Fantasy Snooker Update: English Open

It's time for another update of the fantasy snooker league with the English Open fast approaching and points for the European Masters all calculated. 

A number of players picked the eventual champion Judd Trump last time out which has seen a lot of points go on the board and has started to open up a big gap between top and bottom in the overall table. 

Couge: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 267  

PPS: Williams, Ding x2, Murphy, Gilbert, Higgins, Bingham, Trump

TY: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Zhang Anda   Points: 241 

PPS: Ding, Robertson x3, Higgins, Allen, Ding, Bingham

Colin Delaney: SEASON: Ken Doherty and Yan Bingtao   Points: 230  

PPS: Higgins, Maguire, McGill, Allen, Hawkins, Ding, Trump, Brecel

Kellie Barker: SEASON: Jack Lisowski and Alex Ursenbacher   Points: 230 

PPS: Allen, Fu, Murphy, Higgins, Hawkins, Ding, Trump, Brecel

Alex Abrahams: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and John Astley    Points: 226  

PPS: Carter, Fu, Murphy, Perry, Higgins, K. Wilson, Trump, Williams

Andy Brooker: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 216  

PPS: Carter, Day, Maguire, Bingham, Higgins, Williams, Trump, Yuelong

Protoursnooker: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Cao Yupeng    Points: 204  

PPS: Ding x2, Allen, Maguire, Murphy, Selby, Robertson, Higgins (1 Captain Pick used)

Igor Snooker: SEASON: Matthew Stevens and Ken Doherty   Points: 187  

PPS: Ding, O’Sullivan, Maguire, Murphy, Fu, Selby, Robertson x2 (1 captain pick used)

Daniela Reich: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 184   

PPS: Ding, Fu, Murphy, Allen, Williams, K. Wilson, Trump, Day

Anthony: SEASON: Xiao Guodong and Michael Georgiou   Points: 180  

PPS: Higgins x2, Day, Maguire, Murphy, Ding, King, Trump

Ben Summers: SEASON: Noppon Saengkham and Sam Craigie    Points: 172   

PPS: McGill x2, Day, Dott, Ding, Selby, Trump, Holt

FAM147: SEASON: Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong   Points: 166   

PPS: Carter, Hawkins, Woollaston, Hossein, Bingham, Allen, Yuelong, Lisowski

Jake: SEASON: Mark Davis and Zhao Xintong   Points: 147  

PPS: Hawkins, Ding, Murphy, Higgins, Fu, Robertson

John McBride: SEASON: Hossein Vafei and Sam Craigie   Points: 140  

PPS:  Holt, Liang x2, Bingham, King, Murphy, Trump, Allen

Rob Francis: SEASON: Mark Davis and Cao Yupeng   Points: 137  

PPS: Ding, Robertson, Murphy x2, Allen, Higgins x2, Wilson

Matthew Lowson: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Alexander Ursenbacher   Points: 135  

PPS: Ding, Fu, Maguire, Bingham, Hawkins, Brecel, Wilson, Selby

GaryOnCue: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sam Craigie   Points: 134  

PPS: Hawkins, Robertson, Maguire, Murphy, Ding, Selby, Higgins, Wilson

Isitan Bakar: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Scott Donaldson   Points: 131  

PPS: Wenbo, Robertson x2, Murphy, Bingham, Ding, M. White, Higgins

LTD: SEASON: Robert Milkins and Ken Doherty    Points: 129  

PPS: Perry, Carter, Holt, Higgins, Hawkins, Maguire, Perry, Wilson

Kjetil: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and John Astley   Points: 128  

PPS: Carter, Perry, Woollaston, Dott, Fu, Allen, Xiwen, Gould

D. Muckian: SEASON: Tian Pengfei and Zhang Anda    Points: 127  

PPS: Ding, Perry, Maguire, Allen X2, Williams, Lisowski

Gary: SEASON: Ken Doherty and Yan Bingtao   Points: 124  

PPS: Carter, Robertson, Bingham, Gilbert, Fu, Higgins, Wilson, Day

Voihelevettisua: SEASON: Xiao Guodong and John Astley   Points: 123 

PPS: Ding, Trump, Dott, Allen, Higgins, Murphy, Robertson, Allen

Cluster of Reds: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and John Astley   Points: 119  

PPS: Ding, Perry, Allen, Ford, Hawkins, Fu, Trump, Brecel

TungstenDarts: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 109  

PPS: Fu, Hawkins, McGill, Allen, Selby, Williams, Day, Gould

Phil Mudd: SEASON: Jimmy Robertson and Sam Craigie   Points: 108  

PPS: Ding, Fu, Woollaston, Allen, Robertson, Williams, Brecel, Higgins

Beat the Boss (Me): SEASON: Hossein Vafei and Robin Hull   Points: 104  

PPS: Maguire, Holt, Allen, Ford, Fu, Williams, Robertson, Brecel

Munraj: SEASON: Jack Lisowski and Michael Georgiou   Points: 99  

PPS: Ding, Trump, Allen, Ford, Hawkins, Selby, Robertson

SnookerChicago: SEASON: Andrew Higginson and Zhang Anda    Points: 86  

PPS: Ding, Dott, Higgins

Mark Taylor: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sam Craigie    Points: 61 

PPS: Allen, Robertson, Maguire, Perry, Hawkins, Higgins, Wilson, Day

As you can see a couple of players have used their first captains pick and I will be doing the same this week for the English Open in an attempt to challenge those above me. 

Deadline for all picks for the English Open will be 10am UK time before the first matches of the week commence. Please note that preliminary round matches will not earn any points. 

The final piece of business then is to pick out my "Beat the Boss" selections, and this week they will be Barry Hawkins and Shaun Murphy (Captain's Pick) 

Good luck!

Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham to contest Belgium final

Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham will face off in the final of the European Masters after each overcoming Chinese opposition in Saturday's semi-finals.

Trump was the first man into the final, after defeating Cao Yupeng 6-1 while Bingham followed with a much harder fought 6-4 victory against Zhou Yuelong, with both Zhou and Cao making the semi-finals of a ranking event for the first time.

Defending champion Trump was in fantastic form in the afternoon, winning six frames in a row after losing the opener to Cao, who looked good himself early on with a 63 break to take that opening frame. The man seeded as low as 84 coming to Lommel was in early in frame two before an unfortunate foul from his split of the reds left Trump in. A run of 61 made sure that the left-hander made the most of this opportunity, and he quickly hammered home this advantage with a century in the third frame to move ahead. His good scoring continued by contributing 63 in the fourth frame on the way to taking a 3-1 mid-session interval advantage.

There is much more time to recover in a best-of-11 from 1-3 behind but Trump was determined to continue pulling away, having watched his 3-0 lead disappear in Friday's quarter-final with Mark Allen. In the blink of an eye a two frame gap became four with further power scoring shutting Cao out of the match. Magnificent breaks of 87 and 115 put Trump 5-1 ahead and within a frame of victory, and although he needed a couple of chances in frame seven it was not long at all before he was over the line and into ranking final number 16 of his career.

Meanwhile, Stuart Bingham came through a real battle with Zhou Yuelong in match that he had to fight very hard in to get through. After taking the opener convincingly he then lost the next two to breaks of 54 and 101 from Zhou. The 2015 world champion was far from his best in doing so, but was able to take the frames either side of the interval to regain the lead at 3-2, despite a highest break that was only in the mid-forties at this stage.

In a pendulum swinging match, Zhou then took command again after grinding out the next two frames, winning both on the colours to put himself in front for a second time at 4-3. From there though, things did not quite happen for the teenager as he appeared to tighten up a little in the closing stages. Bingham's highest break of the match came in frame eight, as he squared the contest up with the assist of a 68 break, and he was again the stronger player in frame nine to move ahead for a third time at 5-4. The tenth and ultimately final frame was another pendulum swinging affair. Bingham was in first and built up a 40 point advantage before Zhou's chance came and he made 54 to edge ahead with three reds left on the table. The killer blow came when the Chinese player took on a difficult long red and in missing, left all three reds on for the Bingham clearance. With victory confirmed, Bingham let out a big fist pump to show what it meant to be back in another ranking final, where he will be targeting his fifth major ranking title.

THE FINAL: (Best of 17 frames) 

Judd Trump Vs Stuart Bingham


Defending champion Trump will go off favourite in his quest to be back-to-back European Masters winner, especially given the comprehensive performance in his semi-final victory. By no means should Bingham be ruled out though, many of his major achievements have come against the odds and Trump has been on the receiving end of that a few times already.

Just a few months ago at the Welsh Open Trump would have again been favourite as faced Bingham in the Cardiff finale, and despite clawing back a 4-0 deficit he would ultimately fall 9-8 in a very tense finish. Then again of course in 2015 Trump fell to Bingham 17-16 in the semi-finals of a World Championship that Ballrun would go on to win for his greatest achievement. Bingham has also seen off Trump in other major clashes with a 7-2 victory in the final of the 2012 Premier League, as well as a 6-2 win in the quarter-finals of the inaugural Champion of Champions where Bingham would finish runner-up. Therefore, Bingham has certainly had the best of Trump in the head-to-head in recent times.

While Bingham may not have been at his best in the semi-finals, his victories in the two rounds beforehand against Mark Selby and Luca Brecel where he scored nicely and looked in great form, show that things are starting to pick up for him after a slow start to the season. Trump though has played solidly all week and scored as well as he always seems to, as well as showing great character to hold on against Mark Allen, as well as coming through another decider against Martin O'Donnell.

Overall, with the head to head and this weeks form this is a very tough final to call and it should be another great meeting between the pair tomorrow over two sessions.

Judd Trump withstands Mark Allen fightback at European Masters

Defending champion Judd Trump scraped into the semi-finals of the European Masters after Mark Allen fought back from 3-0 behind to force the deciding frame in Lommel.

Trump was in complete control in the early stages of the match, with a run of 58 giving him the opening frame, before a swift 88 doubled his lead. When a scrappier third frame also went to Trump it looked very much like he was going to have an easy afternoon, but the Northern Irishman had other ideas. In the fourth frame Allen got his first on the board whilst keeping up his record of making a century in every match so far this week, with a 102 break on this occasion. A 76 in the fifth frame confirmed that Allen was certainly still in the match, despite a six point at the end of the break that brought on a long battle for snookers from Trump that certainly could have been avoided.

The sixth frame then looked like it could have been the key one in the turnaround in fortunes in the match. It was a scrappy affair with both players having chances before the frame came down to the colours. When the defending champion's chance came he only needed brown, blue and pink for victory but he missed match ball pink and Allen eventually potted pink and black to force a deciding frame that looked very unlikely an hour or so beforehand. After fighting so hard though, Allen's hard work was undone by one unfortunate bump of the middle pocket. That saw Trump left in with reds open and the subsequent 70 contribution was more than enough to see him survive and make the last four in Lommel.

In the semi-finals he will play one of two Chinese players who will be on ranking semi-final debut on Saturday as he faces Cao Yupeng. Cao took out Mark Williams in the opening match on quarter-finals day 4-2. Williams started brightly by taking the first frame in quick time thanks to a break of 75. He had an early opening in the second frame but when Cao's opportunity came it was gratefully received, with a run of 73 levelling the match up. More one visit play followed from the man who was only in his second ranking quarter-final, as he made a 76 in the next to move 2-1 ahead. That lead did not last long though as the Welshman waded in with a century break of 102 to level the match. Cao managed to get back in front at 3-2 and after taking an early lead in the sixth frame, Williams came back at him but could not complete the clearance and Cao was able to complete the job.

The second Chinese player who will be in the semi-finals for the first time is Zhou Yuelong as he emphatically halted the run of Anthony McGill with a whitewash win. Both players had chances in the opening two frames, but a key point came in the second frame when Zhou came from 53 points adrift and won the frame on the black to double his lead at 2-0. From there he did not look back nor even concede another point in the match, showing along the way why so many believe in his ability and what he can achieve in the game. Back to back centuries of 138 and 136 finished the job in the style of a true champion, and if he continues playing like that he will take some stopping this weekend.

The man with the task of ending his run tomorrow will be Stuart Bingham after he defeated world champion Mark Selby 4-2. Selby has been on thin ice all week, despite playing well and scoring heavily at times, having come through three deciders in the earlier rounds and having come from behind in both his last 32 and last 16 games. The first two frames of this contest were shared after a 65 in the opener from Bingham was countered by 61 from Selby to level at 1-1. From there though, the 2015 world champion took control with a break of 83 in the third being followed up with a magnificent 113 in the fourth to put him 3-1 up and one frame from the semi-finals. Things are never that simple though (as Bingham will remember from the 2013 Masters where he squandered a 5-1 lead against Selby in the first round) and Selby clung on by winning the fifth frame after Bingham had a couple of half chances. In the sixth though he made sure of victory and avoided the dreaded decider by compiling a 65 to complete victory.

Semi-Final Draw: 

Judd Trump Vs Cao Yupeng
Stuart Bingham Vs Zhou Yuelong


Obviously, Trump and Bingham will be the favourites to make the final from here and set up a repeat of the epic Welsh Open final where Bingham ran out victorious in February to win his first ranking title since the 2015 world championship. Although, the two Chinese players will have other ideas and have been playing well this week and this season overall. Despite being in the semi-finals for the first time, Zhou was a quarter-finalist just a few weeks ago in the China Championship; while Cao has finally kicked on and backed up the fact that he has qualified for every event this year and comes into this fresh from making the last 16 in the World Open after a poor couple of years.

Cao and Zhou both making the semi-finals this week confirms that the Chinese revolution is well and truly on. Their involvement in the last four now means that five Chinese players will have made a ranking semi-final for the first time in their careers inside of the last year. Yu De Lu started this off at the back end of 2016 by reaching the semi-finals in Scotland, while Li Hang achieved this feat in August at the China Championship and tour rookie Xu Si managed it last month in India. Add to that the fact that Zhang Anda made a ranking quarter-final debut in India and the achievements of Yan Bingtao in his rookie season (qualifying for the Crucible, making a ranking quarter-final and several last 16 appearances in addition) and I believe these are very exciting times on the tour.

In my view, I think it would be great to see both Cao and Zhou make it to the final as they are two fantastic players, and Zhou in particular has the potential to become a multiple ranking event winner. They have played so well this week but tomorrow brings a different pressure and they may be affected by nerves in the early stages.

Add to that the fact that Bingham looks to have found his form this week and that Trump will be very hard to beat also and in all probability we will see an all-English final instead.

Even though the matches are stretched to the best-of-11 frames for the semi-finals, anything can happen and whatever the outcome both games should be great spectacles.

Mark Selby survives another European Masters decider

World number one Mark Selby survived his third deciding frame of the week in Lommel after coming from 2-0 and 3-2 behind to beat Jack Lisowski in the last 16 of the European Masters.

Lisowski looked very good early on, winning the opener with the help of a 57 break before notching up a 127 total clearance to forge a 2-0 advantage and move halfway to beating the world champion. As always there was a big response from Selby, after Lisowski missed a black early in frame three, winning that frame in one visit with an 88, prior to squaring the contest at 2-2 thanks to a run of 73. Lisowski edged ahead once more by winning the fifth frame with a 58 break along the way, but a run of 71 from Selby forced the decider, despite the left-hander's attempts for snookers.

Both players had early chances in the decider but the frame was very much in the balance with a few reds left. Lisowski took on a risky thin red to the middle pocket though, and when this did not fall he left Selby an easy opening and he took full advantage. A closing break of 68 proved more than enough to put him into the quarter-finals.

In the last eight, Selby will take on Stuart Bingham as the 2015 world champion ended the hopes of home favourite Luca Brecel. Like Lisowski, Bingham quickly took a 2-0 lead in the match with breaks of 69 and 93 helping him to the opening two frames. Brecel hit back strongly though, while Bingham was slightly put off by a rogue photographer in the audience. The Belgian was quickly level with two one visit frames of his own, making a 93 in the third and 72 in the fourth to level the contest at 2-2. However, Bingham held firm by winning the fifth to re-take the lead and finished the match with a break of 69 to win 4-2.

Defending champion Judd Trump is also into the quarter-finals after defeating David Gilbert 4-2. Trump was always in front, leading 1-0 and 2-1 before finding himself level at 2-2 after Gilbert made a century break in the fourth to go with a break of 62 he made in the second frame. Trump went ahead again at 3-2 and closed out victory strongly with a stylish 75.

Trump will now face fellow left-hander Mark Allen after the Northern Irishman won the final three frames of his 4-2 victory against Ben Woollaston. Allen started as he meant to go on with a superb break of 110 to take the opener. Woollaston played some decent stuff to take the next two frames, and survived a barrage of good snooker attempts from Allen in the third frame to lead at 2-1. Both players had chances in the next couple of frames but it was Allen who won them both to force ahead at 3-2 and a swift break of 56 in the last aided him in getting over the line, and continuing his good run of form.

Another man who kept up his fantastic form at the start of this season was Mark Williams, who made his fourth ranking quarter-final in four ranking events played so far in this campaign. To do so he too won the final three frames of his match against Neil Robertson for a 4-2 win. In similar vein to Allen he won the opening frame, aided by a run of 56, before Robertson won the next two frames comfortably enough to move 2-1 in front. Williams dominated the fourth to level the match, but it looked like Robertson would move 3-2 in front when he led the fifth frame by 56 points. The Welshman had other ideas though as he cleared with 67 to steal the frame, and sensing his opportunity he quickly seized control in the sixth frame and clinched the match in style with a fantastic 102 to put himself into the last eight.

It was also a successful Thursday for the two remaining Chinese players in the draw coming into the day as both Cao Yupeng and Zhou Yuelong booked their places in the last eight. Cao was first up though he did not have things easy against tour rookie Billy Castle. After a couple of scrappy frames Castle led 2-0 and Cao was firmly on the ropes. The key frame looked to be the third as Cao took it on the black to avoid falling 3-0 adrift and on the verge of elimination. From there he clicked into gear with runs of 58 and a match high 77 to turn the match right around and lead 3-2. Castle controlled the sixth frame to hold on and force the deciding frame, but it was not to be as Cao won his second decider of the week in Lommel and confirmed a visit to the quarter-finals of a ranking event for the first time since the 2013 Wuxi Classic.

Things were much more clear cut for Zhou Yuelong as he ended the run of Peter Lines. Zhou had high breaks of 81 and a closing 112 to win the match 4-1, but Lines can be happy with a week that saw him beat Ryan Day and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to make the last 16 (despite a high break of just 42 against Un-Nooh).

In the final match of the round, Anthony McGill came from 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 behind to beat Mark Davis in a deciding frame. Both players seemed to be in good touch, with Davis making breaks of 71, 69 and 64 in the frames he won, while McGill hit back strongly with an 88 in frame four, before winning frame six in one visit too with an 81. The crucial break in the last of 60 from McGill put him within a ball of victory and Davis was not able to get back into the frame as the Scotsman closed out victory.

Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Judd Trump Vs Mark Allen
Mark Williams Vs Cao Yupeng
Anthony McGill Vs Zhou Yuelong
Mark Selby Vs Stuart Bingham


Starting with the defending champion Trump's match with Allen, it is interesting to see that Allen has won his last four matches against Trump, three of which were over the best-of-7 frames format that this one will also be played over. Two of those matches were European Tour event finals which also adds something to the argument for Allen while his recent form has been strong too. He has a made a ton in each of his matches so far this week, two of which were 140+ breaks which shows his scoring is very strong, just as it was en route to the semi-finals of the World Open last time out. It certainly feels like Allen has more in the locker, while Trump has not necessarily been at his best so far this week.

The next match looks like a bit of a miss-match between Williams and Cao. For the Welshman he is in his fourth ranking quarter-final of the season, and he's only played in four ranking events so far. Meanwhile, for Cao he is in his first for four years though has been in decent form having gone a step further from an unfortunate last 16 exit in the World Open. Williams has been knocking on the door all season though and this may well be the week that he gets over the line and back into the ranking event winners circle.

Mark Selby has a good record against Stuart Bingham and has been playing really well in the last three rounds and has dug in hard against players that took the game to him and played just as well themselves. Bingham has had a couple of nice results this week which was much needed after a poorer stretch of form to start the season. He looks a lot stronger this week, but with Selby scoring heavily and taking his chances this week he is going to prove very difficult to beat, just as he has done already in Lommel.

Anthony McGill has been in good form of late, making the Indian Open final, and has been scoring well again this week, especially in his last two victories. Zhou Yuelong meanwhile is also playing decent stuff and always seems to be scoring well. However, this is his third ranking quarter-final and in the previous two he was defeated 5-0 in the Welsh Open by Scott Donaldson and 5-2 by Shaun Murphy in the China Championship so this is the next hurdle for him to get over. It is clearly a promising sign that he has made three quarter-finals in 2017 though, having not made one previously and I expect the 19-year-old to play well on this occasion. On the whole, I think McGill will probably have the edge tactically and if both players are scoring well that could be the key.


All four quarter-finals will be played on Friday, over the best-of-7 frames and all on the main TV table with two in the afternoon and two in the evening with the same session times as the rest of the week.

Higgins out of European Masters as Selby and Trump just progress

John Higgins was the biggest name casualty on day three of the European Masters as he lost out 4-1 to Mark Davis.

Davis has a good record against Higgins, though the Scotsman was in great form coming into the clash and he won the opening frame on the black to lead 1-0. Things did not go his way from there on though as 30th seed found his game. A run of 53 levelled the match and he was soon 2-1 ahead. There was to be no let up either, as he ended up taking the final two frames in one visit thanks to an 80 in the fourth frame and a closing 92.

World number one Mark Selby was able to scrape through in a tough test against young Lu Haotian. Lu opened up in style with a one visit 88 to lead, but Selby pegged him straight back with an 89 that fell just short of making it his fifth century in his last five frames won after Tuesday's heroics. The 19-year-old was soon back in front though making an 84 to keep the high scoring going and when he was on 62 in the fourth frame he looked like moving 3-1 in front. However, his miss left the world champion in for an excellent 68 clearance that levelled the contest and got Selby out of jail.

Lu was unfazed though and took the lead for a third time at 3-2 with a run of 74 and he had an early chance in frame six before taking on a risky red to the middle. Selby took full advantage of this lifeline making another big break, this time a 111, and taking the match the full distance. The deciding frame did not take on the heavy scoring trend of the previous six, but was still very entertaining and edgy. Lu took an early lead but then left Selby a golden chance with three reds remaining and he looked like clearing well once more until missing match ball brown into the middle. It did not cost him in the end though as he won the safety battle that followed and was able to do enough to survive another decider and make it into the last 16.

Things also got close for defending champion Judd Trump in his match with Martin O'Donnell. O'Donnell won the opening frame courtesy of a 70 before Trump levelled with a ton but this did not sway the match in his favour. O'Donnell went on to take frames three and four to open up a 3-1 advantage and move a frame away from victory. Trump answered emphatically with his second century of the tie to stay in it and would go on to dominate the final two frames and keep his defence going.

Home favourite Luca Brecel meanwhile had a much less nervy time, having already come through two deciding frames this week himself. This time out against Chris Wakelin he made breaks of 75 and 71 but was still not quite at his best, but did more than enough to secure a 4-1 victory.

A much more accomplished display was that of Neil Robertson's in the all-Vegan clash against Peter Ebdon. Robertson was aided by runs of 57 and 61 in taking the first two frames before coming from behind to run 3-0 ahead. Much as in the last 64 he looked in top scoring form and confirmed that by piling on a 129 break to clinch the match and get into the last 16 without the loss of a frame in Lommel so far.

He will now face Mark Williams who recovered from a slow start to see off Ross Muir. The Scot took an early 2-0 lead before Williams clicked into gear, making breaks of 101 and 74 on the way to winning the next three frames while only conceding eight points in the process. A match high 53 from Muir helped him come from behind to stay in the match and force a decider, but after a nervy final frame it was not to be for the lower ranked player and the in-form Welshman progressed.

Also on the day, Mark Allen kept his good recent form going with a 4-1 victory over Alan McManus which featured a 141 break to go with a 145 from the last 64 which still stands as the high break of the week. Jack Lisowski saw off Joe Perry 4-2 for a good win that has set up a last 16 date with the world champion, while Anthony McGill cruised past Alfie Burden a 4-0 winner.

There was also further joy for Billy Castle who came through another decider to beat Aditya Mehta and make his first ever round of 16 as a professional. He will now face Cao Yupeng who won a battle between two of the form men from lower in the rankings, 4-2 over Ken Doherty to get into the last 16 for the second tournament in a row.


Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Judd Trump Vs David Gilbert 
Mark Allen Vs Ben Woollaston
Neil Robertson Vs Mark Williams
Cao Yupeng Vs Billy Castle
Anthony McGill Vs Mark Davis
Zhou Yuelong Vs Peter Lines
Stuart Bingham Vs Luca Brecel
Mark Selby Vs Jack Lisowski


Starting with Trump and Gilbert, the latter has been in good form of late making consecutive quarter-finals at the Indian Open and World Open and of course a win here would make that three on the bounce. Much like Trump his win today featured three centuries and he has been scoring heavily, including when he took out Higgins in Yushan which shows he has wins against the top players in him. Trump will not be easy to beat though if he is scoring well too and it could make for a great contest.

At the opposite end of the draw, Selby survived a scare in the last 32 but he was still playing well in that match and is scoring very nicely which is going to make him incredibly hard to beat. Even with a winning head to head record from five matches with Selby, Lisowski is in for a tough task from the outset and the only thing that favours him is the best-of-7 frames format which seems to suit him much more than anything else.

Allen and Woollaston should also be a good match with Allen on top scoring form and Woollaston making two centuries in a 4-3 win over Gerard Greene. If he is to beat this Northern Irishman though he will need to take full advantage of every chance he gets because Allen is in fine form and is another player I think will really take some beating this week.

Stuart Bingham has gone under the radar a little this week but has a 4-0 win over Graeme Dott to his name, and Brecel has not had his best game so far and may be feeling the pressure of being on home turf.

Peter Lines has every chance against Zhou Yuelong if he can grind the young Chinese player down in a similar way that he did to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. Cao Yupeng is someone I think will carry on his improved start to the season and go a step further than Yushan by reaching the quarter-finals.

Neil Robertson and Mark Williams is another of the ties of the round. Williams has had a good start to the season, while Robertson has flown through his two matches this week so far and looks to be on top scoring form which always makes him a huge name in the draw.


All last 16 matches will be played on Thursday over the best-of-7 frames, over two tables which means each game will be on either a TV table or Eurosport Player streamed table, and it certainly sets up for some entertaining contests.

Mark Selby flies into European Masters last 32

World number one Mark Selby smashed his way into the last 32 of the European Masters as he beat Zhao Xintong 4-1 and made four centuries in the process. 

The world champion was far from his best as he fell over the line 4-3 against Mark Joyce in his held over last 128 fixture on Monday, but that all changed as he took on the talented Chinese Zhao. Breaks of 116, 120, 127 and a closing 131 saw him win in some style and confirm that he is certainly the man to beat this week. 

There were also multiple centuries for the third seed John Higgins in a 4-0 victory over Alexander Ursenbacher. The Swiss player also fell to a brutal Higgins display in the World Open and was to get no revenge here as the Scotsman opened up with runs of 131 and 109 and then added to that with a 54 in frame three and a 76 in the final frame to help him sprint to the finish. 

Also on top form was the fifth seed Neil Robertson, who was a 4-0 winner over Fang Xiongman. The Australian also had multiple centuries with a 134 in the second frame and 100 in the final frame which were added to by runs of 76 in the opener and an 80 in frame three. 

There were also a couple of slight upsets though in the last 64 in Lommel and one of those saw the World Open runner-up Kyren Wilson sent packing by Gerard Greene. The Northern Irishman managed to win two close frames and come from 3-2 adrift to score a 4-3 win. Meanwhile, Martin Gould also lost out in a deciding frame despite a break of 143 against Billy Castle. Castle's high break in the match of 69 came in the decisive frame, as he backed up his win over Jimmy White from the qualifying round in August. 

Mark Allen was able to avoid a similar fate though as he came from 3-1 down to beat Hossein Vafei 4-3. Allen opened up with a break of 83 but then lost three frames in succession and looked in real trouble. Frame five delivered a big spark though as he manufactured the high break of the tournament so far, with a rapid 145 keeping him in the match. A 69 in the sixth quickly followed, prior to an 84 clearance in the decider saw him come from 40 points adrift to book his place in the last 32. 

Home favourite Luca Brecel is quickly becoming the king of deciders after another two final frame wins to put him in round three. His heldover match against Sam Craigie saw the Belgian pegged back from 3-1 in front to 3-3 before he came through, while the last 64 saw him scramble from 3-2 behind to edge out Thor Chuan Leong. 

There were also last 64 successes for the likes of Mark Williams, Peter Ebdon, Ken Doherty, Anthony McGill, Stuart Bingham and Graeme Dott, while Joe Perry is yet to play this week after Soheil Vahedi was a no show for their match on Monday afternoon. 

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Judd Trump Vs Martin O'Donnell

David Gilbert Vs Chen Zifan

Ben Woollaston Vs Gerard Greene

Mark Allen Vs Alan McManus 

Neil Robertson Vs Peter Ebdon

Mark Williams Vs Ross Muir

Aditya Mehta Vs Billy Castle 

Cao Yupeng Vs Ken Doherty

John Higgins Vs Mark Davis

Anthony McGill Vs Alfie Burden 

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Peter Lines

Zhou Yuelong Vs Michael Georgiou

Stuart Bingham Vs Graeme Dott

Luca Brecel Vs Chris Wakelin

Joe Perry Vs Jack Lisowski 

Mark Selby Vs Lu Haotian 

The way that the likes of Selby, Higgins, Robertson, Trump and Allen have opened up this week shows that they will be very tough to beat this week and they may all end up in the latter stages attempting to beat each other to the title. I would also expect Mark Williams to make his way into the last 16 once again this week, while another in-form man in David Gilbert should be able to do likewise, though victory against Chen Zifan should not be taken for granted. 

Zhou Yuelong and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh both opened up with good scoring performances in the last 64 and now play lower ranked opposition again in the last 32. Un-Nooh's opponent Peter Lines will be confident after a nice victory against Ryan Day which should make that an interesting game. 

Alfie Burden looked in good touch based on the scores from his last 64 win over Eden Sharav, while his opponent McGill was taken all the way by Joe Swail in his opening match and failed to register a break of above 50 in the match. 

Luca Brecel has had to grind his way through his first two matches this week, which may be due to some of the pressure of being the man on home turf carrying all of the expectations. His next opponent Chris Wakelin is certainly no easy task either with Wakelin recently scoring a good win at the World Open against Barry Hawkins which will give him confidence coming into this one. 

Cao Yupeng and Ken Doherty have both continued fine starts to the season here in Belgium. Cao in particular had to play well in the last 64 to come back and beat Noppon Saengkham 4-3 in a heavy scoring clash, and he comes into this fresh from a run to the last 16 of the World Open and 6-2 victory in International Championship qualifying that keeps up his 100% record in qualifying matches this season. 

Finally, I think Jack Lisowski has a good chance against Joe Perry. Perry's form has been hit and miss over the last few months and we don't have any markers to go on this week as he received a walkover into the last 32. Lisowski though has won his last two games against Perry, most recently at the 2016 Northern Irish open, and he has started the season reasonably well without kicking on yet. As always his scoring has been good and he has performed well in the early season qualifiers, but has failed to kick on in any event besides the Riga Masters where he was able to make the last 16. The best-of-7 frame matches seem to suit Lisowski better also which is another reason I think he could do some damage here. 

All last 32 matches feature in Wednesday's play with matches taking place across four tables and the best-of-7 frames format. With the amount of top players still in the event and starting the week well the remainder of this tournament promises to be a highly entertaining one. 

European Masters Preview

This week on the snooker tour Lommel in Belgium will play host when the European Masters begins on Monday.

After a busy few weeks on tour that has seen John Higgins win in India and Ding Junhui storm to victory in Yushan as well as the majority of top players qualify last week for the International Championships, plenty of top guns will have their eyes on the prize. 

A few top names missed out in the qualifiers for this event that were played nearly two months ago. Shaun Murphy fell to John Astley, while Barry Hawkins lost out to Ken Doherty and guys like Ali Carter, Ricky Walden, Michael White and Stephen Maguire all missed out. It's also a shame to see that Li Hang did not qualify given some of the form he has shown since by making the semi's in Guangzhou and the quarters in Yushan. 

Last weeks winner Ding Junhui was one of a handful of players that decided not to enter the qualifying, while Marco Fu, Liang Wenbo and last year's runner-up Ronnie O'Sullivan have also chosen to sit this week out. Despite the absence of some of the top Chinese names and the failure of guys like Li Hang, Xiao Guodong, Tian Pengfei, Yu De Lu and Zhang Anda to qualify, 12 Chinese players make up the 61 that came through Preston qualifying. That shows a great strength in depth that there now is with the Chinese players on tour and the talent that is clearly out there. 

Of the guys that are present, there are some real headline acts. First off the defending champion from Romania last year is back in the shape of Judd Trump. His last 128 match was held over to the venue along with that of world champion Mark Selby. Luca Brecel is obviously the player that all of the eyes are on this week. When it was announced that this event would take place in Belgium, little did we all know that they would have a ranking event winner, but Brecel has achieved that and now made himself a top 16 player because of it. 

With all that in mind it makes for a very exciting week. 

Quarter 1

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Judd Trump or Chris Totten Vs Adam Duffy

Jamie Jones Vs Martin O'Donnell

David Gilbert Vs Sam Baird 

Mark King Vs Chen Zifan 

Ben Woollaston Vs Zhang Yong

Kyren Wilson Vs Gerard Greene 

Alan McManus Vs Yuan Sijun

Mark Allen Vs Hossein Vafei 

Defending champion Judd Trump is the first person to come to in this top quarter of the draw. We have not seen much of Trump in recent times, having only played four matches since the Hong Kong Masters in mid-July, while his International qualifier last week was his first match since a last 32 exit at the China Championship. He should therefore be fresh and raring to defend his title and I think he will negotiate his way to the last 16 easily enough. From there, looking at the possible opposition, he will need to be on top form to progress. David Gilbert is in good form at the moment having made back-to-back quarter-finals in India and at the World Open. He has scored pretty well in those events and beaten some good players on the way so perhaps he will be able to kick on from there. 

A mention is also needed for Mark Allen who has found some form in recent weeks also. In India he started the week with some strong results but fell at the last 16 stage. That was a starting point for what was to come in Yushan where he played very well and scored heavily and consistently on the way to a narrow semi-final loss against an equally in-form Kyren Wilson. If he can keep that form up in Belgium then you have to say that another victory cannot be far away from the Northern Irishman's grasp. 

My opening quarter choice though is the World Open runner-up Kyren Wilson. Wilson was on fire in Yushan with some big wins and brilliant performances there. Starting off against Holt he finished that game in style and then beat players in Un-Nooh, Mark Williams and Allen who were all playing really well that week. Wilson is a good all-round player so when he is scoring heavily as he was in the World Open then he is going to be very hot to handle and if he keeps that going this week it could be a very similar story. His draw is not necessarily straightforward, but if he continues playing well he should progress nicely and his two main threats would then be the likes of Allen, who he saw off in Yushan, and Trump who he has a decent head to head with. Overall, I think Wilson is a strong pick this week.

Best of the Rest: David Gilbert, Mark Allen

Quarter Choice: Kyren Wilson

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Neil Robertson Vs Fang Xiongman 

Dominic Dale Vs Peter Ebdon 

Mark Williams Vs Yan Bingtao 

Ross Muir W/O Anthony Hamilton

Michael Holt Vs Aditya Mehta

Martin Gould Vs Billy Castle

Noppon Saengkham Vs Cao Yupeng

Ken Doherty Vs Jak Jones

In the second quarter we have someone who has performed consistently this season in the shape of Mark Williams. The Welshman has already found himself in a semi-final at the Riga Masters and quarter-finals at the China Championship and World Open the latter of which saw him lose to Kyren Wilson, who made three centuries in a 5-1 win. He looks to be playing nicely on the whole and there is no reason why, looking at the draw, he could not go all the way this week. 

Meanwhile, watch out for the likes of Ken Doherty and Cao Yupeng who may be outside of the top 64, but have both had good starts to the season and are ones to watch out for this week. Cao particularly has re-discovered his form after a poor couple of seasons but only just missed out on making the quarter-finals of the World Open, losing a decider to Luca Brecel. I like the look of the draw again this week for Michael Holt. He has had a few tough draws this season and the last two weeks have seen him lose in the last 16 in India to eventual champion Higgins, and at the last 32 stage in Yushan to runner-up Wilson. If he is in good form this week I could see him making the quarter-finals and maybe beyond. I certainly still think that Holt can make the breakthrough and win a full ranking title within the next season or so. 

My overall pick in this section is Neil Robertson. Robertson looks in very good touch at the moment and for me is well overdue winning a ranking title, with his last coming in the 2016 Riga Masters. The Australian did seal victory in the invitational Hong Kong Masters in July, beating big names in Selby and O'Sullivan to do so. He looked good at the World Open which was his first event for a while, having missed India and the Paul Hunter Classic, and who knows how far he would have gone but for Allen's blistering comeback in the last 16 there. The good sign for me is that his scoring looked good in the World Open, because that is the area of the game where he is so good and coupled with strong long potting can make him unbeatable at times. This section looks like quite an open one with just a couple of top 16 players, but plenty of other quality players are lurking just behind. If Robertson is close to his best though, he is the best player in this section for me and it I think it is time to see him back in the winners circle. 

Best of the Rest: Michael Holt 

Quarter Choice: Neil Robertson

Quarter 3

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

John Higgins Vs Alexander Ursenbacher

Mark Davis Vs Matthew Selt

Anthony McGill Vs Joe Swail

Alfie Burden Vs Eden Sharav

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Chen Zhe

Ryan Day Vs Peter Lines

Zhou Yuelong Vs Oliver Lines

John Astley Vs Michael Georgiou 

The third quarter here features plenty of guys who have shown form in the early parts of this season. Ryan Day was a winner in Riga and could certainly do well again this week looking at the draw in the bottom half of this section. Anthony McGill was a runner-up at the Indian Open to John Higgins and there are good odds that the two will meet again this week in the last 16 stage, as both would expect to make it that far at least. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is always a dangerous player in a draw and was going well in Yushan before he fell in the last 16 to the in-form Kyren Wilson. The Thai also made the final of the 6-Reds championship a few weeks ago so he may be building up to something big once again. 

Zhou Yuelong was a quarter-finalist at the China Championship recently and seems to be getting results more consistently now having beaten Selby and Gould that week. He made the highest break of the tournament in India but lost in the opening round to Kurt Maflin, before making the semi-finals of the men's snooker event at the Asian Indoor games. His draw looks like one he could navigate for the first couple of rounds at least. 

For my quarter pick though I am going for a form man in John Higgins. This is about the time of year last season that Higgins form was really building up with a series of quarter-finals in October that led to back to back titles in November. He has already delivered his first title of this season at the Indian Open and I am sure he will have enjoyed a week off last week after two away from home, so he should be ready to get back out on the table. In the first couple of rounds he could face opposition that he overcame in the World Open if Selt were to beat Mark Davis, while a possible last 16 test could then await with Anthony McGill who he saw off in India. Age is very much just a number and Higgins is showing that with the level of snooker he has produced in the last year, winning two major invitationals, making another World final and starting this season with a ranking event win. If he can keep up these levels then there could be plenty more trophies in his cabinet before this season is done with. 

Best of the Rest: Zhou Yuelong, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

Quarter Choice: John Higgins

Quarter 4

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Stuart Bingham Vs Mitchell Mann

Graeme Dott Vs Jamie Clarke

Chris Wakelin Vs Mei Xiwen 

Luca Brecel or Sam Craigie Vs Thor Chuan Leong

Joe Perry Vs Soheil Vahedi 

Jack Lisowski Vs Li Yuan 

Ian Preece Vs Lu Haotian 

Mark Selby or Mark Joyce Vs Zhao Xintong

Once more the final quarter is one filled with top quality players and there is no greater place to start dissecting it than by talking about world champion Mark Selby. I really think he faces a tough draw if he can get past Mark Joyce as he faces Zhao Xintong. Zhao will be confident having won the gold medal at the Asian indoor games and he has looked very sharp at the start of the season. He came very close to beating John Higgins in the last 64 of the Indian Open, and he made the last 16 of the Paul Hunter Classic before losing to an in-form Shaun Murphy. He is very close with the likes of Zhou Yuelong and Yan Bingtao who have both already beaten Selby in 2017, so he will be determined to join them and know he has the ability to do it, as he is just as good as any young Chinese player. 

Elsewhere we have Joe Perry, who put together an impressive whitewash of Ryan Day at the World Open before losing in the last 16 to Ding Junhui, and for me Perry is someone who is more than overdue a strong run at an event. He has tough first round opposition in Soheil Vahedi who has already shown some of his quality on a couple of occasions that I have seen him. It will also be interesting to see how things go with Stuart Bingham and Graeme Dott. The pair are due to meet in the last 32 and Bingham has not been in the greatest of form with a few early exits in events so far this season. Dott has also been a little hit and miss, with a couple of good results in the China Championship not being backed up in the tournaments since then. 

The final quarter choice this week is the home favourite Luca Brecel. Call this is a sentimental pick, but Brecel will have all of the support this week and is likely to play each of his matches on the main TV table for as long as he is in the tournament, and that is a massive advantage. Having won his first career ranking title at the China Championship he will be full of confidence, and this showed as he made the World Open semi-finals before losing out to Ding in a tight match there. He dug in well in Yushan to win three deciders in a row as well, and that for me shows how much his game has developed into that of a top player now. After a maiden big win you fear that a player may struggle to adjust to the increased attention and expectation, but the World Open is a sign that Brecel is handling it pretty well so far. In many ways the pressure should also be off for Brecel, having proven that he is a winner and also getting into the top 16 and securing this for the season along with appearances in tournaments like the Masters and Players Championship. Sam Craigie is a very tough opponent to face in the last 128 of any event however, and if he is not at his best or feeling the pressure to perform on home turf then he could easily be sent packing emphatically. Should he get through that test then I could see him going from strength to strength and making a big run for the title again this week. 

Best of the Rest: Joe Perry

Quarter Choice: Luca Brecel

Tournament Winner Selection: Neil Robertson 

As you would expect, the event will be covered in full on Eurosport TV and Eurosport Player. The format sees matches of best-of-7 frames up until best-of-11 frame semi-finals and a best-of-17 frame final on Sunday, with the winner taking home £75,000.