European Masters Preview

Monday morning will see the first of many new events on this season's calendar and one that should excite everyone, as snooker arrives in Romania for the European Masters. From what information and images are available of the arena for next week, it looks like a similar set up to the very popular Berlin Tempodrome that hosts the German Masters in early February, and the event on the whole has a similar format too.

32 players will battle it out for a top prize of £56,250, and each of these 32 has come through two matches to qualify a few days ago at the Preston Guildhall and as a flat draw it means there are a few top players missing. Notable absentees include Shanghai Masters champion Ding Junhui (who had to withdraw before the qualifiers with visa issues), along with Stuart Bingham, Joe Perry, Kyren Wilson, Mark Williams, Stephen Maguire, Martin Gould and Michael White who all fell in the qualifying rounds.

Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan both had their Last 64 matches held over to increase their chances of making the venue, and this was presumably done at the sponsors request with no other reason seemingly given. On the whole I think that is good for the event and there are not too many top names missing which makes for an exciting lot of matches coming up.

The whole event will be covered on Eurosport once again, and the format for the week sees the Last 32 and Last 16 played over the best-of-7 frames and two tables in the arena, before we go down to a one table set-up for the quarter-finals which will still be best-of-7 frames, before the semi-finals over the best-of-11 frames and the final which is a best-of-17 frames affair.

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Mark Selby or Fergal O'Brien Vs Dominic Dale

Barry Hawkins Vs Michael Wild

Yu De Lu Vs Alfie Burden 

Ricky Walden Vs Yan Bingtao

There are quite a few non-top 32 players in this section with Yu De Lu, Alfie Burden, Yan Bingtao, Michael Wild and Dominic Dale all having qualified. That could mean we have a big outsider come through this section, and if I had to pick someone out it would be Yan Bingtao. Yan has had a brilliant start to his debut season beating plenty of players ranked higher than him and in just a handful of events he has climbed up provisionally to 80 in the world. Ricky Walden will obviously have something to say about that but he has not had the greatest start to the season not getting past the Last 32 in either the Indian Open, World Open, Paul Hunter Classic or Shanghai Masters. Barry Hawkins has also had a hit and miss start to the season having just failed to qualify for the International Championships. He has lost twice in the Last 16 at the Indian Open and Shanghai Masters to Stephen Maguire, as well as a Last 32 exit at the World Open.

That really only leaves me one man to pick for this quarter and that is Mark Selby. Selby has had his Last 64 match bought over to the venue, but having to play an extra match should make little difference to him and his incredible stamina. Selby is the one of the few men on tour who can get a result from anywhere no matter how he plays and this is the key to him winning so many events. He was not necessarily at his best in Shanghai but he still made it all the way to the final and a win at the Paul Hunter Classic should bring him into this week full of confidence. It is about time he started winning more events for the talent and determination that he possesses, and with more ranking events this season and greater incentives we could well start to see Selby get his rewards. 

Quarter Choice: Mark Selby

Quarter 2 

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

John Higgins Vs Michael Holt

Tom Ford Vs Robin Hull

Marco Fu Vs Andrew Higginson 

Judd Trump Vs Ben Woollaston

The second quarter is packed with quality. There are a few non-top 32 players who could be outsiders this week with Tom Ford, Robin Hull and Andrew Higginson all qualifying. Higginson has a good record against Marco Fu, but you have to say that Ford and Hull have the best chance given that they're playing each other in the Last 32 and both will see it as an opportunity to go far in what could well be a very close match. Judd Trump was not at his best in qualifying for this event scraping past Aditya Mehta and Duane Jones, whilst also losing from 3-0 up in the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters so it will be interesting to see how he progresses this week. He will feel comfortable playing Ben Woollaston in round one given that Woollaston lost to Trump 5-0 in Shanghai and has not been close to his best of late. Marco Fu has had very little form so far this season, while John Higgins best so far this season is the World Open quarter-finals be he too is not at his complete best and certainly has a tough outing in the Last 32 over this short format.

My choice in this quarter, which some of you may find surprising, is Michael Holt. Holt has been much improved over the last year or so with the help of Terry Griffiths, though all Griffiths is helping Holt do is get the results he has always had potential to. This season already he has made the Riga Open final and the quarter-finals of the Shanghai Masters, and there should be plenty more to come now that he has the confidence and belief to beat the top players consistently on the big stage. Last week in his two qualifiers for this event and his qualifier for the International Championship he recorded 4-1, 4-0 and 6-1 victories to brush aside his lower ranked opposition. Twice this year he has beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan, he was always in control when he beat Neil Robertson at the Crucible and with confidence like we have never seen from Holt great things should be on the horizon. 

Quarter Choice: Michael Holt

Quarter 3 

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Shaun Murphy Vs Mark Davis 

Liang Wenbo Vs Zak Surety

Ronnie O'Sullivan or Daniel Wells Vs David Gilbert 

Mark Allen Vs Daniel Wormsley

The third quarter sees the two non-tour players in Zak Surety and Daniel Wormsley who have qualified for this week. That does not by any means suggest that Mark Allen and Liang Wenbo will have easy rides in round one. Allen and Wenbo have not played all that much yet this season so this week offers an opportunity for them to get some momentum ahead of a big stretch, with the English Open next week and the International Championships closely following that. Ronnie O'Sullivan plays in his second tournament of the season. He looked a little rusty at the Shanghai Masters and has had his second qualifying round this week bought to the venue. David Gilbert has had a really good start to the season and with Last 16's in Shanghai and Riga and a quarter-final at the World Open and he is probably the most improved player of the last year. If O'Sullivan gets through his extra match the Last 32 contest between him and Gilbert could be a cracker.

My third quarter choice though is Shaun Murphy. Murphy impressed in the qualifiers making a 147 maximum break and he negotiated some tricky opposition well. He may have been thrashed 5-0 at the Shanghai Masters by Stephen Maguire, but Maguire was on fire there. In the earlier part of the season he made the semi-finals of the Indian Open and the quarters of the World Open. The 147 in the qualifiers came with his wife and newborn son in the crowd watching and the changes in his life, becoming a father for the first time, could be the inspiration he needs to kick on and add more titles to his collection. 

Quarter Choice: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw (Picks in Bold) 

Neil Robertson Vs Graeme Dott

David Grace Vs Rhys Clark

Ali Carter Vs Anthony McGill

Luca Brecel Vs Scott Donaldson

Even when a number of top players lose in the early rounds of these events we do still get cracking matches and that is the case in the Last 32 with Ali Carter and Anthony McGill. Both are tournament winners already this season and over the best-of-7 frames it is very tough to pick a winner between the two, but whoever does come through that one they could go very far in Romania. This event does feel very similar to that of the German Masters and Graeme Dott and Luca Brecel did very well in Berlin in 2016 which could make them outsiders in this quarter. It would be good to see Brecel do well in continental Europe as he is the number one continental European player and his efforts may inspire many others on the continent. Neither he or Dott have had good starts to the season though so it is tough to see them as major contenders. Again, there are three non-top 32 players in this section with David Grace playing Rhys Clark in round one, while Scott Donaldson has again qualified after coming through four qualifying rounds to qualify for the Shanghai Masters. Clark has had a poor start to the season, after being one of the best rookie players a year ago. Grace has come on a lot in the last year since his big run at the UK Championships so he is probably the best of the outsiders.

My final quarter choice has to be Neil Robertson. Robertson has been in great form at the start of the year winning the Riga Masters and then reaching the semi-finals of the World Open. His draw for this week does not look too bad, compared to his draw where he lost in the Last 32 of the Shanghai Masters to Ryan Day. Robertson has always been in the group with Murphy and Selby for me that could all easily win multiple ranking titles a season, and that is something they all seem to be starting to do now - like in the Golf where Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson and Jason Day are dominant players that can win three big tournaments a year. Robertson is very much like McIlroy in that he may not be in great form all year round but when he is in form he's too hot for anyone to handle. 

Quarter Choice: Neil Robertson

Winner Selection: Shaun Murphy


That completes the analysis ahead of the European Masters next week, but if you have missed anything from earlier in the week it's not too late to take a look.

This was the "Tournament Top Ten" from Friday:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/european-masters-tournament-top-ten.html

Meanwhile, here is the "Stat Attack" from Saturday: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/european-masters-stat-attack.html


Next up on the blog will be updates through the weeks snooker and build-up for the English Open in Manchester which directly follows next week after the action in Romania. 

European Masters: Stat Attack

After yesterday's "Tournament Top Ten" blog, it is time to keep the build-up for the European Masters with a full statistical preview on certain elements that could point to who the winner next weekend will be or simply picking out some interesting points or head to heads for the early rounds.

Some statistics will come from the CueTracker.net and Snooker.org sites, while in the "Player Performances: Key Aspects section" you will find some statistics that I have been bringing together and working on. These numbers should help pick out who the men in form have been so far this season, even if some have not necessarily been winning tournaments and what we can expect from certain players moving forwards. As this is essentially a brand new event to the calendar in an arena never seen before for a professional event, there will obviously not be any event specific stats like most money earned in a tournament, or others of this nature.

HEAD TO HEAD

- The last three times Mark Davis has played Shaun Murphy in full or minor ranking competition he has come out on top. Those wins came in the 2015 Shanghai Masters, the 2014 Australian Open and on the European Tour in 2013. Davis will be looking to keep that up in the Last 32 in Romania.

- John Higgins will take on Michael Holt in round one knowing that he has beaten him in their last two meetings despite having come from behind to do so. Higgins won the last two frames in the World Open, and in the International Championship in 2015 he came from 3-1 down to win 6-3.

- When Andrew Higginson meets Marco Fu in round one at the venue he will be hoping to keep up a run of six wins out of six against Fu in ranking events or PTC events, or the last of these came in 2012.

- Ben Woollaston will meet Judd Trump for the second ranking event in succession having lost 5-0 to Trump in the Last 32 in Shanghai.

- David Grace and Rhys Clark have an even more recent meeting having played last week in the International Championship qualifiers, with Grace running out a 6-1 winner.

- The only time Luca Brecel has previously played Scott Donaldson was in the early qualifying rounds for the 2012 UK Championships. Brecel won in a decider, and ended up going on to the quarter-finals which at the time was his best ranking performance.


PLAYER PERFORMANCE: KEY ASPECTS 

- The first of my calculated statistics that should give a good indication of who the players to watch for this week are, is the average frames per 50+ break, the closest thing there is to a "scoring frequency" stat. All of these numbers were calculated prior to the European Masters and International Championship qualifiers of the last week. The numbers also do not take into account the 6 Reds World Championship because of it's non-ranking format and change in format.
Top of the list for average frames per 50+ is Neil Robertson. The Australian averages 2.02 which is a far lower number than anyone else. Anthony McGill is the next best from this 32 man field (plus 2 holdovers) with 2.42 frames per 50 break or above, while Tom Ford follows in third for this weeks field with 2.47 frames per 50 and it is interesting to see someone ranked outside of the top 32 so high up this list. Shaun Murphy is in fourth for this weeks field with exactly 2.5 frames per 50 break, while Mark Allen is closely behind with 2.57.

- The next category is one that compliments the previous one nicely. Now that we know who is at the top for 50+ breaks frequency, the next obvious place to look at is 50+ breaks weight with average break when a player makes a 50 break or above. Liang Wenbo leads the field for this statistic this week averaging 85.67 whenever he makes a 50 break. Directly after Wenbo is David Gilbert with 84.16, while John Higgins comes closely after in the list with 83.05 while Fu is in fourth with 82 before Robin Hull lands in fifth place for this weeks field with 79.18. Remember that was calculated after the Shanghai Masters and prior to the European Masters qualifiers so the Last 128 and Last 64 stages of this event were not included in the stats.

- Now that we know who is scoring heavily and winning frames with the big breaks, it's time to see who is winning the close frames. The close frames win percentage classes frames as anything with 20 points difference or less at the end of the frame, because I felt that a conservative approach was needed for this one. Alfie Burden leads the field in this one with a percentage of 77.78, Liang Wenbo is next with 75%, with Robin Hull and Yan Bingtao also on 75%. Mark Selby is then in fifth place with 72.22%, while Anthony McGill and Dominic Dale also have close frame win percentages of 70 or above. The lowest percentages out of the 32 (plus holdovers) heading to Romania see Mark Davis with a one in four 25% hit rate in close frames, and Michael Wild only has a one in three 33.33 percentage.

- On my statistics for average frame aggregate (which is average points scored per frame - average points conceded per frame) there are a number of the top ranked players in the field this week are at the top of the list in this statistic. Anthony McGill leads with an average aggregate of 25.36, with Neil Robertson at 22.25 in second. Shaun Murphy follows in third at 18.96 for average frame aggregate, while Judd Trump is fourth and David Gilbert is fifth from the 32 man field for the European Masters. Michael Wild's poor start to the season left him at a frame aggregate of -26.16 prior to the qualifiers for this event and the International Championship qualifiers that followed.

- John Higgins comes into the European Masters with four wins out of four in deciding frames, while Mark Selby and David Gilbert are both 100% from three matches. Ali Carter and Michael Holt have also shown good pressure play with four wins out of five in final frame shoot-outs.


This should provide a great insight into who the key players and aspects to keep an eye on, are throughout the tournament and, with the heads to heads particularly, pick out who the early casualties could be as well as the trends for who will go far.

Tomorrow will see my full tournament preview, rounding up the build up from both this blog and the tournament top ten blog and give you my personal choice to take the title next week.

It is also not too late to read my "Tournament Top Ten" blog which can be found here: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/european-masters-tournament-top-ten.html

European Masters: Tournament Top Ten

Next Monday sees the start of the European Masters in Romania, one of the new ranking events that have been added to the calendar in the 2016/2017 snooker season. Starting the build up to the week is my tournament top ten blog which is certainly a harder one as this is a brand new event. Once again the contenders will be ranked based on some statistics that I have been working on, along with form from the five events this season so far, and the other two things I put into the generator this week were the last two years German Masters (a similar event played in a similar style arena to the one for this week, and over the last two years it too has taken 32 to the venue after the Last 64 and Last 128 rounds were played as qualifying rounds under the flat draw) and how many semi-finals or better a player had reached in the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons on the European Tour.

The statistics used to help develop this were: frames per 50+ break, average break when making 50 or above, close frame win percentage, quarter-finals or better since the start of 2014/2015 and average frame aggregate (calculated by average points scored per frame - average points conceded per frame).

So here's who, based on these factors, "should" be the players to watch next week in Romania.

10 - David Gilbert - David Gilbert sneaks into the tournament top ten this week thanks to his good results in the early season. A quarter-finalist at the World Open, he also reached the Last 16 in Riga and in Shanghai showing how much his game has improved over the last year. On the European Tour last season he reached a semi-final which also helped him onto the list. Statistically, he is fifth in this weeks field for average frame aggregate, demonstrating a decent consistency for average points scored per frame, and his heavy scoring as well as being second in the field this week for average break when making a 50 break or above this season.

9 - John Higgins -  John Higgins just leads Gilbert, with a similar season so far. Higgins too reached the World Open quarter-finals, as well as the Last 16 of the Riga Masters and Shanghai Masters. The difference being that he did not enter the Paul Hunter Classic and Indian Open where Gilbert did and exited early. Higgins did not have the best record on the European Tour over the two most recent seasons, or the last two years German Masters which has a similar format to this week now. In terms of statistics Higgins is third out of this weeks field for the average break when 50+. Higgins is also joint fourth in the field this week for most quarter-finals in ranking events since the start of the 2014/2015 season. However, he will have to up his results to get higher up the list.

8 - Mark Allen - Eighth on the list for this week is Mark Allen, who may not have played too much so far this season, but still reached the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters and Paul Hunter Classic. Allen was one of the best players in 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 on the European Tour which with the shorter format could see him do well in Romania. His record in the last two years of the German Masters is average, He is also fifth out of this weeks field for average frames per 50 break or above, showing his good frequency of scoring. If he can keep that up this week then he will have a good chance of going far.

7 - Ronnie O'Sullivan - Ronnie O'Sullivan makes the tournament top ten list for Romania. Having not played much this season he did reach the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters. Reaching the 2015 German Masters quarter-finals also helps his ranking on this list given the similarity between that event and the European Masters this week. O'Sullivan is also a past winner of the German Masters and seems to thrive in front of the big crowds in the big venues that we can expect in Romania.  

6 - Ali Carter - Ali Carter has been one of the form players so far this season, particularly in the Chinese events as the winner of the World Open and a quarter-finalist at the Shanghai Masters. That should stand Carter in good stead for this week, along with the fact that he is a former winner of the German Masters and a winner last season on the European Tour with the familiarity of those two events compared to this. One of the things the tournament top ten does not take into account is the draw, where Carter plays another form man Anthony McGill in the Last 32.

5 - Judd Trump - Making his way into the top half of the list is Judd Trump. Trump reached the quarter-finals in both the 2015 and 2016 German Masters and is a good performer in Europe overall where he reached a semi-final or better on the European Tour twice in the last two seasons before that Tour was scrapped. Starting the season, Trump had a disappointing Last 16 most recently at the Shanghai Masters (losing 5-3 from 3-0 up), but in the first event of the season he reached the Riga Masters quarter-finals. In terms of stats Trump is fourth out of this weeks field for average frame aggregate, with a very high average points scored per frame so far this season. On top of that he also leads the field in ranking quarter-finals since the start of the 2014/2015 season, which should hold him well for this week.

4 - Anthony McGill - Anthony McGill has been one of the most in form players of the season so far. He won his first ranking title at the Indian Open with quarter-finals at the Riga Masters and World Open either side of that victory. McGill has been a semi-finalist on the old European Tour between 2014/2015 and 2015/2016, and if he can get past Ali Carter in round one he should go well. McGill is also second out of this weeks field for average frames per 50+ break so far this season, and this frequency of scoring would also have helped his average frame aggregate which he leads the tour for this season, thanks to his brilliant average points scored per frame. McGill could be a big contender again in Romania.

3 - Neil Robertson - Another player who has been in top form at the start of the season is Neil Robertson. Robertson gets a podium place on the tournament top ten this week thanks to his win at the Riga Masters and a semi-final at the World Open. In the 2015 German Masters he narrowly lost out in the quarter-finals and has also been a semi-finalist at the Tempodrome in an event that could be a key indicator for this week. Statistically, the Australian has been one of the best this season so far too. Robertson is second on the average frame aggregate, while he leads out of the 32 in the field for average frames per 50+, as well as having a good record over the last two years in ranking events being second in this weeks field for making the quarter-finals or better in this period.

2 - Shaun Murphy - Just away from the top spot this week is Shaun Murphy who had a maximum 147 break in the second qualifying round for this event. Murphy has been in the quarter-finals this year at the World Open, and he lost out in the semi-finals at the Indian Open. Again, taking into account the German Masters which I believe to be a good indicator, Murphy was the runner-up there in 2015. He is also the best out of anyone in the field for reaching the semi-finals or better in the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 European Tour events with four semi-finals or better out of 12 events which is a fantastic record. In addition, the Magician is in joint fourth for quarter-finals or better in full ranking events over the same period. Murphy is third in the field for average frame aggregate this season which again has a correlation to the average frames per 50+ statistic where Murphy is fourth out of this weeks field. The maximum break in qualifying shows he is in decent form and could go very far this week.

1 - Mark Selby - It is not at all surprising to see World Champion Mark Selby at the top of this list after his fantastic start to the season. Selby was the runner-up to Ding Junhui at the Shanghai Masters after winning the Paul Hunter Classic. In terms of similar events to this one, it was Selby that beat Murphy in the 2015 German Masters final and he also had two semi-finals or better on the European Tour between 2014/2015 and 2015/2016. Plenty of things point to Selby this week, and he is third out of the field this week for ranking event quarter-finals from 2014/2015 onward. Selby has an extra match to play after having his Last 64 match held over, but that should have no difference this week and according to all of the indicators he should do very well in Romania.


The tournament top ten got off to a good start in Shanghai with number 2 on the list Ding Junhui (not in this weeks event) beating number 5 on the list Mark Selby in the final, so hopefully this bodes well for the rest of the season.

Next up on the blog will be the "Stat Attack" for the event, with my full preview to round things off at the weekend.

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.