Liang Wenbo shines in World Championship Qualifying

Liang Wenbo was the star in the opening round of World Championship qualifying after a dramatic end to his 10-2 victory over Rod Lawler.

Liang was 8-1 up after the opening session of play but the two frames he won in the final session nearly made history. The first to put him 9-1 ahead came through a maximum 147 break which will earn him a £10,000 bonus as long as another is not made in the remainder of the qualifiers. However, he nearly completed another himself just two frames later when he completed the match by missing a black for his second maximum of the match, which would have created snooker history. 

Either way, Liang has outlined his intentions in these qualifiers with a strong start, as the highest ranked player Ryan Day has done. Day was also a 10-2 winner when he took on the World Snooker Federation Seniors champion Igor Figueiredo. 

Fellow Welshman and former World Championship quarter-finalist Michael White did not have things all his own way though. White had to win the final two frames from 9-8 down to come through 10-9 against Niu Zhuang and avoid a surprise first round exit. 

World number 20 Mark King did suffer defeat as he was seen off 10-9 by Gerard Greene. King had trailed 9-6 at one stage but fought back to force the decider, only for the Northern Irishman to hold on and take the deciding frame. 

Former World Champion Graeme Dott completed a simple 10-1 win against Adrian Ridley, while fellow Scot Stephen Maguire ran out a 10-5 winner against Allan Taylor, winning five of the six frames played in the final session of that encounter. 

Michael Holt won six of the last seven frames as he came from 4-0 and 6-4 adrift to complete a 10-7 win against Malaysian Thor Chuan Leong, completing a number of good clearances throughout the contest. Anthony Hamilton did suffer a first round exit to Martin O'Donnell in a match where Hamilton averaged just over 40 seconds per shot. 

There is to be no repeat of last year's two-hour final round deciding frame from Fergal O'Brien either, after he was taken down 10-5 by young Chinese star Yuan Sijun. There was success though for 1997 World Champion Ken Doherty, as he came out on the right side of an all-Irish clash with Josh Boileau by a 10-8 scoreline. 

There were also differing results from two of this season's big ranking movers. Scottish and Gibraltar Open finalist Cao Yupeng let a 5-2 lead slip by losing eight of the last ten frames of his 10-7 loss to Finland's Robin Hull. Meanwhile, Shanghai Masters semi-finalist Jack Lisowski came through comfortably 10-4 against Christopher Keogan. 

In the battle of two former Crucible semi-finalists Ricky Walden saw off Joe Swail 10-8 in a very tight contest, Jimmy White took care of Sam Craigie 10-6 and Joe Perry completed a simple 10-1 win. Also, Yan Bingtao held off a fightback from Jackson Page in a battle of two stars of the future, the Chinese teenager coming through there 10-7. 

First Round Results: 

Ryan Day 10-2 Igor Figueiredo
Mitchell Mann 10-5 Peter Lines
Robbie Williams 10-8 Jak Jones
Peter Ebdon 10-4 James Wattana
Zhou Yuelong 10-1 Ian Preece
Daniel Wells 10-6 Kurt Dunham
Liam Highfield 10-3 Chen Zhe
Tom Ford 10-2 Leo Fernandez
Matthew Selt 10-1 Ng On Yee
Adam Duffy 10-4 Mark Joyce
Mei Xiwen 10-8 Basem Eltahhan
Xiao Guodong 10-3 Chris Totten
Stuart Carrington 10-9 Nigel Bond
Ben Woollaston 10-5 Kacper Filipiak
Zhang Anda 10-6 Zhang Yong
Martin Gould 10-4 Paul Davison
Graeme Dott 10-1 Adrian Ridley
Akani Songsermsawad 10-4 Lukas Kleckers
Dominic Dale 10-7 Reanne Evans
Mike Dunn 10-8 Duane Jones
Michael Holt 10-7 Thor Chuan Leong
Elliot Slessor 10-7 Eden Sharav
Scott Donaldson 10-5 Tyler Rees
Robert Milkins 10-1 Aaron Canavan
Li Hang 10-9 Ashley Hugill
Rory McLeod 10-8 Ian Burns
Lu Haotian 10-8 Fang Xiongman
Martin O'Donnell 10-7 Anthony Hamilton
Matthew Stevens 10-5 Ryan Thomerson
Yuan Sijun 10-5 Fergal O'Brien
Ken Doherty 10-8 Josh Boileau
Gerard Greene 10-9 Mark King
Liang Wenbo 10-2 Rod Lawler
Zhao Xintong 10-8 Aditya Mehta
Yu De Lu 10-8 Sean O'Sullivan
Jamie Jones 10-5 Craig Steadman
Jack Lisowski 10-4 Christopher Keogan
David Grace 10-6 Wang Yuchen
Oliver Lines 10-6 Harvey Chandler
Alan McManus 10-2 Rhys Clark
Robin Hull 10-7 Cao Yupeng
Andrew Higginson 10-4 David John
Lee Walker 10-6 Kristjan Helgason
Ricky Walden 10-8 Joe Swail
Mark Davis 10-1 Sanderson Lam
Michael Georgiou 10-4 Matthew Bolton
Jimmy White 10-6 Sam Craigie
Joe Perry 10-1 Ross Muir
Yan Bingtao 10-7 Jackson Page
Tian Pengfei 10-1 Li Yuan
Kurt Maflin 10-7 Hamza Akbar
Chris Wakelin 10-4 Xu Si
David Gilbert 10-8 Billy Castle
Alfie Burden 10-6 Jamie Barrett
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 10-8 Alexander Ursenbacher
Adam Stefanow 10-8 Gary Wilson
Jimmy Robertson 10-2 Alex Borg
Sam Baird 10-5 Soheil Vahedi
Michael White 10-9 Niu Zhuang
John Astley 10-1 Marvin Lim
Hossein Vafei 10-8 Jamie Cope
Noppon Saengkham 10-1 Chen Zifan
Hammad Miah 10-9 Jordan Brown
Stephen Maguire 10-5 Allan Taylor

Second Round Draw: (Picks in bold) 

Ryan Day Vs Mitchell Mann
Robbie Williams Vs Peter Ebdon 
Zhou Yuelong Vs Daniel Wells
Tom Ford Vs Liam Highfield
Matthew Selt Vs Adam Duffy
Xiao Guodong Vs Mei Xiwen
Ben Woollaston Vs Stuart Carrington
Martin Gould Vs Zhang Anda
Graeme Dott Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Dominic Dale Vs Mike Dunn
Michael Holt Vs Elliot Slessor
Robert Milkins Vs Scott Donaldson
Li Hang Vs Rory McLeod
Lu Haotian Vs Martin O'Donnell
Matthew Stevens Vs Yuan Sijun
Ken Doherty Vs Gerard Greene
Liang Wenbo Vs Zhao Xintong
Yu De Lu Vs Jamie Jones
Jack Lisowski Vs David Grace
Alan McManus Vs Oliver Lines
Andrew Higginson Vs Robin Hull
Ricky Walden Vs Lee Walker
Mark Davis Vs Michael Georgiou
Joe Perry Vs Jimmy White
Yan Bingtao Vs Tian Pengfei
Kurt Maflin Vs Chris Wakelin
David Gilbert Vs Alfie Burden
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Adam Stefanow
Jimmy Robertson Vs Sam Baird
Michael White Vs John Astley
Noppon Saengkham Vs Hossein Vafei
Stephen Maguire Vs Hammad Miah

There are plenty of intriguing second round ties here, with Tom Ford and Liam Highfield's clash certainly falling into that category. I have become a big fan of Highfield in the last few months and he is one player who has the game to qualify for the Crucible. In Ford he has an incredibly tough opponent who is in good form, and if both players are scoring well then this could go down to the wire and Highfield is more than capable of winning this one against the odds. 

Ben Woollaston and Stuart Carrington is a very tough game to call between two former Crucible qualifiers. Carrington was impressive twelve months ago but has had a very quiet season this time around and only just managed to get past Nigel Bond in a first round deciding frame. Ben Woollaston meanwhile started slowly against Kacper Filipiak but he came through pretty comfortably in the end and that bodes well for him coming into this one. Form slightly favours Woollaston in this one. 

2006 World Champion Graeme Dott against Akani Songsermsawad is arguably the match of the entire round. Dott is going to be very hard to beat with all of his World Championship experience, coupled with a return to form this season that saw him make the final of the German Masters in February. Akani though is someone who will not be fazed by his opponent and is always up for the challenge. As always, he will stick to his routine and it has served him well again this season as he continues to climb the rankings, and if anyone is going to deny Dott in these qualifiers, Akani was always the most likely candidate. 

Michael Holt and Elliot Slessor also looks like another very tight match. Both players came through 10-7 in round one, with Holt fighting back from 4-0 behind, while Slessor was always in charge against Eden Sharav. These two met over a much shorter format recently at the Welsh Open when Holt was victorious 4-2, though a trend in that match is something Slessor will need to fight here. Slessor made two centuries in the clash, but each frame that Holt won turned out to be a scrappy and long affair, so Slessor will certainly want to improve in the more tactical frames against Holt if he is to win this time around. 

Li Hang and Rory McLeod both had tight first round matches as they meet here. Li came through in a decider against Ashley Hugill, while in a must win game, Rory McLeod won the final three frames as he defeated Ian Burns 10-8. McLeod is a very tough man to beat over this length, and is not someone you want to underestimate - just ask Judd Trump. Li is by far the heavier scorer, but McLeod could easily grind him down here. 

Yuan Sijun surprised me by being able to beat someone of Fergal O'Brien's experience and class by the scoreline that he did in round one, so that should give him a big boost ahead of this match with Matthew Stevens. The Welshman made harder work of his match with Ryan Thomerson than he would have liked in the final session, and he will need to be fully focused this time around against an opponent that can quickly rattle frames off against you. 

Maximum man Liang Wenbo faces an all-Chinese clash against Zhao Xintong in the second round. This sets up to be one of the more entertaining matches of the second round between two very heavy scoring players who are incredibly good to watch. Liang will be incredibly difficult to overcome if he maintains the scoring form displayed against Rod Lawler. Meanwhile, Zhao Xintong impressed me by coming through a tight one against Aditya Mehta in a match that came with plenty of pressure because of the tour survival battle, coupled with the fact Mehta's style of play will not have suited Zhao. 

Robin Hull was impressive in overcoming one of the lower ranked players of the season in Cao Yupeng. The Finn qualified for the Crucible in both 2014 and 2015 and with a solid victory in his first match since the China Open qualifiers in late January, he could now kick on and qualify for a third time in five years. Andrew Higginson is his second round opponent and someone who had an easy enough win against a weaker opponent in round one so he has not been tested yet. Higginson has not qualified for the Crucible since 2012 and that may play on his mind against someone who seems to perform very well over the longer format. 

Ricky Walden may not be too excited by the prospect of playing Lee Walker. Walden has a bit of history with the slower players after comments he made about McLeod, and according to the Average shot time statistics, Walker is even slower than McLeod - in fact there is not a single player on tour that has played slower than Walker this season on average. Combine that with the fact that Walker has plenty of experience and this is a very tricky match for Walden. He came through in tight fashion against Joe Swail in round one so he will at least be battle hardened here and if he is in good scoring form he should be able to get through here without being ground down too much. 

Joe Perry is the next man to take on Jimmy White, after the Whirlwind took care of Sam Craigie 10-6 in the opening round. Perry meanwhile was a comfortable 10-1 winner against Ross Muir and will be a strong favourite against White here. The first round victory for White will have given his fans plenty of hope that he could qualify for the Crucible once again, but realistically you have to ask how much stamina he will have. With Perry coming through so easily in round one he will have plenty in the tank and his extra quality added to that will surely make the difference in this one. 

Jimmy Robertson and Sam Baird is a very interesting clash. Robertson has all of the form looking at how the two players have performed this season, but when it comes to the head to head, Baird has won their last three meetings - two of which were early on this season. Things have gone downhill from Baird since then and he still needs wins here to try and stay on the tour without going to Q School. As a two time Crucible qualifier, he should have the confidence to do it again, and a comfortable first round win against Soheil Vahedi should give him a boost. Robertson is going to be very tough to overcome though you feel. His scoring power gives him quite a big advantage over a lot of players in the long format and as a multiple Crucible qualifier himself, that certainly shows. If both players are in good form though, this one has the makings of a match that could go the distance, otherwise Robertson may have the slight edge. 

Finally, Noppon Saengkham and Hossein Vafei is another incredibly interesting match to discuss. Both players had very differing routes to the second round. Noppon came through 10-1 against a decent player in Chen Zifan and he piled up some high breaks in that win as well. Hossein meanwhile had a real battle against an ex-tour pro in Jamie Cope, eventually showing his class and coming through 10-8. Hossein was very close to qualifying last year, while Noppon did come through to make his Crucible debut. The Thai should be full of confidence after a run to the semi-finals of the Welsh Open recently, while Hossein has not had lots of match time coming into the qualifiers, so a close match with Cope will have greatly helped to increase his match sharpness, while he will also be fresh. Overall, this is another match that has the makings of being a nail-biter, but on recent form Noppon gets my pick. 

There are plenty more quality encounters in the second round, and far too many to mention in this round-up. These matches will be played over the course of Sunday and Monday, before judgement beckons in the final qualifying round over Tuesday and Wednesday.