Indian Open Preview

Following Thepchaiya Un-Nooh's victory over Michael Holt to win the fun-filled Snooker Shoot-Out on Sunday night, the more serious business on tour resumes this week as the players head out to Kochi for the Indian Open. 

This event was originally set to be played in September, but floods in the area led to a sensible decision which was to postpone the event. It all means that the line-up of players that are travelling to the event has been set since the qualifying round in mid-August, over six months before the actual final stages will now take place. 

A lot has happened in that time, with Jamie Jones (who had his last 128 match against an Indian wildcard held over to the venue) being suspended and now banned until October this year, while Mark Allen and Neil Robertson have both picked up plenty of ranking points and subsequently withdrawn from the event. 

Defending champion John Higgins will be in attendance though and his last 128 match was also heldover to the main venue. The next highest ranked player now in the draw is Shaun Murphy who will also kick off the week with a held over last 128 match against wildcard Lucky Vatnani, while Luca Brecel, Stuart Bingham, Jack Lisowski and David Gilbert are the only other top 16 players in the whole tournament. 

2016 champion and 2017 finalist Anthony McGill failed to qualify for the venue way back in August, but 2015 champion Michael White has qualified and is the only other former finalist from the four previous stagings joining Higgins in the tournament. 

Overall, the bottom half of the draw only features two top 16 players and three players that were originally in the top 16 seeds when the draw took place, so there is a massive opportunity for some lower ranked players to shine this week, with matches being played over the best-of-7 frames right up until a best-of-9 frame final. The winner will take home £50,000, with the runner-up receiving £25,000. 

Quarter 1

Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)

John Higgins or Ashley Hugill Vs Duane Jones
Hossein Vafei Vs Dominic Dale or Asutosh Padhy
Michael White Vs James Cahill
David Gilbert Vs Elliot Slessor
Li Hang Vs Hamza Akbar
Joe Perry Vs Ashley Carty
Peter Ebdon Vs Ben Woollaston or Shrikrishna Suryanarayanan
Liang Wenbo Vs Sam Craigie

John Higgins is the defending champion here in India and after some tough times in recent weeks, the Scot looked brighter on his way to the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open. On the way to that quarter-final he overcame Graeme Dott and Jack Lisowski, in what was a great match, before eventually falling to Joe O'Connor as the youngster closed that match out superbly. With a number of top players missing last year, Higgins made the run look pretty easy at times but this year there are some tough opponents lying in his path. First off he could face a last 64 tie with Duane Jones who made the semi-finals in Berlin and overcame Judd Trump in Cardiff. Welsh Open semi-finalist Hossein Vafei could be his last 32 opponent while David Gilbert his potential last 16 opponent is ahead of him on the money list this season. If he can negotiate that path though he has a fantastic chance of going on and having a really good go at completing a title defence this week, if he shows more of the form that he did in Cardiff and not in the three months prior to that. 

Michael White is the other former champion in the field but apart from a recent run to the semi-finals of the Shoot-Out he is having a woeful season. In fact, prior to Watford he was £5,000 below his first round opponent James Cahill, who is a Q School top-up, on the one-year money list and had just lost 6-1 in China Open qualifying to Thor Chuan Leong. I am not sure if a run in a one-frame event can help you turn a corner but when he won this title in 2015 it came the week after he had won the Shoot-Out in Blackpool so that may be a good omen for his hopes this week. Cahill meanwhile will be looking for a victory to boost his chances of getting a tour card, currently sitting £2,600 behind Joe Swail on the one-year money list, with Swail being the last of the top eight on the list not already qualified for next season. Overall, that shapes up as a great match up. 

Sam Craigie is my dark horse choice in this opening quarter in what could be a week for players coming through to achieve a new best in ranking tournaments. Craigie certainly has the potential, something that has been said about him for a long time now. However, I watched Craigie recently in Cardiff against Mark King and he was exceptional in that match and played well again in the next round before losing a really tight game with Jack Lisowski. Off the back of that he has qualified for the China Open with a 6-2 win over Akani Songsermsawad and he really does look to be in decent form. His first round opponent Liang Wenbo has had a quiet season and it would be no surprise to anyone if Craigie took him out and looking at that particular half of this quarter, there is no reason why he could not go from strength to strength from there and potentially achieve his first ranking quarter-final. 

David Gilbert though is the man to beat for me in this section, making him my first quarter choice. A two-time ranking finalist this year, Gilbert has come close but fallen just short at the vital moments in the World Open and German Masters. He played exceptionally in Berlin and would have been a more than worthy winner had he have closed that out. Currently, Gilbert is eighth on this season's money list and 16th on the race to Crucible so he has a major opportunity to be a seed at the World Championships and will surely do so if he qualifies for the Tour Championship. With that in mind, this week is a great opportunity for Gilbert to get some vital ranking points with only a few other top players in the draw. Higgins is the big threat to him in this section, but given the Scots form this year and the best-of-7 frame format Gilbert would have an excellent chance of defeating him should both players get that far. For me, Gilbert is clearly now a major tournament contender and this week presents another good opportunity for him to win his maiden ranking title. 

Best of the rest: Sam Craigie
Quarter choice: David Gilbert

Quarter 2

Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)

Stuart Bingham Vs Peter Lines
Gary Wilson Vs John Astley
Yan Bingtao Vs Gerard Greene
Liam Highfield Vs Lu Ning
Tom Ford Vs Matthew Selt
Jack Lisowski or Himanshu Dinesh Jain Vs Joe Swail
Fergal O'Brien Vs Oliver Lines
Robin Hull Vs Soheil Vahedi 

This second quarter is packed with players that could use victories in India this week to boost their tour survival hopes. Fergal O'Brien is the first to look at as he sits 64th on the provisional end-of-season list. His current lead to 65th placed Dominic Dale is £8,600 but that could be shortened by £2,000 before O'Brien plays his last 64 clash, if the Welshman wins his last 128 held over tie against Padhy. First round exits in Cardiff and Watford in the last couple of weeks, as well as defeat in the China Open qualifiers, have not helped the Irishman and in Oliver Lines he has a last 64 opponent here whom he lost to at the Welsh Open. Northern Ireland's Joe Swail is way back on the end-of season list but on the one-year list he is currently holding the final spot for those not already qualified for next season to get a new two-year card. However, the likelihood is he will face Jack Lisowski in the last 64 making it a tough task to build a greater safety net. 

Peter Lines and Gerard Greene are both outside of the top 64 on the EOS list and outside of the top 8 not already qualified for next season on the one-year list. Lines is just £1,100 behind Swail though so a first round exit for Swail and a win for Lines would see him move ahead, but the tough task for Lines is a match with in-form Stuart Bingham. Greene meanwhile £1,500 adrift of Swail on the same list so is in a similar situation to Lines this week and he too faces a tough ask against another quality player in Yan Bingtao. Struggles for Finland's Robin Hull this season mean he is way back on the end-of-season list and the one-year list. His deficit on the one-year list to Swail is £13,100 but he could cut that this week as he will go off favourite in his match with Soheil Vahedi in round one with the winner then facing O'Brien or Oli Lines. Hull is still more than capable of putting a good run together and boosting his cause here. 

Jack Lisowski is a player on the other end of the scale though as he looks for another big tournament run and even possibly win his first ranking title. Like Gilbert you feel he is too good not to eventually win a big title and he has been knocking on the door in the last year. As well as reaching the Riga Masters final and International Championship semi-finals he has had various other quarter-finals. Despite a quieter time in recent weeks, the lack of top players in the draw this week must make him feel like he is really one of the favourites for the title. Early exits at the World Grand Prix and German Masters were put to bed a little in Wales as he looked to be scoring for fun, but he was only winning matches narrowly that week. Three 4-3 victories against Niu Zhuang, Marco Fu and Sam Craigie put him into the last 16 where he once again went to a decider against Higgins. Despite two brilliant chances with the reds open it was Higgins that won that one, providing a bit of evidence that perhaps Lisowski is not quite ready to win a big ranking event. Top players and tournament winners should be winning big matches from the chances he had in the final frame against Higgins, but he is certainly getting closer. Looking at those around him in this section, he could easily make another quarter-final this week and then it will be crunch time again. 

Stuart Bingham though is my choice in this second quarter. The 2015 world champion looks in good touch again in the last couple of weeks after a couple of whitewash defeats at the last 16 stage of the German Masters and the World Grand Prix. His scoring in Cardiff was simply sensational, making centuries for fun and even in the final when he made a slow start and was 7-3 down he levelled at 7-7 but Neil Robertson was just too strong for him on that occasion. That run added to what has already been a pretty successful season for Bingham who has won the English Open and made it to the last four of the UK Championship in the first half of the season. With the nature of the field that has turned up this week Bingham is the second favourite for this event behind Higgins and ahead of Murphy, both of whom have struggled for form for large parts of this season. His draw may not be easy facing Peter Lines in round one, with Lines beating Bingham in Northern Ireland this season, and the very capable Gary Wilson a likely last 32 opponent, while Yan Bingtao is also lurking in the top half of that section but if he scores as he did in Cardiff then he will take some serious beating this week. 

Best of the rest: Jack Lisowski
Quarter choice: Stuart Bingham

Quarter 3

Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)

Li Yuan Vs Andy Hicks
Michael Georgiou Vs Eden Sharav
Mei Xiwen Vs Luke Simmonds
Zhou Yuelong or Laxman Rawat Vs Lu Haotian
Michael Holt Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Graeme Dott Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Mark Davis Vs Paul Davison
Yuan Sijun Vs Thor Chuan Leong

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Michael Holt will meet in the last 64 here just a few days after contesting the Snooker Shoot-Out final. Both players played some excellent snooker over the course of that tournament and while the format may be short it should still give them a lot of confidence. Particularly for Thepchaiya who took the title, the confidence he took could now push him towards further ranking titles. When the Shoot-Out was non-ranking, previous winners Barry Hawkins and Michael White went on to win ranking titles soon after winning that title and with the potential that Thepchaiya has there is no reason why he cannot win multiple tournaments. At his best he makes the game look very easy and he has good memories of this tournament having previously reached the semi-finals back in 2015. As for Holt, the run could be the start of getting him back to a golden period in 2016 when he reached the Riga Masters final, overcame Ronnie O'Sullivan three times and reached three further quarter-finals in Chinese events. Looking at the draw, there is no reason why whoever does come out on top in this one could not go all the way, as they should both be feeling good and there is not a single player in this half of the draw that they should fear. 

Mei Xiwen is someone who has a great chance from the cluster of non-top 16 players in the top half of this section. Mei takes on amateur Luke Simmonds in round one in a game he should fancy himself to win. He is a very solid player and I watched him closely against Holt in the first round of the Welsh Open where he made a sublime century break to win the match. The tough test in the mini section would a potential last 32 tie against Zhou Yuelong or Lu Haotian but neither of those two players have set the world alight this season and he should certainly fancy himself against any of his four potential last 16 opponents if he makes it that far. Mei has made the last 16 on four separate occasions in ranking events and if he scores as heavily this week as we know he is capable of, then this has to be an opportunity for him to go a step further and complete a new personal best. 

Given the players making up this quarter, any one of my choices could be seen as an outside the box pick, but my overall choice is Yuan Sijun. The young Chinese player has impressed many people this year with the names he has beaten (including John Higgins, Mark Williams, Mark Allen, Ding Junhui, Kyren Wilson and Stephen Maguire) and the fact he reached quarter-finals in both the China Championship and the World Grand Prix and given the opportunity in this section it will be interesting to see if he is ready to take the next step in his career so early by making a semi-final or even better. There are plenty of players that are more than good enough to beat him in this section with the likes of Mark Davis, Graeme Dott, Un-Nooh and Holt all lurking but he seems to have no fear whatsoever and with the players he has beaten he should not fear anybody but the very best players in the game. Whether he will be able to hold his nerve from the quarter-final stage onwards at such a young age remains to be seen, but Yan Bingtao was younger than Yuan is now when he made it to the final in Northern Ireland and from what we have seen this season, Yuan is just as good. 

Best of the rest: Mei Xiwen
Quarter choice: Yuan Sijun

Quarter 4

Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)

Luca Brecel Vs Ian Burns
Andrew Higginson Vs Digvijay Kadian
Zhang Yong Vs Craig Steadman
Jimmy Robertson Vs Scott Donaldson
Anthony Hamilton Vs Rory McLeod
Zhao Xintong Vs Sam Baird
Stuart Carrington Vs Chris Wakelin
Shaun Murphy or Lucky Vatnani Vs Lee Walker

Anthony Hamilton and Rory McLeod is a big match at this stage of the season in terms of tour survival prospects for both players. Hamilton is 66th on the provisional end-of-season list, £8,700 behind current 64th placed Fergal O'Brien, while McLeod is 67th on the EOS list and a further £4,000 behind. While the jump from last 64 money to last 32 money may only be £2,000, the potential to go further could make it a more lucrative week for whoever does come through. Both players are well placed on the one-season list to regain tour cards if they do drop off tour, though with McLeod in the seventh of the eight spots he is in a much more nervy situation than Hamilton, and you wonder if that will start playing a part in his performances towards the season's end. 

Shaun Murphy has dubbed this his 'worst ever season' after further early exits in the last couple of events. His form was nothing to write home about prior to the Welsh Open, where he would lose 4-2 to James Cahill in the last 64 and follow that with a 6-4 loss to Adam Stefanow in the China Open qualifiers. It is difficult to pin point what exactly is going wrong for Murphy at the moment as nothing seems to quite be happening for him. The run to the final in Glasgow could have been a turning point in the campaign, but it probably came at the wrong time just prior to a long Christmas break. Losing to Indian wildcard Lucky Vatnani in his heldover last 128 match in Kochi though would still be a massive surprise and a huge low for Murphy if that happened. Looking at the draw, at his best he would be a major tournament contender and if he can find some form this week it could turn his whole season around. After the season he has endured though, it would be very difficult to tip him for a big run, as the lower ranked players in this section would have to fancy their chances if they come up against him this week. 

Luca Brecel is well overdue a big run in an event. Even at the Shoot-Out he had a big opportunity and looked to be playing well but lost at the last 16 stage once again, continuing his run of not having made the last eight in a ranking event since November 2017. As such he missed out on the World Grand Prix and lost out in the first round of the Welsh Open in a tough tie against eventual quarter-finalist Kurt Maflin. Brecel looked much brighter at the Masters in January and was playing so freely in the Shoot-Out. If he could take that here to India then he would have a massive chance given the draw that is in front of him. At his fluent and high scoring best he should make at least the quarter-finals this week, but given the poor run he has been having whether he has the confidence to get over those hurdles and make the latter stages remains to be seen. 

Zhao Xintong is my fourth and final quarter choice for this week in India. He has had an excellent season so far, baring in mind he dropped off the tour completely less than 12 months ago and had to go to Q School. Zhao made the semi-finals of the China Championship in September and recently made the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open before losing out to the heavy scoring Bingham. Zhao was in excellent scoring form that week, beating Zhou Yuelong with some of the best scoring of the week, as well as defeating Jimmy Robertson as well, all the while making the game look incredibly easy when he was in amongst the reds. He has so much talent and is quite similar in style to someone like Thepchaiya and I really hope that he does not have to wait as long in his career to make the breakthrough that the Thai did at the Shoot-Out at the weekend. He has a tough opening round draw against Sam Baird but if he can get through that one then the biggest threats are the likes of Murphy and Brecel who have not been at their best this season, which is why this tournament - particularly in the bottom half of the draw - provides a massive chance for someone and Zhao is a great candidate to stand up and be counted. 

Best of the rest: Luca Brecel
Quarter choice: Zhao Xintong
Tournament winner selection: David Gilbert

Bizarrely, this event does not count to next week's Players Championship, despite the fact that it obviously would have counted if it was played in it's original slot in the calendar. The likelihood of it making much difference is slim, though if any of Hossein Vafei, Shaun Murphy, Stuart Carrington, Yan Bingtao, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Yuan Sijun, Mark Davis, Tom Ford or Zhao Xintong win the event they can feel hard done by, as they would have made it into the Players at the expense of Stephen Maguire who is not playing in Kochi. 

 The tournament will be streamed in full on the Eurosport Player with play starting on Wednesday with the last 64 and held over last 128 matches, the last 32 will follow on Friday with both the last 16 and quarter-finals taking place on Saturday while the semi-finals and final are on Sunday.