WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Down to 4 and the magical one table

As the World Championships has reached its business end now, we're down to the semi-finals at the Crucible and that means only one thing... The magical one table situation that every player with big ambitions in the game is aiming to get to, as not only do they get to play in the greatest and most historic venue in snooker with no distractions, but it also means that they have a great chance of lifting that World Title on May Day. At the end of the day, if you're in it you can win it.

What have we seen in the quarter-finals? Well, firstly Judd Trump romped through against 3rd seed Ding Junhui. Judd Trump took an early 6-0 lead in session one, and despite Ding winning the final two frames of that session he quickly found himself further adrift at 9-4. From there Judd played some more superb snooker and looked unstoppable to win the final three frames of the session, before coming back early on Wednesday morning for the singular frame that he needed to reach the one table situation for the third time in five years. Next up, Shaun Murphy had a tough match with qualifier Anthony McGill, Murphy started the first session with consecutive centuries and romped into a 3-1 lead. From there McGill won the next three to lead 4-3 before Murphy took the last of the session to level at 4-4. Early in the second session McGill went 6-5 ahead and Shaun was far from his best but after scrapping away and taking frame twelve to make it 6-6 at the mid-session break, he came out firing after it to take the next three after the interval to lead 9-6. Anthony wasn't giving in though and big breaks at the end of the second session and the start of the third saw Anthony close to 8-9. Some good breaks after that though from the Masters Champion and some key misses at key times from McGill saw Shaun Murphy win all of the next four frames though to secure his semi-final spot.

Then, on Wednesday evening we saw the end of the challenge of Ronnie O'Sullivan for a sixth world title as Stuart Bingham put up a brilliant performance to see the back of him. In the first session neither player played near their best but it was Stuart Bingham who was able to do enough to win that session at 5-3 and get a good position in the match. The second session began with a magical 145 from Bingham to level the high break of the tournament and go ahead 6-3. However, he lost all of the next three frames to be pegged back to 6-6. From there both had chances but it was Ronnie who went 8-7 ahead and looked good at one stage to take a 9-7 advantage into the final session. However, it didn't turn out that way and after an excellent safety on the final red, Bingham eventually earned his chance and he cleared to go in at 8-8. In the final session though Stuart Bingham was simply excellent as Ronnie O'Sullivan barely had a chance from 9-9 to 12-9 such was the quality of Bingham's break building. When Stuart's chance to clinch the match came along he stayed cool and played brilliantly again to seal the victory and clinch his first ever appearance in a World Championship semi-final beating his previous best of the Quarter-Finals in 2013.

Finally, Barry Hawkins and Neil Robertson went blow for blow to record the match of the tournament so far. Barry struggled early on as a high break of only 24 saw him go 3-1 down, but in the final four frames of the session and the first two of the next session Neil went off of the boil and Hawkins started to play well as Robertson only made 8 points in those frames to go 7-3 behind. He started to find a little bit of form after this though and four frames in a row saw the scores squared at 7-7. The next frame was the longest of the tournament so far at around an hour and 10 minutes and it saw Barry win it on the colours to go 8-7 up as they were taken off a frame early. In the evening, both players were well and truly at their best as the first four frames saw two centuries from Hawkins and a century and a 90 from Robertson as they went into the mid-session at 10-9 to Barry. Another couple of big breaks from Robertson including another 140+ break saw the Australian edge ahead at 11-10. Back came Barry though to take the next two frames and give himself two shots at getting into the semi-finals. Robertson needed plenty of chances to force the deciding frame, but eventually he saw that they went the distance. Robertson certainly looked the edgier of the two players in the decider as he missed a long pot from a ball in hand situation, leaving Hawkins a go at a tough red which he knocked in to kick start yet another 50+ break to win the frame and the match, and you could see what it meant to him to get into his third straight Crucible semi-final.

Quarter-Final Results:

Shaun Murphy 13-8 Anthony McGill
Barry Hawkins 13-12 Neil Robertson
Judd Trump 13-4 Ding Junhui
Stuart Bingham 13-9 Ronnie O'Sullivan


So then, we have a superb line-up for the Last 4 in Sheffield and it's still a very tough tournament to call even at this stage with such a small amount of players left in the event. With best-of-33 frames, four session semi-finals we are certainly now about to separate the real men from the rest here though...

Semi-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Barry Hawkins Vs Shaun Murphy - This is probably the tightest call of the two semi-finals as both of these two guys are very evenly matched on their day and it's incredibly tough to tell how this will pan out over for sessions. The key of course will be for both players to get a foothold in the game early on, and build up from there with Friday being the day that they play two sessions, one in the morning and one in the evening. Shaun Murphy has obviously won a world title before and is the only one of the semi-finallists to have done so previously. Equally, this is also the first time that Shaun has gotten down to the one table set-up since 2009. That for me will make him even more determined than he has already looked so far in these Championships, as he attempts to make up for lost time and four quarter-final defeats since 2009. One other thing you look at in this tournament when you get to this stage is how much the players have got left in the tank. While Barry Hawkins has had a poor season and for that reason is still vey fresh, he's also played 16 more frames across the first three rounds than Shaun Murphy has had to play. That's hardly a small amount of frames, that's practically two extra sessions of snooker that Barry has had to play and that takes it out of you physically and mentally coming into a four sessions match. However, Barry has been terrific so far and never knows when he's beaten in these World Championships in the last three years, where in 2013 and 2014 it took a rampant Ronnie O'Sullivan to stop him, and he's been knocked out of the tournament. Shaun Murphy however is scoring just as well as Barry and anyone else in this tournament, and in my opinion he'll be confident, determined and is striking the ball as well as he ever has in his career. If he can maintain his concentration and focus for the really key moments in the remainder of this tournament then he's going to take some stopping, but as I say Barry never seems to know when he's beaten here either so we're going to be running close in the final session on Saturday afternoon.

Prediction: 17-14 to Shaun Murphy

Judd Trump Vs Stuart Bingham - On paper, this may look like a little bit of a one sided match when it comes to how these two guys are playing and their records at the World Championships, but you'd be a fool to think it would pan out this way. Judd Trump has been playing the best snooker in most peoples opinions of the four guys left in the tournament and that I why he's the new bookies favourite. This is also his third appearance at the one table set-up in Sheffield in just 5 years, while for Stuart Bingham this is his first ever Crucible semi-final and for him that will bring a whole different type of nerves and pressure, as well as the expectation that people will be putting upon him following his victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan. What he needs to do is settle early and get some frames on the board early in the first session this evening or he could find himself on the back foot very early on as Judd Trump won't look back once he gets a few frames in front, as he only has one thing in his sights and that is winning. Stuart is never used to playing in these four session matches either, an while it's not that different from four in all respects, it still needs to be prepared for in a different sort of way to all of the other matches he's ever played in his life. The other thing i'd like to point out at this stage with Bingham is his overall failure to play at his best for large quantities of this championship. In the first round he was let off of the hook in his final session against Robbie Williams who started to play very poorly, while Graeme Dott barely turned up at all in their second round encounter. In the first two sessions against Ronnie neither player was at his best and to be a 8-8 not playing your best against O'Sullivan was the boost he needed though as he looked determined and had only considered one outcome in his mind, playing some of his best snooker to take five of the six frames played from 8-8 to 13-9. The one thing you just feel about this match is that there will be one session where Judd blows Stuart away, winning a session 6-2 and the problem for Stuart is that it's going to be very tough returning that favour later on in the match against someone playing as well in all areas of his game as Judd Trump is.

Prediction: Trump to win 17-11


This is the stuff that us snooker fans live for as we reach the one table set-up at the World Championships and all of the quality snooker, high pressured situations and drama that will be on display inside the next three days of semi-final action as the players bid for places in the showpiece occasion of snooker. The World Championship Final. I will be back following the semi-final conclusions on Saturday to preview the final which of course is played over four sessions on Sunday and Monday. Meanwhile, sit back, relax and enjoy what should be two cracking semi-finals.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP: Selby OUT as we reach the quarter-finals

Mark Selby fell to the Crucible curse as in the Last 16 of the World Snooker Championships. The defending champion was the first to play and conclude in the last 16 and he was up against young debutant Anthony McGill. The first session was shared at 4-4, but it was on Friday morning when the Scot took control to lead 10-6 and eventually he closed the match out at 13-9. Meanwhile, Barry Hawkins came from 9-6 and needing snookers to avoid 10-6 at the end of the second session to eventually reel off five frames in a row against Mark Allen to win 13-11. Ding Junhui also made a superb comeback in session two of his match against John Higgins as John led 5-1 at one stage of session one, before Ding went on to win the final two frames of that session and won the second session 6-2 to lead 9-7. From there Ding was able to cross the line 13-9. The remainder of the last 16 ties were pretty comfortable as Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham both went through comfortably after commanding the early sessions on the way to 13-5 wins, while Judd Trump won the first two sessions against Marco Fu 5-3 before winning 3 of the 5 played in the final session to get through 13-8. Finally, Neil Robertson and Ronnie O'Sullivan finished off what was a very quiet second Monday at the Crucible (some would say the calm before the storm) as they each recorded their own 13-5 wins, with Neil Robertson's being completed by a tournament high break so far of 145 which overtakes the 143 that he made in round one.


Last 16 Results:

Anthony McGill 13-9 Mark Selby
Shaun Murphy 13-5 Joe Perry
Barry Hawkins 13-11 Mark Allen
Neil Robertson 13-5 Ali Carter
Ding Junhui 13-9 John Higgins
Judd Trump 13-8 Marco Fu
Stuart Bingham 13-5 Graeme Dott
Ronnie O'Sullivan 13-5 Matthew Stevens


This has surely set up one of the strongest ever quarter-final line-ups in Crucible history with 6 of the top 8 in the world through to the last 8, joined by the 10th seed and an up and coming Crucible debutant who is now steaming up the rankings. So, I expect the quarter-finals to be very tense affairs, even if they aren't all close to deciding frame finishes

Quarter-Finals Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Anthony McGill - This should be a very interesting match between the one qualifier remaining in the tournament in Anthony McGill, and a Shaun Murphy that is searching for his second world title after winning his only title in 2005 as a qualifier. The first thing to point out here is that Anthony McGill has really been through the mill so far in this tournament. After winning his final qualifier 10-9, he then showed good bottle to beat Maguire 10-9 having previously led 9-5, before knocking out the defending champion in another tough game, which is what you always expect against Mark Selby. He's been very relaxed and playing with a smile on his face with very little fazing him, but in my view you can't go into a World Championship with a view to winning and not let some of this change. At some stage in the match I think things will start to get to Anthony and that is simply because of the type of player he is playing in Shaun Murphy. Shaun has bullied his opponents into submission so far, almost making them surrender at a very early stage in the match and whether his opponents lack of ability to get anything going in matches so far is a direct result of his intimidating attacking style and heavy scoring is a different question. What I do know is that Shaun Murphy will be confident going into this match in his ability and how well he is playing, but also well aware of how good Anthony is, but this won't change the way he approaches the game. He will still take on anything he fancies getting and continue to play these attacking shots in order to win frames in one visit once he's in. For me, if Shaun can stay focussed he will continue to win frames in one visit, but also to steal the frames from behind which he has in both games so far, and these frames are the key to winning sessions, and matches.

Neil Robertson Vs Barry Hawkins - Here we have the battler of the left handers and one that promises to be great between the fourth and fifth seeds in this World Championships. Starting with Barry Hawkins, here is a man that doesn't know when he's beaten in this tournament over the last three years. This season he's already had to battle hard in both rounds. In round one things were made very difficult for him by Matthew Selt as Matt made it 9-9 from 9-4 only to lose that game in the end. Barry then had a fight on to win the last 5 frames from 8-11 to win 13-11 against Mark Allen. My worry for Hawkins is that Neil Robertson is playing altogether too well to fall into these holes as Hawkins doesn't appear to do anything spectacular apart from dig in. His performance in the second session against Allen was the only time he really scored well and won frames in one visit, and his safety play isn't good enough to undo Robertson. Neil meanwhile has been very comfortable in beating Jamie Jones and Ali Carter, making centuries for fun as usual (7 of them so far) and the two highest breaks of the tournament so far with a 143 and 145. His hard work and practice are really making him sharp and he looks incredibly focussed for this event and it's hard to see anyone beating him that can't win as many frames in one visit as he can, and I don't think that Hawkins is really 100% with his game still to do that and put pressure on Robertson.

Ding Junhui Vs Judd Trump - This last 8 tie in my opinion is the tie of the round and could be the best match of the World Championships so far between the third seed and the sixth seed. Starting with Ding Junhui, he needs to get a good start in this match you feel after the last couple of matches he's played in this tournament. Ding started off awfully against Mark Davis losing the first four frames before battling back from 4-0 and 5-3 to win 10-7 playing some excellent snooker and looking a lot fresher and more relaxed after what's been a short season for him and one which has put little expectation onto him for the World's in comparison to last year where many expected it would be his year. Again against John Higgins he showed he can battle back in matches but not by grinding his opponents out like some players, but just by knuckling down, focussing, and scoring heavy when in amongst the balls. Judd Trump though has been tested by Stuart Carrington and Marco Fu, but like Robertson and Murphy, he's stolen frames at key times and put his opponents in trouble early, and reaped the benefits later on in the match. He's scoring as well as always, and not playing as many reckless shots as he did in previous years when he turned up here, but you still fancy him to throw one or two in, but as long as they don't become a regularity like they were and he continues to stay with a strong mature head and battle his way out of tough positions with hard match play and great safety then he is one of the favourites for this tournament because of the quality of his all round game.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham - Finally, Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan meet yet again, two years on from Bingham's 13-4 defeat at this stage of the World Championships, and only a couple of months since Stuart's 6-0 loss to Ronnie at the World Grand Prix. The head to head is actually pretty odd between these two players because, although the same result of an O'Sullivan win is the same, in some matches Bingham pushes Ronnie hard as we've seen at the last couple of UK Championships, beating him in 2013 in fact, but getting thrashed in others like we saw at Llandudno and here in 2013. Stuart hasn't really had to play at his best yet in these World Championships, struggling in the first session of his round one match with Robbie Williams, before Robbie struggled in session two, and then Graeme Dott didn't turn up at all in round two making things very comfortable for Stuart. That means Stuart needs to knuckle down and start playing some of his better snooker, especially in the early parts of the match. If Bingham is in it after the first session on Tuesday afternoon, the scheduling of the match makes the back end of the second session crucial as the final two sessions of the match are played consecutively on Wednesday afternoon and evening which makes things very tough for both players. Stuart may not have been winning frames in one visit, but if he could start he'll be putting a load of pressure on Ronnie who hasn't been put under any in this event so far. Both Craig Steadman and Matthew Stevens missed too many easy balls to capitalise on a Ronnie O'Sullivan who seems to be taking every single one of his misses to heart and punishing himself either by hitting himself on the head, or releasing the anger on his cue by smashing it on the table or by making obscene gestures with it. Stuart unfortunately though is one of those players that brings the best out of Ronnie (which is unfortunate as I say if you are one of those players) and when Ronnie has been focussed he has still been knocking in the big breaks, but this match is all about whether Bingham can get him under the cosh early and make him feel frustrated.


Now that we've just a week until the World Champion will have been crowned things are really starting to hot up as these games are played over the course of Tuesday and Wednesday before the semi-finals starting on Thursday afternoon. It still looks to me like the most open championships in a very long time and I still can't pick a certain winner, because there certainly isn't a stand out player with so many playing well. I'll be back on Thursday morning ahead of the semi-finals to round-up what's taken place in the last 8 and preview those upcoming two games.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS: Last 16 Update

As we reach the Last 16 stage of the World Championships, things really begin to hot up as the best-of-19's are swapped for three sessions best-of-25 frame matches, where players always feel like they have a session to more or less play themselves into the match, and of course at this stage all of the players left have avoided the dreaded Crucible first round exit and their title campaigns are well underway.

As this is published ahead of the first set of Last 16 games starting this afternoon and evening, we only actually know six of the eight last 16 ties with Shaun Murphy and Robin Hull concluding tonight while Judd Trump completes his match with Stuart Carrington this afternoon.

What have we seen so far? Well, Mark Selby managed to recover from losing 5 frames in a row from 8-4 ahead and cruising in the opening match against Kurt Maflin to find himself 9-8 down and knowing that any more major mistakes would cost him the match. As always though Mark dug in to win 10-9, while a hefty celebration followed. Four finishes greeted the Sunday crowds at the Crucible and amongst those we saw 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott who had to come through qualifying, see off International Champion Ricky Walden 10-8 from 7-6 down after Ricky hit two centuries in the match. Before that Marco Fu recovered well after a losing a lengthy thirteenth frame to lead 7-6 at the final mid-session break to make a good clearance to go 8-6 and go on to beat Jimmy Robertson 10-6. One Scot that guaranteed his place on Sunday night was John Higgins after a comfortable win against Robert Milkins, while the battle of the Scots between McGill and Maguire flicked this way and that. Anthony was in control after stealing the final frame of session one to go 6-3 up, and after leading 9-5, Maguire reeled off four great frames in a row to force a decider, but he didn't get a chance in it as McGill knocked in a fine century break, just as he did in his final qualifier against Mark King.

Monday came and with it plenty more drama as Barry Hawkins almost repeated his loss from 5-0 up 6-5 at the UK Championships having led Matt Selt 7-2 after session one and 9-4 at the final mid-session break, only for Selt to making two centuries and a 94 on the way to forcing a decider, only for Hawkins to hold it together and win 10-9. Next up Neil Robertson thumped Jamie Jones 10-2, and Stuart Bingham came from 5-4 behind to Robbie Williams after the first session to win 6 of the next 8 frames and the match 10-7. Meanwhile, Tuesday saw the completion of a superb turnaround from Ding Junhui, after Ding trailed 4-0 at one stage in the first session and at 5-3 at the beginning of session two to win 7 of the next 9 frames sending Mark Davis home 10-7. Ali Carter was next with a very strong performance against Alan McManus to win 10-5, and Mark Allen managed to get through comfortably in the end after winning nine straight frames from 3-1 down.

Ronnie O'Sullivan wasted no time on Wednesday morning in getting through to the Last 16 winning comfortably against debutant Craig Steadman, while Matthew Stevens turned the clock back with a great performance to beat Mark Williams 10-2. Joe Perry did the damage in his match with Zhang Anda very much in session one as he led 8-1 after the opening nine frames and eventually got over the line 10-4, while Shaun Murphy ended up beating Robin Hull 10-3 on Thursday, while Judd Trump overcame Stuart Carrington 10-6.

Last 32 Results:

Mark Selby 10-9 Kurt Maflin
Anthony McGill 10-9 Stephen Maguire
Joe Perry 10-4 Zhang Anda
Shaun Murphy 10-3 Robin Hull
Barry Hawkins 10-9 Matt Selt
Mark Allen 10-3 Ryan Day
Ali Carter 10-5 Alan McManus
Neil Robertson 10-2 Jamie Jones
Ding Junhui 10-7 Mark Davis
John Higgins 10-5 Robert Milkins
Marco Fu 10-6 Jimmy Robertson

Judd Trump 10-6 Stuart Carrington
Graeme Dott 10-8 Ricky Walden
Stuart Bingham 10-7 Robbie Williams
Matthew Stevens 10-2 Mark Williams
Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-3 Craig Steadman

What this has all set up is a fantastic set of games in the last 16 of the World Championships and a set of games that I could really see going either way. Here are some of my thoughts on them:

Last 16 Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Selby Vs Anthony McGill - Both of these two guys went down to deciding frames in their opening round matches having each been comfortably ahead at one stage. Starting with Mark, he led 6-3 after the opening session against Maflin and made two centuries on the way to an 8-4 lead. However, from there he struggled and let Kurt back into the game and ended up trailing 9-8 after losing 5 on the trot and at that stage Mark's body language looked poor and he looked beaten. How he got through is simply down to his courageous attitude once again, and in the first half of the match he played pretty well. Having played one Crucible debutant in Kurt he now faces another in McGill who was very impressive in beating Maguire. To get to 9-5 ahead Anthony did need a little bit of luck, but he also played some very good snooker and once again showed his bottle with that deciding frame century break. All told I expect this to be a very close game, but one where on this occasion that overall experience and the Crucible experience especially may well tell over the course of three sessions.

Shaun Murphy Vs Joe Perry  - This for me is a really intriguing match now between two very evenly matched players. Shaun Murphy is the eighth seed for this event while Perry is the ninth seed after winning the Players Championship finals last month. Having now won a major ranking title Joe now says he believes he can take the big one here at the Crucible, while Murphy says that Joe will now know how to win and that this makes him a very dangerous opponent. Joe will be confident and his simple first round success was mainly down to going 8-0 in front against Zhang Anda who didn't settle in the first session. That killer instinct could be the difference this week for Perry as he fell short last year against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last 16 losing 13-11 from 11-9 ahead. Shaun Murphy meanwhile seemed to be cueing as well as anyone else that played in the opening round when he took on Robin Hull. He was knocking in the long balls just as he does when he's at his best and the breaks were coming with that two, including a century in each session of the match. Shaun is feeling confident and says he enjoys coming to the Crucible just as much every year, while in my view 10 years is too long for him to not have won another World title and he surely feels the same way. Winning the Masters in January along with settling down in his personal life will put Murphy in the best position mentally and physically with his game than he ever has done.

Barry Hawkins Vs Mark Allen - These two guys had first round games of varying difficulty levels in round one. Barry Hawkins could've won easily on another day but Selt played superb from 9-4 to 9-9 before Barry won. After an early test to be 3-1 down to Ryan Day, Mark Allen soon kicked into gear and looked to be playing very well as he rattled off a total of 9 frames on the trot with some strong breaks to match. Barry has been struggling at times this season and even though he has the stronger Crucible record in recent years his confidence certainly won't be through the roof after some of the ups and downs he's had this season. Mark however, seems to be very fresh and well prepared for this seasons Championship and I think he could go very far indeed if he continues to cue as well as he seemed to be at times of the first round. He took some stopping last year by Neil Robertson who was sublime in that match to beat Allen, and I think he could at least go one better this year.

Neil Robertson Vs Ali Carter - Here we have another interesting match between a very well practiced Neil Robertson who was one of the stand out players in round one, while Ali Carter was impressive once more at the Crucible in his 10-5 win over McManus. Early doors, my view is that Neil Robertson is going to take someone playing seriously at the top of their game to beat him, as he's going to be scoring for fun and won't miss too much when he's in amongst them as the statement that he potted 300 balls in a row without missing in practice, which is still some feat just for a practice session. Ali Carter meanwhile will be pleased to win his first match back at the Crucible after cancer treatment, and to play well also he'll be very happy. He scored heavily against McManus but he'll be under much more pressure to make the most of his chances here, as Neil will be punishing him very heavily. The last couple of times they've played Robertson has thrashed Carter, and I think Neil will just be a little stronger.

Ding Junhui Vs John Higgins - This for me is set to be one of the closest matches of this entire round. Ding played very poorly in the early stages of the first session against Mark Davis, but once he settled down he played a lot better, scoring well as he does when he's in good form and if he can carry that on he'll be a real handful across these long matches. John Higgins wasn't tested too much in round one against Robert Milkins and was at times allowed to coast along in the match, but again his consistency was still very up and down as he could've lost the last three frames of the first session from 5-1, but after stealing frame nine it was his for the taking. John's going to be in need of keeping his levels up throughout the three sessions of this match, because if Ding can keep his temperament together he'll be very tough to beat.

Judd Trump Vs Marco Fu - This match should be an interesting one with both players playing at much different times of the week for their first round matches, meaning that one has had much longer off than the other. Marco Fu finished his first round match exactly a full week before he had to start up again for this one in the second one and it will be interesting to see how he goes in the early stages of the game as his tournament basically starts up again. He played reasonable snooker against Jimmy Robertson, but I think against a more experienced player like Judd he will be punished a lot more severely for the mistakes he makes, of which there were a few at times in that match, and he was lucky in some ways to get over the line. Judd Trump meanwhile has had a much shorter turnaround having only completed his first round match against Stuart Carrington on Thursday afternoon and despite being tested by Stuart Carrington who played very well in the second session from 7-2 down, Judd played some pretty solid snooker in round one without peaking too soon. That for me puts Trump in a sharper position and he usually has the edge when playing Fu over any format, as he showed during their 2013 last 16 match at the Crucible.

Stuart Bingham Vs Graeme Dott - It was very much a graft and a grind for Stuart Bingham and Graeme Dott to get through to the Last 16 here at the worlds. Stuart Bingham firstly, had to come from 5-4 down after the first session to win 10-7 as Robbie Williams very much faded in the evening session which was just as well seeing as Stuart was struggling with most aspects of his game in that match. Graeme Dott did have to play well in beating Ricky Walden 10-8 in round one in a match where both sessions followed a clear pattern. After winning the first frame in both sessions, Graeme then had to sit out as Ricky Walden played excellent snooker to win three frames in a row before the interval, including a century in each session. The frame after the interval in both sessions seemed to be the key as Ricky had a lead of other 50 points only to miss an easy ball and Graeme to do what he does and put together a gritty clearance to steal it. From there he took control and the context of each session changed dramatically. It may have gotten a little edgy towards the end of the match, but Graeme is a very gritty player with a lot of World Championship experience having won it once, and appearing in two other finals, while Stuart has never gotten down to the one table set-up at the worlds. I think this match will be close after two sessions, and if this is the case, I certainly favour Dott to win it in that situation.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Matthew Stevens - Ronnie O'Sullivan wasn't in all guns blazing form in his first round tie, and certainly wasn't as sensational as a 10-3 score line suggests as Craig Steadman certainly had his chances. However, he seemed to be in a lot better place mentally and was well prepared, saying he's hungry for a sixth world title. Matthew Stevens is one man that will have something to say about that though. He played some brilliant stuff against Mark Williams who may have been playing poorly, but Stevens still made two centuries and looked to be back to top form and if he can repeat that against Ronnie over the course of three sessions and take the chances he is presented with he'll have a great chance. The one concern for me with Matthew is his consistency, which in the last couple of years has certainly been lacking from his game, and if there is one stage on which that can become evident it is in the World Championships over the duration of a three sessions match.


I think there is going to be plenty of great matches there with the potential to see even more deciders on top of the ones that have already been seen, and of course we are still yet to see the maximum that I predicted before the start of the Championships although we have already seen attempts featuring at least 10 reds and blacks from Jimmy Robertson, Ricky Walden, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui, so who knows what could happen...

I'll be back ahead of the start of the quarter-finals on Tuesday to preview what I think will happen in the last 8, along with another round-up of the action that will be seen in the next few days.

THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS PREVIEW

It's here ladies and gentleman!!! Yes that's right the one and only World Snooker Championships from the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield starts on Saturday morning at 10am with the defending champion Mark Selby in action, and runs for the traditional 17 days until the new champion is crowned on the night of May Day, Monday May 4th. There's nothing else like this in snooker and that is what makes it so special. Best-of-19 frames first round matches followed by Best-of-25 frames last 16 and quarter-finals matches before the best-of-33 frames semi-finals and the best-of-35 frame finale.

The news from qualifying is that the 16 qualifiers to join the top 16 seeds on the biggest stage of them all are Robert Milkins, Graeme Dott, Ryan Day, Mark Davis, Alan McManus, Anthony McGill, Matt Selt, Jimmy Robertson, Kurt Maflin, Jamie Jones, Matthew Stevens, Robbie Williams, Robin Hull, Stuart Carrington, Craig Steadman and Zhang Anda who came through the three qualifying matches to get here. Of those, Anthony McGill, Kurt Maflin, Stuart Carrington and Craig Steadman are making their Crucible debuts and each of those has an interesting draw in the opening round.

Mark Selby obviously kicks off proceedings on Table one on Saturday morning, while i'll be at the Crucible watching both sessions of Marco Fu's match with Jimmy Robertson on Saturday and Sunday morning along with the first session of the all-Scottish tie between Maguire and McGill on Saturday afternoon before watching another Scottish qualifier in Graeme Dott play his first session with (one of my favourite players to watch it has to be said) Ricky Walden.

What do I fancy for this years World Championship? First things first I'm going to stick my neck on the line and say that there will be a maximum 147 break, with the last Crucible maximum being in 2012, but with them being more regular on tour I think we'll see one this year. Secondly, looking at the first round draw I can see there being plenty of close matches and overall, a similar amount of deciding frame finishes to last year where there was 5. If conditions are good plenty of centuries will be fired in, but not a record breaking amount in my opinion. Also, I fancy around 4 or 5 qualifiers winning in the opening round which again is the usual amount in recent years at the World Championships.

Betfred are back as sponsors for this year and I've already been informed of the difference with some of the specials they've offered in their shops this year, as they did in 2012 when they were last sponsors. It seems from some of the early pictures of the setting up taking place also that the Crucible carpet this year is red, which is something I know a lot of fans wonder about in the days leading up to the tournament. Meanwhile, World Snookers attempts to host the draw (and tweet it as it happened) on the YouTube channel seemed to fail, although I only found this out afterwards having had the draw text to me while I was away from the house.


So, Without further ado, here's how the draw looks for the first round proper at the Crucible theatre along with my in-depth:

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Selby Vs Kurt Maflin
Stephen Maguire Vs Anthony McGill
Joe Perry Vs Zhang Anda
Shaun Murphy Vs Robin Hull

In the top quarter of the draw we have the defending champion Mark Selby taking on recent China Open semi finalist Kurt Maflin, while the defending Masters champion Shaun Murphy has also landed in this quarter of the draw and will play Robin Hull who has secured his tour place for another year at least after qualifying this year. Lisbon Open Champion Stephen Maguire takes on a fellow Scot in UK quarter-finalist Anthony McGill, while Players Champion Joe Perry plays the lowest seeded player in the event in China's Zhang Anda.

Stephen Maguire was in good form in the middle of the season winning the Lisbon Open, making the UK semi-finals and the last 4 at the German Masters, however the last month has seen him go slightly off the boil. The Players Championship, World Grand Prix and China Open all saw Last 16 exits which wouldn't have been pleasing for him after he skipped the Indian Open to come into those three particular events fresh and set himself up nicely for the World's. Something that's interesting to pick out for Stephen is that he hasn't actually won a match at the World's since making the semi-finals in 2012 after losses to Poomjaeng and Day in the first round in 2013 and 2014. In the opening round Maguire faces a very tough test against his fellow countryman Anthony McGill. Anthony has consistently pushed the top players all the way whenever he's come up against them since a confidence boosting run to the UK quarter-finals. He is one of the best young players in the game presently and I think he has a pretty strong all-round game with a strong head on his shoulders to go with that. He reminds me a lot of Alan McManus, which is a great compliment for a young Scottish player to be given. If McGill can settle quickly in the first session on his Crucible debut he'll be well in the match, and if he can get off to a fast start he'll have Maguire in trouble early on, and when that starts to happen he can lose it a bit if he hasn't settled and we could see some cue bangs.

Joe Perry had his crowning moment in Thailand last month as he won the Players Championship finals to secure his first full ranking title, after a very solid season that also saw him win an Asian Tour event and go well on the European Tour as well. Last year at the Crucible Joe was knocked out 13-11 in round two after leading O'Sullivan 11-9, but Joe did very little wrong and that match went down as one of my classics in 2014. He certainly has all of the experience to go all of the way at the World Championships, but you have to ask if he could sustain his usual quality for the full 17 days, as I feel like Joe would end up in a position where he could play a couple of consistent sessions in a match only for his opponent to come out and player a great session which he wouldn't have a response for, which is what happened against Ronnie last year. Joe's first round opponent is Zhang Anda who certainly had to do things the hard way in qualifying as he beat Liang Wenbo 10-9 in the final qualifying round, and Zhang is also the lowest ranked player left in the tournament. The problem I feel Zhang will have is that he still lacks experience at this level, and that he could keep up with Joe for the first session and a bit, but when it matters Perry will pull away to victory in my opinion.

Mark Selby has two so called "curses" to overcome if he is to win his second world title at the Crucible this year. The first is that no first time World Champion has managed to defend their title the next year, while the second is that, coming in as the China Open champion, no China Open champion has ever won the World Championships, while China has traditionally preceded the Crucible since it's return in 2005. However, Mark has the quality, experience and more importantly the mental strength to defy these jinxes and walk away with the title. He has admitted to feeling the pressure of carrying the title of World Champion around this season, but what first time champion hasn't? However, how many have come from having a poor season until February, yet still come to the Crucible with two ranking titles under their belts, as Selby has by winning in Beijing but also in Berlin at the German Masters? The number one reason Mark won the title last year, is that if he had a poor day or a poor session, he was able to dig in and stay in the match, come back the next day for the next session and take advantage. There aren't many players in the tournament that can do that, especially against the other top players in the game. Selby's defence begins against Norwegian Kurt Maflin who he played in the China Open semi-finals and beat 6-3 in the end. Kurt is a very dangerous player and Mark will know that coming into this match. Maflin will score heavily if he's on form and this is what he did in that semi-final. The key difference in that match was that Selby won the scrappy frames, and these are the frames that make the real difference in a match, and I think that will be the difference on Saturday.

Shaun Murphy comes into this tournament as the Masters champion, 10 years on from when he first burst onto the scene to win the world title. However, the thing for Shaun now is that he is playing the best snooker of his career right now and as a man in his early 30's like Selby is, you'd expect this from him. I think Shaun is as confident as he's ever been as well and this is the key as he seems to have settled down off of the table, having moved to Nottingham with his fiancée. Also, Shaun is working harder on the practice table than I think he ever has done and he has much more of an all-round game which it takes to win multiple titles, along with the superb ball striking that he has always possessed from all areas of the table. Even though he suffered a first round exit at the World Grand Prix, was knocked out at the Last 16 stage in Thailand and went out to Kurt Maflin in the China Open quarter's from 4-2 ahead, he's still striking the ball fine and didn't do much wrong in those last two defeats, and he'll be firing on all cylinders in Sheffield. The thing that will spur Shaun on is that is 10 years since his only world title and in the last two years he's had tough quarter-final defeats for differing reasons. In 2013 he lost a last 8 decider to Judd Trump before being thrashed 13-3 by Ronnie in the 2014 quarters. This year, Robin Hull is Shaun Murphy's first round opponent and he'll cause Shaun plenty of problems because he's a great player and seems to be close to the top of his game. They did meet at the UK Championships and Shaun on the day was striking the ball a bit better and he picked up some of the vital tactical frames, which he is getting a lot better at doing, and even though it will be a close run thing, I think Shaun will pass his first round test and that will strengthen him up nicely for the rest of the tournament.

Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Barry Hawkins Vs Matt Selt
Mark Allen Vs Ryan Day
Ali Carter Vs Alan McManus
Neil Robertson Vs Jamie Jones

The main men to pick out in this quarter are fourth seed and Masters finalist Neil Robertson who takes on 2012 Crucible quarter-finalist Jamie Jones. 2013 finalist Barry Hawkins plays Lisbon Open runner-up Matt Selt, while International Championship and Shanghai Masters runner-up of earlier in the season Mark Allen faces Welshman Ryan Day. 2012 finalist Ali Carter completes the seeds in this section and he'll play last years quarter-finalist Alan McManus.

Barry Hawkins has been struggling a lot in the second half of the season since his disastrous UK Championship Last 64 defeat to Nigel Bond from 5-0 up. Since then, Barry has really struggled and not been getting the results to he'd like because of the confidence hit that he has taken. At the China Open he started to play a little better and made the quarter-finals and that will give him a pick up and a much needed one ahead of the World Championships. His first round opponent this year is Matt Selt and he is one of the most improved players of this season and one that all of the seeds would want to have avoided in particular because of the results he's picked up. Matt will be full of confidence, especially with the beating handed out by him to Barry in the World Grand Prix, other a much shorter format. I don't think this match will be clean and free flowing, but it should go close and will be a test of bottle and character, especially for Barry given that somewhere in the back of his mind memories of that fateful York night against Bond will live on. Yet, you can also say that Hawkins has the memories of making the 2014 semi's and 2013 final.

Ali Carter has obviously had a rough ride since playing at the Crucible last year and he'll be glad to be back at such a great venue and playing at the World Championships. His seeding has been frozen at 13, and that is exactly what he needed when he was undergoing treatment for cancer. However, Ali has struggled really to get his foot back through the door at events since then and despite a couple of good victories he hasn't had a great run to really build up his confidence. One thing that will make him confident is his safe knowledge that he has reached two world finals and can complete well at the Crucible. However, Alan McManus is one of the toughest first round draws you could have and his game is always watertight, and you don't get anything for nothing against Alan which is why he got to the quarter-finals last year as a qualifier and he has the ability to do so again. I expect this to be a very tactical match and one that could certainly go either way, and right down to the wire too.

Mark Allen had a fantastic first half to the season, but has had some unfortunate results since then. he was playing superb on the way to finals in Chengdu and Shanghai and even made the Masters semi-finals before losing to the eventual champion. Deciding frame losses followed in the German Masters, World Grand Prix and the Welsh Open and all of those matches could've gone his way on another day so that is nothing for him to be downhearted about. His game is in good shape and he always comes up as one of the players in the bracket of never really fulfilling their potential at the World Championships. If Allen turns up focussed and pumped up to go then he is as good as anyone on his say, but the issue for him I think is that he will throw in a bad session and depending on how bad it is and when it is, he may not be able to recover. His first round opponent is another tough one in Ryan Day, and it's always about what Day does on the day. You can try and second guess Day all you want, but he is one of those players that is a nightmare to try and predict. We know he has the class and the quality to win a few matches at this event, but equally we know he needs to get off to a good start or his head could start to go down and he is another player like Maguire who can get frustrated very easily, so he will need to be in touch with Allen from the very start.

Neil Robertson despite not having his greatest season will still come into this event as one of the favourites to win it. His first round exit at the China Open may well help him to focus his mind ready for this tournament and he'll be determined to go one better than last year when he was knocked out in the semi-finals by Mark Selby. I think Neil could've easily gone on and won that match last year and ended up as World Champion himself, and that might be the extra bit of spice he needs to come back this year and do it. However, confidence is a key part of the game and if the similar sorts of things start to go wrong in matches as have been in recent times when he has suffered earlier exits than we have come to expect from Neil. For me the Masters final loss to Shaun Murphy created maybe a few more small demons that Robertson hasn't let on and perhaps needs to exercise if he is to win this tournament this year. His first round opponent is Jamie Jones and he will provide a tough early test for Robertson. Jamie has been to the Crucible before and played well there so he will come in without any fear and with the top players he has beaten in the past he has shown that he can cause Robertson a problem here and I expect it to go close, though the Australian's experience could be the decisive factor.

Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs Mark Davis
John Higgins Vs Robert Milkins
Marco Fu Vs Jimmy Robertson
Judd Trump Vs Stuart Carrington

This quarter is filled with talent as well, with World Grand Prix champion and UK finalist Judd Trump taking on Crucible debutant Stuart Carrington in round one, while four times World Champion and reigning Welsh Open champion John Higgins faces the highest ranked qualifier in Robert Milkins. China's No.1 Ding Junhui will take on Players Championship and World Grand Prix quarter-finalist Mark Davis. Finally, Marco Fu takes on Jimmy Robertson, which I will be at the Crucible for both sessions of.

Marco Fu hasn't had the best season ever to put it kindly to the man from Hong Kong. A Last 32 exit at the China Open followed Last 32 exits at the Players Championship finals and the World Grand Prix, and Marco hasn't really played many matches or played well in these matches since the Welsh Open and he could be coming in a little more cold than some of the other seeds turning up at the Crucible. Fu however, is a very gritty player with a lot of experience in the game and a lot of ability, so if that all clicks early on he could easily have a great run and prove a lot of people wrong that may have written him out of contention. Marco works very hard and always goes about his business quietly and confidently, but he will need a good start, in matches because if you're not quite on your game it becomes much harder to turn around these early deficits, however determined you are. His first round opponent in Jimmy Robertson is someone who is playing well and in my opinion will come in with little expectation from some people which might be a little harsh on him, as he is a good player on form as he showed earlier this season to make the Gdynia Open semi-finals. As I've said with a lot of players, it's all about whether Jimmy can get a foothold and be in it after session one.

John Higgins seems to have re-captured a little of his form in the last few months having won the Welsh Open, and playing well to reach the China Open quarter-finals. With all of his depth in experience at the World Championships he is never a man you can write off of winning the world title. Yet, I still think that calls that the John Higgins of old is back are a little premature as the Welsh Open win saw him beat only one top 16 player and he has showed a lot of inconsistencies in his game of late that he's never showed before. The problem that Higgins could have is that one day he will turn up and play a great session, but the next day he could miss a lot of easier balls and ones you would expect him to get 9 times out of 10. As he showed at the Masters this inconsistency can even creep up between frames with him following a couple of centuries up by missing easy blacks off of the spot and that just let's your opponents back in and help them to believe that you're not unbelievable, which is hope that Higgins never used to offer up. The other thing worth noting is that, since winning the 2011 world championships, John has only won one game at the Crucible which was in 2012 in a first round decider to Liang Wenbo, losing in the first round to a very tough opponent in Mark Davis, and again in 2014 to Alan McManus. The job isn't any easier for John this year as, like in 2013, he faces a man that could well have easily qualified automatically as a seed in Robert Milkins. Rob has had a good season and will trouble any top player, if he gets an early foothold in the match. Milkins is one player that needs to settle very quickly otherwise his head can completely go and before you know it he's played himself out of the match. Equally, if he gets a good start against you, he can soon have played you out of the match.

Ding Junhui has a had a very mixed season and a pretty poor follow up to winning five ranking titles last year. Book ended by semi-finals at September's Shanghai Masters and the most recent China Open, Ding went a long spell without any good results or any good runs of form, and lost a particularly large amount of first round matches in this time which is unheard of for a player of his class. What you need following a poor run of form is to come to a tournament and a venue that you are comfortable in and have good memories of playing well at. Unfortunately for Ding, the Crucible doesn't seem to be a venue that he likes, yet like with any place, if you can play a good couple of matches and build up your confidence and self-belief then who knows what can happen. Ding also comes in slightly under the radar and that could ease a little bit of pressure, though there's always this idea that he is carrying the pressure of a huge nation, as the only real Chinese hope of winning a world title, year in year out as none of the other Chinese players are in his class as yet. His first round opponent this year is Mark Davis and one that he has beaten recently in Beijing in a shorter format match. The problem that I have when it comes to predicting Mark Davis to win these kinds of matches is that, when you think he has a chance of picking up a really good result he doesn't live up to this expectation, yet if you don't give him much of a chance he seems to pop up and get that result. This could be a question of the pressure he puts on himself. If he thinks he has a really good chance of picking up a memorable result against a top player from the outset, then this puts pressure on him that he can't deal with, yet if he just relaxes and plays his game not really expecting much from the match, then he go under the radar to produce a result.

Judd Trump is one of the players that it seems everyone has had their eyes on this season to potentially win the World Championships, and along with Ding Junhui, is one of the players you look towards for a possible first time winner. Judd has really come a long way in the last year, since his loss to Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals, which could almost fit into the category of a capitulation. It seems as though all of Judd's hard work is beginning to pay off and he is maturing not only as a person but as a player, and is someone now with an incredible all-round game. His safety play, matched with his incredible break building and long potting to match means that he can find his way out of trouble a lot better and his temperament and character is a lot stronger than it was to play the percentages, rather than going for a rash swipe at the balls in hope of pulling off a stunning long pot. When you are looking for a world champion you are a looking for someone that has got the complete package and after his performances at the Champion of Champions, UK Championship and the World Grand Prix, he has also ear marked that he can make the comebacks from horrible positions and dig in to win games against the odds with a lot of bottle and courage. In the first round this year he takes on a debutant in Stuart Carrington, and as good as Stuart has been over the last couple of years to get into the top 64, a lot of the results he's picked up are of players with a similar ranking to his, or just in the top 32, having not really picked up many stand out results against any of the top players like Judd. When looking at the matches there are a lot of close games on paper, and you certainly wouldn't say that this is one of them, but you never know.

Quarter Winner: Judd Trump

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ricky Walden Vs Graeme Dott
Stuart Bingham Vs Robbie Williams
Mark Williams Vs Matthew Stevens
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Craig Steadman

The bottom quarter of the draw looks like one of the hardest to call as 5 times champion and reigning UK Champion Ronnie O'Sullivan faces debutant Craig Steadman, while International Champion Ricky Walden faces 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott. Shanghai Master Stuart Bingham faces Robbie Williams who has qualified for the Crucible for the second time having debuted last year. Last but certainly not least is two time World Champion Mark Williams facing an all-Welsh clash with two times World finalist Matthew Stevens.

Stuart Bingham has had another pretty good season this season with good runs in a lot of events, but yet again the titles for him have been coming in Asia and the in the UK he may have had a couple of semi-finals but he is consistently struggling to go any further than that on home soil it would seem. This year he has won the Shanghai Masters and yet another Asian tour event, and despite reaching the UK semi-finals in both of the last two seasons, he hasn't challenged for a title in the UK in my opinion. His first round exit to Ken Doherty last year was poor from him, not only because on paper he should've won but because the performance he gave was very poor too. I think Stuart struggles at the World Championships a little bit to be honest and this may just be because he favours the short format to the long format, because there are a lot of players that are like that. It may be something as simple as putting too much pressure on himself because it is the World Championships, or it could've been a different reason every year. This year is another story waiting to be written and he starts it off with an opening round game with Robbie Williams who didn't put on a good show last year, and is determined to do a lot better this time around although I don't know quite how he'll hold up in this match.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is always the first man that everyone looks to these days when it comes to the World Championships and rightly so as the 5 time champion and winner in both 2012 and 2013 and a runner-up in 2014. He comes into this years World's as the UK and Champion of Champions, having also made the World Grand Prix final. I think it's clear that Ronnie at his very best is just a cut above the challengers and that if he can sustain this for 17 days he will probably walk away with another world title. Unfortunately for him it's not that easy. He has always struggled mentally at different stages of his career and the World Championships is the ultimate test of the mind because at different stages in the build-up and over the 17 days as a whole where you will doubt yourself and your self-belief will be questioned, and it is up to the individual to deal with this. Ronnie has always suffered mentally and has admitted he struggles to deal with these doubts. It seems like his head hasn't quite been in the right place for a while lately, as he showed at the Welsh Open and even at times during the World Grand Prix, where having led 7-5 he just faded out to a 10-7 loss in the final. Ronnie's performance yet again at the Crucible this year will depend on how much he can keep his head together and stay on top of his mind and play snooker freely. In the first round this year he has a very tough cookie in Craig Steadman (who looks like the scariest man of all time in his World Snooker Live Scores photo) and that won't necessarily be the walkover that some expect. Craig has a lot of experience on the circuit, even if this is his Crucible debut, and he knows how to battle, so if Ronnie isn't on top of his game he will be punished.

Ricky Walden is still in my opinion one of the most underrated players in the top 16, and in fact he is seeded at 7 for this years World Championships and with good reason. Ricky admittedly plays his best snooker in Asia, where he can boast the International Championship title and an Indian Open final this season making him the second biggest money earner on the circuit for this season. In the UK the opinion is there that he has never performed but he could so easily have made the World Championship final just two years ago when he lost the semi-final to Barry Hawkins. Ricky has one of the easiest going styles in the game with his free flowing rhythm, and even though sometimes he gets bogged down in matches he is able to grind out a result and he's showed that many times, and he wouldn't have gotten to number 7 in the world without being able to dig in when he's not at his best. When thinking of World Championship contenders not many people will have Ricky Walden down on the list, and even the bookmakers have him priced far too big in my view because he could get on a run this year if he plays well and finds his strong rhythm. However, Ricky has an immediate tester against Graeme Dott who of course is a fantastic player, and of course a former world champion. Ricky will need to get a good start otherwise he could really struggle and Dott could get on top of him in the tactical department and starve him of the good chances that he needs to consistently win frames. However, Dotty of course is not as consistent in his playing levels these days and he even failed to qualify last year so this will be a very tough match to call and surely a close one too.

Mark Williams is someone a lot of people are talking about as a dark horse for this years World Championships, and it's easy to understand why. Mark has had a very good few months on the table, with 3 ranking event semi-finals this season at the International Championships, Welsh Open and Indian Open, finals of the Gdynia Open and Players Championship finals as well as the World Grand Prix quarter-finals. This, along with a considerable weight loss and fitness work, has him back in great form and full of confidence and belief (even if he doesn't like to let it on too much) and this along with some changes he's made to his cue and overall game stand him in good stead. Mark is so relaxed on the table and at tournaments that no match against any player seems to faze him, especially now that he's accepted he will never reach the same heights in his game that he has in the past. This acceptance has seemingly helped him to free his arms and play without as much pressure, although the World Championships of course brings this pressure and mental strain that you have to deal with, but I think he is one of the best players at doing so. In the opening round he takes on fellow Welshman Matthew Stevens, who has struggled this season and even though he has the experience, his game seems to be in decline with the lack of any kind of good results in the last year coming into this event, so I was surprised to see him come through three qualifying rounds, but I'm not sure with the inconsistency in his game how much further he can go once he gets underway at the Crucible on Tuesday evening.

Quarter Winner: Mark Williams

Tournament Runner-Up: Shaun Murphy

Predicted World Champion: Judd Trump


Whoever the winner is on May Day, then they will have come through the biggest test of skill and endurance there is in the game of Snooker and will be thoroughly deserving of their assured place in the history books, as the winner of what could be the greatest World Championships ever to take place. There's going to be some fantastic snooker played, heavy scoring, close games filled with tension, plenty of funny moments and the "Conkers Express" will surely roll into town a few times with the bottle required to win.

I'll of course be back with updates, upcoming round previews and opinions throughout the Championships and I doubt i'll sleep much ahead of my weekend at the Crucible and the start of the event. So, I hope you all enjoy it as much as I will.

FANTASY SNOOKER: Points Table, Money Left and World Championship Players

As the season comes to a close with the World Championships, it's time to release the details for the fantasy snooker competition. All the players will be priced up based on the seedings and of course there is 8 million to spend on two players along with any money you may have leftover.

First of all, it's time to update you on proceedings in the fantasy league by giving you the up to date table following the China Open, along with the money each player has left over:

1st: Andrew Brooker - 597 points (+9 million)
2nd: Gary - 499 points (+1.3 million)
3rd: Ezgi Ulutas - 495 (+2.5 million)
4th: Michael Coudray - 488 points (+2 million)
5th: Gorkem Kurt - 462 points (+ 1.4 million)
6th: Sean - 457 points (+ 6 million)
7th: Snookerfollower - 435 points (+5.8 million)
8th: Anthony Ward - 412 points (+ 3.8 million)
Joint 9th: LTD - 401 points (+ 0 million)
Joint 9th: Guillermo - 401 points (+ 0.7 million)
11th: Kjetil - 363 points (+ 10 million)
12th: TungstenDarts - 327 points (+ 3 million)

It may look like a big lead at the top but it's worth noting that the World Championships like the other triple crown events is worth DOUBLE POINTS so pick carefully and pick wisely.

It's the usual 8 million plus any leftover money you may have, and the DEADLINE for picks is SATURDAY AT 10AM. Here are the players:

Mark Selby - 6 million
Ronnie O'Sullivan - 5.9 million
Ding Junhui - 5.8 million
Neil Robertson - 5.7 million
Barry Hawkins - 5.5 million
Judd Trump - 5.3 million
Ricky Walden - 5.2 million
Shaun Murphy - 5 million
Joe Perry - 4.8 million
Stuart Bingham - 4.6 million
Marco Fu - 4.5 million
Mark Allen - 4.4 million
Ali Carter - 4.3 million
John Higgins - 4.2 million
Mark Williams - 4.1 million
Stephen Maguire - 4 million
Robert Milkins - 3.5 million
Mark Davis - 3.5 million
Graeme Dott - 3.5 million
Ryan Day - 3.5 million
Alan McManus - 3.5 million
Matt Selt - 3.5 million
Anthony McGill - 3.5 million
Matthew Stevens - 3 million
Jimmy Robertson - 3 million
Jamie Jones - 3 million
Kurt Maflin - 3 million
Robbie Williams - 2 million
Robin Hull - 1.5 million
Stuart Carrington - 1.5 million
Craig Steadman - 1.5 million
Zhang Anda - 1 million


There you have it then, spend wisely and have fun most of all in this World Championship edition of the Fantasy Snooker League. Any further queries then tweet or DM in the usual way.

World Championship Build-up: Diet and Fitness in Snooker

As the World Championships approaches I've been looking into an interesting topic which is now coming more to the fore in snooker and that is diet and overall fitness. The topic is something that I have discussed in great detail with Personal Trainer Steve Burke who has been working with Mark Williams now for the last year, and he's given some great thoughts on the topic to me to run with and start writing this piece.

 

30 years ago, when the 1985 World Championship Final was watched by over 18 million people on the BBC diet and fitness in the snooker world was barely something of great concern to many of the players. Bring the clock forward to the modern day and now as a snooker player, keeping yourself fit and healthy is taking greater and greater prominence. Mark Williams is now becoming a prime example of how a change in lifestyle can also change your fortunes on the table. Since he’s started working on his diet, started exercising more and working with his personal trainer Steve Burke (who has been a massive contributor in this piece and getting the whole thing off of the ground) his form has dramatically improved. Mark has been able to get back into the top 16, reaching three full ranking event semi-finals and a ranking event final in the 2014/2015 season, having lost two and half stone over this period.

So what difference does this actually make to a player? Well the first thing to point at is certainly that when you’re eating the rights foods and starting to make the healthy choices, this allows you to feel more alert and more focussed, maximising your powers of concentration. The World Championships is certainly one tournament that highlights how you have to be making these positive choices, with the multiple session matches and a hard 17 day slog if you are going to realise that dream of being a world champion. Having a good healthy routine is one thing of the things Steve Burke has highlighted in his work with Mark that’s helped him, and will continue to do so. Having a high energy filled meal, a couple of hours ahead of your session will help to stay fully energised and remain focussed throughout a session, whatever the length of that may be. So, in the long tactical frames where some players concentration may waver and they start to make silly mistakes that ultimately cost them frames and matches, players with a strong routine like this will be able to steal these frames, but then come back in the next with a big break to help stamp their authority on a session and a match, which is key to winning big tournaments and World Titles in particular.

Another one of the key aspects now with the increased calendar in snooker is of course the travelling, and avoiding the dreaded “burnout”. In World Championships around 2012 and 2013 a few players have talked about coming into Sheffield under strength because of all the snooker and travelling that had been undertaken in the months leading up to it. However, if you’re making healthy choices away from the table then the travelling and playing around the world becomes a lot easier. The key again is to combat things like jetlag and all of the travelling effects by having a healthy and sustainable routine that you can apply both at home and on the road. For example, it’s all well and good as a player having a plan for when you’re at home, but if you can re-create this or something similar when away in places like China, all of your hard work can be undone and the effects of travelling can soon make players feel lethargic and not perform to their potential. The key to maintaining the same energy levels on the road as you can at home, is to have a plan before going out and trying to maintain your usual routine of meal times and sleeping times, as your body will quickly begin to pick this up and behave as per usual. This is where for Mark Williams, working with a Personal Trainer like Steve has come in particularly handy. By having someone else to take care of these routines and make these healthy choices for you, they will know what works for the body and what will maximise energy and concentration levels in order for a player to get on with their jobs, play well and maximise their potential to give them the best chance of winning and achieving some consistency. That is exactly what was happening for Mark Williams. From mid-February to the end of March Mark has had a semi-final at the Welsh Open in Cardiff, a final at the Gdynia Open in Poland, won the World Seniors Championship in Blackpool, made the semi-finals of the Indian Open in Mumbai, quickly followed that by making the quarter’s in Llandudno at the World Grand Prix before going straight back out to Thailand where he reached the final of the Players Championship. What this all demonstrates is that when you get a sustainable and consistently healthy routine going with diet and fitness, you can re-create this anywhere in the world with just a few small tweaks and keep a consistent level of energy and concentration which allows you to play consistently well on the table, anywhere in the world, without the effects of all of this travelling taking too much effect on your game because of the sustainable routine you are in.

As well as diet, physical fitness has now also becoming a key in the game of snooker like many sports, with the packed calendar, in order to stay physically fit and avoid any injuries that can crop up in this game. It’s so easy in a game like snooker to pick up injuries in the back, neck or shoulder regions because of the repetitive motions involved in playing snooker for long periods of time, both in practice and with so many matches in so many tournaments in quick succession. So, what can players do about this? Well, one of the things again mentioned by Steve in his work with Williams are the exercises he designs specifically for him to help strengthen the muscles specific to snooker. What this helps to do is eliminate muscle fatigue and sustain good posture, which is particularly important over the physically demanding 17 days of the World Championships. This gym work though is not designed to overbuild these muscles, but just to increase their endurance, which is exactly what you have to be as a player to win any tournament these days, but particularly the big one at the Crucible.

There is a common misconception with diet and exercise though that it only affects you in the physical ways that I have mentioned above, but a healthy way of life can help change your whole outlook on life, and snooker as a professional. If you look good and eat well, the first thing you will do is feel good and a lot more positive, looking at things in a more positively, which can also help you to see things more clearly and make clearer decisions, which is something a snooker player has to do well to succeed in the sport. One thing I personally noticed when I lost two stones myself at the back end of 2013 and into 2014, changing my diet which I have kept up to this day, is that I started to feel more and more confident in myself as I started to look better physically. This sort of thing in a snooker player is huge as this new found confidence and the self-belief you can gain from making positive changes in your life and seeing them work out over an extended period, can be transferred onto the table as a player and have positive on their game. At the end of the day, snooker is no different to a lot of things in terms of the mental approach and outlook you have on it. If you’re confident and have belief in yourself that you can achieve great things and perform to a high level, you will start to fulfil your full potential as a player. Another thing that this can do is increase your motivation, because as Steve mentions, if you feel better and more positive you will be much more motivated and therefore more like to work hard in practice as a player, which of course helps you to feel a lot sharper when you come into tournaments as you feel as prepared as you possibly could be. Something else mentioned by Mr Burke when it comes to actually getting in shape is that if you can find a trainer or motivator to help you get fit, you will want to do it as much for them as for yourself because of the accountability factor that you wouldn’t want to let that person down, and you know that if you take a wrong turn you’re going to have them on your back. Moreover, it’s about positive and helpful feedback as you know that this person is going to tell you what you need to hear to help yourself and turn things around, not just what you want to hear, and this honesty is what some players need to act upon their flaws and weaknesses and actually continue to progress, rather than staying in the same slump.

Overall, as we head into the World Championships, the guys that are in good shape physically will be able to endure and have the stamina and concentration to stay relatively fresh, both physically and mentally, over the five long matches at the Crucible, under the most intense pressure over a possible 16 sessions to succeed and win the championship, while the positive mental affects will mean that they believe in themselves and have the confidence that they can achieve greatness when it all comes to a close and the world championship trophy is finally won on May 4^th.


If you have any thoughts on this topic, then feel free to continue the debate by commenting on the blog with your opinions or tweeting me @CueActionBlog. Also, I'd just like to thank Steve Burke again for his massive contributions towards this piece, which certainly wouldn't have gotten off of the ground without his help.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS: Final Round Preview

Here we are then ahead of the final round of qualifying for the World Championships. 32 players are battling it out over the course of the next two days for 16 places at the Crucible to join the top 16 seeds that are already there, and with the results we've already had we are set up to have some interesting names through to the final stages. Today sees the first sessions of all the matches with 8 matches playing at 11am and a further 8 playing the opening nine frames at 5pm. That means that Wednesday (which has now been dubbed as "Judgement day" by World Snooker who are going to be showing the matches and covering the final day with further coverage via the World Snooker YouTube channel for free) will see all 16 matches coming to a conclusion with the 11am starters from Tuesday finishing at the same time on Wednesday, and the same for the 5pm session.

In the second qualifying round we saw exits for Michael White the highest seed in qualifying as he was beaten rather heavily by Craig Steadman, and despite his best efforts to forge a comeback Peter Ebdon also fell to Stuart Carrington. Adam Duffy may not have a full tour card but that isn't stopping him as he played well again to beat Sam Baird. Igor Figueredo meanwhile would've been relieved to get past Rod Lawler 10-9 on the final black having led that one 8-2 at one stage. Graeme Dott and Ryan Day had easy wins as somewhat expected, while both father and son were beaten as Peter and Oliver Lines were knocked out by Matthew Stevens and Mark Davis respectively. Joe Swail's comeback brilliance popped up again as he didn't give in at 9-5 behind to Dominic Dale, winning in a final frame decider. Marcus Campbell's loss to Mark King now means that he will have to go through Qualifying School to earn back his tour place. Robin Hull enhanced his chances of not having to go down that route as he put in a brilliant performance to beat Ben Woollaston and he now needs to beat Igor Figueredo or hope that Li Hang beats Stuart Carrington and he should be safe in 64th place where he's currently climbed to. Meanwhile, Jimmy White will come back for the next two years with a fresh tour card after he can no longer make the top 64, as Matt Selt came back from an appalling first session after which he trailed 7-2, to end up winning 10-8. Steve Davis may have been inspired in his 10-9 win over Jamie Cope but he couldn't keep that ball rolling as an in form Kurt Maflin gave him a second round thrashing.

Here's everything that's happened over the last couple of days:

Second Qualifying Round Results:

Craig Steadman 10-5 Michael White
Jamie Burnett 10-8 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark King 10-6 Marcus Campbell
Anthony McGill 10-6 Cao Yupeng
Adam Duffy 10-7 Sam Baird
Jamie Jones 10-5 Tian Pengfei
Mitchell Mann 10-6 Gerard Greene
Alan McManus 10-4 Andrew Pagett
Ryan Day 10-2 Alex Davies
Jak Jones 10-5 Jack Lisowski
Li Hang 10-7 Gary Wilson
Stuart Carrington 10-7 Peter Ebdon
Robin Hull 10-6 Ben Woollaston
Igor Figueredo 10-9 Rod Lawler
Yu DeLu 10-7 Mike Dunn
Graeme Dott 10-2 Fraser Patrick
Mark Davis 10-7 Oliver Lines
Ken Doherty 10-6 Lee Walker
Matthew Stevens 10-7 Peter Lines
Joe Swail 10-9 Dominic Dale
Fergal O'Brien 10-8 Chris Wakelin
Kurt Maflin 10-1 Steve Davis
Zhang Anda 10-9 Mark Joyce
Liang Wenbo 10-5 Zhou Yuelong
Xiao Guodong 10-5 Liam Highfield
Jimmy Robertson 10-6 Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
Robbie Williams 10-8 Dechawat Poomjaeng
Michael Holt 10-2 Noppon Saengkham
Matt Selt 10-8 Jimmy White
Tom Ford 10-8 David Gilbert
Andrew Higginson 10-3 Luca Brecel
Robert Milkins 10-6 Darryl Hill

So, following those results here's what we can look forward to, in the final qualifying round:

Final Qualifying Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Jamie Burnett Vs Craig Steadman
Anthony McGill Vs Mark King
Jamie Jones Vs Adam Duffy
Alan McManus Vs Mitchell Mann
Ryan Day Vs Jak Jones
Li Hang Vs Stuart Carrington
Robin Hull Vs Igor Figueredo
Graeme Dott Vs Yu DeLu
Mark Davis Vs Ken Doherty
Matthew Stevens Vs Joe Swail
Fergal O'Brien Vs Kurt Maflin
Liang Wenbo Vs Zhang Anda
Xiao Guodong Vs Jimmy Robertson
Michael Holt Vs Robbie Williams
Matt Selt Vs Tom Ford
Robert Milkins Vs Andrew Higginson

It's going to be a nervy time with Crucible spots at stake so it will be all about which players can hold it together to get to the biggest stage, as I see a lot of these matches going close. Craig Steadman has been playing decent stuff and is a brilliant battler so I fancy him to hold up well. Anthony McGill is looking for his Crucible debut and that match against Mark King is a tough call but McGill has had a strong season so far, and been playing well. I fancy that Jamie Jones form and experience of qualifying for the Crucible will see him well against Adam Duffy. Mitchell Mann was one of my outside punts to qualify, so I'm going to stick with him against McManus after his two great wins so far. Again, Ryan Day is the experienced head against Jak Jones, while the clash between Li Hang and Stuart Carrington guarantees a Crucible debutant, and of the two Li Hang has really impressed me with his results and scoring power in his two qualifying matches so far. Robin Hull against Igor Figueredo is another interesting game. Robin qualified last year and has been playing brilliantly this season when he has played, and there's no way that either player should be ranked where they are. However, Igor had a battle royale with Lawler, and even though he got to the final round of qualifying last year he was then thrashed by Martin Gould. Again you have to back experience in Graeme Dott against Yu DeLu, and form in the match between an in form Mark Davis, against Ken Doherty who has been struggling this season.

Joe Swail was another one of my outside chances at making the Crucible and after a gritty performance against Dominic Dale he showed he still has the qualities, and I fancy that over some of Matthew Stevens inconsistencies. Kurt Maflin has been in flying form over the last couple of weeks, winning frames in one visit like he does when he's at the very peak of his powers, and even though Fergal O'Brien is so tough to beat, he may well be overpowered by Kurt's scoring is Maflin keeps knocking in the long balls to get in. Liang Wenbo against Zhang Anda guarantees a Chinese qualifier to join Ding Junhui as the lone Chinese seed at the Crucible, and Liang looks to have been scoring really well, and with his extra experience you have to fancy him if he keeps his form up. Xiao Guodong will have a lot of good memories of qualifying last year, and for me he is one of the best players not currently in the top 16, so I expect him to beat Jimmy Robertson and qualify. Michael Holt's record of qualifying for the Crucible is good and Robbie Williams only made his debut last year, and while Holt has been playing well, Williams has had to battle against Poomjaeng to get his win, so he'll need to step up if he's to beat Holt. Tom Ford has played well so far to beat David Gilbert and after qualifying last year, he'll now be confident of doing so, but Matt Selt is one of the most improved players of the season and if he's feeling better than he was at the start of his match with Jimmy White I think he'll edge Ford. Finally, Robert Milkins has been making hard work of a couple of games against non-tour players so far this week and he can't afford to do that against an experienced pro like Andrew Higginson. To go with that, Higginson scored as well probably as he has done for three years in his win against Luca Brecel and that followed another tough game on paper against Scott Donaldson, but I think this will be an open game which will suit both players, and go down to the wire, but I personally favour Higginson.

Whatever the outcomes of the matches are we will have a nice mix of players at the Crucible this year and plenty of possible debutants are still going so I'm sure we'll see a couple of those come through along with plenty of experience, but not before a load of tense matches down at Ponds Forge to decide it.

Next up for me is to preview the World Championship final stages at the Crucible with the first round draw taking place at 10am on Thursday ahead of the start at the same time on Saturday morning. There may even be a surprise to come from me before then...

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS: Round 2

After four of the eight days of qualifying for the World Championships down at Ponds Forge, the field has been whittled down from 128 to 64, and over the next two days in the second qualifying round that will be halved again from 64 to the 32 that will contest the final qualifying round with 16 places at the Crucible at stake for the winners. Lots has happened so far and there has been plenty of drama, along with some absolute thrashings.

Martin Gould was one of the favourites to qualify before he was beaten 10-6 by Adam Duffy, while Michael White had to come from 4-0 behind in the early stages against Steven Hallworth to eventually win 10-8. Alfie Burden and Nigel Bond have their tour places in jeopardy now as they suffered heavy defeats to Mitchell Mann and Igor Figueredo respectively. Reanne Evans made a very good account of herself against 1997 champion Ken Doherty with Ken edging her out 10-8 in a very tense affair that could've gone to a decider. Rory McLeod meanwhile was torn apart 10-2 by Tian Pengfei, while fellow Chinaman Li Hang mauled Chris Melling 10-1. Aditya Mehta's poor season came to a close with a 10-7 loss to Jak Jones, while Lu Haotian will have to go back through Q School to get his tour card back after losing 10-8 to Andrew Pagett. Some of the top ups from last years Q School order of merit who were invited to play in Sean O'Sullivan and Jamie Rhys Clarke were far from pushed aside as Sean nearly took Ben Woollaston the full distance losing 10-8, while Jamie Rhys Clarke put Ryan Day visibly under pressure (as Day was seen punching the slate with a lot of force on one occasion) before Day got across the line 10-7. David Morris meanwhile played the first decider of the tournament where he was knocked out 10-9 by Lee Walker. One of the biggest results of the round has to go to Steve Davis who rolled back the years against Jamie Cope to win the match 10-9 on the final black and put Jamie Cope's all important top 64 place in some jeopardy. Robin Hull's victory meanwhile means that if he beats Ben Woollaston he'll get into the top 64 and save his tour space, and the only real major surprise of Saturday was to see Kyren Wilson beaten as heavily as he was by Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon.

First Qualifying Round Results:

Michael White 10-8 Steven Hallworth
Craig Steadman 10-5 Rhys Clark
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-8 Barry Pinches
Jamie Burnett 10-8 Alex Borg
Mark King 10-7 Michael Leslie
Marcus Campbell 10-2 Ivaylo Pekov
Cao Yupeng 10-8 Ross Muir
Anthony McGill 10-3 Hossein Vafei Ayouri
Adam Duffy 10-6 Martin Gould
Sam Baird 10-7 Tony Drago
Tian Pengfei 10-2 Rory McLeod
Jamie Jones 10-3 Ashley Carty
Gerard Greene 10-4 Elliot Slessor
Mitchell Mann 10-4 Alfie Burden
Andrew Pagett 10-8 Lu Haotian
Alan McManus 10-5 Michael Wasley
Ryan Day 10-7 Jamie Rhys Clarke
Alex Davies 10-6 Michael Georgiou
Jak Jones 10-7 Aditya Mehta
Jack Lisowski 10-7 Allan Taylor
Gary Wilson 10-5 Eden Sharav
Li Hang 10-1 Chris Melling
Stuart Carrington 10-6 Joel Walker
Peter Ebdon 10-6 Lu Ning
Ben Woollaston 10-8 Sean O'Sullivan
Robin Hull 10-3 Martin McCrudden
Igor Figueredo 10-3 Nigel Bond
Rod Lawler 10-4 Michael Tomlinson
Mike Dunn 10-4 Itaro Santos
Yu DeLu 10-0 Hans Blanckeart
Fraser Patrick 10-3 Brandon Sargeant
Graeme Dott 10-4 Mark Owens
Mark Davis 10-4 Joe O'Connor
Oliver Lines 10-7 Ian Glover
Lee Walker 10-9 David Morris
Ken Doherty 10-8 Reanne Evans
Matthew Stevens 10-5 Ahmed Saif
Peter Lines 10-6 Rodion Judin
Joe Swail 10-4 Alexander Ursenbacher
Dominic Dale 10-6 John Astley
Fergal O'Brien 10-5 Hammad Miah
Chris Wakelin 10-6 Nico Elton
Steve Davis 10-9 Jamie Cope
Kurt Maflin 10-5 David Grace
Mark Joyce 10-6 Ian Burns
Zhang Anda 10-3 Anthony Hamilton
Zhou Yuelong 10-8 Zak Surety
Liang Wenbo 10-4 Chris Norbury
Xiao Guodong 10-1 Ong Jia Jun
Liam Highfield 10-1 Oliver Brown
Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon 10-3 Kyren Wilson
Jimmy Robertson 10-7 Thor Chuan Leong
Dechawat Poomjaeng 10-8 Daniel Wells
Robbie Williams 10-3 Lee Page
Noppon Saengkham 10-6 Lukas Kleckers
Michael Holt 10-3 Sydney Wilson
Matt Selt 10-8 Lu Chenwei
Jimmy White 10-3 James Wattana
Tom Ford 10-2 Andrew Norman
David Gilbert 10-5 George Pragnall
Luca Brecel 10-0 Saqib Nasir
Andrew Higginson 10-8 Scott Donaldson
Darryl Hill 10-9 James Cahill
Robert Milkins 10-6 William Lemons

Second Qualifying Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Michael White Vs Craig Steadman 
Jamie Burnett Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark King Vs Marcus Campbell
Anthony McGill Vs Cao Yupeng
Sam Baird Vs Adam Duffy
Jamie Jones Vs Tian Pengfei
Gerard Greene Vs Mitchell Mann
Alan McManus Vs Andrew Pagett
Ryan Day Vs Alex Davies
Jack Lisowski Vs Jak Jones
Gary Wilson Vs Li Hang
Peter Ebdon Vs Stuart Carrington
Ben Woollaston Vs Robin Hull
Rod Lawler Vs Igor Figueredo
Mike Dunn Vs Yu DeLu
Graeme Dott Vs Fraser Patrick
Mark Davis Vs Oliver Lines
Ken Doherty Vs Lee Walker
Matthew Stevens Vs Peter Lines
Dominic Dale Vs Joe Swail
Fergal O'Brien Vs Chris Wakelin
Kurt Maflin Vs Steve Davis
Mark Joyce Vs Zhang Anda
Liang Wenbo Vs Zhou Yuelong
Xiao Guodong Vs Liam Highfield
Jimmy Robertson Vs Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Robbie Williams
Michael Holt Vs Noppon Saengkham
Matt Selt Vs Jimmy White
David Gilbert Vs Tom Ford
Luca Brecel Vs Andrew Higginson
Robert Milkins Vs Darryl Hill


After a lot of games between established players and wildcard invitations came out with walkovers and a lot of easy results were obtained by players against others that were seriously out of form, I expect round two of qualifying to lead to many more close matches going right down to the wire with some dramatic finishes and a few more deciding frames to keep us all entertained, as we go another step closer to finding out who will join the top 16 seeds at the Crucible starting on Saturday April 18th. Personally, I can't see many of these matches being walkovers at all, and I could see a lot of the outsiders winning these matches. Zhang Anda and Li Hang played brilliantly in round one, while Zhou Yuelong is scoring well every time he seems to play. Robin Hull will be incredibly determined as he should be well aware that a victory against Ben Woollaston on Monday will see him get into the top 64 and retain his tour place for next year. Joe Swail is in the same boat as he takes on a mixed bag in Dominic Dale, while Lee Walker already has a victory against David Morris this week and Ken didn't play too well in round one so will be up against it again. As for the rest, I just have good feelings on the likes of Jak Jones and Mitchell Mann, particularly after their performances in round one, while I'd probably put Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is probably the favourite in my book against Jamie Burnett by a distance, despite being the lower seed.

Whatever happens though I'm sure the excitement will peak on Tuesday and Wednesday with the final qualifying round and I will be back to preview that one ahead of Tuesday morning's start.

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP QUALIFIERS PREVIEW

It's that time of the year once again, and it seems to come around quicker than ever these days. That's right the World Championship begins on Wednesday at Ponds Forge in Sheffield for the qualifying event which is like a tournament in it's own right, where 128 names will be cut down to just 16 that will join the top 16 players in the world who are seeded through to the first round proper at the Crucible. The new format for qualifying sees 128 players, with quite a number of invitations, taking on three rounds of qualifying over the best-of-19 frames in order to qualify and with all players starting in round one anything could happen.

Not only are places at the Crucible at stake, but it is also a good opportunity for some of the wildcard invites, and top ups from the Q School Order of Merit to impress, and perhaps sneak a result or two here and there. Meanwhile, there is also the matter of tour survival, with those outside of the top 64 at the end of the season dropping off of the tour, unless of course they have already, or will go on to, re-qualify via other means. As always there are some big names with plenty of former world champions in these qualifying stages, but you can also bet that some of the young guns from down the rankings will come under the radar to qualify for the Crucible, and their will be plenty of first time Crucible qualifiers, because there is every single year.

We start up then on Wednesday with morning, afternoon and evening sessions throughout the early stages, as the first round of 64 matches concludes on Saturday, while Sunday and Monday sees the 32 second round matches, and the final qualifying round is played out over Tuesday and Wednesday of next week, which will of course only leave two free days from the end of qualifying to the start of the main event itself.

Here then is how the draw shapes up for these all important World Championship Qualifiers:

Section 1

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Michael White Vs Steven Hallworth
Craig Steadman Vs Rhys Clark
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Barry Pinches
Jamie Burnett Vs Alex Borg

The main man in this section is of course the Indian Open winner Michael White, who was unlucky not to qualify automatically for the Crucible, missing out by about £11,000 on the seedings list, and he has been playing some brilliant snooker of late which makes him a big favourite to qualify for the Crucible whoever he is playing. Elsewhere in this section, Craig Steadman was the man who in last years qualifiers, knocked out Steve Davis meaning that Steve dropped off of the professional tour, and since coming back on tour via Q School himself, he has had some much better results and could be dangerous this week. Jamie Burnett qualified for the Crucible last year before losing out to Joe Perry and you certainly couldn't rule him out again but his form is far too inconsistent for him to be a solid pick to qualify in my eyes. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is the other seeded player in this section, and he faces a tough match player in round one taking on Barry Pinches, but Un-Nooh has had a decent 2015 so far, reaching the semi-finals of the Indian Open and the final of the Asian Tour event 3, and as he begins to head in the right direction in terms of ranking, perhaps he will start to fulfil the potential that we all know that he has.

Predicted Qualifier: Michael White

Section 2

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark King Vs Michael Leslie
Marcus Campbell Vs Ivaylo Pekov
Cao Yupeng Vs Ross Muir
Anthony McGill Vs Hossein Vafei Ayouri

In this section we have a couple of players who are in and around that 64 mark in the end of season rankings to stay on tour. Cao Yupeng is a presently safe but equally dangerous position sitting just less than £8,000 clear of 65th place in 61st, but if he were to lose his tough opening round match with Ross Muir that could seriously plunge him into dangerous position. Marcus Campbell meanwhile needs to qualify you would feel to have any chance of staying on tour for next year as he is £8,000 away from 64th place Tom Ford, though he could've had worse draws than the relatively unknown Bulgarian wildcard he'll come up against in round one. Just a quick note from me that it's great to see Hossein Vafei Ayouri entering this, and even though he has Anthony McGill in the first qualifying round it would be nice to see him at least push him close, but you never know what could happen. Anthony McGill will be one of the favourites to qualify from this section, having had a very impressive season so far, pushing a lot of the top players close this season, and a few deciders could be the difference of a lot of extra ranking money this season, and on current form he is the best player in this section and I'd like to see him qualify to round off his best season yet. Mark King will have something to say about that mind you and he has a couple of decent results over the last couple of months, though otherwise it has been a disappointing campaign for King and he has struggled a fair bit at times, so he could do with Crucible qualification to boost his ranking going into next season.

Predicted Qualifier: Anthony McGill

Section 3

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Martin Gould Vs Adam Duffy
Sam Baird Vs Tony Drago
Rory McLeod Vs Tian Pengfei
Jamie Jones Vs Ashley Carty

Amongst a few of the young guns in this quarter, Martin Gould is certainly the experienced head of these guys and one of the clear favourites to qualify from this section. Martin has had a solid month coming into the back end of the season, and after skipping to the China Open, that would've helped enhance his preparations following a Players Championship quarter-final and Grand Prix semi-final. Martin has also got a good record of qualifying for the Crucible in recent seasons so he'll certainly be confident that he can do so again. Sam Baird was a Crucible debutant in 2013, so he knows what it takes to qualify and he continues to consistently pick up a good result here and there, but he needs to start putting together much more consistent runs to really climb up the rankings in the next couple of seasons as he should be doing. If he can get past the unpredictable as ever Tony Drago in round one then you never know, he could have another great run this week to qualify. Rory McLeod hasn't really performed much at all this season for me to say that he has a chance of qualifying for the Crucible, and a tough first round match against Tian Pengfei doesn't make things any easier for him as Tian is often a player that will pick up a couple of results here and there against anyone that is struggling, though he never seems to be pushing on enough and even though he has a chance, I wouldn't say he's a good shout for a Crucible place. Jamie Jones however, will be looking to prove that his debut Crucible run to the quarter-finals in 2012 wasn't a one off, and after some good results in the last few events (including beating Stevens and Fu to reach the Last 16 in Beijing) he will be feeling confident and I think he has a good chance of reaching the Crucible again this year, if he can play as well as he has been for parts of this season.

Predicted Qualifier: Martin Gould

Section 4

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Gerard Greene Vs Elliot Slessor
Alfie Burden Vs Mitchell Mann
Lu Haotian Vs Andrew Pagett
Alan McManus Vs Michael Wasley

This is one of the toughest sections in the entire qualifying draw to call, with no really stand out players, but also of the 'un-seeded' players, they are all tour pro's, unlike sections where the seeds have been drawn against Q School top-ups or wildcard invites. Alan McManus of course has qualified for the Crucible in the last couple of seasons, making the quarter-finals last year before losing out to eventual world champion Mark Selby. However, Alan has a very tough first round encounter with Michael Wasley who was a first time qualifier in 2014 where he went on to beat my overall tournament tip Ding Junhui in round one. Young Chinese player Lu Haotian throws another interesting name into the mix, Lu has really struggled for results this year and is almost a certainty to drop off of the tour this season despite making an Asian Tour event final in his first season on tour, highlighting his struggle since then. Andrew Pagett is another man who, barring miracles, will also drop off of the pro tour and he's also said on twitter that he won't be trying to get back on, at least not for now, so this is just a tournament of playing for pride for Pagett. Alfie Burden though, is playing for a lot more than pride as he is currently 63rd on the end of season rankings list and only around £6,500 ahead of 65th place he desperately needs a win in the first round against a tricky young opponent in Mitchell Mann. I very much like the look of Mann as a player and was hoping he would get his tour card for this season, which he did and has since made the Last 32 of the International Championship which was a highlight of his season, and if he can get on a run at Ponds Forge I do feel that this section offers a chance for someone to come from lower down the rankings and qualify. Gerard Greene is someone who has been pretty poor this season, struggling for any runs of note and though he is miles safe for this year, he could be embroiled in a tour card battle next season. Elliot Slessor again is playing for pride this week as he will almost certainly drop off of the tour, and after an impressive win against Matt Selt at the China Open, his arms may just loosen up and he could get a win or two this week himself.

Predicted Qualifier: Mitchell Mann

Section 5

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ryan Day Vs Jamie Rhys Clarke
Alex Davies Vs Michael Georgiou
Aditya Mehta Vs Jak Jones
Jack Lisowski Vs Allan Taylor

This section in my opinion is all about one man and that is the experienced head of Ryan Day. Ryan made the Last 16 after qualifying last year and will be dangerous if he qualifies again. He's not been in the best of form over the last month or so but I still fancy him to qualify overall here. Michael Georgiou is probably the player from down the rankings in this section with the best qualification chance having had a few good results this season including a Last 16 place at the Welsh Open. His opponent Alex Davies will more than likely be dropping off tour now, and he has in fact already entered Q School again according to the current entry list. Aditya Mehta has also struggled after a good season last season. The way he's been playing I certainly don't fancy him to qualify at the moment but he is good enough if he could start to find a little bit of form in the early qualifying rounds. Jack Lisowski qualified for the Crucible in 2013 but has struggled really for form ever since then and such inconsistency and lack of a good set of results this season or even last, would make him a very risky pick to qualify from this section, and he could just as easily lose to Allan Taylor in round one who will drop off the tour this season but be back next thanks to earning a fresh card by the European order of merit list.

Predicted Qualifier: Ryan Day

Section 6

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Gary Wilson Vs Eden Sharav
Li Hang Vs Chris Melling
Stuart Carrington Vs Joel Walker
Peter Ebdon Vs Lu Ning

In this section we have one of the former world champions in the draw which sees Peter Ebdon, who will still be one of the favourites to qualify from this section. He may be a little inconsistent every now and again but Peter still performs to a very high level when on form and he's had some good runs in some of the minor events this season on the Euro and Asian Tours, so he'll be confident of qualifying this year, to make amends for not doing so last year when he lost out to Robin Hull. Stuart Carrington and Joel Walker is one of the tightest first round matches this year to call. Stuart may be battling to get into the top 64 and have a fresh tour card via the EOoM if he doesn't, but Joel Walker has a lot of potential and is a young man who certainly has a chance of qualifying, as I thought he would last year before he lost out in the second qualifying round from quite a long way ahead. The other man really to watch in this section is China Open runner-up Gary Wilson. He may be in good form at the moment but it's all a very hectic turnaround for Gary even though he doesn't play until Saturday, it's still less than a week after his China Open final to fly home and prepare. That means that someone in that mini section could take advantage, and one man that continues to impress me by picking up some good results more regularly now is Li Hang and he also has a good chance of qualifying in my opinion and I certainly fancy his chances of getting to the final qualifying round but the experience of Peter Ebdon could tell in this section perhaps.

Predicted Qualifier: Peter Ebdon

Section 7

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ben Woollaston Vs Sean O'Sullivan
Robin Hull Vs Martin McCrudden
Nigel Bond Vs Igor Figueredo
Rod Lawler Vs Michael Tomlinson

The main point of interest in this section is the tour survival battle, particularly with Robin Hull who needs to get at least two wins to stand any chance of getting into the top 64 and saving his tour place. He has a nice draw to get one of those, and of course having qualified for the World Championships last year by winning four games, he knows he could do it again and he has played very good snooker all season when he has been able to play, so with a section that lacks a really top player or a shedload of experience, Robin could do it again to save his tour card. Ben Woollaston of course will have something to say about that. Having qualified in 2013 and also reaching the Welsh Open final this year he will want to kick on and qualify again for the Crucible to push himself up the rankings further and again you'd fancy his extra bit of quality to see off Sean O'Sullivan in round despite Sean being a good young player. Nigel Bond is another man that could do with a win sitting £8,000 clear of 65th place, if everyone directly below him wins their opening round games wins and he were to lose to Igor Figueredo he could still be dragged into things. Igor did win a couple of games in World Championship qualifying and he is a quality player who has been unfortunate with sponsorship issues not to be able to enter all of the events he could've in the last couple of seasons. Rod Lawler is one man who has had a very steady season this season and that is highlighted by his qualification for both the Players Championship finals and the World Grand Prix based on money won in this seasons events. Rod may not be stunning in terms of his play, but he always gets the job done, especially against those players ranked around him and I fancy him to do a job this year in qualifying and get back to the Crucible, because I think he can do some damage over this longer format.

Predicted Qualifier: Rod Lawler

Section 8

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mike Dunn Vs Itaro Santos
Yu DeLu Vs Hans Blanckeart
Fraser Patrick Vs Brandon Sargeant
Graeme Dott Vs Mark Owens

This section really has one stand out player and that is former world champion, and runner-up on two other occasions Graeme Dott. Last year he didn't qualify after losing his qualifier to Kyren Wilson and of course this season he will want to make amends. This section really is a case of looking to the seeded players as their opponents are made up of two of the lower amateurs on the Q School top-up list while the other two are invites to the event. Of the other seeds looking to challenge Dott, Mike Dunn probably has the best chance as he is a very steady player, and even though I could see him getting into the final round I just can't seem him beating Graeme over a prolonged format, as good and steady as is most of the season over the best-of-9 frames events. Yu De Lu is quite inconsistent and I don't really fancy him to threaten for a place at the Crucible, though if he finds his form at Ponds Forge he could be dangerous. Fraser Patrick has pulled off a few good results and he could definetly trouble Dotty if he isn't on form, which he hasn't really been for much of this season, but again if he's in the mood for a battle which he very often is, it will take someone playing very well to see him off.

Predicted Qualifier: Graeme Dott

Section 9

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Davis Vs Joe O'Connor
Oliver Lines Vs Ian Glover
David Morris Vs Lee Walker
Ken Doherty Vs Reanne Evans

In terms of looking for a qualifier for the Crucible I think it's all about the four seeded players on this occasion. Mark Davis was seeded in the top 16 just a year ago but some disappointing performances in the first half of the season at times and some good runs from the likes of Milkins and Mark Williams saw him lose that place. In the second half of this season however, he has been in much better form and playing like a player who could begin to earn that top 16 place back in the next year if he can keep it up and I fancy him to make a good go at qualifying for the Crucible this year. It won't be easy for him however as young gun Oliver Lines will have something to say about that. Lines has had some impressive wins in his first season on tour including a run to an Asian Tour final, and I can't see it taking him too long in the future to qualify for the Crucible even if he doesn't do it this year. 1997 world champ Ken Doherty did qualify in 2014 after missing out in 2013 in a decider to Matt Selt so he'll be pleased to have managed that, and he even beat Bingham in round one at the Crucible, but since then he has seriously struggled and his form doesn't seem to be anywhere at the moment which will make it tough for him to qualify. David Morris though is another good younger player who could well qualify and the thing that has always impressed me with Davy is his hard working attitude that a lot of players around his age could do worse than to copy. He has reached the Last 16 of the UK Championships two seasons running, so he knows how to cut it in the bigger events, and if anyone is to stop Davis I think it will be Morris that does so.

Predicted Qualifier: Mark Davis

Section 10

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Matthew Stevens Vs Ahmed Saif
Peter Lines Vs Rodion Judin
Joe Swail Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Dominic Dale Vs John Astley

This section of the draw is an incredibly tough one to try and call a winner of who qualifies for the Crucible. Of course Matthew Stevens has the experience of being in two world finals in the past, but in recent years he has struggled for form and any kind of consistency. He didn't qualify this year and the way he has been playing I don't fancy him to do so this year either. I don't think that Peter Lines has the kind of quality that is required these days in order to qualify, as he will get a win every now and again in tournaments but he doesn't seem to be able to put a string of results together, but I wouldn't mind him proving me wrong. Dominic Dale qualified last year and nearly made the semi-finals but for Barry Hawkins coming from 12-11 down having lost the last 6 frames to win the last two and go through. However, Dominic has been very unpredictable this season and I've found it tough to predict him either way throughout the campaign, but unless he turns it on this week that is not the kind of that sees you qualify for the final stages of the World Championships as he did last year. Joe Swail may be 65th on the end of season rankings looking for at least a couple of wins to stay on tour keeping his ranking points as they are, though he will be on tour either way next year thanks to re-earning his card via the European Order of merit list. However, Joe has also had some good results this season and he does sit at 47th on the one year list so he's certainly been playing well and he has always done well in the World Championships over the years so you wouldn't better against him qualifying again, especially given the opportunity that could present itself in this section.

Predicted Qualifier: Joe Swail

Section 11

First Round Draw: (Pick in Bold)

Fergal O'Brien Vs Hammad Miah
Chris Wakelin Vs Nico Elton
Jamie Cope Vs Steve Davis
Kurt Maflin Vs David Grace

Jamie Cope is the only person from the eight players in this section to have qualified for the World Championships last season, where he pushed Shaun Murphy all the way in round one. However, he's also under a lot of pressure for his tour place currently sitting in 62nd on the end of season money list and even if he is £7,500 clear of Joe Swail roughly, things could unravel if he loses in the first round and he could have much easier draws than Steve Davis. Even though Steve is no longer on the tour, that doesn't mean that he doesn't still have the quality, and one of the things witnessed when he played at the World Seniors and Champion of Champions is that his tactical game is still superb, with just the scoring power starting to leave his game. Fergal O'Brien has had a mixed season and even though he played well at the World Seniors, that is no guide to anything really and he will have to up his game to qualify from a very tough section, but he is one of the better match players in the game and has all of the experience to make it to the Crucible again for sure. Chris Wakelin is the young gun to watch in this section and he has been impressive over the last couple of seasons, particularly in the minor events, but with good runs at the Indian Open to the quarter-finals and the Last 16 of the Players Championship he'll be confident coming into these qualifiers and that combination of youth and confidence can be a potent force in these World Championship qualifiers. Big hitting Kurt Maflin was one of my favourites to qualify last year after a decent season, and had it not been for a run to the China Open semi-finals I would've said the very opposite this year, as he'd had a very poor season until Beijing. However, with the players he beat in Beijing and the scoring power he showed there will make him one of the favourites now to qualify from this section if he can deal with the short turnaround from China where he was still playing on Saturday.

Predicted Qualifier: Kurt Maflin

Section 12

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Joyce Vs Ian Burns
Anthony Hamilton Vs Zhang Anda
Zhou Yuelong Vs Zak Surety
Liang Wenbo Vs Chris Norbury

Again, this is another section where it is tough to pick out a clear favourite to qualify. Mark Joyce and Anthony Hamilton overall have had poor seasons, with Mark getting the odd result but never looking overly impressive at any stage, which isn't the basis for me to tip him to qualify. Anthony however has really struggled and is in danger of dropping off of the tour next season if things don't improve. He still has the quality, but he doesn't have the consistency and when you couple that with a lack of confidence that makes things incredibly tough. His first round draw could've been a lot easier than Zhang Anda, and Hamilton will have to step it up a lot just to win that one. Liang Wenbo would be an obvious favourite for this section but while at times this season he's been playing really well, he's also lost a lot of matches you'd expect him to win and it all comes back to that old word consistency, something Wenbo seems to have very little of. If he is to win three qualifying games he's going to need to find a bit of consistency. Zhou Yuelong however has really impressed me this season in certain tournaments. He has blown a lot of higher ranked players totally out of the water with his heavy scoring power and again he seems like a really confident young player, which as I say is what I'm looking for in a young player to qualify for the Crucible, a confident young player who will go for their shots and score heavily when they get in, and I certainly think he's capable of qualifying.

Predicted Qualifier: Zhou Yuelong

Section 13

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Xiao Guodong Vs Ong Jia Jun
Liam Highfield Vs Oliver Brown
Kyren Wilson Vs Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon
Jimmy Robertson Vs Thor Chuan Leong

This again looks like a section to focus on the seeded players as one of the invites in Ong Jia Jun I have no idea about, while Oliver Brown is a very good amateur who has pulled off plenty of results but he is up against another very strong young player in Highfield. Focussing on those seeded players, both Xiao Guodong and Kyren Wilson qualified last year to make their Crucible debuts, while Liam Highfield has earned his tour card back this year and played very impressively and he could very possibly do the same this year. Kyren has had a mixed season and it is always difficult to follow up after your Crucible debut in next years qualifiers the lower you are down the rankings. Xiao Guodong meanwhile is much more consistent now and is a very strong player who always seems to score well when in amongst the balls which is key if you are to go through the three best-of-19's to qualify, because you don't want to have battle hard in every game with the extra energy it expends. The only other guy I haven't mentioned here is Jimmy Robertson, and again in my opinion Jimmy doesn't quite have that consistent base level of performance to get him through three qualifying matches, so if he is to make the Crucible he would have to play at the top of his game.

Predicted Qualifier: Xiao Guodong

Section 14

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Daniel Wells
Robbie Williams Vs Lee Page
Noppon Saengkham Vs Lukas Kleckers
Michael Holt Vs Sydney Wilson

In this section we have one of the more consistent qualifiers for the Crucible in Michael Holt, while Dechawat Poomjaeng made the Last 16 on his Crucible debut in 2013, and Robbie Williams beat Fergal O'Brien on a re-spotted black to qualify last year and make his debut. Dechawat again is a very hard player to predict. On his day he can beat some of the top players and play really well as he shows in 2013 and last week at the China Open, but on other days he can't string much together and doesn't really look much like winning too many matches in a row. Robbie Williams however has had a very poor season since making his Crucible debut a year ago, and with some players that seems to happen a lot to some players after they make their Crucible debut because I think that adds too much expectation to kick on and after the season he's had Williams may be very low on confidence and I don't expect him to qualify again this year. Noppon Saengkham is a very dangerous Thai player who certainly isn't afraid to go for his shots, but this doesn't always seem to work for him and you could argue that he goes for quite a few ridiculous shots, before going on to miss too many easy ones and that isn't the consistency that he would want from his game. Michael Holt though, hasn't had the best of second halves to a season, but a run to the Players Championship quarter-finals should give him a bit of extra confidence. Michael expects a lot from himself, but only because he knows he can do so much better. For Holty he doesn't just want to keep qualifying he wants a run at the Crucible to the quarters and beyond because he knows he's capable of doing so when at his very best.

Predicted Qualifier: Michael Holt

Section 15

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Matt Selt Vs Lu Chenwei
Jimmy White Vs James Wattana
Tom Ford Vs Andrew Norman
David Gilbert Vs George Pragnall

This section has particular implications on the tour survival battle as well as the obvious. Tom Ford is currently sat in that all important 64th position that everyone below him will be trying to get to. He is currently just under £6,000 clear of Joe Swail in 65th position so a first round victory which you would expect him to get against Andrew Norman would put him in a much happier position. Tom Ford did in fact qualify for the Crucible last year, but a poor season this time around means that he's in this position, and he hasn't really looked like winning more than a couple of games in a row for the best part of the season. Jimmy White looks like he will have to rely on the fresh tour card he's earned via the European Order of Merit in order to get back on tour next year and again he's not had the best of seasons in ranking events and just like Ford he doesn't look like winning more than a couple of matches in a row. David Gilbert and Matt Selt are the main men I've been debating here in terms of picking a qualifier from this section. Matt Selt made his debut in 2013, but this season he has been much improved and is now a capable top 32 player who would still be expecting to qualify, but he will need to play as well as he has done in the middle part and through the second half of this season. Don't count David Gilbert out though as in my mind he should be in the top 32 and would be but for the odd blip here, currently sitting just outside the 32. He qualified in 2012 when he made the Last 32 and he qualified again in 2014, missing out in the final qualifying round to Marco Fu who was on the fringes of the top 16 in 2013. When David is playing well as he showed in China to beat Perry and Yuelong, he scores very heavily and is confident, and it's only when he's not quite at the top of his game that he starts to get frustrated and perhaps his temperament could be let him down a little bit, otherwise Gilbert is a top player.

Predicted Qualifier: David Gilbert

Section 16

First Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Luca Brecel Vs Saqib Nasir
Andrew Higginson Vs Scott Donaldson
James Cahill Vs Darryl Hill
Robert Milkins Vs William Lemons

The final qualifying section sees Robert Milkins as one of the stand out names, and he was another one of the players who was chasing an automatic spot at the Crucible in the last couple of months, and coming into the Welsh Open he was seeded 16th, before Mark Williams and then Michael White overtook him as Williams consistently went further than Milkins in tournaments, and even though he didn't qualify, White came closer than Robert after winning in India. However, it wasn't Robert's worst season ever, with a European Tour final, a ranking event semi-final and a couple of ranking quarter-finals. The only thing that sometimes lets him down in matches is that his head starts to go, and as we saw against O'Sullivan at the World Grand Prix things can badly start to go wrong. If he can keep under control he can qualify for the Crucible without any trouble, so long as he plays well. James Cahill is one of the young players from further down the rankings that could be a threat in these qualifiers and of course his run to the Last 16 of the UK Championships shows that he has the potential, but he hasn't really backed that up with anything before or since to highlight that he could make the Crucible. He also faces a tough opening round tie with Darryl Hill from the Isle of Man who has earned a tour card for the next two seasons after this by winning the European U21 Championships so he's a lad that could cause an upset or two potentially. Andrew Higginson however, has struggled this season not really looking like putting many results together, losing a lot of games that you would've expected him to win when he was 18th or 19th in the rankings in 2012. He seems to lack the same consistency that he had back then and perhaps the same motivations now that he is slipping down the rankings. One lad that won't be lacking motivation however is Luca Brecel. Luca was the youngest ever Crucible qualifier when he won four qualifying matches to get there in 2012. He hasn't qualified since, and had struggled in the last couple of seasons before seeming to turn a corner at the back end of 2014. Luca has started working once again with coach Chris Henry, who of course has helped Shaun Murphy turn around his fortunes in the last couple of years, and that seems to have helped Luca not only in terms of his temperament which appears to be a lot stronger as he looks to be maturing a lot more now as a snooker player. His safety game has also improved greatly to accompany his long potting and heavy scoring ability that has always been strong with the young Belgian. For me he is a much stronger candidate than ever to qualify for the Crucible.

Predicted Qualifier: Luca Brecel


As you can see from my predictions I've gone for a mixture of youth and experience, first timers and Crucible regulars to qualify for the main event starting on the 18th April. As I say we start on Wednesday 8th and finish on Wednesday 15th and i'll be back after each round to round-up what's happened and what we have to look forward to in the upcoming rounds.

Meanwhile, if you want to know who is playing when, and which matches will be on the streamed tables that will be shown on the World Snooker streaming service and the usual betting sites, follow this link:
http://livescores.worldsnookerdata.com/SessionList/Tournament/13833

Last of all I hope you all enjoy these upcoming days and weeks as much as I will do!