Kyren Wilson was on the wrong side of a thrilling match against Martin Gould that went the full distance and featured a maximum break at the International Championship. Wilson had led the match 4-0 at the interval with runs of 53 and 58 in the process and stealing the third frame.
From there, Gould found his A game and rattled off five straight frames, featuring high breaks of 104, 91 and 128. Then came the most emphatic of responses to that run from Wilson, as he compiled the 147 break in frame ten to force the deciding frame. It was Gould though that was in first in frame eleven, what followed was a break of 70 that put him on the brink of victory and when Wilson could not complete the clearance, the former German Masters champion's spot in the last 16 was assured.
World and defending champion Mark Selby struggled past Tom Ford 6-4 after surrendering a 4-1 lead earlier in the match. Selby won the opener after Ford missed the black and then lost a re-spotted black. Ford had chances thereafter but when Selby made a 72 (his highest break in the match) in frame five he was 4-1 ahead. Ford took the next with a run of 60 and made a 66 in frame seven to make it 3-4. The eighth frame looked like a possible turning point when Selby's early 65 was not enough to get him over the line and Ford cleared with 60 to level the match at 4-4. Selby held strong though, and despite Ford having several chances in frame ten, he took the final two frames for a 6-4 win.
There was a big comeback in the last 32 for Neil Robertson as he came from 5-2 adrift to edge out Matthew Selt. Selt stormed into an early 3-0 lead with a 66 in the opener and a contribution of 60 in frame three. Robertson's first frame on the board came courtesy of a 101 break before the mid-session interval. Selt regained his three frame lead at 4-1, and then made a 71 in the seventh to move one away from victory at 5-2. In the next three frames though, he would only score a single point as Neil Robertson built brilliant breaks of 129 and 117 on the way to forcing a decider. Despite the three centuries, his most important break came in the closing stages of the final frame as he cleared the colours to beat Selt on the black and leave his opponent shell shocked.
Despite his tip splitting prior to the match, Mark Williams won the battle of the Welshmen 6-2 against Ryan Day with high breaks of 57, 60, 68, 80 and 121 in the contest, and he has now set up a last 16 date with Selby. There was also a comfortable victory for Shaun Murphy against Zhang Yong featuring a high break of 123 from the Magician. He will now face Ali Carter who was very impressive in a 6-1 thrashing of Stephen Maguire that featured stunning breaks of 106, 128 and 136.
Judd Trump managed another two centuries, to go with three made in the last 64, as he came through 6-3 in a speedy match with Jimmy Robertson. Liang Wenbo fought back from 4-3 adrift to beat fellow Chinese star Li Hang 6-4, while Mark Allen came from 5-3 down to overcome Mark King with a run of 92 in the deciding frame.
Jack Lisowski's brilliant form continued as he made another two centuries and a further two breaks above 80 in a 6-4 win over Xiao Guodong. The left-hander will now face Ronnie O'Sullivan's conqueror Yan Bingtao who held on to beat Ricky Walden 6-4. Walden had come from 5-1 down to Peter Ebdon in the last 64 and threatened to do the same when he took three in a row against Yan to go from 5-1 to 5-4 here.
Mark Joyce kept his giant-killing boots on as he backed up a 6-2 win over Anthony McGill with victory against Luca Brecel by the same score, making contributions of 55, 60, 61, 69 and 78. He'll face John Higgins in attempts for another upset, after the Scot came through 6-2 against Dominic Dale.
Last 32 Results:
Mark Selby 6-4 Tom Ford
Mark Williams 6-2 Ryan Day
Robbie Williams 6-3 Joe Perry
Neil Robertson 6-5 Matthew Selt
Shaun Murphy 6-1 Zhang Yong
Ali Carter 6-1 Stephen Maguire
Martin Gould 6-5 Kyren Wilson
Robert Milkins 6-4 Oliver Lines
Judd Trump 6-3 Jimmy Robertson
Liang Wenbo 6-4 Li Hang
Mark Allen 6-5 Mark King
Martin O'Donnell 6-5 Akani Songsermsawad
Jack Lisowski 6-4 Xiao Guodong
Yan Bingtao 6-4 Ricky Walden
Mark Joyce 6-2 Luca Brecel
John Higgins 6-2 Dominic Dale
Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Selby Vs Mark Williams
Neil Robertson Vs Robbie Williams
Shaun Murphy Vs Ali Carter
Martin Gould Vs Robert Milkins
Judd Trump Vs Liang Wenbo
Mark Allen Vs Martin O'Donnell
Yan Bingtao Vs Jack Lisowski
John Higgins Vs Mark Joyce
Again there are some cracking matches ahead in the last 16, especially with Mark Selby Vs Mark Williams. Williams has been off to a good start this season and looked good again with a comfortable win over Ryan Day. Selby meanwhile has had to dig deep to win his opening two matches and faces an even tougher test here against the Welshman.
Neil Robertson has played Robbie Williams on two occasions, both in the 2013/2014 season and his aggregate score from those two matches was 16-3. That is not to say that Williams will not fair better this time, though Robertson did have three centuries in his comeback win against Matthew Selt in the last 32 and needs to perform for the sake of his Masters place.
Shaun Murphy and Ali Carter is always a close affair, with their last five major meetings seeing the players only separated by a frame or two. Murphy's win over Carter in the China Championship semi-finals ended a run of three consecutive defeats to Carter in ranking events, and he will have his work cut out again here given the form the Captain showed with three centuries in thrashing Stephen Maguire.
Martin Gould has not been at his best so far this season, but certainly came close to it in his remarkable comeback win over Kyren Wilson. Milkins will need to be at his scoring best in this one, but failed to register a break of above 50 in his 6-4 win over Oliver Lines where he was 3-0 up before Lines pegged him back.
The head to head between Judd Trump and Liang Wenbo is an interesting one in major ranking event meetings. Liang saw off Trump to win his maiden ranking in the English Open final of 2016. Along with that the Chinese number two will feel he could have won their 2016 World Championship clash when Liang was 7-3 up before losing 10-8. Earlier that season though, Liang overcame a 4-1 deficit to beat Trump 6-4 in the last 32 of the UK Championships. Trump has been scoring very well this week and will prove tough to beat, but Liang has shown before that he is capable of it.
Mark Allen and Martin O'Donnell both came from 5-3 behind in the last 32 to set up this tie, though O'Donnell may have taken significantly more out of himself to do so, having been taken off after eight frames and having to wait until the first table was available in the evening to finish. Allen has promised much with his form in September and October so far, and this may be the week when the 2014 International runner-up can deliver.
The battle of the young guns between Yan Bingtao and Jack Lisowski is a very exciting one. Lisowski has been in top form beating Barry Hawkins and an in-form Xiao Guodong so far this week, in addition to victories over Mark Williams and Judd Trump in Barnsley and it finally seems as though the heavy scoring left-hander is ready to step up a level. Yan meanwhile thrashed O'Sullivan 6-1 in the last 64 and has delivered in the big matches ever since coming on tour at the start of last season, both have potential to become multiple ranking event winners and either one could come from the pack to do so this week in Daqing.
Finally, Mark Joyce will have a tough act against John Higgins to follow up his 6-2 victories against Luca Brecel and Anthony McGill in the previous two rounds, but if Joyce can get an early foothold in the game he could at least push the 2015 International champion close here. Higgins though has won all of their three previous meetings and will be confident that he can claim another one here.
An exciting day of last 16 action awaits then and the selected TV matches, can be viewed on Eurosport TV and Eurosport Player with all matches taking place over the best-of-11 frames once more.
Tuesday 31 October 2017
Monday 30 October 2017
Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui crash out of International Championship
English Open champion Ronnie O'Sullivan and World Open winner Ding Junhui both fell in the last 64 of the International Championship on Monday.
O'Sullivan was blown away by the 17-year-old that continues to show quality with Yan Bingtao beating him 6-1. The one frame O'Sullivan won in frame three went to a brilliant 111 break, but he could not keep this standard going in the rest of the match. He was shut out in many ways by Yan who racked up breaks of 52, 68, 73, 89 and 91 in a sensational win that adds O'Sullivan to the growing list of top players that the talented young man has scored victories against.
Meanwhile, Chinese number one Ding Junhui was sent packing by Oliver Lines. Lines came from 3-1 adrift and won each of the last three frames in a 6-4 victory that featured breaks of 78 in the eight frame and a run of 71 to clinch victory. Ding was far from top form and only made one half-century break in the match which was a 62 in frame four. For Lines it is one of the bigger wins in his career, to beat Ding on home soil, while the 2013 International Champion will now be looking to improve his form in next week's Champion of Champions.
There were other top 16 casualties in the opening round at the venue in Daqing as Jack Lisowski continued his impressive recent form by thrashing seventh seed Barry Hawkins 6-2. For Hawkins, a poor start to the season continues as he has only reached the last 32 in one ranking event this season, and has not been passed that stage in his six completed ranking tournaments so far in the 2017/2018 campaign.
Mark Joyce bagged his second win of the season against sixteenth seed Anthony McGill with a comfortable 6-2 victory there against the Scotsman. Ricky Walden though avoided another early exit by coming back from 5-1 down against Peter Ebdon to win 6-5, shutting Ebdon out in the latter stages of the contest with runs of 58, 59, 98 and a 75 in the deciding frame. This could spark a much needed return to form for the 2014 International Champion.
There was also a big comeback for Riga Masters champion Ryan Day. The Welshman was 4-0 to Kurt Maflin who had piled on three centuries in those opening four frames. Day though came back to 4-4 and would eventually go on to win 6-5. Shaun Murphy had to recover a 3-0 deficit after a good start from Mei Xiwen. Mei was very unfortunate in the final frame decider to split the reds far and wide, but go in-off to leave Murphy in for what became a match-winning contribution. Defending champion Mark Selby also needed a run of frames as he won the final three in his 6-4 win over in-form Cao Yupeng.
Liang Wenbo and Kyren Wilson also had to come through in deciding frames, but things were much more comfortable for the likes of Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Luca Brecel and Judd Trump.
Last 64 Results:
Mark Selby 6-4 Cao Yupeng
Tom Ford 6-5 Ian Preece
Ryan Day 6-5 Kurt Maflin
Mark Williams 6-4 Yu De Lu
Joe Perry 6-3 Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams W/O Stuart Bingham
Matthew Selt 6-3 Michael Holt
Neil Robertson 6-2 Gary Wilson
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Mei Xiwen
Zhang Yong 6-3 Alan McManus
Ali Carter 6-3 Andrew Higginson
Stephen Maguire 6-2 John Astley
Martin Gould 6-3 David Grace
Kyren Wilson 6-5 Tian Pengfei
Robert Milkins 6-2 Graeme Dott
Oliver Lines 6-4 Ding Junhui
Judd Trump 6-0 Ian Burns
Jimmy Robertson 6-5 Robin Hull
Liang Wenbo 6-5 Lee Walker
Li Hang 6-1 David Gilbert
Mark King 6-1 Rory McLeod
Mark Allen 6-4 Zhao Xintong
Martin O'Donnell 6-3 Sanderson Lam
Akani Songsermsawad W/O Hossein Vafei (Hossein had visa issues and flight trouble)
Jack Lisowski 6-2 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 6-2 Eden Sharav
Yan Bingtao 6-1 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ricky Walden 6-5 Peter Ebdon
Mark Joyce 6-2 Anthony McGill
Luca Brecel 6-1 Li Yuan
Dominic Dale 6-3 Ben Woollaston
John Higgins 6-1 Niu Zhuang
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Selby Vs Tom Ford
Mark Williams Vs Ryan Day
Joe Perry Vs Robbie Williams
Neil Robertson Vs Matthew Selt
Shaun Murphy Vs Zhang Yong
Ali Carter Vs Stephen Maguire
Kyren Wilson Vs Martin Gould
Robert Milkins Vs Oliver Lines
Judd Trump Vs Jimmy Robertson
Liang Wenbo Vs Li Hang
Mark Allen Vs Mark King
Akani Songsermsawad Vs Martin O'Donnell
Jack Lisowski Vs Xiao Guodong
Yan Bingtao Vs Ricky Walden
Luca Brecel Vs Mark Joyce
John Higgins Vs Dominic Dale
A brilliant line-up awaits for the last 32 on Tuesday. We have an all-Welsh clash between Williams and Day for the third time this season, with Day winning in Riga and Williams recording a 5-0 win when the pair met at the China Championship.
Joe Perry and Robbie Williams will face off, a match that in the past has caused controversy because of the comments Perry made about Williams after losing to him in the 2015 UK Championship. The pair have met once since in the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic, where Williams again came out victorious.
There is a meeting of two sight right coached players as Shaun Murphy plays Zhang Yong. Both will look for better starts after Murphy went 3-0 behind and Zhang fell 3-1 adrift before coming back to win their respective last 64 ties.
Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire also met at this same stage of the International Championship a year ago. On that occasion Carter, who also leads the overall head-to-head between the two, came from 5-2 down to beat the Scotsman. He also came out victorious by a 5-1 scoreline when the two met at the last 32 stage of the German Masters.
Judd Trump was in fine form with three centuries in an easy 6-0 win over Ian Burns. He should get more opposition from Jimmy Robertson though, who today saw off Robin Hull 6-5, making a break of 141 in the process.
Akani Songsermsawad will play Martin O'Donnell in the last 32 after benefiting from a first round walkover after Hossein Vafei was too late for his match. The Iranian had trouble obtaining a visa to play in the event, and to rub salt into that wound his flight out to China was delayed eventually causing him to miss the match.
Xiao Guodong and Jack Lisowski for me is a meeting of two great talents who are both getting back to top form having under achieved in recent years. Xiao Guodong beat Selby in Barnsley and has been scoring excellently of late, while Lisowski will be growing in confidence with every top player he has beaten over the last few weeks.
Finally, I also want to quickly mention Ricky Walden against Yan Bingtao. The pair met on three occasions last season with Walden winning them all, despite Yan actually finishing above Walden on last season's individual money list. Walden scored much more like he is capable of in his unbelievable comeback against Peter Ebdon who was also playing very well in that game. Meanwhile, Yan will have a big job on his hands to follow up such a stunning victory against Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The coverage will once again be on Eurosport TV and Eurosport Player and all matches on Tuesday will be played over the best-of-11 frames format.
O'Sullivan was blown away by the 17-year-old that continues to show quality with Yan Bingtao beating him 6-1. The one frame O'Sullivan won in frame three went to a brilliant 111 break, but he could not keep this standard going in the rest of the match. He was shut out in many ways by Yan who racked up breaks of 52, 68, 73, 89 and 91 in a sensational win that adds O'Sullivan to the growing list of top players that the talented young man has scored victories against.
Meanwhile, Chinese number one Ding Junhui was sent packing by Oliver Lines. Lines came from 3-1 adrift and won each of the last three frames in a 6-4 victory that featured breaks of 78 in the eight frame and a run of 71 to clinch victory. Ding was far from top form and only made one half-century break in the match which was a 62 in frame four. For Lines it is one of the bigger wins in his career, to beat Ding on home soil, while the 2013 International Champion will now be looking to improve his form in next week's Champion of Champions.
There were other top 16 casualties in the opening round at the venue in Daqing as Jack Lisowski continued his impressive recent form by thrashing seventh seed Barry Hawkins 6-2. For Hawkins, a poor start to the season continues as he has only reached the last 32 in one ranking event this season, and has not been passed that stage in his six completed ranking tournaments so far in the 2017/2018 campaign.
Mark Joyce bagged his second win of the season against sixteenth seed Anthony McGill with a comfortable 6-2 victory there against the Scotsman. Ricky Walden though avoided another early exit by coming back from 5-1 down against Peter Ebdon to win 6-5, shutting Ebdon out in the latter stages of the contest with runs of 58, 59, 98 and a 75 in the deciding frame. This could spark a much needed return to form for the 2014 International Champion.
There was also a big comeback for Riga Masters champion Ryan Day. The Welshman was 4-0 to Kurt Maflin who had piled on three centuries in those opening four frames. Day though came back to 4-4 and would eventually go on to win 6-5. Shaun Murphy had to recover a 3-0 deficit after a good start from Mei Xiwen. Mei was very unfortunate in the final frame decider to split the reds far and wide, but go in-off to leave Murphy in for what became a match-winning contribution. Defending champion Mark Selby also needed a run of frames as he won the final three in his 6-4 win over in-form Cao Yupeng.
Liang Wenbo and Kyren Wilson also had to come through in deciding frames, but things were much more comfortable for the likes of Neil Robertson, John Higgins, Luca Brecel and Judd Trump.
Last 64 Results:
Mark Selby 6-4 Cao Yupeng
Tom Ford 6-5 Ian Preece
Ryan Day 6-5 Kurt Maflin
Mark Williams 6-4 Yu De Lu
Joe Perry 6-3 Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams W/O Stuart Bingham
Matthew Selt 6-3 Michael Holt
Neil Robertson 6-2 Gary Wilson
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Mei Xiwen
Zhang Yong 6-3 Alan McManus
Ali Carter 6-3 Andrew Higginson
Stephen Maguire 6-2 John Astley
Martin Gould 6-3 David Grace
Kyren Wilson 6-5 Tian Pengfei
Robert Milkins 6-2 Graeme Dott
Oliver Lines 6-4 Ding Junhui
Judd Trump 6-0 Ian Burns
Jimmy Robertson 6-5 Robin Hull
Liang Wenbo 6-5 Lee Walker
Li Hang 6-1 David Gilbert
Mark King 6-1 Rory McLeod
Mark Allen 6-4 Zhao Xintong
Martin O'Donnell 6-3 Sanderson Lam
Akani Songsermsawad W/O Hossein Vafei (Hossein had visa issues and flight trouble)
Jack Lisowski 6-2 Barry Hawkins
Xiao Guodong 6-2 Eden Sharav
Yan Bingtao 6-1 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ricky Walden 6-5 Peter Ebdon
Mark Joyce 6-2 Anthony McGill
Luca Brecel 6-1 Li Yuan
Dominic Dale 6-3 Ben Woollaston
John Higgins 6-1 Niu Zhuang
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Selby Vs Tom Ford
Mark Williams Vs Ryan Day
Joe Perry Vs Robbie Williams
Neil Robertson Vs Matthew Selt
Shaun Murphy Vs Zhang Yong
Ali Carter Vs Stephen Maguire
Kyren Wilson Vs Martin Gould
Robert Milkins Vs Oliver Lines
Judd Trump Vs Jimmy Robertson
Liang Wenbo Vs Li Hang
Mark Allen Vs Mark King
Akani Songsermsawad Vs Martin O'Donnell
Jack Lisowski Vs Xiao Guodong
Yan Bingtao Vs Ricky Walden
Luca Brecel Vs Mark Joyce
John Higgins Vs Dominic Dale
A brilliant line-up awaits for the last 32 on Tuesday. We have an all-Welsh clash between Williams and Day for the third time this season, with Day winning in Riga and Williams recording a 5-0 win when the pair met at the China Championship.
Joe Perry and Robbie Williams will face off, a match that in the past has caused controversy because of the comments Perry made about Williams after losing to him in the 2015 UK Championship. The pair have met once since in the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic, where Williams again came out victorious.
There is a meeting of two sight right coached players as Shaun Murphy plays Zhang Yong. Both will look for better starts after Murphy went 3-0 behind and Zhang fell 3-1 adrift before coming back to win their respective last 64 ties.
Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire also met at this same stage of the International Championship a year ago. On that occasion Carter, who also leads the overall head-to-head between the two, came from 5-2 down to beat the Scotsman. He also came out victorious by a 5-1 scoreline when the two met at the last 32 stage of the German Masters.
Judd Trump was in fine form with three centuries in an easy 6-0 win over Ian Burns. He should get more opposition from Jimmy Robertson though, who today saw off Robin Hull 6-5, making a break of 141 in the process.
Akani Songsermsawad will play Martin O'Donnell in the last 32 after benefiting from a first round walkover after Hossein Vafei was too late for his match. The Iranian had trouble obtaining a visa to play in the event, and to rub salt into that wound his flight out to China was delayed eventually causing him to miss the match.
Xiao Guodong and Jack Lisowski for me is a meeting of two great talents who are both getting back to top form having under achieved in recent years. Xiao Guodong beat Selby in Barnsley and has been scoring excellently of late, while Lisowski will be growing in confidence with every top player he has beaten over the last few weeks.
Finally, I also want to quickly mention Ricky Walden against Yan Bingtao. The pair met on three occasions last season with Walden winning them all, despite Yan actually finishing above Walden on last season's individual money list. Walden scored much more like he is capable of in his unbelievable comeback against Peter Ebdon who was also playing very well in that game. Meanwhile, Yan will have a big job on his hands to follow up such a stunning victory against Ronnie O'Sullivan.
The coverage will once again be on Eurosport TV and Eurosport Player and all matches on Tuesday will be played over the best-of-11 frames format.
Saturday 28 October 2017
International Championship Preview
The snooker tour heads out to China for the third Chinese ranking event of the season, with another £150,000 winners cheque on offer at the International Championship.
Play begins on Sunday morning with plenty of games to get through over the next eight days. Matches are all best-of-11 frames up until the best-of-17 semi-finals and the best-of-19 frame finale.
It's a tough event to pick a winner from with so many of the top players qualifying (or having their last 128 matches heldover) with English Open champion Ronnie O'Sullivan being one of those stars to easily negotiate his last 128 tie in Preston a month ago. The highest ranked player not featured in the line-up for Daqing is Marco Fu, who lost out in Preston to Akani Songsermsawad, while this event also marks the start of Stuart Bingham's three month suspension reported on Tuesday. Michael White at current world number 26 is the next highest ranked player not in the field, so you would expect a number of top players to make it through to the latter stages.
There are some big names like Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, John Higgins and Ding Junhui who have already found the winners circle this season, while others like Mark Selby and Neil Robertson will be looking to find their best form ahead of a busy period on the calendar.
This is also an important week in terms of the rankings, with the International Championship marking the final event before the seeding cut off for the Northern Irish Open and the first triple crown event of the season - the UK Championships.
Best of the Rest: Matthew Selt and Sam Craigie
Quarter Choice: Mark Williams
Best of the Rest: Kyren Wilson
Quarter Choice: Ding Junhui
Best of the Rest: Li Hang and Hossein Vafei
Quarter Choice: Mark Allen
Play begins on Sunday morning with plenty of games to get through over the next eight days. Matches are all best-of-11 frames up until the best-of-17 semi-finals and the best-of-19 frame finale.
It's a tough event to pick a winner from with so many of the top players qualifying (or having their last 128 matches heldover) with English Open champion Ronnie O'Sullivan being one of those stars to easily negotiate his last 128 tie in Preston a month ago. The highest ranked player not featured in the line-up for Daqing is Marco Fu, who lost out in Preston to Akani Songsermsawad, while this event also marks the start of Stuart Bingham's three month suspension reported on Tuesday. Michael White at current world number 26 is the next highest ranked player not in the field, so you would expect a number of top players to make it through to the latter stages.
There are some big names like Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, John Higgins and Ding Junhui who have already found the winners circle this season, while others like Mark Selby and Neil Robertson will be looking to find their best form ahead of a busy period on the calendar.
This is also an important week in terms of the rankings, with the International Championship marking the final event before the seeding cut off for the Northern Irish Open and the first triple crown event of the season - the UK Championships.
Quarter 1
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Mark Selby or Ashley Hugill Vs Cao Yupeng
Tom Ford Vs Ian Preece
Ryan Day Vs Kurt Maflin
Mark Williams Vs Yu De Lu or Lu Haotian
Joe Perry Vs Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams W/O Stuart Bingham
Michael Holt Vs Matthew Selt
Neil Robertson Vs Gary Wilson
World champion and defending champion Mark Selby is coming into an event here where you would expect him to have more success than he has done so far this season. Based on his performances last season he clearly does better in the "longer" format events, and he does come into this on the back of a victory in the unadvertised Haining Open, where he also made a 147 break in the final. Selby has a tough draw with an in-form Cao Yupeng in the last 64 and a possible last 32 meeting with his Haining Open final opponent Tom Ford. Meanwhile, Ryan Day is one of two top players that could meet Selby in the last 16, but for Day his most recent form has not matched that of his early season Riga Masters triumph. With a new cue he started using a couple of months ago, he has had early exits in the World Open, European Masters and the English Open which will certainly give his last 64 opponent Kurt Maflin some encouragement.
Robbie Williams is the beneficiary here of Stuart Bingham's suspension, as he gets a bye into the last 32 while I could see a couple of results coming against the odds in the bottom half of this section. Matthew Selt has been coming back nicely this season so far after a poor campaign last year, while his last 64 opponent Michael Holt has not quite shown the form and results that he had achieved in the last couple of seasons. Joe Perry's form has been mixed, with a couple of earlier exits to in-form players in the English Open and European Masters and if Sam Craigie is at his best he could have a good run this week. Craigie is a player who I believe will have more success in slightly longer matches. Once again, it is going to be another big week for Neil Robertson in his race for the Masters. With Bingham's suspension he is now provisionally the 16th and final man on the list. However, victory for Liang Wenbo in his heldover last 128 game would put him in front so the Australian needs to do better than Liang this week, having not qualified for the Shanghai Masters. Signs were positive as Robertson made the quarter-finals in Barnsley, but he has still not made the semi-finals of a ranking event since the beginning of October 2016.
My opening quarter pick this week is Mark Williams. Williams has had a pretty consistent start to the season so far, as the English Open was the first ranking event this season where he did not make it to at least the quarter-finals, losing out to Jack Lisowski in the last 32. In the two Chinese events so far, he lost in the last eight of both, firstly to Li Hang in the China Championship when he had a nice lead, and then to Kyren Wilson in the World Open who was simply at the top of his game. He won convincingly to qualify for this tournament a month ago, and was a semi-finalist three years ago when he was very unfortunate not to make it through to the final. Williams has still shown that he has big victories in him and his switch to receive SightRight coaching has certainly seen an improvement in his results. In fact, since that switch he also seems to be speaking more confidently about his game on social media, and if he truly does have more confidence then there is no reason that the results will not keep on coming.
Robbie Williams is the beneficiary here of Stuart Bingham's suspension, as he gets a bye into the last 32 while I could see a couple of results coming against the odds in the bottom half of this section. Matthew Selt has been coming back nicely this season so far after a poor campaign last year, while his last 64 opponent Michael Holt has not quite shown the form and results that he had achieved in the last couple of seasons. Joe Perry's form has been mixed, with a couple of earlier exits to in-form players in the English Open and European Masters and if Sam Craigie is at his best he could have a good run this week. Craigie is a player who I believe will have more success in slightly longer matches. Once again, it is going to be another big week for Neil Robertson in his race for the Masters. With Bingham's suspension he is now provisionally the 16th and final man on the list. However, victory for Liang Wenbo in his heldover last 128 game would put him in front so the Australian needs to do better than Liang this week, having not qualified for the Shanghai Masters. Signs were positive as Robertson made the quarter-finals in Barnsley, but he has still not made the semi-finals of a ranking event since the beginning of October 2016.
My opening quarter pick this week is Mark Williams. Williams has had a pretty consistent start to the season so far, as the English Open was the first ranking event this season where he did not make it to at least the quarter-finals, losing out to Jack Lisowski in the last 32. In the two Chinese events so far, he lost in the last eight of both, firstly to Li Hang in the China Championship when he had a nice lead, and then to Kyren Wilson in the World Open who was simply at the top of his game. He won convincingly to qualify for this tournament a month ago, and was a semi-finalist three years ago when he was very unfortunate not to make it through to the final. Williams has still shown that he has big victories in him and his switch to receive SightRight coaching has certainly seen an improvement in his results. In fact, since that switch he also seems to be speaking more confidently about his game on social media, and if he truly does have more confidence then there is no reason that the results will not keep on coming.
Best of the Rest: Matthew Selt and Sam Craigie
Quarter Choice: Mark Williams
Quarter 2
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Shaun Murphy Vs Mei Xiwen
Alan McManus Vs Zhang Yong
Ali Carter Vs Andrew Higginson
Stephen Maguire Vs John Astley
Martin Gould Vs David Grace
Kyren Wilson Vs Tian Pengfei
Graeme Dott Vs Robert Milkins
Ding Junhui or Chen Zhe Vs Oliver Lines
The first man to focus on in the second quarter is recent World and English Open runner-up Kyren Wilson. As that opening line suggests he has been at the top of his game in recent weeks to make those two finals and there is no doubt given his talent that these performances will keep on coming. I also like Wilson's draw this week in Daqing and think that if he keeps his form up he will have another big week. Shaun Murphy has been in good form this season making two finals, and was going nicely in Barnsley before he ran into the force that was Alexander Ursenbacher. If he can avoid any neck problems that he faced following his flight from India to Shanghai on the way to the World Open, then there is no reason he could not do well in an event that he made the quarter-finals of last season and the semi's in the inaugural year.
Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire are the other top players in opposition for Murphy in the top half of this section. Carter has not played much of late and exited in the last 64 of the English Open so it is tough to judge how he will go this week in a tough section. Maguire has also not been in the best of form in the last few weeks losing 4-0 in the first round of the English Open following another early exit in the Indian Open, failing to back up his final at the Riga Masters in June.
My selection for this section is last year's runner-up and 2013 International Champion Ding Junhui. Ding is the man for me in this section and quite possibly for the whole tournament, simply based on his record not just in this event but in all of the Chinese events in recent times. Just a month ago he stormed to victory at the World Open in what was only his second ranking event of the season, and even though he did not back that performance up in Barnsley, I think he will be close to his best again this week. I think it helps significantly for a player like Ding to have his last 128 ties heldover to the venue, because it will often just give himself an extra round to build up his form ready for when he faces tougher tasks. I fancy his chances with the draw he has for the first two or three matches, and think that Kyren Wilson could provide one of his main obstacles in this section. The fact that he has reached the final twice in the five years that this event has been held previously shows how much he enjoys it, and in both of those years, he has won the Shanghai Masters the month before which was in the same calendar slot as this year's World Open. Therefore, there are plenty of good signs pointing to Ding for this week.
Ali Carter and Stephen Maguire are the other top players in opposition for Murphy in the top half of this section. Carter has not played much of late and exited in the last 64 of the English Open so it is tough to judge how he will go this week in a tough section. Maguire has also not been in the best of form in the last few weeks losing 4-0 in the first round of the English Open following another early exit in the Indian Open, failing to back up his final at the Riga Masters in June.
My selection for this section is last year's runner-up and 2013 International Champion Ding Junhui. Ding is the man for me in this section and quite possibly for the whole tournament, simply based on his record not just in this event but in all of the Chinese events in recent times. Just a month ago he stormed to victory at the World Open in what was only his second ranking event of the season, and even though he did not back that performance up in Barnsley, I think he will be close to his best again this week. I think it helps significantly for a player like Ding to have his last 128 ties heldover to the venue, because it will often just give himself an extra round to build up his form ready for when he faces tougher tasks. I fancy his chances with the draw he has for the first two or three matches, and think that Kyren Wilson could provide one of his main obstacles in this section. The fact that he has reached the final twice in the five years that this event has been held previously shows how much he enjoys it, and in both of those years, he has won the Shanghai Masters the month before which was in the same calendar slot as this year's World Open. Therefore, there are plenty of good signs pointing to Ding for this week.
Best of the Rest: Kyren Wilson
Quarter Choice: Ding Junhui
Quarter 3
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Judd Trump Vs Ian Burns
Zhou Yuelong or Robin Hull Vs Jimmy Robertson
Liang Wenbo or Adam Duffy Vs Lee Walker
David Gilbert Vs Li Hang
Mark King Vs Rory McLeod
Mark Allen Vs Matthew Stevens or Zhao Xintong
Martin O'Donnell Vs Sanderson Lam
Hossein Vafei Vs Akani Songsermsawad
The third quarter is where we find the inaugural International Champion Judd Trump. Following his laser eye surgery, he has played well winning the European Masters and was only stopped in the last 16 of the English Open by his in-form friend Jack Lisowski. Whatever the length of match, Trump seems to thrive with his heavy scoring that was a big fixture in his run to the semi-finals in Daqing last year. Liang Wenbo is one of Trump's biggest threats in this section after his maximum break at the English Open, though in the end he was easily beaten in the last 32. That is his best finish of the season in just his third event so he may still be a few events from getting back to top form.
Two players that could be dark horses in this section are Li Hang and Hossein Vafei. Li has had a good start to the season, particularly in the Chinese events where he made the semi-finals at the China Championship and the quarter-finals of the World Open and he is such a heavy scorer that I don't think this will be a one-off good spell for Li. Hossein was off to a quiet start this season before a good run put him into the quarter-finals in Barnsley. He is in a mini-section of the draw where he is the highest ranked of four players vying for a place in the last 16.
My selection in quarter three is the 2014 International runner-up Mark Allen. Allen has had a good start to the season so far, without quite yet kicking on and getting another title in the bag. In the last Chinese event he was a losing semi-finalist in a deciding frame against Wilson, and then in the European Masters he was on the wrong side of another final frame shoot-out in the quarter-finals. Perhaps just a little bit of luck, or the consistency to keep putting himself in those positions will eventually see things fall into place, because he has been playing well and scoring very freely in recent months. He'll face a tough test in the first round whichever one of Stevens and Zhao Xintong come through. We all know how dangerous Zhao can be, while Stevens beat Allen in the China Championship and has been playing well of late. If he can get through the likelihood is that he would have played well and I would then expect him to come through against potential opposition in the next two rounds to make the quarter-finals. If his scoring is still in top gear then he is a clear contender for the title.
Two players that could be dark horses in this section are Li Hang and Hossein Vafei. Li has had a good start to the season, particularly in the Chinese events where he made the semi-finals at the China Championship and the quarter-finals of the World Open and he is such a heavy scorer that I don't think this will be a one-off good spell for Li. Hossein was off to a quiet start this season before a good run put him into the quarter-finals in Barnsley. He is in a mini-section of the draw where he is the highest ranked of four players vying for a place in the last 16.
My selection in quarter three is the 2014 International runner-up Mark Allen. Allen has had a good start to the season so far, without quite yet kicking on and getting another title in the bag. In the last Chinese event he was a losing semi-finalist in a deciding frame against Wilson, and then in the European Masters he was on the wrong side of another final frame shoot-out in the quarter-finals. Perhaps just a little bit of luck, or the consistency to keep putting himself in those positions will eventually see things fall into place, because he has been playing well and scoring very freely in recent months. He'll face a tough test in the first round whichever one of Stevens and Zhao Xintong come through. We all know how dangerous Zhao can be, while Stevens beat Allen in the China Championship and has been playing well of late. If he can get through the likelihood is that he would have played well and I would then expect him to come through against potential opposition in the next two rounds to make the quarter-finals. If his scoring is still in top gear then he is a clear contender for the title.
Best of the Rest: Li Hang and Hossein Vafei
Quarter Choice: Mark Allen
Quarter 4
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Barry Hawkins Vs Jack Lisowski
Xiao Guodong Vs Eden Sharav
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Yan Bingtao or Wang Yuchen
Ricky Walden Vs Peter Ebdon
Anthony McGill Vs Mark Joyce
Luca Brecel Vs Li Yuan
Ben Woollaston Vs Dominic Dale
John Higgins or Elliot Slessor Vs Niu Zhuang
The final quarter of the draw is filled with top players and in-form stars. Anthony McGill has made a very consistent start to the season making the final in India, the semis last week in Barnsley and the quarters of the European Masters, World Open and the season opening Riga Masters. The only thing missing for him is a trophy this season, but it is a very tough draw to negotiate if he is to keep his consistency. Jack Lisowski is certainly a dark horse after making the quarter-finals of the English Open with wins over Trump and Mark Williams, following up a run to the last 16 of the European Masters. He has played well to qualify for the majority of events and it is about time that he kicked on. In round one he faces Barry Hawkins who has not made it further than the last 32 of a ranking event so far this season and will be eager for a few results, but with Lisowski in form he will have to do it the hard way.
Ricky Walden and Peter Ebdon makes for a very interesting last 64 tie. Walden is out of form following his back injuries, and he is lucky to be through after a tough qualifier with Billy Castle. Every match seems to be difficult for Walden and it is always tough against Ebdon. Ebdon's own form is very hit and miss these days but he is still very capable of big results, as he showed by beating Marco Fu on the way to the last 16 of the last event in China, and a few of his better results over the last few years have come in China. Ronnie O'Sullivan will be looking to carry on from where he left off in Barnsley with another big title on offer. His form in China though is not really on the same level as it is in the UK and that may be something that holds him back this week in a tough section. I think O'Sullivan has a good chance of making the quarter-finals but it is tough opposition from there that may undo him. Luca Brecel could provide that test, particularly with his form in China following his China Championship victory up with a run to the World Open semi-finals. He should breeze past Li Yuan in the last 64 but from there he will need to be at his best to progress further, as he faces a possible last 32 tie with McGill and a potential last 16 match-up with John Higgins.
Out of all of these class acts, my final quarter pick for this week is 2015 International Champion John Higgins. Higgins is in pretty good form, having already collected a title this season at the Indian Open where he was playing some top snooker once again. It took Ronnie O'Sullivan in top gear to halt him in the last 16 of the English Open, or it could have been the Scotsman with his name on the trophy again there in Barnsley. He has also had a couple of earlier exits, in the last 32 of the European Masters to Mark Davis, and to David Gilbert in the World Open but he was undone there by good performances. Someone will have to play especially well to overcome him in the best-of-11 frames format this week, given his wealth of big game experience and match play prowess. A potential last 16 tie with either McGill or Brecel could provide a huge test for Higgins but I would not be at all surprised if we saw O'Sullivan and Higgins meet for the second event in succession, as that is a potential quarter-final in Daqing this week.
Best of the Rest: Jack Lisowski and Luca Brecel
Quarter Choice: John Higgins
Tournament Winner Selection: Ding Junhui
The event will be covered in full by Eurosport TV and on Eurosport Player and it should provide great entertainment as the top players compete for a big prize in Daqing.
The final quarter of the draw is filled with top players and in-form stars. Anthony McGill has made a very consistent start to the season making the final in India, the semis last week in Barnsley and the quarters of the European Masters, World Open and the season opening Riga Masters. The only thing missing for him is a trophy this season, but it is a very tough draw to negotiate if he is to keep his consistency. Jack Lisowski is certainly a dark horse after making the quarter-finals of the English Open with wins over Trump and Mark Williams, following up a run to the last 16 of the European Masters. He has played well to qualify for the majority of events and it is about time that he kicked on. In round one he faces Barry Hawkins who has not made it further than the last 32 of a ranking event so far this season and will be eager for a few results, but with Lisowski in form he will have to do it the hard way.
Ricky Walden and Peter Ebdon makes for a very interesting last 64 tie. Walden is out of form following his back injuries, and he is lucky to be through after a tough qualifier with Billy Castle. Every match seems to be difficult for Walden and it is always tough against Ebdon. Ebdon's own form is very hit and miss these days but he is still very capable of big results, as he showed by beating Marco Fu on the way to the last 16 of the last event in China, and a few of his better results over the last few years have come in China. Ronnie O'Sullivan will be looking to carry on from where he left off in Barnsley with another big title on offer. His form in China though is not really on the same level as it is in the UK and that may be something that holds him back this week in a tough section. I think O'Sullivan has a good chance of making the quarter-finals but it is tough opposition from there that may undo him. Luca Brecel could provide that test, particularly with his form in China following his China Championship victory up with a run to the World Open semi-finals. He should breeze past Li Yuan in the last 64 but from there he will need to be at his best to progress further, as he faces a possible last 32 tie with McGill and a potential last 16 match-up with John Higgins.
Out of all of these class acts, my final quarter pick for this week is 2015 International Champion John Higgins. Higgins is in pretty good form, having already collected a title this season at the Indian Open where he was playing some top snooker once again. It took Ronnie O'Sullivan in top gear to halt him in the last 16 of the English Open, or it could have been the Scotsman with his name on the trophy again there in Barnsley. He has also had a couple of earlier exits, in the last 32 of the European Masters to Mark Davis, and to David Gilbert in the World Open but he was undone there by good performances. Someone will have to play especially well to overcome him in the best-of-11 frames format this week, given his wealth of big game experience and match play prowess. A potential last 16 tie with either McGill or Brecel could provide a huge test for Higgins but I would not be at all surprised if we saw O'Sullivan and Higgins meet for the second event in succession, as that is a potential quarter-final in Daqing this week.
Best of the Rest: Jack Lisowski and Luca Brecel
Quarter Choice: John Higgins
Tournament Winner Selection: Ding Junhui
The event will be covered in full by Eurosport TV and on Eurosport Player and it should provide great entertainment as the top players compete for a big prize in Daqing.
Thursday 26 October 2017
Rewind: Classic matches from the International Championship
Ahead of the International Championships starting in Daqing, China on Sunday, I have looked back over the past five years of this tournament to pick out my top five matches in the events history.
A few of these were so good that they made it on to my old "Classic Matches" yearly countdowns and each one was a memorable tussle during the latter stages of what is becoming one of the great tournaments on the snooker calendar.
Featuring in the countdown is a black ball decider, big comebacks and part of Ding Junhui's ranking event winning streak from 2013.
5th: Marco Fu Vs Joe Perry - 2013 - The first match in the list takes us back to a thrilling semi-final in the 2013 edition where Fu was a narrow winner. Perry got off to a good start though in the first session of this best-of-17 frame affair, taking a 5-2 advantage with high breaks of 83 and 72 in the process. Fu took a scrappy final frame of the session to limit his damage and this would prove crucial as he only went into the break just 5-3 adrift.
When Fu came back out in the evening and won all of the first three frames, with a break of 88 in frame eleven, he was suddenly out in front at 6-5 and Perry was the man needing to dig deep. He needed to address the slide and get himself back on terms with Fu going into the mid-session interval and there was no better way to do it than the break of 103 that followed, making it 6-6. A tight thirteenth frame then went to Perry on the colours as he edged in front once more, but Fu hit straight back with a run of 70 to make it 7-7. Fu then took the next to move 8-7 ahead but Perry took the sixteenth and made sure this match got the deciding frame it deserved. Both players had chances in what was a nervy decider that fitted much of the rest of this contest, but it was Fu who held strong and took it on the colours to put his name in the final.
4th: Mark Williams Vs Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2014 - This match made it into seventh place in my "Classic Matches Countdown" for 2014, and you can click the link above to see the full in-depth write-up it was given back then. The major context to this one of course is Williams poor record over O'Sullivan in big matches, with his last big match win prior to this coming in the semi-finals of the 2002 Thailand Masters.
On this occasion it was a quarter-final at the International Championships, though to start with it sincerely looked like Williams poor run against the Rocket was set to continue. Both players had chances in the opening frame, but after winning the safety battle on the last red, O'Sullivan went 1-0 ahead. That lead was soon doubled thanks to a 65 break in the second, and although Williams had a commanding lead in the third frame O'Sullivan would go on to clear and make it 3-0 and desperate times of the Welshman.
A clearance of the last four reds in frame four gave Williams a much needed frame on the board to go into the interval just 1-3 behind. A match high break of 120 followed the break and the left-hander was just one adrift. That did not last long though as Williams got himself with a run of 59 on the way to a 3-3 scoreline. It just kept getting better for Williams as he punished O'Sullivan in the seventh to lead for the first time before a run of 77 in the eighth put him one away from victory at 5-3.
O'Sullivan was never going to roll over and he hit back with a 72 break to take the ninth while a couple of misses for Williams then proved costly as the match was suddenly into a deciding frame with a place in the semi-finals up for grabs. A break of 50 early in the decider gave Williams control and he would quickly finish the frame thereafter to score a memorable 6-5 victory ending his run of bad results against O'Sullivan.
3rd: Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy - 2016 - It was also at the quarter-final stage when another classic Trump Vs Murphy clash came about. The pair have previously played out a fantastic World quarter-final in 2013 and my favourite ever best-of-7 frame match (there isn't a long list in that category) in the Ruhr Open semi-finals back in 2014.
There was never more than a frame between the pair in the early stages of this one, with Trump taking the opener before Murphy stole the second to level the contest. In the third frame, the left-hander made the first of three centuries for him in this contest as a swift 102 sneaked him back in front, before Murphy squared the match going into the mid-session break with the first of four breaks for him in the 70's, a 76 on this occasion, making it 2-2.
Trump flew out of the blocks after the break with another well compiled 100 to go a frame up for the third time in the contest. However, after that Murphy dominated the next spell of this fascinating tussle, wading in with a 77 to level at 3-3, while a 75 in the seventh put him in front for the first time. That was followed again by a 70 contribution in frame eight that put the Magician two clear, the first point in the match where there was more than a frame between the players, and crucially Murphy was also a frame away from victory at this stage.
Trump was not fazed by being on the brink of defeat, and he certainly wasn't in that position for very long. The next two frames were seen off in one visit by Trump as he followed up a 74 in the ninth frame with his third century and the highest of the match, a 119, to force the deciding frame. After all of this back and forth with big breaks, the deciding frame was a very close and dramatic affair. Trump led early on in the frame but Murphy came back into it well and would eventually formulate a lead of 19 before playing safe on the yellow, and would still lead by ten when the pair battled on the blue. Trump would go on to pot blue and pink but hit the bump of the middle coming down for the black, leaving him nowhere and making it a black ball battle for the match. Trump had the first attempt, trying to cut it in from range but that left a long shot for Shaun, but he blazed it wide and left a simple tap in for Trump to take out the match.
2nd: Ding Junhui Vs Marco Fu - 2013 - In the runners-up spot in this weeks countdown is the 2013 final between Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, which made it into fifth place on my "Classic Matches of 2013" countdown, an old piece you can view in full by clicking above.
The match itself was a tight one that went right down to the final frame, after there had been no more than two frames between the two throughout the match. There was also some amazing scoring between the two who made seven centuries between them in the 19 frames played, along with a further six 50+ contributions.
Fu did lead 2-0 early on, backing up a tight opening frame success with a marvellous 128 in the second frame. Ding hit straight back with the first of his five match centuries, a 108, but Fu would still go on to lead 3-1 in the first mid-session break. For the next four frames after the break Ding put on a masterclass of snooker as Fu only scored six points in a period that saw his opponent make breaks of 92, 126, 127 and 138, but when Fu took the last frame of the session it all meant that, despite his superior scoring, Ding only led 5-4.
Straight off the bat in session two was another Ding century with a 108 putting him 6-4 in front. Then Fu took three frames on the trot with breaks of 105 and 71 thrown in as he regained the lead at 7-6. The next four frames saw them go blow for blow. Ding hit back 65, before Fu's 81, Ding then dominated the sixteenth to level at 8-8 but Fu won a tighter seventeenth to move one from the title at 9-8. A contribution of 58 was enough for Ding to force the decider, in which he took his first chance compiling a break of 91 to win his third successive ranking title, and leave Fu agonisingly short of glory.
1st: Mark Allen Vs Mark Williams - 2014 - This countdown would not be complete without a throwback to the 2014 semi-final between Mark Allen and Mark Williams. One of my favourite matches of recent years, the heavy scoring and nail-biting action saw it jump right to the top of my "Classic Matches of 2014" countdown, a piece you can view in full by clicking the above link.
In 17 total frames, there were 14 breaks of above 50, four of which were centuries in this all left-handed battle. The bar was set high from an early stage when the first four frames were shared at 2-2, Allen winning the opening two with breaks of 92 and 71, before Williams quickly came back with consecutive centuries of 120 and 135. Allen was in front again at 3-2 and could have gone further ahead but Williams won the sixth on the pink to make it 3-3. The Northern Irishman still took an important stride forward by taking the final two frames of the session, with breaks of 105 and 55, putting him 5-3 in front when they came out for the evening session.
Allen then came straight out of the blocks with a one-visit frame to move further clear, a run of 77 making it 6-3 and opening up a big margin for the first time in the match. A solid 84 from Williams in the tenth kept him in it, although Allen soon restored his three frame lead with a 67 break assisting him in making it 7-4. The Welshman was not done though and he took the two frames either side of the mid-session interval to get to within one at 7-6 and then pressed on and punished Allen with another century, 102 this time squaring the scores at 7-7. The fifteenth frame was a massive one in the context of the game. After winning three in a row, Williams had Allen needing snookers or else it would be four in a row and put the two-times world champion one frame from the final. Allen got the snooker though and made a key clearance to move 8-7 ahead himself and halt Williams in his tracks.
Williams response was a perfect one as forced the decider in one-visit with no reply from Allen. A run of 86 made it 8-8 and still meant that Williams had won four of the last five frames to come back to that point, though he could have had all five. The final frame certainly did not lack drama and both players had plenty of chances in the frame. The big one fell to Williams in the second half of the frame, but he missed a tricky final red along the cushion, and all of the remaining balls were there for Allen who was able to put himself in the final.
For me, that is certainly a match worthy of number one on this list, and I'm sure there will be many more memorable matches as the eight days of snooker unfolds in the 2017 International Championships.
A few of these were so good that they made it on to my old "Classic Matches" yearly countdowns and each one was a memorable tussle during the latter stages of what is becoming one of the great tournaments on the snooker calendar.
Featuring in the countdown is a black ball decider, big comebacks and part of Ding Junhui's ranking event winning streak from 2013.
5th: Marco Fu Vs Joe Perry - 2013 - The first match in the list takes us back to a thrilling semi-final in the 2013 edition where Fu was a narrow winner. Perry got off to a good start though in the first session of this best-of-17 frame affair, taking a 5-2 advantage with high breaks of 83 and 72 in the process. Fu took a scrappy final frame of the session to limit his damage and this would prove crucial as he only went into the break just 5-3 adrift.
When Fu came back out in the evening and won all of the first three frames, with a break of 88 in frame eleven, he was suddenly out in front at 6-5 and Perry was the man needing to dig deep. He needed to address the slide and get himself back on terms with Fu going into the mid-session interval and there was no better way to do it than the break of 103 that followed, making it 6-6. A tight thirteenth frame then went to Perry on the colours as he edged in front once more, but Fu hit straight back with a run of 70 to make it 7-7. Fu then took the next to move 8-7 ahead but Perry took the sixteenth and made sure this match got the deciding frame it deserved. Both players had chances in what was a nervy decider that fitted much of the rest of this contest, but it was Fu who held strong and took it on the colours to put his name in the final.
4th: Mark Williams Vs Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2014 - This match made it into seventh place in my "Classic Matches Countdown" for 2014, and you can click the link above to see the full in-depth write-up it was given back then. The major context to this one of course is Williams poor record over O'Sullivan in big matches, with his last big match win prior to this coming in the semi-finals of the 2002 Thailand Masters.
On this occasion it was a quarter-final at the International Championships, though to start with it sincerely looked like Williams poor run against the Rocket was set to continue. Both players had chances in the opening frame, but after winning the safety battle on the last red, O'Sullivan went 1-0 ahead. That lead was soon doubled thanks to a 65 break in the second, and although Williams had a commanding lead in the third frame O'Sullivan would go on to clear and make it 3-0 and desperate times of the Welshman.
A clearance of the last four reds in frame four gave Williams a much needed frame on the board to go into the interval just 1-3 behind. A match high break of 120 followed the break and the left-hander was just one adrift. That did not last long though as Williams got himself with a run of 59 on the way to a 3-3 scoreline. It just kept getting better for Williams as he punished O'Sullivan in the seventh to lead for the first time before a run of 77 in the eighth put him one away from victory at 5-3.
O'Sullivan was never going to roll over and he hit back with a 72 break to take the ninth while a couple of misses for Williams then proved costly as the match was suddenly into a deciding frame with a place in the semi-finals up for grabs. A break of 50 early in the decider gave Williams control and he would quickly finish the frame thereafter to score a memorable 6-5 victory ending his run of bad results against O'Sullivan.
3rd: Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy - 2016 - It was also at the quarter-final stage when another classic Trump Vs Murphy clash came about. The pair have previously played out a fantastic World quarter-final in 2013 and my favourite ever best-of-7 frame match (there isn't a long list in that category) in the Ruhr Open semi-finals back in 2014.
There was never more than a frame between the pair in the early stages of this one, with Trump taking the opener before Murphy stole the second to level the contest. In the third frame, the left-hander made the first of three centuries for him in this contest as a swift 102 sneaked him back in front, before Murphy squared the match going into the mid-session break with the first of four breaks for him in the 70's, a 76 on this occasion, making it 2-2.
Trump flew out of the blocks after the break with another well compiled 100 to go a frame up for the third time in the contest. However, after that Murphy dominated the next spell of this fascinating tussle, wading in with a 77 to level at 3-3, while a 75 in the seventh put him in front for the first time. That was followed again by a 70 contribution in frame eight that put the Magician two clear, the first point in the match where there was more than a frame between the players, and crucially Murphy was also a frame away from victory at this stage.
Trump was not fazed by being on the brink of defeat, and he certainly wasn't in that position for very long. The next two frames were seen off in one visit by Trump as he followed up a 74 in the ninth frame with his third century and the highest of the match, a 119, to force the deciding frame. After all of this back and forth with big breaks, the deciding frame was a very close and dramatic affair. Trump led early on in the frame but Murphy came back into it well and would eventually formulate a lead of 19 before playing safe on the yellow, and would still lead by ten when the pair battled on the blue. Trump would go on to pot blue and pink but hit the bump of the middle coming down for the black, leaving him nowhere and making it a black ball battle for the match. Trump had the first attempt, trying to cut it in from range but that left a long shot for Shaun, but he blazed it wide and left a simple tap in for Trump to take out the match.
2nd: Ding Junhui Vs Marco Fu - 2013 - In the runners-up spot in this weeks countdown is the 2013 final between Ding Junhui and Marco Fu, which made it into fifth place on my "Classic Matches of 2013" countdown, an old piece you can view in full by clicking above.
The match itself was a tight one that went right down to the final frame, after there had been no more than two frames between the two throughout the match. There was also some amazing scoring between the two who made seven centuries between them in the 19 frames played, along with a further six 50+ contributions.
Fu did lead 2-0 early on, backing up a tight opening frame success with a marvellous 128 in the second frame. Ding hit straight back with the first of his five match centuries, a 108, but Fu would still go on to lead 3-1 in the first mid-session break. For the next four frames after the break Ding put on a masterclass of snooker as Fu only scored six points in a period that saw his opponent make breaks of 92, 126, 127 and 138, but when Fu took the last frame of the session it all meant that, despite his superior scoring, Ding only led 5-4.
Straight off the bat in session two was another Ding century with a 108 putting him 6-4 in front. Then Fu took three frames on the trot with breaks of 105 and 71 thrown in as he regained the lead at 7-6. The next four frames saw them go blow for blow. Ding hit back 65, before Fu's 81, Ding then dominated the sixteenth to level at 8-8 but Fu won a tighter seventeenth to move one from the title at 9-8. A contribution of 58 was enough for Ding to force the decider, in which he took his first chance compiling a break of 91 to win his third successive ranking title, and leave Fu agonisingly short of glory.
1st: Mark Allen Vs Mark Williams - 2014 - This countdown would not be complete without a throwback to the 2014 semi-final between Mark Allen and Mark Williams. One of my favourite matches of recent years, the heavy scoring and nail-biting action saw it jump right to the top of my "Classic Matches of 2014" countdown, a piece you can view in full by clicking the above link.
In 17 total frames, there were 14 breaks of above 50, four of which were centuries in this all left-handed battle. The bar was set high from an early stage when the first four frames were shared at 2-2, Allen winning the opening two with breaks of 92 and 71, before Williams quickly came back with consecutive centuries of 120 and 135. Allen was in front again at 3-2 and could have gone further ahead but Williams won the sixth on the pink to make it 3-3. The Northern Irishman still took an important stride forward by taking the final two frames of the session, with breaks of 105 and 55, putting him 5-3 in front when they came out for the evening session.
Allen then came straight out of the blocks with a one-visit frame to move further clear, a run of 77 making it 6-3 and opening up a big margin for the first time in the match. A solid 84 from Williams in the tenth kept him in it, although Allen soon restored his three frame lead with a 67 break assisting him in making it 7-4. The Welshman was not done though and he took the two frames either side of the mid-session interval to get to within one at 7-6 and then pressed on and punished Allen with another century, 102 this time squaring the scores at 7-7. The fifteenth frame was a massive one in the context of the game. After winning three in a row, Williams had Allen needing snookers or else it would be four in a row and put the two-times world champion one frame from the final. Allen got the snooker though and made a key clearance to move 8-7 ahead himself and halt Williams in his tracks.
Williams response was a perfect one as forced the decider in one-visit with no reply from Allen. A run of 86 made it 8-8 and still meant that Williams had won four of the last five frames to come back to that point, though he could have had all five. The final frame certainly did not lack drama and both players had plenty of chances in the frame. The big one fell to Williams in the second half of the frame, but he missed a tricky final red along the cushion, and all of the remaining balls were there for Allen who was able to put himself in the final.
For me, that is certainly a match worthy of number one on this list, and I'm sure there will be many more memorable matches as the eight days of snooker unfolds in the 2017 International Championships.
Wednesday 25 October 2017
Fantasy Snooker: English Open points and International Details
Following Ronnie O'Sullivan's victory at the English Open, we have a runaway leader at the top of the Fantasy Snooker League who has been on top form in the last three events picking the winner of each one.
There were also two players who picked both O'Sullivan and losing finalist Kyren Wilson to make big moves up the table, along with third place Kellie Barker with season picks of Jack Lisowski and Alexander Ursenbacher that reeled in the bonus points after runs to the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
There were also two players who picked both O'Sullivan and losing finalist Kyren Wilson to make big moves up the table, along with third place Kellie Barker with season picks of Jack Lisowski and Alexander Ursenbacher that reeled in the bonus points after runs to the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively.
Couge: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie Points: 388
PPS: Williams, Ding x2, Murphy, Gilbert, Higgins, Bingham,
Trump, Selby, O’Sullivan
Andy Brooker: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie Points: 330
PPS: Carter, Day, Maguire, Bingham, Higgins, Williams,
Trump, Yuelong, Hawkins, O’Sullivan
Kellie Barker: SEASON: Jack Lisowski and Alex
Ursenbacher Points: 325
PPS: Allen, Fu, Murphy, Higgins, Hawkins, Ding, Trump,
Brecel, Carter, Bingtao
TY: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Zhang Anda Points: 310
PPS: Ding, Robertson x3, Higgins, Allen, Ding, Bingham,
Selby, Trump
Protoursnooker: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Cao
Yupeng Points: 305
PPS: Ding x2, Allen, Maguire, Murphy, Selby, Robertson,
Higgins, Hawkins, O’Sullivan (1 Captain Pick used)
Alex Abrahams: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and John Astley Points: 303
PPS: Carter, Fu, Murphy, Perry, Higgins, K. Wilson, Trump x2,
Williams, Bingham
Igor Snooker: SEASON: Matthew Stevens and Ken Doherty Points: 296
PPS: Ding, O’Sullivan, Maguire, Murphy, Fu, Selby, Robertson
x2, McGill, Wilson (1 captain pick used)
D. Muckian: SEASON: Tian Pengfei and Zhang Anda Points: 282
PPS: Ding, Perry, Maguire, Allen X2, Williams, Lisowski,
O’Sullivan, Wilson
Colin Delaney: SEASON: Ken Doherty and Yan Bingtao Points: 274
PPS: Higgins, Maguire, McGill, Allen, Hawkins x2, Ding,
Trump, Brecel, Selby
Munraj: SEASON: Jack Lisowski and Michael Georgiou Points: 270
PPS: Ding, Trump, Allen, Ford, Hawkins, Selby, Robertson, McGill,
O’Sullivan, Wilson
Ben Summers: SEASON: Noppon Saengkham and Sam Craigie Points: 260
PPS: McGill x2, Day, Dott, Ding, Selby, Trump, Holt, Allen,
O’Sullivan
Daniela Reich: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie Points: 258
PPS: Ding, Fu, Murphy, Allen, Williams, K. Wilson, Trump,
Day, Bingham, McGill
Voihelevettisua: SEASON: Xiao Guodong and John Astley Points: 245
PPS: Ding, Trump, Dott, Allen, Higgins, Murphy, Robertson,
Allen, Selby, O’Sullivan
Kjetil: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and John Astley Points: 244
PPS: Carter, Perry, Woollaston, Dott, Fu, Allen, Xiwen,
Gould, Bingham, O’Sullivan
Anthony: SEASON: Xiao Guodong and Michael Georgiou Points: 235
PPS: Higgins x2, Day, Maguire, Murphy, Ding, King, Trump,
Bingham, Williams
Phil Mudd: SEASON: Jimmy Robertson and Sam Craigie Points: 229
PPS: Ding, Fu, Woollaston, Allen, Robertson, Williams,
Brecel, Higgins, O’Sullivan
FAM147: SEASON: Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong Points: 228
PPS: Carter, Hawkins, Woollaston, Hossein, Bingham x2, Allen,
Yuelong, Lisowski, Selby
GaryOnCue: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sam Craigie Points: 225
PPS: Hawkins, Robertson, Maguire, Murphy, Ding, Selby,
Higgins, Wilson, Allen, O’Sullivan
Matthew Lowson: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Alex
Ursenbacher Points: 217
PPS: Ding, Fu, Maguire, Bingham, Hawkins, Brecel, Wilson,
Selby, Higgins, Murphy
Cluster of Reds: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and John Astley Points: 210
PPS: Ding, Perry, Allen x2, Ford, Hawkins, Fu, Trump x2,
Brecel (1 Captain pick used)
LTD: SEASON: Robert Milkins and Ken Doherty Points: 197
PPS: Perry, Carter, Holt, Higgins, Hawkins, Maguire, Perry,
Wilson, Wenbo, Selby (1 Captain pick used)
Isitan Bakar: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Scott Donaldson Points: 187
PPS: Wenbo, Robertson x2, Murphy, Bingham x2, Ding, M.
White, Higgins, Carter
Rob Francis: SEASON: Mark Davis and Cao Yupeng Points: 185
PPS: Ding x2, Robertson, Murphy x2, Allen, Higgins x2,
Wilson, Trump
Gary: SEASON: Ken Doherty and Yan Bingtao Points: 184
PPS: Carter, Robertson, Bingham, Gilbert, Fu, Higgins,
Wilson, Day, Williams, Murphy
John McBride: SEASON: Hossein Vafei and Sam Craigie Points: 183
PPS: Holt, Liang x2,
Bingham, King, Murphy, Trump, Allen, Selby, Hawkins
Beat the Boss (Me):
SEASON: Hossein Vafei and Robin Hull
Points: 181
PPS: Maguire, Holt,
Allen, Ford, Fu, Williams, Robertson, Brecel, Murphy, Hawkins
TungstenDarts: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie Points: 161
PPS: Fu x2, Hawkins, McGill, Allen, Selby, Williams, Day,
Gould, Trump
Jake: SEASON: Mark Davis and Zhao Xintong Points: 159
PPS: Hawkins, Ding, Murphy, Higgins, Fu, Robertson
SnookerChicago: SEASON: Andrew Higginson and Zhang Anda Points: 105
PPS: Ding, Dott, Higgins
Mark Taylor: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sam Craigie Points: 89
PPS: Allen, Robertson, Maguire, Perry, Hawkins, Higgins,
Wilson, Day, Selby
Next up in the Fantasy league is the International Championship which will begin during the early hours of Sunday morning. With a best-of-11 format from the last 64, and then best-of-17 semi-finals as well this may be an opportunity that players decide to use and make their first captain's pick of the season.
My "Beat the Boss" picks for this week are Ding Junhui and Mark Allen get your picks in for the week before the first matches at 2.30am UK time on Sunday 29th October.
Good luck everyone.
Tuesday 24 October 2017
Stuart Bingham suspended for betting offences
2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham has been suspended with immediate effect by the WPBSA from 28 October 2017 until 26 January 2018 for offences related to him betting on snooker matches.
The ban means that he will miss the upcoming International Championship and Shanghai Masters for which he had already pre-qualified, and along with this he will miss the Champion of Champions, Northern Irish Open, UK Championship, Scottish Open, German Masters (due to qualifiers being in this period) and the Masters.
Bingham has also been ordered to pay £20,000 towards the costs incurred by the WPBSA during the investigation, though no other fine was handed down from the board as "there is an inevitable financial impact arising from the suspension".
The current world number 10 was found guilty of betting on snooker matches between 2003-2015 which included a series of bets on his own games from an account in his manager's name, as outlined in the full statement issued by the WPBSA on Tuesday morning.
A further three months and one day of the suspension are themselves suspended as long as Bingham is not found to have committed further breaches between now and 31 October 2018.
One further point that is important to note is that, while Bingham was found to be betting on his own matches either himself or through third parties, the WPBSA concluded that, "There is no suggestion at all that Mr Bingham's bets impacted on his performance or the result of any match".
In Layman's terms, there is no inference that any part of this investigation is related to match fixing of any kind.
Bingham is credited for co-operating immediately with the board's investigations in certain areas, guilty pleas on a number of his charges and "seeking some professional help regarding his gambling" whilst hastily adding in the sanctions document that there was no finding that Bingham is suffering from a gambling addiction.
I would like to add that while today's suspension may harm Bingham's reputation in the eyes of many, he has also supported the tour greatly playing in events far and wide, and was always very generous with his time towards me and my blog personally and for that I remain grateful.
This is also by no means the first case of a player being caught out for betting on snooker, with Kurt Maflin, Joe Perry and Alfie Burden receiving 'suspended suspensions' over the course of the last few months the details of which can be found in the links attached.
For the tour, it means that Anthony McGill's place in the Champion of Champions is locked in due to Bingham's absence, while Neil Robertson will be the 16th member of the line-up thanks to his Hong Kong Masters win, as long as the International Championship is won by somebody already in the field. It also frees up a spot in the provisional race to the Masters which would see Neil Robertson move up from 17th to 16th for now, though he remains just less than £3,000 clear of Liang Wenbo.
Meanwhile, Bingham's scheduled opponents in the International Championship (Robbie Williams) and the Shanghai Masters (Akani Songsermsawad) will presumably receive walkovers to the last 32 of the respective events.
The ban means that he will miss the upcoming International Championship and Shanghai Masters for which he had already pre-qualified, and along with this he will miss the Champion of Champions, Northern Irish Open, UK Championship, Scottish Open, German Masters (due to qualifiers being in this period) and the Masters.
Bingham has also been ordered to pay £20,000 towards the costs incurred by the WPBSA during the investigation, though no other fine was handed down from the board as "there is an inevitable financial impact arising from the suspension".
The current world number 10 was found guilty of betting on snooker matches between 2003-2015 which included a series of bets on his own games from an account in his manager's name, as outlined in the full statement issued by the WPBSA on Tuesday morning.
A further three months and one day of the suspension are themselves suspended as long as Bingham is not found to have committed further breaches between now and 31 October 2018.
 |
| Bingham celebrating victory at the 2017 Welsh Open |
One further point that is important to note is that, while Bingham was found to be betting on his own matches either himself or through third parties, the WPBSA concluded that, "There is no suggestion at all that Mr Bingham's bets impacted on his performance or the result of any match".
In Layman's terms, there is no inference that any part of this investigation is related to match fixing of any kind.
Bingham is credited for co-operating immediately with the board's investigations in certain areas, guilty pleas on a number of his charges and "seeking some professional help regarding his gambling" whilst hastily adding in the sanctions document that there was no finding that Bingham is suffering from a gambling addiction.
I would like to add that while today's suspension may harm Bingham's reputation in the eyes of many, he has also supported the tour greatly playing in events far and wide, and was always very generous with his time towards me and my blog personally and for that I remain grateful.
This is also by no means the first case of a player being caught out for betting on snooker, with Kurt Maflin, Joe Perry and Alfie Burden receiving 'suspended suspensions' over the course of the last few months the details of which can be found in the links attached.
For the tour, it means that Anthony McGill's place in the Champion of Champions is locked in due to Bingham's absence, while Neil Robertson will be the 16th member of the line-up thanks to his Hong Kong Masters win, as long as the International Championship is won by somebody already in the field. It also frees up a spot in the provisional race to the Masters which would see Neil Robertson move up from 17th to 16th for now, though he remains just less than £3,000 clear of Liang Wenbo.
Meanwhile, Bingham's scheduled opponents in the International Championship (Robbie Williams) and the Shanghai Masters (Akani Songsermsawad) will presumably receive walkovers to the last 32 of the respective events.
Sunday 22 October 2017
Ronnie O'Sullivan storms to English Open title
Ronnie O'Sullivan cruised to victory in the final of the English Open with a resounding 9-2 victory over Kyren Wilson.
It was an excellent performance from the five-times World champion that included four century breaks and a break of at least 50 in every single frame he won in the match. O'Sullivan will now have all eyes on him, even more than they usually are, as he is now the only man who can win the million pound home nations bonus, if he could follow up his win in Barnsley with further triumphs in Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff in the coming months.
The Rocket was quick out of the blocks in the afternoon session, starting with a break of 115 to take the opening frame. Things could have been very different however, after Wilson then levelled the contest with a run of 74 before then having chances to go 2-1 ahead. It may not have seemed that important at the time, when Wilson went in-off on the final pink, and then leaving the black over the jaws of the pocket when a second chance came, but he also would not have known at the time that he would only win one more frame.
O'Sullivan pounced and made sure he fully punished Wilson, making a total clearance of 131 in the fourth frame to move 3-1 ahead and leave the Warrior ruing his error from the frame earlier. Wilson came back from the mid-session interval and responded well with a century of his own, a 109 keeping him in touch with Ronnie at 2-3. From there though he would only claim another four points in the afternoon session and 36 points in the rest of the final altogether as O'Sullivan hit top gear.
The final three frames of the opening session were over in a flash, with O'Sullivan just needing one chance in each with contributions of 77, 87 and 96 giving him a 6-2 advantage to take into the evenings play.
To have any chance, Wilson knew he would have to come out at the start of session two firing on all cylinders and get frames on the board early, and he certainly had a foothold in frame nine until O'Sullivan's chance came. A sublime clearance of 50 was really the knock-out blow to the hopes of the former Shanghai Masters champion as he fell 7-2 adrift.
Wilson was not made to suffer for long though as O'Sullivan finished proceedings quickly and with true class, making back-to-back total clearances of 127 and 132 to top off a superb week on the table and leave Barnsley with people talking about his snooker, rather than anything away from the baize.
Kyren Wilson certainly deserves some credit for reaching a second big final in three tournaments and he will have plenty more opportunities to get his hands on some silverware, not just this season but for many years to come. Wilson joins Shaun Murphy in the "Mulitiple losing finalists of the 2017/2018 club" after Murphy made back-to-back ranking finals in August but did not take home the trophy on either occassion.
A special mention should also go to Alexander Ursenbacher who made the semi-finals this week, a superb step up from his previous best finish in a ranking event of the last 32. He showed great style in victories over Shaun Murphy and Michael White and did not roll over against Wilson in the semi's. It's a brilliant sign for snooker in Europe that another genuine top talent has come through and I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of him in the coming years.
Next up though on the snooker circuit is a trip to a trip to Daqing in China for the International Championships, with another £150,000 to go with that offered by the Chinese ranking events of earlier in the season. The action begins with an early start for fans in UK and Europe on Sunday October 29.
It was an excellent performance from the five-times World champion that included four century breaks and a break of at least 50 in every single frame he won in the match. O'Sullivan will now have all eyes on him, even more than they usually are, as he is now the only man who can win the million pound home nations bonus, if he could follow up his win in Barnsley with further triumphs in Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff in the coming months.
The Rocket was quick out of the blocks in the afternoon session, starting with a break of 115 to take the opening frame. Things could have been very different however, after Wilson then levelled the contest with a run of 74 before then having chances to go 2-1 ahead. It may not have seemed that important at the time, when Wilson went in-off on the final pink, and then leaving the black over the jaws of the pocket when a second chance came, but he also would not have known at the time that he would only win one more frame.
O'Sullivan pounced and made sure he fully punished Wilson, making a total clearance of 131 in the fourth frame to move 3-1 ahead and leave the Warrior ruing his error from the frame earlier. Wilson came back from the mid-session interval and responded well with a century of his own, a 109 keeping him in touch with Ronnie at 2-3. From there though he would only claim another four points in the afternoon session and 36 points in the rest of the final altogether as O'Sullivan hit top gear.
The final three frames of the opening session were over in a flash, with O'Sullivan just needing one chance in each with contributions of 77, 87 and 96 giving him a 6-2 advantage to take into the evenings play.
To have any chance, Wilson knew he would have to come out at the start of session two firing on all cylinders and get frames on the board early, and he certainly had a foothold in frame nine until O'Sullivan's chance came. A sublime clearance of 50 was really the knock-out blow to the hopes of the former Shanghai Masters champion as he fell 7-2 adrift.
Wilson was not made to suffer for long though as O'Sullivan finished proceedings quickly and with true class, making back-to-back total clearances of 127 and 132 to top off a superb week on the table and leave Barnsley with people talking about his snooker, rather than anything away from the baize.
Kyren Wilson certainly deserves some credit for reaching a second big final in three tournaments and he will have plenty more opportunities to get his hands on some silverware, not just this season but for many years to come. Wilson joins Shaun Murphy in the "Mulitiple losing finalists of the 2017/2018 club" after Murphy made back-to-back ranking finals in August but did not take home the trophy on either occassion.
A special mention should also go to Alexander Ursenbacher who made the semi-finals this week, a superb step up from his previous best finish in a ranking event of the last 32. He showed great style in victories over Shaun Murphy and Michael White and did not roll over against Wilson in the semi's. It's a brilliant sign for snooker in Europe that another genuine top talent has come through and I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of him in the coming years.
Next up though on the snooker circuit is a trip to a trip to Daqing in China for the International Championships, with another £150,000 to go with that offered by the Chinese ranking events of earlier in the season. The action begins with an early start for fans in UK and Europe on Sunday October 29.
Saturday 21 October 2017
Ronnie O'Sullivan and Kyren Wilson to meet for English Open final
Ronnie O'Sullivan and Kyren Wilson will be the two players going for the Steve Davis trophy and title of English Open champion in Sunday's finale.
Wilson was the first man over the line in the semi-finals as he saw off hot prospect Alexander Ursenbacher on Saturday afternoon. The Swiss player put on another good show in the early stages of the match though, taking a 2-0 thanks to early breaks of 64 and 84 and also moving his frame winning tally to 11 a row, after winning the last four against Shaun Murphy and whitewashing Michael White. However, Wilson hit back strongly with a cool break of 77 to put his first frame on the board, before winning an important fourth frame to level the contest.
Following the mid-session interval, Ursenbacher came straight out with a contribution of 89 to win the fifth in one visit and regain the lead, but as it turned out this would be the last frame he would win in the tournament. From there, Wilson really stepped up a gear winning three of the final four frames in one visit. That started with a match high break of 124 to square the match at 3-3 and was quickly followed by a run of 75 to take the lead for the first time. A run of 56 assisted him in moving one away from victory at 5-3 before he swiftly booked his place in the final with a break of 90 as Ursenbacher only scored 11 points after moving 3-2 ahead, showing that he was shut-out by the Warrior.
In the evening session it was over to O'Sullivan, though his victory over Anthony McGill was not as easy as it looked like being at one stage. The Rocket was out of the blocks quickly, while McGill was slow in getting going as he missed a couple of chances in the opening frames. Runs of 52, 62 and 77 from O'Sullivan saw him surge into a 3-0 lead, and given McGill's comments after his match on Friday that he would "probably lose" to O'Sullivan it looked like being over quickly.
Even when the Scotsman compiled a very classy 57 to send him into the mid-session break with a frame on the board, the five times World Champion came straight back out with a sublime total clearance of 139 to regain his three frames cushion. All of a sudden though, O'Sullivan perhaps took his foot off of the gas a little and McGill started to come back into the match taking the sixth frame and then making a 77 in the seventh to close to within one at 3-4. The eighth frame was probably the eventual undoing of McGill in the end though as his break of 61 saw him fall short of a frame winning clearance and a big steal, as he missed frame ball brown and O'Sullivan cleared the four remaining colours to breathe a sigh of relief and move a frame from the final at 5-3. The Scotsman was not going away though and his run of 71 prolonged the match, but winning all of the last three frames proved too big an ask when O'Sullivan made his second total clearance of the night, a 133 this time, to clinch victory.
Semi-Final Results:
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 Anthony McGill
Kyren Wilson 6-3 Alexander Ursenbacher
The Final: (Best-of-17 Frames)
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Kyren Wilson
In terms of the head to head record between O'Sullivan and Wilson there is not much to go on, as they have only met on one previous occasion. That came in last season's Northern Irish Open when Wilson was a 4-3 winner despite seeing O'Sullivan come from 3-0 down to force a deciding frame with three successive centuries.
Wilson knows how to stand up to Ronnie but that is a much harder task over a longer format match. Both players are playing great snooker, with Wilson getting to the final of the World Open a few weeks ago before losing to Ding and he will be looking to put on a better show this time to take the trophy. O'Sullivan has had some good tests this week beating John Higgins and an in-form Jack Lisowski before his win over McGill and in the six matches to reach this stage he has made eight centuries showing that his scoring is as good as ever.
Wilson survived a scare in the opening round as he came through a decider against Rod Lawler but overall he has only dropped ten frames in reaching the final, two less than O'Sullivan, as well as making six centuries of his own to show that his scoring is certainly good enough to compete with O'Sullivan.
I think O'Sullivan has quite a bit of respect for Wilson from comments he has made about him previously and he knows that he is in for a good battle in this final. While he did of course win the Masters in January, O'Sullivan has not won a full ranking event since the Welsh Open in February 2016, and in all he has lost four of his last five big finals with January's Masters win over Joe Perry being mixed with losses in finals of: the Hong Kong Masters to Neil Robertson, the UK Championship to Mark Selby, the Champion of Champions to John Higgins and the European Masters to Judd Trump.
That perhaps makes a good case for Wilson who will be in his fourth ranking overall with his only win being the first of those in the 2015 Shanghai Masters against Judd Trump. When everything is weighed up it promises to be a really close contest with perhaps just a couple of frames separating winner from loser when all is said and done.
Wilson was the first man over the line in the semi-finals as he saw off hot prospect Alexander Ursenbacher on Saturday afternoon. The Swiss player put on another good show in the early stages of the match though, taking a 2-0 thanks to early breaks of 64 and 84 and also moving his frame winning tally to 11 a row, after winning the last four against Shaun Murphy and whitewashing Michael White. However, Wilson hit back strongly with a cool break of 77 to put his first frame on the board, before winning an important fourth frame to level the contest.
Following the mid-session interval, Ursenbacher came straight out with a contribution of 89 to win the fifth in one visit and regain the lead, but as it turned out this would be the last frame he would win in the tournament. From there, Wilson really stepped up a gear winning three of the final four frames in one visit. That started with a match high break of 124 to square the match at 3-3 and was quickly followed by a run of 75 to take the lead for the first time. A run of 56 assisted him in moving one away from victory at 5-3 before he swiftly booked his place in the final with a break of 90 as Ursenbacher only scored 11 points after moving 3-2 ahead, showing that he was shut-out by the Warrior.
In the evening session it was over to O'Sullivan, though his victory over Anthony McGill was not as easy as it looked like being at one stage. The Rocket was out of the blocks quickly, while McGill was slow in getting going as he missed a couple of chances in the opening frames. Runs of 52, 62 and 77 from O'Sullivan saw him surge into a 3-0 lead, and given McGill's comments after his match on Friday that he would "probably lose" to O'Sullivan it looked like being over quickly.
Even when the Scotsman compiled a very classy 57 to send him into the mid-session break with a frame on the board, the five times World Champion came straight back out with a sublime total clearance of 139 to regain his three frames cushion. All of a sudden though, O'Sullivan perhaps took his foot off of the gas a little and McGill started to come back into the match taking the sixth frame and then making a 77 in the seventh to close to within one at 3-4. The eighth frame was probably the eventual undoing of McGill in the end though as his break of 61 saw him fall short of a frame winning clearance and a big steal, as he missed frame ball brown and O'Sullivan cleared the four remaining colours to breathe a sigh of relief and move a frame from the final at 5-3. The Scotsman was not going away though and his run of 71 prolonged the match, but winning all of the last three frames proved too big an ask when O'Sullivan made his second total clearance of the night, a 133 this time, to clinch victory.
Semi-Final Results:
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 Anthony McGill
Kyren Wilson 6-3 Alexander Ursenbacher
The Final: (Best-of-17 Frames)
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Kyren Wilson
In terms of the head to head record between O'Sullivan and Wilson there is not much to go on, as they have only met on one previous occasion. That came in last season's Northern Irish Open when Wilson was a 4-3 winner despite seeing O'Sullivan come from 3-0 down to force a deciding frame with three successive centuries.
Wilson knows how to stand up to Ronnie but that is a much harder task over a longer format match. Both players are playing great snooker, with Wilson getting to the final of the World Open a few weeks ago before losing to Ding and he will be looking to put on a better show this time to take the trophy. O'Sullivan has had some good tests this week beating John Higgins and an in-form Jack Lisowski before his win over McGill and in the six matches to reach this stage he has made eight centuries showing that his scoring is as good as ever.
Wilson survived a scare in the opening round as he came through a decider against Rod Lawler but overall he has only dropped ten frames in reaching the final, two less than O'Sullivan, as well as making six centuries of his own to show that his scoring is certainly good enough to compete with O'Sullivan.
I think O'Sullivan has quite a bit of respect for Wilson from comments he has made about him previously and he knows that he is in for a good battle in this final. While he did of course win the Masters in January, O'Sullivan has not won a full ranking event since the Welsh Open in February 2016, and in all he has lost four of his last five big finals with January's Masters win over Joe Perry being mixed with losses in finals of: the Hong Kong Masters to Neil Robertson, the UK Championship to Mark Selby, the Champion of Champions to John Higgins and the European Masters to Judd Trump.
That perhaps makes a good case for Wilson who will be in his fourth ranking overall with his only win being the first of those in the 2015 Shanghai Masters against Judd Trump. When everything is weighed up it promises to be a really close contest with perhaps just a couple of frames separating winner from loser when all is said and done.
Friday 20 October 2017
Ronnie O'Sullivan overcomes Jack Lisowski to make English Open semi's
Ronnie O'Sullivan is into the last four of the English Open after overcoming the in-form Jack Lisowski 5-2.
Lisowski had already beaten Judd Trump and Mark Williams in the two previous rounds to make his way into the quarter-finals, and he started well against O'Sullivan with a break of 128 to take the opening frame. That was really as good as it got for Lisowski, as O'Sullivan found his form and took control of the game from there. A run of 64 helped him level the match before a break of 125 put him 2-1 in front. Lisowski had chances in the two frames either side of the interval but O'Sullivan had the upper hand in the safety battles and took both frames to lead 4-1 and go one away from victory. Runs of 66 and then 61 in the sixth frame kept Lisowski's hopes alive but a couple of missed chances in the seventh proved critical and O'Sullivan completed a 5-2 win.
He will now play Anthony McGill who came through a tight contest with Neil Robertson. The Australian took the opening frame of the contest with a nice 85 and led in the second frame before McGill cleared with 65 to level up the contest. Robertson soon made up for that with a contribution of 79 putting him ahead again. McGill did not let Robertson get away from him though and made sure they went into the mid-session break all square with a run of 82. Robertson hit the front once again after the interval but a 69 break from McGill again kept him in touch. The seventh frame was a rather ugly affair but it proved vital for McGill as he controlled it and would eventually take it to lead for the first time at 4-3. It did not take him long to finish things thereafter with a match high break of 86 securing his spot in the last four.
Meanwhile, the amazing run of Alexander Ursenbacher continued as he whitewashed Michael White to book his semi-final spot. Prior to this week he had never made it past the last 32 in a ranking event, but he overcame Anthony Hamilton, Gerard Greene and Stuart Carrington in the early stages to take care of that detail. That set-up a last 16 tie against Shaun Murphy where Murphy barely saw a ball after winning the opening frame. He kept that going in this quarter-final with breaks of 51, 55, 84 and 93 to take the opening four frames in no time at all before coming back after the interval and quickly finishing the job. That has guaranteed the Swiss 21-year-old £20,000 and a strong base to build on from in the next year and a half that he is guaranteed on the tour with his current card, whatever happens on Saturday.
Kyren Wilson is the man he will now face after the World Open runner-up came through a tight match with Hossein Vafei. If the first three frames were fairly one-sided, the first going to Hossein and the next two to Wilson, the following set of three frames were incredibly tight with each being decided on the colours. Hossein came back from snookers required to win the fourth and level the match going into the interval but Wilson would edge the next two to take a timely two frame advantage at 4-2. A run of 52 in the seventh kept the Iranian in the match, but he could not take his chances in the next and Wilson did not let him off the hook, calmly securing a 5-3 win.
Quarter-Final Results:
Anthony McGill 5-3 Neil Robertson
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-2 Jack Lisowski
Alexander Ursenbacher 5-0 Michael White
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Hossein Vafei
Semi-Final Draw:
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Anthony McGill
Kyren Wilson Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
The afternoon semi-final sees Ursenbacher take on Wilson in what will be a brilliant match if the Swiss player can carry on his heavy scoring form. The two players have only met on one previous occasion before Wilson's Shanghai Masters breakthrough, in the 2014 Wuxi Classic qualifiers with Ursenbacher winning 5-4 although given how different the two of them are now I'm not sure you can take too much from that meeting. We've already seen what Ursenbacher is capable of this week in his wins against top players like Murphy and White who he complete shut out of those two games and he will be full of confidence. Wilson meanwhile will be looking for a second final in three events following his run in Yushan a month ago and his experience under the TV lights could be the crucial factor here. There may naturally be some nerves from Ursenbacher but those have not stopped him in the last two matches when he was at a stage of an event that he had not been to before, so there will be no simple task for Wilson.
Then we come to O'Sullivan and McGill which could again be a close encounter. However, the Rocket has won on each of the five occasions the two have played in the past, the last three of which were all over the same best-of-11 frames format that this match will be played over. In his post-match Eurosport after beating Neil Robertson, the Scot said he would not have a chance of victory against Ronnie, and whether that is a way of him taking the pressure off of himself, a man in good consistent form should have more belief than that. McGill was a quarter-finalist at the Riga and European Masters as well as the World Open, a week after he came so close to defending his Indian Open crown. O'Sullivan meanwhile is not only the favourite here but also a clear favourite for the title and even when he's not quite at the top of his game he still takes some beating, particularly in the latter stages of these events. If Ronnie scores as well as you expect him to, McGill will have to have his top scoring boots on just to stay with him.
These should be two very intriguing semi-finals then as the English Open goes down to one table and reaches its boiling point.
Lisowski had already beaten Judd Trump and Mark Williams in the two previous rounds to make his way into the quarter-finals, and he started well against O'Sullivan with a break of 128 to take the opening frame. That was really as good as it got for Lisowski, as O'Sullivan found his form and took control of the game from there. A run of 64 helped him level the match before a break of 125 put him 2-1 in front. Lisowski had chances in the two frames either side of the interval but O'Sullivan had the upper hand in the safety battles and took both frames to lead 4-1 and go one away from victory. Runs of 66 and then 61 in the sixth frame kept Lisowski's hopes alive but a couple of missed chances in the seventh proved critical and O'Sullivan completed a 5-2 win.
He will now play Anthony McGill who came through a tight contest with Neil Robertson. The Australian took the opening frame of the contest with a nice 85 and led in the second frame before McGill cleared with 65 to level up the contest. Robertson soon made up for that with a contribution of 79 putting him ahead again. McGill did not let Robertson get away from him though and made sure they went into the mid-session break all square with a run of 82. Robertson hit the front once again after the interval but a 69 break from McGill again kept him in touch. The seventh frame was a rather ugly affair but it proved vital for McGill as he controlled it and would eventually take it to lead for the first time at 4-3. It did not take him long to finish things thereafter with a match high break of 86 securing his spot in the last four.
Meanwhile, the amazing run of Alexander Ursenbacher continued as he whitewashed Michael White to book his semi-final spot. Prior to this week he had never made it past the last 32 in a ranking event, but he overcame Anthony Hamilton, Gerard Greene and Stuart Carrington in the early stages to take care of that detail. That set-up a last 16 tie against Shaun Murphy where Murphy barely saw a ball after winning the opening frame. He kept that going in this quarter-final with breaks of 51, 55, 84 and 93 to take the opening four frames in no time at all before coming back after the interval and quickly finishing the job. That has guaranteed the Swiss 21-year-old £20,000 and a strong base to build on from in the next year and a half that he is guaranteed on the tour with his current card, whatever happens on Saturday.
Kyren Wilson is the man he will now face after the World Open runner-up came through a tight match with Hossein Vafei. If the first three frames were fairly one-sided, the first going to Hossein and the next two to Wilson, the following set of three frames were incredibly tight with each being decided on the colours. Hossein came back from snookers required to win the fourth and level the match going into the interval but Wilson would edge the next two to take a timely two frame advantage at 4-2. A run of 52 in the seventh kept the Iranian in the match, but he could not take his chances in the next and Wilson did not let him off the hook, calmly securing a 5-3 win.
Quarter-Final Results:
Anthony McGill 5-3 Neil Robertson
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-2 Jack Lisowski
Alexander Ursenbacher 5-0 Michael White
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Hossein Vafei
Semi-Final Draw:
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Anthony McGill
Kyren Wilson Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
The afternoon semi-final sees Ursenbacher take on Wilson in what will be a brilliant match if the Swiss player can carry on his heavy scoring form. The two players have only met on one previous occasion before Wilson's Shanghai Masters breakthrough, in the 2014 Wuxi Classic qualifiers with Ursenbacher winning 5-4 although given how different the two of them are now I'm not sure you can take too much from that meeting. We've already seen what Ursenbacher is capable of this week in his wins against top players like Murphy and White who he complete shut out of those two games and he will be full of confidence. Wilson meanwhile will be looking for a second final in three events following his run in Yushan a month ago and his experience under the TV lights could be the crucial factor here. There may naturally be some nerves from Ursenbacher but those have not stopped him in the last two matches when he was at a stage of an event that he had not been to before, so there will be no simple task for Wilson.
Then we come to O'Sullivan and McGill which could again be a close encounter. However, the Rocket has won on each of the five occasions the two have played in the past, the last three of which were all over the same best-of-11 frames format that this match will be played over. In his post-match Eurosport after beating Neil Robertson, the Scot said he would not have a chance of victory against Ronnie, and whether that is a way of him taking the pressure off of himself, a man in good consistent form should have more belief than that. McGill was a quarter-finalist at the Riga and European Masters as well as the World Open, a week after he came so close to defending his Indian Open crown. O'Sullivan meanwhile is not only the favourite here but also a clear favourite for the title and even when he's not quite at the top of his game he still takes some beating, particularly in the latter stages of these events. If Ronnie scores as well as you expect him to, McGill will have to have his top scoring boots on just to stay with him.
These should be two very intriguing semi-finals then as the English Open goes down to one table and reaches its boiling point.
Thursday 19 October 2017
Jack Lisowski beats Mark Williams and Judd Trump to reach English Open quarters
Jack Lisowski has reached his second ranking event quarter-final of the year after victories on Thursday at the English Open over Mark Williams and Judd Trump.
First up in the last 32, Lisowski stormed into a 3-0 lead over Williams with runs of 65, 74 and 50 to get off to a fantastic start. Williams quickly came back into things with a run of 88 on the way to successive frames that pegged Lisowski back to 3-2. However, when his chance came in frame six he took full advantage and booked his place in the last 16 with a match high of 90.
There were a number of other stand out results in the morning and afternoon last 32 matches. Defending champion Liang Wenbo could not follow up his heroics of Wednesday when he made a 147 in a comeback from 3-1 down against Tom Ford, as he was whitewashed by fellow Chinese star Yan Bingtao.
It was another Chinese player in Xiao Guodong who sent home the world champion Mark Selby, in a match that was moved out on to an outside table. This probably suited Xiao a lot more than it showed as he notched up an impressive 4-1 win with breaks of 60 and 51 in the final two frames.
Stuart Bingham complained of his opponent Hossein Vafei's gamesmanship after losing to the Iranian on the final black. Bingham had trailed 3-0 and looked gone for all money, yet he fought back with breaks of 104 and 58 on the way to forcing a deciding frame. A nervy decider ended with Hossein potting an impressive black and letting out a big show of emotion as he clinched his place in the last 16.
John Higgins came back from a position where he needed snookers to avoid falling 3-0 behind to beat Robert Milkins 4-3. Milkins quickly moved 2-0 ahead and had Higgins searching for snookers on the colours in the third frame, but when he got them and cleared to get back in the match at 1-2 it turned the game on its head. The Scot then moved 3-2 ahead before Milkins composed himself enough to force the deciding frame, but it was Higgins who would make the vital break in the final frame to get over the line.
Shaun Murphy was able to hold on and win a deciding frame in a high scoring match with Liam Highfield, while Neil won the battle of the Robertson's with Jimmy while Ronnie O'Sullivan also cruised past Zhang Yong in a match that featured a bizzare ending. A "table invader" came running past security and began to do laps of the table as O'Sullivan cleared the colours for his final frame century break, before then letting her have a go at trying to pot the black having already secured victory. In all it was quite a clever move from O'Sullivan to defuse what could have been an equally dangerous or embarrassing situation for World Snooker.
Last 32 Results:
Yan Bingtao 4-0 Liang Wenbo
Anthony McGill 4-3 Akani Songsermsawad
Neil Robertson 4-2 Jimmy Robertson
Aditya Mehta 4-1 Chen Zifan
Judd Trump 4-1 Matthew Stevens
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Mark Williams
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Zhang Yong
John Higgins 4-3 Robert Milkins
Michael White 4-0 Ben Woollaston
James Wattana 4-2 Yuan Sijun
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-2 Stuart Carrington
Shaun Murphy 4-3 Liam Highfield
Andrew Higginson 4-1 Hammad Miah
Hossein Vafei 4-3 Stuart Bingham
Kyren Wilson 4-1 Thor Chuan Leong
Xiao Guodong 4-1 Mark Selby
The last 16 continued to produce eye-catching results, the biggest of which was the aforementioned victory for Lisowski over his good friend in a deciding frame. Despite the breaks displayed there were also a few mistakes from both players with Lisowski saying afterwards that he still feels the pressure when playing on TV of all eyes being on him. After fighting back from 2-1 and 3-2 behind with runs of 52 and 67 his most impressive break was save for last as he knocked in a stunning long red, coming round off two cushions for the black to start what went on to be a match winning contribution of 80.
That has set a quarter-final date with Ronnie O'Sullivan after he came through a fourth round classic with John Higgins. Higgins led at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 with runs of 138, 73 and 78 but each time the Rocket raced back at him. He impressed once more with an 88 in the second frame, 84 in the fourth and 60 on the way to forcing the decider. When he got the first chance in the decider he grabbed it with both hands, compiling a brilliant 91 to close out the victory.
Michael White ended the run of James Wattana with a break of 91 in the deciding frame to make the quarter-finals. White will not play Alexander Ursenbacher after the young Swiss star took out Shaun Murphy 4-1 with top breaks of 76, 82 and 123 to reach his first ever ranking event quarter-final.
Kyren Wilson was on fire in dispatching Xiao Guodong 4-0, making two centuries and a break of 97 in the process. Anthony McGill came back to see off Yan Bingtao 4-3, while Neil Robertson kept his much needed run going with a 4-1 defeat of Aditya Mehta.
Last 16 Results:
Anthony McGill 4-3 Yan Bingtao
Neil Robertson 4-1 Aditya Mehta
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Judd Trump
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-3 John Higgins
Michael White 4-3 James Wattana
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-1 Shaun Murphy
Hossein Vafei 4-1 Andrew Higginson
Kyren Wilson 4-0 Xiao Guodong
Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Neil Robertson Vs Anthony McGill
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Jack Lisowski
Michael White Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Kyren Wilson Vs Hossein Vafei
An impressive line-up awaits for the best-of-9 frame quarter-finals. First up, Neil Robertson will be looking to keep his good run going this week knowing that he could put himself back on the right side of the race for the Masters. He has been scoring well this week and fought hard at times after falling behind in a couple of his earlier matches. Anthony McGill meanwhile has been pretty consistent all season and had his nerve tested on Thursday by coming through two deciding frames against talented young players. Overall that could be a match that goes the distance.
Kyren Wilson and Hossein Vafei will follow that in the afternoon session. Wilson looks back to some of the heavy scoring form that he showed on the way to the World Open final, beating Xiao Guodong in no time at all in the last 16. That sort of form would more than likely be too hot for Hossein to handle if he could repeat it, but Hossein has had some good results this week. He held on well after Stuart Bingham came back at him in the last 32 and overcame heavy scoring Zhao Xintong in the round before that. Hossein is a very talented player and we have seen that already when he reached the China Open semi-finals earlier in 2017 so he is more than capable of doing so again with a victory over Wilson.
The exciting tie of Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jack Lisowski will feature on table one in the 7pm session and it could be another very close game. Lisowski has already shown what he is capable of with wins over Williams and Trump on the TV table and it is wins like these that will slowly make him more comfortable on the TV, having described the negative thoughts that go through his head when he plays on TV. He also said in interview with Eurosport after his win over Judd that he has never played O'Sullivan in professional competition but has practised a lot with him, so will not have some of the mental scarring that other players may have against the five-times World champion. O'Sullivan has been on top form this week, but if Lisowski continues scoring as heavily as he has been he can go toe-to-toe with him and they may need all nine frames to be separated.
Finally, on table two at 7pm Michael White will face Alexander Ursenbacher. Some may look at this as a mis-match with Ursenbacher being in his first quarter-final, but this did not stop him against Shaun Murphy in what was his first appearance in the last 16 of a full ranking event. Ursenbacher is an incredibly talented young player who is a heavy scorer as he showed against Murphy and he will give White a good match here. The Welshman does look to be in fabulous form. He is playing as well as he did when he won the Paul Hunter Classic in August and has already seen off Ding Junhui this week and is scoring brilliantly, as he showed in the thrashing of Woollaston and tight tussle with Wattana on Thursday.
An exciting day lies ahead as the final four will be decided in Barnsley.
First up in the last 32, Lisowski stormed into a 3-0 lead over Williams with runs of 65, 74 and 50 to get off to a fantastic start. Williams quickly came back into things with a run of 88 on the way to successive frames that pegged Lisowski back to 3-2. However, when his chance came in frame six he took full advantage and booked his place in the last 16 with a match high of 90.
There were a number of other stand out results in the morning and afternoon last 32 matches. Defending champion Liang Wenbo could not follow up his heroics of Wednesday when he made a 147 in a comeback from 3-1 down against Tom Ford, as he was whitewashed by fellow Chinese star Yan Bingtao.
It was another Chinese player in Xiao Guodong who sent home the world champion Mark Selby, in a match that was moved out on to an outside table. This probably suited Xiao a lot more than it showed as he notched up an impressive 4-1 win with breaks of 60 and 51 in the final two frames.
Stuart Bingham complained of his opponent Hossein Vafei's gamesmanship after losing to the Iranian on the final black. Bingham had trailed 3-0 and looked gone for all money, yet he fought back with breaks of 104 and 58 on the way to forcing a deciding frame. A nervy decider ended with Hossein potting an impressive black and letting out a big show of emotion as he clinched his place in the last 16.
John Higgins came back from a position where he needed snookers to avoid falling 3-0 behind to beat Robert Milkins 4-3. Milkins quickly moved 2-0 ahead and had Higgins searching for snookers on the colours in the third frame, but when he got them and cleared to get back in the match at 1-2 it turned the game on its head. The Scot then moved 3-2 ahead before Milkins composed himself enough to force the deciding frame, but it was Higgins who would make the vital break in the final frame to get over the line.
Shaun Murphy was able to hold on and win a deciding frame in a high scoring match with Liam Highfield, while Neil won the battle of the Robertson's with Jimmy while Ronnie O'Sullivan also cruised past Zhang Yong in a match that featured a bizzare ending. A "table invader" came running past security and began to do laps of the table as O'Sullivan cleared the colours for his final frame century break, before then letting her have a go at trying to pot the black having already secured victory. In all it was quite a clever move from O'Sullivan to defuse what could have been an equally dangerous or embarrassing situation for World Snooker.
Last 32 Results:
Yan Bingtao 4-0 Liang Wenbo
Anthony McGill 4-3 Akani Songsermsawad
Neil Robertson 4-2 Jimmy Robertson
Aditya Mehta 4-1 Chen Zifan
Judd Trump 4-1 Matthew Stevens
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Mark Williams
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Zhang Yong
John Higgins 4-3 Robert Milkins
Michael White 4-0 Ben Woollaston
James Wattana 4-2 Yuan Sijun
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-2 Stuart Carrington
Shaun Murphy 4-3 Liam Highfield
Andrew Higginson 4-1 Hammad Miah
Hossein Vafei 4-3 Stuart Bingham
Kyren Wilson 4-1 Thor Chuan Leong
Xiao Guodong 4-1 Mark Selby
The last 16 continued to produce eye-catching results, the biggest of which was the aforementioned victory for Lisowski over his good friend in a deciding frame. Despite the breaks displayed there were also a few mistakes from both players with Lisowski saying afterwards that he still feels the pressure when playing on TV of all eyes being on him. After fighting back from 2-1 and 3-2 behind with runs of 52 and 67 his most impressive break was save for last as he knocked in a stunning long red, coming round off two cushions for the black to start what went on to be a match winning contribution of 80.
That has set a quarter-final date with Ronnie O'Sullivan after he came through a fourth round classic with John Higgins. Higgins led at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 with runs of 138, 73 and 78 but each time the Rocket raced back at him. He impressed once more with an 88 in the second frame, 84 in the fourth and 60 on the way to forcing the decider. When he got the first chance in the decider he grabbed it with both hands, compiling a brilliant 91 to close out the victory.
Michael White ended the run of James Wattana with a break of 91 in the deciding frame to make the quarter-finals. White will not play Alexander Ursenbacher after the young Swiss star took out Shaun Murphy 4-1 with top breaks of 76, 82 and 123 to reach his first ever ranking event quarter-final.
Kyren Wilson was on fire in dispatching Xiao Guodong 4-0, making two centuries and a break of 97 in the process. Anthony McGill came back to see off Yan Bingtao 4-3, while Neil Robertson kept his much needed run going with a 4-1 defeat of Aditya Mehta.
Last 16 Results:
Anthony McGill 4-3 Yan Bingtao
Neil Robertson 4-1 Aditya Mehta
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Judd Trump
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-3 John Higgins
Michael White 4-3 James Wattana
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-1 Shaun Murphy
Hossein Vafei 4-1 Andrew Higginson
Kyren Wilson 4-0 Xiao Guodong
Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Neil Robertson Vs Anthony McGill
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Jack Lisowski
Michael White Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Kyren Wilson Vs Hossein Vafei
An impressive line-up awaits for the best-of-9 frame quarter-finals. First up, Neil Robertson will be looking to keep his good run going this week knowing that he could put himself back on the right side of the race for the Masters. He has been scoring well this week and fought hard at times after falling behind in a couple of his earlier matches. Anthony McGill meanwhile has been pretty consistent all season and had his nerve tested on Thursday by coming through two deciding frames against talented young players. Overall that could be a match that goes the distance.
Kyren Wilson and Hossein Vafei will follow that in the afternoon session. Wilson looks back to some of the heavy scoring form that he showed on the way to the World Open final, beating Xiao Guodong in no time at all in the last 16. That sort of form would more than likely be too hot for Hossein to handle if he could repeat it, but Hossein has had some good results this week. He held on well after Stuart Bingham came back at him in the last 32 and overcame heavy scoring Zhao Xintong in the round before that. Hossein is a very talented player and we have seen that already when he reached the China Open semi-finals earlier in 2017 so he is more than capable of doing so again with a victory over Wilson.
The exciting tie of Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jack Lisowski will feature on table one in the 7pm session and it could be another very close game. Lisowski has already shown what he is capable of with wins over Williams and Trump on the TV table and it is wins like these that will slowly make him more comfortable on the TV, having described the negative thoughts that go through his head when he plays on TV. He also said in interview with Eurosport after his win over Judd that he has never played O'Sullivan in professional competition but has practised a lot with him, so will not have some of the mental scarring that other players may have against the five-times World champion. O'Sullivan has been on top form this week, but if Lisowski continues scoring as heavily as he has been he can go toe-to-toe with him and they may need all nine frames to be separated.
Finally, on table two at 7pm Michael White will face Alexander Ursenbacher. Some may look at this as a mis-match with Ursenbacher being in his first quarter-final, but this did not stop him against Shaun Murphy in what was his first appearance in the last 16 of a full ranking event. Ursenbacher is an incredibly talented young player who is a heavy scorer as he showed against Murphy and he will give White a good match here. The Welshman does look to be in fabulous form. He is playing as well as he did when he won the Paul Hunter Classic in August and has already seen off Ding Junhui this week and is scoring brilliantly, as he showed in the thrashing of Woollaston and tight tussle with Wattana on Thursday.
An exciting day lies ahead as the final four will be decided in Barnsley.
Wednesday 18 October 2017
Defending champion Liang Wenbo makes 147 in English Open comeback
The defending English Open champion Liang Wenbo produced a moment of magic by making the first maximum break of the 2017/2018 season in the sixth frame of his comeback win against Tom Ford.
Ford had taken a 3-1 advantage with breaks of 58, 62 and 83 along the way but he could not keep Liang out of the game. The Chinese number 2 needed a few chances to take the fifth frame but then the magical moment came with the 147 in frame six. As you would expect, Liang let out plenty of emotion after potting a tricky pink and then the final black to clinch a break that is worth £42,000 as long as another one is not made in the remainder of the tournament. He still had to settle back down and finish the job off though and after a scrappy start to the decider, Liang made a nice 60 to book his place in the last 32.
His World Cup winning partner Ding Junhui will not be joining him though after he was taken out by Michael White. After three frames Ding's highest break was only 16 as the Paul Hunter Classic champion stormed into a 3-0 lead and looked strong despite not making a break of 50 in any of those frames. The first 50+ contribution came in the fourth but after he missed on 53, Ding cleared with 81 to keep the match alive, and really piled the pressure on in the fifth with a run of 86 to close the gap to 2-3. White held strong though, getting in after Ding missed a brown to the middle pocket and from there the Welshman did not look back, finishing with a match high break of 95 to get over the line.
After the threats of Tuesday evening, Ronnie O'Sullivan found himself a pair of black trainers and got on with the job on the table by seeing off Mark Davis 4-1. He lost the opener but was soon back level thanks to breaks of 68 and 50. O'Sullivan needed a bit of fortune on the colours at the back end of frame three but once ahead 2-1, he kicked on and finished with breaks of 136 and 134 to stamp himself as one of the top title contenders in Barnsley.
Judd Trump was in fine form once again as he extended his winning run by beating Mark Joyce 4-0 in less than an hour. High breaks of 128, 99 and 74 saw him through, while Joyce would only score 30 points in the entire match. World champion Mark Selby was also a comfortable winner 4-1 against Ross Muir who could not complain about not having chances in the match.
John Higgins scored a simple 4-1 win against Matthew Selt with top contributions of 68, 89 and 94. Elsewhere, there were two more centuries for an in-form Stuart Bingham with runs of 127 and 141 helping him to a 4-2 defeat of Fang Xiongman. Neil Robertson had to come back strongly after losing three frames in a row from 2-0 up to 3-2 down against Li Hang, before winning 4-3. Robertson opened up with runs of 69 and 62 before Li hit back with 77, 78 and 54 to put the Australian in danger of another early exit. He dug in though with a 92 break to force the decider, before taking his first chance in the decider with both hands, making a 134 to gain a much needed triumph.
Shaun Murphy had to produce a mini-comeback of his own and did so in tremendous style. After starting poorly and losing the opening two frames to Daniel Wells he barely missed a ball from then on. Two superb breaks of 135 and 134 drew him level in no time, and he kicked on from there by finishing with an 87 in the fifth and 83 in the final frame that could have also both been century breaks, completing victory with a total of 440 unanswered points in the last four frames.
Finally, James Wattana rolled back the years by beating Ali Carter 4-3 to clinch a place in the last 32. Wattana took a 2-0 lead in the match before the Captain took three on the spin to turn the match right around and lead 3-2 making a 127 in frame four along the way. Wattana came back strong with a break of 108 to force the deciding frame and eventually came through on the colours in a lengthy final frame.
Full Last 64 Results:
Liang Wenbo 4-3 Tom Ford
Yan Bingtao 4-1 Jamie Jones
Anthony McGill 4-2 Lu Haotian
Akani Songsermsawad 4-2 Joe Swail
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Gary Wilson
Neil Robertson 4-3 Li Hang
Aditya Mehta 4-2 Ian Preece
Chen Zifan 4-3 Barry Hawkins
Judd Trump 4-0 Mark Joyce
Matthew Stevens 4-2 David Gilbert
Mark Williams 4-1 Luca Brecel
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Li Yuan
Zhang Yong 4-2 Rhys Clark
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Mark Davis
Robert Milkins 4-2 Ashley Hugill
John Higgins 4-1 Matthew Selt
Michael White 4-2 Ding Junhui
Ben Woollaston 4-3 Craig Steadman
Yuan Sijun 4-3 John Astley
James Wattana 4-3 Ali Carter
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-3 Gerard Greene
Stuart Carrington 4-2 Mark Allen
Liam Highfield 4-3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Shaun Murphy 4-2 Daniel Wells
Hammad Miah 4-1 Tian Pengfei
Andrew Higginson 4-0 Mitchell Mann
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Fang Xiongman
Hossein Vafei 4-2 Zhao Xintong
Thor Chuan Leong 4-2 Cao Yupeng
Kyren Wilson 4-0 Mike Dunn
Xiao Guodong 4-2 Ricky Walden
Mark Selby 4-1 Ross Muir
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Liang Wenbo Vs Yan Bingtao
Anthony McGill Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Neil Robertson Vs Jimmy Robertson
Aditya Mehta Vs Chen Zifan
Judd Trump Vs Matthew Stevens
Mark Williams Vs Jack Lisowski
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Zhang Yong
John Higgins Vs Robert Milkins
Michael White Vs Ben Woollaston
Yuan Sijun Vs James Wattana
Stuart Carrington Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Shaun Murphy Vs Liam Highfield
Andrew Higginson Vs Hammad Miah
Stuart Bingham Vs Hossein Vafei
Kyren Wilson Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Mark Selby Vs Xiao Guodong
Andrew Higginson has won each of his three previous meetings with Hammad Miah, including a victory in the Paul Hunter Classic this season and has had to play one match less than everyone in the field after getting a walkover in the last 128. Miah has played well so far though with two 4-1 wins against Michael Georgiou and Tian Pengfei.
Liang Wenbo may find it tough to bring himself back up after a massive match with Tom Ford with the maximum break as well as the comeback and we all know the dangers of Yan Bingtao. Yan has had two very strong wins this week and has already beaten Liang Wenbo in last season's UK Championship.
Chen Zifan scored brilliantly to beat Barry Hawkins and from what I've seen of him, including when he earned his Q School card, he is certainly one to watch. Mehta will test him more tactically as that seems to be where his first two games have potentially been won and lost.
Judd Trump will not have things all his own way against Matthew Stevens who seems to be in good form and has his scoring boots on. One thing Stevens has not done as much in recent years is beat the top players and Trump is flying as he showed once more against Joyce and I think it will take a brilliant performance from someone to send the European Masters champion home.
Neil Robertson should take a much needed lift in the way he came back from losing three straight frames against Li Hang, but cannot rest against his namesake Jimmy who is more than capable of sending the Australian home. However, Neil has a very good record against Jimmy and with everyone gaining added importance with his race for the Masters, I do not expect him to slip up here.
Ronnie O'Sullivan will obviously be heavily fancied for an easy win against lower ranked Zhang Yong, while John Higgins will not want to suffer the same fate as fellow Scotsman Stephen Maguire by losing to Robert Milkins.
Mark Williams and Jack Lisowski is an intriguing match on Thursday morning with Lisowski in flying form knocking in big breaks for fun at the moment, while Mark Williams overcame Luca Brecel in the last 64 to keep up his hopes of making the quarter-finals of each ranking event he has entered so far this season. If Lisowski is at his best that will be a tough one to call.
Experience may tell in a big last 32 match between Yuan Sijun and James Wattana with two players lower down in the rankings vying for crucial ranking money. Yuan is in fantastic form but Wattana has had two nice wins himself this week, fighting hard and scoring nicely also.
I also want to mention Mark Selby's match with Xiao Guodong. Selby has not hit top form yet in this event and after the opening round against Scott Donaldson he is lucky to be here. Xiao though is scoring nicely as always and finished off a nice win over Ricky Walden with a century break and he will fancy his chances a lot more over 7 frames, than he would have done in their last meeting over 25 frames in the World Championships.
It will be a busy day in Barnsley with the last 32 in the morning and early afternoon being followed by the last 16 in the evening with all matches on the day to be over the best-of-7 frames, and by the end of Thursday's play we will be down to the quarter-finals and really at the business end of proceedings this week. Tomorrow may also be a day when the players will actually be happy enough to play in the morning session at 10am and have longer off in the afternoon before the last 16.
Ford had taken a 3-1 advantage with breaks of 58, 62 and 83 along the way but he could not keep Liang out of the game. The Chinese number 2 needed a few chances to take the fifth frame but then the magical moment came with the 147 in frame six. As you would expect, Liang let out plenty of emotion after potting a tricky pink and then the final black to clinch a break that is worth £42,000 as long as another one is not made in the remainder of the tournament. He still had to settle back down and finish the job off though and after a scrappy start to the decider, Liang made a nice 60 to book his place in the last 32.
His World Cup winning partner Ding Junhui will not be joining him though after he was taken out by Michael White. After three frames Ding's highest break was only 16 as the Paul Hunter Classic champion stormed into a 3-0 lead and looked strong despite not making a break of 50 in any of those frames. The first 50+ contribution came in the fourth but after he missed on 53, Ding cleared with 81 to keep the match alive, and really piled the pressure on in the fifth with a run of 86 to close the gap to 2-3. White held strong though, getting in after Ding missed a brown to the middle pocket and from there the Welshman did not look back, finishing with a match high break of 95 to get over the line.
After the threats of Tuesday evening, Ronnie O'Sullivan found himself a pair of black trainers and got on with the job on the table by seeing off Mark Davis 4-1. He lost the opener but was soon back level thanks to breaks of 68 and 50. O'Sullivan needed a bit of fortune on the colours at the back end of frame three but once ahead 2-1, he kicked on and finished with breaks of 136 and 134 to stamp himself as one of the top title contenders in Barnsley.
Judd Trump was in fine form once again as he extended his winning run by beating Mark Joyce 4-0 in less than an hour. High breaks of 128, 99 and 74 saw him through, while Joyce would only score 30 points in the entire match. World champion Mark Selby was also a comfortable winner 4-1 against Ross Muir who could not complain about not having chances in the match.
John Higgins scored a simple 4-1 win against Matthew Selt with top contributions of 68, 89 and 94. Elsewhere, there were two more centuries for an in-form Stuart Bingham with runs of 127 and 141 helping him to a 4-2 defeat of Fang Xiongman. Neil Robertson had to come back strongly after losing three frames in a row from 2-0 up to 3-2 down against Li Hang, before winning 4-3. Robertson opened up with runs of 69 and 62 before Li hit back with 77, 78 and 54 to put the Australian in danger of another early exit. He dug in though with a 92 break to force the decider, before taking his first chance in the decider with both hands, making a 134 to gain a much needed triumph.
Shaun Murphy had to produce a mini-comeback of his own and did so in tremendous style. After starting poorly and losing the opening two frames to Daniel Wells he barely missed a ball from then on. Two superb breaks of 135 and 134 drew him level in no time, and he kicked on from there by finishing with an 87 in the fifth and 83 in the final frame that could have also both been century breaks, completing victory with a total of 440 unanswered points in the last four frames.
Finally, James Wattana rolled back the years by beating Ali Carter 4-3 to clinch a place in the last 32. Wattana took a 2-0 lead in the match before the Captain took three on the spin to turn the match right around and lead 3-2 making a 127 in frame four along the way. Wattana came back strong with a break of 108 to force the deciding frame and eventually came through on the colours in a lengthy final frame.
Full Last 64 Results:
Liang Wenbo 4-3 Tom Ford
Yan Bingtao 4-1 Jamie Jones
Anthony McGill 4-2 Lu Haotian
Akani Songsermsawad 4-2 Joe Swail
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Gary Wilson
Neil Robertson 4-3 Li Hang
Aditya Mehta 4-2 Ian Preece
Chen Zifan 4-3 Barry Hawkins
Judd Trump 4-0 Mark Joyce
Matthew Stevens 4-2 David Gilbert
Mark Williams 4-1 Luca Brecel
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Li Yuan
Zhang Yong 4-2 Rhys Clark
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Mark Davis
Robert Milkins 4-2 Ashley Hugill
John Higgins 4-1 Matthew Selt
Michael White 4-2 Ding Junhui
Ben Woollaston 4-3 Craig Steadman
Yuan Sijun 4-3 John Astley
James Wattana 4-3 Ali Carter
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-3 Gerard Greene
Stuart Carrington 4-2 Mark Allen
Liam Highfield 4-3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Shaun Murphy 4-2 Daniel Wells
Hammad Miah 4-1 Tian Pengfei
Andrew Higginson 4-0 Mitchell Mann
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Fang Xiongman
Hossein Vafei 4-2 Zhao Xintong
Thor Chuan Leong 4-2 Cao Yupeng
Kyren Wilson 4-0 Mike Dunn
Xiao Guodong 4-2 Ricky Walden
Mark Selby 4-1 Ross Muir
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Liang Wenbo Vs Yan Bingtao
Anthony McGill Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Neil Robertson Vs Jimmy Robertson
Aditya Mehta Vs Chen Zifan
Judd Trump Vs Matthew Stevens
Mark Williams Vs Jack Lisowski
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Zhang Yong
John Higgins Vs Robert Milkins
Michael White Vs Ben Woollaston
Yuan Sijun Vs James Wattana
Stuart Carrington Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Shaun Murphy Vs Liam Highfield
Andrew Higginson Vs Hammad Miah
Stuart Bingham Vs Hossein Vafei
Kyren Wilson Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Mark Selby Vs Xiao Guodong
Andrew Higginson has won each of his three previous meetings with Hammad Miah, including a victory in the Paul Hunter Classic this season and has had to play one match less than everyone in the field after getting a walkover in the last 128. Miah has played well so far though with two 4-1 wins against Michael Georgiou and Tian Pengfei.
Liang Wenbo may find it tough to bring himself back up after a massive match with Tom Ford with the maximum break as well as the comeback and we all know the dangers of Yan Bingtao. Yan has had two very strong wins this week and has already beaten Liang Wenbo in last season's UK Championship.
Chen Zifan scored brilliantly to beat Barry Hawkins and from what I've seen of him, including when he earned his Q School card, he is certainly one to watch. Mehta will test him more tactically as that seems to be where his first two games have potentially been won and lost.
Judd Trump will not have things all his own way against Matthew Stevens who seems to be in good form and has his scoring boots on. One thing Stevens has not done as much in recent years is beat the top players and Trump is flying as he showed once more against Joyce and I think it will take a brilliant performance from someone to send the European Masters champion home.
Neil Robertson should take a much needed lift in the way he came back from losing three straight frames against Li Hang, but cannot rest against his namesake Jimmy who is more than capable of sending the Australian home. However, Neil has a very good record against Jimmy and with everyone gaining added importance with his race for the Masters, I do not expect him to slip up here.
Ronnie O'Sullivan will obviously be heavily fancied for an easy win against lower ranked Zhang Yong, while John Higgins will not want to suffer the same fate as fellow Scotsman Stephen Maguire by losing to Robert Milkins.
Mark Williams and Jack Lisowski is an intriguing match on Thursday morning with Lisowski in flying form knocking in big breaks for fun at the moment, while Mark Williams overcame Luca Brecel in the last 64 to keep up his hopes of making the quarter-finals of each ranking event he has entered so far this season. If Lisowski is at his best that will be a tough one to call.
Experience may tell in a big last 32 match between Yuan Sijun and James Wattana with two players lower down in the rankings vying for crucial ranking money. Yuan is in fantastic form but Wattana has had two nice wins himself this week, fighting hard and scoring nicely also.
I also want to mention Mark Selby's match with Xiao Guodong. Selby has not hit top form yet in this event and after the opening round against Scott Donaldson he is lucky to be here. Xiao though is scoring nicely as always and finished off a nice win over Ricky Walden with a century break and he will fancy his chances a lot more over 7 frames, than he would have done in their last meeting over 25 frames in the World Championships.
It will be a busy day in Barnsley with the last 32 in the morning and early afternoon being followed by the last 16 in the evening with all matches on the day to be over the best-of-7 frames, and by the end of Thursday's play we will be down to the quarter-finals and really at the business end of proceedings this week. Tomorrow may also be a day when the players will actually be happy enough to play in the morning session at 10am and have longer off in the afternoon before the last 16.
Tuesday 17 October 2017
Mark Selby, Judd Trump and John Higgins all survive last frame drama in Barnsley
The first round of the English Open has drawn to a close and for some of the top seeds it has been a nervy affair to kick start their campaigns. World champion Mark Selby, recent European Master Judd Trump and John Higgins all had to come from behind and win in deciding frames to progress into Wednesday's last 64.
Trump was in fine form early on in his match with Robbie Williams. Breaks of 114 and 143 put him 2-1 in front but a high for Williams of 95 followed by a 66 in the fifth put him in front at 3-2, though the in-form Trump finished strongly and was able to come back and complete victory.
As for Selby, he took on Scott Donaldson who came into the match without a win on the tour this season. After the world champion took the opener, Donaldson hit back nicely with a well played 121 break to level the match up. He was looking strong in the third frame, before a trademark Selby steal on the black put him back ahead. The Scot recovered well and got stronger with contributions of 72 and 57 in the next two frames to turn the game on its head and take a 3-2 lead. Selby's fantastic attitude with his back against the wall shone through in frame six as he forced the decider with a match high break of 124 before keeping up his superb record in final frames to clinch his second round place.
It's certainly fair to say that John Higgins was the better player in his match with Elliot Slessor, but the lower ranked player was the one to pot the crucial balls at key moments in the early frames and put the Indian Open champion under pressure. After losing three pretty close frames on the way to falling 3-2 adrift, Higgins had to dig in and dominated the final two, shutting Slessor out for the most part and insuring that he did not suffer an early exit.
Marco Fu was the only top 16 player to fall at the first hurdle in Barnsley, with a strong performance from Tian Pengfei sending him off for an early bath. Tian signalled his intent right from the start with an opening century of 126, and he would go on to double that lead at 2-0. Fu hit back with a 135 break in the third, but Tian soon regained his two frame cushion with a run of 78 helping him to a 3-1 advantage. It did not take long at all for Tian to finish things off and for Fu his poor start to the new season continues.
Meanwhile, wherever Ronnie O'Sullivan seems to appear he makes the headlines and this was true again in the first round on Tuesday evening. It was not so much for his snooker, where he completed a straightforward 4-1 win against Zhang Anda with top breaks of 87 and 89, but more for his footwear. After spraining his ankle in a running accident, the five times world champion came into the arena sporting a pair of blue trainers and while it caused much discussion on social media, it does not appear to have gone down well with the governing body. Following his win, O'Sullivan Tweeted "Being told by World Snooker that if I don't wear a black training shoe tomorrow I can't play #sprainedankle" and backed that up by saying "Looks like I will have to pull out of the English Open because someone's not happy with me wearing a trainer due to a sprained ankle". As usual this could all be a 'boy who cried wolf' routine from O'Sullivan and the majority of those who have seen this all before will expect him to play on Wednesday evening as planned.
Elsewhere over the first two days, there were comfortable wins for the likes of Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson while Liang Wenbo's title defence started with a simple 4-1 victory against Duane Jones that featured two centuries from the Chinese number two. Luca Brecel continued his fine start to the season by winning one of the big first round clashes against Ryan Day 4-1. Stephen Maguire was whitewashed by Robert Milkins, while the impressive young Yuan Sijun shone again with a 4-1 defeat of Joe Perry. Having seen off Shaun Murphy 5-4 to qualify for the Shanghai Masters just five days ago, the 17-year-old was straight back into the groove with two century breaks of 104 and 123 on the way to victory.
Stuart Bingham had a couple of failed maximum attempts of 104 and 112 on the way to a 4-0 thrashing of Lee Walker, picking up from where he had left off in Lommel at the European Masters. Mark Allen also continued his good run of form by seeing off Jimmy White 4-0 thanks in part to breaks of 73, 72 and 80 in the opening three frames.
There were first round exits though for Martin Gould (beaten 4-1 by Zhao Xintong), Mark King (who lost out 4-2 to fellow Chinese player Fang Xiongman) and Graeme Dott (as Thor Chuan Leong made a break of 139 in the final frame of a 4-1 win).
Finally, a special mention should go to Mike Dunn who was able to beat Alex Borg 4-2 in the face of some ill-health that he has been suffering with in recent times. I would like to wish Dunn all the best for the rest of the tournament and for his recovery.
Full Last 128 Results:
Liang Wenbo 4-1 Duane Jones
Tom Ford 4-1 Xu Si
Yan Bingtao 4-0 Noppon Saengkham
Jamie Jones 4-0 Basem Eltahhan
Anthony McGill 4-3 Michael Holt
Lu Haotian 4-1 Allan Taylor
Akani Songsermsawad 4-2 Matthew Bolton
Joe Swail 4-3 Chris Totten
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Adam Duffy
Gary Wilson 4-1 Sean O'Sullivan
Li Hang 4-2 Chris Wakelin
Neil Robertson 4-0 Billy Castle
Ian Preece 4-0 Mei Xiwen
Aditya Mehta 4-0 Sam Craigie
Chen Zifan 4-3 Sanderson Lam
Barry Hawkins 4-2 Peter Lines
Judd Trump 4-3 Robbie Williams
Mark Joyce 4-3 Yu De Lu
Matthew Stevens 4-0 Eden Sharav
David Gilbert 4-0 Josh Boileau
Luca Brecel 4-1 Ryan Day
Mark Williams 4-1 David Grace
Li Yuan 4-2 Jamie Curtis-Barrett
Jack Lisowski 4-0 Rory McLeod
Rhys Clark 4-3 Alan McManus
Zhang Yong 4-3 Kurt Dunham
Mark Davis 4-3 Chen Zhe
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Zhang Anda
Robert Milkins 4-0 Stephen Maguire
Ashley Hugill 4-2 Nigel Bond
Matthew Selt 4-2 Alfie Burden
John Higgins 4-3 Elliot Slessor
Ding Junhui 4-1 Chris Keogan
Michael White 4-1 Lukas Kleckers
Craig Steadman 4-3 Robin Hull
Ben Woollaston 4-2 Peter Ebdon
Ali Carter 4-1 Oliver Lines
James Wattana 4-2 Martin O'Donnell
John Astley 4-2 Paul Davison
Yuan Sijun 4-1 Joe Perry
Gerard Greene 4-1 Ken Doherty
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-2 Anthony Hamilton
Stuart Carrington 4-1 Boonyarit Kaettikun
Mark Allen 4-0 Jimmy White
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Kurt Maflin
Liam Highfield 4-3 Fergal O'Brien
Daniel Wells 4-1 Dominic Dale
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Soheil Vahedi
Tian Pengfei 4-1 Marco Fu
Hammad Miah 4-1 Michael Georgiou
Mitchell Mann 4-3 Leo Fernandez
Andrew Higginson W/O Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Lee Walker
Fang Xiongman 4-2 Mark King
Zhao Xintong 4-1 Martin Gould
Hossein Vafei 4-2 Niu Zhuang
Thor Chuan Leong 4-1 Graeme Dott
Cao Yupeng 4-1 Hamza Akbar
Mike Dunn 4-2 Alex Borg
Kyren Wilson 4-3 Rod Lawler
Xiao Guodong 4-2 Wang Yuchen
Ricky Walden 4-2 Jak Jones
Ross Muir 4-3 Sam Baird
Mark Selby 4-3 Scott Donaldson
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Liang Wenbo Vs Tom Ford
Jamie Jones Vs Yan Bingtao
Anthony McGill Vs Lu Haotian
Akani Songsermsawad Vs Joe Swail
Jimmy Robertson Vs Gary Wilson
Neil Robertson Vs Li Hang
Aditya Mehta Vs Ian Preece
Barry Hawkins Vs Chen Zifan
Judd Trump Vs Mark Joyce
David Gilbert Vs Matthew Stevens
Luca Brecel Vs Mark Williams
Jack Lisowski Vs Li Yuan
Zhang Yong Vs Rhys Clark
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Mark Davis
Robert Milkins Vs Ashley Hugill
John Higgins Vs Matthew Selt
Ding Junhui Vs Michael White
Ben Woollaston Vs Craig Steadman
Ali Carter Vs James Wattana
John Astley Vs Yuan Sijun
Alexander Ursenbacher Vs Gerard Greene
Mark Allen Vs Stuart Carrington
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Liam Highfield
Shaun Murphy Vs Daniel Wells
Tian Pengfei Vs Hammad Miah
Andrew Higginson Vs Mitchell Mann
Stuart Bingham Vs Fang Xiongman
Hossein Vafei Vs Zhao Xintong
Cao Yupeng Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Kyren Wilson Vs Mike Dunn
Ricky Walden Vs Xiao Guodong
Mark Selby Vs Ross Muir
There are plenty of noteworthy second round ties to take place on Wednesday in Barnsley, with all games featuring in a packed schedule of best-of-7 frame ties.
Interestingly, Liam Highfield has won all of his three previous meetings with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh including their first round tie at the 2016 UK Championships. Highfield also came from 3-1 down to beat Fergal O'Brien in round one with a break of 140 in the deciding frame.
Lu Haotian is quietly building up some quite nice form and he could certainly give Anthony McGill some trouble, though McGill did come through a tough first round test with Michael Holt. Ken Doherty meanwhile tweeted that Gerard Greene is "playing as well as i've ever seen him" after losing out to him 4-1 in round here. Greene now faces Alexander Ursenbacher who overcame Anthony Hamilton who has been suffering with back troubles in the last couple of months.
Andrew Higginson benefited from a first round walkover so is the only player yet to play in Barnsley. He faces Mitchell Mann who made a deciding frame century to beat Leo Fernandez in round one. Jack Lisowski also still looks in strong form after two big centuries in his first round whitewash of Rory McLeod and he now plays Li Yuan who he saw off comfortably in the last 64 of the European Masters just a couple of weeks ago.
Akani Songsermsawad has been playing well lately and he is a worthy favourite with the bookies to overcome Joe Swail. It's a battle of two of the more unorthodox players, what with Swail's less than textbook cue action and some of the out of the ordinary techniques that Akani has adopted, most notably his style when using the rest.
Zhang Yong and Rhys Clark is quite a big clash between two lower ranked players. Zhang beat Kurt Dunham on the final black of their deciding frame in round one, while Clark saw off fellow Scot Alan McManus in another decider. Yuan Sijun meanwhile will be looking to fire strongly again when he plays John Astley, while other young Chinese stars Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong will be in action against Jamie Jones and Hossein Vafei respectively.
Defending champion Liang Wenbo is not in for an easy ride against Tom Ford, who also hit two centuries in a 4-1 first round triumph. Mark Selby faces another young Scot in Ross Muir and will need to up his game if he is to avoid another nervy finish.
Judd Trump takes on Mark Joyce who he has beaten on each of four occasions since his 2012 UK Championship collapse that saw Joyce claim each of the last four frames from 5-2 behind. There is a slight question mark with Ronnie O'Sullivan as I mentioned earlier in the piece and he will not want to let this creep into his performance against Mark Davis. In the Welsh Open earlier this year, O'Sullivan was the one losing his final four frames as Davis came from 3-0 behind to take the Rocket's scalp.
John Higgins meets Matthew Selt for the second time in three events after the pair went all nine frames in the last 32 of the World Open where Higgins came out on top 5-4. Two ranking event winners of this season face off in Ding Junhui and Michael White who both look in good form once again. Form does not come much better than that of Luca Brecel and Mark Williams who are unlucky to meet so early on. Williams has made the quarter-finals of each ranking event he's played in so far this season, while Brecel has kicked on from his China Championship triumph by making the semi-finals of the World Open and opened up with an impressive 4-1 win over Ryan Day.
So, there are 32 matches in all to get through on Wednesday before another bumper day on Thursday when both the last 32 and last 16 will be completed over the course of the day, and it will all be covered as usual on Eurosport TV and Eurosport Player.
Trump was in fine form early on in his match with Robbie Williams. Breaks of 114 and 143 put him 2-1 in front but a high for Williams of 95 followed by a 66 in the fifth put him in front at 3-2, though the in-form Trump finished strongly and was able to come back and complete victory.
As for Selby, he took on Scott Donaldson who came into the match without a win on the tour this season. After the world champion took the opener, Donaldson hit back nicely with a well played 121 break to level the match up. He was looking strong in the third frame, before a trademark Selby steal on the black put him back ahead. The Scot recovered well and got stronger with contributions of 72 and 57 in the next two frames to turn the game on its head and take a 3-2 lead. Selby's fantastic attitude with his back against the wall shone through in frame six as he forced the decider with a match high break of 124 before keeping up his superb record in final frames to clinch his second round place.
It's certainly fair to say that John Higgins was the better player in his match with Elliot Slessor, but the lower ranked player was the one to pot the crucial balls at key moments in the early frames and put the Indian Open champion under pressure. After losing three pretty close frames on the way to falling 3-2 adrift, Higgins had to dig in and dominated the final two, shutting Slessor out for the most part and insuring that he did not suffer an early exit.
Marco Fu was the only top 16 player to fall at the first hurdle in Barnsley, with a strong performance from Tian Pengfei sending him off for an early bath. Tian signalled his intent right from the start with an opening century of 126, and he would go on to double that lead at 2-0. Fu hit back with a 135 break in the third, but Tian soon regained his two frame cushion with a run of 78 helping him to a 3-1 advantage. It did not take long at all for Tian to finish things off and for Fu his poor start to the new season continues.
Meanwhile, wherever Ronnie O'Sullivan seems to appear he makes the headlines and this was true again in the first round on Tuesday evening. It was not so much for his snooker, where he completed a straightforward 4-1 win against Zhang Anda with top breaks of 87 and 89, but more for his footwear. After spraining his ankle in a running accident, the five times world champion came into the arena sporting a pair of blue trainers and while it caused much discussion on social media, it does not appear to have gone down well with the governing body. Following his win, O'Sullivan Tweeted "Being told by World Snooker that if I don't wear a black training shoe tomorrow I can't play #sprainedankle" and backed that up by saying "Looks like I will have to pull out of the English Open because someone's not happy with me wearing a trainer due to a sprained ankle". As usual this could all be a 'boy who cried wolf' routine from O'Sullivan and the majority of those who have seen this all before will expect him to play on Wednesday evening as planned.
Elsewhere over the first two days, there were comfortable wins for the likes of Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson while Liang Wenbo's title defence started with a simple 4-1 victory against Duane Jones that featured two centuries from the Chinese number two. Luca Brecel continued his fine start to the season by winning one of the big first round clashes against Ryan Day 4-1. Stephen Maguire was whitewashed by Robert Milkins, while the impressive young Yuan Sijun shone again with a 4-1 defeat of Joe Perry. Having seen off Shaun Murphy 5-4 to qualify for the Shanghai Masters just five days ago, the 17-year-old was straight back into the groove with two century breaks of 104 and 123 on the way to victory.
Stuart Bingham had a couple of failed maximum attempts of 104 and 112 on the way to a 4-0 thrashing of Lee Walker, picking up from where he had left off in Lommel at the European Masters. Mark Allen also continued his good run of form by seeing off Jimmy White 4-0 thanks in part to breaks of 73, 72 and 80 in the opening three frames.
There were first round exits though for Martin Gould (beaten 4-1 by Zhao Xintong), Mark King (who lost out 4-2 to fellow Chinese player Fang Xiongman) and Graeme Dott (as Thor Chuan Leong made a break of 139 in the final frame of a 4-1 win).
Finally, a special mention should go to Mike Dunn who was able to beat Alex Borg 4-2 in the face of some ill-health that he has been suffering with in recent times. I would like to wish Dunn all the best for the rest of the tournament and for his recovery.
Full Last 128 Results:
Liang Wenbo 4-1 Duane Jones
Tom Ford 4-1 Xu Si
Yan Bingtao 4-0 Noppon Saengkham
Jamie Jones 4-0 Basem Eltahhan
Anthony McGill 4-3 Michael Holt
Lu Haotian 4-1 Allan Taylor
Akani Songsermsawad 4-2 Matthew Bolton
Joe Swail 4-3 Chris Totten
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Adam Duffy
Gary Wilson 4-1 Sean O'Sullivan
Li Hang 4-2 Chris Wakelin
Neil Robertson 4-0 Billy Castle
Ian Preece 4-0 Mei Xiwen
Aditya Mehta 4-0 Sam Craigie
Chen Zifan 4-3 Sanderson Lam
Barry Hawkins 4-2 Peter Lines
Judd Trump 4-3 Robbie Williams
Mark Joyce 4-3 Yu De Lu
Matthew Stevens 4-0 Eden Sharav
David Gilbert 4-0 Josh Boileau
Luca Brecel 4-1 Ryan Day
Mark Williams 4-1 David Grace
Li Yuan 4-2 Jamie Curtis-Barrett
Jack Lisowski 4-0 Rory McLeod
Rhys Clark 4-3 Alan McManus
Zhang Yong 4-3 Kurt Dunham
Mark Davis 4-3 Chen Zhe
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Zhang Anda
Robert Milkins 4-0 Stephen Maguire
Ashley Hugill 4-2 Nigel Bond
Matthew Selt 4-2 Alfie Burden
John Higgins 4-3 Elliot Slessor
Ding Junhui 4-1 Chris Keogan
Michael White 4-1 Lukas Kleckers
Craig Steadman 4-3 Robin Hull
Ben Woollaston 4-2 Peter Ebdon
Ali Carter 4-1 Oliver Lines
James Wattana 4-2 Martin O'Donnell
John Astley 4-2 Paul Davison
Yuan Sijun 4-1 Joe Perry
Gerard Greene 4-1 Ken Doherty
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-2 Anthony Hamilton
Stuart Carrington 4-1 Boonyarit Kaettikun
Mark Allen 4-0 Jimmy White
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Kurt Maflin
Liam Highfield 4-3 Fergal O'Brien
Daniel Wells 4-1 Dominic Dale
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Soheil Vahedi
Tian Pengfei 4-1 Marco Fu
Hammad Miah 4-1 Michael Georgiou
Mitchell Mann 4-3 Leo Fernandez
Andrew Higginson W/O Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Lee Walker
Fang Xiongman 4-2 Mark King
Zhao Xintong 4-1 Martin Gould
Hossein Vafei 4-2 Niu Zhuang
Thor Chuan Leong 4-1 Graeme Dott
Cao Yupeng 4-1 Hamza Akbar
Mike Dunn 4-2 Alex Borg
Kyren Wilson 4-3 Rod Lawler
Xiao Guodong 4-2 Wang Yuchen
Ricky Walden 4-2 Jak Jones
Ross Muir 4-3 Sam Baird
Mark Selby 4-3 Scott Donaldson
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Liang Wenbo Vs Tom Ford
Jamie Jones Vs Yan Bingtao
Anthony McGill Vs Lu Haotian
Akani Songsermsawad Vs Joe Swail
Jimmy Robertson Vs Gary Wilson
Neil Robertson Vs Li Hang
Aditya Mehta Vs Ian Preece
Barry Hawkins Vs Chen Zifan
Judd Trump Vs Mark Joyce
David Gilbert Vs Matthew Stevens
Luca Brecel Vs Mark Williams
Jack Lisowski Vs Li Yuan
Zhang Yong Vs Rhys Clark
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Mark Davis
Robert Milkins Vs Ashley Hugill
John Higgins Vs Matthew Selt
Ding Junhui Vs Michael White
Ben Woollaston Vs Craig Steadman
Ali Carter Vs James Wattana
John Astley Vs Yuan Sijun
Alexander Ursenbacher Vs Gerard Greene
Mark Allen Vs Stuart Carrington
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Liam Highfield
Shaun Murphy Vs Daniel Wells
Tian Pengfei Vs Hammad Miah
Andrew Higginson Vs Mitchell Mann
Stuart Bingham Vs Fang Xiongman
Hossein Vafei Vs Zhao Xintong
Cao Yupeng Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Kyren Wilson Vs Mike Dunn
Ricky Walden Vs Xiao Guodong
Mark Selby Vs Ross Muir
There are plenty of noteworthy second round ties to take place on Wednesday in Barnsley, with all games featuring in a packed schedule of best-of-7 frame ties.
Interestingly, Liam Highfield has won all of his three previous meetings with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh including their first round tie at the 2016 UK Championships. Highfield also came from 3-1 down to beat Fergal O'Brien in round one with a break of 140 in the deciding frame.
Lu Haotian is quietly building up some quite nice form and he could certainly give Anthony McGill some trouble, though McGill did come through a tough first round test with Michael Holt. Ken Doherty meanwhile tweeted that Gerard Greene is "playing as well as i've ever seen him" after losing out to him 4-1 in round here. Greene now faces Alexander Ursenbacher who overcame Anthony Hamilton who has been suffering with back troubles in the last couple of months.
Andrew Higginson benefited from a first round walkover so is the only player yet to play in Barnsley. He faces Mitchell Mann who made a deciding frame century to beat Leo Fernandez in round one. Jack Lisowski also still looks in strong form after two big centuries in his first round whitewash of Rory McLeod and he now plays Li Yuan who he saw off comfortably in the last 64 of the European Masters just a couple of weeks ago.
Akani Songsermsawad has been playing well lately and he is a worthy favourite with the bookies to overcome Joe Swail. It's a battle of two of the more unorthodox players, what with Swail's less than textbook cue action and some of the out of the ordinary techniques that Akani has adopted, most notably his style when using the rest.
Zhang Yong and Rhys Clark is quite a big clash between two lower ranked players. Zhang beat Kurt Dunham on the final black of their deciding frame in round one, while Clark saw off fellow Scot Alan McManus in another decider. Yuan Sijun meanwhile will be looking to fire strongly again when he plays John Astley, while other young Chinese stars Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong will be in action against Jamie Jones and Hossein Vafei respectively.
Defending champion Liang Wenbo is not in for an easy ride against Tom Ford, who also hit two centuries in a 4-1 first round triumph. Mark Selby faces another young Scot in Ross Muir and will need to up his game if he is to avoid another nervy finish.
Judd Trump takes on Mark Joyce who he has beaten on each of four occasions since his 2012 UK Championship collapse that saw Joyce claim each of the last four frames from 5-2 behind. There is a slight question mark with Ronnie O'Sullivan as I mentioned earlier in the piece and he will not want to let this creep into his performance against Mark Davis. In the Welsh Open earlier this year, O'Sullivan was the one losing his final four frames as Davis came from 3-0 behind to take the Rocket's scalp.
John Higgins meets Matthew Selt for the second time in three events after the pair went all nine frames in the last 32 of the World Open where Higgins came out on top 5-4. Two ranking event winners of this season face off in Ding Junhui and Michael White who both look in good form once again. Form does not come much better than that of Luca Brecel and Mark Williams who are unlucky to meet so early on. Williams has made the quarter-finals of each ranking event he's played in so far this season, while Brecel has kicked on from his China Championship triumph by making the semi-finals of the World Open and opened up with an impressive 4-1 win over Ryan Day.
So, there are 32 matches in all to get through on Wednesday before another bumper day on Thursday when both the last 32 and last 16 will be completed over the course of the day, and it will all be covered as usual on Eurosport TV and Eurosport Player.
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