Perry, Bingham, Trump and Williams into Thailand semi's

Joe Perry, Stuart Bingham, Judd Trump and Mark Williams are the four players into the semi-finals of the Players Championship finals in Thailand after wins in today's quarters. Joe Perry started the day off by winning his match with Michael Holt despite losing the opening frame and following some bad luck from Michael knocking a red in from the perfect split in frame three. He'll now play Stuart Bingham who cruised to his second victory in a week against Mark Davis including a century, which have been incredibly rare this week. Judd Trump also gave a repeat dose of the World Grand Prix to Martin Gould by sealing a tough victory in that one. Mark Williams meanwhile has gotten into his fourth major ranking event semi-final of the season and third of the last month after sealing yet another victory from 3-1 down, this time against Matt Selt who had enough chances of his own to seal the win.

Quarter-Final Results:

Judd Trump 4-2 Martin Gould
Mark Williams 4-3 Matt Selt
Joe Perry 4-1 Michael Holt
Stuart Bingham 4-1 Mark Davis

What that means after todays play is that having started the quarter-finals with five players out of the eight having never won a full major ranking event, of that group, only Joe Perry remains but he'll be confident that he can win the two best-of-7 frames matches that he would need to tomorrow in order to take the £100,000 top prize, as will the other three guys left in with him.

Semi-final Preview:

Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams - This is now the fourth time that Mark Williams has come up against Judd Trump in recent tournaments with Mark beating Judd 4-1 at the Welsh Open and 4-3 at the Indian Open before losing last weeks match 4-3 on the black at the World Grand Prix. Both of these guys have been playing very well and have been unlucky to keep running into each other at every tournament. Mark seems as relaxed as ever this week and that will be helped by gaining more money on the players around him as he has all but secured his Crucible top 16 seeding now in my opinion although I guess plenty can still happen next week in Beijing. Mark has reached three full ranking event semi-finals before this one and he lost all three of those in very tight matches, but with Williams continuing to play well and not being fazed one bit by going a couple of frames down in these best-of-7's he never seems to be beaten until that last ball has gone down and that makes him so difficult to overcome. Judd has had to scrap through a couple of games this week and he may still be a little caught up by winning the World Grand Prix last week, as he doesn't appear to be at his best, which you feel he really needs to be if he is to beat a Mark Williams full of confidence and belief.

Stuart Bingham Vs Joe Perry - This semi-final sees two of the most successful players in the very short history of the Asian Tour events come up against each other here as Bingham takes on Perry. Both guys have won Asian Tour events this season and Bingham has won another couple in the past with Perry having one more to his name with this seasons. Stuart has also got a major ranking title in Asia to his name after winning September's Shanghai Masters, while Joe Perry came agonisingly close in June's Wuxi Classic. Equally, the two players are in good form with Joe reaching the Indian Open quarter-finals and the quarters in Gdynia too, while Bingham reached the Grand Prix semi-finals whilst also winning the Championship League in early February. The one difference here could be the determination of Joe Perry to win his maiden ranking event title as he knows going into this semi-final that with just two best-of-7 frame matches left if he is to win the title, this could be one of he best chances he'll have left to do so. Even though Joe has been in trouble once or twice this week, I expect him to push on now as he's certainly playing well enough and with a very nice rhythm to his play that comes to the fore when he's playing well.

With the final to come tomorrow and very little time between the semi's and that final, I doubt i'll be able to get a blog out in very good time so I'm going to pick my tournament winner now as well from my predicted finalists of Joe Perry and Mark Williams (hoping now that i'll be right!) and both players will be determined to get that ranking title and big money prize under their belts. Both will have the confidence to do it, but Mark Williams has been on a consistent run for a while now and the only thing that's been missing is a major title so I believe this weekend will be his.

The next stop for the players will be next weeks China Open and i'll be back to preview that one ahead of the start on Monday morning.

Selby, Robertson, Murphy and Maguire all out on day three in Thailand

It's been one heck of a day in Thailand for the last 16 of the Players Championship finals in Thailand, a day which has been dominated on Twitter by yet more talk about table conditions and some very unhappy players on that score. On the table it was top seed Shaun Murphy, Neil Robertson, Mark Selby and Stephen Maguire that all went out at the second round stage. Shaun lost three frames having had big leads in each as he went out to Martin Gould, while Neil Robertson was thrashed by Mark Davis. Stephen Maguire came back from 3-0 down against Michael Holt to force a decider, but still went out to the Nottingham potter. Mark Selby also went out to Mark Williams who came back from the very brink, not only trailing 3-1 but stealing both of the fifth and sixth frames which Selby should've won to close the match out. Also, Matt Selt came back from 2-0 down to overcome Chris Wakelin, while Stuart Bingham saw off Mark Allen, Judd Trump came through a real late night battle against Mark King and Joe Perry also came back from 3-1 down to beat Anthony McGill.

Last 16 Results:

Martin Gould 4-2 Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump 4-2 Mark King
Matt Selt 4-2 Chris Wakelin
Mark Williams 4-3 Mark Selby
Michael Holt 4-3 Stephen Maguire
Joe Perry 4-3 Anthony McGill
Mark Davis 4-1 Neil Robertson
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Mark Allen

What that now leaves is a quarter-final line-up where only three of the players are previous ranking winners, with Martin Gould, Matt Selt, Michael Holt, Joe Perry and Mark Davis all hunting down a first ever full ranking event title this week. With conditions as they are and the tournament being best-of-7's throughout it is certainly time to expect the unexpected as we enter the final two days...

Quarter-Final Preview: (Pick in Bold)

Judd Trump Vs Martin Gould - These two guys met less than a week ago, playing a best-of-11 frames match in the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix. That match will live long in Gould's memory having led Trump 5-1 only to lose 6-5. However, Martin has come back from that stronger this week it would appear playing brilliantly with great wins against Michael White and Shaun Murphy so far, and with thoughts in his mind that he should've finished off Trump on Saturday, only 6 days on you can be certain that Gould will be determined to get his own back. Judd meanwhile has had to battle a little bit, and finished his match in the Last 16 against Mark King at roughly 12.50am which doesn't make life any easier for Judd considering he won the World Grand Prix in Llandudno on Sunday evening, meaning a very short turnaround for this. That best-of-11 long format match at the Grand Prix favoured Trump as he was able to play himself into the match, but there is no such time to take any liberties in the best-of-7's and that surely has to favour Gould after the result he had against Judd last time out, but also with the recent victories he's had in the first to four's.

Mark Williams Vs Matt Selt - Mark Williams just keeps on going and going and going in the last month and a half on the snooker table. A semi-final at the Welsh Open has been followed by a final at the Gdynia Open, winning the World Seniors, an Indian Open semi-final and of course the World Grand Prix quarter-final and now a quarter-final here. That is a formidable run and you certainly have the feeling that with how well he is playing, but equally with how relaxed and comfortable he is at the moment he isn't finished yet. Matt Selt meanwhile has had his best season ever, and that is only being increased by his run to the quarter-finals here. What Matt has done is really build up his confidence and self-belief with several good results in the last year, showing he can cut it at this level and that all of the hard work he's put in is worth it. However, his recent run is not in the same league as Mark Williams and if Mark plays how he has been in the last month then you make him the favourite to reach the semi-finals.

Joe Perry Vs Michael Holt - Here we have another good match up between two good players on the table, but two even better guys away from the table. Michael Holt has not had things all his own way on the table in the last couple of months (in fact that's a massive understatement) but this week he's played much better and something seems to have clicked into gear for him, helping him produce wins against Jimmy Robertson and Stephen Maguire. Michael knows that he should've done more in his career than he has and he still has the potential to win a full ranking event and break into the top 16, as he certainly has that quality. Joe Perry is in the same boat as Michael, looking for his first full ranking title and for me he has been knocking on the door a couple of times this season with that final at the Wuxi Classic and both him and Michael Holt are guys that have excelled on the Asian Tour to get to this event. I fancy Joe to win a ranking event before too much longer, and again this week could be his week, and this match is a real tough one to call. If Michael can relax here and play the way he wants, and not end up getting to frustrated then he has as good a chance as anyone, and after the time he's had in the last two months on the table, his expectations may not be as high, which is something that may have damaged him a little in the past.

Stuart Bingham Vs Mark Davis - Again this is another World Grand Prix repeat of a quarter-final from just a week ago. On that day Mark Davis missed a gettable black to win the opening frame and didn't recover afterwards losing 4-0. Two things that demonstrates is the need for a good start in the best-of-7 frames format, but also that things could've been a lot more different than the eventual score line we had a week ago. Stuart Bingham loves playing in Asia as the King of the Asian Tour winning more AT events than anyone else, along with having a ranking event title in Asia, in this seasons Shanghai Masters. Mark Davis meanwhile has a good record in Thailand having twice won the six reds event that is held here, but he just seems a lot more confident in these conditions (and they have been very tough this week) and if things go gritty, he's able to get on top of things. Both are in good form at the moment and will be high on confidence, but Mark has the extra fuel to his determination that a run to at least the final of this event will keep his automatic Crucible qualification hopes alive, whilst a tournament win would pretty much guarantee it, so you'd expect him to be the most inspired.


Those should be four very closely contested games and ones which could easily go either way, nothing is guaranteed in this format at this stage of a tournament. I'll be back at the same time to tomorrow to look ahead to the semi-finals to come on Saturday which are followed later on Saturday by the final.

Players Championship at the Last 16 Stage

It's been an eventful couple of days at the Players Championship Finals in Thailand where the best players from this seasons European and Asian Tours are battling for a £100,000 top prize. On day one there were defeats for Barry Hawkins once again to Mark King, while Ding Junhui went out to Joe Perry and Robert Milkins was very surprisingly thrashed by Chris Wakelin. Meanwhile, Mark Allen and Neil Robertson came through deciders against Ryan Day and Marco Fu while Michael Holt beat Jimmy Robertson and Matt Selt overcame Oliver Lines, and Stephen Maguire edged out John Higgins to get a very important victory for his Crucible seedings.

Into the second day and Shaun Murphy opened the show with a nice win against Rod Lawler while Martin Gould survived a decider against Michael White having previously seen 2-0 and 3-2 leads wiped out. Mark Selby then beat a very under par Dominic Dale and fellow Mark's Davis and Williams beat Ricky Walden and home favourite Thepchaiya Un-Nooh between. Judd Trump eased to victory against Belgium's Luca Brecel, while Stuart Bingham won with similar simplicity against Alan McManus while the day finished with

Last 32 Results:

Shaun Murphy 4-2 Rod Lawler
Martin Gould 4-3 Michael White
Mark King 4-2 Barry Hawkins
Judd Trump 4-0 Luca Brecel
Chris Wakelin 4-0 Robert Milkins
Matt Selt 4-1 Oliver Lines
Mark Williams 4-1 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Selby 4-0 Dominic Dale
Stephen Maguire 4-3 John Higgins
Michael Holt 4-2 Jimmy Robertson
Anthony McGill 4-1 Peter Ebdon
Joe Perry 4-1 Ding Junhui
Neil Robertson 4-3 Marco Fu
Mark Davis 4-2 Ricky Walden
Stuart Bingham 4-1 Alan McManus
Mark Allen 4-3 Ryan Day


That all sets up a very exciting line-up for tomorrow's Last 16 games in Thailand remaining with the two table set up with four games in the afternoon and four in the evening local time. Here's what you can expect from Thursday's 8 games

Last 16 Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Martin Gould - These two always have good contests with each other, and to start off the Last 16 in Thailand I expect this one to be no different whatsoever. The pair are both incredibly attacking players who will always go for their shots and give it absolutely everything out on the table. When in they score heavy and they both have the long potting ability to give them those chances. Martin has been playing well in the last week or so getting to the World Grand Prix semi-finals before a disappointing loss, and he had to fight hard today in order to make sure that the same thing didn't happen again. Shaun Murphy meanwhile did get bogged down a little at times against Rod Lawler but once he warmed in to the game he looked confident again, and after some good practice following the Grand Prix he looks sharp for this event and those to follow. I expect this to go close but as I said in my preview, when Shaun's been on it in these types of events, he's really blown the field away, so if he's at his best you'd expect him to win.

Judd Trump Vs Mark King - Judd Trump is playing fairly close to his best at the moment after his win in Llandudno last week, and when he's anywhere near his best matches like this don't usually pose much of a problem. The issue that Mark King will have here is that he really makes too many mistakes, and against a player like Judd he's going to get severely punished for any kind of weakness that is shown. However, King did play some good snooker against Barry Hawkins despite losing the second frame on the three miss rule, so if he can replicate his scoring from that game then Judd will have a game on his hands.

Matt Selt Vs Chris Wakelin - Chris Wakelin had very much what was a surprise victory against Robert Milkins, but he is in decent form after a run to the Indian Open quarter-finals, and even though he is the lowest ranked player remaining in this tournament, he deserved to qualify just like everyone else and he has a great chance of victory again here. Matt Selt had no problem in round one beating Oliver Lines and Matt is now starting to show results on a consistent basis, after making a European Tour final in December and the Winners Group of the Championship League.

Mark Selby Vs Mark Williams - This should be an absolutely cracking game between two very classy match players who have had a lot of great matches down the years. Selby didn't have to do anything too special today against Dominic Dale, but that's the nature of the game and something Mark is good at is doing what is required to win. Mark Williams though is full of confidence right now after a brilliant month and a half, everything Mark seems to be doing is working out and I certainly don't think he's finished yet. His scoring was great against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh today and if he keeps that up he's going to take some stopping this week.

Stephen Maguire Vs Michael Holt - Both of these guys came through what at least turned into very tough first round games. Stephen Maguire had to come from 3-2 down to beat John Higgins, and it's always much tougher when you know that you have to win to help towards your Crucible seeding when a defeat could've left him in big trouble to stay in the top 16. Now that Michael White and Robert Milkins are both out, the pressure is off a little bit and he can just relax and play his own game. Michael Holt pulled off one of his best performances for some time to pull off a much needed win after what's been a serious of defeats and underwhelming performances. On his day Michael is as good as anyone in the top 16. What Holt needs to do though is work up his confidence and self-belief by beating the top players in the big events, so a victory tomorrow would be great, but it's going to be tough against an in form player like Stephen.

Joe Perry Vs Anthony McGill - Anthony McGill had a good win in round one against Peter Ebdon, and he hasn't done a lot wrong recently given that he's lost a lot of games in deciding frames against a lot of the top players. Joe Perry meanwhile is playing well at the moment and if he can continue on that way I expect him to win this game, because on the day he is the better player, scoring well when in amongst them, but also having a very shrewd tactical brain. The one thing you can notice differently with Joe in the last two years is that he is clearly a lot more confident in his game believing again that he can compete at the top of the game, winning tournaments and beating the games best.

Neil Robertson Vs Mark Davis - These two guys met only a week ago where they played out on epic that could only be decided by an 82 minute decider that went down to the black. Neil has been playing pretty well since the beginning of 2015 without doing anything special. Mark Davis seems to have turned his slightly dwindling fortunes around in the last couple of months with quarter-finals at both the Grand Prix and Indian Open. For me though, Robertson is much more of a consistent player and deep down he'll be annoyed by his defeat to Davis last week and he knows he should've won that match, so he'll be determined to make amends tomorrow.

Stuart Bingham Vs Mark Allen - This looks to be one of the ties of the round in a repeat of the Shanghai Masters Final. I honestly can't split these two players as they seem to be very evenly matched in most departments. Mark Allen came through a close game in round one and that will sharpen him up for the rest of the tournament. Stuart Bingham played decent snooker today, but wasn't really tested like Allen was. Bingham is in better form than Allen though, but Mark has had a few unlucky results in recent events losing a lot of deciders, so it's about time his fortunes around, so there's no reason why this can't be his week.


The prize money starts to rise up now we get to the last 16 with the losers here getting £7,000 while the winners are guaranteed £12,500 towards their ranking at the very least. It's all set to be three brilliant days of snooker to finish this event off now and with it being best-of-7's all the way to the line now it really is anyone's tournament still to win, with the majority of the 16 players left being more than capable of lifting the title on Saturday.

Players Championship Finals Preview

Another week comes along and it's time for another tournament at this busy time of the snooker season as the tour heads to Thailand for the Players Championship Finals. The Players Championship finals sees the conclusion of this years Players Championship after 24 players qualified via the European Tour order of Merit and it's six events this season and 8 players qualified from the Asian Tour order of Merit from the three events there. Last year Barry Hawkins was the winner at the Guildhall in Preston (after the tournament was moved from Thailand after some civil unrest in the month or so leading up to the event) and he's managed to qualify in order to defend his title, but Shaun Murphy is the top seed after topping the European Order of merit winning the Bulgarian Open, Ruhr Open and reaching the semi-finals of the Gdynia Open.

The venue in Thailand is the Montien Riverside Hotel and (having little to no life whatsoever) I've had a look at some of the pictures of the hotel and it does look incredibly fancy, some lovely rooms for the players assuming that they are staying there as well and, of particular interest to some players, the bar looks like a decent area to be as well. The tournament is a five day long affair starting of course on Tuesday and ending on Saturday with all matches throughout the tournament being played over the best-of-7 frames just as the qualifying events are, and the top prize for the event is £100,000 with the runner-up receiving £38,000 and the semi-finalists getting £20,000 with this all of course going towards the rankings. Meanwhile, by qualifying, all 32 players turning up this week are guaranteed £4,000 towards their ranking.

Of the players qualified, Ronnie O'Sullivan is obviously the highest ranked not to have qualified and that is purely by only entering one of the nine overall events across Europe and Asia, which was the Paul Hunter Classic where a Last 16 appearance was never going to see him do enough.

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Rod Lawler
Martin Gould Vs Michael White
Barry Hawkins Vs Mark King
Judd Trump Vs Luca Brecel

In this quarter we have the top seed, twice European Tour winner of the season and Masters Champion Shaun Murphy taking on the 19th seed Rod Lawler, while Martin Gould the 15th seed faces a tough match with Indian Open champion and 24th seed Michael White. Meanwhile, Barry Hawkins as the 16th seed sneaks in to be drawn against a lower seeded player drawing 26th seed Mark King, while newly crowned World Grand Prix champion Judd Trump the 6th seed takes on 20th seed Luca Brecel.

Martin Gould comes into this event following what may have been a good run to the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix, but an old saying that you're only as good as your last match makes you worry in Martin's case here as he managed to lose that semi-final on Saturday afternoon 6-5 from 5-1 ahead, and with a very short turnaround to his opening game here on Wednesday against Michael White, that may have a big affect on his confidence. You only have to look at Barry Hawkins to see that these things do affect you, as he's suffered a lot since his 6-5 defeat from 5-0 ahead against Nigel Bond at the UK Championships and there is always danger of the same thing happening to Gould.

Michael White is his opening round opponent and you could have certainly asked for easier opponents than the man that is absolutely flying in terms of confidence and belief after the month he's had on the snooker table, winning both the Shoot-Out which gave him a big boost leading into his maiden ranking win at the Indian Open. Michael was always a dangerous player before the start of this year, but now he's won that maiden ranking title and made his breakthrough you just expect that he'll continue that natural progression up through the game at a great speed now.

Barry Hawkins is a man that did have such a natural progression after his maiden ranking win at the Australian Open a few seasons ago, and it has led to him reaching World Championship finals and semi-finals in 2013 and 2014 as well as taking this title a year ago. However, he has absolutely no form whatsoever coming into this event and he's not had a great season overall, never mind since the UK Championships. Another first round exit 4-0 to Matt Selt at the World Grand Prix certainly won't help his self-confidence coming out here, and his first round opponent is someone who's already beaten him once this season, after Mark King took a 5-3 win in the German Masters first round. This wouldn't be a bad tournament or a bad time for Barry to turn his fortunes around, but there isn't even the slightest sign of anything heading in the right direction for him at the moment, after a long series of very early tournament exits.

Judd Trump meanwhile has had an absolutely fantastic season winning two events now after beating Ronnie O'Sullivan 10-7 to win the World Grand Prix, and two other finals this season where he lost to Ronnie will sit pretty well with him. He's striking the ball well, and looks to have his all-round game in very good shape ahead of what is now a very busy month leading into the World Championships starting in less than a months time, for which he will be a major contender. Trump always performs well in these PTC style events, and has showed that again this season earning nearly £27,000 on the European Tour through the six events. With the Crucible now in the back of his mind though, I'm not sure Trump will be as motivated for this 5 day event, especially having won in Llandudno only a couple of days before having to play his first match against Luca Brecel.

Shaun Murphy on the other hand is one player that will certainly be determined to do better after a slightly disappointing defeat against Peter Ebdon in the World Grand Prix, but what would've annoyed him a little more is the performance he gave in that match where his long potting seriously let him down. After winning the Masters and making the final of the German Masters very quickly afterwards, Shaun could've been forgiven for coasting just a little bit, but that Grand Prix defeat comes a bit of a wake up call that he won't get close to winning tournaments more consistently and picking up a 2nd World Title as he'll be aiming to do in early May. However, he is the top seed for this event and has performed superbly in this Tour style events in the last year and a half, especially this season where he came close to picking up £50,000 on the European Tour which was £17,000 more than his closest rival, and it's always worth remembering that Shaun won the first ever Grand Finals in 2011 and I'm sure he'd love to be the first man to win two Grand Finals. In six events he won two and made the semi's of another and these short sharp events seem to allow him to get on a roll and really fire at the top of his game throughout.

Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Robert Milkins Vs Chris Wakelin
Matt Selt Vs Oliver Lines
Mark Williams Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Selby Vs Dominic Dale

Mark Selby is the highest seeded player in this section as the number 4 seed having won the season starting European Tour event in Riga and he faces the very bottom 32nd seed Dominic Dale. Mark Williams made it into the event as the 9th seed after being the runner-up in Gdynia and making the AT3 semi's and he'll play the man that beat him in that semi-final, 21st seed Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Lisbon Open runner-up Matt Selt is the 10th seed this week and has got a tricky draw against AT2 runner-up and 18th seed Oliver Lines. Finally, Robert Milkins the number 8 seed takes on one of the other lowest ranked players in the event, the 30th seed Chris Wakelin.

I keep saying it, but Matt Selt is improving all of the time and the hard work put in by Matt is starting to really shine through and turn into big results now. He's constantly giving the top players a good game and comes into this having thrashed Hawkins during the Grand Prix. He's the 10th seed here thanks to consistent performances on both the European and Asian Tours and he'll be confident that he can pick up another win or two this week, especially as he aims to show that his Lisbon Open final appearance was in no way a one off.

Mark Williams is seeded one above Matt Selt for this week after reaching the final of the Gdynia Open recently, as part of his simply amazing run of form in the last month or so. A quarter-final at the World Grand Prix where he lost to eventual champion Judd Trump, sits very nicely with all of his other big runs in the last month and he despite all of the travelling, the plans that he and his personal trainer have in place appear to be keeping him in brilliant shape stamina wise for this continued assault of events that he's in. Saturday is Mark's 40th birthday and the secret that seems to have come with age is that he still works hard on his game, but because he considers that his best days are clearly behind him, he has no real expectations and therefore doesn't put as much pressure on himself and can relax more. He has a tough opponent first up in the home favourite Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, but Mark has had to negotiate many hurdles lately, and I think that he can deal with most things being thrown his way at the minute.

Mark Selby is still the fourth seed this week, despite not seeming to do very much since his win at the Riga Open at the beginning of the season, and in all truth he has done very little. The German Masters looked like being a major turning point for him as he had done little between winning the World Championships and winning in Berlin, but equally Last 16 exits at the Welsh Open and World Grand Prix along with a Last 32 loss at the Gdynia Open mean that he has also done very little since. The one thing we do know for sure about Mark is he is a very gritty character, and even though that German Masters victory came out of the blue, Mark has a handy characteristic of being able to play well when you least expect it, so you can never rule him out.

Robert Milkins is the eighth seed this week and deservedly so as he has impressed me a lot over the course of the European and Asian Tour events this season, reaching the Ruhr Open final, but also the Gdynia Open quarter-finals while in full ranking events he's had an International Championship semi-final and a quarter-final at the recent Indian Open. I think a lot of this comes through his sheer determination to get into the top 16 for the World Championships which he can still do if he has big runs both this week in Thailand and next week in Beijing prior to the seedings cut off. As I say, I feel Robert is another guy that is well suited to these quick fire events, with quick fire formats, while the draw for this week could've been a lot worse with all due respect to Chris Wakelin, and with the feeling and confidence that he can still put up a good fight for a Crucible spot, you wouldn't expect him to slip up there and I fancy him for another good run here.

Quarter Winner: Robert Milkins

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Stephen Maguire Vs John Higgins
Jimmy Robertson Vs Michael Holt
Peter Ebdon Vs Anthony McGill
Joe Perry Vs Ding Junhui

There are some very nasty matches to call in this section with the number 3 seed Stephen Maguire taking on one of the best 31st seeded players you'll ever see in an event in the shape of John Higgins. Jimmy Robertson has had a top class season on the Euro and Asian Tours to come in as the 12th seed where he will play 25th seed and AT1 runner-up Michael Holt. Peter Ebdon the 13th seed was one of the most consistent players over the course of the tour events and he plays 28th seed Anthony McGill, while 7th seed and AT3 winner Joe Perry takes on 17th seed and AT1 winner Ding Junhui in one of the toughest matches of round one.

Peter Ebdon I guess is someone that has slid slightly under the radar into the top 16 of the seedings for this week, simply by making a number of quarter-finals and semi-finals on the Asian Tour this season, but he's as dangerous as any other man in this tournament this week. Two good victories against Murphy and Maguire got him to the Grand Prix quarter-finals last week, and it's always a potential risk if you're going to underestimate what he can do this week too. Peter always seems to me to be one of the better players at adapting to the change of conditions from playing in the UK to playing in Asia, as well as possessing the stamina that is required with the continuous travelling at this stage of a season.

Ding Junhui however, is really struggling at the moment to even find a win at a venue in a major tournament. He comes into this week as the 17th seed despite winning an Asian Tour event, therefore giving him a much tougher draw against Joe Perry, and the simple mistake there is that he hasn't entered any of the European Tour events, and arguably those small events can help you build up some form for the bigger ones which could be a reason that players like Ding have struggled more this season and others like Shaun Murphy and Robert Milkins seem to have had one of their best ever seasons. If you ignore the qualifiers for the German Masters, Indian Open and China Open that were played at the Barnsley Metrodome or in Wigan, Ding hasn't won a match at a proper venue since beating Jimmy White in the Last 64 of the UK Championships, while in a full ranking event his best performance was a semi-final in Shanghai, but that looks hugely isolated when compared with his next best of a Last 32 at the German Masters and UK Championships. We all know that Ding is better than this, but he does badly need to get out of this slump now.

Joe Perry isn't going to make that particularly easy for him however. Joe is in a decent form again at the moment, and even though he lost in the Last 16 of the Grand Prix it was to the eventual champion Judd Trump, and he did make the Indian Open quarters before that so he is certainly playing well lately, as he has been for a while. Ding will need to play well to beat him, and he'll know that having been thrashed really by Perry without Joe having to do much in the Masters Last 16 where Ding was very patchy once again. Knowing that Ding is out of form, and that he has beaten him lately will also give Joe confidence, along with knowing that out in Asia he seems to play to a great standard having won two Asian Tour events in the last two seasons, along with reaching the final of the seasons opening ranking event in Wuxi.

John Higgins managed to sneak in to the Players Championship finals by making the Last 16 in Gdynia while others around him on the European order of merit seemed to melt under the pressure. John hasn't had his best year ever, and has been very inconsistent despite another Welsh Open title. His first round exit to Graeme Dott at the Grand Prix seemed to highlight again an example of a match where he was the favourite, seemed to play well and he still managed to lose. The truth is that while he may seem to be playing decent snooker, an unusually bad miss or poor safety shot the likes of which are usually rare with John, seem to creep in more and more with John these days, possibly as he isn't coping with the pressures of playing top level snooker quite as well as he did in his pomp.

Stephen Maguire is his incredibly tough first round opponent this week, and Stephen is in the position that he knows he has work to do this week, leading Michael White by only around £8,000 on the provisional seedings for the last automatic qualification spot for the World Championships. This is all by Maguire's own work mind you, choosing not to enter the Indian Open, which White won to end up getting this close. That shows an enormous confidence in your own ability from the Scot's point of view, and even though his first round tie with Higgins as tough as it could be, he has a good record against John and he showed signs of continuing his decent form of December through to February this season in his first round win at the Grand Prix against Guodong. Stephen played good snooker on the European Tour through most of the season and he usually seems to go well in these events, and he certainly has that extra incentive this week.

Quarter Winner: Stephen Maguire

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Neil Robertson Vs Marco Fu
Mark Davis Vs Ricky Walden
Stuart Bingham Vs Alan McManus
Mark Allen Vs Ryan Day

This final quarter here is easily the "quarter of death" if there was such a thing. Mark Allen the number 2 seed, winning one ET and getting to the final of another, could've had easier opponents in round one than 29th seed Ryan Day, while AT2 champ and 11th seed Stuart Bingham plays the 23rd seed Alan McManus. Mark Davis is the 14th seed this week and he faces a very tough game against International champion and 22nd seed Ricky Walden, while Gdynia champion and number 5 seed Neil Robertson plays 27th seed Marco Fu who is always a player you want to avoid in the draw.

Marco Fu isn't in the best of form at the moment, and in all fairness he hasn't played in too many events in recent times to show us much form. Fu didn't show all that much form on the European Tour only earning £7,416 to qualify. His first round exit to a more in form Mark Davis at the Grand Prix came as no surprise to me at all after he didn't play in India, failed to qualify for the German Masters and didn't look to be playing very well at times during the Welsh Open and Gdynia Open in between. You couldn't ask for much tougher draws than Neil Robertson who did win that Gdynia Open in order to qualify.

Neil Robertson did have to do things very late on in the European Tour to qualify as the fifth seed for the event, but he does have a good record in the Players Championship Finals and the tour events to qualify so it would've been a surprise for him not to do so. He was a runner-up in both 2013 and 2012 when the Grand Finals were held in Galway, and he'll be determined ahead of the World Championships, to keep his form up and come in with a big title making it third time lucky. Having Fu in the first round is a nasty draw, but one I also expect him to negotiate pretty well, especially having seemingly mastered playing in Asia in the last two years.

Mark Davis is yet another big name in this quarter that appears to be full of them. Davis is another player that appears to have started playing decent stuff in the last few weeks with quarter-finals in India and the Grand Prix after reaching the overall Championship League Final. Although, despite this good play, Davis did suffer a rather bad thrashing in the Grand Prix quarter-final to Stuart Bingham and that may dent his confidence a little coming into this and deep down he knows that he'll need to be at his very best against Ricky Walden in order to get through.

Ricky Walden is on top form this season it would seem after reaching the Indian Open final to go with his International Championship title earlier in the season, and even though he struggled a little more in the back half of the European Tour this season, he is still very well suited to this quick fire format when he's in good form because he can go missing in the middle of certain matches over a long format, but best-of-7 frames matches don't really leave you too much time for that, so invariably if Ricky starts well he goes on to win it, and even when he isn't on top form he can grind out the result, and that could be a big feature if he is to get past a very gritty player in Mark Davis.

Stuart Bingham is the eleventh seed for this event, and comes into this as one of the leaders from the Asian Tour which is a very nice marker with the Players Championship Finals being in Asia this time around. Bingham is a frequent winner on the Asian tour, but he also won a major ranking event out in Asia earlier in the season taking the Shanghai Masters. A Grand Prix semi-final along with his Championship League overall victory are the highlights of 2015 so far for Bingham and if he can carry some of that form again to Thailand he will once again prove a major threat.

Mark Allen only played in three European Tour events but he still managed to finish second on the order of merit thanks to early performances at the Paul Hunter Classic where he ran out the winner, and the Riga Open where he was runner-up to Selby, as Allen again showed his enjoyment of playing in tournaments that aren't too strenuous and are only played over a weekend. Mark won consecutive tour events last season and could've easily done that again this season, so he's clearly got a game well suited to these best-of-7 sprints over a few days. However, his season has gone off a little bit since the Masters in January, but with a tournament like this, now would not be a bad time to play yourself into a bit form ahead of the big one at the seasons end. Mark looked thoroughly fed up after defeat in round one of the Grand Prix to Liang Wenbo and the world did seem to be against him in the deciding frame and sometimes defeats like that, that really get the blood boiling are the ones that can spur you on to have a good run in the next tournament, and I have a feeling the same thing could happen for the Northern Irishman here.

Quarter Winner: Mark Allen

Tournament Runner-Up: Stephen Maguire

Tournament Winner: Shaun Murphy


It's very much a quick fire week again with this only being a 5 day event, but it is a key one with the Crucible seedings cut off looming large with only this event and the China Open left for things to change, and even though it is a short format throughout, there's sure to be some good games to watch on Eurosport who looking through my sky TV Guide are covering the event in it's entirety.

Fantasy Snooker League: Players for the Players Championship Finals

With the World Grand Prix still going on in Llandudno but the Players Championships starting early on Tuesday morning I thought it would be fairest to price up the players for this week now, rather than wait and update the points but with limited time left to pick players.

It's the same as always for this week: 8 million to spend on two players for the tournament plus of course any leftover money from previous tournaments that you may have, so tweet me if you want to know how much you have on that front. Otherwise players have been priced up on their seedings for the tournament which is worked out based on the combined money earned on the European and Asian Order of merits.

So, without further stalling here are the players:

Players Championship Players (DEADLINE Tuesday 24th March at 7.30am)

Shaun Murphy - £6 million
Mark Allen - £5.9 million
Stephen Maguire - £5.8 million
Mark Selby - £5.7 million
Neil Robertson - £5.5 million
Judd Trump - £5.3 million
Joe Perry - £5.2 million
Robert Milkins - £5 million
Mark Williams - £4.8 million
Matt Selt - £4.7 million
Stuart Bingham - £4.6 million
Jimmy Robertson - £4.5 million
Peter Ebdon - £4.4 million
Mark Davis - £4.3 million
Martin Gould - £4.2 million
Barry Hawkins - £4 million
Ding Junhui - £3.5 million
Oliver Lines - £3.5 million
Rod Lawler - £3.5 million
Luca Brecel - £3.5 million
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - £3.5 million
Ricky Walden - £3.5 million
Alan McManus - £3.5 million
Michael White - £3.5 million
Michael Holt - £3 million
Mark King - £3 million
Marco Fu - £3 million
Anthony McGill - £3 million
Ryan Day - £3 million
Chris Wakelin - £3 million
John Higgins - £3 million
Dominic Dale - £3 million

That's all from me then on the Fantasy League for this week folks, enjoy your tipping for this week!

Gould, Trump, Bingham and O'Sullivan to contest Llandudno semi's

Martin Gould, Judd Trump, Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the four guys into the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix in Wales after they each had wins of varying difficulty in Friday's quarter-finals. The day started off with Mark Davis losing the first frame on the black to Stuart Bingham and failing to recover as he was whitewashed. That was followed up by a very high quality affair between Martin Gould and Peter Ebdon where there were good breaks in pretty much every frame, as Gould won three in a row after losing the opener and after Ebdon pulled one back, Martin sealed his last four place. In the evening Ronnie O'Sullivan was far from his best against Graeme Dott, but after Graeme failed to capitalise on his mistakes and level at 2-2, it was the UK Champion who was a comfortable winner in a match where he admitted neither player played well at all. Finally, the last match of the day was the best one between Mark Williams and Judd Trump, who had met twice within the last month prior to this with Williams winning both times. Mark seemed to be in a good position to do so again after winning a vital third frame on the black to lead 2-1, but Trump responded well to go 3-2 ahead. Mark forced a decider, and in that decider it went right down to the final colours. After an attempted double on the blue went wrong for the Welshman, he left it over the middle for Trump who cleared blue, pink and black to win the match.

Quarter-Final Results:

Martin Gould 4-2 Peter Ebdon
Judd Trump 4-3 Mark Williams
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Mark Davis
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Graeme Dott


As we head into the weekend then, and the semi-finals, the format increases to the best-of-11 frames with the usual interval after the first four and that gives the players more time to settle into what is a big occasion as they look to keep themselves in the running for the £100,000 first prize.

Semi-Final Draw:

Judd Trump Vs Martin Gould - These two guys have had to come through some tough matches so far this week, but at the same time they've played very well on a number of occasions. First off, Martin Gould was superb yesterday against Peter Ebdon and equally as good on Wednesday night against Mark Selby in those two 4-2 victories. He's scoring very well at the moment and earning himself plenty of good chances in matches by holding his own in the tactical battles, but he will need to all of that again today in an even bigger occasion, against another big opponent over a format that would probably suit Judd more than Martin. Judd hasn't quite been at his best all week long, but he's been doing exactly what has been required of him to win matches, showing signs of increased maturity and a much better snooker brain. He scored superbly to totally blitz Dominic Dale on Tuesday, before showing us more of his all-round game against the tougher opponents of Joe Perry and Mark Williams who pushed him very hard and forced him to play well in all areas. I'm sure Gould will push him similarly today, and force him to play in the same way again, so I think Trump will take the place in the final.

Prediction: Trump to win 6-3.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham - Stuart Bingham and Ronnie O'Sullivan always have good games against each other and I expect this one to be no different. Stuart Bingham always pushes Ronnie hard, forcing him to play at his best or he'll be beaten. Stuart was 4-1 ahead of Ronnie in the UK semi's before losing 6-5 and he got the win against him in the same event at the quarter-final stage in 2013, shortly after narrowly losing 10-8 in the Champion of Champions final. He even led Ronnie 2-1 in the first round of this seasons Champion of Champions before three great breaks from O'Sullivan won that match 4-2. Neither player has quite been at their very best this week so far, and Ronnie seems to be struggling quite a bit mentally of later, and it just needs someone with a strong game and a strong head on the day to beat him, and I think Stuart fits that profile. Every time Bingham has come up against Ronnie in a tournament recently O'Sullivan has been playing well and while Bingham pushes him he simply can't get past. However, when Ronnie struggled at the 2013 UK's Bingham capitalised and I expect the same to happen today if Ronnie struggles again.

Prediction: Bingham to nick it 6-5.


We should have a brilliant day of snooker ahead then, and whatever happens I'm sure that we'll have a brilliant final tomorrow over two sessions and the best-of-19 frames, and i'll be back tomorrow morning with a quick preview of that one as well.

Robertson and Selby bow out at the World Grand Prix

Neil Robertson and Mark Selby were two of the players to exit at the Last 16 stage of the World Grand Prix in Llandudno yesterday. Neil was sent packing by Mark Davis after an 82 minute long decider went down to the final black as Mark came back to seal victory. Mark Selby meanwhile was outplayed in many parts of his match against Martin Gould who scored very well and played very close to his best to send the World Champion out. Ronnie O'Sullivan made it through comfortably meanwhile as he whitewashed a rather under par Robert Milkins. Judd Trump was the other winner on the televised table as he saw off Joe Perry 4-2 having been level at one stage at 2-2 with Joe. On table two, Stuart Bingham continued his good head to head record against Matt Selt, while Mark Williams came from 3-2 behind this time to keep the home hopes afloat against Ricky Walden. In the evening, Graeme Dott came through a tough decider in a tough match against Liang Wenbo, both of whom came through deciders in the Last 32. The evening ended with another top seed bowing out as Peter Ebdon produced more superb match play snooker to beat Stephen Maguire in a match that started late and finished just before midnight.

Last 16 Results:

Martin Gould 4-2 Mark Selby
Peter Ebdon 4-1 Stephen Maguire
Mark Williams 4-3 Ricky Walden
Judd Trump 4-2 Joe Perry
Mark Davis 4-3 Neil Robertson
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Matt Selt
Graeme Dott 4-3 Liang Wenbo
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-0 Robert Milkins


That leaves a much more open draw ahead of the quarter-finals with possibly a couple of players going into the semi-finals that certainly would have been odds against to do so at the very start of the week, but as we resume for those games over the best-of-7 frames tomorrow, we will be treated to four top notch games I'm sure, all of which are on the main table now.

Quarter-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Martin Gould Vs Peter Ebdon - At the very top of the draw we have a match between two players with rather contrasting styles. Martin Gould is a quick player who relies a lot more on heavy scoring, which is a particular feature of his game when he's playing well, but he can grind a frame out if he has to, though that is with much more limited success in my view. Peter Ebdon meanwhile, is one of the masters of being able to win any given match in any given way, and you will not beat Peter unless you're playing at or very close to the very top of your game. What he's managed to do against Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire in winning two brilliant games is to grind them down and force them into making a lot more mistakes than usual, and it could well be easy for Gould to fall into many of the same traps Peter will try and lay for him tomorrow.

Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams - These two guys have met rather frequently in recent times. At the Welsh Open they played each other in the Last 16 over the best-of-7 frames and Mark Williams came out the winner there 4-1 on a day when Judd was very much below par. A month on, the pair met again in the Last 16 of the Indian Open and again Mark came out victorious, this time 4-3 as both played snooker of a very high standard. Mark has reached the latter stages of a lot of events recently as you can tell from his victories against Judd, but you have to ask at what stage all of this will catch up with Mark this week and I have a feeling it will be in this match. He's already had to come from behind in both of his opening matches to win in deciding frames, while Judd has played some very good snooker and in doing so, has made things much easier for himself. Judd doesn't come across as the type of player that will think too much about his recent losses against Mark, but instead he'll be looking forward to playing him here and getting one back on the home favourite.

Stuart Bingham Vs Mark Davis - Stuart Bingham and Mark Davis have certainly not had to do things the easy way this week, as they get ready to meet each other in this quarter-final. Mark Davis has already beaten two top quality players in Marco Fu who he thrashed somewhat 4-1, and the third seed Neil Robertson 4-3. Mark has played some very good snooker in both of those games and seems to be coming into great form at the right time, after a whitewash against Higgins helped him to the Indian Open quarters last week. Stuart Bingham meanwhile, has struggled a bit this week since cruising into a 3-0 lead on the opening day against Anthony McGill. Anthony reeled off three scrappier frames in a row to force a decider, before Bingham came through and it was another scrappy match that he had to win in the Last 16 against Matt Selt, and he admitted on Twitter afterwards that he'll have to improve to go any further this week, especially as it's going to be very tough against Mark here.

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Graeme Dott - Ronnie O'Sullivan was a little bit rusty in his match with Rod Lawler, but since being 2-2 in that match he's reeled off six successive frames to win that match 4-2 and beat Robert Milkins 4-0. He still doesn't seem particularly happy within himself, as he showed at the Welsh Open, but he definetly isn't in the same league here by any stretch. O'Sullivan loves these ITV events over one or two tables and in front of a big crowd in the UK, after all these are the events that he thrives on, not the PTC's or events where he feels like all of the attention is not on him because of a multi-table set-up, Although, Graeme Dott should push Ronnie much harder here than Robert did last night as he is a very solid player and won't be fazed as much by his opponent here. Graeme is certainly one of the great battlers, who believes in his ability to win a match from any position (much like Peter Ebdon). Dotty in fact is one of the most underrated players in Snooker history. We are talking about a man that has won the World Championships and appeared in two other finals at the Crucible. If Ronnie remains strong here he should win the match with Dott not producing some of the quality of those World Championships consistently for a very long time. However, if Ronnie starts to sink in his chair like he did against Lawler, Graeme will seize on that and run this out the full seven frames.


So, after the rest day for the Europa League we're now down to the business end of this tournament, with a one table set-up and a certain sprint over the next three days as these 8 remaining players are whittled down to our winner on Sunday night. I'll be back with more on Saturday morning ahead of the semi-finals.