Luca Brecel is into his first ranking event quarter-final for 16 months after he defeated Hossein Vafei 6-0 in the last 16 of the China Open.
Brecel's previous ranking event quarter-final came way back in the Shanghai Masters of November 2017 but any signs of nerves about getting back to that stage again did not surface on this occasion as he thrashed Hossein in another dominant display.
Also dominating proceedings today was Neil Robertson as the Australian kept up his fine form with a 6-0 whitewash of China's Lu Ning on a day when all four remaining Chinese players exited the competition.
Lu was not without his chances in the match but he missed too many key balls to leave Robertson in and given how he has been playing of late, the Australian needed no encouragement to take full advantage. A high break of 100 in the second frame was the highlight on the day for the tournament favourite.
Robertson will now play Sam Craigie who continued his fine week with a 6-2 defeat of Liang Wenbo. Craigie had already beaten Ryan Day 6-1 and Ali Carter 6-4, but by adding victory over Liang he is through to his first ever ranking event quarter-final and has secured by far his biggest career pay day, having guaranteed himself £27,000. On the day, Craigie delivered high breaks of 116 and 107 as his excellent week continued.
The excellent week continued also for Stuart Bingham who is through to yet another ranking event quarter-final after thrashing Rod Lawler 6-1. Lawler had beaten Kyren Wilson 6-4 in the previous round but never threatened to produce another upset against a player at the top of his game. The highlight for Bingham was back to back tons of 100 and 103 either side of the interval as he took the game away from Lawler at 4-1. Those centuries took his tally for the week to six and after his maximum break against Peter Ebdon he continues to hold the week's high break prize.
The fourth and final remaining top 16 player in Jack Lisowski fought back from 4-2 down to secure his place in the last eight and a match-up with Bingham as he defeated Li Hang 6-4. Li made a high break of 111 in frame four as he moved ahead early on but missed opportunities later on in the match as Lisowski clawed his way back into the match. Even tip trouble at the end of frame eight, which Lisowski won on the final black, was not enough to put him off and he would go on to win the match on the black in frame ten after Li missed it from distance.
Ben Woollaston also came from 4-2 down to deliver a 6-4 win against Lu Haotian. Woollaston had actually taken an early 2-0 advantage in the match before Lu won four frames on the bounce, but the crucial frame seemed to be frame seven as Lu missed the opportunity to clear and extend his lead to three, with Woollaston ultimately winning the frame on the black to get back in it at 3-4. In the end Woollaston would close out victory in style with a break of 119 and has now ensured his biggest pay day since reaching the 2015 Welsh Open final.
Another player securing a comeback and a career big pay day was Scott Donaldson as he came back from 3-1 down to defeat Ricky Walden in a deciding frame. Despite falling behind early on in the match, Donaldson was soon dominating proceedings as he made three centuries in four frames. Starting off with a 105 break in the third after losing the opening two frames, Donaldson then came out from the interval with breaks of 132 and 134 to level at 3-3. Walden would hit the front again before a run of 52 helped Donaldson back level at 4-4 and a run of 53 in the final frame saw him recover a 44 point deficit, eventually winning on the blue to secure a 6-5 win.
Last 16 results:
Neil Robertson 6-0 Lu Ning
Sam Craigie 6-2 Liang Wenbo
Alan McManus 6-3 Anthony McGill
Luca Brecel 6-0 Hossein Vafei
Jack Lisowski 6-4 Li Hang
Stuart Bingham 6-1 Rod Lawler
Ben Woollaston 6-4 Lu Haotian
Scott Donaldson 6-5 Ricky Walden
Quarter-final draw: (Picks in bold)
Neil Robertson Vs Sam Craigie
Luca Brecel Vs Alan McManus
Stuart Bingham Vs Jack Lisowski
Ben Woollaston Vs Scott Donaldson
Neil Robertson taking on Sam Craigie is one of the highlights of the four quarter-final matches. Robertson is in incredible form at the moment, as he eyes up two more victories in order to make a fourth ranking final in his last four ranking events and sixth overall this season. So far this week he has defeated Kishan Hirani 6-2, Mei Xiwen 6-3 and Lu Ning 6-0 and is on a winning run of 11 frames in a row. Craigie meanwhile is in the quarter-finals for the first time in his career and is finally showing his potential after three wins against high quality opposition so far this week. In beating Ryan Day, Ali Carter and Liang Wenbo he has only dropped seven frames which is remarkable given the level of player he has faced. A fourth upset of the week against Robertson would leave no real reason why he could not go on to lift the title at the weekend. Given the way Robertson is performing in the last two months though that is a tough ask for anyone right now.
Luca Brecel and Alan McManus is a tale of two players coming back into form at the right time. For Brecel, he has finally got the monkey off his back after making his first ranking quarter-final in 16 months and now that release of pressure could lead to this becoming a really big week, to match the one he had at the China Championship in August 2017 where he won his only ranking title to date. McManus meanwhile was still in a little bit of danger on the provisional end-of-season rankings as he started the week here in Beijing. Now though, he is as safe as houses and has only dropped five frames on the way to the last eight. The withdrawal of Mark Allen left him playing wildcard Pang Junxu whom he defeated 6-2, before a 6-0 win over Stuart Carrington and a last 16 triumph 6-3 over Anthony McGill. With Brecel whitewashing Hossein Vafei who I thought would cause him a few problems today, the Belgian really looks to be hitting his stride with the World Championships on the horizon and it will take all of McManus' experience to take him down.
The big quarter-final clash sees two top 16 players battle it out in a repeat of their World Championship first round match from a year ago. Jack Lisowski defeated Stuart Bingham on that occasion but with Bingham in fine form at the moment those tables could be turned. Bingham has dropped just four frames this week, making a maximum 147 break and five further centuries in his opening three games against Elliot Slessor, Peter Ebdon and Rod Lawler, though this will be a far bigger test against Lisowski. Having said that, Lisowski has needed some big finishes this week, winning all of the last three in a 6-3 last 32 win over Gerard Greene before fighting back against Li Hang in the last 16 winning all of the last four frames. He also does not quite seem to be scoring as heavily as he has been earlier in the season, only making one century so far this week compared to Bingham's six. After Bingham's recent runs to the Welsh Open final and winning the Gibraltar Open, he is certainly the favourite to win this one.
Finally, there is a big clash for Ben Woollaston and Scott Donaldson as they eye a place in a major semi-final and the biggest pay cheque's of their respective careers. Donaldson may have been in two quarter-finals recently at the Welsh Open and the Indian Open and be a former ranking semi-finalist at the Welsh Open, Paul Hunter Classic and the Gibraltar Open, while Woollaston is a former Welsh Open finalist, but you could argue that this may be the biggest match in their careers. Lining up against in a pretty even match in the quarter-finals of a big money tournament means they will both sense a massive opportunity to achieve something big here and climb up the rankings. Woollaston's biggest pay day is £30,000 and Donaldson's £20,000 so the opportunity to move on to a possible £45,000 here is enormous. Woollaston has overcome Ashley Carty, Andrew Higginson and Lu Haotian in three close matches to reach this point while Donaldson defeated Joe Perry and David Gilbert in the first two rounds before surviving a deciding frame against another quality opponent in Ricky Walden. Donaldson would also achieve a career high ranking if he wins this match, while Woollaston would climb back into the world's top 32 so there's plenty on the line in this match.
All four quarter-finals will be played on Friday over two tables as the tournament really starts to heat up. The matches will be over the best-of-11 frames once more and feature on Eurosport TV and the Eurosport Player.
Thursday, 4 April 2019
Wednesday, 3 April 2019
David Gilbert left to sweat on Crucible spot after China Open loss
David Gilbert will be left sitting and waiting to see if he will be the 16th and final seed for this year's World Championships after suffering a 6-3 loss to Scott Donaldson in the last 32 of the China Open.
The loss for Gilbert leaves him lying 16th on the provisional World Championship seedings list and confirms the automatic qualification for the 15 players ahead of him. After falling 3-1 adrift at the mid-session interval, Gilbert was able to claw it back to 3-2 but was unable to draw level at any point as Donaldson backed up victory over Joe Perry in the last 64, with another good win.
However, Gilbert will only be overtaken if any of the players in reach below him go on to win the event. That is after Ali Carter suffered a 6-4 loss to Sam Craigie in the last 32, with Carter going into the round as the only player that could possibly catch Gilbert without winning the tournament. Craigie did Gilbert an equally big favour on Tuesday by defeating Ryan Day and victory over Carter now means he has equalled his best ever ranking display of the last 16, something he also achieved in the recent Indian Open. Craigie delivered a top break of 136 on the way to victory.
The high break of the day and the week was made by Stuart Bingham though as history scarily repeated itself in his match against Peter Ebdon. A year earlier in the same round of this same competition against Ricky Walden, Bingham produced a 147 maximum break on the way to winning 6-5 and today he delivered another 147 maximum break in the seventh frame of his eventual 6-3 win over Peter Ebdon. The break also stopped the rot of three frames in a row for Ebdon, which saw Bingham's early 3-0 lead evaporate. A vital eighth frame went the way of Bingham though after the maximum and he would comfortably go on to complete the win.
Bingham will now face Rod Lawler in the last 16 as he sent another of the top 16 stars home in Kyren Wilson. The win gives Lawler another enormous boost in terms of his tour survival and almost certainly now means that he will regain a new two-year tour card via the one-year list at the end of the season. He clinched a 6-4 victory over Wilson on the colours in frame ten, despite the favourite having a match high break of 136 as he fought his way back into the match after the interval.
The third and final top 16 player to lose on the day was Stephen Maguire as he lost the all-Scottish clash with Anthony McGill 6-3. McGill managed to make the arena on time for this one after the early drama of his first round clash for Nigel Bond and has now delivered one of his best performances in what has been a slow season for him.
Luca Brecel came through a tight match with Michael Holt 6-4 to give him another chance to break his duck of not making a ranking event quarter-final since November 2017. Holt led 2-1 early on but soon fell 4-2 adrift. He fought back to 4-3 but lost a crucial eight frame after Brecel fluked the penultimate red coming out of a snooker and proceeded to clear up and move 5-3 ahead. A match high 132 break in the ninth kept Holt in the tie, but missed opportunities in the tenth cost him as Brecel did enough to move on.
Tournament favourite Neil Robertson had too fight back from 3-1 down, rattling off five straight frames against China's Mei Xiwen to eventually come out a 6-3 winner with a high break of 141 in the process. Jack Lisowski was the fourth top 16 player to survive and make the last 16 after winning all of the last three frames of his 6-3 victory against Gerard Greene.
Last 32 results:
Liang Wenbo 6-5 Craig Steadman
Sam Craigie 6-4 Ali Carter
Neil Robertson 6-3 Mei Xiwen
Lu Ning 6-2 Mark King
Alan McManus 6-0 Stuart Carrington
Anthony McGill 6-3 Stephen Maguire
Luca Brecel 6-4 Michael Holt
Hossein Vafei 6-3 Joe O'Connor
Li Hang 6-4 Robbie Williams
Jack Lisowski 6-3 Gerard Greene
Stuart Bingham 6-3 Peter Ebdon
Rod Lawler 6-4 Kyren Wilson
Lu Haotian 6-2 James Wattana
Ben Woollaston 6-3 Andrew Higginson
Scott Donaldson 6-3 David Gilbert
Ricky Walden 6-1 Ken Doherty
Last 16 draw: (Picks in bold)
Liang Wenbo Vs Sam Craigie
Neil Robertson Vs Lu Ning
Anthony McGill Vs Alan McManus
Luca Brecel Vs Hossein Vafei
Jack Lisowski Vs Li Hang
Stuart Bingham Vs Rod Lawler
Lu Haotian Vs Ben Woollaston
Ricky Walden Vs Scott Donaldson
Liang Wenbo and Sam Craigie will be an interesting game at the top of the draw in the last 16 here. Liang has had a poor season and has fallen dramatically down the rankings outside of the top 32 but this week now presents a chance for him to get back in. He has had to fight hard this week beating Gary Wilson from 3-0 down in the last 64 before coming from 5-3 down to defeat Craig Steadman 6-5. Craigie meanwhile has equalled his best performance of the last 16, doing so for the third time overall and the second in just the last few months after his run in the Indian Open. His wins against Ryan Day and Ali Carter have both been very impressive and he looks to have really improved and found some confidence in the last two or three months. Craigie is certainly capable of picking up another big win here, while Liang could finally be coming back into some form and really push through the draw this week.
Neil Robertson is by far the tournament favourite after the host of big names that have exited the tournament. He was already one of the favourites this week after winning February's Welsh Open before making finals of the Players Championship and the Tour Championship, meaning he has made the final in the last three ranking events he played prior to Beijing. He had to fight harder today coming from 3-1 down against Mei Xiwen, but even then he still won with a couple of frames to spare. The most improved player in recent months offers him last 16 opposition though as he faces China's Lu Ning. Lu was a comfortable winner against Mark King after defeating Barry Hawkins in the last 64 so he is well capable of putting up a big fight here to Robertson. He recently made the Gibraltar Open semi-finals defeating the likes of Shaun Murphy, having also made the Indian Open quarter-finals with a win over Stuart Bingham and the UK Championship last 16 after a win against Luca Brecel. He will certainly offer a good challenge to Robertson, but the Australian may still be too strong.
Luca Brecel aims to finally reach another ranking quarter-final after a 16 month drought to the November 2017 Shanghai Masters as he faces Hossein Vafei in the last 16. Brecel did recently lose narrowly at the same stage at the Indian Open after a strong start and will certainly be conscious of his dry run of form though it feels like he is well overdue now after a 6-1 win over Sam Baird in the last 64 was followed by a nervy 6-4 triumph against Michael Holt. There was little between him and Holt in that game and there will be even less between him and Hossein. The Iranian is a former semi-finalist in this event going back to 2017, as well as reaching the semi-finals in the recent Welsh Open and starting off this week strongly with comfortable wins over Robert Milkins and Joe O'Connor. When he is playing well he certainly has the ability to find a way of defeating the top players, as he did against Mark Selby in that Welsh Open run and if Brecel is nervy about breaking this ranking duck, then Hossein will take full advantage.
Jack Lisowski has gone slightly under the radar so far this week with a 6-2 last 64 victory over John Astley and a 6-3 second round win over Gerard Greene but as one of only four top 16 players left in the competition he must fancy his chances of a big run this week as he takes on Li Hang. Li has opened up the week with victories over Zhou Yuelong and Robbie Williams but this should provide a much bigger test of one of the four remaining Chinese players in the tournament. If both players score as heavily as they are capable of then this could be a real treat, especially with Li aiming to make his second quarter-final in recent times after making that stage of the Indian Open recently, while Lisowski has had a slightly quieter spell and may also be grateful for a confidence boost going into the World Championships.
Stuart Bingham is a firm second favourite for this week after his win against Peter Ebdon which included a 147 break and now he will aim to take down another slow player when he faces Rod Lawler. Bingham whitewashed Elliot Slessor in round one before defeating Ebdon 6-3 and has already made four centuries in Beijing. He scored exceptionally well in his run to the final of the Welsh Open and his title win in Gibraltar so his quick start here is certainly a good omen. Lawler has had a big week too so far by playing himself right into a strong position to save his tour card after beating Thor Chuan Leong 6-2 before taking down Kyren Wilson, but as impressive as that win over Wilson may be, he will need to up his game even more to defeat Bingham.
Finally, former finalist Ricky Walden is the man that will aim to stop Scott Donaldson taking down another quality player and reaching his third quarter-final of the last two months. Donaldson reached the last eight at both the Welsh Open and the Indian Open and has started this week with a 6-4 victory against Joe Perry to end his hopes of automatic Crucible qualification, before a 6-3 win over David Gilbert has left him sweating. Walden meanwhile defeated promising wildcard Chang Bingyu in the last 64 6-4, before a 6-1 thrashing of Ken Doherty in the last 32. Walden's pedigree in China speaks for itself having previously won the Shanghai Masters, Wuxi Classic and the International Championship (his only three full ranking titles) as well as reaching the China Open final and reaching an Asian Tour event final. On paper this looks to be a really tough match to call, especially as their most recent meeting in this season's German Masters qualifiers saw Walden win 5-4 after coming from 3-0 down.
All eight last 16 ties will be played over the best-of-11 frames on Thursday over two sessions at 7am and 12.30pm UK time, with coverage continuing on Eurosport TV and the Eurosport Player.
The loss for Gilbert leaves him lying 16th on the provisional World Championship seedings list and confirms the automatic qualification for the 15 players ahead of him. After falling 3-1 adrift at the mid-session interval, Gilbert was able to claw it back to 3-2 but was unable to draw level at any point as Donaldson backed up victory over Joe Perry in the last 64, with another good win.
However, Gilbert will only be overtaken if any of the players in reach below him go on to win the event. That is after Ali Carter suffered a 6-4 loss to Sam Craigie in the last 32, with Carter going into the round as the only player that could possibly catch Gilbert without winning the tournament. Craigie did Gilbert an equally big favour on Tuesday by defeating Ryan Day and victory over Carter now means he has equalled his best ever ranking display of the last 16, something he also achieved in the recent Indian Open. Craigie delivered a top break of 136 on the way to victory.
The high break of the day and the week was made by Stuart Bingham though as history scarily repeated itself in his match against Peter Ebdon. A year earlier in the same round of this same competition against Ricky Walden, Bingham produced a 147 maximum break on the way to winning 6-5 and today he delivered another 147 maximum break in the seventh frame of his eventual 6-3 win over Peter Ebdon. The break also stopped the rot of three frames in a row for Ebdon, which saw Bingham's early 3-0 lead evaporate. A vital eighth frame went the way of Bingham though after the maximum and he would comfortably go on to complete the win.
Bingham will now face Rod Lawler in the last 16 as he sent another of the top 16 stars home in Kyren Wilson. The win gives Lawler another enormous boost in terms of his tour survival and almost certainly now means that he will regain a new two-year tour card via the one-year list at the end of the season. He clinched a 6-4 victory over Wilson on the colours in frame ten, despite the favourite having a match high break of 136 as he fought his way back into the match after the interval.
The third and final top 16 player to lose on the day was Stephen Maguire as he lost the all-Scottish clash with Anthony McGill 6-3. McGill managed to make the arena on time for this one after the early drama of his first round clash for Nigel Bond and has now delivered one of his best performances in what has been a slow season for him.
Luca Brecel came through a tight match with Michael Holt 6-4 to give him another chance to break his duck of not making a ranking event quarter-final since November 2017. Holt led 2-1 early on but soon fell 4-2 adrift. He fought back to 4-3 but lost a crucial eight frame after Brecel fluked the penultimate red coming out of a snooker and proceeded to clear up and move 5-3 ahead. A match high 132 break in the ninth kept Holt in the tie, but missed opportunities in the tenth cost him as Brecel did enough to move on.
Tournament favourite Neil Robertson had too fight back from 3-1 down, rattling off five straight frames against China's Mei Xiwen to eventually come out a 6-3 winner with a high break of 141 in the process. Jack Lisowski was the fourth top 16 player to survive and make the last 16 after winning all of the last three frames of his 6-3 victory against Gerard Greene.
Last 32 results:
Liang Wenbo 6-5 Craig Steadman
Sam Craigie 6-4 Ali Carter
Neil Robertson 6-3 Mei Xiwen
Lu Ning 6-2 Mark King
Alan McManus 6-0 Stuart Carrington
Anthony McGill 6-3 Stephen Maguire
Luca Brecel 6-4 Michael Holt
Hossein Vafei 6-3 Joe O'Connor
Li Hang 6-4 Robbie Williams
Jack Lisowski 6-3 Gerard Greene
Stuart Bingham 6-3 Peter Ebdon
Rod Lawler 6-4 Kyren Wilson
Lu Haotian 6-2 James Wattana
Ben Woollaston 6-3 Andrew Higginson
Scott Donaldson 6-3 David Gilbert
Ricky Walden 6-1 Ken Doherty
Last 16 draw: (Picks in bold)
Liang Wenbo Vs Sam Craigie
Neil Robertson Vs Lu Ning
Anthony McGill Vs Alan McManus
Luca Brecel Vs Hossein Vafei
Jack Lisowski Vs Li Hang
Stuart Bingham Vs Rod Lawler
Lu Haotian Vs Ben Woollaston
Ricky Walden Vs Scott Donaldson
Liang Wenbo and Sam Craigie will be an interesting game at the top of the draw in the last 16 here. Liang has had a poor season and has fallen dramatically down the rankings outside of the top 32 but this week now presents a chance for him to get back in. He has had to fight hard this week beating Gary Wilson from 3-0 down in the last 64 before coming from 5-3 down to defeat Craig Steadman 6-5. Craigie meanwhile has equalled his best performance of the last 16, doing so for the third time overall and the second in just the last few months after his run in the Indian Open. His wins against Ryan Day and Ali Carter have both been very impressive and he looks to have really improved and found some confidence in the last two or three months. Craigie is certainly capable of picking up another big win here, while Liang could finally be coming back into some form and really push through the draw this week.
Neil Robertson is by far the tournament favourite after the host of big names that have exited the tournament. He was already one of the favourites this week after winning February's Welsh Open before making finals of the Players Championship and the Tour Championship, meaning he has made the final in the last three ranking events he played prior to Beijing. He had to fight harder today coming from 3-1 down against Mei Xiwen, but even then he still won with a couple of frames to spare. The most improved player in recent months offers him last 16 opposition though as he faces China's Lu Ning. Lu was a comfortable winner against Mark King after defeating Barry Hawkins in the last 64 so he is well capable of putting up a big fight here to Robertson. He recently made the Gibraltar Open semi-finals defeating the likes of Shaun Murphy, having also made the Indian Open quarter-finals with a win over Stuart Bingham and the UK Championship last 16 after a win against Luca Brecel. He will certainly offer a good challenge to Robertson, but the Australian may still be too strong.
Luca Brecel aims to finally reach another ranking quarter-final after a 16 month drought to the November 2017 Shanghai Masters as he faces Hossein Vafei in the last 16. Brecel did recently lose narrowly at the same stage at the Indian Open after a strong start and will certainly be conscious of his dry run of form though it feels like he is well overdue now after a 6-1 win over Sam Baird in the last 64 was followed by a nervy 6-4 triumph against Michael Holt. There was little between him and Holt in that game and there will be even less between him and Hossein. The Iranian is a former semi-finalist in this event going back to 2017, as well as reaching the semi-finals in the recent Welsh Open and starting off this week strongly with comfortable wins over Robert Milkins and Joe O'Connor. When he is playing well he certainly has the ability to find a way of defeating the top players, as he did against Mark Selby in that Welsh Open run and if Brecel is nervy about breaking this ranking duck, then Hossein will take full advantage.
Jack Lisowski has gone slightly under the radar so far this week with a 6-2 last 64 victory over John Astley and a 6-3 second round win over Gerard Greene but as one of only four top 16 players left in the competition he must fancy his chances of a big run this week as he takes on Li Hang. Li has opened up the week with victories over Zhou Yuelong and Robbie Williams but this should provide a much bigger test of one of the four remaining Chinese players in the tournament. If both players score as heavily as they are capable of then this could be a real treat, especially with Li aiming to make his second quarter-final in recent times after making that stage of the Indian Open recently, while Lisowski has had a slightly quieter spell and may also be grateful for a confidence boost going into the World Championships.
Stuart Bingham is a firm second favourite for this week after his win against Peter Ebdon which included a 147 break and now he will aim to take down another slow player when he faces Rod Lawler. Bingham whitewashed Elliot Slessor in round one before defeating Ebdon 6-3 and has already made four centuries in Beijing. He scored exceptionally well in his run to the final of the Welsh Open and his title win in Gibraltar so his quick start here is certainly a good omen. Lawler has had a big week too so far by playing himself right into a strong position to save his tour card after beating Thor Chuan Leong 6-2 before taking down Kyren Wilson, but as impressive as that win over Wilson may be, he will need to up his game even more to defeat Bingham.
Finally, former finalist Ricky Walden is the man that will aim to stop Scott Donaldson taking down another quality player and reaching his third quarter-final of the last two months. Donaldson reached the last eight at both the Welsh Open and the Indian Open and has started this week with a 6-4 victory against Joe Perry to end his hopes of automatic Crucible qualification, before a 6-3 win over David Gilbert has left him sweating. Walden meanwhile defeated promising wildcard Chang Bingyu in the last 64 6-4, before a 6-1 thrashing of Ken Doherty in the last 32. Walden's pedigree in China speaks for itself having previously won the Shanghai Masters, Wuxi Classic and the International Championship (his only three full ranking titles) as well as reaching the China Open final and reaching an Asian Tour event final. On paper this looks to be a really tough match to call, especially as their most recent meeting in this season's German Masters qualifiers saw Walden win 5-4 after coming from 3-0 down.
All eight last 16 ties will be played over the best-of-11 frames on Thursday over two sessions at 7am and 12.30pm UK time, with coverage continuing on Eurosport TV and the Eurosport Player.
Tuesday, 2 April 2019
Top seeds suffer shock loses at the China Open
Defending champion Mark Selby, World Champion Mark Williams and Chinese number one Ding Junhui all exited on the opening two days in shock style at the China Open.
The second richest event on the calendar, it has attracted all of the top players in the world except for Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Allen, but after the results of the opening round it seems as though the big guns have one eye on the upcoming World Championships in Sheffield.
Selby lost in his heldover last 128 match against Craig Steadman on Monday afternoon in Beijing 6-3 to continue a quiet campaign that also saw him lose at the same stage of the UK Championships.
Williams meanwhile survived against Harvey Chandler 6-4 in his heldover last 128 tie, winning the last two frames to clinch victory in a match that featured plenty of big scoring from both players. Chandler had a high break of 130 while Williams made breaks of 101, 102 and 106. He could not keep that going in the last 64 though as he fell 6-4 to Ken Doherty with the Irishman making a high break of 115.
Ding meanwhile exited in the last 64 stage as well, after winning his heldover match 6-1 against Zhang Jiankang and finishing with a 139 break, but the second day was an entirely different tale as he played poorly and left the home fans disappointed as he was swept aside 6-3 by James Wattana.
Also heading home is Masters champion Judd Trump as he lost a long deciding frame on the colours against Robbie Williams. The underdog stormed into an early 3-0 lead managing the match high break of 119 in the process. Trump came back at him though, but Williams held firm to move one away at 5-3. He could easily have won the match sooner, but lost frame nine on the black after some good chances went begging and Trump swiftly forced the decider. In the final frame though, Williams built up a handy lead as the balls went scrappy and held onto that advantage before eventually closing the match out by potting the green.
John Higgins suffered a second defeat of the season to Joe O'Connor as he too suffered a surprise early loss in Beijing. O'Connor had beaten Higgins in February in the Welsh Open quarter-finals and he would have been confident of repeating that, ending up with a comfortable 6-2 win.
Last year's runner-up Barry Hawkins was another of the top seeds to tumble as he lost out in a final frame to the ever improving Lu Ning. Lu came into this event after a semi-final in Gibraltar and a quarter-final in India and was able to edge out Hawkins 6-5.
The hopes of automatic Crucible qualification for Ryan Day and Joe Perry both ended as well on Tuesday. The pair were the nearest challengers to provisional 16th seed David Gilbert, who completed a 6-4 win on Monday to keep his destiny under control against Indian Open champion Matthew Selt. Day though was trashed 6-1 by Sam Craigie and Perry lost 6-4 to Scott Donaldson, despite drawing level at 4-4 from 4-1 down. Ali Carter is now the nearest challenger having fought back to beat Kurt Maflin 6-5, but Carter would have to make it all the way to this week's final.
In the race for tour survival there have been ups and downs for the players in Beijing. Nigel Bond's hopes of climbing into the top eight on the one-season list that are not already qualified for next year were badly damaged after a 6-4 loss against Anthony McGill. Bond showed his disappointment afterwards on social media, claiming that McGill (who was docked the opener for arriving late) had overslept and was woken by World Snooker staff in time to make the match.
Dominic Dale also suffered a minor setback after he lost out 6-5 to Selby's slayer Craig Steadman, but there was good news for Gerard Greene and Rod Lawler. Both have climbed into the top eight on the one-season list NAQ for next season, with Greene beating Chris Wakelin 6-2 while Lawler saw off Thor Chuan Leong by the same scoreline, though the pair will face top 16 opposition in the last 32.
Last 64 results:
Craig Steadman 6-5 Dominic Dale
Liang Wenbo 6-3 Gary Wilson
Sam Craigie 6-1 Ryan Day
Ali Carter 6-5 Kurt Maflin
Mei Xiwen 6-3 Marco Fu
Neil Robertson 6-2 Kishan Hirani
Mark King 6-1 Alexander Ursenbacher
Lu Ning 6-5 Barry Hawkins
Alan McManus 6-2 Pang Junxu
Stuart Carrington 6-4 Jamie Clarke
Stephen Maguire 6-1 Xu Si
Anthony McGill 6-4 Nigel Bond
Michael Holt 6-4 Xiao Guodong
Luca Brecel 6-1 Sam Baird
Hossein Vafei 6-2 Robert Milkins
Joe O'Connor 6-2 John Higgins
Robbie Williams 6-5 Judd Trump
Li Hang 6-3 Zhou Yuelong
Jack Lisowski 6-2 John Astley
Gerard Greene 6-2 Chris Wakelin
Peter Ebdon 6-2 Yan Bingtao
Stuart Bingham 6-0 Elliot Slessor
Rod Lawler 6-2 Thor Chuan Leong
Kyren Wilson 6-1 Yuan Sijun
James Wattana 6-3 Ding Junhui
Lu Haotian 6-4 Oliver Lines
Andrew Higginson 6-1 Adam Stefanow
Ben Woollaston 6-4 Ashley Carty
Scott Donaldson 6-4 Joe Perry
David Gilbert 6-4 Matthew Selt
Ricky Walden 6-4 Chang Bingyu
Ken Doherty 6-4 Mark Williams
Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold)
Liang Wenbo Vs Craig Steadman
Ali Carter Vs Sam Craigie
Neil Robertson Vs Mei Xiwen
Mark King Vs Lu Ning
Stuart Carrington Vs Alan McManus
Stephen Maguire Vs Anthony McGill
Luca Brecel Vs Michael Holt
Hossein Vafei Vs Joe O'Connor
Li Hang Vs Robbie Williams
Jack Lisowski Vs Gerard Greene
Stuart Bingham Vs Peter Ebdon
Kyren Wilson Vs Rod Lawler
Lu Haotian Vs James Wattana
Ben Woollaston Vs Andrew Higginson
David Gilbert Vs Scott Donaldson
Ricky Walden Vs Ken Doherty
Ali Carter is the nearest player now to catching David Gilbert in the Crucible race and after a number of top players lost today, Carter may quietly fancy his chances. His opponent in the last 32 is Sam Craigie though who comfortably saw off Gilbert's original nearest rival in Ryan Day and Gilbert will definitely owe Craigie a drink if he can do the same again here to Carter. The Captain was a 6-5 winner in round one over Kurt Maflin, coming from 4-2 and 5-4 down to win that one and another slow start against Craigie could be fatal.
Neil Robertson is now the highest ranked player left in the tournament and certainly the favourite to win this tournament now. He saw off Kishan Hirani very early on Monday morning 6-2 before getting to sit back and watch the carnage as top players fell left, right and centre in Beijing. It was not just top players falling, but also ex-top 16 players as Marco Fu fell to Robertson's last 32 opponent Mei Xiwen. This comes after Mei curiously lost 4-0 to Luke Simmonds in India, not the sort of form that you would expect from a player that would then go on to beat Fu, but his chances against the Australian are much slimmer. Robertson reached the final of the Tour Championship and Players Championship as well as winning the Welsh Open, meaning he has reached the final of the last three ranking events he has played in prior to this week. Looking at the draw now and given his amazing form of late there is absolutely no reason why he could not extend that ranking final run to four on the spinn.
There's an intriguing all-Scottish clash to look forward to in the last 32 as Stephen Maguire takes on the sleepy Anthony McGill. Not only did McGill get docked a frame after oversleeping and turning up late against Nigel Bond, but his one-year ranking would suggest he has been asleep for much of the season. At 68 this season he is nowhere near the level that he is capable of but after two centuries against Bond, there is a chance for him to have a great week here and turn his entire season around at the right time. Against Maguire though he faces stiff opposition, after Maguire overcame Xu Si comfortably 6-1 in the opening round. He will certainly be the favourite for this one and as a former winner and runner-up at this event he has the past tournament form as well.
Luca Brecel will once again look at a draw opening up and wonder if he can have his best ranking event run of the season. He is two wins away from reaching a first ranking event quarter-final since November 2017 but first he has to see off Shoot-Out runner-up Michael Holt. Brecel overcame Sam Baird comfortably in round one 6-1, while Holt was an impressive 6-4 winner against Chinese number two Xiao Guodong, finishing the match off with a 134 total clearance. That should give Holt confidence and as the early statistic on Brecel suggests, he is taking on someone who is hardly at the top of his game right now. In fact, on the provisional season list there are just four places separating Brecel and Holt, with a victory for Holt here taking him ahead of Brecel overall, so this one is actually a much closer match-up than the two-year rankings would lead you to believe.
Jack Lisowski has gone quiet in recent times but the exit in particular of potential last 16 opponent Judd Trump may give him the boost he needs to go on a deep run ahead of the World Championships. He started out in Beijing this week with a 6-2 win over John Astley and now faces Gerard Greene who did himself a massive favour in the race to stay on tour by beating Chris Wakelin 6-2. Greene is certainly capable of beating Lisowski on his day, if Lisowski is not quite on top of his game, but Lisowski has recorded two previous quarter-finals in this event and is now favourite to go on and do that again this week.
Stuart Bingham is now the second favourite for this tournament given some of his recent form. A winner at the Gibraltar Open and finalist of the Welsh Open, he will be full of confidence and was scoring heavily in both of those runs. Starting this week he has whitewashed Elliot Slessor, making three centuries in the process and recording the early tournament high break of 140. In round two though he faces former two-time China Open champion Peter Ebdon, who saw off one of the home favourites in Yan Bingtao 6-2 in the last 64. Ebdon has had a solid season on the whole, reaching the Paul Hunter Classic final to show everyone that he has still got it and his 2012 victory in this event is one that still sits clearly in my memory seven years on. Against Bingham though he certainly has his work cut out, as he has to find a way to do something that very few players have in recent times and that is to stop him scoring.
Kyren Wilson is another player that will certainly fancy his chances now this week, especially after beating the ever-improving Yuan Sijun 6-1 in the opening round. That win was revenge for Yuan inflicting a loss on Wilson over the same format at the International Championship earlier this season and is a very handsome one given some of the form Yuan has been in over the last two months. He now faces a player battling for his playing rights on tour in Rod Lawler, with Lawler defeating Thor Chuan Leong 6-2 in the last 64 and Wilson has to be a very heavy favourite in this one. It would need to be a major off day for Wilson in order for Lawler to have a chance of victory here, but after all of the upsets over the first two days, anything is possible.
Finally, David Gilbert still has his Crucible destiny in his own hands in Beijing after a 6-4 win over Matthew Selt was followed by exits for Ryan Day and Joe Perry. Carter is now the only player who can overtake Gilbert without winning the event and even he would need to make the final, which may allow Gilbert to relax a little more as he takes on Scott Donaldson. The Scot has already done Gilbert a favour by releasing some of that pressure by beating Joe Perry 6-4, but now he will have high hopes of continuing that run with a win over Gilbert. Donaldson was a quarter-finalist at the Welsh and Indian Opens in the last six weeks so should have plenty of confidence as he lines up against Gilbert. Gilbert did though deliver two centuries in his win over Selt, looking like showing more of the form that took him to the German Masters final, than the play that saw him suffer early loses in India and Wales more recently.
All last 32 matches will be contested on Wednesday over the best-of-11 frames once more, with play taking place over two sessions at 7am and 12.30pm UK time, with coverage continuing on Eurosport TV and the Eurosport Player.
The second richest event on the calendar, it has attracted all of the top players in the world except for Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Allen, but after the results of the opening round it seems as though the big guns have one eye on the upcoming World Championships in Sheffield.
Selby lost in his heldover last 128 match against Craig Steadman on Monday afternoon in Beijing 6-3 to continue a quiet campaign that also saw him lose at the same stage of the UK Championships.
Williams meanwhile survived against Harvey Chandler 6-4 in his heldover last 128 tie, winning the last two frames to clinch victory in a match that featured plenty of big scoring from both players. Chandler had a high break of 130 while Williams made breaks of 101, 102 and 106. He could not keep that going in the last 64 though as he fell 6-4 to Ken Doherty with the Irishman making a high break of 115.
Ding meanwhile exited in the last 64 stage as well, after winning his heldover match 6-1 against Zhang Jiankang and finishing with a 139 break, but the second day was an entirely different tale as he played poorly and left the home fans disappointed as he was swept aside 6-3 by James Wattana.
Also heading home is Masters champion Judd Trump as he lost a long deciding frame on the colours against Robbie Williams. The underdog stormed into an early 3-0 lead managing the match high break of 119 in the process. Trump came back at him though, but Williams held firm to move one away at 5-3. He could easily have won the match sooner, but lost frame nine on the black after some good chances went begging and Trump swiftly forced the decider. In the final frame though, Williams built up a handy lead as the balls went scrappy and held onto that advantage before eventually closing the match out by potting the green.
John Higgins suffered a second defeat of the season to Joe O'Connor as he too suffered a surprise early loss in Beijing. O'Connor had beaten Higgins in February in the Welsh Open quarter-finals and he would have been confident of repeating that, ending up with a comfortable 6-2 win.
Last year's runner-up Barry Hawkins was another of the top seeds to tumble as he lost out in a final frame to the ever improving Lu Ning. Lu came into this event after a semi-final in Gibraltar and a quarter-final in India and was able to edge out Hawkins 6-5.
The hopes of automatic Crucible qualification for Ryan Day and Joe Perry both ended as well on Tuesday. The pair were the nearest challengers to provisional 16th seed David Gilbert, who completed a 6-4 win on Monday to keep his destiny under control against Indian Open champion Matthew Selt. Day though was trashed 6-1 by Sam Craigie and Perry lost 6-4 to Scott Donaldson, despite drawing level at 4-4 from 4-1 down. Ali Carter is now the nearest challenger having fought back to beat Kurt Maflin 6-5, but Carter would have to make it all the way to this week's final.
In the race for tour survival there have been ups and downs for the players in Beijing. Nigel Bond's hopes of climbing into the top eight on the one-season list that are not already qualified for next year were badly damaged after a 6-4 loss against Anthony McGill. Bond showed his disappointment afterwards on social media, claiming that McGill (who was docked the opener for arriving late) had overslept and was woken by World Snooker staff in time to make the match.
Dominic Dale also suffered a minor setback after he lost out 6-5 to Selby's slayer Craig Steadman, but there was good news for Gerard Greene and Rod Lawler. Both have climbed into the top eight on the one-season list NAQ for next season, with Greene beating Chris Wakelin 6-2 while Lawler saw off Thor Chuan Leong by the same scoreline, though the pair will face top 16 opposition in the last 32.
Last 64 results:
Craig Steadman 6-5 Dominic Dale
Liang Wenbo 6-3 Gary Wilson
Sam Craigie 6-1 Ryan Day
Ali Carter 6-5 Kurt Maflin
Mei Xiwen 6-3 Marco Fu
Neil Robertson 6-2 Kishan Hirani
Mark King 6-1 Alexander Ursenbacher
Lu Ning 6-5 Barry Hawkins
Alan McManus 6-2 Pang Junxu
Stuart Carrington 6-4 Jamie Clarke
Stephen Maguire 6-1 Xu Si
Anthony McGill 6-4 Nigel Bond
Michael Holt 6-4 Xiao Guodong
Luca Brecel 6-1 Sam Baird
Hossein Vafei 6-2 Robert Milkins
Joe O'Connor 6-2 John Higgins
Robbie Williams 6-5 Judd Trump
Li Hang 6-3 Zhou Yuelong
Jack Lisowski 6-2 John Astley
Gerard Greene 6-2 Chris Wakelin
Peter Ebdon 6-2 Yan Bingtao
Stuart Bingham 6-0 Elliot Slessor
Rod Lawler 6-2 Thor Chuan Leong
Kyren Wilson 6-1 Yuan Sijun
James Wattana 6-3 Ding Junhui
Lu Haotian 6-4 Oliver Lines
Andrew Higginson 6-1 Adam Stefanow
Ben Woollaston 6-4 Ashley Carty
Scott Donaldson 6-4 Joe Perry
David Gilbert 6-4 Matthew Selt
Ricky Walden 6-4 Chang Bingyu
Ken Doherty 6-4 Mark Williams
Last 32 draw: (Picks in bold)
Liang Wenbo Vs Craig Steadman
Ali Carter Vs Sam Craigie
Neil Robertson Vs Mei Xiwen
Mark King Vs Lu Ning
Stuart Carrington Vs Alan McManus
Stephen Maguire Vs Anthony McGill
Luca Brecel Vs Michael Holt
Hossein Vafei Vs Joe O'Connor
Li Hang Vs Robbie Williams
Jack Lisowski Vs Gerard Greene
Stuart Bingham Vs Peter Ebdon
Kyren Wilson Vs Rod Lawler
Lu Haotian Vs James Wattana
Ben Woollaston Vs Andrew Higginson
David Gilbert Vs Scott Donaldson
Ricky Walden Vs Ken Doherty
Ali Carter is the nearest player now to catching David Gilbert in the Crucible race and after a number of top players lost today, Carter may quietly fancy his chances. His opponent in the last 32 is Sam Craigie though who comfortably saw off Gilbert's original nearest rival in Ryan Day and Gilbert will definitely owe Craigie a drink if he can do the same again here to Carter. The Captain was a 6-5 winner in round one over Kurt Maflin, coming from 4-2 and 5-4 down to win that one and another slow start against Craigie could be fatal.
Neil Robertson is now the highest ranked player left in the tournament and certainly the favourite to win this tournament now. He saw off Kishan Hirani very early on Monday morning 6-2 before getting to sit back and watch the carnage as top players fell left, right and centre in Beijing. It was not just top players falling, but also ex-top 16 players as Marco Fu fell to Robertson's last 32 opponent Mei Xiwen. This comes after Mei curiously lost 4-0 to Luke Simmonds in India, not the sort of form that you would expect from a player that would then go on to beat Fu, but his chances against the Australian are much slimmer. Robertson reached the final of the Tour Championship and Players Championship as well as winning the Welsh Open, meaning he has reached the final of the last three ranking events he has played in prior to this week. Looking at the draw now and given his amazing form of late there is absolutely no reason why he could not extend that ranking final run to four on the spinn.
There's an intriguing all-Scottish clash to look forward to in the last 32 as Stephen Maguire takes on the sleepy Anthony McGill. Not only did McGill get docked a frame after oversleeping and turning up late against Nigel Bond, but his one-year ranking would suggest he has been asleep for much of the season. At 68 this season he is nowhere near the level that he is capable of but after two centuries against Bond, there is a chance for him to have a great week here and turn his entire season around at the right time. Against Maguire though he faces stiff opposition, after Maguire overcame Xu Si comfortably 6-1 in the opening round. He will certainly be the favourite for this one and as a former winner and runner-up at this event he has the past tournament form as well.
Luca Brecel will once again look at a draw opening up and wonder if he can have his best ranking event run of the season. He is two wins away from reaching a first ranking event quarter-final since November 2017 but first he has to see off Shoot-Out runner-up Michael Holt. Brecel overcame Sam Baird comfortably in round one 6-1, while Holt was an impressive 6-4 winner against Chinese number two Xiao Guodong, finishing the match off with a 134 total clearance. That should give Holt confidence and as the early statistic on Brecel suggests, he is taking on someone who is hardly at the top of his game right now. In fact, on the provisional season list there are just four places separating Brecel and Holt, with a victory for Holt here taking him ahead of Brecel overall, so this one is actually a much closer match-up than the two-year rankings would lead you to believe.
Jack Lisowski has gone quiet in recent times but the exit in particular of potential last 16 opponent Judd Trump may give him the boost he needs to go on a deep run ahead of the World Championships. He started out in Beijing this week with a 6-2 win over John Astley and now faces Gerard Greene who did himself a massive favour in the race to stay on tour by beating Chris Wakelin 6-2. Greene is certainly capable of beating Lisowski on his day, if Lisowski is not quite on top of his game, but Lisowski has recorded two previous quarter-finals in this event and is now favourite to go on and do that again this week.
Stuart Bingham is now the second favourite for this tournament given some of his recent form. A winner at the Gibraltar Open and finalist of the Welsh Open, he will be full of confidence and was scoring heavily in both of those runs. Starting this week he has whitewashed Elliot Slessor, making three centuries in the process and recording the early tournament high break of 140. In round two though he faces former two-time China Open champion Peter Ebdon, who saw off one of the home favourites in Yan Bingtao 6-2 in the last 64. Ebdon has had a solid season on the whole, reaching the Paul Hunter Classic final to show everyone that he has still got it and his 2012 victory in this event is one that still sits clearly in my memory seven years on. Against Bingham though he certainly has his work cut out, as he has to find a way to do something that very few players have in recent times and that is to stop him scoring.
Kyren Wilson is another player that will certainly fancy his chances now this week, especially after beating the ever-improving Yuan Sijun 6-1 in the opening round. That win was revenge for Yuan inflicting a loss on Wilson over the same format at the International Championship earlier this season and is a very handsome one given some of the form Yuan has been in over the last two months. He now faces a player battling for his playing rights on tour in Rod Lawler, with Lawler defeating Thor Chuan Leong 6-2 in the last 64 and Wilson has to be a very heavy favourite in this one. It would need to be a major off day for Wilson in order for Lawler to have a chance of victory here, but after all of the upsets over the first two days, anything is possible.
Finally, David Gilbert still has his Crucible destiny in his own hands in Beijing after a 6-4 win over Matthew Selt was followed by exits for Ryan Day and Joe Perry. Carter is now the only player who can overtake Gilbert without winning the event and even he would need to make the final, which may allow Gilbert to relax a little more as he takes on Scott Donaldson. The Scot has already done Gilbert a favour by releasing some of that pressure by beating Joe Perry 6-4, but now he will have high hopes of continuing that run with a win over Gilbert. Donaldson was a quarter-finalist at the Welsh and Indian Opens in the last six weeks so should have plenty of confidence as he lines up against Gilbert. Gilbert did though deliver two centuries in his win over Selt, looking like showing more of the form that took him to the German Masters final, than the play that saw him suffer early loses in India and Wales more recently.
All last 32 matches will be contested on Wednesday over the best-of-11 frames once more, with play taking place over two sessions at 7am and 12.30pm UK time, with coverage continuing on Eurosport TV and the Eurosport Player.
Thursday, 28 March 2019
China Open Preview
The penultimate tournament of the 2018/2019 snooker season has arrived and far from being a warm-up for the World Championships, the China Open has a lot riding on it this week.
The second richest tournament on the calendar, the winner will take home £225,000 (which is more than all bar the top seven players on the one-season ranking list have earned all year), with the runner-up receiving a massive £90,000 which is more than a lot of tournament winners have received in this campaign.
With the tour survival battle getting tenser and the battle for Crucible seedings coming to a head this week, every win counts. David Gilbert is the man currently in possession of 16th place on the provisional Crucible seedings list and once again Ryan Day finds himself in 17th place and in danger of spending a second successive year in the qualifiers.
The majority of the top players have made it through to Beijing for this week. As defending champion, Mark Selby had his last 128 match heldover, along with World Champion Mark Williams, China's Number 1 and 2 in Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong. The three other players to get holdovers by drawing the Chinese wildcards include Joe Perry, Mark Davis and Mark King.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, who made a 147 maximum break in this event last year despite a last 64 loss, did not enter the tournament, while struggling Shaun Murphy will also not play again until he walks out at the Crucible, after a qualifying round loss to Adam Stefanow and neither will Mark Allen who has withdrawn from the event.
There are plenty of former winners in the field though, besides Selby who has won it in both of the last two years and was also champion in 2015. 2016 and 2011 champion Judd Trump, 2014 and 2005 champion Ding Junhui, 2013 champion Neil Robertson, 2012 and 2009 champion Peter Ebdon, 2008 champion Stephen Maguire and the 2010, 2006 and 2002 champion Mark Williams.
With plenty of title contenders and a whole host of ranking matters at stake on top of the huge prize money, this is now one of the most important weeks of the year - so let's look at what is coming up from Monday:
The second richest tournament on the calendar, the winner will take home £225,000 (which is more than all bar the top seven players on the one-season ranking list have earned all year), with the runner-up receiving a massive £90,000 which is more than a lot of tournament winners have received in this campaign.
With the tour survival battle getting tenser and the battle for Crucible seedings coming to a head this week, every win counts. David Gilbert is the man currently in possession of 16th place on the provisional Crucible seedings list and once again Ryan Day finds himself in 17th place and in danger of spending a second successive year in the qualifiers.
The majority of the top players have made it through to Beijing for this week. As defending champion, Mark Selby had his last 128 match heldover, along with World Champion Mark Williams, China's Number 1 and 2 in Ding Junhui and Xiao Guodong. The three other players to get holdovers by drawing the Chinese wildcards include Joe Perry, Mark Davis and Mark King.
Ronnie O'Sullivan, who made a 147 maximum break in this event last year despite a last 64 loss, did not enter the tournament, while struggling Shaun Murphy will also not play again until he walks out at the Crucible, after a qualifying round loss to Adam Stefanow and neither will Mark Allen who has withdrawn from the event.
There are plenty of former winners in the field though, besides Selby who has won it in both of the last two years and was also champion in 2015. 2016 and 2011 champion Judd Trump, 2014 and 2005 champion Ding Junhui, 2013 champion Neil Robertson, 2012 and 2009 champion Peter Ebdon, 2008 champion Stephen Maguire and the 2010, 2006 and 2002 champion Mark Williams.
With plenty of title contenders and a whole host of ranking matters at stake on top of the huge prize money, this is now one of the most important weeks of the year - so let's look at what is coming up from Monday:
Quarter 1
Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark Selby or Craig Steadman Vs Dominic Dale
Liang Wenbo Vs Gary Wilson
Ryan Day Vs Sam Craigie
Ali Carter Vs Kurt Maflin
Marco Fu Vs Mei Xiwen
Neil Robertson Vs Kishan Hirani
Mark King or Bai Langning Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Barry Hawkins Vs Lu Ning
Dominic Dale is embroiled in the race for tour survival and is one of many to keep an eye on from that perspective in Beijing. Currently he is £7,900 below 64th on the provisional end-of-season list and only 6th in the top 8 players not already qualified for next season on the one-year list. Two wins in China would take him into top 64 but he faces the possibility of a very tough last 64 tie against defending champion Mark Selby and certain players below him could do some damage to his one-year list position if he loses that one.
Alexander Ursenbacher is another player fighting it out for his tour place. He could close to within a very important £10,000 mark of the top 64 with two wins in China, which is meaningful as money for winning the first round qualifier at the World Championships is £10,000, so all the players outside of the top 64 will still have a good chance if they can get within £10,000 of the 64. Ursenbacher is also 4th in the top eight NAQ on the one-season list. He would move to 3rd with a last 64 win over Mark King or wildcard Bai Langning. Like Dale though, defeat leaves him slightly more vulnerable and still with work to do when he arrives in Sheffield.
Meanwhile in the fight for a top 16 place at the World Championships, Ryan Day is currently the closest player to the 16 and by far the most likely to force his way in ahead of David Gilbert. However, he must make the quarter-finals here in Beijing as a bare minimum. Gilbert reaching the last 16 would force him to make the semi-finals as the current gap is £15,000 between the pair. In this incredibly tough quarter that pits him against dangerous young Sam Craigie in round one before a possible last 32 meeting with World Grand Prix finalist Ali Carter, he is certainly going to be facing a tough task if he is to avoid the three rounds of qualifying. Having said that, his recent run to the Gibraltar Open final has at least given him a hope, as defeat in the quarter-finals to David Gilbert would have made the gap between them significantly bigger, especially as Gilbert would have been odds on from there to go on and qualify for the Tour Championships.
Ali Carter is another player that is still just about in the frame for a spot at the Crucible. Unfortunately for him though he needs to make it all the way through to the final to have any chance of forcing his way into the top 16. His missed opportunity may well have been the aforementioned World Grand Prix when he fought his way back into the match against Trump before eventually falling short. A victory there would certainly have put him into the top 16, but now he needs to do it all again and will have to come from by far the toughest quarter of the draw. Opening up against Kurt Maflin is certainly tricky but the idea of needing further wins from a route that could see him play Ryan Day, Mark Selby and Neil Robertson or Barry Hawkins just to make the semi-finals makes it tough to give Carter any chance.
Mark Selby will be hoping to regain some confidence with some good results as he looks to build up to an assault on a fourth world title in six years by winning a fourth China Open in five years. The year in recent times that Selby did not win this title, when Trump won in 2016, was a year in which he withdrew from the tournament. The new best-of-11 format suits him even better than the previous best-of-9 frames format, but his form of late does not point to any outstanding chances of him winning the title yet again. Since winning the China Championships in September he has been unusually quiet and has just lost his world number one ranking, a position he had proudly held since winning the 2014 World Championships. That may give him added inspiration this week as a title win in Beijing is the only result that can see him regain the number one spot. With a tough quarter like this though and first round exits in both the Players Championship and Tour Championship, his only two events since the Welsh Open in mid-February, improvement will be needed if he is to go all the way.
Barry Hawkins meanwhile was last year's runner-up to Selby here in Beijing. That sparked a run of form that saw him then reach the World Championship semi-finals for the fifth year out of six, before then starting this season with a World Open semi-final, Shanghai Masters final and a narrow quarter-final loss in the China Championships, so his form in China has been very good in the last year. He too has been quiet of late though, failing to qualify for the Tour Championships, losing in round one of the Players Championship and more surprisingly, the first round of the Gibraltar Open, after a last 32 loss in the Welsh Open. To make things tougher he opens up this week against an in-form Lu Ning, who reached the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Open and the quarter-finals of the Indian Open to continue a very good return to the snooker tour that has also seen him reach the UK Championship last 16. Lu will certainly make life difficult for Hawkins here and may even send him to an early exit if Hawkins fails to bring something close to his A game.
Barry Hawkins meanwhile was last year's runner-up to Selby here in Beijing. That sparked a run of form that saw him then reach the World Championship semi-finals for the fifth year out of six, before then starting this season with a World Open semi-final, Shanghai Masters final and a narrow quarter-final loss in the China Championships, so his form in China has been very good in the last year. He too has been quiet of late though, failing to qualify for the Tour Championships, losing in round one of the Players Championship and more surprisingly, the first round of the Gibraltar Open, after a last 32 loss in the Welsh Open. To make things tougher he opens up this week against an in-form Lu Ning, who reached the semi-finals of the Gibraltar Open and the quarter-finals of the Indian Open to continue a very good return to the snooker tour that has also seen him reach the UK Championship last 16. Lu will certainly make life difficult for Hawkins here and may even send him to an early exit if Hawkins fails to bring something close to his A game.
Neil Robertson therefore is my choice to win this opening quarter of the draw. It is difficult to argue with that given the way he has been playing this season, and particularly in the last couple of months. He comes into this event having made finals in the last three ranking events he has participated in, winning the Welsh Open before losing both the Players Championship and Tour Championship finales to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Here in Beijing he won this title back in 2013 and nearly completed a successful defence the following year, eventually losing out in the final to Ding Junhui. Not only is he back to his best but he may even be playing better than he ever has. If he can get through the first couple of rounds unscathed and with plenty left in the tank, his confidence is so high that he will not see anyone in the draw that he cannot overcome.
Best of the rest: Mark Selby
Quarter choice: Neil Robertson
Quarter 2
Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)
Alan McManus Vs Pang Junxu
Stuart Carrington Vs Jamie Clarke
Stephen Maguire Vs Xu Si
Anthony McGill Vs Nigel Bond
Xiao Guodong or Soheil Vahedi Vs Michael Holt
Luca Brecel Vs Sam Baird
Robert Milkins Vs Hossein Vafei
John Higgins Vs Joe O'Connor
Alan McManus is one of the players currently still unsure of their position for next season. In the tour survival race he is in a very strong position though, £9,300 clear of 65th on end-of-season list. The only way you could see things possibly going wrong for McManus are with a first round loss here in Beijing and another first round loss in World Championship qualifying. However, with an extra £6,000 going on the rankings for a last 64 win, he could essentially remove any further pressure this week and he has been handed a bit of a bonus after the withdrawal of Mark Allen, which now leaves him facing wildcard Pang Junxu in the last 64.
Xu Si meanwhile is looking somewhat stranded in the tour survival battle. He is nowhere near on end-of-season list - £35,500 outside of top 64 and needing a miracle on that front. On the one-season list he is 19th out of those not already qualified for next season, but two wins in China would throw him into the top eight depending on other results so by qualifying this week he has given himself a glimmer of hope. His last 64 opponent though is former China Open champion Stephen Maguire, who will be a strong favourite to beat the out of form Chinese player.
Nigel Bond has a much better chance though. He may be nearly £40,000 outside of top 64, but is 11th out of those NAQ on the one-season list. Overall, Bond would move into the top 8 ahead of James Cahill, Rory McLeod, Joe Swail and Duane Jones who all failed to qualify for Beijing and possibly Dominic Dale if he loses in the last 64, achieving all of that if he could get a last 64 win over Anthony McGill. Given the form of McGill this season, Bond will certainly feel that he can win that one.
Somebody else that is out of form, but still locked in as a seed for the Crucible is Luca Brecel. A first round loss in the Gibraltar Open, following his narrow last 16 loss in India, continued his run of not having reached a ranking event quarter-final since the Shanghai Masters of November 2017. His China Championship victory from the August of the same year is the only reason he is anywhere near the top 16 and his poor displays over the course of this season saw him fail to qualify for any of the Coral Series events. One thing that does mean is that he will be arriving in Beijing fresher than a lot of the top players, but with little form to speak of he is also very vulnerable to a first round loss. Sam Baird is his first round opponent and certainly someone that can cause trouble for the Belgian. He has already beaten an out of form Shaun Murphy twice this year and made the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open in December. Making him one of the best players to have started the season on £0 after regaining his tour card in last year's Q School. Unless Brecel finds something from the start this week, he is certainly going to have a battle on his hands.
Stephen Maguire has a decent record here at the China Open, as a former winner of this title 11 years ago and as a losing finalist to Peter Ebdon in 2012. Again though, Maguire is another player that has been a little quiet in the second half of the season. He took a 6-2 thrashing in his most recent event at the Players Championship, after losing in round one of the Welsh Open, and the last 16 of the World Grand Prix, his only three ranking events since making the German Masters semi-finals right at the beginning of February. So he will be another player coming here pretty fresh and the draw is slightly more open in this section given the withdrawal of Maguire's potential last 16 opponent Mark Allen, while potential last 32 opponent Anthony McGill has been really out of sorts all season. After three semi-finals and a UK Championship quarter-final, he has shown he is still capable of a big run but it is now over six years since his last ranking title win, a fact that really is astounding given his quality. Looking at this quarter though, he certainly has an opportunity this week.
John Higgins is my second quarter choice though, as the opportunity for Maguire is an even bigger one for Higgins. He has struggled this season at times, despite making a final in China early on in the season. He admitted he lost motivation after a second World Championship final loss in succession last season, though with the opportunity to put that right looming large, this is about the time that Higgins motivation may return strongly as he looks to prove a lot of his doubters wrong. In the last few tournaments he has shown better signs, making the Players Championship quarter-finals, losing narrowly to O'Sullivan after beating Selby, and that followed a semi-final in India as well as a quarter-final in Wales. The man he lost to in Cardiff is the man he opens up against in Beijing, as he looks to get a little bit of revenge on youngster Joe O'Connor, but there is no-one else really in this quarter that you would look at and think that they are at the top of their game right now. While there are certainly still some difficult names in this section, Higgins may be quietly confident of another decent week as he builds towards Sheffield.
Best of the rest: Stephen Maguire
Quarter choice: John Higgins
Nigel Bond has a much better chance though. He may be nearly £40,000 outside of top 64, but is 11th out of those NAQ on the one-season list. Overall, Bond would move into the top 8 ahead of James Cahill, Rory McLeod, Joe Swail and Duane Jones who all failed to qualify for Beijing and possibly Dominic Dale if he loses in the last 64, achieving all of that if he could get a last 64 win over Anthony McGill. Given the form of McGill this season, Bond will certainly feel that he can win that one.
Somebody else that is out of form, but still locked in as a seed for the Crucible is Luca Brecel. A first round loss in the Gibraltar Open, following his narrow last 16 loss in India, continued his run of not having reached a ranking event quarter-final since the Shanghai Masters of November 2017. His China Championship victory from the August of the same year is the only reason he is anywhere near the top 16 and his poor displays over the course of this season saw him fail to qualify for any of the Coral Series events. One thing that does mean is that he will be arriving in Beijing fresher than a lot of the top players, but with little form to speak of he is also very vulnerable to a first round loss. Sam Baird is his first round opponent and certainly someone that can cause trouble for the Belgian. He has already beaten an out of form Shaun Murphy twice this year and made the quarter-finals of the Scottish Open in December. Making him one of the best players to have started the season on £0 after regaining his tour card in last year's Q School. Unless Brecel finds something from the start this week, he is certainly going to have a battle on his hands.
Stephen Maguire has a decent record here at the China Open, as a former winner of this title 11 years ago and as a losing finalist to Peter Ebdon in 2012. Again though, Maguire is another player that has been a little quiet in the second half of the season. He took a 6-2 thrashing in his most recent event at the Players Championship, after losing in round one of the Welsh Open, and the last 16 of the World Grand Prix, his only three ranking events since making the German Masters semi-finals right at the beginning of February. So he will be another player coming here pretty fresh and the draw is slightly more open in this section given the withdrawal of Maguire's potential last 16 opponent Mark Allen, while potential last 32 opponent Anthony McGill has been really out of sorts all season. After three semi-finals and a UK Championship quarter-final, he has shown he is still capable of a big run but it is now over six years since his last ranking title win, a fact that really is astounding given his quality. Looking at this quarter though, he certainly has an opportunity this week.
John Higgins is my second quarter choice though, as the opportunity for Maguire is an even bigger one for Higgins. He has struggled this season at times, despite making a final in China early on in the season. He admitted he lost motivation after a second World Championship final loss in succession last season, though with the opportunity to put that right looming large, this is about the time that Higgins motivation may return strongly as he looks to prove a lot of his doubters wrong. In the last few tournaments he has shown better signs, making the Players Championship quarter-finals, losing narrowly to O'Sullivan after beating Selby, and that followed a semi-final in India as well as a quarter-final in Wales. The man he lost to in Cardiff is the man he opens up against in Beijing, as he looks to get a little bit of revenge on youngster Joe O'Connor, but there is no-one else really in this quarter that you would look at and think that they are at the top of their game right now. While there are certainly still some difficult names in this section, Higgins may be quietly confident of another decent week as he builds towards Sheffield.
Best of the rest: Stephen Maguire
Quarter choice: John Higgins
Quarter 3
Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)
Judd Trump Vs Robbie Williams
Zhou Yuelong Vs Li Hang
Jack Lisowski Vs John Astley
Chris Wakelin Vs Gerard Greene
Yan Bingtao Vs Peter Ebdon
Stuart Bingham Vs Elliot Slessor
Rod Lawler Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Kyren Wilson Vs Yuan Sijun
The battle for tour survival continues in the third quarter starting with Robbie Williams. Williams is currently £4,400 clear of 65th on end-of-season list so could do with a first round victory here to extend that beyond the £10,000 mark mentioned earlier. However, in order to do that he would have to beat the two-time former champion and current Masters holder Judd Trump in what is a very tough match, especially under this kind of added pressure.
There is also plenty of pressure on Northern Ireland's Gerard Greene. He would close to within the all-important £10,000 of the top 64 on the end-of-season list with two wins in China, but that will be a big ask for him. Currently, Greene is 14th in the NAQ category of the one-season list. However, he would move ahead of joint 8th placed Rory McLeod and James Cahill plus 7th placed Joe Swail with a last 64 win over Chris Wakelin and if he does not succumb to the pressure, he has a reasonable chance of getting over the line in that game, having beaten Graeme Dott to qualify.
Rod Lawler also collected an impressive win in qualifying, thrashing Martin Gould to keep alive any hopes that he has of being on the tour next season, without having to go to Q School. He is nearly £53,000 outside of top 64 on the end-of-season list so would need a miracle there, but is a place above Greene in 13th in the NAQ category of the one-season list. Like Greene, he would move ahead of Rory McLeod, James Cahill and Joe Swail and within touching distance of Duane Jones with a last 64 victory over Thor Chuan Leong. Thor overcame Michael White in qualifying, but that is an incredibly winnable game for Lawler and gives him an excellent chance of climbing into position for a new tour card on the one-season list.
Kyren Wilson is both a contender this week in Beijing but also looking further ahead to the World Championships. He has gone slightly quiet since winning the German Masters back in February, losing early in Cardiff, as well as both first round matches narrowly in the Players Championship and Tour Championships. His last 16 exit in the Gibraltar Open to Robert Milkins was also a little bit of a surprise and his first round opponent this week not only beat Milkins to make the semi-finals that weekend, but also beat Wilson convincingly over the best-of-11 frames at the same stage of the International Championship. Yuan Sijun has had an excellent season, sitting in joint 19th on the provisional season list and is now well established in the top 64 in just his second season on the tour. Having reached a few quarter-finals he finally progressed to a semi back in Gibraltar and will be high on confidence as he takes on Wilson in what has the potential to be a last 64 giant-killing.
Jack Lisowski was a semi-finalist in his last visit to China at the International Championships and is a twice former China Open quarter-finalist back in 2013 and last year. His last appearance on the baize saw him suffer an early exit at the Gibraltar Open, after losing the final of the Championship League and falling to a 6-5 loss in the quarter-finals of the Players Championship from 5-2 up against Judd Trump. Lisowski is also on a run of losing four ranking event deciders in a row, after a 4-3 loss to Joe Swail in the last 64 of the Indian Open, followed a 4-3 loss in the last 16 of the Welsh Open, as his luck has seemingly run out after starting that event by winning three successive deciders. Amazingly, Lisowski has also played Trump on four occasions already this season, with his only win coming in the International Championship by a 6-2 score and the pair could make it five meetings here if they both come through the opening two rounds.
Judd Trump is a two-time China Open winner and after his breakthrough here in 2011 this tournament will always be special for him. He comes into it this year in the form of his life having won the Masters as well as the World Grand Prix and the Northern Ireland Open this season. He will certainly have an eye now on claiming that first world title but there is plenty to play for this week for Trump. He comes into this after that very tough Tour Championship semi-final loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan on the final black and prior to that he lost narrowly in the Players Championship semi-final to Neil Robertson. In the last few months Trump has been consistently reaching the latter stages and over the best-of-11 format it is hard to see more than a couple of players in this quarter that can really trouble him as he looks for another deep run.
Stuart Bingham is my third quarter choice as one of those players that is a threat to Trump. Bingham has had a good season, winning the English Open and the recent Gibraltar Open as well as making the Welsh Open final. In both that Cardiff run and the Gibraltar run he was a scoring machine making centuries aplenty and if he can keep that up over a sightly longer format then he will take some serious stopping. At seventh on this season's money list he has shown some consistency ever since winning the English in October, making the UK Championship semi-finals, which is played over the same distance as this event in the early stages and again provides plenty of reasons to believe that he can really go deep this week in Beijing.
Best of the rest: Judd Trump
Quarter choice: Stuart Bingham
There is also plenty of pressure on Northern Ireland's Gerard Greene. He would close to within the all-important £10,000 of the top 64 on the end-of-season list with two wins in China, but that will be a big ask for him. Currently, Greene is 14th in the NAQ category of the one-season list. However, he would move ahead of joint 8th placed Rory McLeod and James Cahill plus 7th placed Joe Swail with a last 64 win over Chris Wakelin and if he does not succumb to the pressure, he has a reasonable chance of getting over the line in that game, having beaten Graeme Dott to qualify.
Rod Lawler also collected an impressive win in qualifying, thrashing Martin Gould to keep alive any hopes that he has of being on the tour next season, without having to go to Q School. He is nearly £53,000 outside of top 64 on the end-of-season list so would need a miracle there, but is a place above Greene in 13th in the NAQ category of the one-season list. Like Greene, he would move ahead of Rory McLeod, James Cahill and Joe Swail and within touching distance of Duane Jones with a last 64 victory over Thor Chuan Leong. Thor overcame Michael White in qualifying, but that is an incredibly winnable game for Lawler and gives him an excellent chance of climbing into position for a new tour card on the one-season list.
Kyren Wilson is both a contender this week in Beijing but also looking further ahead to the World Championships. He has gone slightly quiet since winning the German Masters back in February, losing early in Cardiff, as well as both first round matches narrowly in the Players Championship and Tour Championships. His last 16 exit in the Gibraltar Open to Robert Milkins was also a little bit of a surprise and his first round opponent this week not only beat Milkins to make the semi-finals that weekend, but also beat Wilson convincingly over the best-of-11 frames at the same stage of the International Championship. Yuan Sijun has had an excellent season, sitting in joint 19th on the provisional season list and is now well established in the top 64 in just his second season on the tour. Having reached a few quarter-finals he finally progressed to a semi back in Gibraltar and will be high on confidence as he takes on Wilson in what has the potential to be a last 64 giant-killing.
Jack Lisowski was a semi-finalist in his last visit to China at the International Championships and is a twice former China Open quarter-finalist back in 2013 and last year. His last appearance on the baize saw him suffer an early exit at the Gibraltar Open, after losing the final of the Championship League and falling to a 6-5 loss in the quarter-finals of the Players Championship from 5-2 up against Judd Trump. Lisowski is also on a run of losing four ranking event deciders in a row, after a 4-3 loss to Joe Swail in the last 64 of the Indian Open, followed a 4-3 loss in the last 16 of the Welsh Open, as his luck has seemingly run out after starting that event by winning three successive deciders. Amazingly, Lisowski has also played Trump on four occasions already this season, with his only win coming in the International Championship by a 6-2 score and the pair could make it five meetings here if they both come through the opening two rounds.
Judd Trump is a two-time China Open winner and after his breakthrough here in 2011 this tournament will always be special for him. He comes into it this year in the form of his life having won the Masters as well as the World Grand Prix and the Northern Ireland Open this season. He will certainly have an eye now on claiming that first world title but there is plenty to play for this week for Trump. He comes into this after that very tough Tour Championship semi-final loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan on the final black and prior to that he lost narrowly in the Players Championship semi-final to Neil Robertson. In the last few months Trump has been consistently reaching the latter stages and over the best-of-11 format it is hard to see more than a couple of players in this quarter that can really trouble him as he looks for another deep run.
Stuart Bingham is my third quarter choice as one of those players that is a threat to Trump. Bingham has had a good season, winning the English Open and the recent Gibraltar Open as well as making the Welsh Open final. In both that Cardiff run and the Gibraltar run he was a scoring machine making centuries aplenty and if he can keep that up over a sightly longer format then he will take some serious stopping. At seventh on this season's money list he has shown some consistency ever since winning the English in October, making the UK Championship semi-finals, which is played over the same distance as this event in the early stages and again provides plenty of reasons to believe that he can really go deep this week in Beijing.
Best of the rest: Judd Trump
Quarter choice: Stuart Bingham
Quarter 4
Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)
Ding Junhui or Zhang Jiankang Vs James Wattana
Lu Haotian Vs Oliver Lines
Andrew Higginson Vs Adam Stefanow
Ben Woollaston Vs Ashley Carty
Joe Perry or Wu Yize Vs Scott Donaldson
David Gilbert Vs Matthew Selt
Ricky Walden Vs Mark Davis or Chang Bingyu
Mark Williams or Harvey Chandler Vs Ken Doherty
Joe Perry still has a decent enough chance of qualifying automatically for the Crucible, by climbing into the top 16 with a good run in Beijing this week. Perry must make at least the semi-finals but would be less reliant on the results of other players as he would be due to meet provisional number 16 David Gilbert in the last 32. His last 128 match was heldover so he takes on Chinese wildcard Wu Yize for a last 64 place against Scott Donaldson, who recently made it to the quarter-finals in both the Welsh Open and the Indian Open. After Perry's last 128 exit in Gibraltar, he may be slightly vulnerable here early on against a good player in Donaldson and his hopes of avoiding the World Championship qualifiers may come to an abrupt early end this week.
Ricky Walden is a former China Open finalist, having reached the big finale in this event three years ago now. Famously, his three ranking event wins have all come in China and he would have been desperate to win the biggest of the lot back in 2016, but fell short against Judd Trump. He has suffered a pretty quiet season overall, but will be looking to find some form here in Beijing ahead of the World Championship qualifiers and he is still more than capable of picking up a few victories this week and being a potential darkhorse in this bottom section.
David Gilbert is the man with the weight of the world on his shoulders this week. He is of course provisional number 16 on the Crucible seedings list and will be looking over his shoulder as this tournament progresses through the week. Frankly, he has had chances in the last few weeks to put this to bed, most notably losing to provisional number 17 Ryan Day in Gibraltar, when a win there could have opened the door to qualifying for the lucrative Tour Championship. He also suffered a first round loss in the Players Championship and a last 64 exit out at the Indian Open, despite leading Elliot Slessor 3-1 in that race to four, having also lost out 4-3 in the first round of the Welsh Open. Those early exits may be a small sign that the pressure could get to him this week and he will hardly be overjoyed to be facing new Indian Open winner Matthew Selt in the last 64. Selt will be playing full of confidence and compared to Gilbert, he also has nothing to lose. A couple of wins to reach the last 16 would make the task of the chasing pack significantly harder, but as it stands he could lose in round one or two and nearest challenger Day would still need to reach the quarter-finals.
Mark Williams is someone that has really done some damage in this tournament in years gone by. He was a losing finalist here as recently as two years ago, as well as winning the title in 2002, 2006 and 2010. This season he has won again in China, taking home the World Open title in Yushan back in the summer and now the world champion will be hoping to find his form ahead of his title defence. Despite blowing an 8-5 lead to lose 9-8 against Judd Trump in the first round, the Tour Championship saw the Welshman show some more positive signs, but on the whole it has been a quiet few months for him. He lost early in the World Grand Prix and the Welsh Open, as well as in the first round of the Masters so he could certainly do with a confidence boost and there is nothing like a tournament where you have plenty of good memories to try and do that. His heldover match with Harvey Chandler should be no problem and while there are a few obstacles in his half of this quarter, a closer look would show an excellent chance for him to make the quarters and maybe even go a lot further.
Ding Junhui is my fourth and final quarter choice. The home favourite will be looking to complete a hat-trick of China Open titles, having won back in 2005 and 2014, as well as a further final in 2010, and four further semi-finals in 2006, 2011, 2012 and 2015. It may have been a largely quiet season for Ding, but he has only played in eight ranking events, the last of which was at the Welsh Open where he lost in the last 16. Before that he lost in the quarter-finals of the German Masters, the semi-finals of the Masters and lost in the last 16 of his last three ranking events prior to Christmas. He has not been playing badly by any means but has just not quite been as sharp as he would like. Now though, he will be feeling fresh and should be ready and focused for an assault on both this title and an attempt at winning his first world title as well. His record in this event shows that he is never far away and the draw is open after the likes of Shaun Murphy and Jimmy Robertson failed to qualify, meaning 31st placed Lu Haotian is the next highest ranked player in Ding's half of this quarter. It has the look of a draw where Ding could probably play through some rustiness in the first couple of games and potentially save some energy for the latter stages, which would be particularly handy if he can reach the best-of-19 frame semi-finals. Any season where the 13 time ranking event winner is not in the winners circle just does not feel quite right so perhaps this is the week where someone fresh and hopefully hungry like Ding could so some serious damage.
Best of the rest: Mark Williams
Quarter choice: Ding Junhui
Tournament winner selection: Ding Junhui
All of the matches in the early rounds in Beijing are the best-of-11 frames, before Saturday's two-session best-of-19 frame semi-finals and the best-of-21 frame final that will conclude the week.
All of the action will be available to watch in the UK and in Europe via Eurosport TV and on the Eurosport Player and keep an eye on the blog throughout the week, for round-by-round updates including the latest news on tour survival and the battle for those all-important Crucible seedings.
Ricky Walden is a former China Open finalist, having reached the big finale in this event three years ago now. Famously, his three ranking event wins have all come in China and he would have been desperate to win the biggest of the lot back in 2016, but fell short against Judd Trump. He has suffered a pretty quiet season overall, but will be looking to find some form here in Beijing ahead of the World Championship qualifiers and he is still more than capable of picking up a few victories this week and being a potential darkhorse in this bottom section.
David Gilbert is the man with the weight of the world on his shoulders this week. He is of course provisional number 16 on the Crucible seedings list and will be looking over his shoulder as this tournament progresses through the week. Frankly, he has had chances in the last few weeks to put this to bed, most notably losing to provisional number 17 Ryan Day in Gibraltar, when a win there could have opened the door to qualifying for the lucrative Tour Championship. He also suffered a first round loss in the Players Championship and a last 64 exit out at the Indian Open, despite leading Elliot Slessor 3-1 in that race to four, having also lost out 4-3 in the first round of the Welsh Open. Those early exits may be a small sign that the pressure could get to him this week and he will hardly be overjoyed to be facing new Indian Open winner Matthew Selt in the last 64. Selt will be playing full of confidence and compared to Gilbert, he also has nothing to lose. A couple of wins to reach the last 16 would make the task of the chasing pack significantly harder, but as it stands he could lose in round one or two and nearest challenger Day would still need to reach the quarter-finals.
Mark Williams is someone that has really done some damage in this tournament in years gone by. He was a losing finalist here as recently as two years ago, as well as winning the title in 2002, 2006 and 2010. This season he has won again in China, taking home the World Open title in Yushan back in the summer and now the world champion will be hoping to find his form ahead of his title defence. Despite blowing an 8-5 lead to lose 9-8 against Judd Trump in the first round, the Tour Championship saw the Welshman show some more positive signs, but on the whole it has been a quiet few months for him. He lost early in the World Grand Prix and the Welsh Open, as well as in the first round of the Masters so he could certainly do with a confidence boost and there is nothing like a tournament where you have plenty of good memories to try and do that. His heldover match with Harvey Chandler should be no problem and while there are a few obstacles in his half of this quarter, a closer look would show an excellent chance for him to make the quarters and maybe even go a lot further.
Ding Junhui is my fourth and final quarter choice. The home favourite will be looking to complete a hat-trick of China Open titles, having won back in 2005 and 2014, as well as a further final in 2010, and four further semi-finals in 2006, 2011, 2012 and 2015. It may have been a largely quiet season for Ding, but he has only played in eight ranking events, the last of which was at the Welsh Open where he lost in the last 16. Before that he lost in the quarter-finals of the German Masters, the semi-finals of the Masters and lost in the last 16 of his last three ranking events prior to Christmas. He has not been playing badly by any means but has just not quite been as sharp as he would like. Now though, he will be feeling fresh and should be ready and focused for an assault on both this title and an attempt at winning his first world title as well. His record in this event shows that he is never far away and the draw is open after the likes of Shaun Murphy and Jimmy Robertson failed to qualify, meaning 31st placed Lu Haotian is the next highest ranked player in Ding's half of this quarter. It has the look of a draw where Ding could probably play through some rustiness in the first couple of games and potentially save some energy for the latter stages, which would be particularly handy if he can reach the best-of-19 frame semi-finals. Any season where the 13 time ranking event winner is not in the winners circle just does not feel quite right so perhaps this is the week where someone fresh and hopefully hungry like Ding could so some serious damage.
Best of the rest: Mark Williams
Quarter choice: Ding Junhui
Tournament winner selection: Ding Junhui
All of the matches in the early rounds in Beijing are the best-of-11 frames, before Saturday's two-session best-of-19 frame semi-finals and the best-of-21 frame final that will conclude the week.
All of the action will be available to watch in the UK and in Europe via Eurosport TV and on the Eurosport Player and keep an eye on the blog throughout the week, for round-by-round updates including the latest news on tour survival and the battle for those all-important Crucible seedings.
Sunday, 24 March 2019
Fantasy Snooker: Points update and China Open info
Just two events remain in the Fantasy Snooker season and it is all to play for after events in the recent Gibraltar Open.
Stuart Bingham took the title there defeating Ryan Day in the final and for those that picked Bingham there was a massive points haul that has seen some big movers at the top of the overall standings.
Matt Butler still leads the way at the top but his 74 point lead has been cut to just 31 by defending champion Kellie Barker, after she selected Bingham for Gibraltar and moved back ahead of Ryan Duckett, who remains 73 points behind Butler. Duckett is now 73 points clear of fourth place which is now LTD Syndicate, after another successful Bingham picker climbs up four places.
Pete Tscherewik is the big mover this week though after his pick on Bingham for Gibraltar alongside quarter-finalist David Gilbert saw him move up 12 places from 19th to 7th. It's all very tight though at the moment with fifth placed ex-snooker player Munraj Pal just 26 points clear of 13th place and with a lot of points to play for in the final two events there could be plenty of late movers yet.
Here is how the standings look after the Gibraltar Open:
So as you can see there's plenty at stake yet and next up on the calendar is the China Open which starts in the early hours of Monday April 1.
For a point of clarification, the tournament features eight heldover last 128 games featuring the likes of Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Mark Allen and Ding Junhui. These matches DO NOT count to the final standings so do not fall into the trap of picking one of these players thinking that there is an extra match to earn points in.
Another thing to remind all players of is the rule that you can only pick any individual player three times over the course of the season. So with just China and the World Championships to go, here are all of the players that each Fantasy Snooker participant has already selected on three occasions this season - and cannot select again:
With all of this in mind get your two picks for the China Open in to me by Monday April 1 at 2.30am UK time. On top of this, do not forget when selecting these players that the season-ending World Championships is worth double points.
All the best to each of the participants ahead of the penultimate set of Fantasy Snooker picks.
Stuart Bingham took the title there defeating Ryan Day in the final and for those that picked Bingham there was a massive points haul that has seen some big movers at the top of the overall standings.
Matt Butler still leads the way at the top but his 74 point lead has been cut to just 31 by defending champion Kellie Barker, after she selected Bingham for Gibraltar and moved back ahead of Ryan Duckett, who remains 73 points behind Butler. Duckett is now 73 points clear of fourth place which is now LTD Syndicate, after another successful Bingham picker climbs up four places.
Pete Tscherewik is the big mover this week though after his pick on Bingham for Gibraltar alongside quarter-finalist David Gilbert saw him move up 12 places from 19th to 7th. It's all very tight though at the moment with fifth placed ex-snooker player Munraj Pal just 26 points clear of 13th place and with a lot of points to play for in the final two events there could be plenty of late movers yet.
Here is how the standings look after the Gibraltar Open:
Matt Butler 1082
Kellie Barker 1051
Ryan Duckett 1009
LTD Syndicate 936
Munraj Pal 908
Rob Francis 906
Pete Tscherewik 892
Phil Mudd 891
Daz Muckian 889
Cluster of Reds 889
Kim Kristensen 885
Daniel Gavin 884
Rob Chipp 882
Stephen McCabe 871
Anatole Compton 870
The Cue View 854
Tungsten Darts 845
FAM147 833
Anthony (antow73) 815
Andy (APB147) 813
Alex Abrahams 805
Daniela Reich 785
Shaun Hunt 768
Martin Pearlman 762
Chris Watts 759
Dani M (esnukero) 758
Phil Robinson 733
Voihelevettisua 724
Markus 698
Steven Bunn 686
Debbie Dymott 685
Kelvin Platten 619
Andrew Devonshire 576
So as you can see there's plenty at stake yet and next up on the calendar is the China Open which starts in the early hours of Monday April 1.
For a point of clarification, the tournament features eight heldover last 128 games featuring the likes of Mark Selby, Mark Williams, Mark Allen and Ding Junhui. These matches DO NOT count to the final standings so do not fall into the trap of picking one of these players thinking that there is an extra match to earn points in.
Another thing to remind all players of is the rule that you can only pick any individual player three times over the course of the season. So with just China and the World Championships to go, here are all of the players that each Fantasy Snooker participant has already selected on three occasions this season - and cannot select again:
Matt Butler: Neil Robertson, Stuart Bingham, Judd Trump, Ding
Junhui, Barry Hawkins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Ryan Day.
Ryan Duckett: Mark Allen, Judd Trump, Barry Hawkins, Kyren
Wilson.
Kellie Barker: Jack Lisowski, Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson,
Stuart Bingham
Rob Chipp: Jack Lisowski, Neil Robertson, Stuart Bingham,
Shaun Murphy.
Daz Muckian: Luca Brecel, Neil Robertson, Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Munraj Pal: John Higgins, Mark Selby, Mark Williams.
Phil Mudd: Jack Lisowski, Mark Williams, Neil Robertson, Ronnie
O’Sullivan, Judd Trump.
LTD Syndicate: Judd Trump, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson, Joe
Perry, Stuart Bingham.
Anatole Compton: Mark Selby, Ding Junhui.
Stephen McCabe: Barry Hawkins, Stuart Bingham, Mark Allen,
Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson.
TungstenDarts: Judd Trump, Jack Lisowski, Shaun Murphy, Neil
Robertson, Stuart Bingham, Ding Junhui.
Cluster of Reds: Stuart Bingham, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Kyren
Wilson.
Kim Kristensen: Neil Robertson, Judd Trump, Ronnie
O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, Ding Junhui.
FAM147: Neil Robertson.
The Cue View: Judd Trump.
Andy (APB147): Mark Allen, Stuart Bingham, Neil Robertson.
Rob Francis: Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Mark Allen, Ding
Junhui, Barry Hawkins, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Williams, Neil Robertson, Stuart
Bingham.
Daniel Gavin: Ryan Day.
Pete Tscherewik: Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Willliams, Judd
Trump.
Anthony (antow73): Kyren Wilson, Barry Hawkins, Mark Allen.
Daniela Reich: Mark Williams, David Gilbert, Shaun Murphy.
Alex Abrahams: Stuart Bingham, Barry Hawkins, Ding Junhui,
Judd Trump, Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Martin Pearlman: Stephen Maguire, Neil Robertson, Stuart
Bingham, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby.
Dani M (esnukero): Stuart Bingham, Judd Trump, Ding Junhui,
Ronnie O’Sullivan, David Gilbert.
Chris Watts: Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen.
Shaun Hunt: Mark Allen, Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy.
Voihelevettisua: Kyren Wilson, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark
Allen, Barry Hawkins, Shaun Murphy.
Debbie Dymott: Jack Lisowski, Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Phil Robinson: Neil Robertson, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark
Selby, Mark Allen, Joe Perry.
Steven Bunn: Stephen Maguire, Ali Carter, Ricky Walden.
Markus: Judd Trump, Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson, Mark
Selby, Mark Allen, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Ding Junhui.
Andrew Devonshire: Judd Trump, Stuart Bingham, Neil
Robertson, Mark Selby, Mark Williams.
Kelvin Platten: Kyren Wilson, Mark Williams, Neil Robertson,
Mark Selby, Stuart Bingham.
With all of this in mind get your two picks for the China Open in to me by Monday April 1 at 2.30am UK time. On top of this, do not forget when selecting these players that the season-ending World Championships is worth double points.
All the best to each of the participants ahead of the penultimate set of Fantasy Snooker picks.
Monday, 18 March 2019
Tour Championship Preview
Tuesday sees the beginning of a new event to the snooker tour, as the Coral series concludes with the Tour Championships.
With Judd Trump beating Ali Carter to win the first event of the series in February's 32-man World Grand Prix in Cheltenham, before Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Neil Robertson to win the 16-man Players Championship just over a week ago in Preston, the top eight players on the one-season ranking list will compete for the Tour Championship title in Llandudno.
Mark Allen has been the top seed throughout the series and retains that rank coming here, just ahead of Players Champion O'Sullivan and Grand Prix winner Trump. Players runner-up Robertson is the fourth seed, with World number one Mark Selby, World Champion Mark Williams, English Open winner Stuart Bingham and German Masters champion Kyren Wilson completing the line-up.
The six day event sees quarter-finals over the first two days in a best-of-17 frame format, before best-of-19 frame semi-finals and a best-of-25 frame final over three sessions, in what will be an interesting marker just a month before the World Championships gets underway.
In an interesting move, this event does count towards the rankings, including the £20,000 that the four quarter-final losers will receive just for qualifying. Having qualified, the eight players are very strongly placed in the two-year ranking list anyway and this tournament will simply serve to put them even further ahead of everyone else. John Higgins is the only member of the provisional top eight in the two-year rankings not to have qualified.
With Judd Trump beating Ali Carter to win the first event of the series in February's 32-man World Grand Prix in Cheltenham, before Ronnie O'Sullivan defeated Neil Robertson to win the 16-man Players Championship just over a week ago in Preston, the top eight players on the one-season ranking list will compete for the Tour Championship title in Llandudno.
Mark Allen has been the top seed throughout the series and retains that rank coming here, just ahead of Players Champion O'Sullivan and Grand Prix winner Trump. Players runner-up Robertson is the fourth seed, with World number one Mark Selby, World Champion Mark Williams, English Open winner Stuart Bingham and German Masters champion Kyren Wilson completing the line-up.
The six day event sees quarter-finals over the first two days in a best-of-17 frame format, before best-of-19 frame semi-finals and a best-of-25 frame final over three sessions, in what will be an interesting marker just a month before the World Championships gets underway.
In an interesting move, this event does count towards the rankings, including the £20,000 that the four quarter-final losers will receive just for qualifying. Having qualified, the eight players are very strongly placed in the two-year ranking list anyway and this tournament will simply serve to put them even further ahead of everyone else. John Higgins is the only member of the provisional top eight in the two-year rankings not to have qualified.
Quarter-Final 1
Mark Allen Vs Kyren Wilson (Wednesday 20th March 1pm and 7pm)
The top of the draw is where International and Scottish Open champion Mark Allen is found as he takes on German Masters winner Kyren Wilson. These two have played in a number of big matches over the last year or so, most recently in the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions in a match Wilson would win 6-5. Before that they faced off in last season's World Championship quarter-finals with Wilson winning convincingly there, avenging his previous loss to Allen in the 2018 Masters final.
This is probably the hardest of the four quarter-finals to call on paper. Allen had an excellent first half of the season winning his two titles and reaching the UK Championship final, but he has gone a bit more quiet since Christmas. Proving that point is the fact that he has only played in four tournaments since winning in Glasgow. His Masters defence ended at the first hurdle, before he walked out of his last 16 match at the World Grand Prix and followed that with a last 32 loss in Wales. Signs were better at the Players Championship as he won two matches to make the semi-finals, beating Stuart Bingham from 3-0 down in the quarter-finals, before losing 6-0 to O'Sullivan.
Wilson meanwhile comes into this straight from Gibraltar where he lost at the last 16 stage to Robert Milkins, leaving him hoping that David Gilbert would not make the final to steal the final spot in this tournament from him. Prior to that he lost in the first round of the Players Championship to Jack Lisowski and suffered a last 64 loss in Cardiff and by far his brightest moment of the year was his German Masters victory in early February.
For me there is not much between these two players whatsoever. Allen has kicked his game up a level with his performances in the calendar year of 2018 but 2019 has not quite got going yet. With the big money China Open to follow this though before the big one in Sheffield, now is the perfect time to be coming back fresher. Wilson though has looked good over the long format in the last two or three World Championships and will be looking to show again this week that he is right up there as one of this year's Crucible contenders.
This is probably the hardest of the four quarter-finals to call on paper. Allen had an excellent first half of the season winning his two titles and reaching the UK Championship final, but he has gone a bit more quiet since Christmas. Proving that point is the fact that he has only played in four tournaments since winning in Glasgow. His Masters defence ended at the first hurdle, before he walked out of his last 16 match at the World Grand Prix and followed that with a last 32 loss in Wales. Signs were better at the Players Championship as he won two matches to make the semi-finals, beating Stuart Bingham from 3-0 down in the quarter-finals, before losing 6-0 to O'Sullivan.
Wilson meanwhile comes into this straight from Gibraltar where he lost at the last 16 stage to Robert Milkins, leaving him hoping that David Gilbert would not make the final to steal the final spot in this tournament from him. Prior to that he lost in the first round of the Players Championship to Jack Lisowski and suffered a last 64 loss in Cardiff and by far his brightest moment of the year was his German Masters victory in early February.
For me there is not much between these two players whatsoever. Allen has kicked his game up a level with his performances in the calendar year of 2018 but 2019 has not quite got going yet. With the big money China Open to follow this though before the big one in Sheffield, now is the perfect time to be coming back fresher. Wilson though has looked good over the long format in the last two or three World Championships and will be looking to show again this week that he is right up there as one of this year's Crucible contenders.
Prediction: Allen to just pull away late on - 9-7.
Quarter-Final 2
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Selby (Tuesday 19th March 1pm and 7pm)
The other quarter-final in this top half of the draw sees Riga Masters and Welsh Open champion Neil Robertson facing China Champion Mark Selby. These two have played a couple of times earlier this season with Robertson winning on both occasions. The first was in the quarter-finals of the International Championship, with the Australian eventually making the final, while the other saw Selby make a 147 in a losing cause in Coventry. To find the last time these two played in anything longer than a best-of-11 though, you have to go back five years to their World Championship semi-final.
Robertson is the fourth seed this week, just ahead of Selby despite Selby winning a tournament worth £150,000 early on in the season. For Robertson this has been one of his best season's in a long time. Four ranking finals overall, winning in Riga and Cardiff while losing in the International Championship and just over a week ago in Preston. Since that final, he has become a Dad for the second time, with his wife giving birth to their baby daughter in just the last couple of days. Whether that may affect his game in Llandudno this week remains to be seen, but a few days away from the practice table should not hurt given the form he has been in lately. He really is back to his best and is probably the one player you would pick from the four in the top half of the draw to make the final in my opinion. A big week here over the long format, starting with a win over the man to have won three of the last five World Championships, would give further confirmation if any is needed that he is one of the favourites for Sheffield this year.
Selby meanwhile has not actually had the best of seasons and for the first time in ages - is under threat at the top of the world rankings. If O'Sullivan out performs or even just matches him this week and Selby fails to do enough in Beijing to overturn the gap then O'Sullivan will arrive in Sheffield as world number one. Selby lost out in round one last time out at the Players Championship 6-4 to John Higgins, following a last 16 exit at the Welsh Open. His quarter-final efforts in the Grand Prix and the Masters were ended handsomely by Judd Trump on both occasions and let's not forget that amateur James Cahill took him out in the last 128 of the UK Championships. Even when he has had good runs this season - winning the China Championships and making the semi-finals in Northern Ireland - he did not have to beat any top players along the way. In fact he has only beaten top 16 players on three occasions in big events this year (Higgins at the China Championship, Maguire at the Masters and Murphy in the World Grand Prix), something that may worry his fans coming into three massive events to finish the season.
Over this long format though Selby can never be ruled out. After all anyone that can win three out of five World Championships can win three matches against top eight players in this event to take home the trophy. Purely based on form though, one of these two players is at the top of his game right now and another will be hoping to find something before the season ends.
Robertson is the fourth seed this week, just ahead of Selby despite Selby winning a tournament worth £150,000 early on in the season. For Robertson this has been one of his best season's in a long time. Four ranking finals overall, winning in Riga and Cardiff while losing in the International Championship and just over a week ago in Preston. Since that final, he has become a Dad for the second time, with his wife giving birth to their baby daughter in just the last couple of days. Whether that may affect his game in Llandudno this week remains to be seen, but a few days away from the practice table should not hurt given the form he has been in lately. He really is back to his best and is probably the one player you would pick from the four in the top half of the draw to make the final in my opinion. A big week here over the long format, starting with a win over the man to have won three of the last five World Championships, would give further confirmation if any is needed that he is one of the favourites for Sheffield this year.
Selby meanwhile has not actually had the best of seasons and for the first time in ages - is under threat at the top of the world rankings. If O'Sullivan out performs or even just matches him this week and Selby fails to do enough in Beijing to overturn the gap then O'Sullivan will arrive in Sheffield as world number one. Selby lost out in round one last time out at the Players Championship 6-4 to John Higgins, following a last 16 exit at the Welsh Open. His quarter-final efforts in the Grand Prix and the Masters were ended handsomely by Judd Trump on both occasions and let's not forget that amateur James Cahill took him out in the last 128 of the UK Championships. Even when he has had good runs this season - winning the China Championships and making the semi-finals in Northern Ireland - he did not have to beat any top players along the way. In fact he has only beaten top 16 players on three occasions in big events this year (Higgins at the China Championship, Maguire at the Masters and Murphy in the World Grand Prix), something that may worry his fans coming into three massive events to finish the season.
Over this long format though Selby can never be ruled out. After all anyone that can win three out of five World Championships can win three matches against top eight players in this event to take home the trophy. Purely based on form though, one of these two players is at the top of his game right now and another will be hoping to find something before the season ends.
Prediction: Robertson to come out a 9-6 winner
Quarter-Final 3
Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams (Tuesday 19th March 1pm and Wednesday 20th 1pm)
As we move into the bottom half of the draw, we find Masters champion Judd Trump taking on World Champion Mark Williams. After a spell of playing each other seven times in 2015 and 2016 combined, these two left-handers have only faced once in the last two and a half years, with Williams winning 6-1 in the 2018 German Masters semi-finals and for two top players they have never played a match longer than a best-of-11.
Williams may be World Champion but right now Trump is the man everyone wants to beat. As well as lifting the Masters in emphatic style in January, he won the Northern Ireland Open in November and February's World Grand Prix. He only missed out narrowly on another final in Preston, falling 6-4 at the semi-final stage to Robertson despite leading 3-1 at the interval and even when he has not been winning he has had plenty of quarter-finals as well as a semi-final in Scotland too. He's scoring for fun this season, with a monumental 68 centuries already and while he probably won't match Neil Robertson's century of centuries from a few seasons ago, deep runs here, in Beijing and in Sheffield in long format tournaments could see him get very close. After all, he is not even 30 until August and he has already reached the 600 mark for career centuries which just shows the level of scoring he has produced so regularly.
As for Mark Williams, the majority of his money from this season was made early on as he won the second tournament of the season - the World Open. Since then he has only actually reached two ranking event quarter-finals, one coming in Berlin at the German Masters before a 5-0 loss to Kyren Wilson and the other at the Players Championship where he only had to record the 6-2 victory against Ali Carter to do so. In the middle of the season in around October and November he was struggling badly but has looked better of late despite the results not quite backing that up yet. He looked good in the World Grand Prix for example but suffered a 4-3 first round loss to an equally good Yuan Sijun on that day. Having said all of this, last season was a massive achievement for him given that just two years ago he failed to even qualify for the Crucible.
Trump is full of confidence though at the moment and if he is on top of his game here against Williams, it will highlight any mistakes that the Welshman makes over the two sessions. If Williams can find some form this does have the potential to go close, but if he is not quite on top of things, the punishment will be severe and the match could slip away quite quickly.
Williams may be World Champion but right now Trump is the man everyone wants to beat. As well as lifting the Masters in emphatic style in January, he won the Northern Ireland Open in November and February's World Grand Prix. He only missed out narrowly on another final in Preston, falling 6-4 at the semi-final stage to Robertson despite leading 3-1 at the interval and even when he has not been winning he has had plenty of quarter-finals as well as a semi-final in Scotland too. He's scoring for fun this season, with a monumental 68 centuries already and while he probably won't match Neil Robertson's century of centuries from a few seasons ago, deep runs here, in Beijing and in Sheffield in long format tournaments could see him get very close. After all, he is not even 30 until August and he has already reached the 600 mark for career centuries which just shows the level of scoring he has produced so regularly.
As for Mark Williams, the majority of his money from this season was made early on as he won the second tournament of the season - the World Open. Since then he has only actually reached two ranking event quarter-finals, one coming in Berlin at the German Masters before a 5-0 loss to Kyren Wilson and the other at the Players Championship where he only had to record the 6-2 victory against Ali Carter to do so. In the middle of the season in around October and November he was struggling badly but has looked better of late despite the results not quite backing that up yet. He looked good in the World Grand Prix for example but suffered a 4-3 first round loss to an equally good Yuan Sijun on that day. Having said all of this, last season was a massive achievement for him given that just two years ago he failed to even qualify for the Crucible.
Trump is full of confidence though at the moment and if he is on top of his game here against Williams, it will highlight any mistakes that the Welshman makes over the two sessions. If Williams can find some form this does have the potential to go close, but if he is not quite on top of things, the punishment will be severe and the match could slip away quite quickly.
Prediction: Trump to win 9-5.
Quarter-Final 4
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham (Tuesday 19th March 7pm and Wednesday 20th 7pm)
Finally, the bottom of the draw is where we find the winners of the last two events. Ronnie O'Sullivan was victorious in Preston at the Players Championship while Stuart Bingham comes into this after a successful weekend in Gibraltar. This will also be their fourth meeting of the season, having previously met in the Shanghai Masters where O'Sullivan won 6-2, the Champion of Champions with the Rocket taking that won 4-2 and he completed the hat-trick in January's Masters with another 6-2 win.
That does not necessarily bode well for Bingham but he has been in good form over the last couple of months. Last weekend in Gibraltar he may have been the highest ranked player on the one-year list to enter, but he certainly took advantage. Overall, he made nine centuries over his 28 frames won and only dropped one frame in the final three matches on Sunday. This came after a narrow quarter-final loss in Preston (where he would have played O'Sullivan in the semi's) falling from 3-0 up against Mark Allen, and another tough defeat to Lu Ning in the last 16 in India. Prior to that, Bingham was a scoring machine again on the way to the final in Cardiff, as well as winning the English Open and making the UK Championship final earlier in the season.
As for O'Sullivan he has been in the latter stages of almost everything he has entered in the 2018/2019 season. He started his season in September with a win in Shanghai, before also winning the Champion of Champions and the UK Championship. Only Judd Trump was able to stop him at the final stage of both the Northern Ireland Open and the Masters, but O'Sullivan's fourth title of the season would come just over a week ago. But for a couple of weeks in February where he lost early in the Grand Prix and the Welsh Open, he has really taking some stopping again this season. The one worry his fans may have here in his last event before another assault on the World Championships are his comments about longer matches. He does not seem to like his chances as much in tournaments with multi-session matches and what he gets up to this week in Llandudno could prove a big marker for how he does in Sheffield next month.
Overall, Bingham's recent form would suggest he can push O'Sullivan a lot closer than he has on his previous attempts this season, but O'Sullivan has taken some serious stopping all season long and is once again the favourite to walk away with the title on Sunday night.
That does not necessarily bode well for Bingham but he has been in good form over the last couple of months. Last weekend in Gibraltar he may have been the highest ranked player on the one-year list to enter, but he certainly took advantage. Overall, he made nine centuries over his 28 frames won and only dropped one frame in the final three matches on Sunday. This came after a narrow quarter-final loss in Preston (where he would have played O'Sullivan in the semi's) falling from 3-0 up against Mark Allen, and another tough defeat to Lu Ning in the last 16 in India. Prior to that, Bingham was a scoring machine again on the way to the final in Cardiff, as well as winning the English Open and making the UK Championship final earlier in the season.
As for O'Sullivan he has been in the latter stages of almost everything he has entered in the 2018/2019 season. He started his season in September with a win in Shanghai, before also winning the Champion of Champions and the UK Championship. Only Judd Trump was able to stop him at the final stage of both the Northern Ireland Open and the Masters, but O'Sullivan's fourth title of the season would come just over a week ago. But for a couple of weeks in February where he lost early in the Grand Prix and the Welsh Open, he has really taking some stopping again this season. The one worry his fans may have here in his last event before another assault on the World Championships are his comments about longer matches. He does not seem to like his chances as much in tournaments with multi-session matches and what he gets up to this week in Llandudno could prove a big marker for how he does in Sheffield next month.
Overall, Bingham's recent form would suggest he can push O'Sullivan a lot closer than he has on his previous attempts this season, but O'Sullivan has taken some serious stopping all season long and is once again the favourite to walk away with the title on Sunday night.
Prediction: O'Sullivan to win but not after a stern test. 9-7.
Tournament winner selection: Judd Trump
Both semi-finals will be played over the best-of-19 frames when the tournament goes down to one table on Thursday and Friday, before the best-of-25 frame final starting on Saturday evening and concluding with the final two sessions on Sunday.
Overall, the players receive £20,000 for qualifying this week, a figure that doubles to £40,000 if they can win their opening match and move into the semi-finals. The runner-up will take home a nice £60,000 sum but the champion will earn a mighty £150,000 for less than six days work.
The tournament will be covered from start to finish on ITV4 in the UK, as they picked up the rights to this event to go with the Grand Prix and Players Championship.
The tournament will be covered from start to finish on ITV4 in the UK, as they picked up the rights to this event to go with the Grand Prix and Players Championship.
Wednesday, 13 March 2019
Gibraltar Open Preview
After Ronnie O'Sullivan's historic victory in the Players Championship, this week is a big week for the lower ranked players, with many of them battling for tour survival and appearing for the final time before the World Championships.
For those that have not qualified for the China Open, this is a big week to pick up some valuable points and confidence ahead of Sheffield.
There is also the small matter of Tour Championship qualification, with three players in the field this week in the hunt for the final two spots in Llandudno.
Stuart Bingham is currently in 7th place, £500 clear of 8th placed Kyren Wilson, while David Gilbert - another £5,500 behind Wilson - is the only player in the field who can possibly infiltrate the top eight. As long as Bingham and Wilson win their opening round ties, Gilbert would need to reach the final in order to make the top eight. Should he reach the final though, the money in the event means that he would be guaranteed a spot.
This year's defending champion is Ryan Day who is also in need of a big week here as he sits 17th in the provisional Crucible list. Shaun Murphy is also back here having won the title in 2017 and missing the chance to defend his title 12 months ago, after withdrawing with a back problem.
Only seven members of the top 16 are in the field this week, though a number of players just on the outside looking in are involved but after Thepchaiya Un-Nooh won the Shoot-Out and Matthew Selt won the Indian Open, there could well be another first time ranking winner this week.
Here is how the draw shapes up:
For those that have not qualified for the China Open, this is a big week to pick up some valuable points and confidence ahead of Sheffield.
There is also the small matter of Tour Championship qualification, with three players in the field this week in the hunt for the final two spots in Llandudno.
Stuart Bingham is currently in 7th place, £500 clear of 8th placed Kyren Wilson, while David Gilbert - another £5,500 behind Wilson - is the only player in the field who can possibly infiltrate the top eight. As long as Bingham and Wilson win their opening round ties, Gilbert would need to reach the final in order to make the top eight. Should he reach the final though, the money in the event means that he would be guaranteed a spot.
This year's defending champion is Ryan Day who is also in need of a big week here as he sits 17th in the provisional Crucible list. Shaun Murphy is also back here having won the title in 2017 and missing the chance to defend his title 12 months ago, after withdrawing with a back problem.
Only seven members of the top 16 are in the field this week, though a number of players just on the outside looking in are involved but after Thepchaiya Un-Nooh won the Shoot-Out and Matthew Selt won the Indian Open, there could well be another first time ranking winner this week.
Here is how the draw shapes up:
Quarter 1
Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)
Ryan Day Vs Lukas Kleckers
Noppon Saengkham Vs Leo Fernandez
Elliot Slessor Vs Mark Winsor
Mark Davis Vs Chris Totten
Mark King Vs Mark Joyce
Chris Wakelin Vs Simon Lichtenberg
Jak Jones Vs David Grace
Peter Ebdon Vs Jamie Curtis-Barrett
Peter Lines Vs Matthew Glasby
Harvey Chandler Vs Fan Zhengyi
Daniel Wells Vs Marvin Morgan
Khurram Khan W/O Ali Carter
Sam Craigie Vs Billy Castle
Michael White Vs Hamza Akbar
Gerard Greene Vs Joe Swail
David Gilbert Vs David Alcaide Bermudez
David Gilbert has a lot riding on this week. He will most likely need to make the final here in Gibraltar if he is going to make the Tour Championship. As the provisional number 16 in the Crucible seeding list, a place in the Tour Championship would almost guarantee his spot in the World Championships as a seed. However, he has already missed two major chances of being in a better position in the Tour Championship race. Had his opening round game against Stuart Bingham in the Players Championship gone the other way then he would now be ahead of Bingham. He also lost out in the last 64 of the Indian Open to Elliot Slessor 4-3 from 3-1 down as well as a 4-3 in the first round of the Welsh Open to Jimmy Robertson. If he regains the form he had in Berlin at the German Masters then he has as good a chance as anyone of winning the title, but based on his last few results he could be vulnerable and may well fall short of a place next week in Llandudno.
Defending champion Ryan Day is appearing for the first time in a few weeks. Day was not in the Players Championship, the Indian Open or the Shoot-Out so has not played since his China Open qualifier which was a crucial victory for him. At 17th on the Crucible list he needs to go deep here in Gibraltar and again in Beijing to have any chance of avoiding the World Championship qualifying stages. Prior to that qualifier, Day lost in the first round of the Welsh Open, the World Grand Prix and in the last 32 of the German Masters too so it is difficult to have high hopes for him defending his title. His potential last 64 tie against Noppon Saengkham is a very difficult one. The Thai featured as a late replacement in Championship League group seven this week, winning five out of six round robin games (only losing to John Higgins who won every game in that group) and then losing narrowly to Ding Junhui in the group semi-final.
This section is one that can have an impact on the tour survival race. Gerard Greene and Joe Swail face each other in round one of this event in what could be a crucial contest. Both players are well outside of the top 64 on the end of the season list, but can gain new two-year cards on the one-season list by being in the top eight not already qualified for next season. Swail is currently seventh on that list, but having not qualified for China a defeat here to Greene could be critical. Greene meanwhile is £2,900 behind the two players in joint eight position, but has qualified for China, so a few wins here in Gibraltar could set him up for a late charge. Peter Lines meanwhile has a big chance this week too as he is the favourite in his mini section to win his first couple of games. Lines is £2,500 below eight place on this one-year list and as he is not in China also, this could be a big weekend for Lines too.
My first quarter choice though is Mark Davis. He may also be in the same mini section as Saengkham and Day, but he could certainly do some damage in the draw this weekend. Davis has been a ranking finalist already this season at the English Open and recently made the quarter-finals again at the Indian Open so could easily go deep here too. The last 32 match against Day or Saengkham is the toughest match up Davis would face before the quarter-finals so Davis is certainly one to watch in this quarter, and now with the withdrawal of Ali Carter you have to say that other than maybe Gilbert there are not many names to fear in this section whatsoever, so a more outside chance like Davis could be a strong selection for the week.
My first quarter choice though is Mark Davis. He may also be in the same mini section as Saengkham and Day, but he could certainly do some damage in the draw this weekend. Davis has been a ranking finalist already this season at the English Open and recently made the quarter-finals again at the Indian Open so could easily go deep here too. The last 32 match against Day or Saengkham is the toughest match up Davis would face before the quarter-finals so Davis is certainly one to watch in this quarter, and now with the withdrawal of Ali Carter you have to say that other than maybe Gilbert there are not many names to fear in this section whatsoever, so a more outside chance like Davis could be a strong selection for the week.
Best of the rest: David Gilbert
Quarter choice: Mark Davis
Quarter 2
Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)
Luca Brecel Vs Liam Highfield
Fergal O'Brien Vs Christopher Watts
Tian Pengfei Vs Chen Feilong
Michael Georgiou Vs Paul Davison
Yan Bingtao Vs Lee Walker
Kishan Hirani Vs Barry Pinches
Chen Zifan Vs Farakh Ajaib
Chen Zifan Vs Farakh Ajaib
Zhang Anda Vs Robin Hull
Luo Honghao Vs Jamie Clarke
Nigel Bond Vs Daniel Bagley
Michael Holt Vs Oliver Brown
Jimmy Robertson Vs Sam Baird
Ricky Walden Vs Jamie O'Neill
Lu Ning Vs Adam Ashley
Dominic Dale Vs Elfed Evans
Shaun Murphy W/O Matthew Stevens
Luca Brecel is at the top of the draw here in the second quarter but his run of failing to reach a ranking quarter-final since November 2017 continued after a narrow last 16 loss to Scott Donaldson in India. Looking at the draw it is very much possible that the run could end this weekend, but it must now be a psychological barrier for the Belgian who is far too good for this to have gone on for so long. Prior to that he even lost at the last 16 stage of the Shoot-Out, after a first round exit at the Welsh Open to Kurt Maflin. The season has certainly been poor from Brecel and he could easily lose in the first round to Liam Highfield, though Highfield is not in great form at the moment either.
Tian Pengfei is someone in this section that could be a player to come from outside of the box to have a deep run in the event. Looking at the draw he is certainly more than capable of making the quarter-finals of this event, with other lower ranked players in the section and some top players out of form. Tian does seem to enjoy the best-of-7 frame format, having previously reached the Ruhr Open final in 2015, as well as making the European Masters quarter-finals this season and the last 16 of the Scottish Open, losing out narrowly on both occasions. Like Davis in quarter one, Tian is one to watch in the draw this week.
Tian Pengfei is someone in this section that could be a player to come from outside of the box to have a deep run in the event. Looking at the draw he is certainly more than capable of making the quarter-finals of this event, with other lower ranked players in the section and some top players out of form. Tian does seem to enjoy the best-of-7 frame format, having previously reached the Ruhr Open final in 2015, as well as making the European Masters quarter-finals this season and the last 16 of the Scottish Open, losing out narrowly on both occasions. Like Davis in quarter one, Tian is one to watch in the draw this week.
Section two is another big section for tour survival. The first person to look at is Fergal O'Brien as he is currently 65th on the provisional end-of-season list. He is currently £2,800 outside of the top 64 and faces an amateur qualifier in round one. O'Brien has had a very tough time on the table lately, losing in the first round in India recently, as well as in the Shoot-Out and the Welsh Open, as well as failing to qualify for the China Open.
Dominic Dale meanwhile is currently 66th on the end-of-season list, £9,400 outside of the 64, but he is also in China to pick up valuable points there. With an amateur qualifier in round one, and a second round match against either Matthew Stevens or an out of form Shaun Murphy, then this week is a good opportunity for Dale to move closer to the top 64. Nigel Bond is well outside of the top 64, but still has a chance on the one-year list mentioned earlier, sitting on the same amount of points as Peter Lines and £2,500 behind those in joint eighth position. In round one here he faces an amateur qualifier which is a good opportunity to pick up some vital ground on those ahead of him.
Dominic Dale meanwhile is currently 66th on the end-of-season list, £9,400 outside of the 64, but he is also in China to pick up valuable points there. With an amateur qualifier in round one, and a second round match against either Matthew Stevens or an out of form Shaun Murphy, then this week is a good opportunity for Dale to move closer to the top 64. Nigel Bond is well outside of the top 64, but still has a chance on the one-year list mentioned earlier, sitting on the same amount of points as Peter Lines and £2,500 behind those in joint eighth position. In round one here he faces an amateur qualifier which is a good opportunity to pick up some vital ground on those ahead of him.
Shaun Murphy comes to Gibraltar for the first time since winning this title in 2017 and he will be hoping to find a little bit of form in what is his last event before appearing at the Crucible in April. Murphy's woes continued in India with a last 32 exit against Chris Wakelin, having failed to qualify for the China Open and losing in the last 64 of the Welsh Open prior to that. If there is any positives to take into this event it is that he has received a walkover into the second round this weekend after the withdrawal of International Championship semi-finalist Matthew Stevens, in what surely would have been a very tough game for Murphy. This walkover may even be a good omen for Murphy as he also received a bye into the last 64 two years ago when he won the title, but there is still a lot of work for him to do over the weekend. Another two wins on Friday would see Murphy into Sunday's last 16 and it is amazing to think that, after reaching four ranking finals last season, that he has only reached the last 16 in two ranking events this season. Unless he has really found some form on the practice table since India and picked up some confidence, then it could be another hard week for the former world champion.
Jimmy Robertson may be a top 16 seed this week but he has been really struggling in recent times. The European Masters champion lost 6-0 to Judd Trump in the first round of last week's Players Championship. That followed a first round loss in India, 4-0 to Scott Donaldson while he also failed to qualify for the China Open after a 6-3 defeat to Ashley Carty. With that in mind he faces Sam Baird in round one, whom he faced three times last season, losing twice before a 10-7 victory against Baird in World Championship qualifying. Baird reached the quarter-finals in the Shoot-Out recently, as well as making the quarter-finals in Scotland earlier this season and defeating Fergal O'Brien to qualify for China last month. If Robertson finds a bit of form this weekend he could well have a deep run in the event, but if he is not quite on it in round one, then Baird is well capable of punishing him.
Michael Holt is my selection for this second quarter, in what is my really outside of the box choice for the event. Holt was a recent finalist in the Snooker Shoot-Out losing out to Thepchaiya in the end. The £16,000 he picked up for the weekend and the bottle he showed to make some of the breaks he did in the quarter-finals and semi-finals under high pressure should give him a lot of confidence. To then have the same opponent in Thepchaiya in round one in India was unfortunate and both players played well in the game with the Thai ultimately coming out on top. Looking at the draw though, this is certainly a quarter I could see Holt winning if he brings that Shoot-Out form to Gibraltar. With Murphy, Brecel and Jimmy Robertson, three of the highest seeds in the section, short on form, this feels like one of the more open sections and Holt's name stands out as one that can take advantage if the draw does indeed open up. As a winner of two of the old PTC events, a runner-up in two of the old Asian Tour events and a former finalist in the Riga Masters when that first became a ranking tournament, Holt has had success in events with the same format as this and there is no reason why that cannot continue this weekend.
Best of the rest: Tian Pengfei
Quarter Choice: Michael Holt
Quarter 3
Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)
Barry Hawkins Vs Ashley Carty
Andrew Higginson Vs Dylan Craig
Andy Lee Vs Curtis Daher
Allan Taylor Vs Kuldesh Johal
Anthony McGill Vs Zhang Yong
Scott Donaldson Vs Duane Jones
Matthew Selt Vs Andy Hicks
Zhou Yuelong Vs Lukasz Guzowski
Kurt Maflin Vs Joe O'Connor
Rory McLeod Vs Sergey Isaenko
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Soheil Vahedi
John Astley W/O Graeme Dott
Ashley Hugill Vs Halim Hussain
Eden Sharav Vs Mike Finn
Anthony Hamilton Vs Francisco Domingues
Stuart Bingham Vs Mike Dunn
Matthew Selt and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh are the two latest ranking event winners and both sit in this third quarter of the draw. On a week where lower ranked players again have the chance to shine, the likes of Selt and Un-Nooh should be the inspiration that the rest of the outsiders in this draw need. Selt was victorious in India defeating Lu Haotian in the final having beaten John Higgins in the semi-finals as well. That will give Selt a lot of confidence and he could well go deep again here as he looks to get back to the ranking he achieved three or four years ago. Thepchaiya meanwhile will now look to win a bigger ranking title after his victory at the Shoot-Out. Again he should be full of confidence and was scoring so heavily that weekend in Watford. His draw this weekend is pretty favourable and I expect the Thai to make at least the last 16 on Sunday and given his recent success there is no reason why he could not win again.
In the race for tour survival in section three, Anthony Hamilton is now inside the top 64 on the end-of-season list after a run to the semi-finals of the Indian Open. While that was Hamilton's second semi-final of the season, he is still only 62nd on the list though and after not qualifying for China he could still use a win or two this week. In round one he faces an amateur qualifier, but could face a tough potential second round tie against Stuart Bingham which may end any progress for him this week.
Rory McLeod is 67th on the end-of-season list but would have a mountain to climb to get into the 64, sitting £15,500 behind and he too failed to qualify for China. On the one-year list he is in joint eighth in the top eight not already qualified for next season and faces an amateur qualifier in round one as he looks to separate himself from James Cahill (who has to come through amateur qualifying to reach the first round this week) and potentially climb ahead of Joe Swail who is just £600 ahead of him as it stands. Looking at the draw, there is certainly a chance for McLeod to win a couple of games this week and that could be crucial come the season's finale.
Rory McLeod is 67th on the end-of-season list but would have a mountain to climb to get into the 64, sitting £15,500 behind and he too failed to qualify for China. On the one-year list he is in joint eighth in the top eight not already qualified for next season and faces an amateur qualifier in round one as he looks to separate himself from James Cahill (who has to come through amateur qualifying to reach the first round this week) and potentially climb ahead of Joe Swail who is just £600 ahead of him as it stands. Looking at the draw, there is certainly a chance for McLeod to win a couple of games this week and that could be crucial come the season's finale.
Stuart Bingham is one of the form players at the moment. A runner-up at the Welsh Open in recent times, he is well placed for a spot in the Tour Championships. A win in round one here would mean David Gilbert would have to make the final, and Kyren Wilson would have to go one round further than Bingham does in order for him to lose his spot. He will certainly be disappointed with two of his losses since that Welsh Open final too. Against Lu Ning in the last 16 in India he was nicely in front in the match before Lu forced a decider and pulled out some excellent pots on the final colours to win. While against Mark Allen at the Players Championship he let a 3-0 lead slip before losing 6-4. If he brings something near his best game this week you have to say he is a massive favourite to make at least the quarter-finals and he is one of the overall tournament favourites, but a man at the other end of this quarter will have something to say about that.
Barry Hawkins is my third quarter choice ahead of Bingham, with Hawkins being another of the major tournament favourites. In the Players Championship he may have lost in round one to Ronnie O'Sullivan, but O'Sullivan proved unstoppable in Preston and Hawkins still made two centuries in that match. Prior to that, Hawkins made the semi-finals of the Grand Prix before losing to eventual winner Judd Trump and if recent history is anything to go by, then Hawkins usually peaks at around this time of year. His draw does not look like anything he cannot handle if he is anywhere near his best game and while shocks are always possible over the best-of-7 frames format, it would be a big surprise if neither of Bingham and Hawkins are in the quarter-finals on Sunday and in such a contest, I would slightly favour Hawkins.
Best of the rest: Stuart Bingham
Quarter Choice: Barry Hawkins
Quarter 4
Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)
Jack Lisowski Vs Hammad Miah
Gary Wilson Vs Zhao Xintong
Ken Doherty Vs Oliver Lines
Martin O'Donnell Vs Francisco Sanchez Ruiz
Joe Perry Vs Sean O'Sullivan
Ian Burns Vs Alfie Burden
Yuan Sijun Vs Sanderson Lam
Craig Steadman Vs James Cahill
Ben Woollaston Vs Ronan Whyte
Xu Si Vs Zhang Jiankang
Robert Milkins Vs Adam Stefanow
Tom Ford Vs David Lilley
Rod Lawler Vs Steven Thomas
Ross Muir Vs Kevin Van Hove
Robbie Williams Vs Jimmy White
Kyren Wilson Vs Jordan Brown
Jack Lisowski leads the way at the top of the fourth quarter. He will be gutted with his quarter-final exit at the Players Championship from 5-2 ahead against Judd Trump. Prior to that he lost a very close match in India to Joe Swail 4-3 and was defeated 4-3 in the last 16 of the Welsh Open. It has to be said that Lisowski has gone slightly quiet in the second half of the season after making a final, a semi-final and three quarter-finals between June and the start of November. First round exits in India, the Grand Prix, German Masters and the Masters have halted his progress somewhat and probably prevented him reaching the Tour Championships. His draw this week is not easy either with a potential second round tie with Zhao Xintong or Gary Wilson, while plenty of other dangerous players lie in this section as well and could take down Lisowski if he is not at his best.
James Cahill will be looking to continue his pursuit of a new two-year professional tour card this weekend. Playing in events this season as a Q-School amateur top-up, Cahill defeated Mark Selby in the UK Championship, Liang Wenbo in the World Open and Shaun Murphy on the way to the last 32 of the Welsh Open. His run to the last 16 in the recent Indian Open has left him in joint eighth position on the one-year list (alongside Rory McLeod) tied for the final tour card spot. This week he has had to win two amateur qualifying matches to make the main draw, defeating Challenge Tour 10 runner-up Callum Lloyd in the process. He could do with another couple of wins here though starting against Craig Steadman, if he is to have realistic tour card hopes, especially having failed to qualify for the China Open. Based on some of his recent results though, Cahill has every chance against Steadman and is more than capable of producing a few results this weekend.
James Cahill will be looking to continue his pursuit of a new two-year professional tour card this weekend. Playing in events this season as a Q-School amateur top-up, Cahill defeated Mark Selby in the UK Championship, Liang Wenbo in the World Open and Shaun Murphy on the way to the last 32 of the Welsh Open. His run to the last 16 in the recent Indian Open has left him in joint eighth position on the one-year list (alongside Rory McLeod) tied for the final tour card spot. This week he has had to win two amateur qualifying matches to make the main draw, defeating Challenge Tour 10 runner-up Callum Lloyd in the process. He could do with another couple of wins here though starting against Craig Steadman, if he is to have realistic tour card hopes, especially having failed to qualify for the China Open. Based on some of his recent results though, Cahill has every chance against Steadman and is more than capable of producing a few results this weekend.
Zhao Xintong and Yuan Sijun are two young players in this section who could have a really deep run and take inspiration from Lu Haotian recently making the final of the Indian Open. The format, as well as the lack of top players, means there is an opportunity for a lower ranked up and coming player to shine again and maybe even deliver a first-time winner once again and these two could certainly be contenders. The tough test for Yuan Sijun would most likely be a last 32 clash with Joe Perry, but if he were to make it through to the last 16 on Sunday then there is no reason why he could not make a charge through the draw on the final day, having reached a couple of quarter-finals already this season. Zhao meanwhile has a very tough first round draw against Gary Wilson, with a potential last 64 tie against Jack Lisowski. However, the way he has played this season and the heavy scoring he has shown, especially on the way to the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open and the semi-finals of the China Championship, makes him capable of beating almost anyone so if he is at his best this weekend he too could do some damage.
Kyren Wilson is the one well and truly stand out name in the bottom half of this quarter and it would be a real shock if he fell before the quarter-final stages. A first round loss in the Players Championship does not ring alarm bells as he was facing a top player in Jack Lisowski, though his last 64 loss in the Welsh Open to Joe O'Connor was a massive shock. When the field was low on top players at the Paul Hunter Classic in August over the same format as this event, it was Wilson who came out on top and his success in Germany did not stop there as he won the German Masters in February and he will see this as an opportunity for title number three of the season. The names you would list as the most dangerous to Wilson in this quarter like Lisowski, Perry or even Xintong and Yuan Sijun, would not face him until the last eight stage. Even guys like Tom Ford and Robert Milkins would not play him until the last 16 on Sunday and they are both pretty short on form in recent times.
Joe Perry is my fourth and final quarter choice for this weekend's Gibraltar Open. Perry was finalist earlier this season in the European Masters in a week where the draw really opened up, defeating Wilson along the way that week and with the draw as it is he could be one to keep an eye on. A first round exit at the Players Championship was to eventual finalist Neil Robertson, while in India, his last 32 loss to Li Hang saw his opponent make successive centuries from 2-2. At 18th on the Crucible seedings list, £31,000 adrift of David Gilbert but with a last 128 holdover in the China Open to come, he could be the man to make a late charge for one of the last automatic Crucible spots. There is usually one player that puts in a late plot twist before Sheffield and Perry is one of the best candidates based on both his quality and his current position. There are certainly a few banana skins in his section, with Yuan Sijun as a potential last 32 opponent and Lisowski as a potential last 16 test, but Perry at his best would take care of both of those and could well be the tournament winner on Sunday to bag his second ranking title after his close call in Lommel.
Best of the rest: Kyren Wilson
Quarter choice: Joe Perry
Tournament winner selection: Barry Hawkins
The tournament is of course the best-of-7 frames from start to finish, with the winner receiving £25,000 while the runner-up receives £12,000. The event will be covered live by Eurosport, with bits and pieces of the weekend appearing on TV, while the entire event will be on the Eurosport Player.
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