Monday 11 April 2016

World Championship Final Qualifying Round Preview

After two rounds of World Championship qualifying at Ponds Forge in Sheffield we are now just one more round and 16 games away from completing the line-up that will compete just down the road at the Crucible theatre.

In the second qualifying round we have seen some huge results. There was a big comeback from Liam Highfield against Luca Brecel, as the Belgian lost five consecutive frames from 8-5 to fall 10-8 and keep alive Highfield's hopes of somehow getting back into the top 64 at the end of the season. Meanwhile, Sam Baird held off a late charge from Tom Ford to win that one 10-7 and he will now play Highfield.

Peter Lines has now officially dropped off of the tour and will have to go to Qualifying School to regain his professional status after losing out to Michael Holt. David Morris has also fallen to the same fate after his defeat to Alan McManus. McManus will now play Jimmy Robertson who has been flying in qualifying so far and showed that against Stuart Carrington who could now drop off of the tour himself if results go against him. 

Gerard Greene was knocked off tour in dramatic circumstances as Peter Ebdon came from 9-3 behind to win the final seven frames and the match. 

There has been talk earlier in this season about Nigel Bond possibly calling it a day as a snooker player before too long but he has shown glimpses of his old form after a first round victory against Andrew Higginson has been joined by a win over Gary Wilson to make the final qualifying round.

Anthony Hamilton is also turning back the clock after turning around a deficit to beat Chris Wakelin 10-9 and he will now play Robbie Williams who is eyeing a third consecutive year of qualifying for the Crucible.

Matthew Stevens thrashed Zhang Yong to make it through to the final qualifying round, while Graeme Dott held off a fight back from Noppon Saengkham to run through a 10-8 winner. Mark Davis though will not be qualifying after being soundly beaten by Zhang Anda.

The second qualifying round did not see the end of Ryan Day who came back from 9-5 down to beat Alfie Burden 10-9 while Craig Steadman only just missed out on doing the same against Anthony McGill.

Second Qualifying Round Results:

Ding Junhui 10-1 Ross Muir
Nigel Bond 10-6 Gary Wilson
Ian Burns 10-3 Hamza Akbar
Peter Ebdon 10-9 Gerard Greene 
Anthony Hamilton 10-9 Chris Wakelin
Robbie Williams 10-4 Mark Joyce
Mike Dunn 10-9 Li Hang 
Graeme Dott 10-8 Noppon Saengkham
Robert Milkins 10-8 Scott Donaldson
Kurt Maflin 10-8 Zhao Xintong
Mark King 10-7 David Grace 
Michael Holt 10-7 Peter Lines
Alan McManus 10-6 David Morris
Jimmy Robertson 10-5 Stuart Carrington
Ryan Day 10-9 Alfie Burden
Ken Doherty 10-7 Hossein Vafei Ayouri
Kyren Wilson 10-6 Martin O'Donnell
Matthew Stevens 10-3 Zhang Yong
Anthony McGill 10-9 Craig Steadman
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-7 Paul Davison
Liam Highfield 10-8 Luca Brecel
Sam Baird 10-7 Tom Ford
Jack Lisowski 10-5 Rory McLeod
David Gilbert 10-2 Lee Walker
Mitchell Mann 10-9 Matt Selt
Dechawat Poomjaeng 10-5 Robin Hull
Zhou Yuelong 10-6 Fergal O'Brien
Zhang Anda 10-5 Mark Davis
Ali Carter 10-8 Cao Yupeng
Dominic Dale 10-6 Oliver Lines
Xiao Guodong 10-8 Jamie Clarke
Liang Wenbo 10-5 Jamie Cope

Final Qualifying Round Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs Nigel Bond
Peter Ebdon Vs Ian Burns
Robbie Williams Vs Anthony Hamilton
Graeme Dott Vs Mike Dunn
Robert Milkins Vs Kurt Maflin
Michael Holt Vs Mark King
Alan McManus Vs Jimmy Robertson
Ryan Day Vs Ken Doherty
Kyren Wilson Vs Matthew Stevens
Anthony McGill Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Sam Baird Vs Liam Highfield
David Gilbert Vs Jack Lisowski
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Mitchell Mann
Zhou Yuelong Vs Zhang Anda
Ali Carter Vs Dominic Dale
Liang Wenbo Vs Xiao Guodong


We'll have at least two Chinese players coming through qualifying, and Nigel Bond will have the say on whether that becomes three or not. Out of the two remaining Thai players I fancy one if not both to make it through. Jimmy Robertson and Ali Carter have been impressive so far, while David Gilbert has really started playing well in the last couple of weeks. Milkins and Maflin both qualified last year in deciding frames and have had some close matches this week already so do not be surprised if that goes all the way. Plenty of guys that I picked out to qualify in my earlier preview are still going so it will be interesting to see how that all goes. From the 32 players remaining, only five are yet to make their Crucible debuts so this year will see a nice mixture of players that will challenge the top seeds when the main event starts in a few days time.


The big note of course is that these matches will be split in half, with half playing their first sessions on Tuesday at 11am and their final sessions on Wednesday at 11am, while the other half play their sessions at 5pm on both of those days. Both days are set to be covered on the YouTube channel with Neal Foulds and Rob Walker working on that which should be good fun I think and give a better insight into those all important final qualifying rounds with the stakes as high as the tension. The draw is then done on Thursday morning, also live on the YouTube channel and my main tournament preview will follow on the same day.

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