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.