Defending champion Trump and top seed Higgins defeated

Defending champion Judd Trump and the top seed for the week John Higgins both fell in the last 16 of the World Grand Prix. Trump was under the weather but so too was his opponent in world champion Stuart Bingham. It was nervy for much of the match, and the illnesses probably would not have helped but after chances to win 4-1, Bingham eventually crossed the line 4-2.

John Higgins played a very high standard match with the last Welshman standing in Llandudno, as Ryan Day had two centuries, and John had one of his own. It went down to a deciding frame there with both players missing balls in that decider before Day cleared the colours to cross the line and set up a quarter-final with the World champion.

Mark Allen also fell in the second round as he saw Thepchaiya Un-Nooh reel off four frames in a row from 2-0 behind, and later he took to Twitter and blamed as many as five flukes from the Thai for the match turning against him.

He will now play China's Ding Junhui who overcame Neil Robertson's victor Peter Ebdon 4-0. Ebdon had big chances in three of the four frames but missed balls a couple of balls at key times and Ding was certainly on top form to punish him for that.

In the evening Joe Perry was very impressive in beating Kyren Wilson. He started well with an 86 break before Wilson levelled with his own 50+ break and after the Gentleman dominated frame three it was the fourth that proved key as Wilson missed his chance and Perry punished him to move two clear and then finish the match off in style with a 125 total clearance.

Perry now faces up to Ali Carter who was a comfortable 4-0 winner against Mark Selby's victor Tom Ford. Breaks of 98, 65, 53 and 58 saw the Captain cruise to victory.

Liang Wenbo kept up his fight to get into the top 16 for the World Championships with a 4-2 victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan's assassin in Michael Holt. Wenbo took the first two and then rattled into a 3-1 lead before Holt's highest break of the match came in frame five with a 78 to keep him in it, but when Liang's chance came a 71 in the final frame was more than enough to get him over the line.

Finally, Shaun Murphy beat the in-form Martin Gould in what was always going to be a great match. Murphy opened up with 84 to shut Gould out only for the German Masters champion to hit back with a 110 break. A key miss on the yellow from Gould saw Murphy clear the colours to take a lengthy frame three, which he then followed with a 73 in the fourth to punish Martin again who had opened the reds from a tricky black which he missed by a distance. Multiple chances were needed in the end for Murphy to get over the line but the important thing for him was to make it through to his first full-ranking event quarter-final of the year.

Last 16 Results:

Ryan Day 4-3 John Higgins
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Judd Trump
Ali Carter 4-0 Tom Ford
Joe Perry 4-1 Kyren Wilson
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Martin Gould
Liang Wenbo 4-2 Michael Holt
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Mark Allen
Ding Junhui 4-0 Peter Ebdon

Quarter-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Ryan Day Vs Stuart Bingham - The quarter-finals remain the best-of-7 frames and we start at the top of the draw with a repeat of the last 16 tie from the German Masters last month. On that day it was Day who ran out the winner and after making two centuries in beating top seed John Higgins he certainly will not fear Stuart Bingham having beaten him so recently. Bingham has looked in better form at times this week but his match with Trump in the last 16 was very nervy and with both suffering with a little illness that was to be expected. Hopefully for his sake the world champion can overcome his little bug, but either way I expect this to run close.

Joe Perry Vs Ali Carter - Joe Perry and Ali Carter have not really met for a long time (with a Championship League match their only one since October 2012) and a lot has happened to both players since then on and off the table. This week they are cueing well and have only dropped one frame each on the way to the quarter-finals. Perry has looked particularly sharp, rounding off two victories against two quality opponents in Hawkins and Wilson with century breaks. Carter meanwhile has had slightly easier opposition in Brecel and Ford but has still done what he has had to do with some quality and is always a major threat when his name is in the draw at the back end of a tournament. On paper this really seems to me like a bit of a coin flip but with the confidence that Perry has shown this week I am inclined to lean more towards him.

Liang Wenbo Vs Shaun Murphy - After his match against Martin Gould, Murphy referenced Liang Wenbo as somewhat of a bogey player for him. For me it seems like he is living a long way in the past. Of his four losses to Liang, one was in 2009, one in 2011 and one in 2012. Murphy has also won the last two meetings in the German Masters semi-finals in 2015 and the 2014 General Cup. Liang is of course fighting for his top 16 place going into the Crucible and has played some decent snooker in the first couple of rounds against Dott and Holt. Murphy meanwhile has had two very tough matches already against Michael White and Martin Gould but has come through with the loss of only a frame and the way he is cueing is a very good sign as he looks to push on now, having made his first full ranking quarter-final of the season.

Ding Junhui Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - The all Asian clash at the bottom of the draw between China's Ding Junhui and Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh sets up to be one of the most entertaining clashes of the week if both players bring their best. Thepchaiya has already beaten Marco Fu and Mark Allen this week after showing very little form for the last couple of months coming into this. Ding Junhui has the job of clinging on to his top 16 place for the World Championships and he has gotten off to a good start this week with wins over Ben Woollaston and Peter Ebdon scoring reasonably well when he has had to. He looks relatively relaxed too, but he will be well aware that the Thai is no pushover after losing to him in their last meeting a year ago in the Indian Open. This one too could go right to the wire.


It looks like another good day of quarter-final play is upon us tomorrow as the players fight to make it through to the semi-final Saturday and get to the longer format best-of-11 frames matches. With the way the draw has opened up, it is certainly all still to play for.

O'Sullivan, Robertson and Selby all perish in Llandudno opening round

World Grand Prix favourites Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby all fell at the first hurdle as the Last 32 threw up plenty of surprise results in Llandudno.

First of all, Neil Robertson was beaten in a lengthy encounter with Peter Ebdon 4-3 after a 69 in the last from Ebdon. Ronnie O'Sullivan bowed out to Michael Holt 4-3, after Holt took a 3-0 lead with breaks of 88 and a century before the Rocket pegged him back to 3-3, but Holt hung in there with a superb 76 break in the decider to win the match.

Then in Wednesday's play Tom Ford took care of Mark Selby 4-3. Ford had a wonderful 112 break in frame three on the way to a 3-1 lead and despite losing frame five, when his chance came a break of 84 saw him hold it together to beat his fellow Leicester man and reach the last 16.

Marco Fu also perished in the opening round to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who blitzed into an early 3-0 lead before Fu pegged him all the way back to a deciding frame. It was the Thai who eventually got over the line a 4-3 winner despite not having a 50+ break in the match.

Defending champion Judd Trump came through strongly against Mark Williams with a century on the way to a 4-1 win, while World Champion Stuart showed signs of improvement towards the end of his match with David Gilbert where he too ran out a comfortable victor.

Shaun Murphy and Michael White was the last first round match to begin on Wednesday evening but it was well worth waiting for as Murphy cued beautifully in a 4-0 crushing with three breaks of above 70. In an unexpected twist he then mentioned my banter about his poor record in Wales and on ITV4 in his studio interview.

The race to get into the top 16 for the World Championships took some twists and turns as well. Stephen Maguire is the man that they are trying to catch and he lost out to his fellow Scot John Higgins in round one without ever getting into the match as the number one seed played beautifully. That opens the door up for the three guys directly below him, the first of which is Liang Wenbo who was in fine form beating Graeme Dott 4-1. In the four frames that Wenbo won Dott was only able to score a singular point. Things were not as simple for Kyren Wilson who had to come back from snookers required in frame five to avoid falling 3-2 behind, eventually coming through his match with Welshman Jamie Jones a 4-2 winner.

Ding Junhui was the next as he came through a big battle with Ben Woollaston, coming from 2-1 and 3-2 behind to win 4-3 and book his place in the last 16 against Peter Ebdon.

Last 32 Results:

John Higgins 4-0 Stephen Maguire
Ryan Day 4-1 Matt Selt
Stuart Bingham 4-1 David Gilbert
Judd Trump 4-1 Mark Williams
Tom Ford 4-2 Mark Selby
Ali Carter 4-1 Luca Brecel
Joe Perry 4-0 Barry Hawkins
Kyren Wilson 4-2 Jamie Jones
Martin Gould 4-0 Tian Pengfei
Shaun Murphy 4-0 Michael White
Michael Holt 4-3 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Liang Wenbo 4-1 Graeme Dott
Mark Allen 4-2 David Grace
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-3 Marco Fu
Ding Junhui 4-3 Ben Woollaston
Peter Ebdon 4-3 Neil Robertson

Some brilliant games there in round one and some even more intriguing ones to come in Thursday's Last 16. Still best-of-7 frames matches for the second round of course.

Last 16 Preview: (Picks in Bold)

John Higgins Vs Ryan Day - Going purely on their form in round one then John Higgins has to be my pick against Ryan Day. Higgins was superb against Maguire and scored brilliantly throughout, while Day had to grind it out and win a lot of close frames against Matt Selt to come through. Day of course always gives the top players a decent game as he showed against Bingham in the German Masters and Ding in the International this season but both were very much struggling for form at the time which Higgins is not.

Judd Trump Vs Stuart Bingham - This is a tough little match to call between the defending champion and the world champion. Trump looked decent today against Mark Williams but based on some of his form of this season that does not really count for a great deal. Trump has been inconsistent at the best of times and the one thing you know you will get against him is chances. Stuart Bingham was not put under too much pressure by David Gilbert but you could see him grow in confidence towards the back end of the match as his scoring looked to get better. The one thing that might stand him in better stead tomorrow is that he will be an underdog against Trump and seems to go better in matches when this is the case.

Ali Carter Vs Tom Ford - Starting here with Ali Carter, he was very solid in beating one of the form men of the last month in Luca Brecel by a comfortable margin, finishing with a century. Tom Ford played very well against Mark Selby on the TV and that will offer him plenty of confidence and if he continues this form I think we are in for another close contest here. Of the two though, you have to say that Carter is a much more solid and consistent player who is prone to less unforced errors than Ford which could make the difference.

Kyren Wilson Vs Joe Perry - Joe Perry has had a long time off since his easy 4-0 victory in round one against Barry Hawkins where he was magnificent. It appeared that the gentleman was carrying on his good form from his last trip to Wales when he made the Welsh Open semi-finals before losing to O'Sullivan. Kyren Wilson meanwhile was in real trouble at times in his match with Jamie Jones who on the night could easily have beaten him. Someone like Joe with a more solid game would have put the Shanghai Masters champion away in my opinion and if he scores as well as he did in round one then he I fancy him to win.

Martin Gould Vs Shaun Murphy - This is arguably the match of the day in my opinion. Starting with Martin Gould, he has been in superb form over the last month or two getting to the final in Gdynia and winning the German Masters and he looked to just be carrying on again from there in round one with his whitewash of Tian Pengfei. Shaun Murphy meanwhile has beaten Martin in the past on a few occasions whilst also losing to him in recent times as well and the only common theme with those matches was that they were usually close. Murphy cued brilliantly against Michael White and looked sharp as White did not have too many chances in a 4-0 loss. The thing with runs like Gould's is that they have to end at some stage, while Murphy is too good of a player to continue missing out on the final stages of these big ranking tournaments, and I have a feeling that that will change this week.

Liang Wenbo Vs Michael Holt - This is another intriguing match, especially after Holt defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in round one with terrific snooker and superb bottle as well as taking his natural game to the Rocket on TV, and playing on the box in the past has not always been his friend. With Terry in his corner and at the venue this week then that will lend well for Holt as well as the confidence he should take from beating O'Sullivan. Liang Wenbo was superb in round one against Graeme Dott, with plenty of high scoring in that match from the Chinese who is under pressure to make it into the top 16 for the World Championships. I feel like this match will need at least six of the seven frames to be settled and could go right down to the wire. It will all be about whether both players or either of them will continue the form shown in the last 32.

Mark Allen Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - Mark Allen has been in fantastic form over the last few months, and he had to come through a tough match in round one against David Grace where he was clearly agitated by the late time that match had begun. He dug in well in the end to come back and beat Grace and he should have no such complaints about his starting time for this one, first on in the afternoon. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh has already seen off Marco Fu this week, despite nearly losing from 3-0 up, and he will need to tighten up a little bit against Allen to continue his progression. After beating him in Daqing earlier in the season he certainly will not fear Allen but I think the Northern Irishman will get his revenge this week and kick on to the latter stages of the event.

Ding Junhui Vs Peter Ebdon - Finally, this will be another keenly contested match after both players came through tough matches in deciding frames on Tuesday afternoon. Peter Ebdon was able to work Neil Robertson down as Robertson missed some easy balls at times and was not able to string together his usual high breaks. Ebdon still lacks a little consistency now with his age but he is a force to be reckoned with and Ding Junhui (someone who knows a lot about Peter) will not take him lightly. Ding is obviously under big pressure to save his automatic Crucible seeding, but his form over the last few weeks has looked to show the early signs of improvement and it will be interesting to see how far that can continue on in this event.


That's all from me for today, i'll be back after these eight games have been completed with another write up as we reach the quarter-finals and things really start to get serious.

World Grand Prix Preview

With three events to go before the World Championships this weeks World Grand Prix beginning on Tuesday, starts a big period of full ranking event action. The field for the tournament is made up of the top 32 on a one year money list from the start of this season to the end of the Gdynia Open last weekend.

There are not too many notable absentees, though current top 16 player Ricky Walden did not come close to qualifying in all truth, while guys like Robert Milkins, Mark Davis, Alan McManus and Anthony McGill all of whom are in the top 32 failed to make it into the top 32 on this one year list to qualify.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is of course the big draw, qualifying thanks completely to his Welsh Open win, which was one of only two ranking events he has played in prior to this. John Higgins is the top seed given his two ranking event titles in the 2015/2016 season. Some poor seasons for certain players and the format being seed 1 Vs seed 32 and seed 16 Vs seed 17 etc. it has made for some cracking ties in round one.

The defending champion from last season is Judd Trump though the difference between last years tournament and this years is that last season's Grand Prix prize money did not count towards the world rankings, whereas it does this year. That makes it an important event in the race for the Crucible, with Stephen Maguire, Liang Wenbo, Kyren Wilson and Ding Junhui all battling for an automatic spot to avoid three rounds of qualifying at Ponds Forge.

As with last year, the event will be broadcast on ITV4 with Jill Douglas fronting the coverage and joined by Clive Everton, Neal Foulds and Alan McManus for commentary and analysis. The event will also be broadcast on Eurosport for the people of continental Europe which is a nice addition. Two tables will be in operation with four matches to be played each afternoon and evening on a roll-on roll-off basis for the first three days of play (first and second round).

Without further ado, this is how the draw looks for the event:

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

John Higgins Vs Stephen Maguire (Tuesday 8th March 7pm)
Matthew Selt Vs Ryan Day (Tuesday 8th March 7pm)
Judd Trump Vs Mark Williams (Wednesday 9th March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
David Gilbert Vs Stuart Bingham (Wednesday 9th March 1pm)

In the top section we have John Higgins who is the number one seed after ranking wins in Australia and China in the first half of the season, while Stephen Maguire struggled into the final spot on the Grand Prix list. Matt Selt qualified thanks to runs to the UK quarter-finals and the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. Ryan Day was a quarter-finalist at the German Masters and a runner-up on the European Tour in Bulgaria. Judd of course made the Shanghai Masters final as the highlight of his season, while Mark Williams best performances came on the European Tour after a lean time in the main ranking events. David Gilbert qualified by finishing as the runner-up in the International Championships to Higgins, and finally Bingham may be world champion but the counts for nothing on this seasons list used to build the Grand Prix list. Stuart's best performance of the year came in Shanghai in September where he was a semi-finalist.

John Higgins has not shown the form since the turn of the year that he did in 2015, failing to qualify for the German Masters meant a long gap after the Masters and a last 16 exit at the Welsh Open was just, before a Last 64 exit in Gdynia to Mark Selby who went on to win the event. His first round match against Stephen Maguire is going to be a tough one with Maguire under a lot of pressure to stay in the top 16 for the World Championships and obviously being a good friend of Higgins.

Matt Selt had a nice week of practice at the Championship league in Crondon Park where he won group seven to get into the winners group where he lost out in the semi-finals to Ronnie O'Sullivan. His match with Day is a very tough one to call but I give Matt the slight edge based on some of the Welshman's inconsistencies and because Selt is improving all the time and working as hard as ever. His runs at the UK and Australian Open earlier in the season show he is not afraid to make the latter stages of events and take advantage of a good draw in some cases too. However, he is not quite yet a title contender.

Stuart Bingham is going from bad to worse this season after a first round exit in Wales was coupled with a first round exit in Gdynia which meant he failed to qualify for the Players Championship finals. This makes this his penultimate event before the defence of his world title and he will want to turn things around. His first round opponent David Gilbert is another interesting case as he has failed to reach the heights of the International Championship final in later events so this is a good opportunity for both players to possibly find a bit of form, but I fancy that whoever the winner is they will struggle thereafter in Llandudno.

Judd Trump has had an interesting season, and one that has been improved by overall victory in the Championship League at Crondon Park. He looked good after a couple of rounds in Cardiff and Germany before losing out without making it to the real business end of the competition which has really been the story of his season. Mark Williams has not fared too well in main ranking events this season with early exits in the UK and International Championships as well as the German Masters more recently, and he will certainly be sick of the sight of Trump who he has played around nine times (including Championship League) in just over a year with Trump winning on the majority of those occasions.

Quarter Winner: Judd Trump

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Selby Vs Tom Ford (Wednesday 9th March 7pm)
Luca Brecel  Vs Ali Carter (Wednesday 9th March 7pm)
Joe Perry Vs Barry Hawkins (Tuesday 8th March 1pm)
Kyren Wilson Vs Jamie Jones (Wednesday 9th March around 9pm - second evening session)

The qualifiers in this section are of course world number one Mark Selby who was a semi-finalist in both the International and UK Championships as well as a winner on the European Tour. Tom Ford was a runner-up in the Riga Open at the beginning of the season. Luca Brecel of course was a runner-up at the German Masters while Ali Carter was the winner of the early season Paul Hunter Classic. Joe Perry made the semi-finals in the Welsh Open as well as a couple of other decent ranking event performances, while Barry Hawkins won the Riga Open. Kyren Wilson was of course the winner in Shanghai and has been pretty consistent since then and finally Jamie Jones was a semi-finalist in Australia at the seasons start.

Luca Brecel has turned himself into a real danger in the draw and a contender for events within the last few months. Making the German Masters final has given him his higher seeding here and while the shoot-out final he made was effectively meaningless it all helps to build his confidence. A consistent year on the European Tour has gotten him into the Tour Championship in a couple of weeks and he will be a big threat there too. He faces a tough first round tie against Ali Carter who is always a great competitor who has had quite a quiet season since winning the Paul Hunter Classic, showing there is still a way to go for the Captain to get back to his very best.

Kyren Wilson has had a very memorable season and one that just keeps getting better for the young man. Thriving from picking up his first ranking title in September he has had a couple of semi-finals recently, having to battle hard in Berlin before looking good in Gdynia and if he can bring that form here he is a contender once again. He will certainly be confident coming into the event, and with the carrot of getting into the top 16 for automatic World Championship qualifying, dangling very much in his sights then he knows that now is certainly not the time to let his performance dip or let up on his intensity.

Mark Selby has been striking the cue ball fantastically right from the start of 2016 and was finally rewarded last weekend when he sealed victory in Gdynia. It has usually taken something special to beat Selby this season as he has lost to the eventual champion in all of the International Championships, UK Championships, Masters and the Welsh Open. Selby is always a great contender for any event but when he is scoring well as he has been recently he shows all of us why he has consistently reigned as world number one for the last few seasons and he will be looking for another strong show this week. His first round opponent in Tom Ford could cause some problems over the best-of-7 format but I would still think that Selby will come through easily.

Barry Hawkins has had another good season after winning on the European Tour at the start of the season, and reaching the Gdynia Open quarter-finals last weekend before losing a tight match to Kyren Wilson. His big moment of the season was reaching the Masters final and playing some excellent snooker to do well. Hawkins is a very tough player to beat, particularly when he scores at a decent standard. His first round opponent Joe Perry will be the sick of the sight of Hawkins having played him twice already in 2016 losing both of those at the Masters and Gdynia Open. Whoever comes through such a tough clash will be playing well and make themselves a serious contender for the event.

Quarter Winner: Barry Hawkins

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Martin Gould Vs Tian Pengfei (Tuesday 8th March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
Shaun Murphy Vs Michael White (Wednesday 9th March around 9pm - second evening session)
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Michael Holt (Tuesday 8th March around 9pm - second evening session)
Liang Wenbo Vs Graeme Dott (Wednesday 9th March 1pm)

As we enter the bottom half of the draw we start with German Masters champion and even more recently Gdynia Open runner-up Martin Gould who takes on Ruhr Open runner-up Tian Pengfei. Shaun Murphy has consistently made the last 16 in the ranking events, with his best performance coming on the European Tour where he made the Paul Hunter Classic final, while Michael White made the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open and was a runner-up on the European Tour in Gibraltar. Ronnie O'Sullivan got into the Grand Prix despite only playing two ranking events thanks to winning in Wales, while Michael Holt has had a couple of last 16 finishes in main ranking events as well as a semi-final on the European Tour. Liang Wenbo was of course the UK runner-up, while his opponent Graeme Dott made the semi-finals of the German Masters.

Liang Wenbo has gone through a little bit of a lean spell since making the UK Championship final with first round exits at the Masters, German Masters and Gdynia Open as well as a Last 32 exit in the Welsh Open. He did find a little bit of form at the Championship League last week before losing out in the group seven final, but in a quarter like this with the big names that there are present it is tough to see Liang as a contender. His first round match with Graeme Dott will be tough enough as Dott is the ultimate competitor and over the best of seven frames that one could well go the distance.

Shaun Murphy has had a quiet season after the roaring spell that he had from January to May in 2015. In the main ranking events he has failed to get past the Last 16, with two last 32 exits in the Welsh Open and German Masters and even last weekend in the Gdynia Open he lost in the Last 64 so his form is not quite there at the moment. I mentioned before Gdynia that Murphy, Selby and Trump could all do with titles to boost their confidence ahead of the worlds with Ronnie and Robertson playing so well. Now, with Selby winning in Poland and Trump winning the Championship League that leaves Murphy to put his name right back at the top of that list of Crucible contenders. This week will be tough for him (and not just because of his two curses of playing on ITV and playing in Wales that he loves me mentioning) playing Michael White in round one who seemed to find a little bit of confidence in Cardiff, a possible Last 16 tie with in form Martin Gould and then Ronnie O'Sullivan in his quarter also. Then again, Murphy is not afraid to do things the difficult way.

Martin Gould is in the form of his life right now, and before we talk about him being a contender this week I do not think he will have any problems in round one against Tian Pengfei. A winner in Berlin he also made the final of the Gdynia Open and it is still worth remembering how close he came right at the start of the season in Australia. He will also be looking to expel the demons of last year, when he lost in the semi-finals to Judd Trump 6-5 having at one stage led the match 5-1. He is in even better form this week than he was a year ago too so there is no doubt that he could now go all the way again, with that clear winners confidence.

Ronnie O'Sullivan is still very much the man to beat in this draw. It seems to be a case of that when he turns up he wins. He romped to victory at the Masters and reeled off seven frames in a row to beat Neil Robertson in the Welsh Open final and right now he looks unstoppable. His unbeaten start to 2016 was ended at the Championship League winners group when he los his final round robin match to Mark Williams and eventually lost the overall final to Judd Trump. The early format of best-of-7 frames presents the best chance of him being beaten you would think and the possibility of a quarter-final with someone like the in form Martin Gould, who will take his chances against Ronnie and is someone that the Rocket rates highly could perhaps prove the bridge between him and another tournament win.

Quarter Winner: Martin Gould

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Allen Vs David Grace (Tuesday 8th March around 9pm - second evening session)
Marco Fu Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (Wednesday 9th March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
Ben Woollaston Vs Ding Junhui (Tuesday 8th March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
Neil Robertson Vs Peter Ebdon (Tuesday 8th March 1pm)

Finally, we have another exciting quarter here with Mark Allen who is a high seed in the Grand Prix thanks to a win in Bulgaria on the European Tour and semi-finals in Shanghai and most recently in Cardiff, while David Grace was a famous semi-finalist in the UK Championships. Marco Fu has also been a winner on the European Tour this season as well as making the UK and International Championship quarter-finals, and his opponent Thepchaiya Un-Nooh was a semi-finalist at the International Championship in late October. Ben Woollaston has had another pretty consistent year with good performances on the European Tour and a quarter-final at the Welsh Open, while Ding Junhui has not had his best season but still won the sole Asian Tour event of the season and made the quarter-finals in Cardiff. Finally, Neil Robertson was the winner of the UK Championship and a runner-up at the Welsh Open so will be one of the favourites for this week, while his first round opponent Peter Ebdon has had a last 16 at the UK Championships amongst a number of last 32 exits which is enough to grab the penultimate place on the list.

Marco Fu has had a mixed time of things this season with some decent performances mixed with early exits and that makes it hard for me to make him a contender for this weeks Grand Prix particularly when he is in a quarter as tough as this one. He will be hoping that he has been able to tae something from a run to the Gdynia Open quarter-finals last weekend. In round one he faces Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who has struggled since making the International semi-finals in October and missing the last black for a maximum in the UK Championships. First round exits followed in Gibraltar and German Masters qualifying before more recent Last 64 exits in Wales and Gdynia.

Ding Junhui is one man that has found a little bit of form recently and it has certainly come at the right time for him. After a lean year and a half on the circuit he is now in danger of falling outside of the top 16 and having to qualify for the World Championships, a quarter-final run at the Welsh Open has helped a little but he still has some distance to make up on the likes of Wenbo, Wilson and Maguire ahead of him. In round one he has drawn Ben Woollaston who is a solid player and often tough to beat but given some of his recent results you would expect the Chinese to come through. The problems could come in the last 16 when he could meet Neil Robertson who beat Ding in the Cardiff quarter-final. Either way, do not rule the former UK and Masters champion out of a big run this week.

Coming back to Neil Robertson he will be confident coming into this event given how well players are having to play to defeat him recently. It took spells of brilliance from Trump and O'Sullivan in the Masters and Welsh Open to defeat him and of course he has already bagged the UK and Champion of Champions titles and made that 147 in the UK final. His schedule means he has plenty of time between events (having not entered the recent Gdynia Open and failing to qualify for the German Masters) allowing him to fine tune his game for an assault on the bigger titles with more importance. Once again, you would expect it to take something special for Neil Robertson to be beaten this week in Llandudno.

Mark Allen is someone who has impressed me greatly this season, a semi-finalist in the Welsh Open recently, and the Shanghai Masters in September he looks like he is ready to go on and add to his trophy. He has had a win this season on the European Tour but will be aiming for much higher than that after also reaching the Champion of Champions final and International Championship quarter-finals this season. Watching him on my trip to the Welsh Open he was one of the players that impressed me more than any other and I am certain that he is going to win a big title sooner rather than later. I also like that he has picked and chosen his events on the European Tour to really peak for the ones that matter and balance life at home with that on the road as he comes across as one of the players that needs this balance to enjoy his snooker and play well. The Northern Irishman is certainly a contender this week.

Quarter Winner: Mark Allen

Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Barry Hawkins

Predicted Tournament Winner: Mark Allen


The format of the event sees matches of best-of-7 frames for the Last 32, last 16 and quarter-finals before things increase to best-of-11 frames for the semi-finals and best-of-19 frames for the two session final on the Sunday, where the winner will take £100,000 and the trophy home with him.

I'll be back as always with updates throughout the event, previewing the matches ahead of each new round, but this already promises to be a fantastic event.

Judd Trump wins 2016 Championship League

Judd Trump has won his first title for a year at Crondon Park to take the overall 2016 Championship League title. The group two winner only qualified for the semi-finals by a frame on the frames won, and was then the winner of deciders against Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan to go home with the £10,000 winners bonus.

All the talk at the start of the day was about O'Sullivan and his unbeaten start to 2016 which carried on for 3-2 wins against Matt Selt and Ali Carter, but ended when Mark Williams beat him 3-0 in the final group game. Despite that the Rocket still topped the group while Williams came in second place with four wins from five matches.

Matt Selt had wins against Stephen Maguire and Judd Trump on the second day of round robin action to secure the fourth spot in the group ahead of Ali Carter by just a one frame lost, after the players were tied on matches and frames won, after Carter suffered defeats to Trump and O'Sullivan and overcame Maguire in his final match 3-2 which did not prove enough.

Mark Selby had very little to play for coming in to the day after losing all of his first four round robin matches, but wins against Mark Williams and Judd Trump helped him to save face and avoid the wooden spoon position in the group. That 'honour' went to Stephen Maguire who beat Selby to record his only win from four on the opening day but defeats to Selt and Carter in his final two matches were no good to him and hardly a good warm up for the two tournaments he has left to play to save his top 16 seeding for the Crucible (after failing to qualify for the Players Championship finals).

 

What it all means is that Judd Trump has guaranteed himself a place in November's Champion of Champions and warmed himself up nicely for the defence of his World Grand Prix title starting on Tuesday, my preview for which will be up on the blog on Friday or Saturday at the very latest so keep on the look out for that.

 

 

Meanwhile, we now get to 'enjoy' four days off from action on the snooker tour of some sort, the first time off since Monday 8th February, the day between the German Masters and China Open qualifiers, which seems like another lifetime ago. 

Fantasy Snooker: Points Update and Grand Prix Players

Following the Gdynia Open in Poland there has been a little bit of movement on the Fantasy Snooker table. Four events to go now with the Grand Prix this week before the Players Championship Finals, China Open and the double points World Championship to finish things off.

Here's how the table looks going into the run in, with money left over next to each player which is big at this stage as you can effectively work out how much money to spend on each event with 32 million (8 million for each event) to come on.

One other issue we did have was players who picked Judd Trump for Gdynia as he pulled out after the deadline. The fair thing to do of course was to refund this money to those that picked him.

1^st: Igor: 684 +7.4 million Pengfei (14) and Maflin (7)

2^nd: Gorkem Kurt: 628 +12 million Fu (34) and O’Donnell (16)

3^rd: SnookerFollower: 606 +5.4 million Dott (2)

4^th: Michael Coudray: 599 +9.2 million Selby (57)

5^th: TungstenDarts: 564 +8.8 million Maguire (16) and Woollaston (28)

6^th: Chris Watts: 543 +0.6 million Williams (0) and Davis (7)

7^th: Anthony Ward: 537 +2.1 million Selby (57) and Day (11)

8^th: Gary: 520 +1.2 million Mann (19)

9^th: Kjetil: 498 +4.5 million King (26) and Woollaston (28)

10^th: Guillermo: 468 +0.4 million White (12) 

11^th: Spanish Snooker Blog: 394 +8.7 million Maguire (16) and Lisowski (10)

12^th: LTD: 388 +9 million Hawkins (28)

13^th: Josh Cooper: 381 +8.2 million

14^th: Ezgi Ulutas: 378 +19.1 million

15^th: Andrew Brooker: 327 +19.3 million Maguire (12) and Woollaston (28)

16^th: Kai: 319 +6.8 million Hamilton (14) and Dunn (5)

17^th: John McBride: 318 +18 million

18^th: Phil Mudd: 316 +8.4 million

19^th: Kellie Barker: 296 +1.2 million Gould (49) and Higgins (0)

 

Some clear gains have been made on the top spot but it is Igor who leads coming into the final four. Here are the players for the Grand Prix with a maximum of two to be picked...

Ronnie O'Sullivan – 8 million

John Higgins – 6 million

Neil Robertson – 5.8 million

Martin Gould– 5.5 million

Kyren Wilson – 5.4 million

Mark Selby – 5.3 million

Liang Wenbo – 5.2 million

Mark Allen – 5 million

David Gilbert – 4.9 million

Judd Trump– 4.8 million

Marco Fu– 4.6 million

Luca Brecel – 4.5 million

Joe Perry– 4.3 million

Shaun Murphy – 4.2 million

Ben Woollaston – 4.1 million

Matt Selt – 4 million

Ryan Day – 4 million

Ding Junhui– 3.9 million

Michael White - 3.7 million

Barry Hawkins – 3.7 million

Ali Carter – 3.6 million

Michael Holt – 3 million

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh – 3.5 million

Mark Williams – 3.5 million

Stuart Bingham – 4 million

David Grace – 2 million

Graeme Dott – 3.5 million

Tom Ford – 2.5 million

Jamie Jones – 3 million

Tian Pengfei – 2.5 million

Peter Ebdon – 3 million

Stephen Maguire – 4 million

 

Those are the players then, a little bit of mix and match in there but in an event like this you cannot price players up purely on seeding but you have to use the form guide (hence why Ronnie is 8 million). Remember a maximum of two players should be chosen for the event and the deadline is before the first matches begin on Tuesday March 8 at 1pm. Happy Tipping!!!

Championship League Winners Group: Ronnie on top once again

Mark Williams and Ronnie O'Sullivan have dominated the first days play in the Championship League winners group as O'Sullivan keeps up his unbeaten start to 2016. After a whitewash victory over Judd Trump he could so easily have been beaten, winning a deciding frame from 50+ points behind against Mark Selby before then beating Stephen Maguire in a deciding frame also.

Those defeats proved big blows for the pair who both lost their opening three matches on the day before a Maguire Vs Selby showdown in the days final game saw Maguire get off of the mark and leaving Selby at the foot of the table after day one.

Matt Selt has managed one victory from three games after beating Selby in a surprise 3-0 score line, but other than that he has had little success losing 3-1 to Ali Carter despite making a break of 112, whilst Mark Williams was a 3-0 winner in their final game of the day.

Williams other wins came 3-0 against Ali Carter and 3-2 against Maguire making two centuries to start off that match to leave Williams on three wins from four matches. His only defeat of the day came to Judd Trump who is two wins from three matches along with Carter. Ali's best win of the day came against Mark Selby 3-1 in the evening session and included a break of 103.

What it means going into the final day is that Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams are clearly in very strong positions in the group, while Mark Selby may as well go home now with no chance of making it through to the knock out stages. His remaining games come against Mark Williams and Judd Trump but that does not mean it will be easy wins for the pair with money still to play for and Selby being the ultimate competitor that he is.

Matt Selt still has a chance to climb into the top four but you would think that he would need at least two wins from his final three group games, coming up against Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and Stephen Maguire meaning it will certainly not be an easy task.

Maguire's remaining group game aside from Selt will be against Carter knowing all to well with the position that he is in that he needs two wins to have any chance, although because of the nature of some of his losses his frames won tally looks reasonably healthy at this stage.

Carter obviously still has work to do and away from his game against Maguire he will also face key games against Judd Trump (also on two wins from three games) and Ronnie O'Sullivan and needing at least one win and possibly two to qualify Ali is by no means home and dry yet in terms of qualification for the knock out stages.

I mentioned the fact that Trump there is in the same position meaning his match with Carter could really be the telling one in terms of who makes the semi-finals and who does not. Trump will also face Mark Selby and Matt Selt, needing one or possibly two wins to ensure a crack at trying to win the competition outright in the knock out stages.


It may not seem like a big event but that does not make tomorrow any less of a lucrative day for the players still involved. For the winner there is a guaranteed place in the Champion of Champions event, and £10,000 for winning the group, on top of the prize money for frames won (which would equate to a further £1,800 for the winner with 6x £300 per frame wins, with £200 for each frame won in the round robin stage going on top of that) while the runner-up receives £5,000 and the losing semi-finalists £3,000 each.

It will also be good practice for the seven guys who all feature in next weeks World Grand Prix which I will be previewing at the end of this week.

Championship League: Matt Selt wins group 7 to set up Winners Group

Matt Selt has won the seventh and final qualifying group of the Championship League at the Crondon Park to set the line up for the winners group in stone for the two days of play on Wednesday and Thursday.

Selt won his final two group games on day two of the group after winning two from three on day one, before starting Tuesday with a whitewash defeat to Dominic Dale.

It was Liang Wenbo who did most of the running on the day finishing with three wins from his final three round robin games on the day, to make it five consecutive after losing his opening game in group seven on Monday. The Chinaman finished top of the group in dominant style and then saw off Kyren Wilson in a semi-final deciding frame.

Wilson had only scraped through to the knock out stages by a frame of Stuart Bingham after the world champion won his final two group games and Kyren lost his final two.

Michael Holt meanwhile became the only person to play an entire set of round robin fixtures and not get a single win, as he finished with six defeats from six in group seven and propped up the table.

Mark Davis took on Matt Selt in the other semi-final after Davis finished in second place on frames lost from Selt. It was Matt who was the 3-1 victor on the day to set up a final with Wenbo.

Liang would have gone in a slight favourite against Selt based on the form of the two days and after he took the opening two frames that decision would have been justified. However, he missed his chances from there and Selt was able to take advantage to take all of the final three frames and turn it around to win the group.

 

What it all means is that the seven players that will make up the winners group are Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump, Stephen Maguire, Mark Williams, Mark Selby, Ali Carter and Matt Selt.

 

 

The resounding favourite will be Ronnie O'Sullivan given the simple fact that he is unbeaten in 2016 after winning group one of this competition, the Masters and the Welsh Open. In the form he is right now no one can stop him and that has been proved in style already.

 

Judd Trump is someone though that is yet to have a go (unlike players like Selby and Mark Williams) and Trump is a former Championship League winner and after winning his group at the first time of asking also, then he will want to win this group in the hope that it leads to bigger things in the remainder of the season.

 

Mark Selby comes to Crondon Park having only won his group (group five) in the same week that he took his first title of the year by winning the Gdynia Open in Poland. He has been striking the ball beautifully for a while and has to be another strong contender.

 

Messrs' Williams and Maguire may have played well in the Championship league but have failed to find that spark in any ranking competitions this year and while they are certainly contenders it is hard to see them winning this if Selby, Trump and O'Sullivan play like they can and have been at times this season.

 

Carter and Selt are the clear underdogs, though it would be easy to underestimate Carter because of where he is in the rankings through not fault of his own. Selt meanwhile is on the rise and it will be easy to see how he shapes up against players that on paper are probably a class above him.

 

We all know that Ronnie will take some stopping though, and I will be back with an update tomorrow at the halfway point of the group to see if anyone looks like doing so.