Fantasy Snooker: European Masters Update

It's very early on in the Fantasy Snooker season, so we have a quick reminder to get your two picks in before Monday's start of the European Masters. Don't forget that you can only pick the same player three times over the season, although we have a lot of different players in this 32 man field to the 32 man field that played in the Shanghai Masters.

Here's how the table shapes up after the Shanghai Masters:

1^st: Daniela Reich: Ding, Selby 78

1^st: Anthony: Selby, Ding 78

3^rd: Gary: Ding, Bingham 74

4^th: Phil Mudd: Ding, Trump 52

4^th: Isitan Bakar: Bingham, Maguire 52

4^th: Munraj: Ding, Trump 52

7^th: SnookerFollower: Bingham, Carter 45

8^th: Gorkem: O’Sullivan, Selby 38

9^th: Kellie Barker: Selby, Wilson 35

9^th: LTD: Wilson, Selby 35

11^th: Michael Coudray: Carter, Holt 34

12^th: FAM147: Bingham, Perry 29

12^th: TungstenDarts: Perry, Bingham 29

12^th: Kjetil: Wenbo, Bingham 29

12^th: Mark Taylor: Robertson, Bingham 29

12^th: TYIO: Gould, Bingham 29

17^th: Andrew Brooker: Wilson, Maguire 25

18^th: Igor: Murphy, Carter 16

18^th: Matthew Lowson: Murphy, Carter 16

20^th: Ezgi Ulutas: Wilson, Robertson 2 

I have put the players picked into the table for this year because of the change of rules, so you will all know who you have picked and how many times over the season. 

The deadline for picks for the European Masters is before the first matches on the Monday morning, good luck once again and enjoy yourselves. 

Ding and Selby to renew battle in Shanghai final

Mark Selby and Ding Junhui will meet for the first time since the World Championship final after reaching the final in Shanghai.

World Champion Selby took the tough route into the final after a very up and done match against Stuart Bingham. Breaks of 76 and 65 helped him to a nice 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval, but in a similar way to his matches against Ryan Day and Stuart Carrington in the last couple of rounds he failed to kick on. Bingham in fact found his best game in the next four frames with runs 67, a match high of 123, followed by a 72 and 87 to turn the match on it's head and take a 5-3 lead, putting him one away from a second Shanghai final in three years. Determined as ever Selby fought back into it by taking the ninth frame, and he dominated the tenth with breaks of 63 and 68 to force a deciding frame. Bingham did not really have a chance in the eleventh and final frame as Selby completed another trademark comeback and will now attempt to add to his 2011 Shanghai Masters title tomorrow against Ding.

Ding Junhui is of course the 2013 Shanghai Masters champion which means that in the tenth staging of this tournament we will finally have the first two time winner. Stephen Maguire was his semi-final opponent with his own agenda of attempting to make the final and knock Michael Holt out of the fourth and final place on the one-year list reserved for the new China Championship (which will follow the International Championship at the beginning of November and feature the world's top 10 on a two year list, the top four on the money list from the season so far and two Chinese invites). After the opening four frames the pair were all square at 2-2 and then Maguire made a 58 before Ding matched him in the sixth to level the tie up again at 3-3. From there it was all about the home favourite. Despite a chance or two for Maguire, Ding took the next three frames and turn a tight game into a simple enough 6-3 victory without shredding his nerves as much as Selby always seems too.

Final Schedule: 

Sessions at 7am and 12.30pm UK time: 

Mark Selby Vs Ding Junhui

The final steps it up being over the best-of-19 frames and it is over these long formats that Selby seems more comfortable knowing, as he did today against Bingham, that he could lose a few frames in a row and be dominated for a large period of the match and still get over the line. It's hard to compare it to the World final, given that it was Ding's first and the nerves took over as he got off to an awful start and was never quite able to catch up. On this occasion I think the pair will go blow for blow and this could go all the way with neither one being at their very best this week. The key could once more be the scrappy frames where Selby is a cut above the rest.

Following Shanghai is the European Masters qualifying rounds which will see 32 travel to the venue the week after, with the International Championship qualifiers falling in a few days in between.

Numbers 1 and 2 to face off in Shanghai

World number one and World Champion Mark Selby will face 2014 Shanghai champion and second ranked player Stuart Bingham in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters tomorrow.

Meanwhile, 2013 champion and home favourite Ding Junhui will play the form man of the week in Stephen Maguire who has only dropped four frames in winning his wildcard match, and then beating Shaun Murphy, Barry Hawkins and Michael White.

Maguire's win was not as clear cut today in terms of high breaks but he was still on hot form, with both 50+ breaks he made coming in the fifth frame on the way to what was a routine victory. Michael White's only frame of the day was the third frame, as he was unable to replicate the heroics of his 5-3 from 0-3 behind in the Last 16 against Judd Trump. 

Ding Junhui had quite the battle with Michael Holt as both players were in good form once again. Ding opened up with a 52 on the way to taking a 2-0 advantage before Holt, who had already beaten defending champion Kyren Wilson and crowd favourite Ronnie O'Sullivan this week, hit back with runs of 77 and 50 to level the match at 2-2 going into the mid-session interval. The Chinese number one edged ahead again with a run of 103 in the third, only to be pegged back again in the sixth as Holt made a 64 with Ding failing to be ruthless with his earlier chance. Ding edged back in front at 4-3 after shutting the Hitman out of frame seven and Holt blew his chance to clear and force a decider in the eighth missing a black that was not quite as simple as he made it sound in his post-match tweet describing his "shock" at the miss. 

Earlier on in the day, Stuart Bingham won a lacklustre affair with another former winner of this title in Ali Carter. Neither player was quite at their best, but Bingham was a way better than Carter who's only frame of the day came after Bingham went in-off in the black ball third frame. The highlight of the 2015 World champion's 5-1 win was a 91 break in the fifth frame to put him a frame away from victory and really fly away from the Captain in this match. 

Mark Selby was made to work hard in the other quarter-final as he saw off Ryan Day 5-3 in what was also far from a classic battle. Selby took an early 3-1 lead into the interval after winning a tight frame four and making his highest break of the match (52) in the opener, while Day's high came in the third with a 98 that kept him from falling too far behind early on. Frame five also came down to the wire but when Selby put it on the board for a 4-1 advantage it looked all over for the Welshman yet, despite chances in both frames six and seven for Selby, Day took them both and edged back into it at 3-4. Selby did take another scrappy eighth frame though to eventually seal victory. 

Semi-Final Schedule: 

7am UK Time: 

Mark Selby Vs Stuart Bingham 

12.30pm UK Time: 

Ding Junhui Vs Stephen Maguire 

We have an earlier start time for the afternoon session's semi-final as Stuart Bingham and Mark Selby, despite being world numbers one and two, meet for the first time in nearly three years. The record between the two of them is fairly even and there is little to choose between their form this week so far. Selby has been made to work slightly harder in the last couple of rounds with a couple of 5-3 wins from positions where he could have won with a lot less hassle. Bingham may not have looked at his very best against Ali Carter today but he still did enough to get the job done by a comfortable margin and after a very good performance in the first round he has still only dropped three frames in his three matches so far. 

Ding Junhui and Stephen Maguire's match is the one that looks like being the higher quality battle as both have played well and scored well so far this week. Ding may have looked shaky against Scott Donaldson but he has played his way into the event well since then while Maguire has been the player to impress the most so far this week in the opinions of many and he is well overdue a ranking event title given how good a player he is. 

The semi-finals tomorrow move up to the best-of-11 frames as the players compete for a coveted place in the final. 

Hitman Holt smashes O'Sullivan

Michael Holt was the star of the Last 16 in the Shanghai Masters as he defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan for the second time in 2016, by a 5-2 scoreline on this occasion. Holt has been growing in confidence throughout the last year and after beating O'Sullivan 4-3 in the World Grand Prix he would have had the belief to repeat the dosage. After taking the opener he lost the next two to fall 1-2 behind before hitting back with a break of 103 to level the match going into the mid-session. A 57 following the interval helped him back into the lead, and after a simple missed black from the Rocket - seeing him whack his cue on the table - Holt dished up to double his lead. Ronnie started frame seven with a 55 before missing another easy ball, and the Nottingham potter picked up the pieces with a very nice break of 64 to clinch the match and put himself into the quarter-finals.

Home favourite Ding Junhui will face Holt tomorrow after his own 5-2 victory over Mark Allen. It was Allen that took the opener courtesy of a 69 break, but upon levelling the match up Ding then hit his Northern Irish opponent with a barrage of breaks. Runs of 54 and 86 in the next two saw to putting the 2013 Shanghai winner 3-1 ahead at the interval, and that lead stretched to 4-1 after another 50 in the fifth. He was looking good in the sixth but after faltering on 56, Allen made a 64 to keep himself in it. He was not in it for much longer though with a 58 helping Ding along in the seventh before he ultimately finished things off.

There was a big comeback on the day, with Michael White coming from 3-0 behind with five straight frames to beat Judd Trump 5-3. White only scored 28 points as Trump took the three frame lead in very quick fashion helped by runs of 56 and 64. The next five frames did not come without chances for Trump on this non-televised table. He scored at least 27 points or more but could not convert, and the most disappointing frame for Trump would have been the seventh as White came from 56 points adrift with a break of 57 to win the frame by a point and move ahead for the first time, before taking another scrappy frame and sealing a pleasing victory.

Elsewhere on the outside tables in the later session in Shanghai Ali Carter got his second victory of the season against John Higgins. After already beating Higgins 5-0 in China this season, the eventual World Open champion was looking for more of the same and started well by taking a 2-0 lead, which soon extended to 4-1 after the interval. Higgins kept himself in the match for a while, but eventually fell 5-2 after a 67 in the last from Carter.

Stuart Bingham will be his opponent in the quarter-finals after he won 5-2 on the non-televised table earlier on in the day against David Gilbert. It appeared to be a match where both players had chances, and one of the key frames could have been the second as Bingham stole it on the black to take an early 2-0 lead. That lead stretched to 4-1 with Bingham's highest break of the match, a 68, after the mid-session and there was little danger of a Gilbert comeback as he soon completed victory in the seventh.

After thumping Shaun Murphy 5-0 on Wednesday, Stephen Maguire carried on his fine form in this tournament by beating Barry Hawkins 5-3. Technical difficulties in the World Snooker live scoring for this match left everyone scrapping around trying to find out the score, while Maguire was busy putting himself 4-1 ahead. Hawkins did not give up though making breaks of 72 and 66 in reducing his arrears to just one at 4-3. The Scotsman kept his composure and made a 91 (his highest break of the match) to get across the line.

The World Champion did not have things all his own way against Stuart Carrington eventually crossing the line a 5-3 winner. Breaks of 73, 87 and 120 helped him to a 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval and at this stage he looked very comfortable. Carrington made 73 in the fifth to close the gap but Selby opened that gap up again to put himself one away, and had a chance to seal the match in the seventh but his lower ranked opponent took a tight one to stay in it. Carrington had chances again in the eighth but could not take Selby to a decider as he eventually fell over the line.

Selby will now have another test against Ryan Day in the quarter-finals. Day beat the lowest ranked player remaining in Mei Xi Wen 5-2 to clinch his last eight spot in a performance that included two centuries, and three frames in a row after the mid-session break to shrug off his Chinese opponent.

Quarter-Final Line-up: 
7.30am UK Time:

Stuart Bingham Vs Ali Carter
Mark Selby Vs Ryan Day

12.30pm UK Time:

Ding Junhui Vs Michael Holt
Stephen Maguire Vs Michael White


With eight players remaining, there are still four former Shanghai Masters winners in the draw hoping to be the first players to win the title more than once. Three of those are found in one half of the draw, with Bingham and Carter playing each other in what will be there third meeting of the year so far. Carter won the previous two at the World Championships and on the way to winning the World Open. Neither player has yet had a close game, and both look to be in decent form ahead of this one. Mark Selby is the other Shanghai Master in that half, but after struggling to kill off Stuart Carrington today he will hope to be more clinical against Ryan Day if given the chance. Day has a good record in Shanghai himself being a former finalist and he has already seen off Neil Robertson this week so there is no reason why he cannot pull off another big win.

Ding Junhui is the other previous winner of this event, but he plays a man in Michael Holt who has already sent two former winners packing in Ronnie O'Sullivan and defending champion Kyren Wilson. Perhaps, after reaching the final of the Riga Masters in the early season, it is time for Holt to kick on and finally win a full ranking event title. Ding looked in much better form today than in his tight match with Scott Donaldson on Monday though, and on his home patch he is never a push over despite some of his hit and miss form in Chinese events.

Finally, we have a battle between two players who had to come through qualifying to reach this stage. Stephen Maguire has been in fine form already making a maximum this week in the wildcard round and seeing off two seeded players by whitewashing Murphy and beating Hawkins today so he will certainly take some stopping. Michael White has not necessarily been at his best but was able to grind out a couple of results, but if his opponent carries on the way he has been so far he will need to be at his best to get through.


All matches in the quarter-finals are again over the best-of-9 frames.

On fire Maguire whitewashes Murphy

Stephen Maguire put in the performance of the Last 32 on day three of the Shanghai Masters as he smashed Shaun Murphy 5-0. Maguire had made a maximum in his wildcard match on Tuesday amongst a total of three centuries in that match, so Murphy was always in for a tough game but not many would have seen this scoreline coming. Maguire took the opener after a classy 65, but Murphy's best chance of getting a frame on the board came in frame two when he was in first with an 57. Maguire then made 62 but missed frame ball pink, before clinching the frame at the second time of asking. Breaks of 75 and 121 followed from the Scot without conceding a point in those two frames ahead of the interval. Maguire could be forgiven for taking his foot off the gas slightly in frame five, but you could also forgive Murphy for thinking of the journey home and seeing his wife and son, after becoming a father for the first time little over a couple of weeks ago.

Barry Hawkins will be next to face the Maguire barrage after handing out punishment of his own for Robert Milkins in his own 5-0 win. Despite the scoreline Milkins scored at least 20 points in every frame, and Hawkins will need to offer up less opportunities to his in form opponent tomorrow.

Also on the non-televised tables today there were a couple of seeded casualties as Mark Williams and Joe Perry both bowed out. Williams was the most surprising as he fell to new Chinese professional Mei Xi Wen 5-3, having taken a 2-0 lead and sitting well in frame three. Mei joins Ding as the Chinese representatives in the Last 16, finishing off the match with a 117, his highest break of the match. Perry lost out to Stuart Carrington in a strange match that saw Carrington go 2-0 ahead before losing four frames in a row for Perry to lead 4-2 and put himself one away from a routine victory. Carrington had other ideas though as the World Open runner-up from July only scored another seven points in the match, with breaks of 78, 85 and a century in the decider seeing the much lower ranked of the two into the Last 16.

Neil Robertson was the upset of the earlier session on day three, going out 5-2 to Ryan Day in a match that, surprisingly for two heavy scorers, did not feature a single break of 50 or above. Day will not mind the lower quality of the match though as he marches on to face Mei Xi Wen in the Last 16.

There were easy victories for three more seeded players on the day, as Trump and Bingham completed whitewash victories and Ali Carter beat Kurt Maflin 5-1 on one of the non-televised tables, finishing off the Norwegian with a break of 104. Trump benefited from a very poor showing from Ben Woollaston, while Bingham didn't give Jamie Jones much of a look in. The Welshman only scored a total of 36 points in the match while the 2015 World Champion and former Shanghai Master finished with two centuries in frames four and five in a very pleasing performance.


With the Last 32 finally complete, this is how the line-up looks for Thursday's Last 16:

7.30am UK Time: 

Barry Hawkins Vs Stephen Maguire
Stuart Bingham Vs David Gilbert
Ryan Day Vs Mei Xi Wen (Televised Table)
Mark Selby Vs Stuart Carrington (Televised Table)

12.30pm UK Time: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Michael Holt (Televised Table)
Mark Allen Vs Ding Junhui (Televised Table)
Judd Trump Vs Michael White
John Higgins Vs Ali Carter


An odd decision to put the Mei Xi Wen match on TV despite the obvious home bias. Former winner Bingham will have a tough test from David Gilbert in a match that should be of high quality based on both making two centuries in their first round wins. Carrington showed today he will be no push over for the World Champion Mark Selby. Stephen Maguire will take serious stopping based on his Last 32 and wildcard round showings, so Barry Hawkins will be well up against it there.

Michael Holt beat Ronnie O'Sullivan the last time they met in March's Grand Prix so the former Shanghai champion cannot afford to be rusty as he was in the first round against Liang Wenbo, especially with Holt showing decent form in beating the defending champion Kyren Wilson. Ding Junhui and Mark Allen has all the makings of a close match with their good records in Shanghai, while Allen was particularly impressive in beating the early season's form man Anthony McGill. Judd Trump picked up the pieces well against a sloppy Ben Woollaston, so Michael White will want to be on fine form rather than the sloppy player that has been seen too much over the last year. Finally, John Higgins and Ali Carter will meet for the fourth time in a year, Carter winning the most recent match 5-0 on the way to the World Open title in July. Prior to that Higgins won two in quick succession at the 2015 Champion of Champions followed by the UK Championship just a week or two afterwards.

All Last 16 matches are once again played over the best-of-9 frames.

Rusty Ronnie sees off Wenbo

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.

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.