Monday 21 November 2016

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

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