Ronnie O'Sullivan may have appeared a little shaky in his first competitive match of the 2016/2017 season, yet he was still able to come back from 4-1 down to see off one of the home favourites Liang Wenbo 5-4. Despite an 86 in the second frame, O'Sullivan was 4-1 down after a series of scrappier frames went the way of his Chinese opponent. Wenbo did not see much of the next two frames, scoring one point across them as his lead was cut to 4-3. A chance came along in frame eight but he could not take it and O'Sullivan capitalised to force the decider. Once more, the former Shanghai Masters champion was dominant in the decisive frame, making a 56 break that helped him over the line and into the Last 16 despite a major scare from Liang.
He will face Michael Holt in Thursday's Last 16 after the Nottingham potter avenged his Last 16 defeat against defending champion Kyren Wilson from Wilson's triumphant 2015 run. The opener was a scrappy one but Holt came out on top and then made a swift 69 to double his advantage. He had led the third frame for much of the lengthy proceedings but Wilson, aided by some good fortune, was able to get his first frame on the board. Tactical frames either side of the interval fell to Holt and put him 4-1 ahead and one away from victory. Wilson was going to fight hard as always though, and a 101 break in the sixth kept him in it, yet Holt shined through with a 101 of his own to seal an impressive 5-2 victory.
Stephen Maguire was on fire during his wildcard round match today, making a maximum break in the third frame on the way to a 5-0 victory. This was the Scot's third 147 in professional competition, and was one of three centuries on the day, the perfect warm-up for his Last 32 match with Shaun Murphy tomorrow. Kurt Maflin, Ryan Day and Stuart Carrington each came through 5-1 in their wildcard matches on day two in Shanghai. Maflin will now play Ali Carter tomorrow in the Last 32, while Day will take on Neil Robertson and Carrington faces up to Joe Perry.
Indian Open champion Anthony McGill was whitewashed in the Last 32 by Mark Allen, the Northern Irishman hoping to better loses in the semi-final and final in the last two years at the Shanghai Masters, and getting off to the best possible start with high breaks of 53 and 55.
In the fourth Last 32 match of the day, World Champion Mark Selby saw off 16 year old wildcard Yuan Sijun, who beat Martin Gould 5-0 yesterday, by a 5-1 scoreline. Selby's performance featured high breaks of 52 and 76, while Yuan made a century in the single frame that he won on the day.
Wednesday will see the completion of the Last 32 with the eight remaining games, with all eight Last 16 games being played on Thursday.
Tuesday, 20 September 2016
Monday, 19 September 2016
Yuan for the future shines in Shanghai
Yuan Sijun was once again a major surprise on the opening day of the Shanghai Masters as he whitewashed Martin Gould for the second time in 2016 in the wildcard round. The first of those 5-0 victories came in the Last 64 of the China Open at the back end of March and was a massive shock to a large majority of people, with Gould having only just won his maiden ranking title at the German Masters the month before and he came into the tournament as the 14th seed. This time around Gould was the 17th seed but there was no let up from Yuan, who only had his 16th birthday in May between these two meetings.
Despite his young age it has been nearly four years since his debut in professional competition as a 12 year old in an Asian Tour event where he lost out 4-0 to Barry Hawkins. A year later he was taking four frames off of Jimmy White in the International Championship wildcard round, but featuring in all of the Asian Tour events and wildcard rounds of Chinese ranking events of the 2013/2014 season he was picking up more valuable experience. Less of Yuan was seen the following season, but it was in 2015/2016 when he started to pick up some attention. First he featured in the 6 Reds tournament, and secured 1 win in the group stage against John Higgins. March's China Open was the scene of his first two victories in professional competition, beating Andrew Higginson in the wildcard round before whitewashing Gould for the first time. Now fresh from a Last 16 appearance in the 6 Reds featuring victories over Mark Williams and a 6-0 defeat of James Wattana in the first knockout round he is clearly still building in confidence and proving a handful.
Today's victory against Gould saw him open up with breaks of 111 and 65, and as more valuable experience he will feature tomorrow on one of the two televised tables against the World Champion Mark Selby. Yuan Sijun is name we will surely hear a lot more of in snookers future.
Elsewhere today Anthony McGill, Michael Holt and Liang Wenbo avoided shock defeats of their own by winning their respective matches. Hu Hao offered a test for Liang ahead of a much bigger one that faces him tomorrow against Ronnie O'Sullivan, while Michael Holt will now play defending champion Kyren Wilson in their third Shanghai Masters meeting. Indian Open champion Anthony McGill will face former Shanghai finalist Mark Allen in the other Last 32 match that will feature in Tuesday's play, while the remaining four wildcard round matches featuring Kurt Maflin, Stuart Carrington, Ryan Day and Stephen Maguire will also take place.
Today's four first round matches saw three deciding frames and two victories for the lower ranked players. Michael White played out a close match with Ricky Walden, despite getting up an early lead of 3-1 courtesy of a pre-interval century break of 113. Following that break Walden made contributions of 53 and a trademark "something out of nothing" 62 that he always seems to pop up with, on the way to levelling the contest at 3-3. White edged ahead again thanks to his second century, but Walden hit back once more with a mis-cue on 98 denying him a century but doing enough to force the deciding frame. The Welshman took the lead early, only for his higher ranked opponent to hit back before a vital error allowed White to leave Walden requiring three snookers. That was nowhere near the end of contest as a comedy of errors followed. First a failed escape left Walden a free ball from which he could clear and win, only to miss the black from said free ball. Another much more elementary miss out of a snooker gave him a second go but after taking two pinks, he missed the final red and that was the last critical mistake that he would have a chance to make, as the only thing left for Ricky Walden is an early flight home.
In the other early session match David Gilbert made a superb comeback from 3-0 and 4-2 down to beat send Marco Fu out in the first round of the Shanghai Masters for the third year in succession. Fu had a century and a further break of 79 on the way to making it 3-0, before Gilbert made centuries either side of the interval to get back in the match at 2-3, Fu edged further clear but had to watch Gilbert clear the colours to take a vital frame seven keeping the Englishman in the hunt. Another frame followed to make it 4-4, but Fu would not score another point as Gilbert made breaks of 47 and 50 in the decider to seal victory.
Later on in the day, John Higgins and Ding Junhui both overturned 3-1 interval deficits to forge their paths into the Last 16. Higgins made a couple of trademark clearances in his victory over Matt Selt who had enough chances to win but saw the opportunity slip through his fingers as four frames in a row that included a century from Higgins made sure it was he that crossed the line a 5-3 winner.
Long time home favourite Ding had his troubles facing the lowest ranked player to make the venue stages in Shanghai in Scott Donaldson. Donaldson saw his 3-1 lead vanish with Ding levelling at 3-3 quickly after the mid-session break. The Scotsman did hit back by taking a close seventh frame to regain his lead at 4-3, Chances came and went in the last couple of frames, with a missed black in the final frame that will haunt him on his long flight home and Ding was able to pick the pieces and make his way into the Last 16 a 5-4 winner.
Despite his young age it has been nearly four years since his debut in professional competition as a 12 year old in an Asian Tour event where he lost out 4-0 to Barry Hawkins. A year later he was taking four frames off of Jimmy White in the International Championship wildcard round, but featuring in all of the Asian Tour events and wildcard rounds of Chinese ranking events of the 2013/2014 season he was picking up more valuable experience. Less of Yuan was seen the following season, but it was in 2015/2016 when he started to pick up some attention. First he featured in the 6 Reds tournament, and secured 1 win in the group stage against John Higgins. March's China Open was the scene of his first two victories in professional competition, beating Andrew Higginson in the wildcard round before whitewashing Gould for the first time. Now fresh from a Last 16 appearance in the 6 Reds featuring victories over Mark Williams and a 6-0 defeat of James Wattana in the first knockout round he is clearly still building in confidence and proving a handful.
Today's victory against Gould saw him open up with breaks of 111 and 65, and as more valuable experience he will feature tomorrow on one of the two televised tables against the World Champion Mark Selby. Yuan Sijun is name we will surely hear a lot more of in snookers future.
Elsewhere today Anthony McGill, Michael Holt and Liang Wenbo avoided shock defeats of their own by winning their respective matches. Hu Hao offered a test for Liang ahead of a much bigger one that faces him tomorrow against Ronnie O'Sullivan, while Michael Holt will now play defending champion Kyren Wilson in their third Shanghai Masters meeting. Indian Open champion Anthony McGill will face former Shanghai finalist Mark Allen in the other Last 32 match that will feature in Tuesday's play, while the remaining four wildcard round matches featuring Kurt Maflin, Stuart Carrington, Ryan Day and Stephen Maguire will also take place.
Today's four first round matches saw three deciding frames and two victories for the lower ranked players. Michael White played out a close match with Ricky Walden, despite getting up an early lead of 3-1 courtesy of a pre-interval century break of 113. Following that break Walden made contributions of 53 and a trademark "something out of nothing" 62 that he always seems to pop up with, on the way to levelling the contest at 3-3. White edged ahead again thanks to his second century, but Walden hit back once more with a mis-cue on 98 denying him a century but doing enough to force the deciding frame. The Welshman took the lead early, only for his higher ranked opponent to hit back before a vital error allowed White to leave Walden requiring three snookers. That was nowhere near the end of contest as a comedy of errors followed. First a failed escape left Walden a free ball from which he could clear and win, only to miss the black from said free ball. Another much more elementary miss out of a snooker gave him a second go but after taking two pinks, he missed the final red and that was the last critical mistake that he would have a chance to make, as the only thing left for Ricky Walden is an early flight home.
In the other early session match David Gilbert made a superb comeback from 3-0 and 4-2 down to beat send Marco Fu out in the first round of the Shanghai Masters for the third year in succession. Fu had a century and a further break of 79 on the way to making it 3-0, before Gilbert made centuries either side of the interval to get back in the match at 2-3, Fu edged further clear but had to watch Gilbert clear the colours to take a vital frame seven keeping the Englishman in the hunt. Another frame followed to make it 4-4, but Fu would not score another point as Gilbert made breaks of 47 and 50 in the decider to seal victory.
Later on in the day, John Higgins and Ding Junhui both overturned 3-1 interval deficits to forge their paths into the Last 16. Higgins made a couple of trademark clearances in his victory over Matt Selt who had enough chances to win but saw the opportunity slip through his fingers as four frames in a row that included a century from Higgins made sure it was he that crossed the line a 5-3 winner.
Long time home favourite Ding had his troubles facing the lowest ranked player to make the venue stages in Shanghai in Scott Donaldson. Donaldson saw his 3-1 lead vanish with Ding levelling at 3-3 quickly after the mid-session break. The Scotsman did hit back by taking a close seventh frame to regain his lead at 4-3, Chances came and went in the last couple of frames, with a missed black in the final frame that will haunt him on his long flight home and Ding was able to pick the pieces and make his way into the Last 16 a 5-4 winner.
Friday, 16 September 2016
Shanghai Masters Preview
Monday morning sees the return of big time snooker to the TV with the start of the Shanghai Masters, one of the longer running and best supported tournaments on the calendar these days. It marks the beginning of a period on the calendar that sees a lot of snooker coming between now and the Christmas break.
The second quarter of the draw is where we find new father Shaun Murphy who has the big life adjustment that players like Mark Selby and Ricky Walden have made in the last couple of seasons and both struggled for form in the couple of months following that. In the long term though, Selby won two ranking events later on in the season that he became a father and Walden made back to back ranking finals. Murphy does have a tough draw this week but he will still have high hopes of performing well after a strong start to the season in the World and Indian Open's and took a lot of confidence thanks to a Grand Prix victory and Players Championship semi-final at the back end of last season when he felt he was back to his best. Speaking of Ricky Walden he is a former champion in Shanghai and someone that the eye is always drawn to in the draw for a Chinese event such is the fact that his record seems to be so much better in Asia than in the UK and the rest of Europe. Barry Hawkins has been struggling for a while in all honesty and steadily been dropping the rankings without much of a signal that he could stem the tide. Of the qualifiers Stephen Maguire is the one to look to for a dark horse, because it still does not seem right that he has fallen out of the top 16 in the world rankings because he is a much better player than that suggests.
The second quarter choice though is a twice Shanghai Masters runner-up Judd Trump. Trump has been keeping his eye in over the summer with the six best-of-11 match exhibition series against Ronnie O'Sullivan, three of which it is worth pointing out have been in the last two weeks. The Ace could easily have won either of his Shanghai finals against Kyren Wilson last year (losing 10-9) or against John Higgins in another tight 2012 final. Trump is another who seems to perform very well in China, winning his second China Open earlier this year in Beijing as well as winning the inaugural International Championship. He has reached more full ranking event quarter-finals than anyone else since the start of the 2014/2015 season, so it is about time that Trump became the winning machine that most expected him to become by now.
Having said all of that, the selection in this quarter is 2012 Shanghai Master John Higgins. Higgins seems to be flourishing into his 40's as a snooker player. After winning this event in September 2012 it took him until February 2015 and the Welsh Open to win another ranking event but in the months that followed he won two more in Australia and then the International Championships last October. His recent record in big events is a very good one. In China, other than his International win he has had a semi-final at the China Open and a quarter-final at the World Open in July. Add to that quarter-finals in the most recent World and UK Championships and you get an incredible player who has been in fine form for a year now and well capable of winning plenty more events.
Still under the old contract this is now one of the rare events that sees the top 16 seeds enter the draw at the Last 32 stage after everyone else has played in the qualifying stages. 11 of the 16 qualifiers that came through were ranked between 17 and 32, meaning they only had to play one qualifying match, whilst the likes of Kurt Maflin, Jamie Jones and Stuart Carrington had to play three qualifiers and Scott Donaldson and Mei Xi Wen came through four games.
One of the downsides to the old system however is the addition to the draw of eight Chinese wildcard players, instead of the four wildcards that we have become accustomed to for the other Chinese events on the calendar. It all seems very strange that large amounts of wildcards are required to boost one of the strongest fields we will see all season but that's the way the contract works.
Looking at the Eurosport TV schedules, it looks like they are going to screen all of this event on the TV. There have been teething problems with the new Eurosport deal that oddly saw the Paul Hunter Classic confined to the Eurosport Player. Meanwhile, in previous years Eurosport have showed the first six days of the tournament and then neglected to show the final leaving many dissatisfied fans in their wake.
The good news for this event is that Ronnie O'Sullivan has decided to enter and start his season slightly earlier than we would all have expected. You have to say that the event will get more coverage than it would have done as a result. He could certainly have some interesting games if he is to go far in a star-studded draw.
Quarter 1
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Kyren Wilson Vs Michael Holt/Xu Si
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Liang Wenbo/Hu Hao
Ding Junhui Vs Scott Donaldson
Mark Allen Vs Anthony McGill/Chen Zifan
This has to be the toughest quarter in what is a very tough draw from top to bottom. Defending champion Kyren Wilson had a good start to the season by making the Indian Open final and ranked third in my "Tournament Top Ten" list (link at bottom of post) which would suggest he could be a major contender this week. If Michael Holt, Liang Wenbo and Anthony McGill come through their respective wildcard round matches then each could be very dangerous dark horses in this section. Holt made the semi-finals here in 2013, and saw off a seed to make the Last 16 in the two years since then. On top of that Holt has started the season by reaching the final of the Riga Masters showing the improvements in his game over the last year. Meanwhile, you will struggle to find many players who have started the season as well as McGill. A victory at the Indian Open was sandwiched in between good finishes at the World Open and Riga Masters and he is starting to show what he's made of more consistently.
Mark Allen has only played one tournament this season, losing a tight Last 16 match to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh at the Paul Hunter Classic, but a semi-final and runner-up finishes in the last two Shanghai Masters show how dangerous he could be if he gets past a tough first round match. Of course Ronnie O'Sullivan is yet to play a tournament since the World Championship but has certainly been keeping himself warm with the exhibition series that he has been doing with Judd Trump. It is still to be expected that O'Sullivan will not be at his peak best from the start and take a tournament or two to reach his highest heights. The quarter choice here is Ding Junhui the 2013 Shanghai Masters champion. Ding is very hit and miss when it comes to the Chinese tournaments but this does appear to be one he performs very well in. Following the success of three years ago he has followed up with a semi-final loss to eventual winner Stuart Bingham and last year he lost a very close quarter-final on the black to eventual winner Kyren Wilson. After a good run at the end of last season that included making a first Crucible final, so he should be full of confidence.
Mark Allen has only played one tournament this season, losing a tight Last 16 match to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh at the Paul Hunter Classic, but a semi-final and runner-up finishes in the last two Shanghai Masters show how dangerous he could be if he gets past a tough first round match. Of course Ronnie O'Sullivan is yet to play a tournament since the World Championship but has certainly been keeping himself warm with the exhibition series that he has been doing with Judd Trump. It is still to be expected that O'Sullivan will not be at his peak best from the start and take a tournament or two to reach his highest heights. The quarter choice here is Ding Junhui the 2013 Shanghai Masters champion. Ding is very hit and miss when it comes to the Chinese tournaments but this does appear to be one he performs very well in. Following the success of three years ago he has followed up with a semi-final loss to eventual winner Stuart Bingham and last year he lost a very close quarter-final on the black to eventual winner Kyren Wilson. After a good run at the end of last season that included making a first Crucible final, so he should be full of confidence.
Quarter Choice: Ding Junhui
Quarter 2
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Judd Trump Vs Ben Woollaston
Ricky Walden Vs Michael White
Barry Hawkins Vs Robert Milkins
Shaun Murphy Vs Stephen Maguire/Wildcard TBA
The second quarter of the draw is where we find new father Shaun Murphy who has the big life adjustment that players like Mark Selby and Ricky Walden have made in the last couple of seasons and both struggled for form in the couple of months following that. In the long term though, Selby won two ranking events later on in the season that he became a father and Walden made back to back ranking finals. Murphy does have a tough draw this week but he will still have high hopes of performing well after a strong start to the season in the World and Indian Open's and took a lot of confidence thanks to a Grand Prix victory and Players Championship semi-final at the back end of last season when he felt he was back to his best. Speaking of Ricky Walden he is a former champion in Shanghai and someone that the eye is always drawn to in the draw for a Chinese event such is the fact that his record seems to be so much better in Asia than in the UK and the rest of Europe. Barry Hawkins has been struggling for a while in all honesty and steadily been dropping the rankings without much of a signal that he could stem the tide. Of the qualifiers Stephen Maguire is the one to look to for a dark horse, because it still does not seem right that he has fallen out of the top 16 in the world rankings because he is a much better player than that suggests.
The second quarter choice though is a twice Shanghai Masters runner-up Judd Trump. Trump has been keeping his eye in over the summer with the six best-of-11 match exhibition series against Ronnie O'Sullivan, three of which it is worth pointing out have been in the last two weeks. The Ace could easily have won either of his Shanghai finals against Kyren Wilson last year (losing 10-9) or against John Higgins in another tight 2012 final. Trump is another who seems to perform very well in China, winning his second China Open earlier this year in Beijing as well as winning the inaugural International Championship. He has reached more full ranking event quarter-finals than anyone else since the start of the 2014/2015 season, so it is about time that Trump became the winning machine that most expected him to become by now.
Quarter Choice: Judd Trump
Quarter 3
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Stuart Bingham Vs Jamie Jones
Marco Fu Vs David Gilbert
Ali Carter Vs Kurt Maflin/Guan Zhen
John Higgins Vs Matt Selt
The third quarter sees another three former Shanghai Masters champions. Ali Carter added to his ranking event tally in July with another victory on Chinese soil over at the World Open, getting him back up into the top 16 where he belongs. It is obviously a big ask for Carter to win again so soon afterwards but there is no reason why he cannot go far this week. Stuart Bingham took the crown here in 2014 in the same season as he won the World Championship, however he has not won another title in the 16 months since then. When you are slightly overdue a tournament victory it must be nice to go back to somewhere where you have performed well and besides his 2014 victory he put up a valiant 2015 defence making the the semi-finals. With Marco Fu only getting past the first round in Shanghai once since 2009 the heavily improved David Gilbert becomes someone that is to be watched even more closely as a dark horse. When looking at and working on some of my own numbers for the "Stat Attack" (see link at the bottom of the post) Gilbert came out very close to the top 5 for the early season in average contribution when making a break of 50+ and in close frames win percentage. Gilbert has always been a heavy scorer but not always someone who had the confidence to grind out results when that scoring was not turned on, but he seems to have grown greatly in confidence since Last October when he made the International Championship final, and has started the season with a quarter-final in the World Open (both played in China of course). Gilbert is not just one to watch for the possibility of a big performance not just this week but throughout the season as well.
Having said all of that, the selection in this quarter is 2012 Shanghai Master John Higgins. Higgins seems to be flourishing into his 40's as a snooker player. After winning this event in September 2012 it took him until February 2015 and the Welsh Open to win another ranking event but in the months that followed he won two more in Australia and then the International Championships last October. His recent record in big events is a very good one. In China, other than his International win he has had a semi-final at the China Open and a quarter-final at the World Open in July. Add to that quarter-finals in the most recent World and UK Championships and you get an incredible player who has been in fine form for a year now and well capable of winning plenty more events.
Quarter Choice: John Higgins
Quarter 4
Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Neil Robertson Vs Ryan Day/Ma Bing
Mark Williams Vs Mei Xi Wen
Joe Perry Vs Stuart Carrington/Niu Zhuang
Mark Selby Vs Martin Gould/Yuan Sijun
The very final quarter is where we find the World Champion and 2011 Shanghai Master Mark Selby. Selby has a pretty good record in Shanghai, but there are not many places where he does not. It was not a long wait for his first title as a two time Crucible winner when he took the top prize at the Paul Hunter Classic at the end of August but his draw this week is not an easy one, as much as you can never, ever write off Selby. The interesting question for Martin Gould, Selby's potential first round opponent, is if can he get through the wildcard match? Normally with a player of Gould's class you would not give the wildcard the time of day, but something must stick in your mind when you lost 5-0 to the same player just a few months ago. Yuan Sijun does indeed look like the most talented of the wildcards on display this week. Joe Perry was the runner-up at the season's opening Chinese ranking tournament, and his confidence is only going in one direction after another good year on the baize. The weight and frequency with which he scored in the latter stages of the World Open was sublime and if he could repeat that this week he would be right up there again, yet that is a very big ask. Of the qualifiers in this section Ryan Day has to be a big dark horse if he can find his best form, but that is something the Welshman has done nowhere near often enough for the talents he possesses.
The final quarter choice though is Day's Last 32 opponent Neil Robertson. Robertson has started the season in fine style by winning the Riga Masters and reaching the semi-finals of the World Open, which are the only two events that he has entered so far. He is by far the heaviest and most frequent scorer on tour in my opinion and when all of the players currently in the game are at their very best he is one of, if not the very best there is. The Shanghai Masters has not been an event he has actually excelled in over the years but there is no real reason for this because he now has a decent record in the other Chinese events. He won the old Wuxi Classic back to back in 2013 and 2014 as well as winning the 2013 China Open and then reaching the final the next year as defending champion. The sense from the start he has had that this could be a very big season for the Australian, which will continue here.
The final quarter choice though is Day's Last 32 opponent Neil Robertson. Robertson has started the season in fine style by winning the Riga Masters and reaching the semi-finals of the World Open, which are the only two events that he has entered so far. He is by far the heaviest and most frequent scorer on tour in my opinion and when all of the players currently in the game are at their very best he is one of, if not the very best there is. The Shanghai Masters has not been an event he has actually excelled in over the years but there is no real reason for this because he now has a decent record in the other Chinese events. He won the old Wuxi Classic back to back in 2013 and 2014 as well as winning the 2013 China Open and then reaching the final the next year as defending champion. The sense from the start he has had that this could be a very big season for the Australian, which will continue here.
Quarter Choice: Neil Robertson
Winner Selection: Judd Trump
That completes the analysis ahead of the Shanghai Masters and it's time to let the players do the talking in looks like being a week of quality snooker.
If you have missed anything, here are some of the links to other posts on the Shanghai Masters.
Starting off on Wednesday with a new feature the "Tournament Top Ten" with stats, spreadsheets and a subtle points system that led to the ranking of this weeks leading contenders and who would win if the whole thing was just played on paper:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/shanghai-masters-annisons-analysis.html
Next up was the return of the "Stat Attack" which went into more detail with some of the statistics used in the tournament top ten and focused more on some niche stats and head to heads before the coming week:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/shanghai-masters-stat-attack.html
Finally, the entries are already flooding in but do not forget to enter my Fantasy Snooker competition for the 2016/2017 season, with all the details and a rules change for this system explained in the post:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/20152016-fantasy-snooker-league.html
The blog will be updated in the coming week with all the news, results and major performances from Shanghai, of which there should be plenty.
Thursday, 15 September 2016
Shanghai Masters: STAT ATTACK
As the season really gets going it's time for the return of a feature that debuted for this event last year - the "Stat Attack".
- When Ricky Walden meets Michael White in round one, White will be hoping to get only his second victory against Walden, with his only one to date being in the final of the Indian Open in 2015
- Barry Hawkins and Robert Milkins who also meet in the Last 32 stages will play only their second competitive match outside of the Championship League since 2003. The most recent meeting since then was in the Players Championship finals in March which Hawkins won 4-3.
- Surprisingly the match between Jamie Jones and Stuart Bingham will see them meet for the first time outside of the Snooker Shoot-Out (which produced meetings in 2012 and 2015).
- One match catches the eye in the Wildcard Round as Martin Gould was drawn to play Yuan Sijun. In one previous meeting, Yuan beat Gould 5-0 in the 2016 China Open.
- If Michael Holt gets through his wildcard match he will face Kyren Wilson for the third time in Shanghai. Wilson saw off Holt 5-1 in the Last 16 on the way to taking the title a year ago, while Holt was the victor when they met in the quarter-finals in 2013.
- Interestingly, if Stephen Maguire comes through the wildcard he will meet Shaun Murphy which may provide a good omen for Murphy if he comes out the winner. The last three times he has beaten Maguire he has gone on to win the tournament (2015 Masters, 2014 Bulgarian Open, 2014 Gdynia Open) and he has also done this on two further occasions in the past (2008 UK Championship, 2008 Malta Cup).
- Stuart Bingham has won more money from the Shanghai Masters than any other player, whilst Mark Selby, Ding Junhui and John Higgins follow closely behind him.
- Mark Williams has collected the most prize money in Shanghai Masters history of the players never to have actually won the title, falling seventh on the overall list. Judd Trump's two runner-up showings have earned him the second most in this regard, putting him ninth on the overall list.
- Ryan Day has the highest win percentage of players never to have won the Shanghai Masters (though this does take into account his qualifying round victories also)
- With 13 deciders played in Shanghai Masters history, Shaun Murphy has played in more Shanghai deciders than any other player, having played in at least one in every tournament since 2010.
Once again most of the statistics you will see in this blog come from the fantastic CueTracker.net and Snooker.org resources and we cannot really thank them enough for the hard work they put into their websites.
On top of that we have a few statistics that you will have seen mentioned in my "Tournament Top Ten" blog that I have been collating and working on for use in these types of blogs. All statistics that will be used in these blogs have relevance in telling you how players perform in the key aspects of the game of snooker, how they perform in this event or how they shape up against their early round opponents.
On top of that we have a few statistics that you will have seen mentioned in my "Tournament Top Ten" blog that I have been collating and working on for use in these types of blogs. All statistics that will be used in these blogs have relevance in telling you how players perform in the key aspects of the game of snooker, how they perform in this event or how they shape up against their early round opponents.
HEAD TO HEAD
- When Ricky Walden meets Michael White in round one, White will be hoping to get only his second victory against Walden, with his only one to date being in the final of the Indian Open in 2015
- Barry Hawkins and Robert Milkins who also meet in the Last 32 stages will play only their second competitive match outside of the Championship League since 2003. The most recent meeting since then was in the Players Championship finals in March which Hawkins won 4-3.
- Surprisingly the match between Jamie Jones and Stuart Bingham will see them meet for the first time outside of the Snooker Shoot-Out (which produced meetings in 2012 and 2015).
- One match catches the eye in the Wildcard Round as Martin Gould was drawn to play Yuan Sijun. In one previous meeting, Yuan beat Gould 5-0 in the 2016 China Open.
- If Michael Holt gets through his wildcard match he will face Kyren Wilson for the third time in Shanghai. Wilson saw off Holt 5-1 in the Last 16 on the way to taking the title a year ago, while Holt was the victor when they met in the quarter-finals in 2013.
- Interestingly, if Stephen Maguire comes through the wildcard he will meet Shaun Murphy which may provide a good omen for Murphy if he comes out the winner. The last three times he has beaten Maguire he has gone on to win the tournament (2015 Masters, 2014 Bulgarian Open, 2014 Gdynia Open) and he has also done this on two further occasions in the past (2008 UK Championship, 2008 Malta Cup).
SHANGHAI MASTERS STATS
- The 2016 Shanghai Masters is the tenth staging of this event, with the nine previous editions providing nine different winners of the title. Only 2007 champion Dominic Dale of those nine has not qualified last year so there is a chance that could come to an end.
- Stuart Bingham has won more money from the Shanghai Masters than any other player, whilst Mark Selby, Ding Junhui and John Higgins follow closely behind him.
- Mark Williams has collected the most prize money in Shanghai Masters history of the players never to have actually won the title, falling seventh on the overall list. Judd Trump's two runner-up showings have earned him the second most in this regard, putting him ninth on the overall list.
- Ryan Day has the highest win percentage of players never to have won the Shanghai Masters (though this does take into account his qualifying round victories also)
- With 13 deciders played in Shanghai Masters history, Shaun Murphy has played in more Shanghai deciders than any other player, having played in at least one in every tournament since 2010.
PLAYER PERFORMANCES: KEY ASPECTS
- In an odd statistic, out of the four ranking events so far this season, Stuart Bingham has already lost to the winner in two of them, losing to Anthony McGill in the Indian Open Last 16 and Ali Carter in the Last 32 of the World Open.
- A number of statistics on the 32 players in the field this week should be able to tell how they have been going this season so far in the key aspects of the game. Starting with 50+ breaks, Neil Robertson leads the field for average frames per 50 break or above averaging just 1.88 for each of his so far this season. Anthony McGill comes in a close second after his good early season form, while Trump lies third with an average of 2.38 frames per 50+ while Mark Allen follows closely in fourth despite having only played in the Paul Hunter Classic, while Shaun Murphy completes the top 5 in this statistic. Of the top 16 seeds, Stuart Bingham ranks lowest in this regard with an average of 3.77 frames per 50+ break in the early season (excluding the non-ranking 6 Reds Championship - given also it's different rules for play).
- The next statistic that I have been working on and looking at closely is the average contribution when a player makes a 50+ break. As only 50+ breaks a released with the frame scores this is the closest thing we can get to an average scoring visit statistic. In Liang Wenbo's performances across the Paul Hunter Classic and World Open (all statistics for key aspects do not include the qualifying stages for this tournament nor the 6 Reds) he climbed to the top with an average of 88.82 that will surely level off a bit as the season goes by. John Higgins comes in second with an average contribution of 83.32 when he makes a break of 50+, while David Gilbert follows closely in third which aligns well with how much he appears to be improving as a player. Joe Perry's excellent scoring during the World Open helps him into fourth, while Matthew Selt somewhat surprisingly makes up the top five. Ricky Walden has the lowest average this season so far of the top 16 seeds this week, and the fourth lowest overall (excluding Ronnie O'Sullivan who is the only player yet to play a tournament this year) with an average break of 69 when he makes a contribution of 50 or above, while Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins also have lower averages by comparison.
- When it comes to a close frames win percentage it is first important to put a number on what a close frame can be classed as (when you only have frame scores to go on in most cases, and when the need with statistics is to be very strict or rigid) so the number I have put on it is when 20 points or less was in the frame. When all players were ranked for their performances in the first four full ranking events (6 Reds and Shanghai Masters qualifying again excluded for reasons previously given) it was again Liang Wenbo that topped the charts with a win percentage of 83.33. Marco Fu follows closely in second, before there is very little to separate the next three of Anthony McGill in third, Kyren Wilson in fourth and Mark Selby making up the top five (percentages of 78.57, 77.78 and 76.29 respectively). A gap of nearly ten percent is the difference between Selby and the next best in a big group in joint sixth place that includes David Gilbert, Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui. Michael White is bottom of the pile having only won only 11.11% of these close frames where the points difference was 20 or less.
- With scoring weight, scoring frequency, ability to win the closer, more tactical frames all dealt with there is also a place for looking at who has the bottle when it comes to winning the close matches that end up in deciding frames. John Higgins has a 100% decider hit rate with three wins from three played this season, Michael Holt meanwhile has a hit rate of 80% from the opening four ranking events with four wins out of 5 (the solitary decider defeat coming against Higgins). A number of other players have a 100% hit rate in deciders but at this early stage in the season have only played 1 or 2 such as Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Liang Wenbo, Kyren Wilson, David Gilbert, Joe Perry and Shaun Murphy have done.
- A number of statistics on the 32 players in the field this week should be able to tell how they have been going this season so far in the key aspects of the game. Starting with 50+ breaks, Neil Robertson leads the field for average frames per 50 break or above averaging just 1.88 for each of his so far this season. Anthony McGill comes in a close second after his good early season form, while Trump lies third with an average of 2.38 frames per 50+ while Mark Allen follows closely in fourth despite having only played in the Paul Hunter Classic, while Shaun Murphy completes the top 5 in this statistic. Of the top 16 seeds, Stuart Bingham ranks lowest in this regard with an average of 3.77 frames per 50+ break in the early season (excluding the non-ranking 6 Reds Championship - given also it's different rules for play).
- The next statistic that I have been working on and looking at closely is the average contribution when a player makes a 50+ break. As only 50+ breaks a released with the frame scores this is the closest thing we can get to an average scoring visit statistic. In Liang Wenbo's performances across the Paul Hunter Classic and World Open (all statistics for key aspects do not include the qualifying stages for this tournament nor the 6 Reds) he climbed to the top with an average of 88.82 that will surely level off a bit as the season goes by. John Higgins comes in second with an average contribution of 83.32 when he makes a break of 50+, while David Gilbert follows closely in third which aligns well with how much he appears to be improving as a player. Joe Perry's excellent scoring during the World Open helps him into fourth, while Matthew Selt somewhat surprisingly makes up the top five. Ricky Walden has the lowest average this season so far of the top 16 seeds this week, and the fourth lowest overall (excluding Ronnie O'Sullivan who is the only player yet to play a tournament this year) with an average break of 69 when he makes a contribution of 50 or above, while Judd Trump and Barry Hawkins also have lower averages by comparison.
- When it comes to a close frames win percentage it is first important to put a number on what a close frame can be classed as (when you only have frame scores to go on in most cases, and when the need with statistics is to be very strict or rigid) so the number I have put on it is when 20 points or less was in the frame. When all players were ranked for their performances in the first four full ranking events (6 Reds and Shanghai Masters qualifying again excluded for reasons previously given) it was again Liang Wenbo that topped the charts with a win percentage of 83.33. Marco Fu follows closely in second, before there is very little to separate the next three of Anthony McGill in third, Kyren Wilson in fourth and Mark Selby making up the top five (percentages of 78.57, 77.78 and 76.29 respectively). A gap of nearly ten percent is the difference between Selby and the next best in a big group in joint sixth place that includes David Gilbert, Neil Robertson and Ding Junhui. Michael White is bottom of the pile having only won only 11.11% of these close frames where the points difference was 20 or less.
- With scoring weight, scoring frequency, ability to win the closer, more tactical frames all dealt with there is also a place for looking at who has the bottle when it comes to winning the close matches that end up in deciding frames. John Higgins has a 100% decider hit rate with three wins from three played this season, Michael Holt meanwhile has a hit rate of 80% from the opening four ranking events with four wins out of 5 (the solitary decider defeat coming against Higgins). A number of other players have a 100% hit rate in deciders but at this early stage in the season have only played 1 or 2 such as Mark Selby, Neil Robertson, Liang Wenbo, Kyren Wilson, David Gilbert, Joe Perry and Shaun Murphy have done.
- Neil Robertson has the highest win percentage of those in the field this week, having only played two tournaments and won one of those. His overall percentage is 92.31 with 12 wins from 13 matches. Anthony McGill has a record of 16 wins from 19 matches (excluding his win in qualifying for this event) giving him a percentage of 84.21, whilst Mark Selby, Shaun Murphy and Ali Carter all also have win percentages of above 80 at this early stage of the season.
The key thing this should all have provided is a big insight in to the upcoming Shanghai Masters, particularly in how players rank in what can be viewed as the key aspects of winning snooker matches and tournaments, as well as showing how the season has gone so far and what we can expect in the upcoming times.
Tomorrow will see my full tournament preview round all of the statistics and analysis of the last two days blogs up and provide you with my choice to win in Shanghai next week.
Don't forget it is not too late to view my "Tournament Top Ten" blog where analysis, spreadsheets and a points scoring system provided the ten players that "should" do well in Shanghai and this can all be viewed here:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/shanghai-masters-annisons-analysis.html
It is also not too late to sign up for this season's Fantasy Snooker competition with a set of re-vamped rules, and all the information on that is in this blog:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/20152016-fantasy-snooker-league.html
Wednesday, 14 September 2016
Shanghai Masters: Annison's Analysis - Tournament Top Ten
As promised, the "tournament top ten" is a completely new feature for the blog in the lead up to the Shanghai Masters starting on Monday.
The Tournament Top Ten is my ranking of the top contenders for the title next week based on results of the four most recent Shanghai Masters tournaments, form from the season so far, as well as a number of statistics I have been collating and working on to hopefully enhance the insight and analysis that I can provide. These statistics include, average frames per 50+ break, average contribution when a player makes a break of 50 or above, percentage of close frames won and average frame aggregates and are calculated from the start of the season to now, which may only be a small sample size but as the season goes on these statistics could reveal a lot. Whilst I have also been listing the amount of full ranking event quarter-finals that a player has been involved in since the start of the 2014/2015 season (this excludes event on the old European and Asian Tours)
Some of that may seem a little complex or just strange but more will be explained in my upcoming "Stat Attack" blog which will deal with more of these statistics in detail.
Remember, this is not my individual opinion on who the best players will be in Shanghai, but players ranked on an average points per category basis. (The categories being those of previous tournament finishes, recent form, and the selected statistics). The points system I derived is one that is fair and rewards those that sit well statistically and in the case of previous tournaments is weighted from tournament winner down to Last 16 appearances.
Now that's all explained it's time to countdown the Top Ten statistically ranked players for the Shanghai Masters:
10 - Anthony McGill - Anthony McGill starts the list as the number ten player, and is mainly here thanks to his win at the Indian Open in early July. As well as this he made the quarter-finals of the Riga Masters and the World Open either side of that victory. Those results do a lot of making up for the fact that McGill has failed to qualify for the Shanghai Masters from 2012-2015, and with better showings he would surely be at the very top of this list. Statistically, McGill ranks third in the field in close frame win percentage (looking at frames where there was less than 20 points difference between the two players in the frame scores), and second in average frames per 50+ break made. If McGill keeps those numbers up the two combined is surely a recipe for success and explains why he has had such a good start to the 2016/2017 campaign.
9 - Mark Allen - Ninth on this list we have Mark Allen who may have only played one tournament so far in the season at the Paul Hunter Classic, but as the list is calculated on a "points average" the number of tournaments you play should not have as great an effect, as long as you have played enough, which Allen surely has by featuring in the Shanghai Masters from 2012-2015. Allen gets on to the list with runs to the final in Shanghai in 2014, and the semi-finals in 2015. His season got offer to reasonable start with a run to the Last 16 of the Paul Hunter Classic, and that one week's display still got him onto the season statistics list as the fourth best in this weeks 32 man field for frames per 50+ break. If that good scoring continues, his most recent Shanghai efforts suggest he could be one of the leaders this week.
8 - Stuart Bingham - It was fairly tight in the middle of the top ten which sees Bingham in eighth position. The Essex potter obviously features on this list thanks to his victory in Shanghai back in 2014, whilst he came back last year and put up a valiant defence by reaching the semi-finals. If you go back as far as 2012 Bingham was a quarter-finalist in Shanghai so his event specific record is a good one. He would be much higher on the list had he have put in a big performance at the start of the season, rather than a couple of Last 16 finishes in India and Latvia. The one statistic in that sat well for him was the amount of full ranking quarter-finals or better he has reached since the start of the 2014/2015, where he is in joint second position with nine quarter-finals reached. The quarter-finals and beyond are clearly not out of reach for Bingham once more it would seem.
7 - Judd Trump - Fifth, sixth and seventh positions were where it got really tight and there was very little to split the runners and riders in these places. Trump features thanks mostly to his appearances in the Shanghai Masters final in 2012 and 2015 losing out very narrowly on those two occasions. Unfortunately for him, the Ace does blow very hot and cold in Shanghai with first round exits in 2013 and 2014 stopping him from being at the very top of this top ten list. The season has had one brighter spark to start things off and that was a quarter-final appearance in Latvia, and things heat up Trump could be right there again. He ranks first on tour in the quarter-finals or better since the start of 2014/2015 stat, and he's third in the field for average frames per 50+ break so far this season which highlights one of Trump's main strengths. If those things continue in China next week Trump will be right there again.
6 - Neil Robertson - Finishing off the first half of the list is Neil Robertson who has had a very good start to the season so far. He won the first event of the season over in Latvia, whilst the first Chinese tournament of the year at the World Open saw him making the semi-finals. Two first round exits in Shanghai in the last two years prevent him from featuring higher on the list for sure with his recent Shanghai best being a 2013 quarter-final. It is in the quarter-finals or better since the beginning of 2014/2015 where the Australian appears in joint second place, whilst he leads the 32 man field for this week in frames per 50+ break, being the only player with an average of less than 2 frames per 50 break or above. Such stand out efforts could be a key factor again here.
5 - Mark Selby - The current World Champion appears at five in the countdown, thanks greatly to his win at the Paul Hunter Classic in August. He would be higher but for disappointing showings at the World Open and the Riga Masters, but his Shanghai record on the whole is a good one. He took the title five years ago, and after withdrawing from the 2015 edition his most recent finishes are a semi-final in 2014 and a quarter-final in 2013. Selby is fifth in the field for close frames win percentage this season so far and he also features in a large tie for fourth place for most quarter-finals in the last two and a bit seasons. Plenty of things shape up well coming into this event for Selby.
4 - Shaun Murphy - Shaun Murphy finds himself in fourth position in the list with a decent start to the season himself. In the two events he has entered he has made a semi-final (Indian Open) and a quarter-final (World Open) which gives him plenty to build on for the next heavy stage in the campaign. His Shanghai record is neither good or bad with three Last 16 exits in the last three years since reaching the 2012 semi-finals, again giving him something to build on. He features in the aforementioned tie for fourth for most quarter-final or better in ranking events within the last two and a bit years. On top of that he is fifth in the field for average frames per 50+ break which highlights one of the great strengths of Murphy's game, which he will hope to make count in Shanghai.
3 - Kyren Wilson - After the whirlwind year that Wilson has had it is no surprise to see him featuring so highly on this list. It was his Shanghai Masters win of 2015 that saw him breakthrough but that is not his only good showing in this event with another quarter-final under his belt in 2013 edition. His 2016/2017 campaign has also started off brightly showing his class again in India in July where he reached the final. Some people compare Wilson to a young Selby-like player and that shows in the close frame win percentage statistic where he lies one spot ahead of Selby, putting him fourth in this weeks field in close frame wins for the season so far. Statistics do not take into account how tough defending a title for the first time is, but they do suggest no reason why he should not do it well.
2 - Ding Junhui - The runners-up spot according to my tournament top ten analysis is where Ding Junhui features, He has only featured once so far this season in the World Open, where an early Last 32 exit did not help his cause on the list, but the bulk of his points come from his previous Shanghai showings. In 2013 the Shanghai Masters was his first of 5 ranking event titles that season. The following year he put up a valiant defence by reaching the semi-finals and losing to eventual winner Bingham, and he lost to the eventual winner again in 2015 when he exited in a black ball quarter-final with Kyren Wilson, all boasting a very strong record in this event. People say Ding's form over the last two years has not been as but he still ties for fourth place in the field for quarter-finals or better made in ranking events since the start of the 2014/2015 with eight in total. On the whole, the analysis certainly suggests that Ding will be a major player in Shanghai.
1 - John Higgins - The number one player coming into this years Shanghai Masters is John Higgins. Plenty of past finishes, statistics and the like point to Higgins being the man next week. In past stagings of the event Higgins boasts a win from 2012, while this season so far he has another Chinese quarter-final (World Open) as well as reaching the last 16 of the opening event in Latvia. Statistically the Scotsman is in the big tie for fourth place with eight quarter-finals or better since the start of 2014/2015 in major ranking events. On top of that he sits second in the field for average break when he makes a break of 50+ (with an awesome average of 83.32 for this statistic) as well as leading the field for average frame aggregate this season so far (a combination of average frame winning margin against average frame losing margin). So when the points system took all of these factors into account it was Higgins that came out on top.
This does not mean Higgins will win and that the other 31 professionals involved need not bother with the long trip to China next week, but I will be keeping tabs on the accuracy of this feature over the course of the season to see where the winner of each event finished in the top ten, and that is if they featured at all with a number of quality contenders falling short of the top ten this week.
Next up on the blog is the return of my "Stat Attack" feature tomorrow, before my full preview rounds off my Shanghai Masters build-up when that is published on Friday.
Do not forget to check out the launch of Fantasy Snooker for 2016/2017 which was posted yesterday and can be found here: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/20152016-fantasy-snooker-league.html
It should be fun so why not enter and see if you can beat all the other fans as the top snooker predictor this year!!!
6 - Neil Robertson - Finishing off the first half of the list is Neil Robertson who has had a very good start to the season so far. He won the first event of the season over in Latvia, whilst the first Chinese tournament of the year at the World Open saw him making the semi-finals. Two first round exits in Shanghai in the last two years prevent him from featuring higher on the list for sure with his recent Shanghai best being a 2013 quarter-final. It is in the quarter-finals or better since the beginning of 2014/2015 where the Australian appears in joint second place, whilst he leads the 32 man field for this week in frames per 50+ break, being the only player with an average of less than 2 frames per 50 break or above. Such stand out efforts could be a key factor again here.
5 - Mark Selby - The current World Champion appears at five in the countdown, thanks greatly to his win at the Paul Hunter Classic in August. He would be higher but for disappointing showings at the World Open and the Riga Masters, but his Shanghai record on the whole is a good one. He took the title five years ago, and after withdrawing from the 2015 edition his most recent finishes are a semi-final in 2014 and a quarter-final in 2013. Selby is fifth in the field for close frames win percentage this season so far and he also features in a large tie for fourth place for most quarter-finals in the last two and a bit seasons. Plenty of things shape up well coming into this event for Selby.
4 - Shaun Murphy - Shaun Murphy finds himself in fourth position in the list with a decent start to the season himself. In the two events he has entered he has made a semi-final (Indian Open) and a quarter-final (World Open) which gives him plenty to build on for the next heavy stage in the campaign. His Shanghai record is neither good or bad with three Last 16 exits in the last three years since reaching the 2012 semi-finals, again giving him something to build on. He features in the aforementioned tie for fourth for most quarter-final or better in ranking events within the last two and a bit years. On top of that he is fifth in the field for average frames per 50+ break which highlights one of the great strengths of Murphy's game, which he will hope to make count in Shanghai.
3 - Kyren Wilson - After the whirlwind year that Wilson has had it is no surprise to see him featuring so highly on this list. It was his Shanghai Masters win of 2015 that saw him breakthrough but that is not his only good showing in this event with another quarter-final under his belt in 2013 edition. His 2016/2017 campaign has also started off brightly showing his class again in India in July where he reached the final. Some people compare Wilson to a young Selby-like player and that shows in the close frame win percentage statistic where he lies one spot ahead of Selby, putting him fourth in this weeks field in close frame wins for the season so far. Statistics do not take into account how tough defending a title for the first time is, but they do suggest no reason why he should not do it well.
2 - Ding Junhui - The runners-up spot according to my tournament top ten analysis is where Ding Junhui features, He has only featured once so far this season in the World Open, where an early Last 32 exit did not help his cause on the list, but the bulk of his points come from his previous Shanghai showings. In 2013 the Shanghai Masters was his first of 5 ranking event titles that season. The following year he put up a valiant defence by reaching the semi-finals and losing to eventual winner Bingham, and he lost to the eventual winner again in 2015 when he exited in a black ball quarter-final with Kyren Wilson, all boasting a very strong record in this event. People say Ding's form over the last two years has not been as but he still ties for fourth place in the field for quarter-finals or better made in ranking events since the start of the 2014/2015 with eight in total. On the whole, the analysis certainly suggests that Ding will be a major player in Shanghai.
1 - John Higgins - The number one player coming into this years Shanghai Masters is John Higgins. Plenty of past finishes, statistics and the like point to Higgins being the man next week. In past stagings of the event Higgins boasts a win from 2012, while this season so far he has another Chinese quarter-final (World Open) as well as reaching the last 16 of the opening event in Latvia. Statistically the Scotsman is in the big tie for fourth place with eight quarter-finals or better since the start of 2014/2015 in major ranking events. On top of that he sits second in the field for average break when he makes a break of 50+ (with an awesome average of 83.32 for this statistic) as well as leading the field for average frame aggregate this season so far (a combination of average frame winning margin against average frame losing margin). So when the points system took all of these factors into account it was Higgins that came out on top.
This does not mean Higgins will win and that the other 31 professionals involved need not bother with the long trip to China next week, but I will be keeping tabs on the accuracy of this feature over the course of the season to see where the winner of each event finished in the top ten, and that is if they featured at all with a number of quality contenders falling short of the top ten this week.
Next up on the blog is the return of my "Stat Attack" feature tomorrow, before my full preview rounds off my Shanghai Masters build-up when that is published on Friday.
Do not forget to check out the launch of Fantasy Snooker for 2016/2017 which was posted yesterday and can be found here: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/20152016-fantasy-snooker-league.html
It should be fun so why not enter and see if you can beat all the other fans as the top snooker predictor this year!!!
Tuesday, 13 September 2016
2016/2017 Fantasy Snooker League
Ahead of the Shanghai Masters it's time for the first in a week of new look blog posts and launch time for the 2016/2017 season's Cue Action Blog Fantasy Snooker.
Certain changes have been made to the format which you will quickly spot as you read through the rules below. One thing that has not changed is that Fantasy Snooker is still FREE for ANYONE to enter.
One thing that I have picked out at the start of this season is that the Shanghai Masters is the start of the heavy period of snooker in this season and picking out the tournaments that are most important is the inspiration for this year's Fantasy Snooker.
These are the season's Featured Fantasy Snooker Events:
Featured Tournaments:
Shanghai Masters
European Championship
English Open
International Championship
Champion of Champions
Irish Open
UK Championship (DOUBLE POINTS)
Scottish Open
Masters (DOUBLE POINTS)
German Masters
World Grand Prix
Welsh Open
Players Championship
China Open
World Championship (DOUBLE POINTS)
Next up is the change of rules for this year which will no longer see the "save your money" system which I felt meant very little last year so instead, spotting the main trend of people picking their favourite player continuously in major tournaments, the amount of times you can pick an individual player is being limited as is explained below.
Rules:
1) Participants pick two players for each event, before the specified deadline.
2) Participants can only pick the same player a MAXIMUM OF THREE TIMES over the course of the season. (Encouraging much more strategic play).
Points Scoring:
Points scoring on the whole is the same except for a "Round Winner" bonus which encourages picking the strongest team for each event.
Match Win = 5 points
Match Win a margin of three frames or more = 2 bonus points
Player Century = 2 points
147 break by Player = 5 bonus points
Player reaching semi-final = 2 points
Player reaching final = 5 points
Player winning tournament = 10 points
Participant with the highest score in a tournament = 3 bonus points (unless there is a joint winner)
I hope this new system is clear to understand, but if you have any of you out there have any queries feel free to comment on the post or tweet me @CueActionBlog
The first event, the Shanghai Masters starts on Monday September 19th and the deadline for all picks will be on this day at 7.30am UK time before the first matches begin. Again to enter you can either comment below or tweet me, and if you are on Twitter you will also become a part of a Twitter Group Chat which will provide updates and reminders to make picks in addition to what is posted on the blog.
You might not want to make your selections yet though as I have three more new look features in the coming days which will analyse the tournament, which include my usual tournament preview, the return of the "Stat Attack" which debuted at this time last year, and a new "Tournament Top Ten" analysis which looks at who the leading players of the week should be based on previous tournament finishes, recent form and certain season statistics which I am collating and tracking.
Featured Tournaments:
Shanghai Masters
European Championship
English Open
International Championship
Champion of Champions
Irish Open
UK Championship (DOUBLE POINTS)
Scottish Open
Masters (DOUBLE POINTS)
German Masters
World Grand Prix
Welsh Open
Players Championship
China Open
World Championship (DOUBLE POINTS)
Next up is the change of rules for this year which will no longer see the "save your money" system which I felt meant very little last year so instead, spotting the main trend of people picking their favourite player continuously in major tournaments, the amount of times you can pick an individual player is being limited as is explained below.
Rules:
1) Participants pick two players for each event, before the specified deadline.
2) Participants can only pick the same player a MAXIMUM OF THREE TIMES over the course of the season. (Encouraging much more strategic play).
Points Scoring:
Points scoring on the whole is the same except for a "Round Winner" bonus which encourages picking the strongest team for each event.
Match Win = 5 points
Match Win a margin of three frames or more = 2 bonus points
Player Century = 2 points
147 break by Player = 5 bonus points
Player reaching semi-final = 2 points
Player reaching final = 5 points
Player winning tournament = 10 points
Participant with the highest score in a tournament = 3 bonus points (unless there is a joint winner)
I hope this new system is clear to understand, but if you have any of you out there have any queries feel free to comment on the post or tweet me @CueActionBlog
The first event, the Shanghai Masters starts on Monday September 19th and the deadline for all picks will be on this day at 7.30am UK time before the first matches begin. Again to enter you can either comment below or tweet me, and if you are on Twitter you will also become a part of a Twitter Group Chat which will provide updates and reminders to make picks in addition to what is posted on the blog.
You might not want to make your selections yet though as I have three more new look features in the coming days which will analyse the tournament, which include my usual tournament preview, the return of the "Stat Attack" which debuted at this time last year, and a new "Tournament Top Ten" analysis which looks at who the leading players of the week should be based on previous tournament finishes, recent form and certain season statistics which I am collating and tracking.
Tuesday, 23 August 2016
Paul Hunter Classic Preview
This week tournament snooker returns after a four week break, with the event held in the memory of the great Paul Hunter. One of the things that pleased a lot of people after the announcement of the calendar for this season and that the European Tour had been scrapped, was that this event had been kept on, such is how much it means to a lot of people on the circuit. That is also credit to how well the tournament is hosted in Furth, Germany.
Professional stages of this event may not start until Friday (being played in the traditional old European Tour format of one side in the draw playing Last 128 down to Last 32 on Friday and the other side doing so on Saturday until we play the Last 16 through to the Final all on Sunday), yet we do still have the amateur entries which is nice to see equally, and those stages will be played on Wednesday and Thursday to fill the 28 vacant spots in the draw.
Unfortunately, many of the top 16 have decided not to take part in the event this week. Those names missing include, Shaun Murphy, Judd Trump, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, Marco Fu and Barry Hawkins.
Each will pick there own reasons, such as Murphy who is expecting the birth of his first child in the very near future, and O'Sullivan who has announced that his season will start with the Shanghai Masters (and has also committed to playing in the four home nations events, the European Championship and the International Championship). However, there is one key thing to pick out for these members of the top 16 and that is that there last ranking event concluded on July 31st, and their next ranker will be the Shanghai Masters (for which the top 16 do not have to pre-qualify) which begins on September 15th.
The decision to take a school holiday like break, was likely aided too by the decision not to increase the prize money, like World Snooker did for the Riga Open, meaning that the Paul Hunter Classic and Gibraltar Open events have the lowest prize fund of the year, the winner taking home £18,750 and the weeks runner-up receiving £9,000.
Add to that the fact the draw for the week is unseeded and entirely random, then you get a week that is very much anyone's to win, so let's take a look at who is in with a chance this week.
Watch out for: This quarter is no different from the others in the draw with how open they all seem, down to the absence of many of the World's top 16 from competition this week. World Champion Mark Selby has always had a great record at the Paul Hunter Classic winning in Furth in 2011 and 2012, but it has been a slow start to the new season for Selby after his Crucible triumph, which is not too dissimilar to the story of 2014/2015 after winning his first World title. The presence of the young Chinese players Zhao Xintong and Zhou Yuelong could ruffle a few feathers in the draw if they're on top form, while the more experienced Liang Wenbo is becoming well established as a big player in the game, but with only one tournament and an earlier exit in that event under his belt he may be a way off from his peak period of the season.
Watch out for: Mark King was a semi-finalist in Furth last year, and reached two further European Tour quarter-final's out of the six events in total and finished the season as one of the top players on the European Order of Merit. 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham has still not one since that unlikely triumph, so you have to say he is overdue. The draws have not necessarily been kind to Ballrun this year, losing out in the Last 16 of the Riga Masters to eventual runner-up Michael Holt, the Last 16 of the Indian Open to eventual winner McGill and in the Last 32 of the World Open to Ali Carter who took the title that week. Alan McManus fired himself back into prominence with a run to the 2016 World Championship semi-finals. Starting the season at the World Open he reached the Last 16 there seeing off Wenbo on his way.
UPDATE: News has come through of a possible injury to Alan McManus that "may affect his performance". Make of it what you will, but without any specific details regarding the injury to go on it is tough to tell what difference it will have.
Professional stages of this event may not start until Friday (being played in the traditional old European Tour format of one side in the draw playing Last 128 down to Last 32 on Friday and the other side doing so on Saturday until we play the Last 16 through to the Final all on Sunday), yet we do still have the amateur entries which is nice to see equally, and those stages will be played on Wednesday and Thursday to fill the 28 vacant spots in the draw.
Unfortunately, many of the top 16 have decided not to take part in the event this week. Those names missing include, Shaun Murphy, Judd Trump, John Higgins, Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Mark Williams, Marco Fu and Barry Hawkins.
Each will pick there own reasons, such as Murphy who is expecting the birth of his first child in the very near future, and O'Sullivan who has announced that his season will start with the Shanghai Masters (and has also committed to playing in the four home nations events, the European Championship and the International Championship). However, there is one key thing to pick out for these members of the top 16 and that is that there last ranking event concluded on July 31st, and their next ranker will be the Shanghai Masters (for which the top 16 do not have to pre-qualify) which begins on September 15th.
The decision to take a school holiday like break, was likely aided too by the decision not to increase the prize money, like World Snooker did for the Riga Open, meaning that the Paul Hunter Classic and Gibraltar Open events have the lowest prize fund of the year, the winner taking home £18,750 and the weeks runner-up receiving £9,000.
Add to that the fact the draw for the week is unseeded and entirely random, then you get a week that is very much anyone's to win, so let's take a look at who is in with a chance this week.
Quarter 1
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Zhou Yuelong Vs Anthony Hamilton
Ricky Walden Vs Josh Boileau
Luca Brecel Vs Liam Highfield
Ross Muir Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Davis Vs Gareth Allen
Sanderson Lam Vs Jason Weston
Hossein Vafei Ayouri Vs Lee Walker
Adam Duffy Vs Amateur Qualifier
James Cahill Vs Amateur Qualifier
Ryan Day W/O Peter Ebdon
Mark Selby Vs Amateur Qualifier
Martin O'Donnell Vs Elliot Slessor
Zhao Xintong Vs Amateur Qualifier
Liang Wenbo Vs Amateur Qualifier
Gary Wilson Vs Jak Jones
Sam Baird Vs Amateur Qualifier
Watch out for: This quarter is no different from the others in the draw with how open they all seem, down to the absence of many of the World's top 16 from competition this week. World Champion Mark Selby has always had a great record at the Paul Hunter Classic winning in Furth in 2011 and 2012, but it has been a slow start to the new season for Selby after his Crucible triumph, which is not too dissimilar to the story of 2014/2015 after winning his first World title. The presence of the young Chinese players Zhao Xintong and Zhou Yuelong could ruffle a few feathers in the draw if they're on top form, while the more experienced Liang Wenbo is becoming well established as a big player in the game, but with only one tournament and an earlier exit in that event under his belt he may be a way off from his peak period of the season.
Quarter Choice: This week I am going for Welshman Ryan Day in this top section. After a slow start to the season in his first two events, he beat Barry Hawkins on the way to the Last 16 at the World Open where he was eventually beaten by the star of the season so far in Neil Robertson. Day benefits from a walkover at the start of the week, and when your opponent was due to be Peter Ebdon that is always a relief. He reached a final last season on the European Tour and played pretty well throughout without ever kicking on and getting his hands on a trophy, so perhaps one of the game's great underachievers could get some wind in his sails this week.
Quarter 2
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Rod Lawler Vs Mitchell Mann
Stuart Carrington Vs Amateur Qualifier
Xiao Guodong Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jimmy White Vs Jamie Barrett
Mei Xiwen Vs Amateur Qualifier
Alex Borg Vs Kurt Dunham
Zhang Anda W/O Darryl Hill
Michael White Vs Yu De Lu
Mark Joyce W/O Noppon Saengkham
Ali Carter Vs Amateur Qualifier
Scott Donaldson Vs Hammad Miah
Alfie Burden Vs Yan Bingtao
Ben Woollaston Vs Dominic Dale
Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn Vs Amateur Qualifier
Michael Holt Vs Amateur Qualifier
Boonyarit Kaettikun W/O Robert Milkins
Watch out for: Riga Masters finllist Michael Holt has a very good record at the Paul Hunter Classic, where he lost out in a tight semi-final last year and reached consecutive finals before it became a ranking event in 2005 and 2006. Holt's results have improved a lot in the last year, which was evident by reaching the final in Latvia at the start of the season and you have to feel that there is more of that to come for the Hitman. Meanwhile, Ali Carter is this week's defending champion and the winner of the last event to be staged over in China at the World Open. Carter is very much back where he belongs after a tough few years and it is very nice to come into a tournament as the most recent winner on tour and defending event champion, and to add to that he was a semi-finalist here in 2013 as well as being a previous winner of the German Masters, so clearly enjoys playing in this part of the world.
Watch out for: Riga Masters finllist Michael Holt has a very good record at the Paul Hunter Classic, where he lost out in a tight semi-final last year and reached consecutive finals before it became a ranking event in 2005 and 2006. Holt's results have improved a lot in the last year, which was evident by reaching the final in Latvia at the start of the season and you have to feel that there is more of that to come for the Hitman. Meanwhile, Ali Carter is this week's defending champion and the winner of the last event to be staged over in China at the World Open. Carter is very much back where he belongs after a tough few years and it is very nice to come into a tournament as the most recent winner on tour and defending event champion, and to add to that he was a semi-finalist here in 2013 as well as being a previous winner of the German Masters, so clearly enjoys playing in this part of the world.
Quarter Choice: I have gone outside of the box here in quarter two with my selection of Xiao Guodong. Xiao's season last year was nothing short of awful but already this season there are signs of him turning that around. It would be easy to forget his quality after the lack of it on display in 2015/2016 but he is a former ranking finalist from just three years ago. A last 8 appearance in Latvia is a good way to start the season, and he followed that with a Last 32 appearance in the Indian Open where he lost from 3-0 up to eventual runner-up Kyren Wilson. On top of that he saw to Stephen Maguire in the World Open in making the Last 32 once again, and I expect it to take some quality to beat him this week.
Quarter 3
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Kurt Maflin Vs Oliver Lines
Anthony McGill Vs Amateur Qualifier
Martin Gould Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Amateur Qualifier
Fergal O'Brien Vs Amateur Qualifier
Li Hang Vs Jamie Cope
Mark Allen Vs Zhang Yong
Joe Swail Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jack Lisowski Vs Amateur Qualifier
Kyren Wilson Vs Jimmy Robertson
Matthew Stevens Vs Amateur Qualifier
David Grace Vs Sean O'Sullivan
Andrew Higginson Vs Allan Taylor
Robin Hull Vs Rhys Clark
Joe Perry Vs Amateur Qualifier
Robbie Williams Vs Amateur Qualifier
Watch out for: There is a lot of quality in this section of the draw that includes Indian Open winner Anthony McGill, a win that no-one was really surprised with after seeing the quality he has displayed over the last couple of years, while Martin Gould is another of the first time ranking winners from the last year, a run that was started by Kyren Wilson at the 2016 Shanghai Masters, and by reaching the final at the Indian Open and the World Championship quarter-finals this year. Wilson is now very much a threat in any tournament he plays in now, and that will continue for many many years to come. On top of that Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is very much growing in confidence as was evident in his recent run to the semi-finals of the World Open matching his International Championship semi-final from 2015. Keep an eye on Joe Swail who made the final of this tournament as an amateur in 2012, and came back the next year by reaching the quarter-finals, so he may be a tournament specialist.
Watch out for: There is a lot of quality in this section of the draw that includes Indian Open winner Anthony McGill, a win that no-one was really surprised with after seeing the quality he has displayed over the last couple of years, while Martin Gould is another of the first time ranking winners from the last year, a run that was started by Kyren Wilson at the 2016 Shanghai Masters, and by reaching the final at the Indian Open and the World Championship quarter-finals this year. Wilson is now very much a threat in any tournament he plays in now, and that will continue for many many years to come. On top of that Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is very much growing in confidence as was evident in his recent run to the semi-finals of the World Open matching his International Championship semi-final from 2015. Keep an eye on Joe Swail who made the final of this tournament as an amateur in 2012, and came back the next year by reaching the quarter-finals, so he may be a tournament specialist.
Quarter Choice: My quarter 3 selection though is Mark Allen who won this tournament in 2014, despite first round exits in both 2013 and 2015 sandwiching that. Allen is also one of the most prolific players from the European Tour era that ended last year winning 5 times overall, including back to back wins in 2013, showing just what he is capable. Allen should also come back here fresh and raring to go, with this being his first professional tournament since last season's World Championship and that is an important factor for Allen.
Quarter 4
Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
David Gilbert Vs Amateur Qualifier
Fraser Patrick Vs Michael Georgiou
Stuart Bingham Vs Sydney Wilson
Hatem Yassin Vs Amateur Qualifier
Cao Yupeng Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jamie Jones Vs Tian Pengfei
Nigel Bond Vs Craig Steadman
Michael Wild Vs Amateur Qualifier
Paul Davison Vs Amateur Qualifier
Rory McLeod Vs Amateur Qualifier
John Astley W/O Hamza Akbar
Mark King Vs David John
Thor Chuan Leong Vs Christopher Keogan
Alan McManus Vs Amateur Qualifier
Tom Ford Vs Ian Burns
Chris Wakelin Vs Chen Zhe
Watch out for: Mark King was a semi-finalist in Furth last year, and reached two further European Tour quarter-final's out of the six events in total and finished the season as one of the top players on the European Order of Merit. 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham has still not one since that unlikely triumph, so you have to say he is overdue. The draws have not necessarily been kind to Ballrun this year, losing out in the Last 16 of the Riga Masters to eventual runner-up Michael Holt, the Last 16 of the Indian Open to eventual winner McGill and in the Last 32 of the World Open to Ali Carter who took the title that week. Alan McManus fired himself back into prominence with a run to the 2016 World Championship semi-finals. Starting the season at the World Open he reached the Last 16 there seeing off Wenbo on his way.
UPDATE: News has come through of a possible injury to Alan McManus that "may affect his performance". Make of it what you will, but without any specific details regarding the injury to go on it is tough to tell what difference it will have.
Quarter Choice: My choice for this fourth and final section is David Gilbert. Gilbert has improved a lot in the last year and gained a lot of confidence in his ability. A career best season that featured a semi-final on the European Tour and his first ranking event final has given him the taste for more, with one of his better performances coming in the World Championship where he lost out 10-7 to Ronnie O'Sullivan despite a barrage of big breaks from Gilbert to show what he is capable of on the biggest stage. This season has started in decent fashion for the 35 year old with a run to the quarter-finals of the World Open and the Last 16 of the Riga Masters and he will be looking to better those this week.
Tournament Choice: Mark Allen
Unfortunately, this event will not be on TV at all this week, with those who have a Eurosport Player subscription being the only ones who will have access to any live coverage of the event from Friday to Sunday.
Following this on the snooker tour comes the qualifying rounds for the Shanghai Masters (which uses the old tiered structure) and start next Tuesday, before the non-ranking 6 Reds World Championship in Thailand which is not one to pour too much interest in to. As for full ranking events, the Shanghai Masters final stages begin on Monday September 19th and that event will see the return of my old "Stat Attack" feature from last year and a debut for a couple of new features which will completely change the style of previews on Cue Action Blog. A new format for this seasons Fantasy Snooker will also be brought in for it's first event at the Shanghai Masters.
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