Last 16 line-up set in Llandudno

After the first two days of action at the World Grand Prix in Wales, the Last 32 has been completed and we are down to 16 for the second round of matches. Mark Selby, Neil Robertson and Ronnie O'Sullivan all went through on day one without much event, while Stephen Maguire played very well in beating Xiao Guodong, while Bingham squeezed through 4-3 against Anthony McGill having previously been 3-0 ahead. Martin Gould was also a winner against Alan McManus which now means he's got his punditry hat on for ITV4's coverage. The two lower seeded players to go through meanwhile on day one were Matt Selt, as he whitewashed an out of sorts Barry Hawkins, while Liang Wenbo came back from 3-2 down to beat Mark Allen, aided with some large slices of luck in the decider.

On day two Shaun Murphy was the first major player to go out as he finished 0 out of 12 on long pot attempts in his match with Peter Ebdon, as both players missed plenty, but Ebdon went through with a 136 break in the decider. That was shortly followed by the exit of out of form Ding Junhui against a very much in form Ricky Walden. Meanwhile, Joe Perry eased past Ben Woollaston with the help of a magnificent 139 break, and Mark Davis beat Marco Fu 4-1. The evening started with a couple of deciders in the all-Scottish and all-Welsh ties. Mark Williams came from 3-1 down to beat Ryan Day 4-3 on the black, while Graeme Dott completed a very good victory against Welsh Open champion John Higgins. To complete the round there was a comfortable win for Judd Trump while new Indian Open Champion Michael White was beaten by Robert Milkins.

Last 32 Results:

Mark Selby 4-1 Michael Holt
Martin Gould 4-1 Alan McManus
Stephen Maguire 4-1 Xiao Guodong
Peter Ebdon 4-3 Shaun Murphy
Ricky Walden 4-1 Ding Junhui
Mark Williams 4-3 Ryan Day
Joe Perry 4-0 Ben Woollaston
Judd Trump 4-0 Dominic Dale
Neil Robertson 4-0 Luca Brecel
Mark Davis 4-1 Marco Fu
Matt Selt 4-0 Barry Hawkins
Stuart Bingham 4-3 Anthony McGill
Liang Wenbo 4-3 Mark Allen
Graeme Dott 4-3 John Higgins
Robert Milkins 4-2 Michael White
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-2 Rod Lawler

So, there are still plenty of the biggest and best in the game of snooker left in this weeks World Grand Prix and we march on today with the Last 16 over two tables and the best-of-7 frames, which means that with so many evenly matched players anything can happen.

Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Selby Vs Martin Gould - This should be a great match between two very established players. Mark came through what was a testing match at times against Michael Holt, but a century and two other very nice breaks from Selby showed that he was confident and striking the ball very nicely and close to the very top of his game in all departments. As for Martin, he's missed a lot of tournaments of late and hasn't played all that much in recent times, and when he has he's been a little bit short on form, and he knows as well that only his best is going to be enough to topple the World Champion, and in the last couple of seasons or so, Martin hasn't been producing this nearly as often, and I expect that Selby will end up tying Gould in knots in the safety exchanges, and that could be where this match is decided.

Stephen Maguire Vs Peter Ebdon - The manner in which these two players came through their opening round games differed enormously. Stephen made consecutive centuries at the start of his match with Xiao Guodong and played very well throughout that entire match. Stephen also said afterwards that he's been working very hard on his game in the last couple of weeks that he's had between tournaments and that missing the Indian Open has helped him come to this event very fresh. Stephen has been in good form in the last couple of months and if he does stay fresh then he is a big contender for all of the remaining events in the lead up to the World Championships. Meanwhile, Peter Ebdon came through a mistake filled match with Shaun Murphy where the only thing of real note came from a very twitchy Ebdon in the deciding frame with a 136 break to win it, but that was after missing several chances in the frame before, and most of the chances he gained was from Murphy's uncharacteristically poor long potting. If both play like they did in round one, then there's only one outcome really.

Ricky Walden Vs Mark Williams - These two guys must come into this slightly jaded after their recent escapades in India where both made the final and quickly had to make it back to the UK for this tournament. Neither one played particularly well in scrappy first round affairs as Williams fluked a deciding frame pink to grab an unlikely victory from 3-1 down against Ryan Day, while Walden didn't have to play too well against a badly out of form Ding Junhui. Both will be feeling it coming into this match I would imagine, and I can see it being a very close and scrappy encounter. Williams has been on top form of late making the latter stages of most recent tournaments, and his new fitness regime helped by his personal trainer is certainly helping him gain some much needed extra stamina in order to go deep in these events consistently. It's sure to be close and could go either way on the day in my view, but I just fancy Mark to edge the victory.

Judd Trump Vs Joe Perry - Both of these guys came through with whitewashes in round one as Perry beat Woollaston and Trump thumped Dale in just over an hour. Joe Perry was in decent form last week to make the Indian Open quarter-finals, and he's been playing pretty consistent stuff over the last season or two, making him much more of a handful for the games very top players on a regular basis, of which he is one. Judd Trump complained of a shoulder injury in India but showed no signs of this in his flying victory against Dale where he was striking the ball incredibly sweetly, scoring for fun as usual and totally shutting Dominic out of the game. When Judd is in this kind of form it's very tough to tip against him winning, and the same applies here.

Neil Robertson Vs Mark Davis - Neil Robertson looked in some pretty good form in round one against Luca Brecel, while Mark Davis knocked in a couple of century breaks in his victory over Marco Fu. Both guys look to be in good form after Davis beat John Higgins on the way to the Indian Open quarter-finals while Neil Robertson is playing in his first event here this week since winning the Gdynia Open. On paper you have to say that Neil has a considerable edge here given that Mark has struggled often at times this season and Neil has been looking good with his game since the New Year despite a couple of blips. Neil will really want to push on now and keep gathering form and momentum ahead of the World Championships and that is why I fancy him for a big run this week.

Stuart Bingham Vs Matt Selt - Yes. That's right. Yet another match has come up in the draw between Stuart Bingham and Matt Selt. These two boys seem to have been meeting very frequently over the course of this season, and Stuart Bingham certainly has a big advantage on the head to head in those matches, including Championship League meetings and a German Masters Last 32 match. I've said very often that Selt is one of the most improved players on tour this season, but Bingham is playing some consistently reasonable snooker and knows now how to win all of these types of matches even if he isn't playing at his best. You think that Selt will beat Bingham eventually if they keep meeting like this, but these runs can last a very long time, especially when your opponent knows they have the wood on you.

Graeme Dott Vs Liang Wenbo - Both of these two guys came through first round deciders against higher seeded players, as Wenbo was rather fortunate in his win over Mark Allen while Graeme Dott played very well with particularly strong match play snooker to beat John Higgins. Liang is one of the most unpredictable players on tour. Only a week ago, Wenbo lost to lower ranked opposition in Jamie Jones from 2-0 ahead, while this week he was able to come from 3-2 behind to beat a much better player in Allen. His inconsistency has blighted his game for a number of seasons now and it makes him very hard to back in any given game. With Dott though, you know exactly what you're going to get, decent scoring matched with very good and granite match play snooker, and that is usually what does it in these relatively evenly matched games, and after all Graeme is the better player on the day and played the better snooker of round one.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Robert Milkins - This should be a very entertaining game between two very attacking players, who certainly don't hang around at the table. Robert Milkins firstly, has been in good form again this season as he pushes for an automatic Crucible place, making the final of a European Tour event and the quarter-finals of the recent Indian Open, along with the International Championship semi-finals. When he's scoring well and in good form he's a handful for any player, and if he's completely focussed on the job today and determined to win then I think he has a very good chance. Ronnie looks to be struggling a little bit again mentally with his game, showing this in very recent encounters in the Welsh Open and with Rod Lawler in round one. However, he will be much better suited to Robert's style of play, but equally he will have a much tougher opponent in Milkins and if he makes too many mistakes again, and looks as shaky as he did against Rod and at the Welsh Open, then he will be severely punished. It's going to be a very open game, and one I fancy to go quite close. On this occasion though, I fancy the underdog in Milkins to sneak over the line.


Plenty of even matches there and I'm sure there'll be more to come throughout the tournament, but who will make it through to Friday's quarter-finals? Well, i'll be back on Thursday to run you through all of the Last 16 results and to preview the four quarter-finals that will be played over the best-of-7 frames on throughout Friday.