Ashley Carty, Thor Chuan Leong, Kishan Hirani and Andy Lee earn final Q School cards

Thor Chuan Leong, Kishan Hirani, Ashley Carty and Andy Lee have taken the final four tour cards to be awarded as Q School came to a close.

For Thor, he has secured an immediate return to the professional tour like Sam Craigie, Zhao Xintong, Craig Steadman, Jak Jones, Hammad Miah and Sam Baird before him. Meanwhile, Hirani and Carty will be competing on the circuit for the first time and are the only tour rookies to come through Q School in the last three weeks, while Lee will be back on the tour for the first time since the 2008/2009 season. 

Thor had to beat two other players who had just dropped off the tour on the way to securing his tour card. After a first round walkover, he took care of Malta's Alex Borg 4-1 in the second round with a high break of 80, despite losing the opening frame of the match. Following that was another 4-1 against Keith Keldie with runs of 58, 64 and 65 helping him into round four. There he faced Iceland's Kristjan Helgason and motored to a third successive 4-1 win with three breaks of above 80 on the way, closing the match with breaks of 89 and 81 in the final two frames.

That saw the Malaysian into the final day and a penultimate round fixture with Ireland's Greg Casey. Casey had come from 3-0 down to defeat Jamie Cope in the previous round, but was to show no such heroics here with Thor recording a simple 4-0 whitewash. Then in the final round, he faced Fang Xiongman who had just dropped off the tour at the end of the 2017/2018 season. Thor moved into a 2-0 lead though before Fang managed to get one on the board, but he was only able to score another 21 points in the final two frames, as Thor completed the job - only dropping four frames in the five matches he won during the final event.


Next to secure a tour card was Kishan Hirani who was the first of three rookies to qualify. Hirani had been pressing after making the fourth round in event one and the fifth round of the second event, and was able to get through when it mattered. The Welshman was fortunate as he had a walkover in both his round one and round two matches to put him straight through to the third round. There he faced recently dropped off pro Jamie Barrett in what became a very close match. Hirani took a 2-0 lead in the contest despite chances from Barrett, who then fought back to level the match at 2-2. Hirani then took a crucial fifth frame on the black, before taking the sixth on the colours to secure a 4-2 win.

Following that Hirani recorded back-to-back whitewashes, first facing Brandon Sargeant in round four, and then defeating Michael Judge in the penultimate round with a high break of 79, to secure a final round meeting with former pro Simon Bedford. Hirani lost the opener but then won the next two to open up a 2-1 lead, before a break of 72 from Bedford levelled the contest once more at 2-2. From there, Bedford would not score another point in the contest, as Hirani finished clincially with breaks of 57 and 64 to win 4-2 and secure professional status.


Ashley Carty was the youngest winner of the day at the age of 22, as he secured his professional status for the first time. Carty was in fine form in his first match, playing John Pritchett at the second round stage. Carty compiled breaks of 105, 70, 67 and 83 on the way to a 4-0 whitewash, only conceding 28 points in the process. Next up was a third round match-up with Andy Milliard where Carty surged ahead 3-0, and eventually came through 4-1 despite losing the fourth frame on the black when he was on the verge of victory. 19-year-old Tyler Rees was his opposition for round four and Carty found himself level at 2-2 before comprehensively taking the fifth frame, and closing out the match in style with a break of 94 to secure his place on the final day.

His penultimate round match paired him against recently dropped off pro Wang Yuchen. Despite the fact the Chinese player would have been considered favourite, Carty stormed into a 3-0 lead making a match high break of 65 in the process. Wang made a break of 54 to take the fourth frame but could not hold Carty off any longer as he soon secured a 4-1 win. That set up a final round meeting with India's Himanshu Dinesh Jain who had beaten recently dropped off pro Chen Zhe and ex-pro Dechawat Poomjaeng in the previous two rounds. The first four frames of a lengthy match were shared before Carty made a break of 60 on the way to going 3-2 in front and one away from his tour card. The sixth frame got off to a scrappy start before Carty forced his way in front and went on to close out a 4-2 win.


The final tour card winner of Q School 2018 was Andy Lee. The 37-year-old is back on the tour for the first time since dropping off back in 2009. He had come close in the first two events, losing to Thor Chuan Leong in round four of the first event, and eventual tour card winner Lu Ning in round five of the second event. In the first round of this final event he was in a bit of trouble at 2-1 behind against Joshua Thomond before coming through 4-2. Next up were two whitewashes, first against Dessie Sheehan and then in round three against Patrick Whelan, where Lee recorded two breaks of 62 and a further break of 79. Next up in round four he took on 21-year-old Chinese player Wang ZePeng. Lee recorded a high break of 77 on the way to a 4-2 win, putting him into the final round for the second successive event.

In the penultimate round he produced an excellent turnaround against another former professional Andy Hicks, who moved into an early 2-0 lead. Lee then took the third and made a break of 56 to level the match at 2-2. Hicks then started frame five with a break of 54 to take a 58-0 lead in the frame, only for Lee to produce a 59 clearance and move ahead 3-2 and the Hong Kong player then took the sixth frame on the colours to win 4-2 and move into the final round. In the tour card match Lee took on Kuldesh Johal who had come from 3-1 down and 56-0 down in the fifth frame to defeat James Cahill 4-3. Lee opened up with a break of 93 and then took the second as well to move into an early 2-0 lead, that soon became 3-0 despite Johal making a break of 51 in frame three. Lee missed the chance to get on the tour with a 4-0 win, losing a pink ball battle in the fourth as Johal got his first frame on the board. Johal then piled on the pressure by making a 103 break to close the gap further, but Lee held on and eventually took out a 4-2 victory.


What that means is that after nearly three weeks of competition in Burton: Sam Craigie, Jak Jones, Sam Baird, Hammad Miah, Craig Steadman, Zhao Xintong, Lu Ning, Jordan Brown, Thor Chuan Leong, Andy Lee, Kishan Hirani and Ashley Carty have all earned professional tour cards for the 2018/2019 and 2019/2020 seasons.

For the rest of the competitors, the best 64 on the Q School order of merit (ordered by frames won across the three events) who did not qualify for the tour are invited to play on the Challenge Tour. The first of the ten Challenge Tour events to take place in the 2018/2019 season begins on Saturday in Burton, and a full preview with all the information you need on this new tour will be on my blog tomorrow.

Zhao Xintong, Jordan Brown, Craig Steadman and Lu Ning earn tour places

The conclusion of the second event of Q School 2018 sees returns to the tour for Zhao Xintong, Craig Steadman, Lu Ning and Jordan Brown.

Brown was the first to secure his return to the tour, after eight years away from the professional circuit, defeating Andy Hicks and Jamie Cope on the final day in Burton. This comes after close calls that saw him lose the European Amateur Championship final earlier this year to Harvey Chandler, and in the final round of Q School event one to Jak Jones.

Following the 4-2 loss to Jones in which he was 2-0 ahead, Brown was straight back in action on Sunday morning where he overcame Reanne Evans 4-1 in the first round of this event. Despite breaks of 82 and 84 on the way to taking a 3-0 lead in his second round match with Daniel Womersley, Brown had to hold on and eventually won the match in a deciding frame. Following that he would only concede a further three frames in the final four rounds, overcoming Jack Bradford and Alex Taubman by 4-1 scorelines to reach the final day.

The critical moment in his penultimate round whitewash of Hicks would have to be the second frame in which Brown won a long battle on the black to move 2-0 ahead, before dominating the final two frames. Another ex-pro in Cope stood between him and a tour card but he showed no signs of nerves to surge into a 3-0 lead, featuring a high break of 77 in the opener. Cope got one back but could no more when Brown piled in with a break of 70 in the fifth frame to clinch the match. After his recent near misses he should be over the moon with that result.


Then there was an immediate return to the tour for Zhao Xintong. In many people's opinions Zhao is far too good to have dropped off the tour and he has showed much more potential than the results he has delivered, so another two years on tour may see him improve. After failing in the first event the pressure would have been increased as he faced Clayton Humphries in the first round of event two. Despite breaks of 79 and 96 early in the match from Zhao, Humphries took the match to a deciding frame, but Zhao was able to hold his nerve and progress to round two. A 4-2 victory against Jamie Brown there put him into the third round, where he saw off another recently dropped off tour pro in Jamie Barrett.

In round four he produced a 4-1 win against 17-year-old Dylan Emery, putting him into the final day. His penultimate round match against Austria's Andreas Ploner lasted little more than an hour, as Zhao recorded a 4-0 whitewash that featured breaks of 66 and 80 in the final two frames. In the final round he faced his toughest test of the event playing former professional Dechawat Poomjaeng, who had also made the final round in event one before losing to Sam Craigie. The first two frames were shared but the Chinese youngster soon pulled away with breaks of 50, 51 and 80 in the final three frames to clinch a 4-1 win and a new two year tour card.


Also securing an immediate return to the professional tour was Craig Steadman who overcame two fellow recently dropped off professionals on the way to earning back his tour place. Steadman had a bye into the second round before facing Ben Hancorn, who had performed well in the first Q School event. Steadman had breaks of 60 and 71 in the final two frames of a 4-1 win there. In round three he saw off 21-year-old Liu Jiaming 4-2 to set up a fourth round meeting with former UK Championship semi-finalist David Grace. After making a break of 109 to level the match 1-1, Steadman went on to lose the third frame on the black, before only allowing Grace to score a further seven points in the final three frames, as Steadman came through a 4-2 winner.

That put him into the final day and set up a penultimate round meeting with India's Lucky Vatnani. There were plenty of tight frame between the pair but it was not to be Vatnani's lucky day as Steadman would eventually come through 4-2, putting him into the final round against another recently dropped off pro in Adam Duffy. In event one, Duffy had reached the penultimate round and was now looking to kick on and regain his card but it was not to be on this occasion. Duffy was unable to convert his chances and Steadman ultimately completed a simple 4-0 win.


Finally, China's Lu Ning regained his place on the tour, having dropped off at the end of the 2015/2016 season. Lu had also reached the final day of the first event last week so he was always one to watch in this event and he justified that. He needed a deciding frame to beat Andy Marriott in round one, where he made a break of 76 to clinch the match. Lu would only end up dropping another two frames in the next four matches to clinch his place in the final round. A second round whitewash of James Welch was followed by a 4-1 success in round three against Long Zehuang. To reach the final day, the 24-year-old whitewashed Kuldesh Johal going from strength to strength after winning the opening frame on a re-spotted black.

Starting off the final day, he took out outsider Andy Lee 4-1 aided by breaks of 64, 69 and 90 and booking a final round meeting with recently dropped off pro Mitchell Mann. It was a short turnaround for both players after long fifth round fixtures, and it was Mann that took the first frame after a break of 70. Lu took the next two only for Mann too dominate the fourth frame and level at 2-2. Lu finished with a touch of class though, winning the next two frames with runs of 60 and 55 to clinch a 4-2 victory and a new two year tour card.


That all means there is just one event to go, starting on Sunday morning and concluding with four more tour card winners on Thursday. In recent years there had only been two events and the last four tour cards were awarded via the Order of Merit and it is interesting to note that, if this was the case again this year, Dechawat Poomjaeng, Adam Duffy, David Lilley and Luke Simmonds would have been awarded tour cards. It will now be interesting to see if any of these four can kick on and earn their places in this final event.


There are plenty of other capable players that remain though and I have picked out one from each tour card section to keep an eye on in this third and final event.

Shane Castle is my pick for the top section. He has reached rounds three and four in the first two events but he has looked good and seems to be scoring pretty well so he may be one who could kick on and force his way on to the tour. Of the eight tour cards that have been awarded so far, six have gone to players that only dropped off tour at the end of the 2017/2018 season, and all eight have gone to players that have been on tour at some stage. That goes against someone like Castle getting on tour as a rookie, but it would be nice to see a couple of rookies come through and offer some balance to things. Castle is as talented as any of the potential rookies and looking at the draw, he is one to watch over the next few days.

In section two I am opting for Michael Judge who has fallen short in the first two events. Most recently in event two, Judge stormed through to the fifth round before narrowly missing out against Poomjaeng. To reach the penultimate round he'd comfortably beaten ex-pro Sydney Wilson, and Hu Hao who lost in the final round of event one. Judge also saw off Mitchell Mann in the first event before losing to Kishan Hirani who has looked good over the course of the first two events. The 42-year-old Irishman certainly has the experience and looks to be in good form based on his results over the last couple of weeks, so he has as good a chance as any of earning a tour card.

James Cahill is once more my selection in section three, as I keep faith with the ex-tour pro. Cahill has reached the final day in both of the first two events, before losing in the fifth round to Jordan Brown and Jamie Cope respectively. After dropping off the tour at the end of the 2016/2017 season, Cahill reached the final round in Q School event two last year and if he keeps knocking on the door, eventually he is going to show his true strength and burst through to make his tour return. In my opinion, Cahill is someone who has not yet shown his full potential and has plenty of time on his side if he can regain his tour status soon, as he is as good as many players already on the tour. After his near misses, his time could well come in this third and final event.

In section four I have gone slightly more outside of the form book from the two events to pick out Ashley Carty. After an early exit in event one, Carty came through three rounds in event two before eventually losing to David Lilley 4-2 in the fourth round there. Looking slightly deeper at Carty's matches though, he had breaks of 131 and 91 in that losing cause against Lilley as well as runs of 85 and 80 in his two earlier matches in event two. I outlined the quality that Carty has previously shown in my earlier Q School preview and looking at the draw I think he has a good chance in this event to get close to making it on to the tour.

It's also worth keeping an eye on Kishan Hirani in this third and final event. Hirani reached the fourth round of event one and lost out in the penultimate round of event two to Adam Duffy. This time around he has benefited from a first round bye because of Jordan Brown winning his tour card, while according to World Snooker Live Scores he has also received a second round walkover due to the withdrawal of Nutcharut Wongharuthai, which sees him straight through to round three. Having already shown some good form, giving him this two round head start is a big boost to his chances of getting the job done in the next week.


There's plenty of experience and quality going for tour cards besides the players I have already mentioned. Dechawat Poomjaeng is hoping that it will be third time lucky for him after losing in the final round of both events so far. Adam Duffy is looking to get straight back on tour and has come close too losing in the penultimate round of event one before losing in the final round of event two to Steadman. Andy Hicks lost out in event one 4-3 to eventual tour card winner Sam Craigie in the early rounds, before losing in the fifth round of event two to another eventual tour card winner in Jordan Brown, so it has taken some quality performances to see off Hicks so far.

David Grace was the highest ranked player not to stay on the tour at the end of the 2017/2018 season but has failed to get further than round four in either of the two events thus far. Meanwhile, Mitchell Mann is the second highest ranked player from the end of the 2017/2018 to have not yet earned his professional playing rights for next season. Don't forget David Lilley, who has had a couple of near misses losing in the fifth round of both events, first to Sam Craigie and then to Mann.


With the final event upon us it is very much a case of do or die for the players who as well as tour cards are battling for the right to play on the Challenge Tour if they fail to get on the main tour. The top 64 on the Q School Order of Merit at the end of event three (excluding those players that win tour cards) will be invited to play on the Challenge Tour, and the first of ten events on that tour begins in Burton running from June 2nd to June 3rd.

Sam Craigie, Hammad Miah, Jak Jones and Sam Baird power through Q School

Hammad Miah, Sam Baird, Sam Craigie and Jak Jones are all back on the professional snooker tour after coming through the first event of Q School.

The quartet all dropped off of the circuit at the end of last season and were simply too good over the first six days in Burton-upon-Trent as they secured an immediate return to the circuit, and guaranteed their playing rights for the next two seasons.


Hammad Miah only dropped six frames in the six wins he required to earn his tour card. Former Women's World Champion Reanne Evans was among the players that Miah overcame to clinch his place in the draw for the final day, where the players faced two matches to secure their card.

Miah's first match saw him take on Ben Hancorn, who had already beaten Jackson Page and Joel Walker. Breaks of 101 and a closing 74 helped Miah to a 4-2 victory and a place in the final round. There he met Luke Simmonds who he defeated in absolutely no time at all, winning 4-0 and clinching his tour card with the minimum of stress. Miah was the most convincing of the four tour card winners, and the only one that did not have to come through a deciding frame during the event.

Next up was Sam Baird who found himself in Q School after a dramatic drop down the rankings over the last year. Things started off difficultly for Baird in the opening round when he took on James Silverwood. Both players had century breaks, with Silverwood also contributing with runs of 97 and 71 on the way to a 3-2 lead before Baird came through 4-3. Two whitewashes followed, before a comfortable 4-1 win against Barry Pinches saw the Devon potter into the final day.

His first victory of the day came against another recently dropped off pro Adam Duffy, in which Baird finished with the highest break of the event, as a 133 secured a 4-2 victory that put him into the final round. In this tie, Baird faced China's Hu Hao who had also lost in the final round for his tour card in Q School a year ago, and this time he would suffer the same fate. Baird opened up a 2-0 lead before Hu came back with an 89 in the third, before missing the chance to level 2-2, with Baird going 3-1 up before ultimately securing another 4-2 win.

Sam Craigie showed his class on the final day to secure his immediate return to the circuit, overcoming two ex-professionals in his five matches won in the event. The first of those was a tough tie with Andy Hicks, where Hicks did lead 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2, but breaks of 93, 52 and 71 helped Craigie to ensure he was never more than a frame adrift, before a break of 63 in the decider saw him home. Rounds three and four were comfortable enough for the 24-year-old to book his place in the final day, as he met David Lilley in the penultimate round.

Runs of 56, 63 and 100 helped Craigie come through a tough tie 4-2, setting up a final round cracker with Thai ex-pro Dechawat Poomjaeng. Craigie though dominated the tie, showing his class when it truly mattered and demonstrating that he is far too good to have to come through Q School. He started the match with breaks of 78, 77 and 119 to take full command before the door was slammed shut on Poomjaeng with a 4-0 whitewash victory.

Jak Jones completed the first event, earning the final tour card after some tough battles of the course of the six matches required to regain his professional status. Right from the very first round Jones had a tough draw, taking on another player who had recently been axed at the end of the season in Alex Borg. The Maltese player took a 2-0 lead before Jones fought back, ultimately winning 4-3. Two whitewashes followed to put him into round four where he faced another tough clash with young Shane Castle. On this occasion, Jones took a 2-0 lead before Castle battled back to 2-2. In the end the Welshman was just too strong, conquering Castle 4-2 to make it through to the final day.

Round five served up a match with yet another recently dropped off pro in Thor Chuan Leong. After losing the opener, Jones stormed into a 3-1 lead, only to see Thor battle back to force a deciding frame. When Jones saw his opportunity to clinch the match though he grabbed it with both hands, compiling a break of 86 to get through to the final round. Once more he had a difficult final round match against Jordan Brown, who had already fallen short of getting on tour this year losing the European Amateur Championship final to Harvery Chandler. Brown had beaten ex-pro James Cahill to make it to the final round and took an early 2-0 lead on Jones before the Welshman clawed his way back. Runs of 50 and 58 helped the 24-year-old to fight back and go on to run out a 4-2 victor.


Congratulations to Jones, Craigie, Baird and Miah, but for the remaining hopefuls there are still two events to go and eight tour cards still up for grabs over the next couple of weeks.

Jordan Brown is among those that are straight back in action on Sunday morning, and I have picked out some of the players to watch after keeping an a close eye on events over the first six days.

After a quick look at the draw for event two my selection in the top section is James Cahill. The young man has started brightly in Burton making it through to the penultimate round before losing out to Brown in a match that could have gone either way. There is still a feeling in my mind that Cahill is too good not to be on the tour, and he is certainly knocking on the door, having also made the final round of event two a year ago before just failing to regain his tour place. If he can get off to a good start in this second event then there is no reason why he cannot build his confidence and knock the door down to get back on the tour.

In section two I have bookmarked Kishan Hirani as a possible one to watch. Hirani made it to round four in event one and his victory over former pro Zak Surety in round three there is the one that caught my eye and influenced my selection. He simply steamrolled Surety conceding just 37 points over the four frames to secure a 4-0 victory. Hirani also took out Michael Judge in the second round after Judge had beaten Mitchell Mann a round previously, and if he can pull similarly impressive results out of the bag in this second event then he is certainly a tour card contender.

Section three was a very tough one to select from, but I have eventually picked out Chinese 18-year-old Geng Mingqi. Geng made it to the penultimate round in event one, where he took a 2-0 lead on Dechawat Poomjaeng before the Thai made 50+ contributions in each of the final three frames to turn the match around and come through. He showed a lot of bottle earlier in the event to come back from 3-1 down to overcome Mateusz Baranowski 4-3. Given the talent that China is producing it would not be a surprise at all to see another young prospect earn a place on the tour.

Finally, in section four I'm going for Hu Hao as he looks to make it third time lucky and earn his tour ticket. Hu missed out in the final round of event one against Baird, after beating former pro Lu Ning in the penultimate round. Hu looked like an impressive player when I saw him fall short last year in event two of Q School and if he keeps knocking on the door it will eventually open up for him, because he certainly looks good enough to force through. Given the fact that he came through some tight tussles in the earlier rounds of the first event this week, I am not sure his bottle can be questioned, especially when you see how he finished his match with Lu Ning. Keep an eye on Hu in event two.

Another player who I believe is worth a notable mention is 21-year-old Haydon Pinhey. Pinhey made it into the penultimate round of the first event, beating Kuldesh Johal in round two before coming through a high quality fourth round match with Phil O'Kane. On that occasion Pinhey made a break of 114 early in the match before an 86 clearance in the decider put him into the final day. Round five saw him come up just short losing 4-2 to Luke Simmonds, despite him making the only two 50+ contributions in the match with runs of 67 and 70, with Simmonds winning the closer frames on the day.

Also worth keeping an eye on is India's Laxman Rawat who defeated Chen Zhe and Andrew Pagett in event one before losing to Lu Ning in round four. The four frames Laxman produced from 2-0 down against Pagett saw some sensational scoring that proved too hot to handle. Meanwhile, there are still plenty of pro's that have just dropped off tour who may pounce at the second time of asking, including Zhao Xintong.


Whatever happens six more pressure filled days are surely in store for the players, which should also produce some exciting matches to follow, especially when the actions heats up during the final three rounds.

Q School Preview 2018

A week after the close of the 2017/2018 season, Monday sees the start of a long campaign for players to earn their professional tour cards for the next two seasons as Q School begins. This year, the event is back in Burton-on-Trent and the field of players competing for the twelve tour cards is bigger than better than ever.

There is also a big change this year to how players can earn tour cards. Last year in Preston there were only two events, each offering four tour cards, with another four cards being offered via an order of merit based on the number of frames won during the two events.

This time around we now have three events with four cards on offer in each, and no order of merit. For me this is only a positive change. Not only are there the same number of tour cards on offer but only success will be rewarded. The order of merit system was not necessarily doing that and players know they have to win to have success on tour, so the system for making it on to the circuit should not be any different.

The dates for the three events are as follows:

Event 1 - Monday 14th May - Saturday 19th May
Event 2 - Sunday 20th May - Friday 25th May 
Event 3 - Saturday 26th May - Thursday 31st May 

It will be a gruelling test for players with five or six matches (depending on byes) being needed to get on the tour in any one event, and by the final day of event three, Q School will have been going on for longer than the World Championships at the Crucible.

When looking at the players who are genuine contenders to get a tour card, the first place to start is with the players who dropped off the tour at the end of the 2017/2018 season and are looking to make an immediate return.

These players are as follows:

- David Grace - At world number 71, Grace was the highest ranked player to drop off the tour last season. The former UK Championship semi-finalist was unable to do enough to secure one of the eight tour cards for players on the one-season money list who were not already qualified. Grace is a player that is certainly good enough to come back through Q School but with the competition as tough as it is there are no guarantees and he has a couple of tricky round one draws in the first two events.

- Sam Baird - After a torrid couple of season's, Baird is one of the surprising players to have dropped off the tour. Anyone that has watched Baird knows he is more than good enough and less than two years ago he had just been to the last 16 of the World Championships and reached a highest ranking in July 2016 of 43. A heavy scorer on his day, Baird is one of the players who looks too good to be here but after what looked like a loss of confidence and with frustration building when I saw him at the Welsh Open, he may benefit from some time away from the tour to re-group.

- Zhao Xintong - This talented Chinese 21-year-old has the potential to be as good as players like Yan Bingtao, Zhou Yuelong and Lu Haotian but he has failed to adapt an all-round game and has lost too many matches in a similar way to keep his place on the tour. When you watch him making centuries you wonder how he could possibly fail to get into the top 64, but he has been unable to have runs to quarters and semi's like Yan, Zhou and Lu. His scoring power could be too much for a number of the Q School competitors, though after watching Lu Haotian take a year away and come back much stronger maybe Zhao could benefit from taking a leaf out of his book.

- Hammad Miah - Hammad was a fair way off of staying on the tour by either of the two routes for current tour players, and he simply did not get results consistently enough to stay on the tour. Miah is one of the players that could struggle to get back on at the first time of asking, but he is definitely good enough to be near the top of the Challenge Tour which launches at the start of next season.

- Mitchell Mann - It is slightly surprising to see Mann taking on Q School. It's not even a month since he conceded halfway through his second round qualifier at the World Championships, and I had heard that he was seeking time away from the game. A semi-finalist at the 2017 Paul Hunter Classic and former Crucible qualifier, Mann is more than good enough to get back on the tour if he is fully fit and healthy, but if he does fall short, some time away from such a mentally challenging sport could help him to get healthy again.

- Sam Craigie - It was gutting to see Craigie miss out on a fresh two-year tour card via the one-year list at the end of the World Championship qualifiers. Lu Haotian getting into the top 64 after just one year was the main reason for this as Oli Lines exiting the the top 64 was the reason that Craigie was pushed out. I have a lot of time for Craigie, he is a very good break builder and someone who should be getting one of these 12 tour cards over the next three weeks. At the age of 24 he still has a lot of time on his side and I think if he could get back on tour at the first time of asking he could easily get into the top 64 with the talent he has.

- Jak Jones - Jones was not too close to staying on the tour and his win against Judd Trump in China Open qualifying earlier this season, was not something that was backed up with performances in other events. The Welshman looks good in patches but that is not ever going to be enough to get in the top 64 and if he does get through Q School, he will need to improve drastically to avoid a return trip to Q School in two years.

- Adam Duffy - It's hard to know what to say about Duffy. He was never close to securing his tour safety last season, despite making the final qualifying round at the World Championships. Seeing him beat players like Joyce and Selt over the long format is very impressive but his performances prior to that let him down. Aside from the two wins at World qualifying, he only completed four more victories in the entire of the 2017/2018 season which is not going to make the grade, but at least he should come to Q School with some confidence after playing decent stuff in Sheffield.

- Craig Steadman - Steadman was again not that close to staying on the tour at the end of the season but again the former Crucible qualifier is good enough to come through the Q School. If he does fail to come through the first two events of Q School, his opening round draw against fellow pro Thor Chuan Leong would be a very tough one for both players.

- Fang Xiongman - Fang Xiongman never really got going on tour in his first two seasons. His best results came towards the back end of the season as he reached the last 32 of the Welsh Open and last 16 of the Gibraltar Open in back to back weeks. That should help him his confidence as he comes to Q School.

- Wang Yuchen - Wang much like Fang never really settled on the tour and was unable to put a run of wins together. His failure to get past the last 64 in any event during the 2017/2018 means that he has dropped off the tour by a distance, and does not bode well for his hopes of coming through Q School.

- Thor Chuan Leong - Malaysian Thor Chuan Leong has not had much success over the last two years as he failed to break into the top 100 in the rankings and only won a handful of matches in the 2017/2018 season. Thor is not someone you would necessarily expect to get back on tour based on this form.

- Alex Borg - Borg was another of the tour's strugglers and he has been handed some tough draws in the Q School events. In event 1 he faces fellow tour pro Jak Jones and in event 3 he has a bye to round two where he will face the winner out of Thor Chuan Leong and Craig Steadman, so if he is going to get back on tour he is going to have to do it the hard way right from the start.

- Chen Zhe - Chen Zhe also struggled in the 2017/2018 and was never going to stay on the tour after only winning four matches in the entire campaign. He has managed to get back on tour via Q School before though, so knows what he is up against and that he is capable of making it back on to the circuit.

- Jamie Barrett - Jamie Barrett qualified for the tour via Q School two years ago but was unable to make the impact that he would have wanted over his two years on the tour. The fact that he has been able to get through Q School before means that he can do it again though and that should give him a bit of confidence.

- Christopher Keogan - Keogan was another of the players to get on tour for the first time two years ago but again he did not make the impact he would have liked. He has been to Q School a few times in the past before he got on tour so he will have experienced the pressure that other players may not have done in the past.

- Leo Fernandez - Fernandez got on tour two years ago via the Asian Tour order of merit, but at the same time as this he was suspended from the tour for betting offences. His suspension ended in time for him to return in September and despite defeating Ding Junhui in the UK Championships, he was unable to pick up any further victories and it will be interesting to see how he gets on in Q School.


Some of those that dropped off tour and are not having another go are: Aditya Mehta (citing a neck injury as his reason), Ian Preece, James Wattana (who was on an invitational tour card), Josh Boileau, Kurt Dunham, Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn (who only played one match in the 2017/2018 season), Boonyarit Kaettikun (who did not feature on tour after December) and David John.


There are also plenty of other Ex-Tour professionals who are vying to return to the circuit. Here are a selection of those players:

- James Cahill - Cahill dropped off the tour last year and came very close to an immediate return getting to the final round of Q School before losing to Paul Davison 4-2. He has competed this year on the tour in the Gibraltar Open getting through the amateur stages before defeating Eden Sharav to make it through to the last 64. His best run on the tour was to the last 16 of the 2014 UK Championships which included a win over Ding Junhui, and I think Cahill is more than capable of getting his tour place. On a personal level Cahill is one of my favourites who I would like to see qualify.

- Barry Pinches - Pinches was a long term servant of the tour and is a former PTC winner, and interestingly his son is also competing in Q School this season, so it would be an incredible story if they both qualified for the main tour. Pinches competed in both the European style events (Paul Hunter Classic and Gibraltar Open) this season making the professional stages in both, and beating Matthew Bolton to make the last 64 in Furth, while also competing on the World Seniors tour. The 47-year-old Norfolk potter is very capable of making it through.

- Andrew Pagett - Pagett is having another go at getting on to the tour after a few years away from the circuit. The 36-year-old was last on tour in 2015 and has not competed in Q School in the last few years either. Willing to give it another go though, it would not be too much of a surprise if Pagett won his way back on to the circuit.

- Jamie O'Neill - O'Neill has not been on tour for a few years now, but is showing signs that he could be ready for a return. Competing in the Gibraltar Open earlier this year he came through the amateur qualifiers before defeating Peter Lines to make the last 64, where he very narrowly lost to the in-form Jack Lisowski. I've recently seen on Twitter that O'Neill has won a well publicised Q School warm-up event so he should be full of confidence for his bid to regain professional status.

- Joel Walker - 24-year-old Walker is a player I was a fan of during his time on the professional circuit. He is a former Welsh Open quarter-finalist and showed a lot of talent without quite being able to kick on. Last year at Q School, Walker came close in event two beating Jamie Cope, Jamie Clarke and Fraser Patrick before losing to Joe Swail 4-3 in the penultimate round. Based on that there are plenty of reasons why Walker could make a return to the tour as he certainly has the ability.

- Jamie Cope - Cope dropped off the tour at the end of the 2016/2017 season and has competed well enough over the last year as an amateur. Entering the Paul Hunter Classic he qualified for the pro stages before beating David John and Aditya Mehta to reach the last 32 where he fell to Tom Ford. Meanwhile, at the Gibraltar Open he also made the last 32 after a walkover and a victory against Rory McLeod. That was enough for him to make the EBSA play-offs though he lost in the first of two possible matches required to win back his tour card, with George Pragnall beating him 4-2. A former ranking finalist, Cope has as much ability as anyone in the field but issues with confidence have hampered in recent years along with other issues but it would be great to see him back on the circuit.

- Andy Hicks - Hicks has been away from the professional circuit for a while now but has started trying to get back on over the last few years. He came close in both 2015 and 2016, which saw him play in a number of events during the 2015/2016 and 2016/2017 seasons as a top up player. In that time he came close to beating Barry Hawkins in the UK Championship, as well as making it to the semi-finals of the 2017 Shoot-Out. Competing in this season's Gibraltar Open, he came through amateur qualifying to then beat Robert Milkins and John Astley and make it to the last 32. This helped him make it to the EBSA play-offs though he would lose 4-2 to Jamie Clarke who would then go on to secure his pro tour card for the first time.

- Kristjan Helgason - A former Crucible qualifier, Iceland's Helgason has not been on the tour since 2004 but has re-emerged this year with his exploits in the new WSF Championship. He made a number of big breaks on his way to the semi-finals where he would eventually lose 4-3 from 3-1 ahead against Adam Stefanow. His performance was enough to earn an invite to World Championship qualifying where he took a 3-0 lead on Lee Walker before ultimately losing 10-6. After such a long absence it would be one of the great stories from Q School if Helgason were to regain his card, and his efforts in the WSF Championship show he can still do it.

- Michael Wild - 37-year-old Wild dropped off the tour at the end of last season and was not too close to regaining his place at last year's Q School. His best win of his last stint on the circuit came in the qualifying for the 2015 International Championship where he beat Judd Trump 6-0. This season, Wild competed in the Gibraltar Open and after coming through the amateur qualifiers he scored a 4-1 win over Fergal O'Brien before then defeating Stuart Carrington 4-2 to make the last 32, where his run was ended by Joe Perry. That will give him confidence though as he bids to get onto the pro tour once more.

- Dechawat Poomjaeng - One of the most popular names on the list of ex-pros in the field has been saved until last here with the fantastic character of Dechawat Poomjaeng. The 39-year-old has not been seen since he dropped off the tour at the end of the 2016/2017 season, a campaign in which he had suffered with some health issues that hampered his performance. Hopefully the Thai is back fit and healthy now as he attempts to earn his place back on tour. With a former highest ranking of 37, and having made the last 16 at the Crucible in 2013 where he famously beat Stephen Maguire, as well as the last 16 in the 2015 China Open and 2015 UK Championships, Poomjaeng is more than capable of regaining his tour place.


Besides the dropped off and ex-tour players there are plenty of other contenders for the 12 tour cards that are up for grabs in Burton-upon-Trent. These are a few of my own personal selections of players to look out for:

- Jackson Page - Page burst on to the scene just over a year ago when he was invited to play in the Welsh Open. Victories over Jason Weston and John Astley saw him into the last 32 and everyone has been talking about him ever since. In last year's Q School he came very close to getting on tour via the order of merit (he was only one frame out), after losing in the fourth and fifth rounds of the two events. What it has meant is that he has played in a number of events as a top up player in the 2017/2018 season and that will have given him a lot of good experience, while also receiving a lot of support from the newly crowned World Champion Mark Williams. Page is a name that will be at the top of many people's lists to earn his tour card as, even at the age of 16, he is showing that he is capable.

- George Pragnall - Another of my personal selections to watch out for is Norwich's George Pragnall. Being someone fairly local to me, and after a friend of mine played against him in a billiards league, I've been following Pragnall's progress for some time now. This year, he has already come within a frame of earning a place on the professional tour after losing 4-3 to Jamie Clarke in the final round of the EBSA play-offs. On top of that, he reached the last 16 of the Paul Hunter Classic, coming through the amateur qualifiers, receiving a last 128 walkover and then defeating Barry Pinches and top 32 player David Gilbert. He also made the 2017 EBSA play-offs after qualifying for the 2016 Paul Hunter Classic, and reaching the last 64 of the 2017 Gibraltar Open with a win over Michael Georgiou. Two seasons ago he had wins against then pro Dechawat Poomjaeng as well as a very impressive win over Robert Milkins, which shows what Pragnall is capable of. If he gets into a good run of form in any of the three given events, do not be surprised to see Pragnall's name among the 12 getting on to the professional tour.

- Oliver Brown - Next up among my players to watch is Oliver Brown who has also scored a number of wins against professional players while competing as an amateur. Just this season he reached the last 32 in the Paul Hunter Classic with a whitewash of Oliver Lines and a good win against Liam Highfield. Then in the Gibraltar Open he reached the last 64 with a win over Michael White. That got Brown into the EBSA play-offs where he lost in the final round to Joe O'Connor who will now be on the professional tour for the next two seasons. Brown can also boast past wins against pros in ranking events against Ken Doherty, Mike Dunn, Ryan Day (in the Welsh Open) and his famous whitewash of Ding Junhui in the summer of 2014,  as well as beating Yan Bingtao in an Asian Tour event just after Yan had won the World Cup with Zhou Yuelong in 2015. Brown has shown his capabilities for a long time and is probably a little overdue in making that next step, but this could be his year to get on to the tour. 

- Joshua Cooper - Also on my list of players to keep an eye on is Josh Cooper, who of course is the nephew of former World Champion Shaun Murphy. This will be Cooper's fourth run out in Q School with his best being round four in 2016, while the 21-year-old has also played in a number of amateur qualifiers for European Tour events, previously qualifying for the professional stages of the 2015 Paul Hunter Classic. With a few bits of advice from his uncle in the past, which can only be a good thing when your uncle is a top 8 player, it would be a great story if Cooper made the next step and qualified for the professional tour.

- Ashley Carty - Another big contender in my view is that of Ashley Carty. He fell just short twelve months ago, losing 4-3 in the penultimate round in a fantastic match with James Cahill, while drawing Joe Swail in the second round of the first event last year. It has been three years now since Carty reached the last 32 of two ranking events in quick succession, competing as a top-up player. In the German Masters of 2015 he qualified with wins over Robert Milkins and James Cahill before losing to Martin Gould at the Tempodrome, while at the Welsh Open he scored wins over Michael Holt and Alfie Burden before falling against Marco Fu. This all came after his Q School performance in 2014 where he reached the penultimate round of the first event, before losing in the final round of the second event to Michael Georgiou. Those past performances in ranking events and near misses at Q School in the past are all the evidence you need to make 22-year-old Carty a major contender for a tour card over the next couple of weeks.

- Kacper Filipiak - It has been a long time since Poland's Kacper Filipiak had a brief stay on the professional tour at the tender age of just 15. He has failed to return to the circuit since then but showed good signs in the recent WSF Championships where he narrowly lost out in the semi-finals to eventual champion Luo Honghao. Things have not gone as he would have liked in between times but the fact he has now competed at the business end of a big event to get try and get back on tour is a positive sign for a player who much was expected from when he first qualified for the tour. He also narrowly missed out on the chance of a medal in last summer's World Games, beating Aditya Mehta before losing 3-2 in the quarter-finals to Xu Si, while also beating Jackson Page to qualify for the Paul Hunter Classic a few weeks afterwards. Filipiak is still only 22 years of age so if he were to get back on tour time is still well on his side, and he would have an extra year at the very least to prove his worth.

- Shane Castle - Here's a player who it seems has been around for a little while, despite only being 20 years of age, and it is good to see him back trying to earn professional status after a couple of years away seemingly. After playing in events during 2013/2014 season as a top-up, he gave Mark Selby a real scare at the UK Championships before Selby came through 6-4 and this was all just prior to Castle's 16th birthday. He last played in Q School in 2016, after missing the event in 2015 also, so look out for Castle if he is back committing to the game.

- Hu Hao - Chinese 27-year-old Hu Hao had a close call in Q School last year, losing out in the penultimate round of the second event in a deciding frame to eventual tour card winner Duane Jones. He also just fell short on the order of merit, but it does mean he competed in a few events of the 2017/2018 as a top-up and he did score an impressive 5-0 win against Alan McManus in World Open qualifying. Hu used to be a regular feature on the Asian Tour, reaching the quarter-finals of APTC3 in November 2012 defeating Xiao Guodong along the way, as well as being invited to play in a few Chinese ranking events previously as one of the wildcards. If you're expecting a new Chinese player to make it on to the tour via Q School this year, then Hu could be that player.

- Brandon Sargeant - Sargeant has been a regular in the past as an amateur in the European Tour events, and has qualified in the last two years for the EBSA play-offs which shows that he is in and around some of the best amateurs that compete in those European Tour style events. In Q School 2016 he made round four in both events which saw him play in a number of ranking events during the 2016/2017 as an amateur top-up and that experience will serve him well. The 20-year-old is another of the players who could break from the pack to take one of the twelve tour cards over the next couple of weeks.

- Ryan Thomerson - The final name on my list is Australian Ryan Thomerson. The 23-year-old has entered Q School after competing in the 2018 World Championship qualifiers as an amateur invite. Thomerson took five frames off of Matthew Stevens in the best-of-19 format on that occasion, as well as competing in the recent WSF Championships. I believe Thomerson has been staying with Neil Robertson, and based on Robertson's instagram stories, he has also been getting a fair bit of practice time with the 2010 World Champion. He is not a player we have seen a whole lot of as an amateur in professional events so there is not much else to go on here, but Thomerson may well be one of the players that comes along every year out of the pack to surprise a few and gain professional status.



There are plenty of other players that all have a decent chance of getting on to the tour over the next couple of weeks, and there is going to be lots of pressure on the players that are fortunate enough it through to the final day of any of the three events - waking up in the knowledge that they are just two wins away from being a tour card holder. All the matches during Q School are played over the best-of-7 frames and it is going to be very exciting to see which 12 players make the grade.

2017/2018 Season Review: Part 3

This is the final part of my three part review of the 2017/2018 snooker season. In this edition we will look back on events from the big ITV events in the Grand Prix and Players Championship, the final home nations event of the season, the final Chinese event of the season, as well as reflecting on all of the action from the 17 days at the Crucible.


When we left things in the second part, Mark Williams had lifted the German Masters title, and the players were all set for four days of fun in the one-frame Snooker Shoot-Out. After four days filled with drama, including three blue-ball shoot outs, it was Michael Georgiou that walked away with the trophy, his first ranking title. The Cypriot overcame Thor Chuan Leong, Jak Jones (with an impressive break of 82), former runner-up Luca Brecel (with a break of 73), former champion Nigel Bond, Zhang Yong (with a tournament high break of 109), Martin O'Donnell (who had made it to his first ranking semi-final) before a dramatic victory on the pink in the final against Graeme Dott. The Scotsman had made back-to-back finals for the first time in his career and was also a runner-up in the Shoot-Out for the second time.

The implications for Georgiou were a huge cheque of £32,000 that steered him away from a possible tour survival battle at the end of the season, as well as helping him qualify for the World Grand Prix that followed the following week in Preston.


The successes did not end there for Georgiou as he completed a 4-0 whitewash of Luca Brecel in the first round of the World Grand Prix. Brecel was not the only high seeded player to fall at the first hurdle though in this tournament for the 32 best players on the one-year list. Second seed Mark Williams lost out in round one to Stuart Bingham while third seed Judd Trump lost 4-1 to Michael White, while Masters champion Mark Allen lost from 3-0 ahead against Xiao Guodong.

The run of Georgiou came to an end in the last 16 where he fell 4-3 to Stephen Maguire, despite being 3-0 adrift at one stage. Also in the last 16, Xiao Guodong kept his good run going with a 4-3 win against John Higgins, while top seed Ronnie O'Sullivan clawed through 4-3 against Yan Bingtao and world number one Mark Selby whitewashed Neil Robertson.

Selby was again in good form to beat Michael White 5-2 in the quarter-finals, while Stephen Maguire overcame Shaun Murphy by the same scoreline. Ding Junhui was also showing signs of a return to form as he overcame Anthony McGill 5-3 to set-up a semi-final meeting with Mark Selby. Again though, it was Ronnie O'Sullivan who was stealing the show, as he whitewashed giantkiller Xiao Guodong, making four century breaks in the process.

In the semi-finals though O'Sullivan had to forge a comeback against Stephen Maguire, winning four straight frames from 4-2 down to come through 6-4 and book his place in yet another final, as he targeted his fourth ranking title of the season. In the second semi-final, things were just as tight when Selby faced Ding. There was never more than a frame in the contest, with Ding eventually coming through 6-5 courtesy of an 83 break in the decider, joining earlier breaks of 91, 94 and 104 from the Chinese number one.

The final between Ding and O'Sullivan however, was not as close as the two semi-finals had been. O'Sullivan made three centuries in the first session from 2-2 to take a 6-3 lead going into the evening session. From there, Ding only scored 35 more points in the contest as O'Sullivan won four frames in a row that evening to runaway with a 10-3 victory.


Things kept moving thick and fast though and from Preston, the players headed down to Cardiff for the final home nations outing of the season at the Welsh Open. Much like the three home nations that had gone before it, the tournament produced plenty of surprise results, starting with one of the home favourites and 16th seed Ryan Day losing out to Kurt Dunham. The win was by far and away the best of Dunham's two years on the professional tour. Meanwhile, Shaun Murphy continued his poor record in the home nations series with another first round exit, falling 4-0 to Gerard Greene.

The last 64 saw exits for second seed Mark Selby 4-3 against Liang Wenbo, fourth seed Judd Trump 4-1 against Noppon Saengkham - who would also go on to beat Kyren Wilson on the way to his first full ranking semi-final. Fifth seed Ding Junhui was taken down 4-1 by Liam Highfield, while Luca Brecel, Ali Carter, Anthony McGill and Neil Robertson also lost at this stage, and that was despite Robertson making three centuries in his match.

Masters champion Mark Allen lost out 4-3 in the last 32 stage to Gary Wilson, who would go on to make the semi-finals in Cardiff, while the home favourite Mark Williams fell to Martin Gould, though there was a success for Wales when Matthew Stevens took down the defending champion Stuart Bingham. Stevens lost out in the last 16 to Yan Bingtao who had another fine week in Wales, before losing out to Barry Hawkins in the quarter-finals after Hawkins had already beaten Martin Gould. Liang Wenbo's automatic Crucible qualification hopes were dented when he lost in the last 16 to Yu De Lu but the likes of John Higgins and Ronnie O'Sullivan continued their fine form to make the quarter-finals, where they would meet each other once more.

Higgins only dropped three frames in his four matches to reach the last eight, which included a win over Stephen Maguire in the last 64, while O'Sullivan recorded three successive whitewashes after receiving a first round walkover. On the day though it was John Higgins who produced the goods with two centuries in five consecutive frames as booked his place in the semi-finals with a 5-1 win. In the semi-finals Higgins took on Gary Wilson and was again a comfortable winner 6-2 with high breaks of 99 and a match-clinching 106.

Things were not as straightforward in the other semi for Barry Hawkins. It was the left-hander who stormed into a 5-2 lead against Noppon, only for the Thai to fight back with breaks of 57 and a superb 139 to keep the pressure on the ninth seed. A run of 63 in the last saw Hawkins hold firm and book his place in the final. The final was always a very even affair despite breaks of 138 and 141 from Higgins in the first four frames, with the score at 2-2. Hawkins moved 4-2 ahead, only for Higgins to win the last two and square the opening session 4-4. In the evening, Higgins took the first two to make it four in a row overall and lead 6-4, but back-to-back tons from Hawkins tied the match once more at 6-6. When the four time Welsh winner Higgins won the first two after the interval to lead 8-6 though he was just one from victory, and despite the best efforts of Hawkins it was the Scot that would win 9-7 to record his fifth career Welsh Open triumph.


The next couple of weeks on tour turned into golden weeks for Ryan Day, starting at the Gibraltar Open. With a number of top players skipping the tournament or withdrawing it certainly left an opportunity for some players to have a fantastic week. That did not help Luca Brecel as he lost in the last 128 to Martin O'Donnell, while Welsh Open runner-up Barry Hawkins lost in the last 64 to Sam Craigie. Liang Wenbo missed a chance to help his ranking and get back into the top 16 when he lost out in the last 32. Five amateur qualifiers also made the last 32 including former tour pros Michael Wild, Jamie Cope and Andy Hicks, but all five failed to make it through to Sunday's last 16.

After three wins earlier that weekend, Ryan Day was still going strong with a 4-1 win against Fang Xiongman, while Cao Yupeng was having another good tournament, making the last 16 and then defeating Yu De Lu 4-1. It was also a good weekend for Lee Walker as he defeated Anthony McGill 4-2 in the last 16, and then whitewashing Kyren Wilson to make the semi-finals. As for Scott Donaldson, he made up the semi-final line-up thanks in part to an epic comeback in the last 16 as he won 4-3 from 3-0 down against Alfie Burden, before then beating Zhang Yong 4-2.

After a 4-0 win over Stuart Bingham in the quarter-finals, Cao then overcame the giantkiller Lee Walker 4-2 to book his place in the second ranking event final of the season. It was there that he met Ryan Day after the Welshman scrambled over the line in the semi-finals. He had led Scott Donaldson 3-0 at one stage but for the second time on the day, Donaldson came back to force a decider before Day booked his place in the final. Things were much more simple for Day in the final, as he clinched his second ranking title with a 4-0 whitewash of Cao, who would only score 24 points in his second ranking final. Day would then go on to win the invitational Romanian Masters beating Stuart Bingham in the final the following week.


That set Day up nicely for his last chance saloon for getting into the top 16 for the World Championships when he headed to Llandudno for the Players Championship. With the top 16 on the one-year list involved, Day drew world number 1 Mark Selby and took him down 6-3. Next up for Day was an all-Welsh clash with Mark Williams, after the second seed defeated Yan Bingtao 6-2 in round one. Day had won 12 consecutive matches at this point but there was to be no thirteenth with Williams coming through 6-3 to book his semi-final place. Top seed Ronnie O'Sullivan was on fire once again, defeating Graeme Dott 6-1 in the first round before then defeating Ding Junhui for the second time in just over a month, 6-3 this time. Ding had beaten Mark Allen earlier in the week 6-2.

Shaun Murphy was also in fine form again despite suffering with a back and neck injury. Given this injury his 6-3 first round win against Kyren Wilson was impressive. In the quarter-finals he faced Anthony McGill, after the Scot had whitewashed John Higgins 6-0 in the first round. Things were much tougher this time and Murphy ultimately came through a very tight match 6-5 to book his place with Mark Williams in the semi-finals.

The first semi-final saw O'Sullivan face Judd Trump, after the left-hander had beaten Stephen Maguire 6-4 before thrashing Neil Robertson 6-1. Trump was on top for most of the contest against O'Sullivan, leading 2-0, 4-3 and 5-4 with two centuries along the way, but O'Sullivan won the final two frames to give himself the chance to win a fifth ranking title of the season. When Murphy faced Williams, Murphy stormed into an early lead opening up the match with a break of 133 and also piling in with runs of 117 and 88 to take a 4-1 lead. Williams did have a ton of his own to get back to 5-3 behind before Murphy clinched the victory, getting into his fifth final of the season and his third against O'Sullivan.

In the end, the final turned out to be quite a one sided affair. Murphy won the opener, but ended up 6-2 behind before winning the final frame of the session to end up just 6-3 behind O'Sullivan. That lead became 7-3 though Murphy closed to 7-4 with a match high break of 137. O'Sullivan then finished with breaks of 54, 76 and 85 to close out a superb 10-4 victory, and his fifth ranking title of the season.


Before, two huge tournaments to close out the season there was the small matter of the Winners Group in the Championship League. The seven players involved were former champion Martin Gould, Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby, Zhou Yuelong, Ali Carter and defending champion John Higgins who had just won group seven a day earlier. After the round robin stages, Zhou Yuelong faced Ali Carter in the semi-finals, with Zhou making a high break of 141 on the way to a 3-0 win. Meanwhile, John Higgins overcame Mark Selby in a deciding frame which went down to the final black. The final was a huge opportunity for Zhou to clinch the title and book a place in the 2018 Champion of Champions. Higgins had other ideas though, securing a 3-2 victory with an 81 break in the final frame to successfully defend his title.


Looking to end the season with a pair of title defences was Mark Selby starting at the China Open. With increased prize money and Crucible places on the line it was expected that the top players would be on form and that proved to be the case. Mark Allen needed a win in the last 64 to overtake Ryan Day and he did so comfortably before reaching the last 16 and losing to Mark Williams, though Allen's top 16 place would soon be secure.

There were still early exits for the two Players Championship finalists. Shaun Murphy was thrashed 6-0 by Chris Wakelin in the last 64 while Ronnie O'Sullivan lost for the second time this season to Elliot Slessor, though he did make a 147 break in frame five of the match which was the 14th of his career. One man who did have another good week was Jack Lisowski. After his semi-final in Shanghai he nearly made another in Beijing. He started the week with a 6-1 demolition of Anthony Hamilton, before a 6-2 win over John Higgins in the last 32 (though Higgins would have the last laugh at the Crucible). Another 6-2 win over Gary Wilson in the last 16 booked his place against Kyren Wilson in the quarter-finals. Lisowski surged into a 4-0 lead only for Kyren to come back and level at 4-4 before ultimately winning 6-5.

With that win and a 6-5 defeat of Ding Junhui, Kyren Wilson showed his Crucible credentials in making the China semi-finals, before running Mark Selby close. Selby had led 6-3 and 8-5 before Wilson levelled their semi-final at 8-8, though in true Selby style he was the stronger at the end coming through 10-8 to book his place in the final. Selby had gotten stronger and stronger after a couple of close matches against Wang Yuchen and Scott Donaldson to start his week. Things were much simpler against Ben Woollaston, Lu Haotian and indeed Mark Williams who he overcame 6-2 in the quarter-finals.

Barry Hawkins and Neil Robertson met in the second semi-final. After a simple enough start to the week with a 6-3 win against Sam Baird, followed by a 6-1 defeat of Michael White, Hawkins had been made to battle against Cao Yupeng and Tom Ford. In the last 16 against Cao, Hawkins trailed 5-2 before winning all of the last four frames to turn it around and get through to the last eight. Then against Ford, he led the match 4-1 before losing four in a row to trail 5-4. Ford had chances from there but Hawkins impressively won the decider with a break of 96 to get into the semis. Neil Robertson meanwhile had also been in trouble in the last 32 against Sam Craigie, trailing 4-1 before levelling at 4-4 and then winning the final two frames for a 6-5 win. After that, he only dropped one frame in victories against Zhou Yuelong and Stuart Bingham (who made a maximum of his own in the last 32 against Ricky Walden). However, from a position of 5-5 in the semi-final with Hawkins, Robertson crumbled and Hawkins won five of the next six frames to clinch a 10-6 victory and book a final meeting with Selby.

In the best of 21 frame final, it was always Selby who was in control. The first session of ten frames ended with Selby 8-2 in front and well on the way to victory. Breaks of 83, 112 and a closing statement of 132 soon gave Selby an emphatic 11-3 win, the £225,000 first prize and a successful defence of his China Open.


Then it was on to the season's finale, the World Championship at the Crucible, where again Mark Selby was hoping for a successful title defence. Having won the title in 2014, 2016 and 2017, Selby was again among the favourites to lift the title but this soon came crashing to halt on day one of the Championship. He was handed a tough first round draw against Joe Perry who had been impressive in the qualifiers, and things started badly for Selby as he lost the opening four frames and would eventually lose the session 7-2. Only small hints of a recovery suffered in the final session and Selby was sent packing at the first hurdle 10-4.

Attention then turned to Ronnie O'Sullivan, but the second seed had gotten off to just as shaky a start in a tough opener with Stephen Maguire. Like Perry, Maguire won the opening four frames though he was only able to win the session 6-3 after a slight recovery from the five-time champion. The full rescue operation was completed on the Sunday morning when O'Sullivan won seven of the eight frames played to end up winning quite comfortably in the end at 10-7.

Selby was one of six seeds that lost in the opening round. Marco Fu's return to action was short lived as the impressive young Lu Haotian impressively took him out 10-5 on his Crucible debut. Eighth seed and five time finalist in the 2017/2018 season Shaun Murphy was beaten 10-9 from 8-5 up against Jamie Jones, who also overcame Murphy in the first round in 2012. There was another repeat in the match between Neil Robertson and Robert Milkins, where Milkins used memories of a 2013 first round win against Robertson to win again 10-5. Also falling at the first hurdle was Luca Brecel, who looked completely out of form in the second half of the season. Walden was the benefactor here with a 10-6 win. The superb form of Jack Lisowski continued and many were touting him as a dark horse after he beat 2015 champion Stuart Bingham 10-7.

Judd Trump narrowly avoided being the seventh seed to fall at the first hurdle as he held off the fightback of debutant Chris Wakelin to win 10-9, while Anthony McGill won the final five frames of his match against Ryan Day to record a 10-8 win. Ding Junhui and Kyren Wilson were off to emphatic starts with 10-3 victories, while there were 10-5 wins for Mark Williams and Mark Allen, and 10-7 victories for Barry Hawkins and four-time champion John Higgins.

The shocks did not end in round one though as second seed Ronnie O'Sullivan was the man to suffer a surprise second round exit in a tense affair with Ali Carter. Carter was leading 9-7 going into the final session, and while many fancied an O'Sullivan comeback once again, Carter was the stronger player recording a 13-9 win. Selby's victory Joe Perry fell to Mark Allen. The pair were locked at 8-8 going into the final session but Allen won five in a row in the final session to win comfortably 13-8. There was no luck either for Jamie Jones as Kyren Wilson dispatched him 13-5 to book a third successive Crucible quarter-final. Despite not being at his best at times in the match, Williams was too strong for Milkins winning 13-7 while dark horse Lisowski was humbled by Higgins. Losing the first session 8-0, things did not get any better the next day for Lisowski and the Scot came through 13-1 with a session to spare. Ding Junhui had similar comfort against Anthony McGill, winning the first session 8-0 on the way to an eventual 13-4 triumph.

Lu Haotian was not to roll over as he continued his impressive Crucible debut against Barry Hawkins. Despite falling 4-0 and 8-3 behind, Lu fought back to level the match at 10-10 during the final session, before Hawkins Crucible experience told and he booked a 13-10 victory and a sixth successive Crucible quarter-final. Finally, Judd Trump was impressive as he won the final five frames of his second round match to win 13-9 against Ricky Walden.

Coming into the quarter-finals, there was a sense that any of the eight remaining players could win the title, while it was only the second year since 1996 that there were no qualifiers in the quarter-finals. Ding Junhui was the tournament favourite going into the last eight but that quickly changed after his woeful start against Barry Hawkins. The Chinese number 1 never looked on form and eventually lost 13-5, as Hawkins made it to a fifth Crucible semi-final in six years. Kyren Wilson won the second session of his quarter-final with Mark Allen 7-1 to take an 11-5 lead and get through to his first Crucible semi-final a 13-6 winner, while Mark Williams came through 13-8 against Ali Carter.

The drama from the quarter-finals came between the meeting of seeds four and five Trump and Higgins. Trump was in control at one stage, leading 7-3 before five straight frames helped Higgins ahead at 8-7 before Trump levelled at 8-8 going into the final session. The left-hander would then win three of the first four on the final evening, fist pumping as he took the twentieth on the black to lead 11-9. That spurred Higgins into life as he cleared in the next after the interval with 75 to get it back to 11-10, while a 72 in the next squared the match once more, before a sublime 134 break gave him the lead at 12-11. Higgins had a chance to wrap the match up at 13-11, but Trump held firm to clear and force a decider. With two chances in the decider though, Higgins was simply too strong.

Down to the one table set-up, the men looked like being separated from the boys early in the first semi-final between Higgins and Wilson. Higgins won the opening three before watching Wilson fight back, and Higgins ended up having to win the final frame of the session to take a 5-3 lead, this was a lead he would continue to hold throughout the match, winning crucial final frames in the second and third sessions to maintain leads at 9-7 and 13-11. Higgins never allowed Wilson to level, and after Higgins lost the first of the final session, he added breaks of 136, 100 and a match clinching 98 to get through to a second successive final, beating Wilson 17-13.

It was also a close fight in the second semi-final between Williams and Hawkins. Like Higgins, Hawkins got off to a strong start leading 5-3 after the first session, though Williams won the last of the session to avoid being further behind. Despite levelling at 6-6, Williams had to do the same again in the second session to get out just 9-7 adrift, before he would level again at 10-10 in the third session, only for Hawkins to take a 13-11 lead into the final session. Once again, Williams levelled going into the interval in the final session at 14-14, but Hawkins edged in front again at 15-14 but missed a chance to lead 16-14 and once Williams squared it up at 15-15, Hawkins did not have enough left to take any of his chances in the final two frames, as Williams ran out a 17-15 winner.


The final between Higgins and Williams meant that the winner would become the oldest since Ray Reardon in the 1970's, with Higgins targeting his fifth title and redemption from last year's final defeat to Selby, and Williams eyeing a third world title in his first final for 15 years.

It was the Welshman that started the stronger though, winning all of the first four frames in the opening session. Higgins did manage to recover and make the first century of the final on the way to making sure he only lost the session 5-3. Williams went further ahead at 6-3 in session two, but a further two centuries helped Higgins on his way to level at 7-7 with three frames of the opening day remaining. From there, Williams made his first ton of the final to lead at 8-7 and then took advantage of Higgins errors in the final two frames to end the day 10-7 in front.

Once again Higgins made a woeful start on the second afternoon, and Williams surged clear winning the first four of the day again to lead 14-7 and make it seven frames in a row overall. At this point there was a very real possibility that Williams could win with a session to spare, but that idea was erased from players minds fought back to 14-10 behind with a big clearance in the twenty-third frame, though again Williams crucially won the final frame of the session to lead 15-10 going into the final evening of the championship.

There was a sense that the final was still far from over after Higgins had twice clawed back into it to give himself half a chance. Those chances were increased when opened the session with a sublime break of 131, and then cleared from behind in the next two to make it 15-13. Another big clearance after the interval soon had the match all-square again at 15-15 and Williams must have been shell-shocked at this point. If he was, his game did not show it when he won steered ahead again at 16-15 before making an excellent century to go one away from the win at 17-15. He was one ball away from the win when a missed pink on 63 in the next opened the door back up for Higgins, and like the true champion he is, Higgins would punish him with a 65 clearance to stay alive. Once more, Williams appeared unfazed by it as he belted a red into the middle to start a break of 69 that was simply one of the best you will ever see under the pressure, and it proved enough to give him a hard-earned a thoroughly deserving third world title. For Higgins, it must be an agony that is beyond words in sport, to come so close but yet so far in successive years to a fifth world title. One thing he has proved is that, with his 43rd birthday on the horizon, he is far from done and the class of '92 with Williams, Higgins and O'Sullivan are still the three toughest players in the game with all three now back in the world's top four in the rankings.


That has all brought the curtain down on a superb 2017/2018 snooker season and one that has been enjoyable from start to finish. Personally, I take a lot of good memories from this campaign as a blogger, and a fan more importantly, and I would like to thank everyone who has read this blog over the last 12 months, and to all of you who have gotten in touch via Twitter. Your contributions and comments are much appreciated. Here's to an even better season in 2018/2019.

2017/2018 Season Review: Part 2

It's time for the second part of the review of the 2017/2018 snooker season and in this edition we look at when the season really started to heat up with big money events in China, the first two Triple Crown events, two more home nations events as well as the Champion of Champions which continues to grow in popularity.


When we left things after part 1, the players were about to head off to Daqing for the International Championship. This was one of the first weeks when the world number one looking like he was in any kind of form. Before we get to Mark Selby though, this was also a huge breakthrough week for Yan Bingtao. It started for the young Chinese sensation when he dismantled recent English Open winner Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 and he certainly kicked on from there. Next up he took care of Ricky Walden 6-4 and then saw off in-form Jack Lisowski by the same scoreline to make it into the quarter-finals. There he faced former champion and second seed John Higgins and after the way he overcame O'Sullivan earlier in the week, he saw off the Scotsman just as impressively with a 6-2 win. In his first ranking semi-final, things did not go as he would have hoped and he eventually fell 9-2 to Mark Allen.

There was also a first for Kyren Wilson as he made a 147 in his 6-5 defeat to Martin Gould in the last 32. It was Wilson's first in professional competition, though Gould ran out victorious on the way to the semi-finals where he lost out to Selby. The defending champion got off to a decent start in Daqing beating in-form Cao Yupeng 6-4 and following that with victory over Tom Ford by the same score. Next for Selby was a big last 16 tie with Mark Williams where he picked up another 6-4 win. There was much more comfort for him in the quarter-finals as he ended a good week for Robbie Williams (who had beaten Joe Perry and Neil Robertson) taking him down 6-2, before 9-3 win over Gould that saw him breeze into the final.

In the final, Selby stormed ahead once more winning the opening session 6-3 and extending that lead to 8-3 at the start of the final session. Allen did not give up though and got the score back to 8-5 before Selby got to within one of the winning line. A further spell of consecutive frames for Allen (who had come through three deciding frames on the way to the final) got him back to 9-7 behind but he was unable to put any more pressure on, as Selby eventually crossed the winning line. An excellent title defence and more dominance in the longer format from Selby, as he would display again in China later on in the campaign.


From China, the next stop on tour was Coventry for 16 tournament winners of the past 12 months to compete for the coveted Champion of Champions crown. Anthony Hamilton was the star of the opening day. The 2017 German Masters champion had been suffering with injury issues and was short on results in the early part of the season, but his run in Coventry would have been a huge boost for him. He was good enough to beat Ding Junhui 4-2 in the opening match of the tournament, while Ryan Day saw off Barry Hawkins by the same scoreline to set up their evening quarter-final meeting. Day was still heavily fancied for that one and took a 4-2 lead in the match before collapsing and losing each of the final four frames to Hamilton who booked his spot in the last four.

Joining him there was Ronnie O'Sullivan who made very light work of his 'group' on Thursday. Starting with a 4-1 win against Neil Robertson he then faced another meeting with John Higgins after he came through an all-Scottish clash with Anthony McGill a 4-0 winner. Many expected another epic battle between O'Sullivan and Higgins but it turned into a very one sided affair, O'Sullivan was ruthless in taking out the defending champion 6-0. He continued this ruthless play against Hamilton to record a 6-2 win and book his place in yet another Champion of Champions final, while also chalking up his 900th century in the process. A phenomenal achievement from the four time World Champion, and there were plenty more centuries to come as the rest of the season progressed.

The week though belonged to Shaun Murphy. Having qualified every year for this event, he remained without a win as returned to the Ricoh Arena for the 2017 edition. That Champion of Champions duck was broken when he saw off Northern Ireland Open winner Mark King in the opening round. The same evening, he doubled his wins tally by overcoming Michael White and avenging his Paul Hunter Classic defeat from August, coming through 6-4. Meanwhile, Murphy's semi-final was another repeat, this time of his China Championship final loss from August. Luca Brecel overcame Judd Trump and Mark Selby to make the semi's and was in superb form as he took a 3-1 lead in the contest. Brecel would soon find himself 4-2 up but it was at this stage that Murphy forged his fightback. Four consecutive frames put the Magician into the final with a superb 6-4 win.

When the final came around, not many people were giving Murphy much chance against O'Sullivan but he quickly set about proving them all wrong. Despite falling 2-0 down, Murphy then went 4-2 ahead and one a couple of crucial black ball frames in the session to take a 5-4 end of session. Then in the evening, the first three frames all went to Murphy as he extended his lead to 8-4 and then at 9-5 it looked like being a bit of an early night. O'Sullivan had other ideas though as he clawed it back to 9-8 and then had a chance to force a final frame decider. A crucial miss on the green into the middle pocket cost O'Sullivan though and Murphy held his nerve to take the title, in what proved to be the first of three O'Sullivan Vs Murphy finals in the 2017/2018 season.


O'Sullivan did not spend long licking his wounds though as he set off to the Shanghai Masters, and set about running through the field. Once he arrived in Shanghai, O'Sullivan was quickly in full flow starting with a 5-2 win over Gary Wilson that also featured the tournament high break of 144. Later that day, he took out Joe Perry 5-1 to book his spot in the last 16. Another routine win followed, whitewashing Barry Hawkins 5-0 and then defeating Mark Williams 5-1 to reach another semi-final and another meeting with John Higgins. With memories of the previous week's whitewash very fresh in the memory, Higgins will have been delighted to win the opening frame, though things quickly went downhill and O'Sullivan secured a 6-2 win.

Another of Ronnie's great rivals awaited in the final in Judd Trump in what promised to be a mouth-watering match-up. Those hopes were short lived though when O'Sullivan ran out in to the distance, taking each of the first seven frames before Trump managed to rescue things slightly and end the session just 7-2 behind. Ultimately, O'Sullivan took no more than four frames of the evening to secure the title and a 10-3 drubbing of Trump, dropping just nine frames on the way to his 30th ranking title. Meanwhile, it was another good week in Shanghai for Trump despite losing in his third final at this event. It was also a good week for Trump's close friend Jack Lisowski. The pair met in the semi-finals in what was Lisowski's first ranking event semi-final and a high point of a very good season for the young man as he rose into the top 32.


The air miles continued to clock up for the players as just two days after the conclusion in Shanghai, the Northern Ireland Open began in Belfast. All eyes were on Ronnie O'Sullivan given his form, and the fact that he was the man on the hunt for the £1 million bonus for winning all four home nations events, after his victory at the English Open. Those hopes were ended by Elliot Slessor at the last 32 stage when O'Sullivan lost out 4-1, running out of steam after his exploits over the weeks previous.

Judd Trump also ran out of steam and patience in his last 128 loss to Stuart Carrington. He conceded the match at 3-2 behind when it was still mathematically possible to win the game. Shaun Murphy, Barry Hawkins and Kyren Wilson were also among the top seeds to lose in round one, while Ali Carter, Stephen Maguire, Liang Wenbo and home favourite Mark Allen were among the last 64 losers. Defending champion Mark King fell to Yan Bingtao (who had also taken down the defending English Open champion) in the last 32, along with John Higgins, Neil Robertson and Anthony McGill meaning all of the top 14 seeds for the event had exited prior to the last 16.

One of the higher seeds left was Ryan Day, but he became the latest victim for Yan Bingtao losing 4-3 there, but the highest remaining seed Mark Williams held strong to beat David Gilbert 4-2, Mike Dunn 5-1 and Elliot Slessor 6-2 in Slessor's maiden ranking event semi-final in order to clinch his spot in the final. Yan Bingtao would end up being Mark's final opponent after further victories 5-4 over Robert Milkins and 6-2 against Lu Haotian. Lu had also had an impressive week to make it into his very first ranking event semi-final, the highlight of a fantastic season on his return to the tour.

Yan though was in his first final, the youngest player ever to reach a ranking event final, and aiming to take Ronnie O'Sullivan's record as the youngest ever ranking winner. Williams meanwhile was aiming for his first ranking title in over 6 and a half years, while his wife was ill in hospital. Yan made the faster start winning the opening session 5-3 and then extending that lead to 6-3 by starting the evening with a sublime 137 break. Williams was never going to give in though, and took three straight frames to level the match at 6-6 before Yan took the lead again at 7-6. Williams levelled once more at 7-7 only for Yan to go one from victory at 8-7. Chances came and went for the youngster in the final two frames and ultimately it was the Welshman who took a victory that meant the world to him and his family.


The early exits of some of the top seeds in Belfast did give them slightly longer to prepare for the first Triple Crown event, as it was soon time for the UK Championships in York. Straight off the bat though there were two upsets as Ding Junhui lost 6-5 to Leo Fernandez and Jimmy White overcame Ali Carter in the last 128, before the BBC cameras had even arrived. The surprise exits continued into round two as defending champion Mark Selby was taken out 6-3 by Scott Donaldson, who had not won a match this season prior to arriving in York.

Shaun Murphy survived a big second round scare though to overcome Liam Highfield 6-5 and from there he went from strength to strength just as he had done in Coventry. A good performance followed to beat Jimmy Robertson 6-3 in the last 32 before 6-1 thrashings against Ricky Walden (who has beaten Kyren Wilson a round earlier) and Mark King (who has beaten Luca Brecel and John Higgins) put him into the semi-finals. Joining him there was Ryan Day who in the process had booked his place in January's Masters, at the expense of players like Neil Robertson. Deciding frame wins against Mark Williams in the last 32, Li Hang in the last 16 and Mark Joyce (who had sent Neil Robertson home at the last 32 stage) put him in the semi-finals. Murphy though was in fine scoring form in the last four and came through quite comfortably to book his place in a fourth final of the season.

Once again the man he would face in that final would be the other in-form man of the first half of the season, Ronnie O'Sullivan. The Rocket had a fairly easy route to the last 16, but was very nearly defeated at that stage by Akani Songsermsawad. Akani led 2-0 and 4-2 before being pegged back to all square at 4-4. A century put the Thai back in front though but for a freak foul when he was clearing in the tenth, he surely would have gone on to send O'Sullivan home. The bookies favourite went on to win 6-5 and then saw off Martin Gould and Stephen Maguire to get through to the big finale.

It was always pretty close in the first half of the match, with Murphy opening up with a century and then recovering from 4-2 down to end the first session 4-4 after stealing the final frame on the black. A run of 80 from Murphy followed a 75 from O'Sullivan to have the match level again at 5-5, but from there O'Sullivan showed why he had won this title five times previously. Breaks of 104, 76, 103, 86 and 59 gave O'Sullivan the next five frames in succession as he moved through the gears, defeating Murphy 10-5 on the day.


There was no time for rest or reflection after the season's first Triple Crown event though, as the third home nations event - the Scottish Open in Glasgow - began the very next day. This week will always be remembered, as much for the winner, as it will for what might have been for Cao Yupeng.

Cao had started the season incredibly low in the rankings but was soon on the move when he qualified for all of the early season events, making the last 16 at the World Open and the semi-finals of the European Masters, and for me he is one of the underrated players of the season for what he achieved. In Glasgow, Cao could not have made a more perfect start than the one he did. In the last 128 he whitewashed Andrew Higginson as well as making a maximum 147 break in the third frame of the match.

That set out an early marker, though it was not plain sailing in the next round as he saw off Allan Taylor in a deciding frame, before doing the same against Daniel Wells in the last 32. By the last 16 stage, only five top 16 players were left in the tournament and an opportunity looked like it could present itself for one of the players. With a 4-0 win over Tom Ford, Cao made sure he was still in the hunt on quarter-finals day. Again he had to come through a tight match, having led Ricky Walden 3-0 he was pegged back to just 4-3 up before getting over the line 5-3. The semi-finals was when he produced his biggest shock result of the week, defeating the second seed Judd Trump. Cao led 3-1 early on in the match, before Trump pegged him back to 3-3 only for Cao to move in front again 5-3 and ultimately come through 6-4 to set up a final meeting with Neil Robertson.

Robertson had not made it to a semi-final of a full ranking event for over 14 months prior to events in Glasgow, where he overcame Rod Lawler, Liam Highfield, Chris Totten and David Grace to book a place in the quarter-finals. There he faced Xiao Guodong, who had already beaten defending champion Marco Fu, and Xiao gave Robertson a very tough test before Robertson ran out a 5-4 winner. In the semi-finals Robertson faced the home favourite John Higgins who was looking to go one better than 2016 when he was defeated in the final by Fu. However, two centuries in the opening four frames from the Australian helped him move into a very strong 4-0 lead over Higgins. Never one to give up, the four time World Champion then won the next three to close the gap to just one at 4-3, but a break of 70 in the next gave Robertson further breathing space before he crossed the line 6-3.

Many expected Robertson to be the runaway winner against Cao, who was in his first ranking final, but things never looked like being simple in the opening session which Cao won 5-3. That lead was extended to 6-3 and then 8-4 with Cao one frame away from victory before the eventual collapse came. Robertson took the next two pretty comfortably, but Cao then had chances and missed match ball black to win 9-7, a miss from which he never looked like recovering as Robertson went on to win the decider with ease, clinching a very emotional 9-8 win.


It was still a week too late for Robertson to book his place in January's Masters at the Ally Pally though, where many expected the in-form Ronnie O'Sullivan to surge to the title once more after taking the title in 2016 and 2017. This looked even more likely after O'Sullivan whitewashed Fu 6-0, with Fu soon after declaring that he would not play again until the World Championships to recover from eye surgery for a problem that had hampered the first half of his season. There was also a big first round exit for second seed Mark Selby as he relinquished a 5-3 lead to lose 6-5 to Mark Williams. Both Williams and O'Sullivan would fall in the quarter-finals by a 6-1 scoreline to the two eventual finalists.

For Williams, it was Kyren Wilson that took care of business after beating former runner-up Barry Hawkins in round one, while Williams failed to recreate his good form from the previous. O'Sullivan meanwhile blamed 'low magnesium levels' for his poor performance and subsequent exit to Northern Ireland's Mark Allen who was in fine form and suddenly emerged as one of the big favourites having already beaten Luca Brecel in round one.

In the other quarter-finals, John Higgins was also a 6-1 winner against Ryan Day. Day had come from 3-0 adrift to beat Ding Junhui 6-4 but there was to be no comeback as he lost to a dominant Higgins, who had beaten fellow Scotsman Anthony McGill 6-4 in round one. Judd Trump completed the line-up for the semi-finals after a 6-4 victory in a great quarter-final with Shaun Murphy. Murphy had beaten Ali Carter 6-4 in round one and he recovered from 4-2 behind to level at 4-4 with Trump who had overcome Liang Wenbo 6-4 in the first round. The finish from Trump in this match though was sublime with back-to-back centuries booking his semi-final place.

There he would take on Wilson and again he marched out into a big early lead, moving 5-2 in front before things began to unravel. A few ambitious shots would come back to haunt Trump in the closing frames as Wilson made breaks of 57, 111 and a deciding frame 72 to stun Trump and book his place in a third final of the season with this 6-5 victory. In the other semi-final it was Allen who saw off Higgins despite two centuries from the Scotsman, as Allen secured a 6-3 win.

That meant that we would have a new name on the Masters trophy, and a first time winner of any of the three Triple Crown events. Allen had previously been to the 2011 UK final, but Wilson was in his very first Triple Crown final. It always shaped up as a tight match and that became the case as the match was level at 4-4 after the opening session of play. Allen did start to build a lead in the evening though as he moved 8-5 ahead, only for Wilson to show impressive fight again and drag it back to 8-7. Allen showed fantastic bottle at the end though with breaks of 69 and 71 getting him over the line 10-7.


His first full tournament as reigning Masters champion came in Berlin at the German Masters, where attentions turned back to the class of '92. Before attention turned to Mark Williams though, there were a few surprise first round exits to contend with. Second seed Mark Selby was beaten for the second time this season by Xiao Guodong, while defending champion Anthony Hamilton continued to look out of form in his 5-1 exit against Jimmy Robertson. Masters champion Allen also suffered a last 32 exit at the Tempodrome, criticising the venue set-up after his 5-4 loss to Matthew Selt.

This was also a week of resurgence for a former World Champion in Graeme Dott. He came from behind to take down Barry Hawkins in round one, before holding on to beat Mei Xiwen 5-4 in the last 16. Then in the quarter-finals he found himself 4-0 down and in all sorts of trouble against Xiao Guodong, but the fight and determination that Dott possesses came through and he fought all the way back to defeat Xiao 5-4. His semi-final opponent was the in-form Shaun Murphy who was eyeing a fifth final of the season when he took on Dott after a late night win against Ryan Day in the quarter-finals. Murphy had to keep pegging Dott back but would eventually lead for the first time at 4-3. Dott's response was to produce two sublime clearances to come back and lead 5-4 before finishing with an equally brilliant break of 121 to book his place in his first ranking final in nearly eight years.

Ultimately it was Williams that ended Dott's brilliant run. In the first three rounds in Berlin, Williams overcame Fergal O'Brien and Matthew Selt before ending Jimmy Robertson's career best run in a ranking event at the quarter-final stage. Then over the weekend he was in sensational form. First was the 6-1 thrashing of Judd Trump, who had now lost in the semi-finals for the third big tournament in a row. Things were just as simple for Williams in the final as he won the first session 7-1 against Dott, finishing off the session with a break of 110. Then in the evening the Welshman soon took care of the two frames required for victory, winning 9-1 and clinching a 20th ranking title. Dott though should be very proud of his efforts in Berlin but Williams was very clearly showing the signs of what would follow at the season's end.


That's it for part 2 of the 2017/2018 snooker season review. Coming up in the final part will be reflections on the World Grand Prix, Welsh Open, Gibraltar Open, Players Championship and the two biggest money events of the season at the China Open and of course the World Championships from the Crucible.