64 matches will take place over the course of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday as the field is cut down to 64 for the start of the TV stages on the BBC on Saturday. As you would expect, all of the top players will be in action. Mark Selby begins the defence of his title on Wednesday night, while Ronnie O'Sullivan will be the big draw on Thursday evening when he faces Jackson Page and Ding Junhui will be the first top name in action on Tuesday afternoon.
As always for the early rounds in York there will be four tables in the main arena and four tables in the Sports Hall. There have been complaints from players in the past about having to play in the back room, but while 128 players come to the venue each year, this is something that will continue to happen.
Given the seeding structure for the UK Championships with seed 1 playing seed 128 and seed 64 playing seed 65 and so on, this could provide a good marker halfway through the season for players who are going to be battling for tour survival when World Championship qualifying gets underway in April. Right now it's as tight as you would expect around the 64 line on the provisional end of season ranking list, with plenty of players having a lot of work to do to get out of trouble.
Given that I will be able to see the players up close this week, a full preview with players to watch for the tournament will be on the blog on Friday ahead of the last 64 beginning. Here though is the draw and some information on some matches to look out for this week:
Quarter 1
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark Selby Vs Basem Eltahhan
Scott Donaldson Vs John Astley
Li Hang Vs Gerard Greene
Robert Milkins Vs Chen Zhe
Mark Williams Vs Paul Davison
Andrew Higginson Vs Sam Craigie
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Elliot Slessor
Ryan Day Vs Jamie Barrett
Neil Robertson Vs Rod Lawler
Gary Wilson Vs Ken Doherty
Mark Joyce Vs Thor Chuan Leong
David Gilbert Vs Chris Keogan
Anthony Hamilton Vs Lu Haotian
Peter Ebdon Vs Allan Taylor
Rory McLeod Vs Zhao Xintong
Marco Fu Vs Nigel Bond
Scott Donaldson is still searching for his first win of the season as he takes on John Astley, and despite making the semi-finals of the Welsh Open in February he could still drop off of the tour, currently sitting at 61st on the provisional EOS list.
Sam Craigie had a nice run to the last 16 in Belfast recently and was scoring very heavily there. He now takes on Andrew Higginson in round one in what should be a good contest and one that will feature on the live blog coverage on Thursday morning.
Gary Wilson faces Ken Doherty for the third time this season, with Doherty winning the previous two in the last 128 of the China Championship and the last 64 of the Riga Masters. Doherty made the last 32 in Belfast while Wilson made it to the last 16 and if both are in good form this should be a good contest.
Semi-finalist in the Northern Ireland Open Elliot Slessor will be in action in an exciting looking round one match with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. It'll be interesting to see how Un-Nooh plays given some of his inconsistency and Slessor will be confident after his great run last week.
Zhao Xintong and Rory McLeod's match is certainly a clash of styles and I think the opening four frames of this best-of-11 will be key to the contest, to see who gets on top early on. If Zhao is allowed to score and can score heavily then he will most likely come on top, but McLeod will be the stronger tactically and if he can grind down frames against the Chinese youngster then he could be a comfortable winner. McLeod's form has not been great though this season and Zhao looked good in parts of the Northern Irish Open, but he needs to keep that going to get into the top 64 at the end of the season.
Sam Craigie had a nice run to the last 16 in Belfast recently and was scoring very heavily there. He now takes on Andrew Higginson in round one in what should be a good contest and one that will feature on the live blog coverage on Thursday morning.
Gary Wilson faces Ken Doherty for the third time this season, with Doherty winning the previous two in the last 128 of the China Championship and the last 64 of the Riga Masters. Doherty made the last 32 in Belfast while Wilson made it to the last 16 and if both are in good form this should be a good contest.
Semi-finalist in the Northern Ireland Open Elliot Slessor will be in action in an exciting looking round one match with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. It'll be interesting to see how Un-Nooh plays given some of his inconsistency and Slessor will be confident after his great run last week.
Zhao Xintong and Rory McLeod's match is certainly a clash of styles and I think the opening four frames of this best-of-11 will be key to the contest, to see who gets on top early on. If Zhao is allowed to score and can score heavily then he will most likely come on top, but McLeod will be the stronger tactically and if he can grind down frames against the Chinese youngster then he could be a comfortable winner. McLeod's form has not been great though this season and Zhao looked good in parts of the Northern Irish Open, but he needs to keep that going to get into the top 64 at the end of the season.
Quarter 2
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Shaun Murphy Vs Hamza Akbar
Daniel Wells Vs Liam Highfield
Jimmy Robertson Vs Alex Borg
Alan McManus Vs Robin Hull
Kyren Wilson Vs Sean O'Sullivan
Yu De Lu Vs Ian Preece
Jamie Jones Vs Craig Steadman
Ricky Walden Vs Duane Jones
Luca Brecel Vs Soheil Vahedi
Sam Baird Vs Aditya Mehta
Mike Dunn Vs Fang Xiongman
Mark King Vs Boonyarit Kaettikun
Yan Bingtao Vs Zhang Yong
Ben Woollaston Vs Li Yuan
Tian Pengfei Vs Cao Yupeng
John Higgins Vs Chris Totten
Shaun Murphy will be looking to get off to a convincing start in this year's UK Championship as he faces Hamza Akbar. Murphy made hard work of a simple enough looking last 128 match in York last year, falling 3-1 behind to Itaro Santos before winning 6-3. The same story for Murphy was told at the same stage in 2014 when he was 3-1 behind at the interval to James Wattana though eventually ran out a 6-3 winner there too.
Liam Highfield is currently the man sitting in 65th on the provisional EOS money list, just £1,200 behind 64th placed Cao Yupeng. A nice run to the last 16 in Belfast helped boost Highfield there and with £5,000 for making it through to the last 64, this is a big opportunity for Highfield and players in a similar area of the rankings. He faces Daniel Wells who is an equally dangerous player, and I think this may well be a very close match-up.
Robin Hull faces Alan McManus in another of the matches I have on my list to live blog while in York this week. Given the seeding of 28 for McManus this week, it is amazing to think he is danger of dropping off the tour at the end of the season. His ranking is largely swayed by a run to the 2015 World Championship semi-finals and although he is £6,500 clear of 65th place on the EOS list a defeat to Hull could soon drag him into danger. Hull has overcome Zhou Yuelong twice in the last month in the last 128 of the International Championship and on the way to the last 32 in Belfast, where he narrowly fell short against Ryan Day. After a slow start to the season, it looks as though Hull is beginning to find a bit of form and with his scoring power that makes him very dangerous here.
Ian Preece is an interesting player to look at, coming into the last 128 here against Yu De Lu. Despite not managing to get past the last 64 stage in any tournament, a 4-1 loss to Jamie Barrett in Northern Ireland was only his third at the last 128 stage in ten events this season. Yu has not had any great runs either this season despite only losing in the last 128 three times from the nine events he has played this season so both players could use a big run here.
Sam Baird is another player in real danger of dropping off tour. He currently lies 70th on the provisional end of season money rankings, nearly £6,000 off the pace which almost makes this a must win game against Aditya Mehta. Baird has failed to win a match since early September's Indian Open where he beat Mark Davis in the last 64. Mehta himself though needs a massive run in a competition between now and the end of the season to stay on the tour without heading to Q School in May. The Indian has actually won the exact same amount of money as Baird so far in this campaign, despite a run to the last 16 at the English Open, having also come lost in the last 128 on 6 of 10 occasions in the 2017/2018 campaign.
Tian Pengfei and Cao Yupeng is another match I am looking to live blog, with this one falling on Tuesday evening. The pair are place precariously at 63rd and 64th on the provisional end of season money list despite decent seasons so far. They struggled in the 2016/2017 campaign, but Cao is 22nd on the money list for this season so far, while Tian is just inside the top 50. Cao's position is built on good runs in consecutive tournaments making the World Open last 16 and European Masters semi-finals, while Tian Pengfei narrowly missed out on making the semi-finals last week in Belfast.
After a run to the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland Open where he only lost out in a deciding frame, it will also be of interest to see how Li Yuan follows that up when he faces Ben Woollaston here.
Liam Highfield is currently the man sitting in 65th on the provisional EOS money list, just £1,200 behind 64th placed Cao Yupeng. A nice run to the last 16 in Belfast helped boost Highfield there and with £5,000 for making it through to the last 64, this is a big opportunity for Highfield and players in a similar area of the rankings. He faces Daniel Wells who is an equally dangerous player, and I think this may well be a very close match-up.
Robin Hull faces Alan McManus in another of the matches I have on my list to live blog while in York this week. Given the seeding of 28 for McManus this week, it is amazing to think he is danger of dropping off the tour at the end of the season. His ranking is largely swayed by a run to the 2015 World Championship semi-finals and although he is £6,500 clear of 65th place on the EOS list a defeat to Hull could soon drag him into danger. Hull has overcome Zhou Yuelong twice in the last month in the last 128 of the International Championship and on the way to the last 32 in Belfast, where he narrowly fell short against Ryan Day. After a slow start to the season, it looks as though Hull is beginning to find a bit of form and with his scoring power that makes him very dangerous here.
Ian Preece is an interesting player to look at, coming into the last 128 here against Yu De Lu. Despite not managing to get past the last 64 stage in any tournament, a 4-1 loss to Jamie Barrett in Northern Ireland was only his third at the last 128 stage in ten events this season. Yu has not had any great runs either this season despite only losing in the last 128 three times from the nine events he has played this season so both players could use a big run here.
Sam Baird is another player in real danger of dropping off tour. He currently lies 70th on the provisional end of season money rankings, nearly £6,000 off the pace which almost makes this a must win game against Aditya Mehta. Baird has failed to win a match since early September's Indian Open where he beat Mark Davis in the last 64. Mehta himself though needs a massive run in a competition between now and the end of the season to stay on the tour without heading to Q School in May. The Indian has actually won the exact same amount of money as Baird so far in this campaign, despite a run to the last 16 at the English Open, having also come lost in the last 128 on 6 of 10 occasions in the 2017/2018 campaign.
Tian Pengfei and Cao Yupeng is another match I am looking to live blog, with this one falling on Tuesday evening. The pair are place precariously at 63rd and 64th on the provisional end of season money list despite decent seasons so far. They struggled in the 2016/2017 campaign, but Cao is 22nd on the money list for this season so far, while Tian is just inside the top 50. Cao's position is built on good runs in consecutive tournaments making the World Open last 16 and European Masters semi-finals, while Tian Pengfei narrowly missed out on making the semi-finals last week in Belfast.
After a run to the quarter-finals of the Northern Ireland Open where he only lost out in a deciding frame, it will also be of interest to see how Li Yuan follows that up when he faces Ben Woollaston here.
Quarter 3
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Judd Trump Vs Matthew Bolton
Chris Wakelin Vs Lee Walker
Dominic Dale Vs Adam Duffy
Graeme Dott Vs Josh Boileau
Liang Wenbo Vs Sanderson Lam
Stuart Carrington Vs Mitchell Mann
David Grace Vs Jak Jones
Stephen Maguire Vs Yuan Sijun
Joe Perry Vs Billy Castle
Jack Lisowski Vs Wang Yuchen
Kurt Maflin Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Ali Carter Vs Jimmy White
Zhou Yuelong Vs Peter Lines
Mark Davis Vs Xu Si
Oliver Lines Vs Mei Xiwen
Mark Allen Vs Lukas Kleckers
Another big match in the early stages of looking at the tour survival battle is Chris Wakelin and Lee Walker. While Wakelin is actually well clear, Walker is 66th on the provisional end of season list and could really do with a victory here. Last time out in Belfast Walker lost a marathon five hour last 128 tie with Jak Jones, while Wakelin made it to the last 16 which has actually helped to put him out of danger. If Walker can take his scoring chances, this could well be quite an even contest and one that goes right to the wire.
David Grace and Jak Jones is another important tour survival game. Grace of course was a semi-finalist in York two years ago but has struggled so far this season and is now 71st on the end of season rankings. That will largely be because of performances that only put him 89th on the money list for the first half of the 2017/2018 campaign having earned as little as £11,600 having only won 3 of his 10 last 128 matches in this time. In Jak Jones he faces someone almost certain to fall from the tour at the end of the season which tells you what you need to know about his form, so this for Grace is an opportunity he must take to get some money in the bank.
Given the seeding structure of the event, it is rare to see too many surprise results involving top players in the first round but I have picked out a possible one as Stephen Maguire faces young Yuan Sijun. Yuan is a hugely dangerous player as he showed by beating Shaun Murphy in the last 128 of the Shanghai Masters scoring heavily there. Despite making the final in the very first event of this season, Maguire has not been able to take this forward and has lost in the last 128 or last 64 of four out of eight events he has played since then.
Norweigian Kurt Maflin faces Switzerland's Alexander Ursenbacher in a nice heavy hitting European affair. Both players can score very heavily and have had good runs so far this season to show how dangerous they can be. For Maflin it was a run to the quarter-finals in Shanghai, while Ursenbacher impressed at the English Open in the semi-finals. Ursenbacher will now look to build on that while Maflin could be a danger man in the draw with his heavy scoring.
Oliver Lines and Mei Xiwen is also one that can have implications around the 64 mark at the end of the season. Mei is currently up to 67th in that regard after making the last 32 of the Northern Ireland Open and the last 16 in Shanghai in consecutive weeks. A win here would likely move him up a few spots also, while defeat for Lines could still see him dragged into things if other performances do not go his way between now and April.
David Grace and Jak Jones is another important tour survival game. Grace of course was a semi-finalist in York two years ago but has struggled so far this season and is now 71st on the end of season rankings. That will largely be because of performances that only put him 89th on the money list for the first half of the 2017/2018 campaign having earned as little as £11,600 having only won 3 of his 10 last 128 matches in this time. In Jak Jones he faces someone almost certain to fall from the tour at the end of the season which tells you what you need to know about his form, so this for Grace is an opportunity he must take to get some money in the bank.
Given the seeding structure of the event, it is rare to see too many surprise results involving top players in the first round but I have picked out a possible one as Stephen Maguire faces young Yuan Sijun. Yuan is a hugely dangerous player as he showed by beating Shaun Murphy in the last 128 of the Shanghai Masters scoring heavily there. Despite making the final in the very first event of this season, Maguire has not been able to take this forward and has lost in the last 128 or last 64 of four out of eight events he has played since then.
Norweigian Kurt Maflin faces Switzerland's Alexander Ursenbacher in a nice heavy hitting European affair. Both players can score very heavily and have had good runs so far this season to show how dangerous they can be. For Maflin it was a run to the quarter-finals in Shanghai, while Ursenbacher impressed at the English Open in the semi-finals. Ursenbacher will now look to build on that while Maflin could be a danger man in the draw with his heavy scoring.
Oliver Lines and Mei Xiwen is also one that can have implications around the 64 mark at the end of the season. Mei is currently up to 67th in that regard after making the last 32 of the Northern Ireland Open and the last 16 in Shanghai in consecutive weeks. A win here would likely move him up a few spots also, while defeat for Lines could still see him dragged into things if other performances do not go his way between now and April.
Quarter 4
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Jackson Page
Alfie Burden Vs Michael Georgiou
Matthew Selt Vs Ian Burns
Michael White Vs Ross Muir
Barry Hawkins Vs Kurt Dunham
Matthew Stevens Vs Hammad Miah
Fergal O'Brien Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Michael Holt Vs Niu Zhuang
Martin Gould Vs Joe Swail
Robbie Williams Vs Martin O'Donnell
Hossein Vafei Vs James Wattana
Anthony McGill Vs Ashley Hugill
Tom Ford Vs Eden Sharav
Xiao Guodong Vs Chen Zifan
Noppon Saengkham Vs Zhang Anda
Ding Junhui Vs Leo Fernandez
An opportunity has been handed to Jackson Page after the withdrawal of Rhys Clark and he will face Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last 128. O'Sullivan seemed less than happy about the new replacement rule when commenting on Twitter, suggesting he should have a walkover and he will need to be fully focused against young Page who could cause him a problem if O'Sullivan takes victory for granted.
A big match awaits between Alfie Burden and Michael Georgiou as both are in a battle for tour survival. Burden is 68th on the provisional end of season list while Georgiou is 73rd and both need a win here. Both have had similar seasons and are pretty evenly matched coming into this one.
Akani Songsermsawad has shown himself as a dangerous player this season and his match with Fergal O'Brien could prove to be an immense battle. Neither could be classed as quick players and match with that the fact I expect this to be a pretty close contest then you could have a match that may even be called back later in the day to finish. O'Brien has not had the best start ever to the season, though he will have good memories of an amazing last 64 performance that saw him make five centuries a year ago.
Robbie Williams and Martin O'Donnell also looks like a very even match and a tough one to call. Both have been in good form of late, O'Donnell making the last 16 of the International Championship before losing 6-5 despite three centuries, while Williams made the quarter-finals of the very same tournament. That of course was the other best-of-11 frame tournament on the calendar too so it offers a good marker of what could be to come for either player that wins this one in York.
York's own Ashley Hugill faces a very tough test against Anthony McGill, but don't be surprised if Hugill is boosted by the large support that he has and take out the Scotsman who could easily have lost in the first round at the UK Championships 12 months ago.
A big match awaits between Alfie Burden and Michael Georgiou as both are in a battle for tour survival. Burden is 68th on the provisional end of season list while Georgiou is 73rd and both need a win here. Both have had similar seasons and are pretty evenly matched coming into this one.
Akani Songsermsawad has shown himself as a dangerous player this season and his match with Fergal O'Brien could prove to be an immense battle. Neither could be classed as quick players and match with that the fact I expect this to be a pretty close contest then you could have a match that may even be called back later in the day to finish. O'Brien has not had the best start ever to the season, though he will have good memories of an amazing last 64 performance that saw him make five centuries a year ago.
Robbie Williams and Martin O'Donnell also looks like a very even match and a tough one to call. Both have been in good form of late, O'Donnell making the last 16 of the International Championship before losing 6-5 despite three centuries, while Williams made the quarter-finals of the very same tournament. That of course was the other best-of-11 frame tournament on the calendar too so it offers a good marker of what could be to come for either player that wins this one in York.
York's own Ashley Hugill faces a very tough test against Anthony McGill, but don't be surprised if Hugill is boosted by the large support that he has and take out the Scotsman who could easily have lost in the first round at the UK Championships 12 months ago.
The all-Chinese match between Xiao Guodong and Chen Zifan should be a very entertaining one as both looked in high scoring form in Belfast. Xiao has been in good form this season so far beating some top players in the best-of-7 frame tournaments, while Chen has been impressive whenever I have seen him. He was one of the best player's on show when I watched him get his tour card at Q School and has impressed since with victory over Barry Hawkins and a classy win against Shaun Murphy last week. This is sure to be one of my matches to watch in the UK Championships.
Be sure to keep an eye on the blog throughout this week, as I will be in York throughout the last 128 stages on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday and will therefore have plenty of live blogs from the matches on the non-streamed tables.
The main two tables will be streamed on Eurosport Player over the course of the three days and there will be plenty of big names to see on there and on the remaining tables at the venue.
Hi, I´m from Finland and hope Hull to continue his form from last week. Like McManus, but fancy Robin to get through. Then hope he finds courage in the later rounds in tight games, not always mentally toughest. Looking forward to the live blogs, thanks in advance! And have a great week of snooker, should be great. Rooting for Bingtao, great story and an easy guy to root for (still happy that Mark won on Sunday, such a legend).
ReplyDeleteThank you. Have followed Yan Bingtao closely ever since he beat Shaun Murphy in the Champion of Champions. Saw then that all this was possible. As for Hull, I'm excited to see how he gets on as well and looking forward to bringing you and all of my followers from Finland updates from his match.
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