As the group stage came to a close, Dominic Dale had slim hopes of making the semi-finals and he couldn't even manage a couple of wins for his own pride losing both of his final games to finish winless at the bottom of the table. John Higgins also failed to qualify for the semi-finals winning only one of his final three games, starting the day by being whitewashed by David Gilbert and Peter Ebdon. Despite two wins to start the day from Ebdon, he lost his final game 3-2 to Fergal O'Brien and missed on the semi-finals by a frame as Mark Williams snuck into fourth spot. Xiao Guodong ended up in third place after a last gasp victory against David Gilbert from 2-1 down after Gilbert had just made a 147 maximum break in frame three, and at one stage Guodong could've been knocked out if he lost 3-1 in that encounter, and Ebdon beat O'Brien. That was the only match that Gilbert lost in the group stages as he finished top of the group and set up a semi-final with Mark Williams while Xiao Guodong took on Fergal O'Brien in the last four.
After Williams took the opening frame against Gilbert, David continued his form of the last two days in reeling off three straight frames to book his final place with a 3-1 win, while things were also comfortable for the Chinaman who beat Fergal O'Brien 3-0 straight after Fergal's marathon final group game with Ebdon. By the time the final came around Xiao Guodong had a lot of momentum and had been the only player to beat Gilbert in the last two days. He won the first frame on the colours, before making a good break in the next and sealing the victory after potting the final red in frame three. Here's exactly how everything happened yesterday courtesy of the notepad:
What this means is that the final line-up for the Winners Group which starts today is complete and one of: Barry Hawkins, Matt Selt, Ali Carter, Stuart Bingham, Mark Davis, Ben Woollaston and Xiao Guodong will be the 2015 Championship League Winner and take a coveted place in next seasons Champion of Champions event so there is a big chance for some players out there.
It's a long time since Hawkins won group one and his form isn't really great so he could struggle, and Ben Woollaston is another I don't quite think will be challenging since he came through a very scrappy group and will have to step his game up big time. Mark Davis made two other finals before beating Ronnie O'Sullivan in the group five final and his form is good so he'll be one of the favourites along with Xiao Guodong who has the momentum of playing in the last two days of Crondon Park action, and playing very well in those days. Ali Carter loves it at Crondon Park and played very well to win group 3 and I think he'll make at least the semi-finals along with Davis. Matt Selt has been playing very well for a long time and I expect him to win at least half of his six games in this group and probably do enough overall to get into the last four himself, while Stuart Bingham has played in more groups of the Championship League than anyone else winning at the fourth attempt so he'll certainly be in tune with the Crondon Park conditions and it is a very tough call as to who will win this event now.
As I mentioned there though I think that one of Ali Carter, Matt Selt and Mark Davis will win it now, because all of them look very dangerous.
I'll be back tomorrow to update you on how these three guys and all of the members of the Winners Group are getting on after the first day of play at Crondon Park.
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