Robertson out in Beijing first round

The major big name casualty in the first round of the China Open was fourth seed Neil Robertson as he lost out in a decider to Thailand's Dechawat Poomjaeng who came back from a 3-1 interval deficit. Elsewhere on day one, Barry Hawkins got a much needed win over Gerard Greene as did Ding Junhui against Marcus Campbell. Stephen Maguire kept his Crucible seedings battle under control beating David Morris, while Ricky Walden thrashed Cao Yupeng. Ali Carter was unlucky to see Kurt Maflin come back from 4-2 and 66-0 down to win 5-4. To end the day (or begin the next take your pick) Peter Ebdon managed to hold off Zhang Anda who came back from 4-2 to 4-4, and in the end Peter came through the decider at 12.40am Beijing time.

Day two began with John Higgins having a bit of a battle with Yu De Lu before coming through to win there, whilst Robert Milkins was also at 3-3 with Nigel Bond at one stage before coming through to win there. Marco Fu whitewashed amateur player Ashley Carty, whilst Jamie Jones won the battle of the Welsh stars with Matthew Stevens. Joe Swail lost an important match for his top 64 hopes as Zak Surety beat him from 4-2 down. Michael White came through a decider later on in the afternoon session against Ken Doherty while new Players Champion Joe Perry was beaten by David Gilbert. Mark Selby struggled in the second half of his match against Mark Joyce but still managed to scrap through in that one, whilst things were much more simple for Stuart Bingham against Peter Lines. Meanwhile in the final session Judd Trump survived a slight scare to beat Andrew Higginson while Mark Williams beat wildcard Zhao Xintong from 2-0 down and Shaun Murphy was a comfortable winner against Jamie Cope.


Last 64 Results:

Ding Junhui 5-1 Marcus Campbell
Mark Davis 5-3 Kyren Wilson
Mark Williams 5-2 Zhao Xintong
Michael Leslie 5-1 Joe O'Connor
John Higgins 5-3 Yu De Lu
Graeme Dott 5-3 Daniel Wells
Peter Ebdon 5-4 Zhang Anda
Judd Trump 5-3 Andrew Higginson
Barry Hawkins 5-2 Gerard Greene
Dominic Dale 5-3 Jimmy Robertson
Ryan Day 5-1 Liam Highfield
Stephen Maguire 5-1 David Morris
Ricky Walden 5-0 Cao Yupeng
Gary Wilson 5-3 Liang Wenbo
Jack Lisowski 5-4 Alan McManus
Dechawat Poomjaeng 5-4 Neil Robertson
Robin Hull W/O Ronnie O'Sullivan
Mark King 5-3 Jamie Burnett
Mike Dunn 5-3 Fergal O'Brien
Kurt Maflin 5-4 Ali Carter
Marco Fu 5-0 Ashley Carty
Jamie Jones 5-3 Matthew Stevens
Anthony McGill 5-1 Alfie Burden
Shaun Murphy 5-1 Jamie Cope
Stuart Bingham 5-1 Peter Lines
Michael White 5-4 Ken Doherty
Zak Surety 5-4 Joe Swail
Robert Milkins 5-3 Nigel Bond
David Gilbert 5-3 Joe Perry
Zhou Yuelong 5-1 Anthony Hamilton
Elliot Slessor 5-3 Matt Selt
Mark Selby 5-3 Mark Joyce

So, despite a couple of upsets in round one we still have a fantastic line-up for tomorrow's last 32 games in Beijing and there should be some exciting snooker to come once again. But will there be any fools on April 1st?

Last 32 Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs Mark Davis - Ding Junhui's comfortable victory over Marcus Campbell in the opening round was his first at the venue stages of an event since the UK Championships and to be fair he wasn't punished whatsoever for his mistakes and didn't seem to be looking all that confident either after a confidence bashing few months. Mark Davis meanwhile is in good form at the moment with quarter-finals in all of the last three events (Indian Open, World Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals). He's beaten some good players in those events (including Neil Robertson twice) and he'll be a lot more confident than Ding Junhui will be at the moment as he's been playing a lot better and more consistently and he's really under no pressure in this match with Ding Junhui again having all of the home expectation.

Mark Williams Vs Michael Leslie - Even though Michael Leslie has beaten Mark Allen in qualifying, and then amateur Joe O'Connor 5-1 in the first round, he's going have to be at the very top of his game to beat an in form Mark Williams here. Michael hasn't really done much in his time on tour so far, so this could be a good tournament to go prove to people he can cut it on tour. Mark meanwhile after a couple of poor frames at the start of his opening round match against Zhao Xintong, he soon warmed into the task and won five on the bounce for victory. Mark's in good form over the last month and a half particularly and on that run these are the matches he's been eating for breakfast.

John Higgins Vs Graeme Dott - This is a repeat of the World Grand Prix last 32 tie from just a couple of weeks ago where Dott beat Higgins in a deciding frame despite Higgins playing the better snooker of the two on that day. Graeme seemed to struggle a little today as he lost three frames in a row to go 3-2 down to amateur Daniel Wells at one stage and it took three frames in a row for Dott to win. John meanwhile was also pegged back from 3-1 to 3-3, but he played two very impressive last two frames to get the victory and I think if he can play well for a large part of this match again then he'll probably scrape the victory, but one thing is for certain, not an inch will be given in this match and I expect it to be closely fought.

Judd Trump Vs Peter Ebdon - Judd Trump has been in really good form of late, and today in round one he was happy with conditions making two centuries against Andrew Higginson who made one of his own and gave Judd a very tough match. A new mature Judd has been able to dig in hard when things start to turn around in matches and go against him as he showed throughout the World Grand Prix and that will be an important trait against Peter. Ebdon made very hard work of his first round win against Zhang Anda where he once led 4-2 before winning 5-4 in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Peter has been pretty inconsistent in the last couple of weeks with a poor performance against Anthony McGill in Thailand and he doesn't seem to have been much better in the first round and even though he made the Grand Prix quarter-finals, he did play very poorly in parts of both matches. Any weakness shown by him tomorrow will be pounced on by Judd, that is for certain.

Barry Hawkins Vs Dominic Dale - Barry Hawkins got an important win the other day after a series of poor results in previous events, and he actually played some good snooker to beat Gerard Greene in round one so that will boost his confidence. Dominic Dale also seemed to play well in parts of his first round match against Jimmy Robertson. However, Dominic has been pretty inconsistent of late, playing well at times in tournaments and matches, but also playing pretty dire snooker at others as he did against Selby in Thailand. I think this could be yet another confidence boosting match if Barry can knock in some decent breaks and if Dale isn't at his best then I feel that Hawkins will probably edge the victory.

Stephen Maguire Vs Ryan Day - Stephen Maguire firstly has a little bit extra to think about this week and that is his Crucible seeding. Will he secure the 16th seed or have to qualify? Well, a comfortable victory against David Morris in round one will help things as it leaves the likes of Michael White needing a semi-final if he is to lose this game. Stephen has been in good form for large parts of the time since the UK Championships and his record here at the China Open is pretty good so he'll be feeling confident coming into this match. Ryan Day meanwhile had a good win in round one against Liam Highfield and will want to do better this week after losing a couple of first round deciders in Bangkok and Llandudno. I think this will be close but I fancy Maguire to just edge through here.

Ricky Walden Vs Gary Wilson - Ricky Walden played good snooker and was very convincing against Cao Yupeng as he very often is in China as one of the best players in Asian conditions currently playing on the tour in my view. He seems to find his rhythm so much easier in China which helps him to some good results and he always seems to be in good form out there. Gary Wilson played well in round one and showed some of the form that saw him get to the Welsh Open quarter-finals in his win against Liang Wenbo and he'll be a tough opponent here for Walden. I'd fancy Wilson a lot more if this was in the UK where Walden is a lot more inconsistent, but Wilson certainly doesn't have as much experience in China as I feel Ricky has now so I fancy him to win this.

Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Jack Lisowski - Both of these guys had good wins in deciders in round one with Poomjaeng beating Neil Robertson, while Lisowski came from 4-2 down to beat McManus. Lisowski is long overdue a good week after struggling quite a bit since he got to the China Open quarter-finals in impressive fashion two years ago, so he will have good memories of Beijing. Dechawat is a player who continually seems to get results but to me he isn't a particularly impressive player in terms of very much that he does apart from his general potting. Throughout his match with Neil his positional play wasn't particularly good and he over hit a large number of shots unable to get to grips perhaps with the pace of the table. Lisowski on his day is the much better player of the two here and as I say it's about time he started showing it more often starting with this week.

Mark King Vs Robin Hull - Robin Hull may have had a Last 64 walkover over Ronnie O'Sullivan but he did have to play a wildcard match so has still got here by winning a match, and in that match against tough young wildcard Yan Bingtao he played some superb snooker. A series of impressive breaks (including a maximum attempt that broke down on 112) saw him breeze through a potentially difficult match and again make many ask questions of how his tour card is in any danger at all. A win in this match tomorrow would again help his cause as he is still around £9,000 behind 64th place Tom Ford in the rankings. Mark King came through a battle today against Jamie Burnett but he was in good form at the Players Championships in Thailand playing good snooker beating Hawkins and pushing Trump close. However, if Hull plays how he did against Bingtao in this match, King will need to show all of this form once again.

Kurt Maflin Vs Mike Dunn - Both of these guys had to come from behind in their opening round encounters to get this far. Kurt Maflin was seemingly dead and buried at 4-2 and 66-0 against Carter but somehow he ended up winning 5-4, but he still didn't knock in many impressive breaks and he's been in very poor form all season long. Mike Dunn meanwhile played very well from 3-1 down against Fergal O'Brien and he has the good memories of last years run to the semi-finals to inspire him on as he looks to try and repeat some of that again this week. It should be a close game this and is a very tough one to call, but Kurt just doesn't seem to have very much form behind him at all at the moment where Mike has played some decent stuff in the first round.

Marco Fu Vs Jamie Jones - Marco Fu is due for a good run this week and wasted no time in knocking out amateur Ashley Carty in round one 5-0 including a good 133 break and I think this could be the week he regains some form after a couple of early round exits. Jamie Jones won't make things very easy for him though as he played decent snooker to get to the Last 16 of the Indian Open and beat Matthew Stevens in the first round, as well as beating Shaun Murphy in the Welsh Open. Jones is an impressive young lad, but Fu is very underrated when he's in good form and if he can play well this week he could go really far once again.

Shaun Murphy Vs Anthony McGill - This should be a very close game, especially as Anthony McGill has been pushing a lot of the top players all the way in recent times. In the German Masters he came from 4-1 to 4-4 before losing 5-4 to Selby, he came from 3-0 to 3-3 before losing 4-3 to both Mark Davis at the Indian Open and Stuart Bingham at the World Grand Prix, while Joe Perry needed a comeback from 3-1 down to beat him 4-3 at the Players Championship. Shaun Murphy meanwhile is still cueing well as he did to win the Masters and reach the German Masters final earlier in 2015, but he has had a lot of recent complaints about the table conditions and he needs to start putting that out of his mind as it seems to affect him more than any other player in the game. If Shaun can concentrate on the game then I'm sure he will play well because as I say he is striking the ball very well and feels very confident.

Stuart Bingham Vs Michael White - This again is another tough match to call between two very much in form players. Michael White has very much broken through on to the big stage now after winning the Indian Open three weeks ago, and he'll be feeling full of confidence despite a couple of blips since then. He had to go through a decider to beat Doherty in round one while he also lost in the Grand Prix and Players Championship first round, so he may still have a bit of a hangover from that India win. Stuart Bingham meanwhile has come close in the last couple of events with a Players Championship and Grand Prix semi-final to his name since winning the Championship League in February and the hunger will very much be there for Stuart to have a good run and then convert that at the end of the week into some more glory. When the pair met at the Welsh Open Bingham was a comfortable winner there, and while I don't think this will be comfortable I do think Stuart is the favourite to edge it.

Robert Milkins Vs Zak Surety - Robert Milkins is the clear favourite in this match as a much higher ranked player than Zak Surety, but that doesn't mean to say he will win. Zak had a good win against Joe Swail from 4-2 down in round one and even though he has struggled a little for results this year on tour he's also had some very tough matches just as this one is for him. Robert Milkins still has a slight carrot dangling for him here as the provisional 18th seed for the Crucible and even though he is a way behind Michael White as the closest challenger to current 16th seed Stephen Maguire, he could still make it if he got to the final and Maguire goes out in the next round or two, so it is important for Robert to keep going and believing, which another victory tomorrow will help.

David Gilbert Vs Zhou Yuelong - Both of these players had good wins in the Last 64. Zhou Yuelong has had some good results all season and seems to be a very strong scorer when on form which he showed in abundance today against Anthony Hamilton and if he keeps that up tomorrow it'll be incredibly tough to beat. David Gilbert meanwhile came from 3-2 behind to beat Players Champion Joe Perry 5-3 today and he is a very solid and dangerous player to come up against with a lot of experience. Gilbert was in good form in the Championship League earlier in 2015 and I felt that he would eventually convert that into a good run in a ranking event and thus far he has failed to but this week could be his week for a few more good results as he is a solid player and a very heavy scorer like Yuelong is when they're both in form so I expect this to be a good match and one that comes down to the scrappy frames.

Mark Selby Vs Elliot Slessor - On paper this looks like it should be a very comfortable win for world champion Mark Selby. However, Mark had to battle hard today after playing some good snooker to lead 3-0 at one stage, Mark Joyce took advantage as Selby went off the boil and he could be seen rubbing and holding his neck a few times, and he has confirmed that he had a neck twinge yesterday and is suffering some pain, particularly after slipping during the interval. As a fellow sufferer of bad neck pains in the past (which it personally took me a long time to get rid of and I still suffer with now on occasions) these things can crop up at any time it seems and still be as painful as before and are particularly horrible as a snooker player so hopefully he won't suffer as badly as he did three years ago. Elliot Slessor meanwhile had a good win against Matt Selt in round one but with all of Mark's experience and battling qualities against a player that hasn't impressed in his last two years on tour and still appears to be inexperienced, the only way I can see Slessor winning is if he plays brilliantly or Mark continues to struggle badly with his neck.


Things really start to hot up now in Beijing with one round a day from here until the completion of the tournament and with still much to play for in terms of seedings for the Crucible, you can expect it to be another exciting day tomorrow in the last 32, and i'll be back again tomorrow with a preview of the Last 16 matches.

China Open Preview

Straight after another week of snooker out in Thailand where Joe Perry won the Players Championship Finals event, the players now move on to Beijing in China for the China Open, with plenty to play for in terms of players getting into the top 64 on the end of season rankings list and of course the cut-off for the Crucible seedings comes after this event and there is still plenty to play for in terms of top 16, 32 and top 48 places which all makes a difference to the qualifying draw. The way that the money is set out, anyone in the Last 64 is guaranteed £3,000 to their ranking, but if you win your first match at the venue, the money jumps up to a guaranteed £6,500 making a big difference to those down the rankings. Last 16 losers get £8,000 and it's £12,500 for losing in the quarters, £21,000 for getting to the semi's, while the runner-up gets £35,000 and the winner walks away with the £85,000 top prize.

The early news from the China Open this week is that Ronnie O'Sullivan has withdrawn through health issues, which is apparently a return of his glandular fever, after suffering with that in 2012 I believe. That means the winner of the wildcard match between Robin Hull and Yan Bingtao gets a bye into the Last 32. We still have most of the rest of the top players out in Beijing with the exception of Mark Allen who failed to qualify, and that could potentially damage his Crucible seeding too.

Thankfully following the Players Championship Finals the best-of-7's are over for the season and we are up to best-of-9 frames for the opening matches of this week with an interval after the first four, while the semi-finals are over the best-of-11 frames and next Sunday's final is played over two sessions and the best-of-19 frames. Of course the one thing that has been apparent in recent years is the China Open curse, with the winner going on to do very little at the World Championships in Sheffield. All of the 2012, 2013 and 2014 winners have failed to get past round one at the Crucible, while the 2011 Beijing champion Judd Trump did make the World Championship final. There's no real reason for this China Open curse as such and to be fair when Peter Ebdon won it in 2012 he still had to qualify and lost to eventual champion Ronnie O'Sullivan in round one, but if the winner this week is seeded through to the Crucible they should still have a nice two week period to rest and fully prepare ahead of the start on Saturday April 18th.

Enough talk about the World's for now though as there is still a job to be done this week, so here is how the draw shapes up in Beijing:

Quarter 1

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs Marcus Campbell
Mark Davis Vs Kyren Wilson
Mark Williams Vs Alex Davies or Zhao Xintong
Michael Leslie Vs Joe O'Connor
John Higgins Vs Yu De Lu
Graeme Dott Vs Daniel Wells
Peter Ebdon Vs Zhang Anda
Judd Trump Vs Andrew Higginson

In this quarter we have the struggling defending champion Ding Junhui along with the likes of Players Championship runner-up Mark Williams, Welsh Open Champion John Higgins, Championship League runner-up Mark Davis and the new World Grand Prix champion Judd Trump. In terms of seedings for the Crucible here we have Andrew Higginson and Yu De Lu who are provisionally seeded 49th and 51st respectively and both are within a first round win of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in 48th who didn't qualify. The only down side for these two guys is that they are big underdogs to win their first round games with Higginson playing an in form Trump and De Lu playing John Higgins. Meanwhile, on the provisional end of season money list Marcus Campbell is 67th and around £8,000 away from 64th placed Tom Ford, who hasn't qualified, but again Campbell could've had easier draws than Ding Junhui, even if Ding is in very poor form.

Ding Junhui as I say is in frankly rubbish form at the moment, and if you think that is harsh then here's a stat for you. Other than his semi-final at the Shanghai Masters, Ding Junhui has not gotten past the Last 32 of a full ranking event all season and he still hasn't won a match at a main venue in a big event since the Last 64 of the UK Championships. Are there any signs that he could begin to play well? Not in terms of the way he's been playing but if something suddenly starts to click in one match and his confidence starts to build up again then who knows, and even though he is a top player, this is a real confidence flushing season.

Mark Davis meanwhile is in decent form at the moment. He's had two good wins lately against Neil Robertson to reach the quarter-finals of both the Grand prix and Players Championship Finals, as well as making the quarter-finals in Mumbai this month too. It's worth remembering that Davis was in the top 16 for a year or two until this season and that he can beat the very top players and have these good runs in events and there is certainly nothing from stopping him doing that again in Beijing this week, especially after some of the performances he's put in in the last few weeks.

Mark Williams on the other hand is the form man of the entire tour at the moment. He's played lorry loads of matches in all sorts of tournaments left, right and centre in the last month and a half and in those tournaments he can boast a Welsh Open and Indian Open semi-finals, Gdynia Open and Players Championship runners-up positions, a World Grand Prix quarter-final and even a small win at the World Seniors. Mark is certainly riding on a high at the moment in terms of confidence and his results show not only his confidence but his combination of determination but also that laid back attitude that can make things that are so much to him, actually seem like they're worth very little. This is thanks in part to the work he's put in on and off the table in the last year. Working with his personal trainer he's found a new way of living it would appear and in the process lost 2 and a half stone to become a lean Welsh potting machine. What this also means is that he's still relatively fresh and in great shape coming into all of these tournaments despite all of the travelling that he's had to do, hence the consistency in his results that he is starting to show now making him a contender for every event.

John Higgins meanwhile has had no consistency to his results at all. Since winning the Welsh Open he hasn't reached another quarter-final, and he didn't get past the last 16 in events much before taking the title in Cardiff either. What this shows is a lot of inconsistency from John and not only is it showing throughout tournaments from event to event and even match to match, but even from frame to frame where he could follow up two fantastic breaks by missing a load of easy balls by his standards. This will worry John and stops him from being as big a contender as he was when playing the really top players (something he didn't have to do much at the Welsh Open with all due respect to most of the lower ranked players that he did play) and he'd like to find some of that consistency back ahead of the World Championships.

Judd Trump meanwhile is another one of the form horses on the snooker tour and has been really for most of the season. After winning the World Grand Prix he got his first final victory against Ronnie from three attempts this season and followed it up by getting to the Players Championship semi-finals before losing out to Mark Williams, someone he has played four times in the last month and a half. This event will also bring back hugely special memories for Judd as it was by winning this title in 2011 that he made his real breakthrough and took his first ranking event title, and I'm sure it would mean a lot to him if he could repeat that success again this year.

Quarter Winner: Judd Trump

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Barry Hawkins Vs Gerard Greene
Dominic Dale Vs Jimmy Robertson
Ryan Day Vs Liam Highfield
Stephen Maguire Vs David Morris
Ricky Walden Vs Cao Yupeng
Liang Wenbo Vs Gary Wilson
Alan McManus Vs Jack Lisowski
Neil Robertson Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng

Completing the top half of the draw we have the likes of Neil Robertson, Ricky Walden, Stephen Maguire and a badly out of form Barry Hawkins as the biggest of the names, whilst again there is something to play for here in terms of Crucible seedings. Stephen Maguire still has work to do this week in terms of staying in the top 16. He is currently around £9,000 clear of Michael White in 17th, so if Stephen gets knocked out in the early rounds he could be left squirming come the back end of the week. Meanwhile, his first round opponent David Morris is 50th provisionally hoping to get into the top 48 to be seeded in round two of qualifying if he could win his first round match at Ponds Forge, and a win against Stephen would more than likely get him into that top 48.

Barry Hawkins comes into this event with absolutely no confidence at all following yet another first round exit at the Players Championship, which follows a first round exit from Llandudno, and a Last 64 exit in Cardiff too. He looks a shadow of the player that reached the World Championship final in 2013 and the semi's in Sheffield in 2014, and I can't really see him going on much of a run this week unless he is able to grind out a couple of good results early on in the week.

Stephen Maguire meanwhile was in good form at the very start of the year and looked to be playing well after missing the Indian Open and turning up at the World Grand Prix. However, slightly surprising results in the Last 16 in Llandudno and Thailand this week do raise small questions about his form and of course this could be caused by the huge amount of pressure he has put himself under to retain his top 16 seeding for the Crucible. David Morris isn't the easier first round opponent you could ask for, as Mark Selby found out in the Last 64 of the UK Championships, and if he were to lose that match it would leave him sweating for the rest of the week waiting to see if anyone overtakes him. However, if he could land a couple of early wins this week and see those around him exit before he does, expect to see him loosen up a bit and start to play some more fluent snooker.

Neil Robertson is on quite an inconsistent run of form at the moment. He may have gotten to the Masters final at the start of the year but after that he exited the German Masters in a quarter-final decider, the Welsh Open in a shock Last 16 exit to Gary Wilson before winning the Gdynia Open. However, since that win he's again exited the last two tournaments at the Last 16 stage both of which have seen him lose to Mark Davis. It's tough to tell what the reason for these defeats is, and it could simply be the lack of consistency he's showing in his game right now, or maybe the pressure to live up for the heights of last season where he played well throughout the year, but he hasn't gotten too close to doing the same this season.

Ricky Walden has had a very good season this time around meanwhile, and that has been particularly evident once again in Asia. Winning the International Championships in November provided his biggest career title in terms of prize money, while he's also made a final at the recent Indian Open and still got to the Welsh Open quarter-finals, despite also suffering at times this season with a shoulder problem. One of Ricky's traits is how well he seems to adapt to the more sticky conditions in China and all of the humidity as China is the scene of all three of his ranking event triumphs. Overall, Ricky has had one of his best ever seasons as a professional and he'll be keen to finish off well now with a good run at this event to try and set-up a performance that can at least equal his World Championship semi-final in 2013.

Quarter Winner: Ricky Walden

Quarter 3

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Robin Hull or Yan Bingtao W/O Ronnie O'Sullivan
Mark King Vs Jamie Burnett
Fergal O'Brien Vs Mike Dunn
Ali Carter Vs Kurt Maflin
Marco Fu Vs Ashley Carty
Matthew Stevens Vs Jamie Jones
Anthony McGill Vs Alfie Burden
Shaun Murphy Vs Jamie Cope

After Ronnie O'Sullivan's withdrawal the top players in this section of the draw are now Masters champion Shaun Murphy, Marco Fu and Ali Carter. However, there are many other guys in quarter number three with loads to play for in terms of Crucible seedings and tour survival. The main candidates to get into that all important top 32 are all in this section with Anthony McGill provisionally 32nd and around £1,000 clear of Matthew Stevens, with McGill playing Burden and Stevens playing Jones and both are tough games. Mark King sits around £3,000 behind McGill with an equally tough game himself against Jamie Burnett but once again there is still potential for him to get into the all important top 32. In terms of tour survival and the end of season money list, Robin Hull may possibly have been helped out as his wildcard round match is effectively a Last 64 game thanks to Ronnie O'Sullivan's withdrawal and he is around £12,000 behind 64th on the end of season list so the extra £3,500 for winning against Yan Bingtao would be enormous if he could do it. Jamie Cope in 62nd and Alfie Burden in 63rd aren't save yet either with Burden roughly £6,000 and Burden £7,000 clear of 65th placed Joe Swail, while Swail has also qualified for this tournament.

Mark King as I've already identified could do with a good run this week to get back into the top 32 ahead of the World Championships. He played well at least weeks Players Championship finals where he saw off Barry Hawkins before pushing in form Judd Trump very close, and was actually distracted in frame five when looking good to win it, by a power cut at the venue. Mark is a very gritty player, but when he's confident he's as good as anyone else in the top 32 and it's easy to underestimate him as a player given his not so easy on the eye style, but he is a former top 16 player, and with no O'Sullivan to face in the Last 32 now if he were to beat Jamie Burnett, who knows he could have another good run this week.

Ali Carter of course still has his seeding frozen at 13 as it will be for the World Championships after the amount of tournaments he's missed this season due to his treatment for cancer at the back end of 2014. Since then Ali has struggled really to get a foot in the door results wise, and suffered yet more misfortune by not being able to get a visa for the Indian Open, which means in turn that he's not particularly 100% match sharp having not played now for a full month in competition and he's not actually played in China since last years China Open where he did make it to the latter stages. However, when you consider that everyone else he's coming up against at the moment is so match sharp and perhaps not as rusty as he will be, then i find it tough to tip him to do overly well in this event as a whole.

Marco Fu is struggling as well just a little bit at the moment. After several unconvincing performances at the Welsh Open he's not made it past the Last 32 of the Gdynia Open, Grand Prix or Players Championship (where he actually lost from 3-1 ahead against Neil Robertson on Tuesday), and the fact that he was forced to pull out of India with visa issues has not helped him, as he too hasn't really played as much snooker in 2015 as most of the other players, having failed to qualify for February's German Masters. The thing with Marco is that he always tries 100% and can come into decent form really at any time because of this if things just click for him, and perhaps this could be the week for him.

Shaun Murphy was the form man on tour before skipping the Indian Open to stay fresh for the seasons remainder, but since then while he's still striking the ball pretty well, he's not quite getting the luck and results that he needs. A poor performance at the World Grand Prix was followed by a Last 16 exit at the Players Championship where as i say, he was striking it well but not quite getting things to go his way, while also being rather disgruntled with the playing conditions. However, he's still very confident after the season he's had so far and i expect him to come good this week and show us all once again why he's one of the main contenders for this years World Championships. The form he's showed this year as well as the self-belief and improvements to his all round game, make him a big force to come up against.

Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 4

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Stuart Bingham Vs Peter Lines or Yuan Sijun
Michael White Vs Ken Doherty
Joe Swail Vs Zak Surety
Robert Milkins Vs Nigel Bond
Joe Perry Vs David Gilbert
Anthony Hamilton Vs Zhou Yuelong or Zhang Yong
Matt Selt Vs Elliot Slessor
Mark Selby Vs Mark Joyce

The World Champion Mark Selby and recent Players Championship winner Joe Perry along with Championship League champion Stuart Bingham in this bottom quarter may be safe in terms of their spots at the Crucible but there are still players in this quarter with something to play for in terms of that and of course the end of season listings for tour spots. Michael White and Robert Milkins both in this quarter have chances of making the top 16 if Stephen Maguire slips up this week. Both would need big runs though and as they are due to meet in the Last 16 they can't both get them. White is presently about £9,000 behind and Milkins is even further away trailing by £19,000. As for Joe Swail he currently sits in 65th place on the end of season money list and is only £6,000 behind 64th placed Tom Ford who he needs to leapfrog before the end of the season and of course, Tom is not in the tournament so with a good result or two he could be breathing right down his neck by the end of the week.

Michael White comes into this week as a recent ranking event winner in India but after two tough games against Robert Milkins at the World Grand Prix and Martin Gould in Thailand last week, he's still looking for his first win as a full ranking event winner. He also has it in the back of his mind that he can still qualify for the Crucible with a run this week and that is surely something that will spur him on, which is of course dangerous to those around him with the confidence he'll be oozing after that Mumbai triumph. After those tough couple of weeks since that I've mentioned, hopefully now he'll have come back to Earth following the March that he's had, and if he is as focussed and determined as ever, who knows what this week could bring.

Robert Milkins is in the same boat as Michael White, although a much bigger amount of money adrift from Maguire, thanks in part to a 4-0 thrashing he received in a big surprise exit to Chris Wakelin in Thailand. Prior to this Milkins seemed to be playing decent snooker with an Indian quarter-final and a Gdynia quarter-final under his belt, but he really needs to get a couple of early wins this week to start building his confidence back up, and momentum too after admitting that he was tired following that shock Players Championship finals defeat last week. It was a miraculous semi-final at the International Championship semi-finals that helped him to get in the top 16 for the Masters though, so who knows... he could always do the same again this week.

Joe Perry meanwhile will be on cloud nine after achieving his "dream" of winning a full ranking event by taking home the £100,000 top prize as the Players Champion beating Mark Williams 4-3 from 3-0 down in Thailand. He thoroughly deserves to have gotten that first full ranking title under his belt after working so hard over the course of his long career as a professional and it's only now that he's starting to play his very best snooker. You could certainly see this coming after winning an Asian Tour event in January and reaching the Indian Open quarter-finals, coupled with the series of good runs he has in ranking events across 2014 as a whole. Although, thinking about his chances in this event, with such a short turnaround for Joe it may be tough for him to come straight back down to Earth and ready to play in yet another event after a busy month for him, and with a tough draw with David Gilbert in the first round and a possible Last 16 with Mark Selby he'll have a tough ride ahead this week if he is again to make the latter stages.

Mark Selby has had a rough season as World Champion, with this now being his last event before he goes back to Sheffield to defend his title. Other than a German Masters title, Shanghai Masters semi-finals and a European Tour win right at the very beginning of the new season, Mark has had some relatively poor results by his usually consistent standards. Recently he's suffered Last 16 exits at the Welsh Open, Players Championship Finals and the World Grand Prix with two of those being against opposition he would normally dispatch in Brecel and Gould, while he had several chances to beat Mark Williams in Thailand last week as he lost 4-3 from 3-1 up. He struggled too at the Gdynia Open losing in the Last 32 and he seems to not be playing with anywhere near the same confidence with which he started the season, following his Crucible crowning moment. Mark is still a very gritty and determined character though and there is certainly no ruling him out of winning this title or at least running deep through the draw this week.

Finally, Stuart Bingham is another man that will be high on confidence after yet another good season on tour. His Asian dominance has been there for all to see again this season as he won the Shanghai Masters but also another Asian Tour event, and just last week he reached the Players Championship semi's which followed making the last four at the Grand Prix and his gruelling Championship League win earlier in the year. Overall, Bingham has been in good form throughout the year despite the odd blip in form here or there and with the likes of Ricky Walden and Joe Perry he seems to have dominated things in China and Asia as a whole this season as the three of them have been winning or thereabouts in many of the major Asian events. The only thing missing from a good second half to he season that's seen a number of semi-finals in major events since making another UK semi-final, is of course another major title to go with Shanghai Masters triumph of earlier in the season. For me, Bingham is becoming now one of the tours most consistent players and that will surely yield more titles as he seems to play in almost every event and turns up to each event pretty match fit and raring to go, making him more of a contender now that he's ever been.

Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham

Tournament Runner-Up: Ricky Walden

Tournament Winner: Stuart Bingham


Whoever the winner is this week it will fill them with confidence ahead of the big one next month, and with the amount of players fighting for different things all over the place this week, it's certainly going to be a hard fought victory for whoever comes through and another good week of snooker for us fans to watch on Eurosport once again. I'll be back throughout the week with regular round by round updates, and I hope you all enjoy the event wherever you are.

FANTASY LEAGUE: Points Update and China Open Info

First things first it's been a while since the last update with the Players Championship following the World Grand Prix so quickly and not giving me time to do a proper update and with the China Open following closely I've had time to update things this time around along with releasing information on how players will be priced up for China.

First up here is the latest points table along with the money each player has leftover in the Piggy Bank:

1st: Andrew Brooker 585 points (+ 5.1 million Leftover)
2nd: Gary 487 points (+ 1.3 million Leftover)
3rd: Ezgi Ulutas 472 points ( + 2.2 million Leftover)
4th: Michael Coudray 463 points  (+ 2 million Leftover)
5th: Sean 438 points (+ 7.4 million Leftover)
6th: Gorkem Kurt 429 points (+ 1.1 million Leftover)
7th: SnookerFollower 428 points (+ 2.8 million Leftover)
8th: Guillermo 401 points (+ 0 million Leftover)
9th: Anthony Ward 388 points (+ 4.6 million Leftover)
10th: LTD 387 Points (+ 0 million Leftover)
11th: Kjetil 337 points (+ 11.7 million Leftover)
12th: TungstenDarts 301 points (+ 4.2 million Leftover)


So, with two tournaments left of the season then, it's looking close everywhere apart from between 1st and 2nd place but that can still all change with the World Championships being a double points event of course. Anyway, it's time to get on to this weeks China Open up first.

China Open (Deadline Monday 30th March at 3.30am UK Time)

For this event you will have the usual 8 million to pick your two players plus anything you have leftover and as there are 64 players I'm not going to price them up individually, but will say that they will be priced up in the usual way, by current world ranking with the same pricing brackets used for the Welsh and Gdynia Opens in February.


Otherwise, if you have any questions please tweet me in the usual way, otherwise enjoy another week of tipping.

Perry, Bingham, Trump and Williams into Thailand semi's

Joe Perry, Stuart Bingham, Judd Trump and Mark Williams are the four players into the semi-finals of the Players Championship finals in Thailand after wins in today's quarters. Joe Perry started the day off by winning his match with Michael Holt despite losing the opening frame and following some bad luck from Michael knocking a red in from the perfect split in frame three. He'll now play Stuart Bingham who cruised to his second victory in a week against Mark Davis including a century, which have been incredibly rare this week. Judd Trump also gave a repeat dose of the World Grand Prix to Martin Gould by sealing a tough victory in that one. Mark Williams meanwhile has gotten into his fourth major ranking event semi-final of the season and third of the last month after sealing yet another victory from 3-1 down, this time against Matt Selt who had enough chances of his own to seal the win.

Quarter-Final Results:

Judd Trump 4-2 Martin Gould
Mark Williams 4-3 Matt Selt
Joe Perry 4-1 Michael Holt
Stuart Bingham 4-1 Mark Davis

What that means after todays play is that having started the quarter-finals with five players out of the eight having never won a full major ranking event, of that group, only Joe Perry remains but he'll be confident that he can win the two best-of-7 frames matches that he would need to tomorrow in order to take the £100,000 top prize, as will the other three guys left in with him.

Semi-final Preview:

Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams - This is now the fourth time that Mark Williams has come up against Judd Trump in recent tournaments with Mark beating Judd 4-1 at the Welsh Open and 4-3 at the Indian Open before losing last weeks match 4-3 on the black at the World Grand Prix. Both of these guys have been playing very well and have been unlucky to keep running into each other at every tournament. Mark seems as relaxed as ever this week and that will be helped by gaining more money on the players around him as he has all but secured his Crucible top 16 seeding now in my opinion although I guess plenty can still happen next week in Beijing. Mark has reached three full ranking event semi-finals before this one and he lost all three of those in very tight matches, but with Williams continuing to play well and not being fazed one bit by going a couple of frames down in these best-of-7's he never seems to be beaten until that last ball has gone down and that makes him so difficult to overcome. Judd has had to scrap through a couple of games this week and he may still be a little caught up by winning the World Grand Prix last week, as he doesn't appear to be at his best, which you feel he really needs to be if he is to beat a Mark Williams full of confidence and belief.

Stuart Bingham Vs Joe Perry - This semi-final sees two of the most successful players in the very short history of the Asian Tour events come up against each other here as Bingham takes on Perry. Both guys have won Asian Tour events this season and Bingham has won another couple in the past with Perry having one more to his name with this seasons. Stuart has also got a major ranking title in Asia to his name after winning September's Shanghai Masters, while Joe Perry came agonisingly close in June's Wuxi Classic. Equally, the two players are in good form with Joe reaching the Indian Open quarter-finals and the quarters in Gdynia too, while Bingham reached the Grand Prix semi-finals whilst also winning the Championship League in early February. The one difference here could be the determination of Joe Perry to win his maiden ranking event title as he knows going into this semi-final that with just two best-of-7 frame matches left if he is to win the title, this could be one of he best chances he'll have left to do so. Even though Joe has been in trouble once or twice this week, I expect him to push on now as he's certainly playing well enough and with a very nice rhythm to his play that comes to the fore when he's playing well.

With the final to come tomorrow and very little time between the semi's and that final, I doubt i'll be able to get a blog out in very good time so I'm going to pick my tournament winner now as well from my predicted finalists of Joe Perry and Mark Williams (hoping now that i'll be right!) and both players will be determined to get that ranking title and big money prize under their belts. Both will have the confidence to do it, but Mark Williams has been on a consistent run for a while now and the only thing that's been missing is a major title so I believe this weekend will be his.

The next stop for the players will be next weeks China Open and i'll be back to preview that one ahead of the start on Monday morning.

Selby, Robertson, Murphy and Maguire all out on day three in Thailand

It's been one heck of a day in Thailand for the last 16 of the Players Championship finals in Thailand, a day which has been dominated on Twitter by yet more talk about table conditions and some very unhappy players on that score. On the table it was top seed Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and Stephen Maguire that all went out at the second round stage. Shaun lost three frames having had big leads in each as he went out to Martin Gould, while Neil Robertson was thrashed by Mark Davis. Stephen Maguire came back from 3-0 down against Michael Holt to force a decider, but still went out to the Nottingham potter. Mark Selby also went out to Mark Williams who came back from the very brink, not only trailing 3-1 but stealing both of the fifth and sixth frames which Selby should've won to close the match out. Also, Matt Selt came back from 2-0 down to overcome Chris Wakelin, while Stuart Bingham saw off Mark Allen, Judd Trump came through a real late night battle against Mark King and Joe Perry also came back from 3-1 down to beat Anthony McGill.

Last 16 Results:

Martin Gould 4-2 Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump 4-2 Mark King
Matt Selt 4-2 Chris Wakelin
Mark Williams 4-3 Mark Selby
Michael Holt 4-3 Stephen Maguire
Joe Perry 4-3 Anthony McGill
Mark Davis 4-1 Neil Robertson
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Mark Allen

What that now leaves is a quarter-final line-up where only three of the players are previous ranking winners, with Martin Gould, Matt Selt, Michael Holt, Joe Perry and Mark Davis all hunting down a first ever full ranking event title this week. With conditions as they are and the tournament being best-of-7's throughout it is certainly time to expect the unexpected as we enter the final two days...

Quarter-Final Preview: (Pick in Bold)

Judd Trump Vs Martin Gould - These two guys met less than a week ago, playing a best-of-11 frames match in the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix. That match will live long in Gould's memory having led Trump 5-1 only to lose 6-5. However, Martin has come back from that stronger this week it would appear playing brilliantly with great wins against Michael White and Shaun Murphy so far, and with thoughts in his mind that he should've finished off Trump on Saturday, only 6 days on you can be certain that Gould will be determined to get his own back. Judd meanwhile has had to battle a little bit, and finished his match in the Last 16 against Mark King at roughly 12.50am which doesn't make life any easier for Judd considering he won the World Grand Prix in Llandudno on Sunday evening, meaning a very short turnaround for this. That best-of-11 long format match at the Grand Prix favoured Trump as he was able to play himself into the match, but there is no such time to take any liberties in the best-of-7's and that surely has to favour Gould after the result he had against Judd last time out, but also with the recent victories he's had in the first to four's.

Mark Williams Vs Matt Selt - Mark Williams just keeps on going and going and going in the last month and a half on the snooker table. A semi-final at the Welsh Open has been followed by a final at the Gdynia Open, winning the World Seniors, an Indian Open semi-final and of course the World Grand Prix quarter-final and now a quarter-final here. That is a formidable run and you certainly have the feeling that with how well he is playing, but equally with how relaxed and comfortable he is at the moment he isn't finished yet. Matt Selt meanwhile has had his best season ever, and that is only being increased by his run to the quarter-finals here. What Matt has done is really build up his confidence and self-belief with several good results in the last year, showing he can cut it at this level and that all of the hard work he's put in is worth it. However, his recent run is not in the same league as Mark Williams and if Mark plays how he has been in the last month then you make him the favourite to reach the semi-finals.

Joe Perry Vs Michael Holt - Here we have another good match up between two good players on the table, but two even better guys away from the table. Michael Holt has not had things all his own way on the table in the last couple of months (in fact that's a massive understatement) but this week he's played much better and something seems to have clicked into gear for him, helping him produce wins against Jimmy Robertson and Stephen Maguire. Michael knows that he should've done more in his career than he has and he still has the potential to win a full ranking event and break into the top 16, as he certainly has that quality. Joe Perry is in the same boat as Michael, looking for his first full ranking title and for me he has been knocking on the door a couple of times this season with that final at the Wuxi Classic and both him and Michael Holt are guys that have excelled on the Asian Tour to get to this event. I fancy Joe to win a ranking event before too much longer, and again this week could be his week, and this match is a real tough one to call. If Michael can relax here and play the way he wants, and not end up getting to frustrated then he has as good a chance as anyone, and after the time he's had in the last two months on the table, his expectations may not be as high, which is something that may have damaged him a little in the past.

Stuart Bingham Vs Mark Davis - Again this is another World Grand Prix repeat of a quarter-final from just a week ago. On that day Mark Davis missed a gettable black to win the opening frame and didn't recover afterwards losing 4-0. Two things that demonstrates is the need for a good start in the best-of-7 frames format, but also that things could've been a lot more different than the eventual score line we had a week ago. Stuart Bingham loves playing in Asia as the King of the Asian Tour winning more AT events than anyone else, along with having a ranking event title in Asia, in this seasons Shanghai Masters. Mark Davis meanwhile has a good record in Thailand having twice won the six reds event that is held here, but he just seems a lot more confident in these conditions (and they have been very tough this week) and if things go gritty, he's able to get on top of things. Both are in good form at the moment and will be high on confidence, but Mark has the extra fuel to his determination that a run to at least the final of this event will keep his automatic Crucible qualification hopes alive, whilst a tournament win would pretty much guarantee it, so you'd expect him to be the most inspired.


Those should be four very closely contested games and ones which could easily go either way, nothing is guaranteed in this format at this stage of a tournament. I'll be back at the same time to tomorrow to look ahead to the semi-finals to come on Saturday which are followed later on Saturday by the final.

Players Championship at the Last 16 Stage

It's been an eventful couple of days at the Players Championship Finals in Thailand where the best players from this seasons European and Asian Tours are battling for a £100,000 top prize. On day one there were defeats for Barry Hawkins once again to Mark King, while Ding Junhui went out to Joe Perry and Robert Milkins was very surprisingly thrashed by Chris Wakelin. Meanwhile, Mark Allen and Neil Robertson came through deciders against Ryan Day and Marco Fu while Michael Holt beat Jimmy Robertson and Matt Selt overcame Oliver Lines, and Stephen Maguire edged out John Higgins to get a very important victory for his Crucible seedings.

Into the second day and Shaun Murphy opened the show with a nice win against Rod Lawler while Martin Gould survived a decider against Michael White having previously seen 2-0 and 3-2 leads wiped out. Mark Selby then beat a very under par Dominic Dale and fellow Mark's Davis and Williams beat Ricky Walden and home favourite Thepchaiya Un-Nooh between. Judd Trump eased to victory against Belgium's Luca Brecel, while Stuart Bingham won with similar simplicity against Alan McManus while the day finished with

Last 32 Results:

Shaun Murphy 4-2 Rod Lawler
Martin Gould 4-3 Michael White
Mark King 4-2 Barry Hawkins
Judd Trump 4-0 Luca Brecel
Chris Wakelin 4-0 Robert Milkins
Matt Selt 4-1 Oliver Lines
Mark Williams 4-1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Selby 4-0 Dominic Dale
Stephen Maguire 4-3 John Higgins
Michael Holt 4-2 Jimmy Robertson
Anthony McGill 4-1 Peter Ebdon
Joe Perry 4-1 Ding Junhui
Neil Robertson 4-3 Marco Fu
Mark Davis 4-2 Ricky Walden
Stuart Bingham 4-1 Alan McManus
Mark Allen 4-3 Ryan Day


That all sets up a very exciting line-up for tomorrow's Last 16 games in Thailand remaining with the two table set up with four games in the afternoon and four in the evening local time. Here's what you can expect from Thursday's 8 games

Last 16 Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Martin Gould - These two always have good contests with each other, and to start off the Last 16 in Thailand I expect this one to be no different whatsoever. The pair are both incredibly attacking players who will always go for their shots and give it absolutely everything out on the table. When in they score heavy and they both have the long potting ability to give them those chances. Martin has been playing well in the last week or so getting to the World Grand Prix semi-finals before a disappointing loss, and he had to fight hard today in order to make sure that the same thing didn't happen again. Shaun Murphy meanwhile did get bogged down a little at times against Rod Lawler but once he warmed in to the game he looked confident again, and after some good practice following the Grand Prix he looks sharp for this event and those to follow. I expect this to go close but as I said in my preview, when Shaun's been on it in these types of events, he's really blown the field away, so if he's at his best you'd expect him to win.

Judd Trump Vs Mark King - Judd Trump is playing fairly close to his best at the moment after his win in Llandudno last week, and when he's anywhere near his best matches like this don't usually pose much of a problem. The issue that Mark King will have here is that he really makes too many mistakes, and against a player like Judd he's going to get severely punished for any kind of weakness that is shown. However, King did play some good snooker against Barry Hawkins despite losing the second frame on the three miss rule, so if he can replicate his scoring from that game then Judd will have a game on his hands.

Matt Selt Vs Chris Wakelin - Chris Wakelin had very much what was a surprise victory against Robert Milkins, but he is in decent form after a run to the Indian Open quarter-finals, and even though he is the lowest ranked player remaining in this tournament, he deserved to qualify just like everyone else and he has a great chance of victory again here. Matt Selt had no problem in round one beating Oliver Lines and Matt is now starting to show results on a consistent basis, after making a European Tour final in December and the Winners Group of the Championship League.

Mark Selby Vs Mark Williams - This should be an absolutely cracking game between two very classy match players who have had a lot of great matches down the years. Selby didn't have to do anything too special today against Dominic Dale, but that's the nature of the game and something Mark is good at is doing what is required to win. Mark Williams though is full of confidence right now after a brilliant month and a half, everything Mark seems to be doing is working out and I certainly don't think he's finished yet. His scoring was great against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh today and if he keeps that up he's going to take some stopping this week.

Stephen Maguire Vs Michael Holt - Both of these guys came through what at least turned into very tough first round games. Stephen Maguire had to come from 3-2 down to beat John Higgins, and it's always much tougher when you know that you have to win to help towards your Crucible seeding when a defeat could've left him in big trouble to stay in the top 16. Now that Michael White and Robert Milkins are both out, the pressure is off a little bit and he can just relax and play his own game. Michael Holt pulled off one of his best performances for some time to pull off a much needed win after what's been a serious of defeats and underwhelming performances. On his day Michael is as good as anyone in the top 16. What Holt needs to do though is work up his confidence and self-belief by beating the top players in the big events, so a victory tomorrow would be great, but it's going to be tough against an in form player like Stephen.

Joe Perry Vs Anthony McGill - Anthony McGill had a good win in round one against Peter Ebdon, and he hasn't done a lot wrong recently given that he's lost a lot of games in deciding frames against a lot of the top players. Joe Perry meanwhile is playing well at the moment and if he can continue on that way I expect him to win this game, because on the day he is the better player, scoring well when in amongst them, but also having a very shrewd tactical brain. The one thing you can notice differently with Joe in the last two years is that he is clearly a lot more confident in his game believing again that he can compete at the top of the game, winning tournaments and beating the games best.

Neil Robertson Vs Mark Davis - These two guys met only a week ago where they played out on epic that could only be decided by an 82 minute decider that went down to the black. Neil has been playing pretty well since the beginning of 2015 without doing anything special. Mark Davis seems to have turned his slightly dwindling fortunes around in the last couple of months with quarter-finals at both the Grand Prix and Indian Open. For me though, Robertson is much more of a consistent player and deep down he'll be annoyed by his defeat to Davis last week and he knows he should've won that match, so he'll be determined to make amends tomorrow.

Stuart Bingham Vs Mark Allen - This looks to be one of the ties of the round in a repeat of the Shanghai Masters Final. I honestly can't split these two players as they seem to be very evenly matched in most departments. Mark Allen came through a close game in round one and that will sharpen him up for the rest of the tournament. Stuart Bingham played decent snooker today, but wasn't really tested like Allen was. Bingham is in better form than Allen though, but Mark has had a few unlucky results in recent events losing a lot of deciders, so it's about time his fortunes around, so there's no reason why this can't be his week.


The prize money starts to rise up now we get to the last 16 with the losers here getting £7,000 while the winners are guaranteed £12,500 towards their ranking at the very least. It's all set to be three brilliant days of snooker to finish this event off now and with it being best-of-7's all the way to the line now it really is anyone's tournament still to win, with the majority of the 16 players left being more than capable of lifting the title on Saturday.

Players Championship Finals Preview

Another week comes along and it's time for another tournament at this busy time of the snooker season as the tour heads to Thailand for the Players Championship Finals. The Players Championship finals sees the conclusion of this years Players Championship after 24 players qualified via the European Tour order of Merit and it's six events this season and 8 players qualified from the Asian Tour order of Merit from the three events there. Last year Barry Hawkins was the winner at the Guildhall in Preston (after the tournament was moved from Thailand after some civil unrest in the month or so leading up to the event) and he's managed to qualify in order to defend his title, but Shaun Murphy is the top seed after topping the European Order of merit winning the Bulgarian Open, Ruhr Open and reaching the semi-finals of the Gdynia Open.

The venue in Thailand is the Montien Riverside Hotel and (having little to no life whatsoever) I've had a look at some of the pictures of the hotel and it does look incredibly fancy, some lovely rooms for the players assuming that they are staying there as well and, of particular interest to some players, the bar looks like a decent area to be as well. The tournament is a five day long affair starting of course on Tuesday and ending on Saturday with all matches throughout the tournament being played over the best-of-7 frames just as the qualifying events are, and the top prize for the event is £100,000 with the runner-up receiving £38,000 and the semi-finalists getting £20,000 with this all of course going towards the rankings. Meanwhile, by qualifying, all 32 players turning up this week are guaranteed £4,000 towards their ranking.

Of the players qualified, Ronnie O'Sullivan is obviously the highest ranked not to have qualified and that is purely by only entering one of the nine overall events across Europe and Asia, which was the Paul Hunter Classic where a Last 16 appearance was never going to see him do enough.

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Rod Lawler
Martin Gould Vs Michael White
Barry Hawkins Vs Mark King
Judd Trump Vs Luca Brecel

In this quarter we have the top seed, twice European Tour winner of the season and Masters Champion Shaun Murphy taking on the 19th seed Rod Lawler, while Martin Gould the 15th seed faces a tough match with Indian Open champion and 24th seed Michael White. Meanwhile, Barry Hawkins as the 16th seed sneaks in to be drawn against a lower seeded player drawing 26th seed Mark King, while newly crowned World Grand Prix champion Judd Trump the 6th seed takes on 20th seed Luca Brecel.

Martin Gould comes into this event following what may have been a good run to the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix, but an old saying that you're only as good as your last match makes you worry in Martin's case here as he managed to lose that semi-final on Saturday afternoon 6-5 from 5-1 ahead, and with a very short turnaround to his opening game here on Wednesday against Michael White, that may have a big affect on his confidence. You only have to look at Barry Hawkins to see that these things do affect you, as he's suffered a lot since his 6-5 defeat from 5-0 ahead against Nigel Bond at the UK Championships and there is always danger of the same thing happening to Gould.

Michael White is his opening round opponent and you could have certainly asked for easier opponents than the man that is absolutely flying in terms of confidence and belief after the month he's had on the snooker table, winning both the Shoot-Out which gave him a big boost leading into his maiden ranking win at the Indian Open. Michael was always a dangerous player before the start of this year, but now he's won that maiden ranking title and made his breakthrough you just expect that he'll continue that natural progression up through the game at a great speed now.

Barry Hawkins is a man that did have such a natural progression after his maiden ranking win at the Australian Open a few seasons ago, and it has led to him reaching World Championship finals and semi-finals in 2013 and 2014 as well as taking this title a year ago. However, he has absolutely no form whatsoever coming into this event and he's not had a great season overall, never mind since the UK Championships. Another first round exit 4-0 to Matt Selt at the World Grand Prix certainly won't help his self-confidence coming out here, and his first round opponent is someone who's already beaten him once this season, after Mark King took a 5-3 win in the German Masters first round. This wouldn't be a bad tournament or a bad time for Barry to turn his fortunes around, but there isn't even the slightest sign of anything heading in the right direction for him at the moment, after a long series of very early tournament exits.

Judd Trump meanwhile has had an absolutely fantastic season winning two events now after beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-7 to win the World Grand Prix, and two other finals this season where he lost to Ronnie will sit pretty well with him. He's striking the ball well, and looks to have his all-round game in very good shape ahead of what is now a very busy month leading into the World Championships starting in less than a months time, for which he will be a major contender. Trump always performs well in these PTC style events, and has showed that again this season earning nearly £27,000 on the European Tour through the six events. With the Crucible now in the back of his mind though, I'm not sure Trump will be as motivated for this 5 day event, especially having won in Llandudno only a couple of days before having to play his first match against Luca Brecel.

Shaun Murphy on the other hand is one player that will certainly be determined to do better after a slightly disappointing defeat against Peter Ebdon in the World Grand Prix, but what would've annoyed him a little more is the performance he gave in that match where his long potting seriously let him down. After winning the Masters and making the final of the German Masters very quickly afterwards, Shaun could've been forgiven for coasting just a little bit, but that Grand Prix defeat comes a bit of a wake up call that he won't get close to winning tournaments more consistently and picking up a 2nd World Title as he'll be aiming to do in early May. However, he is the top seed for this event and has performed superbly in this Tour style events in the last year and a half, especially this season where he came close to picking up £50,000 on the European Tour which was £17,000 more than his closest rival, and it's always worth remembering that Shaun won the first ever Grand Finals in 2011 and I'm sure he'd love to be the first man to win two Grand Finals. In six events he won two and made the semi's of another and these short sharp events seem to allow him to get on a roll and really fire at the top of his game throughout.

Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Robert Milkins Vs Chris Wakelin
Matt Selt Vs Oliver Lines
Mark Williams Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Selby Vs Dominic Dale

Mark Selby is the highest seeded player in this section as the number 4 seed having won the season starting European Tour event in Riga and he faces the very bottom 32nd seed Dominic Dale. Mark Williams made it into the event as the 9th seed after being the runner-up in Gdynia and making the AT3 semi's and he'll play the man that beat him in that semi-final, 21st seed Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Lisbon Open runner-up Matt Selt is the 10th seed this week and has got a tricky draw against AT2 runner-up and 18th seed Oliver Lines. Finally, Robert Milkins the number 8 seed takes on one of the other lowest ranked players in the event, the 30th seed Chris Wakelin.

I keep saying it, but Matt Selt is improving all of the time and the hard work put in by Matt is starting to really shine through and turn into big results now. He's constantly giving the top players a good game and comes into this having thrashed Hawkins during the Grand Prix. He's the 10th seed here thanks to consistent performances on both the European and Asian Tours and he'll be confident that he can pick up another win or two this week, especially as he aims to show that his Lisbon Open final appearance was in no way a one off.

Mark Williams is seeded one above Matt Selt for this week after reaching the final of the Gdynia Open recently, as part of his simply amazing run of form in the last month or so. A quarter-final at the World Grand Prix where he lost to eventual champion Judd Trump, sits very nicely with all of his other big runs in the last month and he despite all of the travelling, the plans that he and his personal trainer have in place appear to be keeping him in brilliant shape stamina wise for this continued assault of events that he's in. Saturday is Mark's 40th birthday and the secret that seems to have come with age is that he still works hard on his game, but because he considers that his best days are clearly behind him, he has no real expectations and therefore doesn't put as much pressure on himself and can relax more. He has a tough opponent first up in the home favourite Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, but Mark has had to negotiate many hurdles lately, and I think that he can deal with most things being thrown his way at the minute.

Mark Selby is still the fourth seed this week, despite not seeming to do very much since his win at the Riga Open at the beginning of the season, and in all truth he has done very little. The German Masters looked like being a major turning point for him as he had done little between winning the World Championships and winning in Berlin, but equally Last 16 exits at the Welsh Open and World Grand Prix along with a Last 32 loss at the Gdynia Open mean that he has also done very little since. The one thing we do know for sure about Mark is he is a very gritty character, and even though that German Masters victory came out of the blue, Mark has a handy characteristic of being able to play well when you least expect it, so you can never rule him out.

Robert Milkins is the eighth seed this week and deservedly so as he has impressed me a lot over the course of the European and Asian Tour events this season, reaching the Ruhr Open final, but also the Gdynia Open quarter-finals while in full ranking events he's had an International Championship semi-final and a quarter-final at the recent Indian Open. I think a lot of this comes through his sheer determination to get into the top 16 for the World Championships which he can still do if he has big runs both this week in Thailand and next week in Beijing prior to the seedings cut off. As I say, I feel Robert is another guy that is well suited to these quick fire events, with quick fire formats, while the draw for this week could've been a lot worse with all due respect to Chris Wakelin, and with the feeling and confidence that he can still put up a good fight for a Crucible spot, you wouldn't expect him to slip up there and I fancy him for another good run here.

Quarter Winner: Robert Milkins

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Stephen Maguire Vs John Higgins
Jimmy Robertson Vs Michael Holt
Peter Ebdon Vs Anthony McGill
Joe Perry Vs Ding Junhui

There are some very nasty matches to call in this section with the number 3 seed Stephen Maguire taking on one of the best 31st seeded players you'll ever see in an event in the shape of John Higgins. Jimmy Robertson has had a top class season on the Euro and Asian Tours to come in as the 12th seed where he will play 25th seed and AT1 runner-up Michael Holt. Peter Ebdon the 13th seed was one of the most consistent players over the course of the tour events and he plays 28th seed Anthony McGill, while 7th seed and AT3 winner Joe Perry takes on 17th seed and AT1 winner Ding Junhui in one of the toughest matches of round one.

Peter Ebdon I guess is someone that has slid slightly under the radar into the top 16 of the seedings for this week, simply by making a number of quarter-finals and semi-finals on the Asian Tour this season, but he's as dangerous as any other man in this tournament this week. Two good victories against Murphy and Maguire got him to the Grand Prix quarter-finals last week, and it's always a potential risk if you're going to underestimate what he can do this week too. Peter always seems to me to be one of the better players at adapting to the change of conditions from playing in the UK to playing in Asia, as well as possessing the stamina that is required with the continuous travelling at this stage of a season.

Ding Junhui however, is really struggling at the moment to even find a win at a venue in a major tournament. He comes into this week as the 17th seed despite winning an Asian Tour event, therefore giving him a much tougher draw against Joe Perry, and the simple mistake there is that he hasn't entered any of the European Tour events, and arguably those small events can help you build up some form for the bigger ones which could be a reason that players like Ding have struggled more this season and others like Shaun Murphy and Robert Milkins seem to have had one of their best ever seasons. If you ignore the qualifiers for the German Masters, Indian Open and China Open that were played at the Barnsley Metrodome or in Wigan, Ding hasn't won a match at a proper venue since beating Jimmy White in the Last 64 of the UK Championships, while in a full ranking event his best performance was a semi-final in Shanghai, but that looks hugely isolated when compared with his next best of a Last 32 at the German Masters and UK Championships. We all know that Ding is better than this, but he does badly need to get out of this slump now.

Joe Perry isn't going to make that particularly easy for him however. Joe is in a decent form again at the moment, and even though he lost in the Last 16 of the Grand Prix it was to the eventual champion Judd Trump, and he did make the Indian Open quarters before that so he is certainly playing well lately, as he has been for a while. Ding will need to play well to beat him, and he'll know that having been thrashed really by Perry without Joe having to do much in the Masters Last 16 where Ding was very patchy once again. Knowing that Ding is out of form, and that he has beaten him lately will also give Joe confidence, along with knowing that out in Asia he seems to play to a great standard having won two Asian Tour events in the last two seasons, along with reaching the final of the seasons opening ranking event in Wuxi.

John Higgins managed to sneak in to the Players Championship finals by making the Last 16 in Gdynia while others around him on the European order of merit seemed to melt under the pressure. John hasn't had his best year ever, and has been very inconsistent despite another Welsh Open title. His first round exit to Graeme Dott at the Grand Prix seemed to highlight again an example of a match where he was the favourite, seemed to play well and he still managed to lose. The truth is that while he may seem to be playing decent snooker, an unusually bad miss or poor safety shot the likes of which are usually rare with John, seem to creep in more and more with John these days, possibly as he isn't coping with the pressures of playing top level snooker quite as well as he did in his pomp.

Stephen Maguire is his incredibly tough first round opponent this week, and Stephen is in the position that he knows he has work to do this week, leading Michael White by only around £8,000 on the provisional seedings for the last automatic qualification spot for the World Championships. This is all by Maguire's own work mind you, choosing not to enter the Indian Open, which White won to end up getting this close. That shows an enormous confidence in your own ability from the Scot's point of view, and even though his first round tie with Higgins as tough as it could be, he has a good record against John and he showed signs of continuing his decent form of December through to February this season in his first round win at the Grand Prix against Guodong. Stephen played good snooker on the European Tour through most of the season and he usually seems to go well in these events, and he certainly has that extra incentive this week.

Quarter Winner: Stephen Maguire

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Neil Robertson Vs Marco Fu
Mark Davis Vs Ricky Walden
Stuart Bingham Vs Alan McManus
Mark Allen Vs Ryan Day

This final quarter here is easily the "quarter of death" if there was such a thing. Mark Allen the number 2 seed, winning one ET and getting to the final of another, could've had easier opponents in round one than 29th seed Ryan Day, while AT2 champ and 11th seed Stuart Bingham plays the 23rd seed Alan McManus. Mark Davis is the 14th seed this week and he faces a very tough game against International champion and 22nd seed Ricky Walden, while Gdynia champion and number 5 seed Neil Robertson plays 27th seed Marco Fu who is always a player you want to avoid in the draw.

Marco Fu isn't in the best of form at the moment, and in all fairness he hasn't played in too many events in recent times to show us much form. Fu didn't show all that much form on the European Tour only earning £7,416 to qualify. His first round exit to a more in form Mark Davis at the Grand Prix came as no surprise to me at all after he didn't play in India, failed to qualify for the German Masters and didn't look to be playing very well at times during the Welsh Open and Gdynia Open in between. You couldn't ask for much tougher draws than Neil Robertson who did win that Gdynia Open in order to qualify.

Neil Robertson did have to do things very late on in the European Tour to qualify as the fifth seed for the event, but he does have a good record in the Players Championship Finals and the tour events to qualify so it would've been a surprise for him not to do so. He was a runner-up in both 2013 and 2012 when the Grand Finals were held in Galway, and he'll be determined ahead of the World Championships, to keep his form up and come in with a big title making it third time lucky. Having Fu in the first round is a nasty draw, but one I also expect him to negotiate pretty well, especially having seemingly mastered playing in Asia in the last two years.

Mark Davis is yet another big name in this quarter that appears to be full of them. Davis is another player that appears to have started playing decent stuff in the last few weeks with quarter-finals in India and the Grand Prix after reaching the overall Championship League Final. Although, despite this good play, Davis did suffer a rather bad thrashing in the Grand Prix quarter-final to Stuart Bingham and that may dent his confidence a little coming into this and deep down he knows that he'll need to be at his very best against Ricky Walden in order to get through.

Ricky Walden is on top form this season it would seem after reaching the Indian Open final to go with his International Championship title earlier in the season, and even though he struggled a little more in the back half of the European Tour this season, he is still very well suited to this quick fire format when he's in good form because he can go missing in the middle of certain matches over a long format, but best-of-7 frames matches don't really leave you too much time for that, so invariably if Ricky starts well he goes on to win it, and even when he isn't on top form he can grind out the result, and that could be a big feature if he is to get past a very gritty player in Mark Davis.

Stuart Bingham is the eleventh seed for this event, and comes into this as one of the leaders from the Asian Tour which is a very nice marker with the Players Championship Finals being in Asia this time around. Bingham is a frequent winner on the Asian tour, but he also won a major ranking event out in Asia earlier in the season taking the Shanghai Masters. A Grand Prix semi-final along with his Championship League overall victory are the highlights of 2015 so far for Bingham and if he can carry some of that form again to Thailand he will once again prove a major threat.

Mark Allen only played in three European Tour events but he still managed to finish second on the order of merit thanks to early performances at the Paul Hunter Classic where he ran out the winner, and the Riga Open where he was runner-up to Selby, as Allen again showed his enjoyment of playing in tournaments that aren't too strenuous and are only played over a weekend. Mark won consecutive tour events last season and could've easily done that again this season, so he's clearly got a game well suited to these best-of-7 sprints over a few days. However, his season has gone off a little bit since the Masters in January, but with a tournament like this, now would not be a bad time to play yourself into a bit form ahead of the big one at the seasons end. Mark looked thoroughly fed up after defeat in round one of the Grand Prix to Liang Wenbo and the world did seem to be against him in the deciding frame and sometimes defeats like that, that really get the blood boiling are the ones that can spur you on to have a good run in the next tournament, and I have a feeling the same thing could happen for the Northern Irishman here.

Quarter Winner: Mark Allen

Tournament Runner-Up: Stephen Maguire

Tournament Winner: Shaun Murphy


It's very much a quick fire week again with this only being a 5 day event, but it is a key one with the Crucible seedings cut off looming large with only this event and the China Open left for things to change, and even though it is a short format throughout, there's sure to be some good games to watch on Eurosport who looking through my sky TV Guide are covering the event in it's entirety.

Fantasy Snooker League: Players for the Players Championship Finals

With the World Grand Prix still going on in Llandudno but the Players Championships starting early on Tuesday morning I thought it would be fairest to price up the players for this week now, rather than wait and update the points but with limited time left to pick players.

It's the same as always for this week: 8 million to spend on two players for the tournament plus of course any leftover money from previous tournaments that you may have, so tweet me if you want to know how much you have on that front. Otherwise players have been priced up on their seedings for the tournament which is worked out based on the combined money earned on the European and Asian Order of merits.

So, without further stalling here are the players:

Players Championship Players (DEADLINE Tuesday 24th March at 7.30am)

Shaun Murphy - £6 million
Mark Allen - £5.9 million
Stephen Maguire - £5.8 million
Mark Selby - £5.7 million
Neil Robertson - £5.5 million
Judd Trump - £5.3 million
Joe Perry - £5.2 million
Robert Milkins - £5 million
Mark Williams - £4.8 million
Matt Selt - £4.7 million
Stuart Bingham - £4.6 million
Jimmy Robertson - £4.5 million
Peter Ebdon - £4.4 million
Mark Davis - £4.3 million
Martin Gould - £4.2 million
Barry Hawkins - £4 million
Ding Junhui - £3.5 million
Oliver Lines - £3.5 million
Rod Lawler - £3.5 million
Luca Brecel - £3.5 million
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - £3.5 million
Ricky Walden - £3.5 million
Alan McManus - £3.5 million
Michael White - £3.5 million
Michael Holt - £3 million
Mark King - £3 million
Marco Fu - £3 million
Anthony McGill - £3 million
Ryan Day - £3 million
Chris Wakelin - £3 million
John Higgins - £3 million
Dominic Dale - £3 million

That's all from me then on the Fantasy League for this week folks, enjoy your tipping for this week!

Gould, Trump, Bingham and O'Sullivan to contest Llandudno semi's

Martin Gould, Judd Trump, Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the four guys into the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix in Wales after they each had wins of varying difficulty in Friday's quarter-finals. The day started off with Mark Davis losing the first frame on the black to Stuart Bingham and failing to recover as he was whitewashed. That was followed up by a very high quality affair between Martin Gould and Peter Ebdon where there were good breaks in pretty much every frame, as Gould won three in a row after losing the opener and after Ebdon pulled one back, Martin sealed his last four place. In the evening Ronnie O'Sullivan was far from his best against Graeme Dott, but after Graeme failed to capitalise on his mistakes and level at 2-2, it was the UK Champion who was a comfortable winner in a match where he admitted neither player played well at all. Finally, the last match of the day was the best one between Mark Williams and Judd Trump, who had met twice within the last month prior to this with Williams winning both times. Mark seemed to be in a good position to do so again after winning a vital third frame on the black to lead 2-1, but Trump responded well to go 3-2 ahead. Mark forced a decider, and in that decider it went right down to the final colours. After an attempted double on the blue went wrong for the Welshman, he left it over the middle for Trump who cleared blue, pink and black to win the match.

Quarter-Final Results:

Martin Gould 4-2 Peter Ebdon
Judd Trump 4-3 Mark Williams
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Mark Davis
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Graeme Dott


As we head into the weekend then, and the semi-finals, the format increases to the best-of-11 frames with the usual interval after the first four and that gives the players more time to settle into what is a big occasion as they look to keep themselves in the running for the £100,000 first prize.

Semi-Final Draw:

Judd Trump Vs Martin Gould - These two guys have had to come through some tough matches so far this week, but at the same time they've played very well on a number of occasions. First off, Martin Gould was superb yesterday against Peter Ebdon and equally as good on Wednesday night against Mark Selby in those two 4-2 victories. He's scoring very well at the moment and earning himself plenty of good chances in matches by holding his own in the tactical battles, but he will need to all of that again today in an even bigger occasion, against another big opponent over a format that would probably suit Judd more than Martin. Judd hasn't quite been at his best all week long, but he's been doing exactly what has been required of him to win matches, showing signs of increased maturity and a much better snooker brain. He scored superbly to totally blitz Dominic Dale on Tuesday, before showing us more of his all-round game against the tougher opponents of Joe Perry and Mark Williams who pushed him very hard and forced him to play well in all areas. I'm sure Gould will push him similarly today, and force him to play in the same way again, so I think Trump will take the place in the final.

Prediction: Trump to win 6-3.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham - Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan always have good games against each other and I expect this one to be no different. Stuart Bingham always pushes Ronnie hard, forcing him to play at his best or he'll be beaten. Stuart was 4-1 ahead of Ronnie in the UK semi's before losing 6-5 and he got the win against him in the same event at the quarter-final stage in 2013, shortly after narrowly losing 10-8 in the Champion of Champions final. He even led Ronnie 2-1 in the first round of this seasons Champion of Champions before three great breaks from O'Sullivan won that match 4-2. Neither player has quite been at their very best this week so far, and Ronnie seems to be struggling quite a bit mentally of later, and it just needs someone with a strong game and a strong head on the day to beat him, and I think Stuart fits that profile. Every time Bingham has come up against Ronnie in a tournament recently O'Sullivan has been playing well and while Bingham pushes him he simply can't get past. However, when Ronnie struggled at the 2013 UK's Bingham capitalised and I expect the same to happen today if Ronnie struggles again.

Prediction: Bingham to nick it 6-5.


We should have a brilliant day of snooker ahead then, and whatever happens I'm sure that we'll have a brilliant final tomorrow over two sessions and the best-of-19 frames, and i'll be back tomorrow morning with a quick preview of that one as well.

Robertson and Selby bow out at the World Grand Prix

Neil Robertson and Mark Selby were two of the players to exit at the Last 16 stage of the World Grand Prix in Llandudno yesterday. Neil was sent packing by Mark Davis after an 82 minute long decider went down to the final black as Mark came back to seal victory. Mark Selby meanwhile was outplayed in many parts of his match against Martin Gould who scored very well and played very close to his best to send the World Champion out. Ronnie O'Sullivan made it through comfortably meanwhile as he whitewashed a rather under par Robert Milkins. Judd Trump was the other winner on the televised table as he saw off Joe Perry 4-2 having been level at one stage at 2-2 with Joe. On table two, Stuart Bingham continued his good head to head record against Matt Selt, while Mark Williams came from 3-2 behind this time to keep the home hopes afloat against Ricky Walden. In the evening, Graeme Dott came through a tough decider in a tough match against Liang Wenbo, both of whom came through deciders in the Last 32. The evening ended with another top seed bowing out as Peter Ebdon produced more superb match play snooker to beat Stephen Maguire in a match that started late and finished just before midnight.

Last 16 Results:

Martin Gould 4-2 Mark Selby
Peter Ebdon 4-1 Stephen Maguire
Mark Williams 4-3 Ricky Walden
Judd Trump 4-2 Joe Perry
Mark Davis 4-3 Neil Robertson
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Matt Selt
Graeme Dott 4-3 Liang Wenbo
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-0 Robert Milkins


That leaves a much more open draw ahead of the quarter-finals with possibly a couple of players going into the semi-finals that certainly would have been odds against to do so at the very start of the week, but as we resume for those games over the best-of-7 frames tomorrow, we will be treated to four top notch games I'm sure, all of which are on the main table now.

Quarter-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Martin Gould Vs Peter Ebdon - At the very top of the draw we have a match between two players with rather contrasting styles. Martin Gould is a quick player who relies a lot more on heavy scoring, which is a particular feature of his game when he's playing well, but he can grind a frame out if he has to, though that is with much more limited success in my view. Peter Ebdon meanwhile, is one of the masters of being able to win any given match in any given way, and you will not beat Peter unless you're playing at or very close to the very top of your game. What he's managed to do against Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire in winning two brilliant games is to grind them down and force them into making a lot more mistakes than usual, and it could well be easy for Gould to fall into many of the same traps Peter will try and lay for him tomorrow.

Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams - These two guys have met rather frequently in recent times. At the Welsh Open they played each other in the Last 16 over the best-of-7 frames and Mark Williams came out the winner there 4-1 on a day when Judd was very much below par. A month on, the pair met again in the Last 16 of the Indian Open and again Mark came out victorious, this time 4-3 as both played snooker of a very high standard. Mark has reached the latter stages of a lot of events recently as you can tell from his victories against Judd, but you have to ask at what stage all of this will catch up with Mark this week and I have a feeling it will be in this match. He's already had to come from behind in both of his opening matches to win in deciding frames, while Judd has played some very good snooker and in doing so, has made things much easier for himself. Judd doesn't come across as the type of player that will think too much about his recent losses against Mark, but instead he'll be looking forward to playing him here and getting one back on the home favourite.

Stuart Bingham Vs Mark Davis - Stuart Bingham and Mark Davis have certainly not had to do things the easy way this week, as they get ready to meet each other in this quarter-final. Mark Davis has already beaten two top quality players in Marco Fu who he thrashed somewhat 4-1, and the third seed Neil Robertson 4-3. Mark has played some very good snooker in both of those games and seems to be coming into great form at the right time, after a whitewash against Higgins helped him to the Indian Open quarters last week. Stuart Bingham meanwhile, has struggled a bit this week since cruising into a 3-0 lead on the opening day against Anthony McGill. Anthony reeled off three scrappier frames in a row to force a decider, before Bingham came through and it was another scrappy match that he had to win in the Last 16 against Matt Selt, and he admitted on Twitter afterwards that he'll have to improve to go any further this week, especially as it's going to be very tough against Mark here.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Graeme Dott - Ronnie O'Sullivan was a little bit rusty in his match with Rod Lawler, but since being 2-2 in that match he's reeled off six successive frames to win that match 4-2 and beat Robert Milkins 4-0. He still doesn't seem particularly happy within himself, as he showed at the Welsh Open, but he definetly isn't in the same league here by any stretch. O'Sullivan loves these ITV events over one or two tables and in front of a big crowd in the UK, after all these are the events that he thrives on, not the PTC's or events where he feels like all of the attention is not on him because of a multi-table set-up, Although, Graeme Dott should push Ronnie much harder here than Robert did last night as he is a very solid player and won't be fazed as much by his opponent here. Graeme is certainly one of the great battlers, who believes in his ability to win a match from any position (much like Peter Ebdon). Dotty in fact is one of the most underrated players in Snooker history. We are talking about a man that has won the World Championships and appeared in two other finals at the Crucible. If Ronnie remains strong here he should win the match with Dott not producing some of the quality of those World Championships consistently for a very long time. However, if Ronnie starts to sink in his chair like he did against Lawler, Graeme will seize on that and run this out the full seven frames.


So, after the rest day for the Europa League we're now down to the business end of this tournament, with a one table set-up and a certain sprint over the next three days as these 8 remaining players are whittled down to our winner on Sunday night. I'll be back with more on Saturday morning ahead of the semi-finals.