between them and they are both multiple ranking event winners. On the head to head Ricky has beaten Stuart in a major final, but Stuart has whitewashed him twice since, including on a very poor day for Ricky at the UK Championships two months back. Stuart had a slow start this week being taken into a decider by Chuan Thor, while Walden has played pretty nicely all week and did well to come through a very tough game yesterday against Gould. When Ricky lost to Stuart at the UK's I think he'd just ran out of steam a bit after a hectic period for Walden having won the International Championship just a month earlier. However, Stuart has had a very hectic month or so with the Championship League and of course the German Masters where he lost out early doors, whereas Ricky has had a month or so off, and is fresh and raring to go for this week and having not really expended as much energy as Bingham this week, he'll still be very fresh and ready for this match. I certainly expect that this game will go at least 6 of the 7 frames.

Mark Selby Vs Luca Brecel - On paper this looks like an incredible miss-match between a complete player in Mark Selby who has both the scoring parts to his game as well as the best tactical game in the modern game. Luca meanwhile is an incredible player when given the chance in and amongst the balls, but what he needs to work on his tactical game and creating more of these chances, because against the top players he knows with his tactical game he may only get one opportunity a frame and that adds the pressure to Luca to make the most of it. Luca may be back working with Chris Henry which is great news for him and his fans, because you only have to look at the transformation of Shaun Murphy that Chris has played a large part in to see that he could create a monster in Luca Brecel, and we may be starting to see some of the early fruits of this reunion this week. Although, I think it will be about a year until we really see a transformation and a much more complete player in Luca because it takes time to change a players mind set and then for that player to get used to these changes in practice and competition, as it did with Murphy. As for today then, if Selby keeps it tight from the start he could really end up tying Luca up in knots and that should see Selby run out a comfortable winner.


It's been a busy week of snooker so far this week, but things settle down a bit from now that we're down to a two table set-up, and even though today's games are over the best-of-7 frames, the quarter-finals are up to best-of-9's tomorrow and we can finally start to watch some snooker matches of a decent length, and hopefully the close games can keep on coming.

Tuesday 17 February 2015

Down to 32 in Cardiff

We're down to the Last 32 after two days of heavy action so far at the Welsh Open, and with all 16 of those Last 32 games coming on Wednesday, the hectic schedule doesn't stop here. After complaints about the venue after his first match, O'Sullivan then came back from 2-0 down to beat Rory McLeod 4-2 in the Last 64. Masters champion Shaun Murphy survived a scare in round one to beat Steven Hallworth 4-3 having led 3-1 at one stage, but he couldn't survive again as he went down in the Last 64 4-3 to home favourite Jamie Jones. Jamie will now play another Welshman in Mark Williams who came through a late night scrap against Barry Pinches after an early start against China's Lu Haotian on Monday. Mark Allen just about came through to the Last 32 after his 3-1 lead evaporated against Cao Yupeng, but Mark held on to win the decider. There were no such problems on Monday for Judd Trump and Neil Robertson, with Robertson not even dropping a frame and making three tons against James Cahill. Marco Fu found himself in two very tough games against Ian Glover and Dechawat Poomjaeng both of which he won 4-2 having been at 2-2 with Glover and 2-1 down to Poomjaeng. Mark Davis was another top player to bow out though, losing to Ben Woollaston 4-1 in the Last 64. Meanwhile, amateur Ashley Carty came through matches with Michael Holt and whitewashed Alfie Burden to make it into another Last 32, just as he did in Berlin. Joe Perry had a tough match in the Last 128 coming through a decider with Lee Page but it was much more comfortable against Yu DeLu where he was a 4-0 winner.

That was Monday, but Tuesday also saw plenty of cracking snooker with Ding Junhui crashing out at the first hurdle to Lee Walker who has only won a couple of matches all season so far in what was a great performance from Lee, but another poor one from Ding. Robert Milkins meanwhile also suffered a Last 128 exit at the hands of young Belgian Luca Brecel who whitewashed him 4-0 and is now into the Last 32. Stuart Bingham survived a couple of tight matches against Chuan Thor and Robin Hull to get into the third round, while John Higgins only dropped one frame in his two matches and he's joined in round three by two more Scot's in Stephen Maguire and Graeme Dott who both had two fairly comfortable games. It was also pretty comfortable for Mark Selby, even if he did have a bit more of a challenge in the Last 64 against Marcus Campbell. Finally on the day though, Barry Hawkins was beaten 4-2 in the Last 64 against Aditya Mehta and young amateur Oliver Brown saw off another home favourite Ryan Day 4-1 to join Ashley Carty as the amateurs in round three. 


Last 128 Results:

Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Vinnie Calabrese
Rory McLeod 4-2 Andrew Pagett
Ken Doherty 4-3 Zhou Yuelong
Matthew Stevens 4-3 Oliver Lines
Ashley Carty 4-2 Michael Holt
Alfie Burden 4-1 Andrew Norman
Dechawat Poomjaeng 4-3 Allan Taylor
Marco Fu 4-2 Ian Glover
Shaun Murphy 4-3 Steven Hallworth
Jamie Jones 4-0 Chris Norbury
Barry Pinches 4-3 Jimmy White
Mark Williams 4-0 Lu Haotian
Michael Wasley 4-3 Dominic Dale
Li Hang 4-3 Jack Lisowski
Mark Joyce 4-2 Joel Walker
Judd Trump 4-2 James Wattana
Mark Allen 4-1 Alexander Ursenbacher
Cao Yupeng 4-2 Craig Steadman
Ben Woollaston 4-2 Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
Mark Davis 4-3 Lu Chenwei
Xiao Guodong 4-1 Joe Swail
Matt Selt 4-1 Ian Burns
Mark King 4-0 Eden Sharav
Ali Carter 4-1 Fraser Patrick
Joe Perry 4-3 Lee Page
Yu DeLu W/O John Sutton
Gary Wilson 4-0 Zhang Anda
John Astley 4-1 David Gilbert
Anthony McGill 4-3 David Grace
Jamie Cope 4-3 Elliot Slessor
David Morris 4-0 Joe O'Connor
Neil Robertson 4-0 James Cahill
Lee Walker 4-1 Ding Junhui
Michael Georgiou 4-1 Peter Lines
Chris Wakelin 4-2 Andrew Higginson
Graeme Dott 4-1 Zak Surety
Liang Wenbo 4-0 Cao Xin Long
Gerard Greene 4-2 Daniel Wells
Alex Borg 4-3 Jamie Burnett
John Higgins 4-1 Michael Leslie
Stephen Maguire 4-0 Duane Jones
Liam Highfield 4-1 Kurt Maflin
Dave Harold 4-1 Robbie Williams
Sam Baird 4-3 Fergal O'Brien
Alan McManus 4-2 Jamie Rhys Clarke
Ahmed Saif 4-0 Anthony Hamilton
Aditya Mehta 4-0 Sydney Wilson
Barry Hawkins 4-3 Scott Donaldson
Stuart Bingham 4-3 Chuan Thor
Robin Hull 4-0 Kyren Wilson
Chris Melling 4-3 Nigel Bond
Michael White 4-1 Ross Muir
Martin Gould 4-0 Jak Jones
Rod Lawler 4-1 Hammad Miah
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Mitchell Mann
Ricky Walden 4-0 Lu Ning
Luca Brecel 4-0 Robert Milkins
Tian Pengfei 4-2 Tom Ford
Oliver Brown 4-3 Mike Dunn
Ryan Day 4-1 Noppon Saengkham
Peter Ebdon 4-0 Tony Drago
Jimmy Robertson 4-3 Igor Figueredo
Marcus Campbell 4-3 Stuart Carrington
Mark Selby 4-0 Alex Davies

Last 64 Results:

Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-2 Rory McLeod
Matthew Stevens 4-3 Ken Doherty
Ashley Carty 4-0 Alfie Burden
Marco Fu 4-2 Dechawat Poomjaeng
Jamie Jones 4-3 Shaun Murphy
Mark Williams 4-2 Barry Pinches
Michael Wasley 4-2 Li Hang
Judd Trump 4-0 Mark Joyce
Mark Allen 4-3 Cao Yupeng
Ben Woollaston 4-1 Mark Davis
Matt Selt 4-1 Xiao Guodong
Ali Carter 4-0 Mark King
Joe Perry 4-0 Yu DeLu
Gary Wilson 4-3 John Astley
Jamie Cope 4-2 Anthony McGill
Neil Robertson  4-0 David Morris
Michael Georgiou 4-2 Lee Walker
Graeme Dott 4-1 Chris Wakelin
Liang Wenbo 4-0 Gerard Greene
John Higgins 4-0 Alex Borg
Stephen Maguire 4-2 Liam Highfield
Sam Baird 4-0 Dave Harold
Alan McManus 4-0 Ahmed Saif
Aditya Mehta 4-2 Barry Hawkins
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Robin Hull
Michael White 4-0 Chris Melling
Martin Gould 4-1 Rod Lawler
Ricky Walden 4-1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Luca Brecel 4-1 Tian Pengfei
Oliver Brown 4-1 Ryan Day 
Peter Ebdon 4-1 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Selby 4-2 Marcus Campbell


Last 32 Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Matthew Stevens - Both of these guys had strange days on Monday and I think the winner in this match will be the man that will come out tomorrow fresh and really up for the challenge. Ronnie had complaints yesterday about the venue and multi-table set-up, but more alarmingly commented that he hadn't taken his first round match "too serious" against Calabrese and he looked very dis-interested in round two, watching much of the Shaun Murphy/Jamie Jones match on the table next door when Rory McLeod was at the table. However, he did dig in and play better towards the end of the match and it wouldn't surprise me if, despite his complaints, he still went on to win the tournament. Matthew meanwhile expended a lot of mental energy yesterday in winning his two games in deciders, one after being 3-1 down to Oliver Lines and another having already been 3-0 up on Ken Doherty, so it will be interesting to see how that and a possible TV match effects him tomorrow. Stevens has had a pretty poor season so far and has been far too inconsistent for me to that he'll win this match.

Marco Fu Vs Ashley Carty - Marco Fu had to dig deep a couple of times yesterday and can expect an equally tough game tomorrow against Ashley Carty who has already beaten a couple of very good pros already this week despite his status as an amateur. Even though Marco isn't in great form at the moment though, you have to say that he's going to be a massive favourite to beat Ashley here just because of that extra experience he has over Carty and the fact that this equals Carty's ranking event best. However, the way Fu has been playing, when he's not quite on his game he can lose to anyone so that will give Carty some confidence and is the only reason we can't rule out an upset.

Mark Williams Vs Jamie Jones - This all Welsh clash should be another good encounter with Jamie Jones high on confidence after his win against Shaun Murphy, while Mark Williams is in much better form as a whole this season and will be determined to get into the top 16 on the seedings to qualify for the Crucible automatically. Over the best of seven frames anything can happen here and it is sure to be a very tough match for Mark who will go in as the favourite. However, Mark will be determined for a number of reasons and is playing slightly better than Jamie right now over a consistent period, while Jamie only really has the odd good day every now and again.

Judd Trump Vs Michael Wasley - Judd Trump really is playing some superb snooker this season and has, to this point in the season, already made 60 century breaks and could still go on to make many more if his good form continues. Judd has been in ruthless form as well, not losing to too many people ranked a long way below him, like Michael Wasley, and that is one area where he has improved from just last season. Michael though is a very tough opponent and can beat anyone on his day, especially over the long format, but he's going to need to produce from the off in this match which will put him under a lot more pressure.

Mark Allen Vs Ben Woollaston - Mark Allen has been having a decent season, while Ben Woollaston does enjoy these short formats and best-of-7 matches as his record in PTC events shows, while he also made it through to the semi-finals in the Championship League winner group, so that's a sign that Ben is playing pretty well at the moment. However, when Ben comes up against the top players on the big stage he doesn't seem to play quite as well as maybe he should be on a consistent basis at least and that is why I fancy Allen to win this match, because he is playing some good snooker at the moment and I think that will prove a little too much in what is sure to be a close game tomorrow.

Ali Carter Vs Matt Selt - This match looks like being one of the tightest Last 32 ties in the whole draw, and certainly one of the hardest to call. Ali Carter seems to have really gotten nicely back into the game now after that everything that he's been through and he was very convincing yesterday in his two victories only losing the one frame. Matt Selt however, as I keep saying, is one of the most improved players on tour and he keeps proving it by winning a lot of the tight ones on paper now, and he showed that again in the Last 64 here as he beat Xiao Guodong and quite comfortably as well. Over the short format like these best-of-7 frame matches, Matt is really showing what he's made of and his good performances in PTC's against top players and his good runs in the ET's this season, just points towards another one here, and I think he has a very good chance.

Joe Perry Vs Gary Wilson - This match could be a tight one if Gary Wilson is well and truly on his game tomorrow, but despite his two wins in Cardiff so far this week, his form over the course of this season hasn't been anywhere near as good as last season and he really needs to up his game if he is to push Joe here. Perry meanwhile, is in really good form at the moment, as he has been now for the last season or so consistently and that level of consistency in his game now, is the reason why I don't see him losing matches like this and if he plays well he should win this and pretty comfortably too.

Neil Robertson Vs Jamie Cope - Snooker over the last couple of seasons or so has become a real struggle for Jamie Cope who has suffered a lot with his confidence levels and the fact that he is in a little bit of a fight for his tour space will put him under even more pressure. However, a good comeback against Slessor in round one followed by a very nice win against Anthony McGill have gotten him this far and he will be very pleased with his work this week and it puts him in a much brighter position on the end of season money list, and his expectations won't be too high against Robertson. Neil though has been very clinical so far this week, not even losing a frame yet and he started off his campaign with 3 successive century breaks so he is in fine form again and these are the type of matches that he eats up for breakfast at the very top level of his game, as he showed yesterday without conceding a frame.

Graeme Dott Vs Michael Georgiou - It's a big few weeks for Graeme Dott as he looks to try and force his way into the top 16 for the World Championships, and he'll be determined to do that and avoid having to go through three qualifying matches to reach the Crucible. He played well in the first two rounds only dropping a couple of frames against lower ranked opposition and that's what he's faced with again here, and despite two good victories again for Michael Georgiou, Graeme Dott will be determined not to make a mistake here either.

John Higgins Vs Liang Wenbo -  John Higgins and Liang Wenbo have only dropped a frame between them in their Last 128 and Last 64 matches coming into this one, with Wenbo winning both of his games 4-0, winning inside 55 minutes in the Last 64, while Higgins finished off with a century in his 4-0 Last 64 win. This is going to be a much tighter match you feel, and of late John Higgins has not been fairing all that well in these types of matches against similarly ranked opposition. I mentioned in my full tournament preview that Higgins is losing a little of his day to day and match to match consistency, so when someone plays well against him, he doesn't always have the consistency to stay with them and keep hitting back. Liang Wenbo meanwhile is in very good form at the moment. He played very well in Germany to make the German Masters semi-finals and was unlucky to lose out to Shaun Murphy, and he's been very ruthless in winning his first two matches 4-0, and when he's playing well over the short format like this he can cause anyone a problem, as he did in beating Shaun Murphy at this stage last year from 3-1 down, and I fancy him for victory here again.

Stephen Maguire Vs Sam Baird - Stephen Maguire was my tournament tip this week and he's been in very good form of late with good runs in all of the recent tournaments, but he's got a big test here against Sam Baird. Sam may not have the experience of Maguire but he is a very dangerous player, especially over the short formats, but while he does beat a lot of the players around him, it's not very often that he goes on and beats the very top players, but there's nothing stopping him from doing that here. Maguire is a very strong player though and when he's playing well like he is, he can blow his opponents away, and you'd think that he'd have a match for anything that is thrown at him here.

Aditya Mehta Vs Alan McManus - Alan McManus has had a very solid year or two to get back into the top 32 and he'll be a very tough opponent for Aditya Mehta here, and even if he seemed to struggle a tad against amateur Jamie Rhys Clarke before whitewashing Ahmed Saif who is usually an easy win for most players, Alan is another tough match player and has a great chance here if he gets out of the blocks the stronger of the two. Aditya Mehta on his day is another very solid player, and he showed that to beat an out of form Hawkins yesterday and he has a very good chance against Alan McManus as his European Tour record suggests. Alan though is a great match player and these are the games he'll expect to do well in. 

Ricky Walden Vs Martin Gould - Martin Gould is another player that has played solid snooker and not wasted too much energy in his matches so far winning 4-0 and 4-1, and the victory against Rod Lawler was very impressive as he made light work of what could've been a tough match against a hard match player. Gould's not produced as regularly as he would've liked in the last year or so, but he is another tough player to take on in these short format matches with no interval if your opponent starts like a train. Ricky Walden has been playing very impressively this season and was one of my tips to do well this week, coming into the event fresh after almost a month away from snooker and so far he has won two potentially tough games very comfortably, and if he finds his rhythm early on in this match, he could well do the same again.

Stuart Bingham Vs Michael White - Stuart Bingham didn't play well in his match against Chuan Thor by his admission but things got better for him in his match against Robin Hull, and over the best-of-7 frames Stuart is usually fairly strong as he has showed with his Asian Tour successes, but like with his full ranking event successes, he hasn't always done as well in the UK and Europe. Michael White is also playing some good stuff at the moment though, and he will have the crowd support behind him and I felt coming into this event that Michael would do well, and unlike Bingham, he wasted no time and energy in winning his two games so far and over the best-of-7 frames White's been strong this season and I fully expect him to run this very close and he's got a great chance of continuing his run here.

Oli Brown Vs Luca Brecel - Luca Brecel has been very impressive so far this week, only losing one frame over the course of two very tough matches against Robert Milkins and Tian Pengfei and playing some very good snooker in those matches, including making his new highest break in tournament play of 140 against Pengfei to finish the match. The one issue the young Belgian has had is with consistency and despite his potential he hasn't managed to go one runs like the one so far this week on as regular a basis as he would like to. Oliver Brown though is a brilliant young amateur player who will play a very open game with Luca and that may give both plenty of chances, and after Brown's win against Day you feel this will be very close. Luca seems to have found some form though and when he's on form you have to make him the favourite for matches like this. 

Mark Selby Vs Peter Ebdon - Mark Selby played very well in his first couple of games, continuing on from his very impressive form of the German Masters where he took the title, and I fully expect that he'll go far again this week and take some serious stopping. Peter Ebdon is playing pretty well at the moment but when Mark Selby is on top form he's World Champion for a reason and he can handle anything that anyone really outside of the top 16 or even the top 8 can throw at him, so I think that he should come through this match fairly nicely.


After a busy couple of days with plenty of matches and players jostling for position, the tournament starts to get going a bit now with all of the Last 32 matches being played over the course of Wednesday over best-of-7 frames, with the 8 Last 16 games all being played on Thursday before the weekend. I'll be back early on Thursday morning to look ahead to those Last 16 matches.

Saturday 14 February 2015

Welsh Open Preview

Monday sees the beginning of another ranking event in what is now a very busy and hectic chunk of the season as the snooker tour stops in Cardiff this week for the Welsh Open where all 128 players will play at the venue from the Last 128 down to next Sunday's final, and to make sure that everyone can fit in for this year in a full week the Welsh Open has moved from it's home at Newport to the much bigger Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff.

What it means is that the first half of the tournament has a very PTC feel to it as one half of the draw plays there Last 128 and Last 64 games on Monday, while the other half does the same on Tuesday, with the Last 32 on Wednesday and Last 16 on Thursday all over the best-of-7 frames before Friday's best-of-9 quarter-finals, Saturday's best-of-11 semi-finals and Sunday's final which is played over the best-of-17 frames. All of the top players will be hunting down the title that is currently in the possession of Ronnie O'Sullivan who romped to victory in last year's final against Ding Junhui, but the early stages will have eyes just as much in my view on the players further down the rankings who are hovering around the 64 mark in the rankings (without the insurance of course of being in the first year of a two year card) as they look to avoid relegation from the tour and the main guys to have an eye on are the guys between 60 and 70 in the rankings as these look to be the guys with either the most realistic chance of either dropping outside of the 64, or making into the top 64.

That aside then, lets have a look at how the draw looks for this week, and who I think the main protagonists will be this week:

Quarter 1

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Ronnie O’Sullivan Vs Vinnie Calabrese
Rory McLeod Vs Andrew Pagett
Ken Doherty Vs Zhou Yuelong
Matthew Stevens Vs Oli Lines
Michael Holt Vs Ashley Carty
Alfie Burden Vs Andrew Norman
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Allan Taylor
Marco Fu Vs Ian Glover
Shaun Murphy Vs Steven Hallworth
Jamie Jones Vs Chris Norbury
Jimmy White Vs Barry Pinches
Mark Williams Vs Lu Haotian
Dominic Dale Vs Michael Wasley
Jack Lisowski Vs Li Hang
Mark Joyce Vs Joel Walker
Judd Trump Vs James Wattana

The top quarter sees the likes of UK Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, German Masters runner-up and Masters champion Shaun Murphy, UK runner-up Judd Trump, home favourite Mark Williams along with several other top players including Marco Fu.
 
Ronnie O’Sullivan comes into this event in good form as he always seems to be in these days and of course he is the defending champion this week and he absolutely loves playing in the Welsh Open so I think we can expect him to play well and go far in this event. His draw doesn't look to bad at all to get into the quarter-finals, but this is where he is likely to face a very tough game as it could perhaps be Mark Williams, Judd Trump or Shaun Murphy that come up against him and all of these guys are in good form themselves, and they can definetly cause Ronnie a lot of problems, especially over the best of 9 frames. If this tournament was one of the longer formatted events from the start like the UK or World Championships you wouldn't see Ronnie having a problem, but there are enough good players around here to beat Ronnie, if he isn't on his game from ball one, because the time is not there in the short format in order to re-build.

Mark Williams has been the home favourite for many years, and while the supporting cast of Ryan Day and Michael White to name just two are getting stronger below him, Mark remains the highest ranked Welshman for this year at least and he will be determined to do well this week for more than one reason. Not only will he want to do well with plenty of family and friends sure to be in the Cardiff crowd, there is also that extra carrot of breaking back into the top 16 in time to be seeded for the World Championships, and he is very close so if he were to make the quarter-finals or Last 16 this week he would just edge himself that little bit closer. Mark has been playing well this season, and has been unlucky in the last couple of ranking events to have unfortunate Last 32 draws, which is what happens when you are seeded outside of the top 16, and a possible Last 32 meeting with in form Shaun Murphy looks to be another tough game for both this week.

Shaun Murphy is right on top of his game right now in all departments and that is really beginning to show strongly with his match by match and tournament by tournament performances. To start the year by winning the Masters and making the German Masters final only losing out 9-7 in the final to Mark Selby, he'll be absolutely delighted and all of his hard work is beginning to pay off. In fact, Shaun has only lost once in 12 competitive matches since a disappointing UK Championships Last 16 defeat, and one which certainly hurt him, but has ultimately made him stronger. He's going to be one to watch for sure in this tournament, but before we get too far ahead of ourselves it's time to remind ourselves of a couple of things. Firstly, his draw is incredibly tough, especially with the short format of this week, but also his record at the Welsh Open is quite poor as well (without good reason it has to be said) and he has lost in the Last 32 in Wales in both 2013 and 2014, and with a possible third round match with Williams that could easily become three years in a row.

Judd Trump has been playing well pretty much all season, just losing out in the odd tight one here and there, and he has been especially strong in the UK and Europe, going well in most of the Euro Tour events, along with the Champion of Champions and UK Championships where he was runner-up. Even last week when he lost in the quarter-finals of the German Masters it was to the eventual champion Mark Selby in a deciding frame having made a maximum 147 break in the match. In the last year Judd is in the same sort of category as Shaun in that he has turned a massive corner, and since their meeting at the 2013 World Championship meeting the performances of both have been very similar. The fact that they could meet in the Last 16 here is very tough on both of them, and if it does happen I'd have to fancy the winner of that match to go on and have a really strong win in this tournament and possibly make another final.
Quarter Winner: Judd Trump


Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Allen Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Cao Yupeng Vs Craig Steadman
Ben Woollaston Vs Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
Mark Davis Vs Lu Chenwei
Xiao Guodong Vs Joe Swail
Matt Selt Vs Ian Burns
Mark King Vs Eden Sharav
Ali Carter Vs Fraser Patrick
Joe Perry Vs Lee Page
Yu De Lu W/O John Sutton
Gary Wilson Vs Zhang Anda
David Gilbert Vs John Astley
Anthony McGill Vs David Grace
Jamie Cope Vs Elliot Slessor
David Morris Vs Joe O’Connor
Neil Robertson Vs James Cahill

This looks like another incredibly tough quarter to call with the likes of Mark Allen, Mark Davis, Matt Selt, Ali Carter, Joe Perry and Neil Robertson all lining up in this quarter while Ben Woollaston, David Gilbert, Xiao Guodong and Anthony McGill could all provide outside threats in what looks to be one of the quarters of death in this draw.
Mark Allen will come into this as one of the big favourites despite a few disappoint defeats in recent times since his awesome run around the late summer and early Autumn time. He failed to qualify today for the China Open, and he will be very angry at losing in the Last 16 of the German Masters when he seemingly had the match won against Shaun Murphy. I've been saying for a while that Mark Allen will is playing well and I expect him to do well in each event, but I now get the feeling that he's just happy to take it easy in the lead up to the World Championships as that is the one he is really targeting and that smaller events like this one will not really be first choice in his mind as a tournament to win.
Joe Perry is certainly a man in good form at the moment having recently won an Asian Tour event and he was unlucky in the German Last 16 to meet a Ronnie O'Sullivan who was on fire. Joe hasn't got a bad draw to try and kick start his tournament and with the short format in the early stages, he could easily find himself in the quarter-finals and from there he'd have every chance of going on and really going for that full ranking title that he desires. Perry is playing as well now as he has done at any point in his career and the improved runs in ranking events along with the victories in Asian Tour events are the fruit of his hard work, and I feel there could be more to come very soon.

Matt Selt is easily the most improved player on the circuit this season. The way he is now regularly mixing it with the best is a very positive sign for him. Finals, semi-finals and quarter-finals of European Tour events are showing us that he has the bottle and game to compete at a very high level and some very good stuff against more of the worlds top players at the Championship League just proves that he can cause top players big problems especially over the short format. One good ranking event, in an event like this or the Indian Open where the early rounds are over a very short format, could see him make a big breakthrough and within two to three seasons I think he'll be at least in the top 24 in the world and on the verge of the top 16 if not already in it. This quarter poses a huge challenge for him, but I also think that he is the big challenge now for all of the top players, as the pressure is still well and truly on them to beat players like Selt, and there'll be under even more pressure now that he's showing more of what he can do.

Neil Robertson has had quite a quiet season this time around after what was a very hectic season for him in 2013/2014 as he was going on big runs in events left right and centre and ended up with 103 centuries. This season for him hasn't been great since his Wuxi Classic title and Australian Open final in consecutive weeks at the seasons very start. A recent run to the Masters final has been the only other highlight of the season really and while he has still made some ranking quarter-finals and so on, I think he'll be a little disappointed with how the season has gone so far, but now would be a good time to turn it around with the big one coming, because his actual performance levels have still been good on the whole, it's just that he's thrown in a few more bad ones this season, and he seems to struggle more over the shorter format, which of course is what this tournament is until basically the semi-finals, but my gut feeling is he won't make it that far.

Quarter Winner: Matt Selt

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Ding Junhui Vs Lee Walker
Peter Lines Vs Michael Georgiou
Andrew Higginson Vs Chris Wakelin
Graeme Dott Vs Zak Surety
Liang Wenbo Vs Cao Xin Long
Gerard Greene Vs Daniel Wells
Jamie Burnett Vs Alex Borg
John Higgins Vs Michael Leslie
Stephen Maguire Vs Duane Jones
Kurt Maflin Vs Liam Highfield
Robbie Williams Vs Dave Harold
Fergal O’Brien Vs Sam Baird
Alan McManus Vs Jamie Rhys Clarke
Anthony Hamilton Vs Ahmed Saif
Aditya Mehta Vs Sydney Wilson
Barry Hawkins Vs Scott Donaldson

This particular quarter features plenty of top players in the shape of Stephen Maguire, Ding Junhui, John Higgins and Barry Hawkins. While the likes of Graeme Dott are amongst some of the outside threats, but none of these guys apart from Maguire is on a particularly good run.

Barry Hawkins is struggling badly at the moment just as he did at this stage last season. A Last 32 exit at the German Masters would not have been in his script, and a Last 16 thrashing at the Masters would've hurt but still not quite as much as the UK Championship defeat that Willie Thorne I believe said on commentary could ruin his season, and right now it is really threatening to. He pulled out of the Indian Open qualifiers after the draw was released and proceeded to only finish 5th in the Championship League winners group and his confidence just doesn't seem to be here at the moment, and it's proving very tough to find. It's worth making the point that Hawkins had been a journeyman pro before his big Australian Open breakthrough win, putting him into the top 16, but if he isn't careful he could easily find himself fighting for his top 16 place within two seasons, because you can go down the rankings just as easily as you came up them. He needs a big week soon, and if he could have it in Cardiff I'm sure that would get his confidence back ahead of what is a big period in his season coming up, with a lot of money to defend on the rankings list at the very end of it.

Ding Junhui is also in poor form right now having also lost in the first round of both the German Masters and the Masters, while a Last 32 exit in the UK Championships along with not qualifying for the International Championships and Wuxi Classic means that Ding has failed really to do anything major since last seasons China Open and he could start to slide out of the top four in the world if he doesn't soon turn things around before the end of this season or at the beginning of the next because he really is struggling right now, and one of the things I thought within the first two frames of his match against Joe Perry at the Masters was how poor his body language. He had the body language of a man that was badly struggling and was almost giving up and admitting defeat, and one of his big tells when he's struggling in a match and maybe staring defeat in the face with a bad deficit or in a big pressured situation is his twitching eye, which was out in full force in from the very opening frame of that Masters contest, and that tells me he is really low on confidence and self-belief at the moment and having watched the likes of Murphy and Trump go through the same last season, it is a very tough thing to bring yourself out of as a player, but you just have to keep on plugging away with positive thoughts towards turning it around.

John Higgins is in a very similar boat right now, but the one big thing that has crept in to John's game is his inconsistency. John in his prime was one of the most consistent performers we've had in snooker, but now he is struggling to keep any kind of standard up from one match to the next or even throughout a whole match. Such inconsistency stuck out in the last couple of big events where John was playing very well in the first round of the Masters knocking in centuries and big breaks for fun, and even falling short of a 147 attempt, but then as the match went on he just started to miss a couple of easy balls that you would expect him to get most times, and somehow he managed to lose that encounter. This sort of thing though, is the sort of thing you would expect from someone just starting out in the game, who hasn't had all that many victories against top players, to miss a couple of balls when in amongst them and let their opponent back in the match from a bleak position, not from John Higgins. It's far from me to say that we are witnessing the full decline of the Scotsman because he will fight and dig in there to get himself out of this, but one of the first things you look for when spotting the decline in players is when they start missing a lot more of the balls that they would normally eat up for breakfast.

As I said Stephen Maguire is one of the only men in this quarter with some form behind him, and he comes into this tournament with plenty of it having made the semi-finals of the UK Championship, winning the Lisbon Open, losing out only to the eventual champion on top form in the Masters quarter-finals, and again in the semi-finals of the German Masters. This is the sort of form I like to see building up for a top player coming into a big event, because it is a great sign that they can go really far again in the upcoming event and perhaps even go on and win that event. That means Stephen is certainly in the position to receive a Michael Annison Tournament Tip (you can have that one as an official trademark if you like) but I'm not sure whether that is a good thing or not for Stephen, but all of his form from the last two months certainly is, and all it is missing is a big title, and to be honest that has been the only difference between Maguire and the likes of Murphy n in the last couple of months (who has also been there or thereabouts in a lot of events), so well has Stephen been playing.

Quarter Winner: Stephen Maguire

Quarter 4

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Stuart Bingham Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Kyren Wilson Vs Robin Hull
Nigel Bond Vs Chris Melling
Michael White Vs Ross Muir
Martin Gould Vs Jak Jones
Rod Lawler Vs Hammad Miah
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Mitchell Mann
Ricky Walden Vs Lu Ning
Robert Milkins Vs Luca Brecel
Tom Ford Vs Tian Pengfei
Mike Dunn Vs Oliver Brown
Ryan Day Vs Noppon Saengkham
Peter Ebdon Vs Tony Drago
Jimmy Robertson Vs Igor Figueiredo
Marcus Campbell Vs Stuart Carrington
Mark Selby Vs Alex Davies

This quarter is probably the quarter of death with tough players and great players left, right and centre including recent German Master Mark Selby and Championship League winner Stuart Bingham, along with an in form Peter Ebdon, another couple of big home favourites in Ryan Day and Michael White while Ricky Walden will be fresh and raring to go for this week and the likes of Robert Milkins and even Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who is playing very very well at the moment could prove an enormous threat.

Mark Selby's season wasn't looking great coming into the German Masters and had he have lost his first round decider there to Anthony McGill there I'd be writing here now that the pressure of being World Champion was proving too much for him. However, last week at the German Masters could well prove to be a massive turning point in Mark's season as he took the title, got back up to World number 1, and looks to be playing well as we enter the business end of the season. He has a tough section of the draw here in this quarter, and one good week doesn't necessarily mean that another one will follow here so he'll need to be at the very top of his game this week, as anything can happen in these early stages over the best-of-7's and best-of-9 frames encounters.

Ryan Day is another of the home favourites for this event, and he comes into it straight from a run to the quarter-finals in the German Masters which is another boost to what has been a fine year for Day who has already qualified for the Players Championship Finals later in the season, and bearing that in mind, with this tournament being played over the best of 7 in the early stages like a PTC event, Ryan is a real threat. Hopefully from his point of view, he can finally impress in front of his home crowd and possibly some family and friends too, as his record in his home Open hasn't always been fantastic, but that could all change with one good week this time.
As well as winning the Shanghai Masters earlier in the season, and already winning an AT event to qualify for the Players Championship Finals, Stuart Bingham comes into this week in fine form and with plenty of good match practice under his belt having completed overall victory in the Championship League which is a tough event to gain overall victory in. Stuart also made the final of this event two years ago, and will be looking to try and go one better here this time around with his sights on his first major title in the UK, having won a couple of ranking events abroad. Stuart's form has always been fairly close to it's peak in the last two years, but his draw is tough with a possible Last 32 tie against Michael White staring him in the face.

Michael White is growing very nicely as a player and I think that he can certainly cause the top players problems, especially over the short formats like this tournament and the European Tour's where he has reached a semi-final this year in Bulgaria. He should be inspired more than anything by playing in his home event, and I see Michael as a guy now that loses a lot less of the games against players from outside of the top 32, which is always a good marker for a consistent top 32 player.

Ricky Walden has had around a month off since the Masters where he did play very well in his first round defeat to Ronnie O'Sullivan, and his decision to pull out of the Championship League knowing that he also hadn't qualified for the German Masters was in favour of giving himself some nice resting, reflection and hard practice time. Ricky has a good lot to reflect on after winning the International Championship in November and prior to Christmas his form was well and truly where he wanted it, so hopefully a substantial break wouldn't have upset this too much as I can certainly see him going far this week, and maybe going on a big run to secure his first major title in the UK which is the only thing he is really lacking after ranking wins in Asia, European Tour victories and runs to the UK and World Championship semi-finals in the past. If he can find his rhythm and fluency this week he will surely be one of the favourites because he really is a joy to watch when he's on that kind of form as he was in Chengdu.

Quarter Winner: Ricky Walden
Tournament Runner-Up: Judd Trump
Tournament Winner: Stephen Maguire
 
It's sure to be a hectic seven days at the Welsh Open, but there will also be some quality snooker on display throughout the week and I look forward to watching it all on a combination of British Eurosport and BBC Wales, depending of course on the TV Schedules. I'll also be blogging throughout the week with updates hopefully on a round by round basis throughout the week, so you can look forward to all of that as well.