All eyes will be on the man of the moment Ronnie O'Sullivan when he arrives at the Waterfront Hall. As the winner of the first home nations event in Barnsley he is now the only man left who could win the £1 million bonus and you would certainly not put it past him to keep that going by winning this week. O'Sullivan has followed that win up by making the Champion of Champions final and picking up more silverware at the Shanghai Masters.
Fantastic memories will come flooding back to defending champion Mark King, who's victory here a year ago was the first ranking title of his career and was one of the most magical moments of last season.
Mark Allen is the highest ranked home hope this week, while Joe Swail and Gerard Greene will also receive a lot of support as far as they go into the event. Alongside those are two Northern Irish amateur invites in Jordan Brown (who played last year and overcame Ben Woollaston in round one) and Declan Brennan.
There are a few notable absentees as world number one Mark Selby has decided to give Belfast a miss while Ding Junhui continues to recover from an eye injury and has also not entered. Marco Fu withdrew after the draw and has been replaced by Jamie Clarke.
Quarter 1
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark King Vs Matthew Bolton
Josh Boileau Vs Ashley Hugill
Ian Preece Vs Jamie Barrett
Yan Bingtao Vs Robbie Williams
Ryan Day Vs John Astley
Li Hang Vs Cao Yupeng
Zhou Yuelong Vs Graeme Dott
Robin Hull Vs Eden Sharav
Ricky Walden Vs Hammad Miah
Jack Lisowski Vs Sean O'Sullivan
Michael White Vs Jimmy Robertson
Barry Hawkins Vs Zhao Xintong
Robert Milkins Vs Alfie Burden
Oliver Lines Vs Xu Si
Billy Castle Vs Declan Brennan
Neil Robertson Vs Jamie Jones
The opening quarter of the draw can have a big say in the race for the Masters. With just this event and the UK Championships to go before the cut off things could not be tighter. Ryan Day is currently in the final qualifying spot but he only leads Neil Robertson by £1,412 so will need to either match or better the results of the Australian in the next two tournaments. Recent results have not helped Day as he fell in the last 128 of the first home nations event to Luca Brecel, and lost in the last 64 last week in Shanghai. He is in a tricky section of the draw here to with a potential last 64 meeting with one of two in-form Chinese stars in Li Hang and Cao Yupeng who would be more than capable of pouncing if the Welshman starts to feel the pressure.
Defending champion Mark King has not had the greatest warm up after exiting easily in the last 64 of the Shanghai Masters and while he could get on a run this week given his draw, it is hard to see a repeat of last year's heroics for him. Jack Lisowski could be one of the men to watch though for a surprise winner from outside of the top 16. Lisowski comes to Belfast at the top of his game, and full of confidence after making his maiden ranking event semi-final in Shanghai. That came after two last 16's at the European Masters and International Championship as well as a quarter-final in the first home nations event and you would now expect the left-hander to keep on progressing. Last year's Northern Ireland runner-up Barry Hawkins does not come back this year with much form and has a tough first round draw against young Zhao Xintong. Hawkins made the last 16 in Shanghai to get beyond the last 32 stage of a ranking event for the first time this season. Michael White has been playing well and had a decent run in this event last year but also faces a tough opening round tie with Jimmy Robertson, while him and Hawkins could lock horns in the last 64 before a possible last 32 with Lisowski or even Ricky Walden who is well overdue a good run.
Beyond that section of death, I have gone with the under pressure Neil Robertson to rise to the occasion and make it to at least the semi-finals. Given his recent form it may be difficult to see this happening but the Australian is far too good not to turn his recent slump around. He has not been to a ranking event semi-final since the 2016 European Masters which is a huge reason behind why he is in this battle to make the Masters. There has been very little wrong with his scoring though. Match sheets from both the International Championship (where he fell in the last 16) and the English Open (exiting in the quarter-finals) will testify to that. I like his draw for this week, and think that if he can find something he is more than good enough to come through and make it to the semi-finals. When the best players have their backs to the wall they can produce some of their very best and this may well be the case for Robertson in Belfast.
Defending champion Mark King has not had the greatest warm up after exiting easily in the last 64 of the Shanghai Masters and while he could get on a run this week given his draw, it is hard to see a repeat of last year's heroics for him. Jack Lisowski could be one of the men to watch though for a surprise winner from outside of the top 16. Lisowski comes to Belfast at the top of his game, and full of confidence after making his maiden ranking event semi-final in Shanghai. That came after two last 16's at the European Masters and International Championship as well as a quarter-final in the first home nations event and you would now expect the left-hander to keep on progressing. Last year's Northern Ireland runner-up Barry Hawkins does not come back this year with much form and has a tough first round draw against young Zhao Xintong. Hawkins made the last 16 in Shanghai to get beyond the last 32 stage of a ranking event for the first time this season. Michael White has been playing well and had a decent run in this event last year but also faces a tough opening round tie with Jimmy Robertson, while him and Hawkins could lock horns in the last 64 before a possible last 32 with Lisowski or even Ricky Walden who is well overdue a good run.
Beyond that section of death, I have gone with the under pressure Neil Robertson to rise to the occasion and make it to at least the semi-finals. Given his recent form it may be difficult to see this happening but the Australian is far too good not to turn his recent slump around. He has not been to a ranking event semi-final since the 2016 European Masters which is a huge reason behind why he is in this battle to make the Masters. There has been very little wrong with his scoring though. Match sheets from both the International Championship (where he fell in the last 16) and the English Open (exiting in the quarter-finals) will testify to that. I like his draw for this week, and think that if he can find something he is more than good enough to come through and make it to the semi-finals. When the best players have their backs to the wall they can produce some of their very best and this may well be the case for Robertson in Belfast.
Best of the rest: Jack Lisowski
Quarter choice: Neil Robertson
Quarter 2
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark Allen Vs Sanderson Lam
Tian Pengfei Vs Soheil Vahedi
Yu De Lu Vs Craig Steadman
Noppon Saengkham Vs Hamza Akbar
Luca Brecel Vs Fang Xiongman
Chris Wakelin Vs Chris Totten
Dominic Dale Vs Jimmy White
Lee Walker Vs Jak Jones
Ian Burns Vs Niu Zhuang
Ken Doherty Vs Peter Lines
Mark Davis Vs Liam Highfield
Liang Wenbo Vs Jackson Page
Alan McManus Vs Yuan Sijun
Lu Haotian Vs Joe Swail
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Allan Taylor
Shaun Murphy Vs Chen Zifan
The second quarter is where the home favourite Mark Allen is introduced. Last year he felt the pressure on the way to an eventual quarter-final exit and has already targeted feeling more comfortable as a key to success. Allen was less than happy with the way he lost in the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters to Lisowski, having already made the International final and World Open semi's this season. His draw looks like one he should get through if he continues scoring as well as he has done in recent months to make the last 16 at the very least. Keep an eye out as well for Joe Swail, who could easily be inspired by his home fans, though in eight tournaments this season he has only passed the last 128 stage three times. Ken Doherty had a strong start to the season making the semi-finals in Riga, and has followed that up with a last 16 and a couple of last 32 appearances and he could easily get on a similar run again here after a few weeks of rest.
Liang Wenbo was one to watch on the Masters race, but a run to the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters has put him £13,000 clear of Neil Robertson and should be able to keep him and Ryan Day at arms length so long as he gets a few wins both here and in York. He has a testing opening round tie against rising young Welsh star Jackson Page but if he comes through that nicely I could see him making at least the last 16 as well this week which would put him in pole position in the Masters list despite a fairly quiet start to this season. He looked decent in Shanghai and could certainly prove a big danger in this section.
My second quarter choice though is the recent Champion of Champions Shaun Murphy. Murphy's victory against Ronnie O'Sullivan in that final is put into even greater perspective by the ease with which O'Sullivan has gone to Shanghai and dismantled the draw to take the title. The 2005 world champion has been in fantastic form this season. Before winning in Coventry he had already been in two finals and this is by far the best start to a season he has had for a number of years. His long potting was superb in Coventry, as it usually is whenever he picks up a trophy, and his scoring has been superb in recent weeks. He looks confident at the table, and it is from there that he is able to be so aggressive and take the game to the best players in the world, which is when Murphy is at his most dangerous. Raring to go again this week in Belfast, there are a couple of banana skins in his section of the draw that he will have to get over to make the latter stages. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh may be inconsistent but can blow any player away on his day, while Alan McManus, Yuan Sijun nor Lu Haotian would be no pushover in a best-of-7 frames contest. However, with the form Murphy is in and with a week to refresh himself after his Coventry triumph along with the pressure that certain top players in this section may be under this week for reasons outlined earlier, I think this is a good chance for him to kick on.
Liang Wenbo was one to watch on the Masters race, but a run to the last 16 of the Shanghai Masters has put him £13,000 clear of Neil Robertson and should be able to keep him and Ryan Day at arms length so long as he gets a few wins both here and in York. He has a testing opening round tie against rising young Welsh star Jackson Page but if he comes through that nicely I could see him making at least the last 16 as well this week which would put him in pole position in the Masters list despite a fairly quiet start to this season. He looked decent in Shanghai and could certainly prove a big danger in this section.
My second quarter choice though is the recent Champion of Champions Shaun Murphy. Murphy's victory against Ronnie O'Sullivan in that final is put into even greater perspective by the ease with which O'Sullivan has gone to Shanghai and dismantled the draw to take the title. The 2005 world champion has been in fantastic form this season. Before winning in Coventry he had already been in two finals and this is by far the best start to a season he has had for a number of years. His long potting was superb in Coventry, as it usually is whenever he picks up a trophy, and his scoring has been superb in recent weeks. He looks confident at the table, and it is from there that he is able to be so aggressive and take the game to the best players in the world, which is when Murphy is at his most dangerous. Raring to go again this week in Belfast, there are a couple of banana skins in his section of the draw that he will have to get over to make the latter stages. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh may be inconsistent but can blow any player away on his day, while Alan McManus, Yuan Sijun nor Lu Haotian would be no pushover in a best-of-7 frames contest. However, with the form Murphy is in and with a week to refresh himself after his Coventry triumph along with the pressure that certain top players in this section may be under this week for reasons outlined earlier, I think this is a good chance for him to kick on.
Best of the rest: Liang Wenbo
Quarter choice: Shaun Murphy
Quarter 3
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)
John Higgins Vs Nigel Bond
Anthony Hamilton Vs Hossein Vafei
Stephen Maguire Vs Basem Eltahhan
Gary Wilson Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Anthony McGill Vs Boonyarit Kaettikun
Rory McLeod Vs Adam Duffy
Sam Baird Vs Zhang Yong
Aditya Mehta Vs Li Yuan
Mei Xiwen Vs Jordan Brown
Peter Ebdon Vs Alex Borg
Ben Woollaston Vs Mark Joyce
Kyren Wilson Vs Sam Craigie
Elliot Slessor Vs Kurt Dunham
Kurt Maflin Vs Andrew Higginson
Mitchell Mann Vs Duane Jones
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Lukas Kleckers
The third quarter is all about the possible million pound man Ronnie O'Sullivan. The way that O'Sullivan is playing he could end up picking up a million pounds in prize money this season without winning the four home nations events. If you include the Champion of Champions and Hong Kong Masters runner-up prize money, O'Sullivan has so far picked up £337,000, £242,000 of which goes onto his ranking. O'Sullivan is playing phenomenally well and romped to the title in Shanghai, despite a short turnaround after making the final in Coventry last Sunday. His second title of the season coming in such a circumstance is more than enough to suggest that there is plenty more in the locker and he is going to take some serious stopping in Belfast.
John Higgins may have done a lot better in the last month if he did not keep running in to O'Sullivan, defeats in the last 16 of the English Open, quarter-finals of the Champion of Champions and semi-finals in Shanghai were all inflicted by the Rocket, while Yan Bingtao overcame him in the quarter-finals of the International Championship having already seen off O'Sullivan in the last 64. It is certainly taking some good performances to beat Higgins right now and it would not be a shock to see O'Sullivan and Higgins meet again here in the quarter-finals. Fellow Scotsman Anthony McGill may have something to say about that though. Despite losing to Higgins in the first round of the Champion of Champions and not qualifying for Shanghai, he has had a good season so far. A semi-finalist in the first home nations event, he also made the Indian Open final in September and has added another three quarter-finals this season. His draw looks favourable and if he continues some of his good early season play he should make the last 16 in my view, where a potential meeting with Higgins could be his undoing.
My choice in this quarter however, is another man in great form having already reached two finals this season and that is Kyren Wilson. Those two brilliant runs from Wilson came at the World Open before he lost out to Ding Junhui, and then in the opening home nations event in Barnsley, Wilson came through the field before losing out to O'Sullivan and in both of those events he played nicely. A year ago he overcame O'Sullivan in the last 16 stages on the way to making the last four where he would ultimately lose out to eventual winner Mark King. Despite losing from 4-0 up to Martin Gould in the last 32 of the International Championships he still looked to be playing really well and had a maximum 147 break in that match. The scoring of Wilson looks to be where he has improved most so far on last season. Already in the 2017/2018 campaign he has managed 19 century breaks, already three more than he managed in the whole of 2016/2017 despite making a final, two big semi-finals and a World quarter-final. With a strong tactical game and wise match-play brain, Wilson is going to take some beating this season if his form continues.
Best of the rest: Anthony McGill
Quarter choice: Kyren Wilson
Quarter 4
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Mike Dunn Vs Jamie Clarke
Matthew Stevens Vs Leo Fernandez
David Grace Vs Michael Georgiou
Michael Holt Vs Martin O'Donnell
Ali Carter Vs Chen Zhe
Xiao Guodong Vs Christopher Keogan
Matthew Selt Vs Rhys Clark
Joe Perry Vs Gerard Greene
Zhang Anda Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Scott Donaldson Vs Wang Yuchen
Tom Ford Vs Fergal O'Brien
Mark Williams Vs James Wattana
David Gilbert Vs Daniel Wells
Paul Davison Vs Rod Lawler
Ross Muir Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Judd Trump Vs Stuart Carrington
The top quarter of the draw is where Marco Fu pulled out and has subsequently been replaced. Gerard Greene another of the home hopes is in this section but faces a tough draw against Joe Perry. Perry has been a little bit hit and miss with his form this season but produced a nice win in the last 64 of the Shanghai Masters against Matthew Selt that featured two centuries. Perry could face Selt again in the last 32 here, but his friend Greene will be no pushover having had some good results and with the home fans behind him.
Mark Williams consistent run at the start of this season continued in Shanghai, making yet another quarter-final before running into O'Sullivan. That was his fifth quarter-final in seven ranking events this season, though he has only converted one of those into a semi-final at the Riga Masters. He has lost to a lot of in-form players this season as well, showing that it is taking good performances to beat him and you would not put another good run past him here. Ali Carter is another top player with a great chance this week in Belfast. In Shanghai he fell in a last 32 decider to Stephen Maguire, who he beat on the way to the quarter-finals in Daqing. With Fu removed from the top half of this quarter, Carter is the firm favourite from those that remain to make the quarter-finals and this could well turn out to be a big week for the Captain. With that top mini section opening up, it could present a chance for Michael Holt, but his form would need to improve to make that the case. He last won a match at a main venue in the last 64 of the World Open, with only a couple of last 128 qualifying wins coming in the two months since then for the Nottingham man.
My final quarter choice for the week is Shanghai Masters runner-up Judd Trump. Trump has been one of the most clinical players so far this season and he finds it easy to dominate players over any format. In 23 matches won this season, eight have been whitewash wins for Trump, while him and O'Sullivan top the century chart with 31 for the season so far, which is eight more than the next best. Having laser eye surgery has had the desired impact on his game as he defended the European Masters and made the final last week in Shanghai, as well as the International Championship quarters before losing out narrowly to Allen and also losing in a final frame to Lisowski at the English Open. On the occasions that he has been beaten since his Belgian triumph, he has been beaten by someone in equally great form. If he is in the mood this week there is no reason why he could not steamroll his way into the latter stages once again.
Mark Williams consistent run at the start of this season continued in Shanghai, making yet another quarter-final before running into O'Sullivan. That was his fifth quarter-final in seven ranking events this season, though he has only converted one of those into a semi-final at the Riga Masters. He has lost to a lot of in-form players this season as well, showing that it is taking good performances to beat him and you would not put another good run past him here. Ali Carter is another top player with a great chance this week in Belfast. In Shanghai he fell in a last 32 decider to Stephen Maguire, who he beat on the way to the quarter-finals in Daqing. With Fu removed from the top half of this quarter, Carter is the firm favourite from those that remain to make the quarter-finals and this could well turn out to be a big week for the Captain. With that top mini section opening up, it could present a chance for Michael Holt, but his form would need to improve to make that the case. He last won a match at a main venue in the last 64 of the World Open, with only a couple of last 128 qualifying wins coming in the two months since then for the Nottingham man.
My final quarter choice for the week is Shanghai Masters runner-up Judd Trump. Trump has been one of the most clinical players so far this season and he finds it easy to dominate players over any format. In 23 matches won this season, eight have been whitewash wins for Trump, while him and O'Sullivan top the century chart with 31 for the season so far, which is eight more than the next best. Having laser eye surgery has had the desired impact on his game as he defended the European Masters and made the final last week in Shanghai, as well as the International Championship quarters before losing out narrowly to Allen and also losing in a final frame to Lisowski at the English Open. On the occasions that he has been beaten since his Belgian triumph, he has been beaten by someone in equally great form. If he is in the mood this week there is no reason why he could not steamroll his way into the latter stages once again.
Best of the rest: Ali Carter
Quarter choice: Judd Trump
Tournament winner selection: Kyren Wilson
It should be another great week of snooker, and could cause a few surprises too and follow the precedent of last year. The tournament will be covered in full by Eurosport, while Quest will again have coverage of the event on freeview during the afternoon sessions. The format is the same as the English Open and the four home nations events of last season.
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