Ding beaten in UK Championships Last 32

Ding Junhui is the latest high seeded player to exit the 2016 UK Championships after suffering a 6-2 thrashing by Jamie Jones. Jones led 2-0 early on in the contest, but this weeks fifth seed levelled at 2-2 going into the interval only for the Welshman to win all of the last four frames.

Joe Perry was another of the top 16 seeds to exit as he also lost out 6-2 to Matthew Stevens. Stevens had already beaten Michael White in this event, while Perry had somehow dragged his previous match from the fire against Xiao Guodong. The only highlight for Perry was a 136 break in the opening frame, but after taking the lead at 2-1 he then only scored eight points in the next four frames as he fell 5-2 behind before eventually losing 6-2.

Ali Carter was the other high seeded player to lose in the third round as he squandered a 3-0 lead in losing 6-5 to David Gilbert. After getting the match back to 3-2, Gilbert then made consecutive centuries to lead for the first time and went one away at 5-3. Carter hit back with runs of 95 and 116 to force the eleventh and deciding frame and was only a couple of balls from victory when he missed a crucial pink to the middle. A 55 clearance followed from Gilbert to put him in the Last 32.

Shaun Murphy did manage to scrape through against Dominic Dale. Murphy looked strong with runs of 89 and 103 on the way to taking a 5-2 lead, only to miss chances in the next few frames to kill the match off and instead Dale forced a decider. Dale had a half dozen chances in the decider, but when Murphy's chance came he potted some good balls under pressure to book his Last 16 place.

Mark Allen meanwhile came from 4-0 adrift against Ryan Day to win 6-5. Day was flying at the interval having barely missed a ball in the first four frames, but suddenly he fell away and Allen took five frames in a row to lead 5-4. Day forced the decider and had the best of the early chances before poor safety play from Day, and a succession of snookers from Allen clawed him back into it before the Northern Irishman clinched victory.

Things were much more simple for Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby who both cruised to 6-1 wins against Michael Georgiou and Robert Milkins respectively. John Higgins overcame Ben Woollaston 6-2 after winning the last three frames in that match. Marco Fu had to battle hard for victory against Mei Xi Wen in a very poor performance that was not punished by his Chinese opponent who could easily have won.

The Lines family interest was halved after Peter Lines (who saw off top seed Neil Robertson in round one) lost 6-2 to Liam Highfield. Son Oliver kicked on after his victory against Judd Trump by whitewashing Jimmy Robertson.

In a key battle for Masters spots it was Welshman Mark Williams who edge the battle of 16th seed against 17th seed Ricky Walden who had led 5-3 before losing 6-5.

Last 32 Results: 

Liam Highfield 6-2 Peter Lines
Mark Williams 6-5 Ricky Walden
Matthew Stevens 6-2 Joe Perry
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 Michael Georgiou
Jamie Jones 6-2 Ding Junhui
David Gilbert 6-5 Ali Carter
Marco Fu 6-4 Mei Xi Wen
Oliver Lines 6-0 Jimmy Robertson
Luca Brecel 6-1 Yu De Lu
Stephen Maguire 6-5 Fergal O'Brien
Zhou Yuelong 6-5 Yan Bingtao
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Dominic Dale
John Higgins 6-2 Ben Woollaston
Mark Allen 6-5 Ryan Day
Zhang Anda 6-3 Mitchell Mann
Mark Selby 6-1 Robert Milkins

So, only seven of the top 16 seeds remain for the Last 16 at the UK Championships, so let's take a look at how they line-up for the fourth round over two tables on Wednesday and Thursday.

Last 16 Draw and Schedule: 

Wednesday 30th November 1pm: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Matthew Stevens
Shaun Murphy Vs Zhou Yuelong

Wednesday 30th November 7pm: 

Marco Fu Vs Oliver Lines
Mark Selby Vs Zhang Anda

Thursday 1st December 1pm: 

David Gilbert Vs Jamie Jones
John Higgins Vs Mark Allen

Thursday 1st December 7pm: 

Mark Williams Vs Liam Highfield
Luca Brecel Vs Stephen Maguire


An interesting line-up then that will guarantee at least two players outside of the top 16 prior to the week making the quarter-final.

It is hard to see Ronnie O'Sullivan losing to Matthew Stevens, however well Stevens may be playing. The five times world champion has only dropped a single frame in motoring to the fourth round and that can be expected to continue.

Mark Williams had to battle hard against Ricky Walden and played quite well in parts, and will hope to take advantage of Liam Highfield's inexperience at this level in order to make it into the quarter-finals.

David Gilbert is a slight favourite with the bookies to beat Jamie Jones and rightly so. Gilbert has played well in this tournament so far, with two easy wins in the opening two rounds as well as scoring heavily in a high quality match with Ali Carter. Jones though has only dropped five frames to make it this far and will be determined to carry on his great run.

Oliver Lines was flying against Jimmy Robertson following victory against Judd Trump the round before and it would not be at all surprising to see him carry that on against an out of form Marco Fu. This is the first ranking event of the season that has seen Fu in the Last 16 and he nearly threw that away against Mei Xi Wen in the last round

Stephen Maguire was the nineteenth seed for the UK Championships and now that many of the top 16 seeds have gone he will be looking to take advantage by climbing back up the rankings. His Last 16 opponent Luca Brecel has reached the Last 16 in York for the second year in a row, having previously made the quarter-finals here in 2012 so he certainly seems to bring out his best here and has hit form at the right time this season.

Shaun Murphy has had to battle to reach this stage but now plays Chinese youngster Zhou Yuelong, who he overcame at the last 64 stage last year in the UK Championships, and he will want to improve to do the same again this week and perhaps hope for signs of in experience in his opponent.

The only all top 16 match in the fourth round puts Mark Allen against John Higgins, Higgins has been in brilliant form winning two events in November, and making a 147 break in the event he did not win prior to this one. Allen came from 0-4 down against Ryan Day but he did not play badly to fall that far behind in the first place and he simply stayed strong when the Welshman's level dropped. Allen has also had a maximum, making his in the Last 64 this week. This could be a very tight match if they both play their both, and Allen will certainly look to play better than his 9-3 semi-final loss to Higgins in the China Championships which Higgins went on to win. Allen however had won their three most recent meetings in big events prior to that.

World champion Mark Selby should not have many problems overcoming Zhang Anda is he is at his best. Zhang will have to play at his very best either way if he is to complete his first ever victory against Selby. Selby may not have been playing his very best game throughout this event so far, but this is the time when it usually kicks on and if that starts to happen you almost expect him to lift the trophy on Sunday.


That is how the Last 16 shapes up for Wednesday and Thursday to produce Friday's quarter-finals line-up with all matches still being played over the best-of-11 frames.

Five ton Fergal O'Brien beats Barry Hawkins in York

Fergal O'Brien produced the best performance by far in this year's UK Championship as he made five century breaks on the way to a 6-5 comeback win against Barry Hawkins. The Irishman opened up with a century, but was soon 4-2 adrift after six frames played. Three consecutive centuries soon turned that into a 5-4 lead, and another century clearance in the decider made that five and put him into the Last 32 as well as the history books.

Elsewhere, world number 2 Stuart Bingham suffered a shock 6-4 exit at the hands of Yu De Lu after a very poor performance on the night from Bingham. Judd Trump was also beaten and outclassed by Oliver Lines following in his fathers footsteps in this tournament by beating a top seed. Last year's runner-up Liang Wenbo was also shown the door losing to the incredible Yan Bingtao who recorded another great result winning 6-4.

World champion Mark Selby had to scrap out his match with Daniel Wells winning 6-4 from 1-3 behind in a match where it is Wells who will have all of the regrets. John Higgins scrambled against Thai Noppon Saengkham, losing the seventh frame on a re-spotted black to fall 3-4 adrift before winning all of the last three frames. Shaun Murphy looked good in a match against Robin Hull that featured centuries from both players and was of good quality for the large part, with Murphy winning 6-3 just as he did against Hull at the same stage two years ago.

No such dramas took place for Ronnie O'Sullivan who is now 12 frames won and 0 lost after another 6-0 victory, this time against Rhys Clark. Mark Allen came up trumps with his first ever maximum 147 break in professional competition in his match with Rod Lawler. It was still a tight match though but Allen came out on top a 6-4 winner.

There were simple victories for Ali Carter, a 6-2 winner against Robbie Williams and Stephen Maguire who beat young Zhao Xintong by the same scoreline. Ding Junhui was also a 6-2 winner in his match against Ross Muir, winning the last five frames of that contes, while Mark Williams overcame Andrew Higginson by the same scoreline. Williams will now face Ricky Walden who was yet another 6-2 winner, beating Scott Donaldson to continue his good start in York.

The all Welsh battle between Matthew Stevens and Michael White went the way of Stevens with a 6-4 victory while another Welshman Jamie Jones held off any hopes of a Alan McManus repeating his comeback heroics from the first round. There was success for the young Chinese crop as well with Zhou Yuelong thrashing much improved Michael Holt 6-1. German Masters champion and last years quarter-finalist Martin Gould has also lost, with China's Mei Xi Wen getting the better of that match a 6-3 winner.

Last 64 Results: 

Peter Lines 6-4 Chris Wakelin
Liam Highfield 6-5 Wang Yuchen
Ricky Walden 6-2 Scott Donaldson
Mark Williams 6-2 Andrew Higginson
Joe Perry 6-4 Xiao Guodong
Matthew Stevens 6-4 Michael White
Michael Georgiou 6-4 Mike Dunn
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-0 Rhys Clark
Ding Junhui 6-2 Ross Muir
Jamie Jones 6-2 Alan McManus
David Gilbert 6-2 Mark Joyce
Ali Carter 6-2 Robbie Williams
Marco Fu 6-0 Rory McLeod
Mei Xi Wen 6-3 Martin Gould
Jimmy Robertson 6-2 Mark Davis
Oliver Lines 6-2 Judd Trump
Yu De Lu 6-4 Stuart Bingham
Luca Brecel 6-5 Sam Craigie
Stephen Maguire 6-2 Zhao Xintong
Fergal O'Brien 6-5 Barry Hawkins
Yan Bingtao 6-4 Liang Wenbo
Zhou Yuelong 6-1 Michael Holt
Dominic Dale 6-3 Graeme Dott
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Robin Hull
John Higgins 6-4 Noppon Saengkham
Ben Woollaston 6-4 Paul Davison
Ryan Day 6-2 Kurt Maflin
Mark Allen 6-4 Rod Lawler
Mitchell Mann 6-2 Sam Baird
Zhang Anda 6-3 Anthony McGill
Robert Milkins 6-5 Hammad Miah
Mark Selby 6-4 Daniel Wells

There has certainly been some surprises then in the second round and a number of top players have had to really battle for their Last 32 places, so let's have a look at who they will now face in the third round.

Last 32 Draw and Schedule: 

Monday 28th November 1pm: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Michael Georgiou
Mark Selby Vs Robert Milkins
Ali Carter Vs David Gilbert
Liam Highfield Vs Peter Lines

Monday 28th November 7pm: 

John Higgins Vs Ben Woollaston
Marco Fu Vs Mei Xi Wen
Zhou Yuelong Vs Yan Bingtao
Luca Brecel Vs Yu De Lu

Tuesday 29th November 1pm: 

Mark Williams Vs Ricky Walden
Shaun Murphy Vs Dominic Dale
Jimmy Robertson Vs Oliver Lines
Joe Perry Vs Matthew Stevens

Tuesday 29th November 7pm: 

Ding Junhui Vs Jamie Jones
Mark Allen Vs Ryan Day
Stephen Maguire Vs Fergal O'Brien
Zhang Anda Vs Mitchell Mann

Fergal O'Brien has set the standard but can he keep that up when he faces another tough opponent in Stephen Maguire? Well the draw has opened up a little in certain sections. The top quarter of the draw provides a good opportunity for Peter Lines and Liam Highfield, with the winner there getting a guaranteed £15,000 for making the Last 16 so expect plenty of tension there. Mark Williams and Ricky Walden play a key match in the battle for Masters spots with Walden having to win to keep his hopes alive there. Ronnie O'Sullivan has not dropped a frame so far against Rhys Clark and Boonyarit Keattikun, and he will be hoping to keep this up against Michael Georgiou. Joe Perry scrambled through from 4-1 down against Xiao Guodong who had plenty of chances from the fifth frame to close the match out, so Matthew Stevens has a chance of carrying on his best form for a while having already beaten Michael White this week. 

The second quarter is now void of fourth seed Judd Trump, but fifth seed Ding Junhui is still going without having looked 100% convincing so far in his two victories. He was looking up to the heavens at 1-2 behind to Ross Muir before Muir fell away but those signs of pressure getting to Ding or general despondency are not what his fans will want to see. Ali Carter has had two easy 6-2 victories so far, but so has his Last 32 opponent David Gilbert so that could well be a cracking game. Marco Fu meanwhile will be looking to reach the Last 16 of a full ranking event for the first time this season, if he can beat Mei Xi Wen who has already seen off Lisowski and Gould. Opportunity knocks for Lines junior after his victory against Trump as Oliver now takes on Jimmy Robertson, who thrashed Mark Davis in the last round and has only dropped two frames so far, for a Last 16 place and that guarantee of £15,000. 

The third quarter has seen three of the four top 16 players fall, including third seed Stuart Bingham. That has left an opportunity for Yu De Lu to put himself out of trouble in terms of tour survival, if he can beat Luca Brecel in the Last 32. Brecel has good history in the UK Championships for someone still so young though and he would expect to kick on after coming from behind to beat Sam Craigie in the last round. Whether Fergal O'Brien keeps up his unbelievable form remains to be seen, else 19th seed Stephen Maguire who has a good record in the UK Championships, will be ready to pounce. We have a battle of the young Chinese players between Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong, with Bingtao flying in his first half season on tour beating Liang Wenbo to get to this stage. Zhou thrashed in form Michael Holt to get here so both are clearly in good form and that should be a cracker. The top seed remaining in the third quarter though is Shaun Murphy who has not had the best run of results this season, though has said it has taken a lot of players playing well to beat him and is confident of turning that around. His opponent Dominic Dale was in the arena watching Murphy on Sunday night against Robin Hull having seen off out of form Graeme Dott in round two and he would have seen a Murphy that looked to be striking the ball well, making two centuries. 

The bottom quarter has not opened up all that much. Going to seeding John Higgins will play Ben Woollaston, Mark Allen faces Ryan Day and second seed Mark Selby will take on Robert Milkins. If there was one problem that will stop Woollaston against Higgins it is that he just does not look like a confident enough character in matches against top players and it certainly shows to me at home, and must do to his opponent also. At times he walks around the table in a timid manner that would fit someone with far less experience than Woollaston has. Having said that Higgins was not convincing against Saengkham by any means and could be starting to tire after a long stretch of winning and competing that must take it's toll mentally in the long run. Allen and Day looks like a cracker. Particularly so if you add in the fact that Allen has made his first professional 147 break in this tournament, while Ryan Day thrashed Kurt Maflin in the Last 64. Mark Selby was far from convincing against Daniel Wells with Wells having enough chances to have beaten Selby in that contest. His Last 32 opponent Milkins has been in poor form all season though and while he can really turn on the style and score heavily to beat Selby I do not see it happening. The draw has opened up a little in this area to allow Mitchell Mann and Zhang Anda a big opportunity. Again the extra £5,000 would be a big boost to either player. Mann has looked very good in beating Kyren Wilson and thrashing Sam Baird and seems to come alive the longer the format is. Zhang Anda meanwhile saw off Anthony McGill in the last round so both players have taken out a high ranked player to reach the Last 32 stages. 

Those are my thoughts on the Last 32, and i'll be back ahead of Wednesday's play when we get down to a two table set-up at the York Barbican for Wednesday and Thursday's Last 16.

UK Championship Last 64 Preview

The first round of the UK Championships is all over which means it starts to feel like a real tournament now, with the TV stages getting underway with the Last 64 on Saturday. There has been one huge upset as the defending champion Neil Robertson is out having been beaten 6-3 by Peter Lines, which really opens up the draw from an early stage.

Kyren Wilson was the next highest ranked casualty as he also lost out 6-3 to Mitchell Mann. Ding Junhui meanwhile made a 74 clearance in his deciding frame to overcome Igor Figueiredo who came back valiantly in that match. Fellow Brazil professional Itaro Santos caused problems for Shaun Murphy leading 3-1 at the interval before Murphy came back with five frames in a row to win 6-3.

However, there were a number of easy wins for the top seeds as Stuart Bingham came through his opener 6-0, with guys like Northern Irish Open runner-up Barry Hawkins and Ricky Walden also winning by the same scoreline. Ronnie O'Sullivan took winning 6-0 to a new level as his match against Boonyarit Keattikun included three centuries and lasted just 56 minutes.

World Champion Mark Selby had a failed maximum attempt in frame one of his 6-1 win over Andy Hicks, while Stephen Maguire, Liang Wenbo and Ali Carter also won 6-1 in their first round games. Judd Trump beat James Wattana 6-2 while in form John Higgins beat Alex Borg 6-3. Mark Allen impressed with three centuries in a 6-4 win over Chen Zhe.

There were also a couple of big comebacks in round one, but the biggest of them all went to Alan McManus who came from 5-0 down to beat Michael Wild. Wang Yuchen beat Peter Ebdon 6-5 from 5-3 and 3-0 behind, while Ross Muir won all of the last four frames from 5-2 down to beat Joe Swail 6-5 in an important match for the fight for tour survival.

Meanwhile, success at the Northern Irish Open was not a recipe for more success in Northern Ireland. Semi-Finallist Anthony Hamilton lost 6-3 to Rod Lawler, just as the other losing semi-finalist Kyren Wilson had done. Belfast champion Mark King suffered a 6-2 loss to Sam Craigie including being docked a frame for forgetting his cue after the mid-session interval and therefore not being ready to re-start on time.



Last 128 Results: 

Peter Lines 6-3 Neil Robertson
Chris Wakelin 6-2 Alfie Burden
Wang Yuchen 6-5 Peter Ebdon
Liam Highfield 6-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Williams 6-1 Jason Weston
Andrew Higginson 6-4 Hossein Vafei Ayouri
Ricky Walden 6-0 Fang Xiongman
Scott Donaldson 6-4 Dechawat Poomjaeng
Matthew Stevens 6-1 James Cahill
Michael White 6-5 Fraser Patrick
Xiao Guodong 6-3 John Astley
Joe Perry 6-3 Jamie Barrett
Mike Dunn 6-1 Darryl Hill
Michael Georgiou 6-2 Matthew Selt
Rhys Clark 6-5 Li Hang
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-0 Boonyarit Keattikun
Ding Junhui 6-5 Igor Figueiredo
Ross Muir 6-5 Joe Swail
Alan McManus 6-5 Michael Wild
Jamie Jones 6-1 Eden Sharav
Ali Carter 6-1 Christopher Keogan
Robbie Williams 6-1 Akani Songsermsawad
David Gilbert 6-2 Adam Duffy
Mark Joyce 6-3 Lee Walker
Mei Xi Wen 6-5 Jack Lisowski
Martin Gould 6-2 Gareth Allen
Rory McLeod 6-3 Jak Jones
Marco Fu 6-2 Josh Boileau
Jimmy Robertson 6-0 Thor Chuan Leong
Mark Davis 6-3 Sydney Wilson
Oliver Lines 6-5 Martin O'Donnell
Judd Trump 6-2 James Wattana
Stuart Bingham 6-0 Adam Stefanow
Yu De Lu 6-3 Nigel Bond
Luca Brecel 6-0 Aditya Mehta
Sam Craigie 6-2 Mark King
Barry Hawkins 6-0 David John
Fergal O'Brien 6-2 Zhang Yong
Stephen Maguire 6-1 Cao Yupeng
Zhao Xintong 6-2 David Grace
Zhou Yuelong 6-3 Duane Jones
Michael Holt 6-2 Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn
Yan Bingtao 6-5 Stuart Carrington
Liang Wenbo 6-1 Kurt Dunham
Dominic Dale 6-5 Sanderson Lam
Graeme Dott 6-1 Ian Preece
Robin Hull 6-1 Jamie Cope
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Itaro Santos
John Higgins 6-3 Alex Borg
Noppon Saengkham 6-0 Ken Doherty
Ben Woollaston 6-5 Elliot Slessor
Paul Davison 6-3 Gary Wilson
Mark Allen 6-4 Chen Zhe
Rod Lawler 6-3 Anthony Hamilton
Ryan Day 6-2 Jimmy White
Kurt Maflin 6-0 Allan Taylor
Zhang Anda 6-2 Tian Pengfei
Anthony McGill 6-5 Craig Steadman
Sam Baird 6-2 Sean O'Sullivan
Mitchell Mann 6-3 Kyren Wilson
Hammad Miah 6-5 Tom Ford
Robert Milkins 6-1 Hamza Akbar
Daniel Wells 6-5 Ian Burns
Mark Selby 6-1 Andy Hicks


That's set up the main stages of the UK Championships in effect, with the Last 64 being played over Saturday and Sunday so let's look at who is playing who and when.

Saturday 26th November: 1pm Session: 

Mark Selby Vs Daniel Wells
John Higgins Vs Noppon Saengkham
Mark Williams Vs Andrew Higginson
Stephen Maguire Vs Zhao Xintong
Graeme Dott Vs Dominic Dale
Luca Brecel Vs Sam Craigie
Liam Highfield Vs Wang Yuchen
Mike Dunn Vs Michael Georgiou

Saturday 26th November: 7pm Session: 

Stuart Bingham Vs Yu De Lu
Ali Carter Vs Robbie Williams
Barry Hawkins Vs Fergal O'Brien
Michael Holt Vs Zhou Yuelong
Michael White Vs Matthew Stevens
Chris Wakelin Vs Peter Lines
Jamie Jones Vs Alan McManus
Sam Baird Vs Mitchell Mann

Sunday 27th November: 1pm Session: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Rhys Clark
Ding Junhui Vs Ross Muir
Mark Allen Vs Rod Lawler
Liang Wenbo Vs Yan Bingtao
Martin Gould Vs Mei Xi Wen
David Gilbert Vs Mark Joyce
Robert Milkins Vs Hammad Miah
Ben Woollaston Vs Paul Davison

Sunday 27th November: 7pm Session: 

Judd Trump Vs Oliver Lines
Shaun Murphy Vs Robin Hull
Marco Fu Vs Rory McLeod
Joe Perry Vs Xiao Guodong
Ryan Day Vs Kurt Maflin
Ricky Walden Vs Scott Donaldson
Anthony McGill Vs Zhang Anda
Mark Davis Vs Jimmy Robertson


With defending champion Neil Robertson out in the top quarter of the draw, you have to look at 2014 winner Ronnie O'Sullivan as the man who could come through that section  now, particularly after an impressive first round display. Ricky Walden, who is a two time York semi-finalist from 2011 and 2013, and Mark Williams are the two men who could have played Robertson in the Last 16, which could well make a possible Last 32 meeting between the two a very high stakes affair. This is baring in mind that Masters places are very much on the line. Opportunity certainly knocks in that top little section as one of non tour card holder Peter Lines, English Open quarter-finalist Chris Wakelin, Liam Highfield or Chinese Wang Yuchen will be in the last 16 as each of those four players came through after beating a top 64 seeded player in round one.

My quarter winner for the bottom quarter has been beaten as Kyren Wilson lost out in round one, and that probably helps Mark Selby's cause more than anyone though he may still have to play Anthony McGill in the Last 16. Mark Allen's three centuries in his round one match could make him a man to watch in that quarter also.

Ding was very close to going out in round one, so he is a man to watch closely for any possible vulnerabilities going forward. Ali Carter could take advantage if Ding were to lose early, if he can keep his form going after two centuries in a comprehensive 6-1 round one win. Judd Trump is still the main man for me in that second quarter though, given that his mini section does contain the out of form Marco Fu as the biggest threat before the quarter-finals.

In quarter three, Shaun Murphy was both relieved but equally as unhappy after a first round performance where he had to pull it out of the fire to beat Itaro Santos. He faces Robin Hull (in a battle of my two favourite players) and Hull had a good chance to beat Murphy in the recent International Championships, and will be well up for that one after thrashing Jamie Cope in round one. Stuart Bingham will be very happy with his efforts at the top end of quarter three, but so will Stephen Maguire and Barry Hawkins whom he could face one of in the Last 16. Last years runner-up Liang Wenbo will also be happy with a 6-1 win and he is Shaun Murphy's potential Last 16 opponent though there is a long way to go before we reach that stage.

One of my picks in the Last 64 comes on Saturday night when Michael White plays Matthew Stevens and that could be a very competitive match if it were to be placed on TV. I'm also looking forward to following Luca Brecel who has good history in this event, and a 6-0 first round win under his belt, as he plays one of my players to watch for this season in Sam Craigie. Ryan Day against Kurt Maflin on Sunday evening could also be a very big scoring affair. Xiao Guodong could be a good match for Joe Perry, as Xiao has been in much better form this season while Perry has not had the greatest year and was nearly pegged back from 4-0 to 4-4 against Jamie Barrett in round one.

My other two players to watch this season also made it through round one with Yan Bingtao playing Liang Wenbo in round two and Zhao Xintong facing Stephen Maguire. Don't be surprised if at least one of my three players to watch is gracing the Last 32 with his presence.

It may also be worth keeping an eye on Michael Georgiou who beat Matt Selt in round one, and he now plays Mike Dunn in the second round with a possible meeting with Ronnie O'Sullivan at stake. The same could be true of Sam Baird who made the Last 16 of the International Championships a month ago and the Last 16 of the World Championship and he now plays Kyren Wilson's victor Mitchell Mann in round two.

In all, 18 of the top 64 seeds for the UK Championships fell at the first hurdle. Six of these come in the bottom quarter, and seven are in the top quarter from which Neil Robertson the very top seed was removed. Only two seeds fell in the second quarter, while the other three came out of quarter three.


So there is plenty to look forward to over the weekend, and that is before we even get to the Last 32 stages which I will be back and looking ahead to ready for Monday.

Fantasy Snooker Update: UK Championships

It's time for the first of the three double points events this year as the UK Championships have rolled around.

Other than all points being doubled everything else is the same. You can only pick two players, and you cannot pick the same player more than three times. Some players have already used their three picks on certain which hinders their selection process for these three big points events.

The DEADLINE for all picks is Tuesday 22nd November 2.30pm before the first set of matches.

Here is how the table looks after the last couple of events:

1^st: Gary: Ding, Bingham, Murphy, Trump, Allen x2, Robertson, Higgins x2, Selby, Fu, O’Sullivan, Wenbo, McGill 378

2^nd: Anthony: Selby, Ding x2, Robertson, Hawkins x2, O’Sullivan, Trump, Higgins x2, Maguire, Allen, Bingham, Wenbo 368 NI: 51

3^rd: John McBride: Selby, Trump, Robertson x3, Maguire, Murphy, Higgins, Bingham, O’Sullivan, Allen, Hawkins 345

4^th: Daniela Reich: Ding, Selby, Robertson x2, Trump, O’Sullivan x2, Allen, Gould, Walden, Bingham, Murphy, Wenbo, Higgins 317

5^th: Kellie: Selby, Wilson, Trump, O’Sullivan, Robertson, Bingham, McGill, Walden, Murphy, Higgins, Wenbo, Gould, Allen, Maguire 295

6^th: Isitan Bakar: Bingham x2, Maguire x2, Allen x3, Trump x2, Higgins, Robertson, Selby x2, Perry 294

7^th: P. Mudd: Ding, Trump, Holt, McGill, Higgins, Gould, Robertson, O’Sullivan x2, Murphy, Bingham, Allen, Perry, K. Wilson 293

8^th: Igor: Murphy x2, Carter, Selby x2, Trump x2, Higgins, Ding, Robertson, Bingham, McGill, Maguire, Hawkins 279

9^th: Couge: Carter, Holt, Murphy, Selby x2 Robertson, Higgins x2, Trump x2, Ding, O’Sullivan, Maguire, Hamilton 276

10^th: LTD: Wilson, Selby x2, Hawkins x2, Walden, Allen x2, Robertson, Murphy, Bingham, Perry, O’Sullivan, Wenbo 259

11^th: SnookerFollower: Bingham, Ding, Carter, Holt, Allen x2, Higgins, McGill, Maguire, Trump, O’Sullivan, Wenbo, Hawkins 258

12^th: M. Lowson: Murphy, Carter, Robertson, Selby, Higgins, Ding, McGill, O’Sullivan x2, Allen, Bingham, Trump, Wenbo, Perry 252

13^th: TYIO: Gould, Bingham, Carter, Walden, Higgins, Trump x2, Maguire, Ding, Murphy x3, Allen x2 242

14^th: Andrew Walker: Allen x2, Trump x2, Robertson x3, Selby, Bingham, Ding x2, O’Sullivan 209

15^th: Kjetil: Wenbo, Bingham, Murphy, Bingtao x2, Allen, Ding, Hang, Trump, O’Sullivan, Maflin, Hawkins 204

16^th: Ezgi Ulutas: Wilson, Robertson x2, McGill, Higgins, Fu x2, Wenbo x2, Allen x2, Trump, O’Sullivan 199

17^th: Munraj Pal: Ding, Trump x2, Murphy x2, Allen x2, Robertson, Wilson, McGill, Walden, Fu, Selby, O’Sullivan 198

17^th: Gorkem: O’Sullivan x2, Selby, Hawkins, Murphy x2, Ding, M. White, Robertson, Allen x2, Trump, Selt 198

19^th: TungstenDarts: Perry, Bingham x2, Carter, Trump, Allen, Wilson, Higgins, Wenbo x2, Gould, Maguire 193

20^th: Andrew Brooker: Wilson, Maguire x2, Murphy x2, Carter, Allen x2, Ding, McGill, Bingham, Trump, O’Sullivan, Perry 185

21^st: FAM147: Bingham, Perry, Robertson x2, Allen x2, Higgins, Wilson, Walden x2, Gilbert, Trump, Carter, Maguire 155

21^st: Mark Taylor: Robertson x2, Bingham, Holt, Carter, O’Sullivan, Selby, Maguire, Trump x2, Murphy, Ding x2, Allen 155

That's how things sit now but it all can change very quickly during the UK Championships with it being double points so pick wisely!!!

THE BIG UK CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW

There have been a lot of events on the snooker calendar in the last few weeks, so many that it has been hard to keep track of them all at times. Now though we are into one of the most popular tournaments as the first of this season's 'Triple Crown' events has arrived with the UK Championships starting in York.

It will be the first time we have seen any BBC coverage since Mark Selby won the World Championships at the beginning of May (or it will be when they pick up the live coverage from the start of the Last 64 on Saturday). They now have tough rivalry from Eurosport who have been doing very good studio coverage from the first two home nations events, while the recent Champion of Champions on ITV4 was a high point with Stephen Hendry joining Alan McManus, Neal Foulds and Clive Everton.

The format for this event has changed somewhat in recent years but now of course matches are the best-of-11 frames right from the first round through to the semi-finals with the final being the usual best-of-19 frame affair. The set-up will also be the same as recent years with four tables being situated in the main arena at the York Barbican, with another four being placed in the "Sports Hall" in another area of the venue for the first couple of rounds.

Tuesday to Thursday is when the last 128 round will be played, before a rest day on Friday to prepare things for the start of the main TV coverage from Saturday with the Last 64. This years defending champion is Neil Robertson after he made a 147 break on the way to defeating Liang Wenbo comfortably in the final a year ago. He will be fresh after skipping the Irish Open, as will reigning World Champion Mark Selby, 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham and 2011 UK Champion Judd Trump after their decisions to do the same.

Once again the draw is seeded so seed 1 plays 128 and 64 plays 65 in the first round with this layout carrying forward right the way through, so let's take a look at what sort of match-ups that has provided.

Quarter 1

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Neil Robertson Vs Peter Lines

Alfie Burden Vs Chris Wakelin

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Liam Highfield 

Peter Ebdon Vs Wang Yuchen 

Mark Williams Vs Jason Weston 

Andrew Higginson Vs Hossein Vafei Ayouri

Ricky Walden Vs Fang Xiongman 

Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Scott Donaldson

Matthew Stevens Vs James Cahill 

Michael White Vs Fraser Patrick 

Xiao Guodong Vs John Astley 

Joe Perry Vs Jamie Barrett

Mike Dunn Vs Darryl Hill

Matthew Selt Vs Michael Georgiou

Li Hang Vs Rhys Clark

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Boonyarit Kaettikun

The top section in the draw features plenty of big names. Following a quarter-final at the recent Northern Irish Open Mark Williams will be hoping that this has turned around his form and that he can have a good run in York. Ricky Walden needs a run in York to get back into the top 16 for the Masters, and that is more than possible as he has twice made the semi-finals of the UK Championship in 2011 and 2013. Joe Perry will also be hoping not to suffer another of his early exits after a loss in the Last 32 of the Northern Irish Open. Elsewhere, Ronnie O'Sullivan may well see it that he is defending the title he won here in 2014 after not entering the UK Championships last year when Neil Robertson was the victor. O'Sullivan lost a tight contest at the Irish Open in the Last 16, after making the final of the Champion of Champions. Over the longer format of best-of-11 frames matches O'Sullivan could have another good run this week and is certainly a contender to capture another UK crown. It is hard to pick someone who could come from the outside in a quarter full of so many top players but young Michael White who made scored very heavily on the way to the Irish Open quarter-finals last week and he could certainly be in with a chance if things go in his favour.

My quarter choice in the first quarter though is defending champion Neil Robertson. Robertson has a good record over recent years of the UK Championship in York. A player of his quality who scores as well as he does is always going to be tough to handle over longer format matches, as opposed to best-of-7 contests when it can be anyone's game. Winning the UK title twice in three years is always going to make the Australian tough to rule out. I think he should get through the early rounds comfortable enough if he's playing well before the possibility of a match up with O'Sullivan. He has beaten O'Sullivan on a few occasions in the past but will be desperate to get one up on him after a 6-0 semi-final loss at the European Masters when they last met. The thing that stood out in Robertson's win last year at the Barbican is how comfortably he got through many matches, which the long format can allow you to do. Taking a week off seemed like it was much needed after a couple of poorer results and he will certainly be ready to go, and you would be a fool to rule him out. 

Quarter Choice: Neil Robertson

Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Ding Junhui Vs Igor Figueiredo 

Joe Swail Vs Ross Muir

Alan McManus Vs Michael Wild

Jamie Jones Vs Eden Sharav

Ali Carter Vs Christopher Keogan

Robbie Williams Vs Akani Songsermsawad

David Gilbert Vs Adam Duffy

Mark Joyce Vs Lee Walker 

Jack Lisowski Vs Mei Xiwen 

Martin Gould Vs Gareth Allen

Rory McLeod Vs Jak Jones

Marco Fu Vs Josh Boileau

Jimmy Robertson Vs Thor Chuan Leong

Mark Davis Vs Sydney Wilson

Oliver Lines Vs Martin O'Donnell 

Judd Trump Vs James Wattana

Elsewhere in the top half of the draw, there are another load of top players. Martin Gould narrowly missed out on the semi-finals of the UK Championship a year ago when he lost out to David Grace, and will be looking for another good run this week. Marco Fu may have reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship in the last two years but he has not made it past the Last 32 of a full ranking event in the first half of this season so far, which is incredibly poor form for someone inside of the top 16. Ali Carter played in one of the most memorable matches of the last few years in York, when he lost 9-8 to Shaun Murphy in the 2012 semi-finals, and after winning earlier in the season he will be hoping to follow that up with his first ever Triple Crown tournament win because he is more than capable. Carter also had a week off instead of playing the Irish Open, which I hope was to prepare for the UK Championships and not because of serious matters. Ding Junhui cannot do any worse than his Last 128 exit in the UK Championship a year ago and his recent record in the UK Championships is certainly not the best in this weeks field for a player of his quality. As for possible outsiders in this quarter, Mark Davis made the York semi-finals in 2012 and the quarter-finals in 2014 so he has a good record here and is more than capable if the draw opens up.

My second quarter choice though is 2011 UK Champion Judd Trump. Trump for me has showed signs this season that he could be ready to win a lot more tournaments and perhaps dominate the game in years to come. A winner at the European Masters, he then reached the English Open final and the International Championship semi-finals in consecutive weeks to follow and was scoring for fun. His tactical play has obviously come on a lot since he was UK Champion in 2011, and this showed more in his run to the final in 2014 when he was very unlucky not to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan. He is a bit hit and miss in this event following his win in 2011 with a first round exit in 2012 and then losing in the Last 32 again last year from a comfortable position, but for me he seems to have ironed out some of these frailties and a large percentage of the time, someone will have to play very close to their best to knock him out of a tournament. There is no one in this section he will fear until a potential quarter-final with Ding Junhui, but there are a lot of ifs and buts for both players before we can look forward to that potential match-up. Like Robertson, Trump did not play in Belfast and should be fresh and ready for a big tournament at the Barbican.  

Quarter Choice: Judd Trump

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Stuart Bingham Vs Adam Stefanow

Yu DeLu Vs Nigel Bond

Luca Brecel Vs Adiyta Mehta 

Mark King Vs Sam Craigie

Barry Hawkins Vs David John 

Fergal O'Brien Vs Zhang Yong

Stephen Maguire Vs Cao Yupeng

David Grace Vs Zhao Xintong

Michael Holt Vs Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn

Zhou Yuelong Vs Duane Jones

Stuart Carrington Vs Yan Bingtao

Liang Wenbo Vs Kurt Dunham 

Dominic Dale Vs Sanderson Lam 

Graeme Dott Vs Ian Preece

Robin Hull Vs Jamie Cope

Shaun Murphy Vs Itaro Santos

Both of the home nations champions from this year appear in the draws third quarter, with English Open champion and last years UK Championship runner-up Liang Wenbo being joined by Northern Irish Open champion Mark King who won his first ever ranking title in some style in Belfast. Barry Hawkins was the man that King overcame in the final, and he will be hoping that his run in Northern Ireland will lead to a better showing in the UK Championships after consecutive Last 64 exits in 2014 (from 5-0 up famously) and 2015. Despite this Hawkins could be a major contender this week. As could Stephen Maguire who has a good record in recent years at the UK Championship, making the semi-finals in 2014 as well as the quarter-finals the year before that. This year marks eight years since Shaun Murphy won the UK Championship and he will be hoping to bag another one this year in York. He has lost in the Last 16 three years running in York, and will be hoping to call on form that saw him make the quarter-finals of the International Championship and semi-finals of the China Championship rather than the first round exits that followed in the Champion of Champions and Irish Open. In terms of dark horses for this section Michael Holt could be one of them. Holt has beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan twice this season to make the quarter-finals in Shanghai and Daqing after reaching the Riga Masters final early on in the season.

Who could top all of those players? Well my choice for the quarter is Stuart Bingham. Bingham made the semi-finals of the 2013 and 2014 UK Championships as well as the 2012 quarter-finals. After the trials and tribulations of last season when Bingham struggled under the weight of being World Champion, this season has been a much better display. Three semi-finals in Shanghai, Manchester and Daqing before a loss in the final of the China Championship to John Higgins who played stunning snooker to clinch the match. Having not won since his world title and now seeming to be in much better form, Bingham is long overdue a ranking win. Given his good record in recent years of the UK, and the fact he was a frame away on two occasions from making the final, Bingham is a hard man to count out this week. A relatively tough draw could well sharpen him up for the latter stages, because you would still expect him to come through the early rounds. Having taken the week of the Northern Irish Open off, Bingham should be rested up after a tiring run of good results in England and in China, and ready to go again here. 

Quarter Choice: Stuart Bingham

Quarter 4 

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

John Higgins Vs Alex Borg

Ken Doherty vs Noppon Saengkham 

Ben Woollaston Vs Elliot Slessor 

Gary Wilson Vs Paul Davison

Mark Allen Vs Chen Zhe

Rod Lawler Vs Anthony Hamilton 

Ryan Day Vs Jimmy White

Kurt Maflin Vs Allan Taylor

Anthony McGill Vs Craig Steadman 

Tian Pengfei Vs Zhang Anda

Sam Baird Vs Sean O'Sullivan

Kyren Wilson Vs Mitchell Mann

Tom Ford Vs Hammad Miah

Robert Milkins Vs Hamza Akbar

Ian Burns Vs Daniel Wells

Mark Selby Vs Andy Hicks

The bottom quarter is where we find a number of contenders for the title. Anthony McGill made the quarter-finals of the UK Championship two years ago and seems to enjoy the longer format as his performances in the World Championships would show. Mark Allen was a finalist in the UK's in 2011 but has not reached those highs since then in this tournament. Recent showings with semi-finals at the China Championship and Champion of Champions as well as a quarter-final despite not playing his best under the pressure of being the home player at the Northern Irish Open. Allen could certainly be a contender if he keeps that going here. John Higgins is going to be a tough man to stop having won back to back titles at the China Championship and Champion of Champions as well as making a maximum 147 break on the way to the Irish Open Last 16 when his winning run was ended. His recent UK Championship has not been as good since he won the 2010 but that should not stop him having a good run this time around. Then there is the World champion and World number one Mark Selby who comes into this week in good form. After a win earlier in the season in Furth, he followed that up by winning the International Championship played over a similar format to this year. He took the week of the Irish Open off to prepare for this event, and why would he not after making a least the semi-finals in three of the last four years, winning the title in 2012 and coming close to defending it in 2013. Selby is another who cannot be ruled out in York. 

My final quarter selection though is young star Kyren Wilson. Wilson has impressed me with how he has played in a number of tournaments since coming through with his Shanghai Masters win over a year ago. The 2016 World Championships was a clear indicator that he could compete at the top level over a long format. With a run to the semi-finals at the Northern Irish Open last week, including impressive wins against Ronnie O'Sullivan (who made three centuries against Wilson in that match) and then another gritty deciding frame win over Mark Williams, Wilson has certainly sharpened himself up for York. Having had three weeks off, not entering the International and failing to qualify for the two invitationals, Wilson will be fresh and hungry for success and having gotten rid of any rust there was in Belfast, he should be ready for another good run like one's we saw at the World Championship, and at Indian Open in the early stages of the season. 

Quarter Choice: Kyren Wilson

Overall Winner Selection: Stuart Bingham


That is all of my build-up for the UK Championships starting on Tuesday afternoon in York.

If you are a fan of my statistical work you can view my Stat Attack here:

http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/uk-championships-stat-attack.html

Or my earlier Tournament Top Ten blog on this page:

http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/uk-championships-tournament-top-ten.html

Otherwise I will back to preview the Last 64 and the start of the TV stages before on Friday's rest day at the Barbican. 

UK Championships: Stat Attack

As much as I call this a 'Stat Attack' it has to be said this week we are going more for a 'Stats Extravaganza' ahead of this season's first triple crown event, the UK Championships. As always I will have my stats on average frames per 50+ break, average contribution when 50 or above, close frame win percentage, average frame aggregate and quarter-finals or better in ranking events since the start of the 2014/2015 season. On top of that will be some facts and figures on the most recent UK Championships and other tournament related facts, as well as all of the head to head information you need for the first round and beyond.

TOURNAMENT RELATED STATISTICS 

- John Higgins lost in the UK Championship Last 16 from 2011-2014 before breaking this duck last year by making the quarter-finals.

- Since making the 2012 UK Championship final Shaun Murphy has gone on a run of three successive Last 16 exits from 2013-2015 in York. The last two of these were both against Marco Fu, though Fu is not in Murphy's section this week.

- Joe Perry has only gotten past the UK Championships Last 32 once in the last five years.

- Mark Williams has not made it past the Last 32 of the UK Championships since 2011.

- Marco Fu has been knocked out of every ranking event this season prior to the Last 16 stages.

- In each of the last four UK Championships somebody has made a maximum 147 break during the TV stages.

- In terms of deciding frames, each of Robin Hull, Jimmy Robertson, Ben Woollaston and Paul Davison each have a 100% record in UK Championship deciders having played in at least three deciders.

- Meanwhile, in deciders this season John Higgins has a 100% record from seven deciding frames, and Judd Trump has a 100% from six deciding frames. Zhou Yuelong has four wins out of four deciders.

HEAD TO HEAD 

- Xiao Guodong will meet John Astley for the second tournament in a row, with Astley winning their match at the Northern Irish Open 4-3. That was despite Xiao scoring 167 more points in the match than Astley.

- Prior to their opening round match here Liam Highfield has won both previous matches he has played against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, the latest being a 5-1 win in this years China Open.

- Martin Gould has beaten Gareth Allen on every occasion they have played, with Gould looking to make it four out of four in the Last 128 of the UK Championship.

- Judd Trump has never lost to James Wattana in six previous meetings against the Thai player. The most recent of these came in the Last 16 of the International Championship where Trump came out on top 6-3.

- The last time that Yu DeLu played Nigel Bond was way back in the 2012 UK Championship, with the Chinese man coming out on top 6-5.

- The only time Shaun Murphy has previously met Itaro Santos, the one frame Santos got on the board saw him miss the final red going for a maximum break.

- Anthony McGill and Craig Steadman come into their Last 128 match at the UK Championship off the back of an epic tie in this years World Championship Qualifiers where McGill edged out Steadman 10-9.

- Rod Lawler and Mark Allen could in round two in York, with Lawler winning 6-4 in the 2014 UK Championships against Allen which was the last time they met.

- Shaun Murphy could play Robin Hull should both make the Last 64, having beaten Hull 6-4 in the Last 64 of the International Championships just a few weeks ago, coming from 3-1 behind to do so.

- Luca Brecel and Mark King could meet in the Last 64, though King will be hoping that the Belgium loses in the Last 128 round based on their head to head. Brecel has won each of their four previous games most recently at the this years Welsh Open. The list also includes a Last 16 tie from the 2012 UK Championships where Brecel came from 0-3 adrift to win 6-4.

Looking slightly further ahead in the draw if things go accordingly...

- Peter Ebdon could have an all Vegan battle against Neil Robertson in the Last 32 with Ebdon having beaten Robertson in three of their last four meetings, including most recently at the 2016 World Grand Prix.

- Ronnie O'Sullivan could face a repeat of a memorable match in this year's Last 32 should both he and Matthew Selt make it that far. In 2014 O'Sullivan beat Selt 6-0 in the Last 16 of the UK Championship and if the whitewash was not enough he also made a maximum 147 break.

- Ding Junhui and Alan McManus could meet in the Last 32 for their first meeting since the semi-finals of this years World Championship.

- Anthony McGill could face Kyren Wilson in the Last 32 of the UK Championships with Wilson the 15th seed and McGill 18th seed. Not only would it be a repeat of the Indian Open final from this year, but also a demonstration of how far both players have come. In the 2013 UK Championships they met in the Last 128 round with McGill coming from 3-0 down to win 6-5.

- Mark Allen and Mark Selby could meet in the quarter-finals for what would be their third quarter-final meeting inside of the last month.

- Shaun Murphy is seeded to meet Stuart Bingham in the quarter-finals in a match that would have plenty to live up to. Their last three meetings have been a World Championship final finishing 18-15 to Bingham, the final of this years World Grand Prix ending 10-9 to Murphy and the semi-final of the China Championship a few weeks ago which Bingham triumphed in 9-8.


TOURNAMENT SPECIFIC STATISTICS

Average Frame Aggregate: 

This week's Top 10:

Mark Selby = 19.03
Judd Trump = 17.39
Ronnie O'Sullivan = 17.16
Neil Robertson = 16.97
David Gilbert = 16.95
John Higgins = 16.75
Stephen Maguire = 15.81
Barry Hawkins = 15.48
Anthony McGill = 15.01
Ding Junhui = 14.4

Mark Selby leads the average frame aggregate list coming into this week after a very good season so far winning two tournaments and making another final. There is a small drop before we reach Trump who has made two finals this season winning one of them. O'Sullivan, Robertson and Gilbert then follow in quick succession, which reflects more Robertson and Gilbert's performances earlier on in the season. John Higgins comes in six after his consecutive invitational title wins, while Hawkins has climbed up the list after making the final of last week's Northern Irish Open.

This week's Bottom 10:

Darryl Hill = -38.96
Sydney Wilson = -32.53
Jason Weston = -30.87
Christopher Keogan = -26.37
Paul Davison = -26.37
David John = -25.08
Alex Borg = -24.48
Kurt Dunham = -22
Michael Wild = -21.98
Noppon Saengkham = -19.77

Darryl Hill is still bottom of the pile having not won a game this season, while Sydney Wilson has been similarly poor. Wins at the Irish Open for Alex Borg and Kurt Dunham have seen them rise up a small amount on the list and seen Jason Weston drop a little. Chris Keogan and Paul Davison are level with the joint fourth worst record after a series of defeats while Noppon Saengkham has been dropping after a poor season also.

Average Frames Per 50+ Break: 

This week's Top 10:

- Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2.14
- Neil Robertson - 2.25
- Judd Trump - 2.42
- Mark Selby - 2.52
- Ding Junhui - 2.52
- Mark Allen - 2.58
- John Higgins - 2.61
- Shaun Murphy - 2.66
- Liang Wenbo - 2.69
- Anthony McGill - 2.7

When it comes to the best and most frequent scorers it is no surprise to see O'Sullivan top of the pile, with Neil Robertson and Judd Trump close behind. Selby has scored frequently in his tournament wins this season while Ding, Allen, Higgins and Murphy are all known as frequent and heavy scorers before we reach Liang Wenbo and Anthony McGill further down who are both tournament winners of this season so far.

This week's Bottom 10: *

- Jason Weston - 17.67
- Sydney Wilson - 12.75
- Boonyarit Kaettikun - 12.75
- Christopher Keogan - 12.6
- Alex Borg - 11.6
- Elliot Slessor - 11
- Kurt Dunham - 10.5
- David John - 10.4
- Ross Muir - 10
- Noppon Saengkham - 9.17

At the bottom we again find the likes of Jason Weston, Sydney Wilson and Christopher Keogan. Boonyarit Kaettikun has also struggled in the early season, though avoided the bottom of the aggregate list after a series of tight loses. Meanwhile, many of the names on the list also appeared at the bottom of the aggregate list, though guys like Ross Muir and Elliot Slessor have been slightly disappointing with their scoring frequency.

*Darryl Hill is yet to make a 50+ break this season and therefore has no average.

Average Break when 50 or above: * 

This week's Top 10:

- Jak Jones - 84.5
- Michael White - 82.43
- Li Hang - 81.86
- Marco Fu - 81.78
- Stephen Maguire - 81.45
- David Gilbert - 80.93
- Ronnie O'Sullivan - 80.6
- Judd Trump - 80.55
- Liang Wenbo - 80.55
- Martin O'Donnell - 80.36

When it comes to break size, top of the pile is Jak Jones quite surprisingly. Michael White has climbed up the list after a heavy scoring run to the Irish Open quarter-finals. Then we have Li Hang, Marco Fu and Stephen Maguire who have been close to the top of this list for most of the season, along with David Gilbert, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and Liang Wenbo who are all known for heavy scorers and all featured on the break frequency list to accompany this. Martin O'Donnell completes the top ten as another non-top 16 presence in the list.

This week's Bottom 10:

- Oliver Lines - 58.35
- Dechawat Poomjaeng - 58.71
- Gareth Allen - 61
- Paul Davison - 62.18
- Zhang Yong - 62.75
- Nigel Bond - 64.46
- Lee Walker - 64.62
- Allan Taylor - 64.69
- Adam Duffy - 65.06
- Liam Highfield - 65.21

Oliver Lines is still bottom of the pile for scoring weight along with Dechawat Poomjaeng who have been near the bottom here for a number of weeks. Rhys Clark made a couple of centuries against Lee Walker to climb out of the bottom ten which has relegated the likes of Liam Highfield who was not present at the Irish Open last week. Paul Davison, Zhang Yong, Lee Walker, Nigel Bond and Allan Taylor all remain in the bottom ten following events in Belfast.

*Only those with enough more than 10 50+ breaks have been counted in order to make a fair average

Close Frames Win Percentage: 

This week's Top 10:

- Ian Preece - 85.71%
- Yan Bingtao - 80.95%
- Michael Georgiou - 78.95%
- Stephen Maguire - 75%
- Mark Joyce - 73.33%
- Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - 71.43%
- Mark Selby - 69.05%
- Liang Wenbo - 68.97%
- Kyren Wilson - 68.42%
- Kurt Maflin - 65.52%

- After the Irish Open Ian Preece still leads the way for win percentage on close frames, with Yan Bingtao falling a little further behind in second. Michael Georgiou, Stephen Maguire and Mark Joyce are all impressive with percentages around the 3 out of 4 mark. It is no surprise to see the gritty players like Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson at the top of this list also, while guys like Liang Wenbo, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Kurt Maflin may actually benefit on this list from their heavy scoring to steal frames coming from behind.

This week's Bottom 10:

- Yu DeLu - 18.18%
- Darryl Hill - 20%
- Alex Borg - 20%
- Thor Chuan Leong- 20%
- Fang Xiongman - 20%
- Robbie Williams - 21.74%
- Cao Yupeng - 23.08%
- Mitchell Mann - 23.08%
- Ian Burns - 27.27%
- Noppon Saengkham - 28.57%

- Yu De Lu is planted at the bottom of the list despite a better week that saw him beat Ding Junhui in the first round in Belfast. Darryl Hill and Alex Borg's poor starts to the season have been summarised here once again. Robbie Williams is still low here despite making the Last 32 in Belfast so clearly a prowess in winning close frames was not needed for those victories. Noppon Saengkham features in the bottom ten of another list, falling in here after Mark Davis climbed out of the bottom ten this week. Cao Yupeng has a 1 in 4 win percentage, which is interesting given his first round opponent in York is Stephen Maguire who has a 3 in 4 win percentage.

Quarter-Finals since the start of the 2014/2015 season: 

This week's Top 10:

Judd Trump - 13
Stuart Bingham - 12
Mark Selby and John Higgins - 11
Ding Junhui and Neil Robertson - 10
Shaun Murphy, Joe Perry, Mark Williams and Stephen Maguire - 9

When it comes to making the latter stages Judd Trump has been doing it well all season long after good seasons in the two prior to this. Stuart Bingham has been chasing him down all year making three consecutive semi-finals earlier in the season. Mark Selby and John Higgins are level on 11 after Higgins three consecutive quarter-finals from earlier in the season. A quarter-final for Mark Williams at the Irish Open has seen him climb up into the top ten to join Shaun Murphy, Joe Perry and Stephen Maguire.


That is all from my statistical preview of the upcoming UK Championships, but do not forget there is still the small matter of my full preview to come.

Also you can view my earlier UK Championship Tournament Top Ten by taking a trip to this page:

http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/uk-championships-tournament-top-ten.html

UK Championships: Tournament Top Ten

The start in my build-up this week to the UK Championship is the 'Tournament Top Ten' blog. Thrown into the generator for this year's first Triple Crown event were the English Open (when most of the tour were present on UK soil), the Chinese equivalent to this event with the International Championship which took place just a few weeks ago. Also included were two major invitational events of the last few weeks at the China Championship and Champion of Champions. Along with that I give prominence to the most recent stagings of this event from 2015 all the way back to 2011.

In addition to previous results are my statistics of, average frame aggregate, average frames per 50+ break, average break when 50 or above, close frames win percentage and the players to make the most quarter-finals since the start of the 2014-2015 season.

Let's get into then and see who topped the tables on all of these fronts to make it into the UK Championships 'Tournament Top Ten'


10- Ding Junhui - Ding Junhui does not have the best record in the UK Championships in recent years. Only once in the last four years has Ding even reached the Last 16 in York, losing out in the very first round a year ago before the TV stages began. In recent times, the Chinese player made the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions, making four centuries in a 6-5 loss to John Higgins. Prior to that in the Chinese equivalent of this event, the International Championship, Ding made it all the way to the final before being thrashed by Mark Selby. Statistically Ding is fifth on the quarter-finals or better list with 10 quarter-finals in the last two and a half seasons. He is also fifth in the average frames per 50+ break table averaging one every 2.52 frames. However, his UK Championships record is not good enough to see him higher up the table.

9- Shaun Murphy - Next up is Shaun Murphy, who has been knocked out in the Last 16 of the UK Championships for three years running, after getting to the final in York in 2012. His form this season has been patchy, though a quarter-final in the International Championships and a semi-final in the recent China Championships which help to boost his ranking here. He does not appear at the very top of any statistics list and that fact along with his recent UK record of not getting past the Last 16 see him as low as ninth.

8- Stephen Maguire - Stephen Maguire has a very good UK Championship record having made the quarter-finals twice in the last five years, adding to those a semi-final in 2014 while his other two exits came in the Last 16 which is a reasonably impressive record. In recent times he has no results of note which mean that he stays in the bottom half of this weeks top ten. However, he does appear at the top of a couple of statistics list which help to make up for this. He is fourth on the close frames win percentage list with a percentage of 75 which is very high. As well as this is a fifth placed finish on the average break when 50 or above list averaging 81.45 whenever he makes a break over 50.

7- Liang Wenbo - Liang Wenbo was of course last year's surprise finalist in York losing out to Neil Robertson. It would not be surprising if Liang made the final again this year though given that he has won his first ranking title in between at the English Open in Manchester. However, prior to the 2015 UK Championships Liang had a poor record which prevents him from getting any higher on this list, along with the fact that he does not appear at the summit on any of the major statistics lists for this week.

6- Stuart Bingham - Stuart Bingham has been one of the form men of the season so far, making semi-finals at the International Championship and English Open which both count to this list. Along with that he was the runner-up to John Higgins at the China Championship just a couple of weeks ago. His UK Championship record is a good one on the whole, making consecutive semi-finals in York in 2013 and 2014, as well as a quarter-final in 2012 and it would not be surprising if he were to go one better this year. He is second on the list of players with most quarter-finals since the beginning of the 2014//2015 season with an impressive 12 appearances in at least the quarter-finals of ranking events.

5- John Higgins - This season's form man comes in at five this week with John Higgins. Higgins snapped up both of the invitational titles of recent weeks by winning the China Championship and the Champion of Champions. Prior to this he had had consecutive quarter-finals at the International Championship and English Open. However, in terms of his record in the last five years of the UK Championship he has not always hit the same heights. From 2011-2014 he was knocked out in the Last 16 on every occasion, though he did improve that last year before losing to Neil Robertson in the quarter-finals. Statistically, Higgins comes in joint third on the list for quarter-finals or better in the last two and a half seasons, which only counts ranking events so would not have included his two recent wins.

4- Judd Trump - Judd Trump was level with Higgins in this weeks Top Ten list but finishes above him based on a superior record in this competition in the last five years. That record includes winning the title in 2011 and losing a decider in the 2014 final to O'Sullivan. He has also had a very good season, winning a title earlier on in the campaign that does not count to this weeks lists. His appearances in the English Open final and International Championship do count though and help him to this position in the list. Trump appears a lot statistically, topping the list for quarter-finals or better, coming in second on the list for average frame aggregate, and coming in third on the average frames per 50+ break list.  

3- Neil Robertson - Neil Robertson is the defending UK champion having also previously won the UK title in 2013. His good record continued prior to winning the title, with a semi-final in 2011 and a quarter-final in 2012. Recently the Australian has not had many good results to cheer about, but he does still appear at the top of plenty of stats lists. Robertson's frequent scoring sees him second on the average frames per 50+ lists, while he also appears in fourth in the average frame aggregate standings and joint fifth for quarter-finals in the last two and a half years.  

2- Ronnie O'Sullivan - Ronnie O'Sullivan pips Neil Robertson to second place with his superior average having not entered a couple of UK Championships. O'Sullivan did not complete his defence last year after winning the title in 2014. The year before he lost out in the quarter-finals to Stuart Bingham having also not entered in 2012 when he had the year off between World Championship wins. Most recently, O'Sullivan was a finalist at the Champion of Champions where he has a very good record. That performance helped O'Sullivan to the top of the average frames per 50+ break statistic, and third in the average frame aggregate list.

1- Mark Selby - Top of the charts though is the world number one Mark Selby. Selby took the title in York in 2012, and then had a brilliant defence of his title by making the final in 2013. More recently he reached the semi-finals last year before losing out to eventual winner Robertson once again. This season Selby has been a winner at the International Championship which stands him in good stead for this week. As far as the statistics list goes Selby tops the average frame aggregates list after this International win. His efforts that week also helped him up to fourth on the average frames per 50+ break list, and he is in joint third on the list for most ranking event quarter-finals in the last two and a half years. With all of this going for him, it is no surprise that Selby leads this weeks 'Tournament Top Ten'.


Not everything goes to plan in snooker, but if it did those players above would appear in the latter stages of the UK Championships.

Still to come on the blog this week is my Stat Attack blog and then my full UK Championships preview.

Northern Ireland Open Preview

As the non-stop snooker calendar continues following two 16-man invitational events, the full 128 are back in action this week as the second of the home nations series events starts with the Northern Irish Open in Belfast. Liang Wenbo won the first of the series at English Open in Manchester back in October so he is the man we will all be watching to see if he can win again here and keep alive hopes of a clean sweep and the 1 million pound bonus for winning all four home nations tournaments.

The home favourite for this week will obviously be Northern Ireland's Mark Allen, who will be desperate to win this one in front of his home fans. Joe Swail will also be hoping for a good run on his home patch, while there are also two Northern Irish amateur invites in the field with Patrick Wallace and Jordan Brown.

As was the case with the English Open this event will be covered by Eurosport who will also air their coverage on freeview channel Quest (Just in the afternoons for the early rounds though as they did in Manchester) and hopefully their studio coverage can live up to what they have shown us both at the English Open, and when they have done it on previous occasions like at the German Masters.

Once again the draw for this week sees the top 16 seeds placed in the draw, and the remaining 112 players drawn at random which has once again thrown up some mouth watering ties that we would not normally see as early as the Last 128 stages of a tournament. Unfortunately though, this tournament will be lacking the winners of the last three World Championships as Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham have chosen not to enter, while Neil Robertson is another top 16 player who has decided not to take part this week and focus his energy on the defence of his UK title starting next week. Judd Trump and Ali Carter have pulled out since the draw which leaves only two top 16 seeds in the top quarter of the draw.

Let's take a look then at who is in the draw this week and what we can expect:

Quarter 1 

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Peter Ebdon W/O Judd Trump 

Michael Wild Vs Adam Duffy

Christopher Keogan Vs Kurt Dunham

Robert Milkins Vs Scott Donaldson 

Stephen Maguire Vs Alan McManus 

Sanderson Lam Vs Wang Yuchen 

Darryl Hill Vs Zak Surety

Rod Lawler Vs Hossein Vafei Ayouri

Kurt Maflin Vs Zhang Yong

Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Alex Borg 

Mike Dunn Vs Josh Boileau

Hamza Akbar W/O Ali Carter 

Tian Pengfei Vs Fergal O'Brien 

Thor Chuan Leong Vs Mitchell Mann 

Mark King Vs Igor Figueredo

Liang Wenbo Vs Nigel Bond 

In the very first quarter the eye is naturally drawn to English Open champion Liang Wenbo who is the only man left chasing the one million pound dream after that victory in October. He will have to improve his form though after two crushing first round exits in the Champion of Champions and China Championship invitationals in the last two weeks. Withdrawals this week of Judd Trump and Ali Carter mean that only he and Stephen Maguire are the top 16 seeds in this section.  It's hard to pick a dark horse out in the draw, but after a fairly quiet start to the season Kurt Maflin could be due a good run this week, as he usually has a couple of good runs a season, with his best this year coming with a Last 16 at the World Open way back in July, and he has lost in the Last 32 three times since then. Meanwhile with a walkover in round one who knows how far Peter Ebdon could end up going in that section if he finds his form.

Non entries mean that my quarter choice Stephen Maguire became the sixteenth seed for this week. That did not see him avoid a tough draw though as he faces his fellow Scotsman Alan McManus in round one and that could be a tough test for him early on but if he can get through that there is a real chance for him here. With the withdrawals of Judd Trump and Ali Carter it really does leave a significant gap in the draw and I think that Maguire could be the man to come through it and make the semi-finals. His run to the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters was fantastic but he has not quite replicated that since, losing from 2-5 up to Ali Carter in the International Championship and probably losing at the English Open to Ryan Day when he was much the better player. When going through my statistics I was impressed by how well Maguire shapes up on all fronts and if he can replicate that this week there's no reason why he could not go very far. 

Quarter Choice: Stephen Maguire

Quarter 2 

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs David John

Jimmy White Vs Gareth Allen 

Zhang Anda Vs Ian Preece

Chris Wakelin Vs James Wattana

Kyren Wilson Vs Hammad Miah 

Ben Woollaston Vs Jordan Brown 

Akani Songsermsawad Vs Cao Yupeng

Mark Davis Vs Jason Weston 

Matt Selt Vs Jamie Barrett 

David Gilbert Vs Zhao Xintong 

Alfie Burden Vs Craig Steadman 

Mark Williams Vs David Grace

Matthew Stevens Vs Zhou Yuelong

Li Hang Vs Allan Taylor 

Jamie Jones Vs Sam Craigie 

John Higgins Vs Paul Davison

The remaining section of the draws top half is where we find last weeks Champion of Champions finalist Ronnie O'Sullivan who reached his second final of the season. However, in his three other events he lost twice in the Last 16 to Michael Holt, along with a Last 32 exit in the English Open. His draw looks very easy for the early rounds this week prior to the Last 16. There he could meet someone like Kyren Wilson who we have not seen since his Last 32 loss in the first home nations series event. Wilson did not qualify for the last two weeks of invite events and did not enter the International Championship for whatever reason. Wilson in fact suffered a number of early exits following his loss in the Indian Open final. Ben Woollaston could be a dark horse in this section as he seems to suit these home nation style events. He made the last 16 in Manchester and in the last two years of the Welsh Open he made the quarter-finals after his run to the 2015 final. Matt Selt and David Gilbert could also be dark horses though more recent form would suggest not. Mark Williams has struggled this season on the whole. Losses in his first match of the Shanghai Masters and European Masters saw poor performances, while he was embarrassed by a Chinese wildcard player in the Last 64 of the International Championship. 

My second quarter choice has to be the man of the hour John Higgins. Higgins comes into the event having won the last two events in Guangzhou and Coventry and collecting £300,000 for doing so. With a couple of out of form players in this section of the top 16 seeds, I viewed this as another possible tussle between Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan and my belief is that as long as Higgins does not start to tire too much he is going to be a huge threat once again here. It is hard to see him losing too early and if he does win his first two or three matches easily he could be quickly back into full stride and a major threat. He will come to Belfast with supreme confidence and playing very close to his best, so there is no reason why he cannot threaten the latter stages once again. 

Quarter Choice: John Higgins

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Shaun Murphy Vs Luca Brecel 

Jamie Cope Vs Adam Stefanow

Michael White Vs Graeme Dott

Ross Muir Vs Chen Zhe

Ricky Walden Vs Sean O'Sullivan 

Rory McLeod Vs Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn 

Tom Ford Vs Ian Burns

Dominic Dale Vs Joe Swail 

Mei Xiwen Vs Duane Jones

Fraser Patrick Vs Marc Davis

Michael Holt Vs Stuart Carrington 

Barry Hawkins Vs Martin O'Donnell 

Jack Lisowski Vs David Lilley 

Xiao Guodong Vs John Astley

Jimmy Robertson Vs Elliot Slessor 

Joe Perry Vs Itaro Santos

As we enter the bottom half of the draw we find one of the ties of the first round as Luca Brecel takes on this weeks third seed Shaun Murphy. Murphy has had an up and down season making the quarter-finals of the World Open and semi's in India early on in the summer, before a run of earlier exits. A 5-0 loss in the Last 32 of the Shanghai Masters, was followed up with another Last 32 loss in Romania. He was unfortunate to lose out 4-3 to eventual champion Liang Wenbo as early as the last 64 of the English Open. Despite his "Annual day out to Coventry" losing in the first round of the Champion of Champions for the fourth year running his form has improved recently with a black ball decider loss to Judd Trump in a magnificent International Championship quarter-final, before making the China Championship semi's and losing out in another decider to Stuart Bingham in another high quality contest. Ricky Walden will be hoping to march on from his English Open quarter-final here where he is the fourteenth seed despite dropping out of the top 16. Walden therefore has work to do in Belfast and at the UK Championships coming up to get into the Masters in January. Other than that quarter-final in Manchester and a narrow last 16 exit at the International to Ding Junhui, Walden has little to look back fondly on this season with a number of earlier exits. After first round exits in the last two weeks of 16-man invitational action Joe Perry has now lost his first match in five of his last six events, with his only recent success being a quarter-final at the International Championship where he was lucky not to lose in the Last 64. July's World Open final must seem like a long time ago for Perry now. Michael Holt has been improving a lot over the course of the last year. Beating O'Sullivan to make the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters was a big win but to then do ait again a month later to reach the same stage of the International Championship shows greater consistency from Holt. On top of that he showed great bottle to beat Neil Robertson in the China Championship before losing 6-5 to Stuart Bingham (just as he had done in Daqing). Holt has a couple of potential tricky starters in this event but if he continues to beat top players with the regularity that he has been he could go far. Another harsh first round match sees Michael White taking on Graeme Dott where either player could potentially go on to have a good run in Belfast if they are playing well. Joe Swail may be a major dark horse to have a good week but as one of only two Northern Irish tour players in this event he will be hoping to get a couple of wins in front of his home fans and is more than capable of doing so.

The man I think will come through all of these stars this week is Barry Hawkins. Hawkins was a semi-finalist in the first of the home series events in Manchester, with a couple of Last 16 exits in the events prior to that and he will be hoping to re-create that in Belfast.  After failing to qualify for the International Championship, China Championship and the Champion of Champions he has had plenty of time to relax and work on his game ahead of this tournament and the UK Championships which will follow. For someone of Hawkins often underrated qualities the ability to come in fresh and hopefully well tuned with his practice, should he play some expected rust off in the first couple of rounds then it would be easy to see him going from strength to strength in this section. A lot of players in this quarter face tough matches early on, so if Hawkins can come through his the question will be as to how many others do and that could work in his favour. 

Quarter Choice: Barry Hawkins

Quarter 4

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Mark Allen Vs Mark Joyce

Michael Georgiou Vs Patrick Wallace

Robin Hull Vs James Cahill

Rhys Clark Vs Lee Walker 

Marco Fu Vs Ryan Day

Sam Baird Vs Noppon Saengkham 

Andrew Higginson Vs Daniel Wells

Gary Wilson Vs Peter Lines

Ken Doherty Vs Ashley Hugill

Anthony Hamilton Vs Boonyarit Kaettikun

Aditya Mehta Vs Sydney Wilson 

Anthony McGill Vs Fang Xiongman 

Oliver Lines Vs Eden Sharav

Yan Bingtao Vs Steven Hallworth

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Robbie Williams 

Ding Junhui Vs Yu De Lu

Home favourite Mark Allen is found in the very bottom quarter here but we will come back to him in more detail later. Meanwhile, Ding Junhui will have to pick himself up quickly after a semi-final loss to John Higgins 6-5 in the Champion of Champions despite the Chinese player making four centuries. Ding also impressed by making the International Championship final a couple of weeks ago, and already has a trophy in his cabinet for the 2016/2017 season having won the Shanghai Masters. On UK soil he is not always quite as strong, despite what his recent Coventry performance may suggest. Let's not forget that he lost in the last 32 of the English Open to Jak Jones completely out of nowhere, in what could go down as one of the surprise results of the season. Anthony McGill will be hoping to get back to form after losses in Last 64 of the International Championships in Daqing and the first home nations event in Manchester, before first round defeats in both of the recent invitational events. Marco Fu faces a very harsh first round tie against Ryan Day here in Belfast. Fu has not gotten past the Last 32 of a ranking event this season, which by the standards of a top 16 player is utterly shocking form. His only high point would have been a win over Ding Junhui to reach the quarter-finals of the China Championship though he was thrashed in that last eight tie against Shaun Murphy. Day has looked decent again this season without kicking on into the real latter stages of an event. So far he has had Last 16 exits in the English Open and World Open as well as a Shanghai Masters quarter-final, but by equal measure he has lost in the Last 64 of five events including a 6-2 thrashing against Aditya Mehta in Daqing (which is one of only two wins for Mehta on his return to tour). Watch out for dark horses in young Chinese Yan Bingtao who reached the Last 16 of the first home nations event in Manchester as well as narrowly losing in the Last 32 of the International Championship, on top of  runs to the Last 16 of the Riga Masters and Paul Hunter Classic earlier in what has been a brilliant start to the season for the 16 year old. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh could also be a dark horse, though he has lost his first match in each of his three events (Shanghai Masters, English Open and International Championships) since consecutive semi-finals early in the season at the World Open and Paul Hunter Classic. 

My final quarter choice is the home favourite Mark Allen. My thoughts on Allen coming into what is a major event for him were always going to be determined by his form coming in. If his form was poor I would have found it much easier to write him off if a lack of confidence combined with the pressure that comes with playing in your home Open getting too much. As he has had semi-finals in both of the China Championship and Champion of Champions in the last two weeks, and coming into those events fresh after a week or so off coming in and taking all of the summer off too he should still be fairly fresh coming here. Therefore he should be really fired up and inspired to do well in front of his home fans, that should also contain a lot of his friends and family. Looking at his draw, he faces his bogey player in round one but nothing will fire him up more than playing Mark Joyce given the fact that he will want for revenge for those defeats and has publicly expressed his dislike of Joyce. Beyond that the only players in his section that are anywhere near the top 32 are Ryan Day and Marco Fu who play each other in round one and neither has been in good form. It is foreseeable that Allen could cruise through the early rounds and then have plenty left in the tank for the latter stages. 

Quarter Choice: Mark Allen

Overall Winner Selection: Mark Allen 

That is all of my Pre-tournament analysis but don't forget you can see the view from a statistical side in my previous blogs here:

http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/northern-irish-open-stat-attack-and.html


The format for the week is the same as the English Open (Last 128 Monday and Tuesday, Last 64 Wednesday, Last 32 and Last 16 Thursday all best-of-7 frames, quarter-finals on Friday over the best-of-9 frames, semi-finals on Saturday over the best-of-11 frames before Sunday's best-of-17 frames final).

Northern Irish Open: Stat Attack and Tournament Top Ten

There's no rest for the players as we head into another successive week of snooker, which means there is no rest for us statistics compilers. An event in the Northern Irish Open that has been brought into the calendar as part of the home nations series, meaning there are no real relevant tournament statistics to bring, but there are plenty of head to heads in a field of 128 and as usual my own statistics. This week we have the average frame aggregates, average frames per 50+ break, average break when 50 or above, close frames win percentage and most ranking event quarter-finals since the start of the 2014/2015 season began.

On top of that at the back end of this post will be my Tournament Top Ten as there is little time between the Champion of Champions and this weeks Irish Open to do that blog separately so it features again here.

HEAD TO HEAD 

- Alan McManus has beaten fellow Scot Stephen Maguire in their last three matches heading into the Last 128 meeting with Maguire here. Two of those victories came in last season's European Tour, while the most recent was in the first round of the 2016 World Championship.

- Nigel Bond and Liang Wenbo will be playing their tenth full match across PTC and ranking events, yet have not met at all in over five years prior to this event.

- In three previous meetings lower ranked players Li Hang and Allan Taylor have always gone to a deciding frame, with Li leading 2-1 overall.

- Shaun Murphy may lead his head to head with Luca Brecel 3-1, but he did lose out in the most recent meeting 4-2 in the 2016 Welsh Open. Previous victories for Murphy came in the 2015 International Championship, the 2015 Paul Hunter Classic and their famous 2012 UK Championship quarter-final, with Murphy going on to reach the final in two of those events, and still losing to the winner in the other.

- Joe Swail has a very good record against Dominic Dale with a 5-1 winning record in full ranking events or PTC's. However, only two of those meetings has been since the 2000 World Championship, with Swail winning both in deciders.

- The famous bogey man head to head comes with home favourite Mark Allen and Mark Joyce. In five meetings, Joyce has won four including two last season in the Australian Open and German Masters winning 5-2 in each match.

- Ahead of their first round meeting here, Lee Walker and Rhys Clark's only previous meeting came in the first home nations event, with Clark winning 4-2 in the English Open in October.

- The unseeded draw has pulled out a cracker with Marco Fu facing Ryan Day in round one. Fu has never lost to Day outside of the Championship League, with four wins despite two of those matches going to deciding frames.

- If Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jimmy White win their first round matches to meet in the Last 64 it would be their first meeting in ranking competition for six years.

- Ricky Walden and Rory McLeod could meet in the Last 64 for only their second meeting since Walden proclaimed that playing McLeod was like a dentists appointment following his World Championship exit to Rory in 2011.

- Michael Holt could come into a Last 64 match with Barry Hawkins should both win in Belfast, but Holt has only one victory to his name against Hawkins who has beaten Holt in each of their last three meetings and each of their first three meetings with Holt's win at the 2011 Shanghai Masters sandwiched between.


PLAYER PERFORMANCE: KEY INDICATORS

Average frame aggregate: 

This week's Top 10:

Stephen Maguire = 17.82
David Gilbert = 17.06
Anthony McGill = 15.77
John Higgins = 15.35
Ding Junhui = 15.16
Shaun Murphy = 13.89
Barry Hawkins = 13.32
Jimmy Robertson = 12.74
Matthew Selt = 12.48
Ronnie O'Sullivan = 12.33

The absence of guys like Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump has seen us go further down the list for the top ten here. Stephen Maguire is top of the shop with a very high aggregate, which is not ever so surprising given some of his overwhelming results in the Shanghai Masters in September. David Gilbert had a decent start to the season but has not kicked on. Then you come to three tournament winners in Higgins (who has won the last two events), Indian Open winner McGill and Ding who won the Shanghai Masters and made the International Championship final. There is then a small drop to those outside of that top five where we find Shaun Murphy who seems to have been playing better in the last few weeks without quite getting the results. Barry Hawkins was a semi-finalist in the first home nations event, while Jimmy Robertson and Matt Selt are surprises to me in the top ten before we come to Ronnie O'Sullivan who made the Champion of Champions final last week.

This week's Bottom 10:

Darryl Hill = -44.35
Sydney Wilson = -35.02
Kurt Dunham = -32.12
Jason Weston = -30.92
Alex Borg = -30.58
Christopher Keogan = -26.6
Paul Davison = -23.97
Michael Wild = -22.71
Josh Boileau = -21.5
Chen Zhe = -20.68

Darryl Hill is resoundingly bottom of this list which is not surprising when you see that he has not won a match all season and only won five frames across the matches he has played. Sydney Wilson has also lost every match he has played but not as badly as Hill, while Kurt Dunham has one win to his name over Alex Borg in the Paul Hunter Classic. Jason Weston is also in the 'Yet to win a match in 2016/2017' club, along with Alex Borg so it is no surprise to see these guys occupying the bottom five. Then there is a jump up to Chris Keogan (who plays Dunham in round one this week), Paul Davison after he gave Mark Selby a good go in round one of the International Championship, and then Michael Wild who won a couple of matches to qualify for the European Masters in Romania. Josh Boileau is higher for someone with only one win, but he was a non-entry at the International Championship meaning his aggregate was neither helped or harmed over the longer format.

Average frames per 50+ break:  

This week's Top 10:

Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2.18
Mark Allen - 2.37
Ding Junhui - 2.51
Anthony McGill - 2.59
Shaun Murphy - 2.61
John Higgins - 2.62
David Gilbert - 2.72
Liang Wenbo - 2.73
Jack Lisowski - 2.74
Tom Ford - 2.75

Ronnie O'Sullivan is top of the average frames per 50+ break after his high scoring performances through last weeks Champion of Champions. Mark Allen has also been in very good scoring form, particularly in the last couple of weeks where he has reached a couple of semi-finals. Then we have a little drop to Ding Junhui and Anthony McGill who's good early season form and tournament wins will have surely helped them here. Shaun Murphy is always a frequent scorer, and has lost a couple of quality high scoring games in deciders just lately. John Higgins has really climbed up this list, having been at 2.9 prior to his two tournament victories. Finishing off the top ten are players that are all heavy scoring players, with English Open winner Liang Wenbo and then three guys that are frequent scorers even if they are not reaching the latter stages of events with Gilbert, Lisowski and Ford.

This week's Bottom 10*:

Kurt Dunham - 25
Jason Weston - 16.33
Alex Borg - 15.67
Sydney Wilson - 15
Christopher Keogan - 11.4
Boonyarit Kaettikun - 11.25
Elliot Slessor - 10.14
David John - 9.4
Ross Muir - 9.38
James Cahill - 8.7

Darryl Hill would be bottom of this list but as I mention below he does not actually have an average having not made a 50+ break this season. Kurt Dunham only has a couple to his name, while the next three above Dunham have not won a single match so you would not expect them to have scored frequently as a result of that. Boonyarit Kaettikun may not have won a match yet but he has lost a lot of close games and he has clearly scored better than other guys yet to win a match given the gap between them. Slessor and John have been a little hit and miss with their results, while the fact a player as good as James Cahill can be is in the bottom ten for scoring comes as a surprise.

*Darryl Hill has not made a 50+ break this season meaning he does not have an average.

Average contribution when 50 or above*: 

This week's Top 10:

Li Hang - 82.74
Marco Fu - 82.32
Stephen Maguire - 81.47
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - 81.06
David Gilbert - 80.78
Robin Hull - 80.57
Liang Wenbo - 80.41
Martin O'Donnell - 80.36
John Astley - 79.71
Ding Junhui - 79.24

When it comes to this statistic I have put a filter in place to only count those that have made enough breaks to be included, or else there would have been players at the top of this list who had only made two breaks of 50 or above this season.

Li Hang does top the list having made plenty of breaks and throwing in some very heavy centuries at times too. Marco Fu has been near the top of this list all season long, along with Stephen Maguire who has had a maximum 147 in his brilliant showing at the Shanghai Masters. You would have to say the trait of guys like Un-Nooh, Gilbert, Robin Hull and Liang Wenbo is that they make plenty of high breaks and a fair few centuries so them taking places four through to seven on this list is standard. Then come two players outside of the top 64 in Martin O'Donnell, and John Astley with Astley impressing in some of his results since returning to the tour. Meanwhile, another very heavy century maker completes the list with Ding Junhui, though it is certainly Li Hang that has the bragging rights here amongst the Chinese players.

This week's Bottom 10:

Dechawat Poomjaeng - 57.25
Oliver Lines - 58.13
Lee Walker - 59.36
James Cahill - 59.9
Gareth Allen - 60.71
Zhang Yong - 61.82
Paul Davison - 62.18
Allan Taylor - 63.67
Nigel Bond - 64.46
Rhys Clark - 64.82

As for those that are not heavy scorers, the man at the very bottom (once the filter has been put through at least) is Dechawat Poomjaeng who has gone on a long run of defeats recently. Oliver Lines has not scored as heavily as he can, and neither has James Cahill who we have already seen is struggling on the scoring front with his efforts on the average frames per 50+. As for the rest the common theme is simply that they are all lower down on the rankings and probably not winning enough matches due to a lack of heavy scoring in matches. However, breaks of around an average of the 64 mark have done for guys like Rhys Clark (making consecutive Last 16's in the European Masters and English Open), Allan Taylor (winning all of his qualifying matches at the seasons start) and Nigel Bond (who rolled back the years with his extraordinary run in India).

*Filtered to only those who have made at least 10 breaks of 50 or over.

Close Frames Win Percentage: 

This week's Top 10:

Ian Preece - 85.71%
Yan Bingtao - 83.33%
Michael Georgiou - 82.35%
Mark Joyce - 78.57%
Alfie Burden - 76.47%
Stephen Maguire - 73.68%
Kyren Wilson - 73.33%
Li Hang - 69.23%
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - 69.23%
Kurt Maflin - 68.18%

Ian Preece's high percentage at the top of the close frames percentage list comes from a smaller sample size, than the very impressive percentages of above 80 from Yan Bingtao who has been brilliant in his first half season on tour, and Michael Georgiou who has won a lot of these close frames (20 points or less difference in frame points). Mark Joyce will have to win any close frames if he is to beat home favourite Mark Allen in round one this week, while any percentages of above 70 are very impressive from the likes of Alfie Burden, Stephen Maguire who from his scoring stats we saw earlier is really showing off his all round game, and Kyren Wilson who has showed great tactical play since his breakthrough a year ago. The final three in the top ten of Li Hang (who topped the break weight stats), Un-Nooh and Maflin are all heavy scorers so they could be in the list thanks to good clearances from a long way behind in frames as much as grinding out close frames with exemplary tactical play.

This week's Bottom 10:

Darryl Hill - 0%
Robbie Williams - 15%
Chen Zhe - 16.67%
Thor Chuan Leong - 20%
Jimmy White - 20%
Yu De Lu - 22.22%
Fang Xiongman - 22.22%
Craig Steadman - 22.22%
Jamie Cope - 22.22%
Mark Davis - 23.08%

Poor old Darryl Hill is at the bottom of another list here, having lost all of the close frames in which he has been involved. Robbie Williams shaky form could be explained by the incredibly high number of close frames he has lost, while guys like Chen Zhe have also not won a lot of matches. Thor has lost a couple of close games and perhaps it has been these close tactical frames that are costing him. Further up the list, Yu De Lu, Fang Xiongman, Craig Steadman and Jamie Cope are all on the same percentage with the common theme that they are all lower down the ranking list and not winning high numbers of matches. Mark Davis is the small anomaly here as he has reached two quarter-finals this season so far, despite winning less than a quarter of close frames.

Quarter Finals or better since 2014/2015: 

This week's Top 10:

John Higgins - 11
Ding Junhui - 10
Stephen Maguire - 9
Shaun Murphy - 9
Joe Perry - 9
Mark Williams - 8
Mark Davis - 8
Marco Fu - 7
Ronnie O'Sullivan - 7
Ricky Walden - 7

This list only counts quarter-finals in full ranking events, else I'm sure John Higgins would be further in front on this weeks list. Stephen Maguire has made a lot of quarter-finals for someone outside of the top 16 now, while Murphy and Perry have also made a high number without always kicking on and winning as many events as guys like Higgins. Mark Davis may have made eight quarter-finals but on the whole he does not seem to get past the last eight and into the semi's or final as often as he would want from those eight attempts. Ronnie O'Sullivan does not always enter a lot of ranking events so his position is not actually that bad, while for guys like Walden and Fu they may actually expect to get to these stages and beyond a lot more. However, they are both quite inconsistent and this leads to far too many early exits for guys that we all know can do better.

TOURNAMENT TOP TEN

Once again with the short turnaround this week the Tournament Top Ten feature has been scaled back and included along with my Stat Attack, and this week with the non-entries from Mark Selby, Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham as well as Judd Trump's withdrawal we will see some different names in the top ten. This week the defining features were the events that have almost been back to back in the last five weeks (From the European Masters to the Champion of Champions) with emphasis on the first home nations in Manchester and previous home nations style events so the 2015 and 2016 Welsh Open's were also included along with all of the five statistics categories that have been shown above.


10- Marco Fu - As the graph will show you it has not necessarily taken high averages and high scores from past events to make it into the top ten this week, which is lucky for Marco Fu in tenth. Fu's best this season came at the China Championships with a good win against Ding to make the quarter-finals, prior to his withdrawal from the Champion of Champions last week so hopefully the reason for that was not too serious and he is ready to go this week. Statistically he has always been close to the top of the average break when 50 or above which just sees him sneak into the top ten.

9- Joe Perry - Perry is not that far ahead of Fu in ninth spot. He has been hit and miss this season but his recent best came at the International Championship making the quarter-finals before losing to the eventual winner Selby. Perry also made the semi-finals of the event that gave the template for all of these home nations events, the 2016 Welsh Open. Along with that he is in this weeks top five for quarter-finals made in ranking events since the start of the 2014/2015 season.

8- Shaun Murphy - The inclusion to the generator this week of the last two years Welsh Open will not help Murphy who always seems to struggle in that event. He also lost early in the English Open in a Last 64 decider to the eventual winner. It is hard to read much into another first round exit at the Champion of Champions as that is a bogey event for Murphy, but he has made the quarter-finals of the International and the semi's of the China Championship in recent weeks to separate himself further from Perry. Statistically he is in the top five with Perry for quarter-finals made in ranking events, and he also sneaks into the top five of this weeks list for frames per 50+ break.

7- Ben Woollaston - Woollaston is a name you might be surprised to see in the top ten, but he did make the Last 16 of the first home nations event in Manchester, and his record in the last two years of the Welsh Open saw his first ranking final in 2015, followed with a quarter-final this year. Not being in the Champion of Champions and China Championship means that on the whole he has a better average which is the only reason he sneaks above Murphy here.

6- Stephen Maguire - Stephen Maguire is in the exact same boat as Woollaston, though most of his points come from the statistics. He is with Perry and Murphy in joint third on the quarter-finals in ranking events list, as well as topping the list for average aggregate and third this week for average break when 50 or above. In terms of performances his best that was included in the generator was a Welsh Open quarter-final in 2015. His Shanghai Masters semi-final was not included, and had that event counted he may have crept further up this list.

5- Liang Wenbo - Liang Wenbo is the man chasing the million pound dream as the winner of the first event in the home nations series. Incidentally two of the other top 16 seeds in his quarter in Judd Trump and Ali Carter have both withdrawn which may improve his chances if he can win his early games. Aside from that win are his last 16's in Daqing and Romania, but he does not feature statistically this week and his best in the last two years of the Welsh Open is the Last 32 or he would more than likely have been in the top 3 or 4.

4- Mark Allen - Home favourite Mark Allen takes the fourth position in this weeks pre-tournament rankings after consecutive semi-finals at the China Championship and Champion of Champions. Looking back to the home nations style he was also a semi-finalist at the Welsh Open in February of this year and will be looking to kick on, on home ground. Statistically, a second place finish on this weeks average frames per 50+ break list is the decisive factor in him narrowly climbing ahead of Liang Wenbo.

3- Ding Junhui - Ding Junhui is one of the real form men coming into this week, with a semi-final at the Champion of Champions (where he made four tons and lost) and a recent final at the International Championships. He was also a quarter-finalist in the Welsh Open of 2016 but he shines on equal level in the stats lists. The Chinese number one is at number two this week for quarter-finals or better in ranking events, third for average frames per 50+ break and fifth when it comes to average aggregate. He is a long way behind Allen but also a fair way off of the top two, so his win at the Shanghai Masters not counting probably makes little difference to his overall ranking.  

2- Ronnie O'Sullivan - Ronnie O'Sullivan comes in second on this weeks list as a two time finalist this season. Last week at the Champion of Champions he lost out to Higgins, while in the European Masters it was Trump who did the damage and denied him victory. He could not be denied earlier in the season at the Welsh Open though as he cruised to victory in Cardiff. A Last 16 at the International Championship also gives him a small boost. Statistically he is top of the list for average frames per 50+ breaks which was helped by a scoring barrage last week in Coventry.

1- John Higgins -  Top of the pile it is no surprise to see back to back winner John Higgins. Winning the China Championship and Champion of Champions in successive weeks was never going to see Higgins finish anywhere else. If that was not enough he had three consecutive quarter-finals from the European Masters, English Open and International Championship. Due to it's similarity the Welsh Open of 2015 where Higgins was also the champion is counted which puts him streets ahead at the top of the list without the statistics. He is top of this weeks list for quarter-finals reached in ranking events in the last two and a half seasons, and that is joined by a fourth place standing in the average frame aggregates.


Those are all of the indicators we have going into this week on who should perform well and who could end up taking the title on Sunday night. Look out though because that is only half of my pre-tournament build-up complete, with the full Northern Ireland Open preview to come as well.