World Grand Prix: Preview

The preview this week is a one that has been rushed in all honesty given the circumstances of the tournament. From the finish of the quarter-finals in Berlin at the German Masters on Friday night we have known the 32 players that will compete in Preston this week, but who will play who is not something we knew until the final balls were potted on Sunday.

This is the third time this tournament has been staged in it's current set-up and format, with the top 32 on a one year money list from the start of the season to the conclusion of the German Masters making it into the draw. However, this year the tournament has moved to a month earlier to accommodate the fact that the top 16 on a one year money list following the Gibraltar Open at the start of March, will then play in the Players Championship. World Snooker would obviously want a gap between the two events to allow for players from 17-32 to have a good go at pushing their way into the 16.

The venue for the event has also changed, in the last two seasons we have been heading to Llandudno for the Grand Prix, but in 2017 the Players Championships will be staged there instead and this event moves to the Preston Guildhall. Once again the event will be covered on ITV4 which marks the first of three events they will cover in the next month. Good news for terrestrial TV viewers.

At very short notice then, here is the draw for this week:

Quarter 1 

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Mark Selby Vs Martin Gould

Joe Perry Vs Mark Williams
Anthony Hamilton Vs Mark Allen

Liang Wenbo Vs Dominic Dale

Mark Selby is the number one seed for the Grand Prix this week, having under over £200,000 more than anyone else during the qualification period. However, it would not surprise me if he had a little bit of quiet period in the season now having played excellent stuff in the first half of the season. It would be very tough for him to keep that going all the way up to his World Championship defence. His first round opponent Martin Gould seemed to find some form in making the semi-finals of the German Masters, and after winning that event this time last year, and after playing well in the Grand Prix and Players Championship two years ago it may be a trend that he plays well at this time of year. Of course Anthony Hamilton deserves his congratulations for winning the German Masters last week. The players he beat to win that tournament show that it was a thoroughly deserved achievement. You would forgive him if he did not reach the same heights this week, so soon after such a massive moment in his career. Mark Allen will be looking to come back strong from a first round exit in Berlin and he could certainly have a good run this week. As for Liang Wenbo this will be the first time we have seen him since he missed match ball against Ronnie O'Sullivan in the first round of the Masters. His response to that will be an interesting one to watch, he could have a brilliant run this week or lose early on in what is a pretty tough section.

My first quarter choice though is the Masters runner-up Joe Perry. Perry had not been in the best of form in the few weeks leading up to Christmas, and said he had not expectations coming into the Masters but ended up making the final and gave it a much better go than many have done before him against O'Sullivan. Not qualifying for the German Masters has at least given him a couple of weeks to move on from that and carry on working hard ahead of a heavy stretch of tournaments on the baize. A year ago he narrowly missed out on making the Grand Prix final, and was a winner at the Players Championship in 2015 so this is a period of the year when he seems to have been playing well. It does seem that a few players seem to have certain times in the year when they play better than others. A few great examples of that are with guys like Neil Robertson at the start of the season in recent years, or Marco Fu in the couple of weeks before Christmas. Given his poorer form he is due a good couple of runs, and after having one at the Masters there is no reason why that cannot continue here. 

Quarter Choice: Joe Perry

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Neil Robertson Vs Ricky Walden

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Yan Bingtao

Barry Hawkins Vs Kyren Wilson

Judd Trump Vs Tom Ford 

This is probably the best looking quarter of the draw on paper. The exciting young Yan Bingtao taking on Ronnie O'Sullivan in round one is a match not to miss. Given the results we have seen out of Yan in his debut season it would be no surprise if he sent the Rocket packing. As for O'Sullivan he will not have felt good at all after his loss from 4-1 up in the first round of the German Masters. He appeared to have total control but missed some under pressure in the last couple of frames and ultimately got what he deserved. If he sees off Yan the draw in this quarter sees three players whom he generally raises his game for. Neil Robertson is certainly one of those three and he will not have been happy after a first round loss to Ben Woollaston in Berlin, as his poor form continued. The fact that Robertson won in Riga at the very start of the season and then went to the semi-finals of the World Open straight after, makes it a huge surprise that he comes into this at twelfth on the one year list. Ricky Walden has not been in good form at all this season and is scraping to win matches that he would win easily at anywhere near his best level. The bottom two matches in this section are very close affairs for me. Kyren Wilson is one of the players who has not played a great deal since Christmas, failing to qualify for Berlin and falling in the first round of his debut Masters. As for Judd Trump against Tom Ford, Ford was a recent quarter-finalist in the German Masters. This featured a win over Trump 5-1 in the final qualifying round, and a 147 break at the venue as he beat Peter Ebdon. Ford has produced much more in terms of his results this season, and it would not surprise me if he beat Trump here, especially having done so as recently as he has. Trump meanwhile is a player we have not seen since he played that incredible Masters first round match with Marco Fu, and I do expect him to respond here in Preston. 

Having said all of that, my pick from this second quarter is Barry Hawkins. Hawkins has been in decent form this season, without yet getting a tournament win under his belt. He was very close to doing that in Belfast at the Northern Irish Open, while he should have made the Masters final, losing out in the semi's to Joe Perry. I was worried about how he would respond to that in the coming tournaments but a quarter-final run at the German Masters, that was ended by eventual winner Anthony Hamilton in another deciding frame, is a decent comeback. Hawkins has been playing well for a while and lost a lot of deciders in the last few months. His defeats in his last five events at venues have all come in deciding frames (Irish Open, Scottish Open, UK Championships, Masters and German Masters) so it is perhaps time he had a little bit of luck as well to go with some of his good form. In a tough draw I very much like Hawkins chances as he is a player that can just fly under the radar, as he seems to do every single year at the World Championships and look at his record at the Crucible in the last four years. For me Hawkins is certainly one to watch this week. 

Quarter Choice: Barry Hawkins

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Ali Carter Vs Zhou Yuelong

Mark King Vs Stephen Maguire

Anthony McGill Vs David Gilbert

Marco Fu Vs Jamie Jones

Entering the bottom half of the draw, this third quarter was the hardest one to pick a winner from. Stephen Maguire lost comfortably to Ali Carter in the first round of the German Masters and has not really showed very much since the Shanghai Masters. Mark King could easily beat Maguire in round one, especially after the way he played to beat O'Sullivan in Berlin. Anthony McGill started off like a train in the early season but has gone a little quiet since then and is due a decent run, and this could be a draw where if he plays well he could make it through to the latter stages. Marco Fu's inconsistency is still an issue, following up his brilliant Masters and Scottish Open performances with a China Open qualifier defeat and a first round exit at the venue in Berlin. The man that beat him there was David Gilbert who then came very close to beating Stuart Bingham in the Last 16 and going a lot further in the competition. I am still very much waiting for the next big ranking event performance from Gilbert after what he showed us in the 2015 International Championship. Despite the odd glimpse of this he has not quite delivered again yet.

I was a bit reluctant to choose him so soon after the disappointment in Berlin, but my third quarter choice is Ali Carter. This was a hard quarter to pick a winner from as there is not really a stand out favourite. I think Carter has a lot of positives to take from Berlin despite defeat in the final. He struck the cue ball really well all week and played superbly until the final session of the final when Hamilton got on top. His experience and tactical superiority should play a part in round one against Zhou Yuelong, and then he has a possible repeat of his first round match from Berlin against Maguire. When he is striking the ball well, his tactical game and percentage play combined with that make him a formidable opponent. My only fear here would be this event coming so close to Berlin, making it a very heavy schedule for the Captain. With the inconsistencies of so many other players in this section though I have to make Carter my pick for success. 

Quarter Choice: Ali Carter 

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

John Higgins Vs Michael White

Stuart Bingham Vs Ryan Day

Shaun Murphy Vs Michael Holt

Ding Junhui Vs Yu De Lu 

In the final quarter we have the defending champion, as well as three of the players he beat on the way to winning the title. Michael White is one of those after he was thumped by Murphy in round one last year and this year he has an assignment that is just as tough against John Higgins. Nothing but White's best will do if Higgins is anywhere close to his. After a first round loss at the Masters, Higgins will still be looking to respond. Despite his back to back wins in November it must have been a sour end to the year by coming so close to winning his home tournament, but just falling at the final hurdle. Ryan Day had another decent week making the quarter-finals in Berlin, but once again he failed to kick on and go as far as we all know he can. That is not to say he could not get a couple of wins under his belt this week. His first round opponent is last years losing finalist Stuart Bingham. Bingham was always scrapping for form in the German Masters, and recently becoming a Dad again will perhaps affect his form for a month or two. We have seen similar in the last year or two with guys like Selby, Walden and Murphy and it seems to be quite a common theme. It is at this point that I would like to join the rest of the snooker community in sending my best wishes to Ding Junhui. Sad news came out last week that Ding's mother has passed away and at what must be such a difficult time it is impossible to say how he will perform on a snooker table, because quite simply it is not significant when you lose a loved one. Michael Holt could prove a dangerous customer once more as he takes on Murphy in round one. At an event where he got the first of three wins he has had over Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last year, he will be feeling confident and hoping to put some more good performances together.

My final quarter winner choice is Shaun Murphy. Murphy has had a few weeks off after his first round exit from the Masters and not qualifying for the German Masters. This season has seen more early exits than he has had for a long time but a lot of players have played incredibly well against him. He is still the fifteenth seed this week, which is only one spot lower than when he won this tournament last year so the signs are not all bad. He has recently had adjustments made to his cue that he hopes will give him that extra percentage for the rest of the season. I like to think that the recent break and chance to get his cue so he is happy and comfortable playing with it will make it a difference. He has also put a lot of hours in on the practice table to get used to these changes, meaning he is fully prepared for this week. He faces Holt in round one which is a tough match but if he plays well and gets through that game it should give him a lot of confidence and freedom. Performances in the UK Championships, China Championships and International Championships were all fairly positive and close to achieving a lot more so he has brought his best to the bigger events more often than not and I think he will do so this week too. 

Quarter Choice: Shaun Murphy

Tournament Winner Selection: Barry Hawkins

That is all for my very fast paced preview, with the short turnaround from Berlin.

There is a thinned down Stat Attack and Tournament Top Ten for this week too which can all be found here: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/world-grand-prix-stat-attack-and.html