Shanghai Masters: Quarter's Preview and round of 16 round-up

Another interesting day of snooker in Shanghai is over and now we have 8 players left bidding to lift the title on Sunday. It's been another good day of snooker that saw plenty of interesting results and some that many would expect. Stuart Bingham eased through early in the day 5-1 against Mike Dunn in a match that wasn't too special, while the main televised match offered plenty. Mark Williams stormed into an early 3-0 lead in this one against Jamie Cope, but Cope came back taking the next 2, but soon found himself on the edge of defeat at 4-2. He managed to win the seventh frame, and a tight eighth followed with good snookers from Jamie pulling Mark back, before the Welshman and my tournament tip came through a 5-3 winner. For some incredibly odd reason Shaun Murphy's match against Mark Davis came in the afternoon after both players had played the evening before, yet 2 Monday night winners in Higgins and Gould played in the evening in Shanghai. Explain that one to me. I also thought it was strange that the best looking match of the session, managed to avoid being put in front of the TV camera's. Anyway, what us TV viewers didn't get to watch was a match in which Murphy opened up a 3-1 mid-session interval lead with a century in the third, before stealing the fourth on the black. From there Mark appeared to play very well with 3 50+ breaks in the next four frames, as Shaun didn't manage to add to his frames tally and the "Battler from Hastings" ran out a 5-3 winner. Young Kyren Wilson was the last winner of the first session today in Shanghai beating Michael Holt 5-1, and starting in impressive style with a century against an in form Hitman. Wilson has now repeated his performance here of 2 years ago when he lost to Michael in the quarter-finals.

Then came the evening session in Shanghai, and a session that was pretty closely fought. In my opinion though the awful scheduling of today's play really hit in this session. The fact that all 4 winners of the evening session matches, face players that all had the evening off is not exactly fair, considering two of those matches ran on to around 11pm in Shanghai. Also, the match that looked like being the most one-sided of the four in this session was put on the second TV table, where Mark Allen eventually overcame David Grace 5-1, after a marathon 45 minute opening frame and stealing frame 5 by a single point. On the main match table, the last Chinese hope in the draw and China's No.1 Ding Junhui took on Ryan Day. It always looked like being a close match and so it proved with there never being more than a single frame between the players. The first four were scrappy and 2-2 at the interval was a relatively fair reflection, even if Ding had a great chance to win the fourth frame. After the break it was Ding who continued his trend of winning the odd numbered frames to take 3-2 and 4-3 leads, but unfazed, Day stuck in there and both players began scoring much better as a 75 from Ding in the seventh was followed by Day who made a 60+ in forcing the decider. Day had the first chance in that ninth frame, but an unlucky split of the reds early on left him a tricky red to the middle, and after missing that tough red, Ding knocked in one of his own and a run of 76 (his highest of the match) was saved for the perfect moment as he edge a brilliant contest 5-4. It was equally good on the outside tables where Martin Gould avenged his Australian Open final defeat to John Higgins. Martin took a 3-1 advantage into the interval, but that didn't last long as Higgins levelled at 3-3. A 77 from Martin steadied the ship and he regained his lead at 4-3, before managing to hold his nerve to win the eight on the colours and the match 5-3. It was even tighter on table 4 between Judd Trump and Matt Selt. Matt took the opener, before Judd made a century as part of taking all of the next three and a 3-1 interval lead. Selt took the fifth in one visit, and had the first chance in the sixth, but Trump took it for a 4-2 lead. He quickly won the seventh to get back within one at 4-3, and after Trump threatened to clear in the eighth, Matt won the safety battle on the yellow and potted the colours he required to force a decider. It was a pretty scrappy decider, with Selt leading 48-14 with two reds left after having 4 scoring visits to Judd's 1. It was only one more that Judd needed though as a 41 clearance pinched the frame and match on the final black for a 5-4 win.

Last 16 Results:

Stuart Bingham 5-1 Mike Dunn
Martin Gould 5-3 John Higgins
Judd Trump 5-4 Matt Selt
Mark Williams 5-3 Jamie Cope
Ding Junhui 5-4 Ryan Day
Kyren Wilson 5-1 Michael Holt
Mark Davis 5-3 Shaun Murphy
Mark Allen 5-1 David Grace

That's what we've seen tomorrow, so as we head into the quarter-finals tomorrow, here's what I think we can expect:

Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Stuart Bingham Vs Martin Gould - This is going to be a cracking encounter between Bingham and Gould here and I think it certainly has the potential to go the distance over 9 frames. Stuart hasn't looked convincing but has been able to keep it tight and force mistakes against wildcard Fang Xiongman and slightly lower ranked opposition in Mike Dunn. Meanwhile, Martin Gould has looked very strong again thrashing Barry Hawkins 5-1 and shining through a very tough match with John Higgins. He looks to be back to the form he showed in Australia where he made the final and nearly grabbed his maiden ranking title. This comes after the ear infection that stopped him from travelling to the Riga Open and was still very much in his thoughts as he lost in the Paul Hunter Classic Last 32. I don't think we're ever so far away now from Martin winning his first ranking title now, after losing in two previous finals, his scoring has always been superb, whilst his all round game has shown improvements over the last few months. He was so close to making the Grand Prix final, and even closer to winning the Australian Open and he certainly has what it takes to add Bingham to his wins this week.

Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams - Just when you thought these two were sick of the sight of each other after their battles in February and March, they meet yet again here in Shanghai. Before we look at their recent head to head, I think both guys have played fairly well this week, with Williams looking like he's in slightly better form. Judd scrambled over the line in a decider today having been 4-2 ahead and his game against Milkins quickly became quite an easy one for Judd with Robert never looking like putting anything together. Mark came through very nicely against Ford in round one with a couple of centuries, and then in round two against Cope he showed good form again, and looked to be playing similar snooker to that of his run earlier this year where he was on fire. In that run he and Trump met at the Welsh Open, Indian Open, Grand Prix and Players Championship Finals. On those 4 occasions Williams won 4-1, 4-3, lost 4-3 at the Grand Prix in a game he certainly could've won, and won 4-2 in Thailand. Over the course of those games he looked to have Judd's number so to speak, and he especially seemed to enjoy the rhythm and pace of those games settling quickly in whatever conditions. I think it'll be close once again, but don't be surprised if Williams adds to his collection of 2015 wins against Judd.

Ding Junhui Vs Kyren Wilson - Here we have another especially interesting game. Ding has looked very much more controlled at the beginning of this week, while at times cutting the same frustrated figure in the chair, none of that effected his game on the table where he has looked calm. He'll also be pleased to see one of his traits of the 5 ranking event winning season of 13/14 return. and that is finishing matches strongly. After a battle early on against McManus he pulled away with big breaks in the final three frames, and once again his best two breaks of the match against Day were to go 4-3 and then again to win the match 5-4. I still think there's more to come from Ding before we see his very best snooker, but I also don't think it's a million miles away. As for Kyren, he's one of the brighter young stars in the game right now, and this week has matched his performance of two years ago here in Shanghai and looked very impressive. He's not just beaten two very experienced and quality players in Joe Perry and Michael Holt, but he's turned them over, just highlighting how dangerous a man he is now in the draw. Beating Ding on home soil however is a different task entirely, and while I believe that Wilson will push him close, I expect Ding to get over the line.

Mark Allen Vs Mark Davis - The final match of the last 8 draw sees a battle of the Mark's, Davis Vs Allen. So far this week, Davis has had the much tougher opponents seeing off Michael White 5-1 and Shaun Murphy 5-3 looking very strong in both of those games. Meanwhile, Allen hasn't had an easy ride against Brecel and Grace but it seemed that in the end his quality and extra bit of experience told. This is all set up to be a close encounter also and I think it's probably the toughest of the four to call. Davis is playing well but the same could be said of him when he reached the quarter-finals of both the Grand Prix and the Players Championship Finals in March, and on both occasions he failed to kick on and show the same quality in the latter stages when it counted. Meanwhile, Allen knows how to get the job done better than Davis in the latter stages of events, and his run to last year's Shanghai Masters final will give him plenty of good memories, while the memory of the 10-3 drubbing Bingham gave him in that final will spur him on to do better this year now that he has the chance. I also think that Allen still has plenty in the tank for the rest of this week and his record against Davis looks favourable also.


So, 4 great matches in prospect and I look forward to seeing how each pans out and what will be set up for the longer distance matches over the weekend. I hope you all enjoy watching it like I shall.