The TV coverage for this week is an interesting one. Eurosport will be covering the event in the UK and across the continent. Along with that BBC Wales will be covering the event, though after the early nights they were taking in the early part of the week, they will need to up their coverage to compete with Eurosport. The coverage will also be on the BBC Red Button across the UK on selected days and times.
Ronnie O'Sullivan is the defending champion after his victory against Neil Robertson a year ago. O'Sullivan was also the cause of much talk and controversy through the week after he turned down the opportunity to make a 147, instead making "that 146" in his first round game.
After visiting the tournament for the first three days last year I could tell just how much the Welsh fans love their snooker, no matter who it is that is playing. The venue is a good one at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff and it's also a venue that is conveniently situated, unlike certain others that have hosted events so far this season. I had such fun in Wales last year that I will be returning and this time rather than watching the early rounds and going off home, I arrive on Wednesday afternoon to watch what remains of the Last 64, and this time staying until the last ball is potted on Sunday night.
On the Thursday for the Last 32 and Last 16 games I will aim to be doing another live blog, similar to the one I did here in October at the English Open, and I may also live blog the non-TV quarter-final on Friday night and parts of the Last 64 depending on what time I arrive on Wednesday.
Onto the draw now and with all of the top players in attendance this week, it is going to be another tough one to call.
Quarter 1
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Tom Ford
Mark Davis Vs Li Hang
Fergal O'Brien Vs Cao Yupeng
Chris Wakelin Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Mark Williams Vs Elliot Slessor
Jimmy Robertson Vs Aditya Mehta
Mark King Vs David John
Jack Lisowski Vs Scott Donaldson
Zhou Yuelong Vs Noppon Saengkham
Joe Swail Vs Paul Davison
Mark Joyce Vs Ross Muir
Marco Fu Vs Martin Gould
Ricky Walden Vs Graeme Dott
Michael Wild Vs Adam Stefanow
Rhys Clark Vs Lee Walker
Neil Robertson Vs Jimmy White
Obviously the headline act in this quarter is the defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan. In the last couple of tournaments O'Sullivan has suffered earlier exits, losing in the Last 32 of the German Masters and Last 16 of the Grand Prix but as we know he could turn it on at any time and get back in to his groove. There is no way you can rule out a man who has won the tournament in two of the last three seasons, since the format changed to a flat 128 draw. Mark Williams is still the highest ranked home hope for this week, though there are 15 Welsh representatives this week in the draw, including Williams. Last 32 exits in the German Masters and World Grand Prix will not exactly fill him with confidence, but he will still be fired up this week for his home event and would still take pride in out performing all of his fellow Welshmen. Marco Fu will have been disappointed to lose the way he did in the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix last week. Fu had left Day needing snookers in frame eight, else Fu would have been 5-3 ahead. However, he went on to lose that frame and the next two for a 6-4 defeat. He will want to respond quickly here, and given his first round draw against Martin Gould he will need to be at the top of his game, scoring heavily once again. Gould has returned to form in the last couple of weeks, making the semi-finals in his German Masters defence and then beating world champion Mark Selby in the first round of the World Grand Prix so this will be a tough match for Fu indeed. Graeme Dott probably cursed his luck when he saw his draw against Ricky Walden in the first round here, having drawn Liang Wenbo in the first round of the English Open and Michael White in the first round in Belfast, losing both of those matches. He is still capable of beating Walden but he would not usually be playing players this tough until round three under a strict seeding structure. For Walden, he needs to step up his efforts this week if he is to make a run at qualifying for the World Championships automatically, by earning back his top 16 ranking.
After all of that though, my opening quarter choice is Neil Robertson. Robertson impressed me with his performance last week in the World Grand Prix before losing to Barry Hawkins who was on fire in that match. He was the runner-up in Cardiff in 2016 playing some great snooker and he will be hoping to repeat that again in the next week. His draw is a little dodgy but at his best he should come through comfortably. While his form has not been the best in recent months, there were signs in parts of the Masters in January and last week in the Grand Prix that he is not a mile away from putting it all together and going on a big run. Two years ago Robertson was the winner of the Gdynia Open so he has hit form in February in the last couple of years, and now would definitely be a good time to show some form ahead of the World Championships. As he is not in the China Open, there is only this event, the Gibraltar Open and the Players Championship for him to get his confidence up before heading to the Crucible.
Quarter Choice: Neil Robertson
Quarter 2
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Judd Trump Vs Andrew Higginson
Alex Borg Vs Hatem Yassin
Jason Weston Vs Jackson Page
John Astley Vs Ian Preece
Ali Carter Vs Zhao Xintong
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Darryl Hill
Hossein Vafei Ayouri Vs Sanderson Lam
Alan McManus Vs Christopher Keogan
Ben Woollaston Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
David Gilbert Vs Ryan Day
Tian Pengfei Vs Chen Zhe
Barry Hawkins Vs Fraser Patrick
Jamie Cope Vs Nigel Bond
Luca Brecel Vs Anthony Hamilton
Jak Jones Vs Craig Steadman
John Higgins Vs Sam Baird
In this quarter we have more great performers who could have great runs this week. John Higgins was the winner in Cardiff two years ago, and will be hoping to hit back after first round exits at the Masters and World Grand Prix. After his great pre-Christmas form though it is no surprise to see him having a small dip at the start of the new year. Ali Carter was the runner-up a week in Berlin and lost a very tight Last 16 match in the Grand Prix, so he will want to strike again while he is striking the cue ball as well as he is. Barry Hawkins is into the World Grand Prix final at the time of writing, and with such a short turnaround to start in Cardiff you have to wonder if he can keep his magnificent form going for another week or whether there will be a minor blip. Ryan Day is the other World Grand Prix finalist and he faces a tough first round tie with David Gilbert. That one could go either way and will surely depend on the outcome of Day's final and whether the schedule is changed in Cardiff (Day is due to play on Monday afternoon after a Sunday evening final conclusion). Recent German Masters winner Anthony Hamilton will be full of confidence coming to Cardiff but he faces a tough match here with 2015 Welsh Open semi-finalist Luca Brecel. Brecel showed that he liked this venue again last season when he made the Last 16 with a good win over Shaun Murphy. It is worth remembering Ben Woollaston. If there is one event where he has good memories it is here, being the 2015 runner-up (his first and only ranking final to date) and following that up in 2016 by making the last eight. Woollaston is involved in another brilliant first round draw against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who has had a dip in form in the last few months.
Looking at his draw though, I have found it hard to tip against Judd Trump as my second quarter choice. This pick is purely based upon the fact that, despite a tougher opening round fixture against Andrew Higginson who he does have a good record against, it is hard to not see Trump making it through to the Last 16 with ease. From there he could face Carter, but Carter does have a tougher route to that stage. Elsewhere in this quarter he could face Hawkins, but he may have a quieter week after the Grand Prix, while Higgins has had a couple of early exits since the Scottish Open. Results at the Masters and the Grand Prix may have been early but were not bad performances as he played very well in losing 6-5 to Fu in London, while Hawkins was on fire in Preston. In a recent interview Trump said he felt as though he had been the most consistent player this season so far, and after the first half of the season I think he had a point but he needs to continue showing that. I think this week is a good opportunity for him to have another big run and remind us that he is one of the favourites for Sheffield.
Quarter Choice: Judd Trump
Quarter 3
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Stuart Bingham Vs Matthew Stevens
Gary Wilson Vs Rory McLeod
Stephen Maguire Vs Zhang Yong
Ian Burns Vs James Cahill
Liang Wenbo Vs Rod Lawler
Michael White Vs Duane Jones
Martin O'Donnell Vs Andy Hicks
David Grace Vs Robbie Williams
Jamie Jones Vs Tyler Rees
Dominic Dale Vs Zhang Anda
Alfie Burden Vs Igor Figueredo
Joe Perry Vs Anthony McGill
Stuart Carrington Vs Sam Craigie
Wang Yuchen Vs Gareth Allen
Michael Georgiou Vs Allan Taylor
Ding Junhui Vs Robin Hull
Entering the bottom half of the draw is Stuart Bingham who was far from his best in the semi-final defeat to Anthony Hamilton in the German Masters and the Grand Prix first round loss to Ryan Day, and will be looking to turn that around in Cardiff. However, the crowd will be heavily against him as he takes on home favourite Matthew Stevens who has had a better season, only just missing out on the World Grand Prix. Stephen Maguire has a good record in this tournament, winning it in 2013 and making the 2011 final, but his form in the last year or so has not been up to scratch and seem him fall right down the rankings, being 27th in the world rankings following the World Grand Prix. Ding Junhui is another man with a good record in the Welsh Open, as a former winner a finalist in 2014. Last year he reached the quarter-finals and made a maximum break. He should be applauded for even turning up to this event and the World Grand Prix after the death of his mother, and he performed well under the circumstances in Preston, and he could have a good run this week. Michael White is another one of the main Welsh hopes, and he will want to show more of the form that beat John Higgins in round one of the Grand Prix. Liang Wenbo also deserves a mention after he made the semi-finals this week in Preston, and having won his first ranking title in the opening home nations and making the quarters in Scotland, he certainly likes this format.
Quarter choice number three for me though is Joe Perry. Perry was unlucky last week at the World Grand Prix where he lost out in a quarter-final decider, when I tipped him as a quarter winner. There is no reason in my mind for me to not go for Perry again this week, given some of the form he has shown so far in 2017. Making the Masters final was massive for him after a quieter second half to 2016, and he played very good stuff in the Masters with some convincing early round wins before really putting a good fight to O'Sullivan. His starts to matches last week in Preston were a worry, as he went 2-0 down against Mark Williams and Martin Gould in the best-of-7 frames matches. With a tough first round match against Anthony McGill he cannot afford to be doing that again. If he beats McGill though there is no reason why he cannot go on another big run given that he had a good run here a year ago making the semi-finals and doing the same in 2014. We know the story with Ding, and Bingham is not in the best form so there may be an opportunity here. This may not be an easy section but with a good Welsh Open record and recent form behind him, Perry is the man I feel most confident in amongst those in this section.
Quarter Choice: Joe Perry
Quarter 4
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Shaun Murphy Vs Jamie Barrett
Hammad Miah Vs Josh Boileau
Robert Milkins Vs Yu De Lu
Oliver Lines Vs Eden Sharav
Mark Allen Vs Sydney Wilson
Ken Doherty Vs Boonyarit Kaettikun
Peter Ebdon Vs Hamza Akbar
Matt Selt Vs Mei Xiwen
Kurt Maflin Vs Fang Xiongman
Xiao Guodong Vs James Wattana
Michael Holt Vs Mitchell Mann
Kyren Wilson Vs Sean O'Sullivan
Adam Duffy Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Daniel Wells Vs Yan Bingtao
Mike Dunn Vs Kurt Dunham
Mark Selby Vs Liam Highfield
World champion Mark Selby is obviously the headliner in our final quarter, but he takes on someone in round that he has lost his last two matches against. Equally his form has dipped a little in the new year after a brilliant few months prior to Christmas, so this is understandable. Mark Allen has lost a lot of matches in the Last 16 stages this season, doing so in six ranking events which is an odd trend. This comes after another Last 16 loss in the Grand Prix, losing 4-3 to Liang Wenbo. It seems like there is another gear in Allen that if he finds he is not far from winning a big ranking title this season. Kyren Wilson lost in the first round of the Grand Prix and the Masters and his draw looks tough with a potential Last 64 meeting with Michael Holt. Given all of the first time ranking winners we have seen this season there is no reason why Holt would not be buoyed by this. His form has improved a lot in the last year or so and there is no reason why he cannot get his name on a big trophy soon. Another potential Last 64 clash between Kurt Maflin and Xiao Guodong is a potential second round tie, and there is no reason why two such heavy scorers could not go on far this week so if that match up takes place on Wednesday keep an eye on it.
My fourth and final quarter choice this week is Shaun Murphy. Murphy looked very good in the World Grand Prix, with a great show of long potting particularly against Ding Junhui in the Last 16. Usually when Murphy's long potting is in fine form he is on fire. As I have said many weeks on this blog Murphy has been playing decent stuff but losing to players who have played brilliantly. This week it was Ryan Day who was at the top of his game in Preston, and early on there was little Murphy could do. He seems comfortable enough with the minor alterations he made to his cue after the Masters, and they may have made the difference to his long potting which was the target. With and without his contact lenses he played well, from what he has said I don't think they are the strongest, but again could offer the small percentage that is needed on the tougher shots in terms of clear sighting. His draw is certainly not as hard as some top players have received, and if Selby's early exits from the last two tournaments continue that does take out a major threat in this section. Murphy can certainly pick up from Preston and have a good run in Cardiff.
Quarter Choice: Shaun Murphy
Tournament Winner Selection: Joe Perry
That is all from my preview this week, but do look out for the possibility of some live blogs this week and keep a check on my Twitter page @CueActionBlog from Wednesday for updates, pictures and possibly some other fun.
Don't forget for all of the facts and figures you need this week, check out my Stat Attack and Tournament Top Ten blog here: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/welsh-open-stat-attack-and-tournament.html
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