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.
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