Ronnie O'Sullivan storms to English Open title

Ronnie O'Sullivan cruised to victory in the final of the English Open with a resounding 9-2 victory over Kyren Wilson.

It was an excellent performance from the five-times World champion that included four century breaks and a break of at least 50 in every single frame he won in the match. O'Sullivan will now have all eyes on him, even more than they usually are, as he is now the only man who can win the million pound home nations bonus, if he could follow up his win in Barnsley with further triumphs in Belfast, Glasgow and Cardiff in the coming months.

The Rocket was quick out of the blocks in the afternoon session, starting with a break of 115 to take the opening frame. Things could have been very different however, after Wilson then levelled the contest with a run of 74 before then having chances to go 2-1 ahead. It may not have seemed that important at the time, when Wilson went in-off on the final pink, and then leaving the black over the jaws of the pocket when a second chance came, but he also would not have known at the time that he would only win one more frame.

O'Sullivan pounced and made sure he fully punished Wilson, making a total clearance of 131 in the fourth frame to move 3-1 ahead and leave the Warrior ruing his error from the frame earlier. Wilson came back from the mid-session interval and responded well with a century of his own, a 109 keeping him in touch with Ronnie at 2-3. From there though he would only claim another four points in the afternoon session and 36 points in the rest of the final altogether as O'Sullivan hit top gear.

The final three frames of the opening session were over in a flash, with O'Sullivan just needing one chance in each with contributions of 77, 87 and 96 giving him a 6-2 advantage to take into the evenings play.


To have any chance, Wilson knew he would have to come out at the start of session two firing on all cylinders and get frames on the board early, and he certainly had a foothold in frame nine until O'Sullivan's chance came. A sublime clearance of 50 was really the knock-out blow to the hopes of the former Shanghai Masters champion as he fell 7-2 adrift.

Wilson was not made to suffer for long though as O'Sullivan finished proceedings quickly and with true class, making back-to-back total clearances of 127 and 132 to top off a superb week on the table and leave Barnsley with people talking about his snooker, rather than anything away from the baize.


Kyren Wilson certainly deserves some credit for reaching a second big final in three tournaments and he will have plenty more opportunities to get his hands on some silverware, not just this season but for many years to come. Wilson joins Shaun Murphy in the "Mulitiple losing finalists of the 2017/2018 club" after Murphy made back-to-back ranking finals in August but did not take home the trophy on either occassion.

A special mention should also go to Alexander Ursenbacher who made the semi-finals this week, a superb step up from his previous best finish in a ranking event of the last 32. He showed great style in victories over Shaun Murphy and Michael White and did not roll over against Wilson in the semi's. It's a brilliant sign for snooker in Europe that another genuine top talent has come through and I'm sure we will be seeing a lot more of him in the coming years.


Next up though on the snooker circuit is a trip to a trip to Daqing in China for the International Championships, with another £150,000 to go with that offered by the Chinese ranking events of earlier in the season. The action begins with an early start for fans in UK and Europe on Sunday October 29.

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Kyren Wilson to meet for English Open final

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Kyren Wilson will be the two players going for the Steve Davis trophy and title of English Open champion in Sunday's finale.

Wilson was the first man over the line in the semi-finals as he saw off hot prospect Alexander Ursenbacher on Saturday afternoon. The Swiss player put on another good show in the early stages of the match though, taking a 2-0 thanks to early breaks of 64 and 84 and also moving his frame winning tally to 11 a row, after winning the last four against Shaun Murphy and whitewashing Michael White. However, Wilson hit back strongly with a cool break of 77 to put his first frame on the board, before winning an important fourth frame to level the contest.

Following the mid-session interval, Ursenbacher came straight out with a contribution of 89 to win the fifth in one visit and regain the lead, but as it turned out this would be the last frame he would win in the tournament. From there, Wilson really stepped up a gear winning three of the final four frames in one visit. That started with a match high break of 124 to square the match at 3-3 and was quickly followed by a run of 75 to take the lead for the first time. A run of 56 assisted him in moving one away from victory at 5-3 before he swiftly booked his place in the final with a break of 90 as Ursenbacher only scored 11 points after moving 3-2 ahead, showing that he was shut-out by the Warrior.


In the evening session it was over to O'Sullivan, though his victory over Anthony McGill was not as easy as it looked like being at one stage. The Rocket was out of the blocks quickly, while McGill was slow in getting going as he missed a couple of chances in the opening frames. Runs of 52, 62 and 77 from O'Sullivan saw him surge into a 3-0 lead, and given McGill's comments after his match on Friday that he would "probably lose" to O'Sullivan it looked like being over quickly.

Even when the Scotsman compiled a very classy 57 to send him into the mid-session break with a frame on the board, the five times World Champion came straight back out with a sublime total clearance of 139 to regain his three frames cushion. All of a sudden though, O'Sullivan perhaps took his foot off of the gas a little and McGill started to come back into the match taking the sixth frame and then making a 77 in the seventh to close to within one at 3-4. The eighth frame was probably the eventual undoing of McGill in the end though as his break of 61 saw him fall short of a frame winning clearance and a big steal, as he missed frame ball brown and O'Sullivan cleared the four remaining colours to breathe a sigh of relief and move a frame from the final at 5-3. The Scotsman was not going away though and his run of 71 prolonged the match, but winning all of the last three frames proved too big an ask when O'Sullivan made his second total clearance of the night, a 133 this time, to clinch victory.


Semi-Final Results: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 Anthony McGill
Kyren Wilson 6-3 Alexander Ursenbacher

The Final: (Best-of-17 Frames) 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Kyren Wilson


In terms of the head to head record between O'Sullivan and Wilson there is not much to go on, as they have only met on one previous occasion. That came in last season's Northern Irish Open when Wilson was a 4-3 winner despite seeing O'Sullivan come from 3-0 down to force a deciding frame with three successive centuries.

Wilson knows how to stand up to Ronnie but that is a much harder task over a longer format match. Both players are playing great snooker, with Wilson getting to the final of the World Open a few weeks ago before losing to Ding and he will be looking to put on a better show this time to take the trophy. O'Sullivan has had some good tests this week beating John Higgins and an in-form Jack Lisowski before his win over McGill and in the six matches to reach this stage he has made eight centuries showing that his scoring is as good as ever.

Wilson survived a scare in the opening round as he came through a decider against Rod Lawler but overall he has only dropped ten frames in reaching the final, two less than O'Sullivan, as well as making six centuries of his own to show that his scoring is certainly good enough to compete with O'Sullivan.

I think O'Sullivan has quite a bit of respect for Wilson from comments he has made about him previously and he knows that he is in for a good battle in this final. While he did of course win the Masters in January, O'Sullivan has not won a full ranking event since the Welsh Open in February 2016, and in all he has lost four of his last five big finals with January's Masters win over Joe Perry being mixed with losses in finals of: the Hong Kong Masters to Neil Robertson, the UK Championship to Mark Selby, the Champion of Champions to John Higgins and the European Masters to Judd Trump.

That perhaps makes a good case for Wilson who will be in his fourth ranking overall with his only win being the first of those in the 2015 Shanghai Masters against Judd Trump. When everything is weighed up it promises to be a really close contest with perhaps just a couple of frames separating winner from loser when all is said and done.

Ronnie O'Sullivan overcomes Jack Lisowski to make English Open semi's

Ronnie O'Sullivan is into the last four of the English Open after overcoming the in-form Jack Lisowski 5-2.

Lisowski had already beaten Judd Trump and Mark Williams in the two previous rounds to make his way into the quarter-finals, and he started well against O'Sullivan with a break of 128 to take the opening frame. That was really as good as it got for Lisowski, as O'Sullivan found his form and took control of the game from there. A run of 64 helped him level the match before a break of 125 put him 2-1 in front. Lisowski had chances in the two frames either side of the interval but O'Sullivan had the upper hand in the safety battles and took both frames to lead 4-1 and go one away from victory. Runs of 66 and then 61 in the sixth frame kept Lisowski's hopes alive but a couple of missed chances in the seventh proved critical and O'Sullivan completed a 5-2 win.

He will now play Anthony McGill who came through a tight contest with Neil Robertson. The Australian took the opening frame of the contest with a nice 85 and led in the second frame before McGill cleared with 65 to level up the contest. Robertson soon made up for that with a contribution of 79 putting him ahead again. McGill did not let Robertson get away from him though and made sure they went into the mid-session break all square with a run of 82. Robertson hit the front once again after the interval but a 69 break from McGill again kept him in touch. The seventh frame was a rather ugly affair but it proved vital for McGill as he controlled it and would eventually take it to lead for the first time at 4-3. It did not take him long to finish things thereafter with a match high break of 86 securing his spot in the last four.

Meanwhile, the amazing run of Alexander Ursenbacher continued as he whitewashed Michael White to book his semi-final spot. Prior to this week he had never made it past the last 32 in a ranking event, but he overcame Anthony Hamilton, Gerard Greene and Stuart Carrington in the early stages to take care of that detail. That set-up a last 16 tie against Shaun Murphy where Murphy barely saw a ball after winning the opening frame. He kept that going in this quarter-final with breaks of 51, 55, 84 and 93 to take the opening four frames in no time at all before coming back after the interval and quickly finishing the job. That has guaranteed the Swiss 21-year-old £20,000 and a strong base to build on from in the next year and a half that he is guaranteed on the tour with his current card, whatever happens on Saturday.

Kyren Wilson is the man he will now face after the World Open runner-up came through a tight match with Hossein Vafei. If the first three frames were fairly one-sided, the first going to Hossein and the next two to Wilson, the following set of three frames were incredibly tight with each being decided on the colours. Hossein came back from snookers required to win the fourth and level the match going into the interval but Wilson would edge the next two to take a timely two frame advantage at 4-2. A run of 52 in the seventh kept the Iranian in the match, but he could not take his chances in the next and Wilson did not let him off the hook, calmly securing a 5-3 win.


Quarter-Final Results: 

Anthony McGill 5-3 Neil Robertson
Ronnie O'Sullivan 5-2 Jack Lisowski
Alexander Ursenbacher 5-0 Michael White
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Hossein Vafei


Semi-Final Draw: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Anthony McGill
Kyren Wilson Vs Alexander Ursenbacher


The afternoon semi-final sees Ursenbacher take on Wilson in what will be a brilliant match if the Swiss player can carry on his heavy scoring form. The two players have only met on one previous occasion before Wilson's Shanghai Masters breakthrough, in the 2014 Wuxi Classic qualifiers with Ursenbacher winning 5-4 although given how different the two of them are now I'm not sure you can take too much from that meeting. We've already seen what Ursenbacher is capable of this week in his wins against top players like Murphy and White who he complete shut out of those two games and he will be full of confidence. Wilson meanwhile will be looking for a second final in three events following his run in Yushan a month ago and his experience under the TV lights could be the crucial factor here. There may naturally be some nerves from Ursenbacher but those have not stopped him in the last two matches when he was at a stage of an event that he had not been to before, so there will be no simple task for Wilson.


Then we come to O'Sullivan and McGill which could again be a close encounter. However, the Rocket has won on each of the five occasions the two have played in the past, the last three of which were all over the same best-of-11 frames format that this match will be played over. In his post-match Eurosport after beating Neil Robertson, the Scot said he would not have a chance of victory against Ronnie, and whether that is a way of him taking the pressure off of himself, a man in good consistent form should have more belief than that. McGill was a quarter-finalist at the Riga and European Masters as well as the World Open, a week after he came so close to defending his Indian Open crown. O'Sullivan meanwhile is not only the favourite here but also a clear favourite for the title and even when he's not quite at the top of his game he still takes some beating, particularly in the latter stages of these events. If Ronnie scores as well as you expect him to, McGill will have to have his top scoring boots on just to stay with him.


These should be two very intriguing semi-finals then as the English Open goes down to one table and reaches its boiling point.

Jack Lisowski beats Mark Williams and Judd Trump to reach English Open quarters

Jack Lisowski has reached his second ranking event quarter-final of the year after victories on Thursday at the English Open over Mark Williams and Judd Trump.

First up in the last 32, Lisowski stormed into a 3-0 lead over Williams with runs of 65, 74 and 50 to get off to a fantastic start. Williams quickly came back into things with a run of 88 on the way to successive frames that pegged Lisowski back to 3-2. However, when his chance came in frame six he took full advantage and booked his place in the last 16 with a match high of 90.

There were a number of other stand out results in the morning and afternoon last 32 matches. Defending champion Liang Wenbo could not follow up his heroics of Wednesday when he made a 147 in a comeback from 3-1 down against Tom Ford, as he was whitewashed by fellow Chinese star Yan Bingtao.

It was another Chinese player in Xiao Guodong who sent home the world champion Mark Selby, in a match that was moved out on to an outside table. This probably suited Xiao a lot more than it showed as he notched up an impressive 4-1 win with breaks of 60 and 51 in the final two frames.

Stuart Bingham complained of his opponent Hossein Vafei's gamesmanship after losing to the Iranian on the final black. Bingham had trailed 3-0 and looked gone for all money, yet he fought back with breaks of 104 and 58 on the way to forcing a deciding frame. A nervy decider ended with Hossein potting an impressive black and letting out a big show of emotion as he clinched his place in the last 16.

John Higgins came back from a position where he needed snookers to avoid falling 3-0 behind to beat Robert Milkins 4-3. Milkins quickly moved 2-0 ahead and had Higgins searching for snookers on the colours in the third frame, but when he got them and cleared to get back in the match at 1-2 it turned the game on its head. The Scot then moved 3-2 ahead before Milkins composed himself enough to force the deciding frame, but it was Higgins who would make the vital break in the final frame to get over the line.

Shaun Murphy was able to hold on and win a deciding frame in a high scoring match with Liam Highfield, while Neil won the battle of the Robertson's with Jimmy while Ronnie O'Sullivan also cruised past Zhang Yong in a match that featured a bizzare ending. A "table invader" came running past security and began to do laps of the table as O'Sullivan cleared the colours for his final frame century break, before then letting her have a go at trying to pot the black having already secured victory. In all it was quite a clever move from O'Sullivan to defuse what could have been an equally dangerous or embarrassing situation for World Snooker.


Last 32 Results: 

Yan Bingtao 4-0 Liang Wenbo
Anthony McGill 4-3 Akani Songsermsawad
Neil Robertson 4-2 Jimmy Robertson
Aditya Mehta 4-1 Chen Zifan
Judd Trump 4-1 Matthew Stevens
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Mark Williams
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Zhang Yong
John Higgins 4-3 Robert Milkins
Michael White 4-0 Ben Woollaston
James Wattana 4-2 Yuan Sijun
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-2 Stuart Carrington
Shaun Murphy 4-3 Liam Highfield
Andrew Higginson 4-1 Hammad Miah
Hossein Vafei 4-3 Stuart Bingham
Kyren Wilson 4-1 Thor Chuan Leong
Xiao Guodong 4-1 Mark Selby


The last 16 continued to produce eye-catching results, the biggest of which was the aforementioned victory for Lisowski over his good friend in a deciding frame. Despite the breaks displayed there were also a few mistakes from both players with Lisowski saying afterwards that he still feels the pressure when playing on TV of all eyes being on him. After fighting back from 2-1 and 3-2 behind with runs of 52 and 67 his most impressive break was save for last as he knocked in a stunning long red, coming round off two cushions for the black to start what went on to be a match winning contribution of 80.

That has set a quarter-final date with Ronnie O'Sullivan after he came through a fourth round classic with John Higgins. Higgins led at 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 with runs of 138, 73 and 78 but each time the Rocket raced back at him. He impressed once more with an 88 in the second frame, 84 in the fourth and 60 on the way to forcing the decider. When he got the first chance in the decider he grabbed it with both hands, compiling a brilliant 91 to close out the victory.

Michael White ended the run of James Wattana with a break of 91 in the deciding frame to make the quarter-finals. White will not play Alexander Ursenbacher after the young Swiss star took out Shaun Murphy 4-1 with top breaks of 76, 82 and 123 to reach his first ever ranking event quarter-final.

Kyren Wilson was on fire in dispatching Xiao Guodong 4-0, making two centuries and a break of 97 in the process. Anthony McGill came back to see off Yan Bingtao 4-3, while Neil Robertson kept his much needed run going with a 4-1 defeat of Aditya Mehta.


Last 16 Results: 

Anthony McGill 4-3 Yan Bingtao 
Neil Robertson 4-1 Aditya Mehta
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Judd Trump
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-3 John Higgins
Michael White 4-3 James Wattana
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-1 Shaun Murphy
Hossein Vafei 4-1 Andrew Higginson
Kyren Wilson 4-0 Xiao Guodong


Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Neil Robertson Vs Anthony McGill
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Jack Lisowski 
Michael White Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Kyren Wilson Vs Hossein Vafei


An impressive line-up awaits for the best-of-9 frame quarter-finals. First up, Neil Robertson will be looking to keep his good run going this week knowing that he could put himself back on the right side of the race for the Masters. He has been scoring well this week and fought hard at times after falling behind in a couple of his earlier matches. Anthony McGill meanwhile has been pretty consistent all season and had his nerve tested on Thursday by coming through two deciding frames against talented young players. Overall that could be a match that goes the distance.

Kyren Wilson and Hossein Vafei will follow that in the afternoon session. Wilson looks back to some of the heavy scoring form that he showed on the way to the World Open final, beating Xiao Guodong in no time at all in the last 16. That sort of form would more than likely be too hot for Hossein to handle if he could repeat it, but Hossein has had some good results this week. He held on well after Stuart Bingham came back at him in the last 32 and overcame heavy scoring Zhao Xintong in the round before that. Hossein is a very talented player and we have seen that already when he reached the China Open semi-finals earlier in 2017 so he is more than capable of doing so again with a victory over Wilson.

The exciting tie of Ronnie O'Sullivan and Jack Lisowski will feature on table one in the 7pm session and it could be another very close game. Lisowski has already shown what he is capable of with wins over Williams and Trump on the TV table and it is wins like these that will slowly make him more comfortable on the TV, having described the negative thoughts that go through his head when he plays on TV. He also said in interview with Eurosport after his win over Judd that he has never played O'Sullivan in professional competition but has practised a lot with him, so will not have some of the mental scarring that other players may have against the five-times World champion. O'Sullivan has been on top form this week, but if Lisowski continues scoring as heavily as he has been he can go toe-to-toe with him and they may need all nine frames to be separated.

Finally, on table two at 7pm Michael White will face Alexander Ursenbacher. Some may look at this as a mis-match with Ursenbacher being in his first quarter-final, but this did not stop him against Shaun Murphy in what was his first appearance in the last 16 of a full ranking event. Ursenbacher is an incredibly talented young player who is a heavy scorer as he showed against Murphy and he will give White a good match here. The Welshman does look to be in fabulous form. He is playing as well as he did when he won the Paul Hunter Classic in August and has already seen off Ding Junhui this week and is scoring brilliantly, as he showed in the thrashing of Woollaston and tight tussle with Wattana on Thursday.


An exciting day lies ahead as the final four will be decided in Barnsley.

Defending champion Liang Wenbo makes 147 in English Open comeback

The defending English Open champion Liang Wenbo produced a moment of magic by making the first maximum break of the 2017/2018 season in the sixth frame of his comeback win against Tom Ford.

Ford had taken a 3-1 advantage with breaks of 58, 62 and 83 along the way but he could not keep Liang out of the game. The Chinese number 2 needed a few chances to take the fifth frame but then the magical moment came with the 147 in frame six. As you would expect, Liang let out plenty of emotion after potting a tricky pink and then the final black to clinch a break that is worth £42,000 as long as another one is not made in the remainder of the tournament. He still had to settle back down and finish the job off though and after a scrappy start to the decider, Liang made a nice 60 to book his place in the last 32.

His World Cup winning partner Ding Junhui will not be joining him though after he was taken out by Michael White. After three frames Ding's highest break was only 16 as the Paul Hunter Classic champion stormed into a 3-0 lead and looked strong despite not making a break of 50 in any of those frames. The first 50+ contribution came in the fourth but after he missed on 53, Ding cleared with 81 to keep the match alive, and really piled the pressure on in the fifth with a run of 86 to close the gap to 2-3. White held strong though, getting in after Ding missed a brown to the middle pocket and from there the Welshman did not look back, finishing with a match high break of 95 to get over the line.

After the threats of Tuesday evening, Ronnie O'Sullivan found himself a pair of black trainers and got on with the job on the table by seeing off Mark Davis 4-1. He lost the opener but was soon back level thanks to breaks of 68 and 50. O'Sullivan needed a bit of fortune on the colours at the back end of frame three but once ahead 2-1, he kicked on and finished with breaks of 136 and 134 to stamp himself as one of the top title contenders in Barnsley.

Judd Trump was in fine form once again as he extended his winning run by beating Mark Joyce 4-0 in less than an hour. High breaks of 128, 99 and 74 saw him through, while Joyce would only score 30 points in the entire match. World champion Mark Selby was also a comfortable winner 4-1 against Ross Muir who could not complain about not having chances in the match.

John Higgins scored a simple 4-1 win against Matthew Selt with top contributions of 68, 89 and 94. Elsewhere, there were two more centuries for an in-form Stuart Bingham with runs of 127 and 141 helping him to a 4-2 defeat of Fang Xiongman. Neil Robertson had to come back strongly after losing three frames in a row from 2-0 up to 3-2 down against Li Hang, before winning 4-3. Robertson opened up with runs of 69 and 62 before Li hit back with 77, 78 and 54 to put the Australian in danger of another early exit. He dug in though with a 92 break to force the decider, before taking his first chance in the decider with both hands, making a 134 to gain a much needed triumph.

Shaun Murphy had to produce a mini-comeback of his own and did so in tremendous style. After starting poorly and losing the opening two frames to Daniel Wells he barely missed a ball from then on. Two superb breaks of 135 and 134 drew him level in no time, and he kicked on from there by finishing with an 87 in the fifth and 83 in the final frame that could have also both been century breaks, completing victory with a total of 440 unanswered points in the last four frames.

Finally, James Wattana rolled back the years by beating Ali Carter 4-3 to clinch a place in the last 32. Wattana took a 2-0 lead in the match before the Captain took three on the spin to turn the match right around and lead 3-2 making a 127 in frame four along the way. Wattana came back strong with a break of 108 to force the deciding frame and eventually came through on the colours in a lengthy final frame.


Full Last 64 Results: 

Liang Wenbo 4-3 Tom Ford
Yan Bingtao 4-1 Jamie Jones
Anthony McGill 4-2 Lu Haotian
Akani Songsermsawad 4-2 Joe Swail
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Gary Wilson
Neil Robertson 4-3 Li Hang
Aditya Mehta 4-2 Ian Preece
Chen Zifan 4-3 Barry Hawkins
Judd Trump 4-0 Mark Joyce
Matthew Stevens 4-2 David Gilbert
Mark Williams 4-1 Luca Brecel
Jack Lisowski 4-3 Li Yuan
Zhang Yong 4-2 Rhys Clark
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Mark Davis
Robert Milkins 4-2 Ashley Hugill
John Higgins 4-1 Matthew Selt
Michael White 4-2 Ding Junhui
Ben Woollaston 4-3 Craig Steadman
Yuan Sijun 4-3 John Astley
James Wattana 4-3 Ali Carter
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-3 Gerard Greene
Stuart Carrington 4-2 Mark Allen
Liam Highfield 4-3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Shaun Murphy 4-2 Daniel Wells
Hammad Miah 4-1 Tian Pengfei
Andrew Higginson 4-0 Mitchell Mann
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Fang Xiongman
Hossein Vafei 4-2 Zhao Xintong
Thor Chuan Leong 4-2 Cao Yupeng
Kyren Wilson 4-0 Mike Dunn
Xiao Guodong 4-2 Ricky Walden
Mark Selby 4-1 Ross Muir


Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Liang Wenbo Vs Yan Bingtao
Anthony McGill Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Neil Robertson Vs Jimmy Robertson
Aditya Mehta Vs Chen Zifan
Judd Trump Vs Matthew Stevens
Mark Williams Vs Jack Lisowski 
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Zhang Yong
John Higgins Vs Robert Milkins
Michael White Vs Ben Woollaston
Yuan Sijun Vs James Wattana 
Stuart Carrington Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Shaun Murphy Vs Liam Highfield
Andrew Higginson Vs Hammad Miah
Stuart Bingham Vs Hossein Vafei
Kyren Wilson Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Mark Selby Vs Xiao Guodong



Andrew Higginson has won each of his three previous meetings with Hammad Miah, including a victory in the Paul Hunter Classic this season and has had to play one match less than everyone in the field after getting a walkover in the last 128. Miah has played well so far though with two 4-1 wins against Michael Georgiou and Tian Pengfei.

Liang Wenbo may find it tough to bring himself back up after a massive match with Tom Ford with the maximum break as well as the comeback and we all know the dangers of Yan Bingtao. Yan has had two very strong wins this week and has already beaten Liang Wenbo in last season's UK Championship.

Chen Zifan scored brilliantly to beat Barry Hawkins and from what I've seen of him, including when he earned his Q School card, he is certainly one to watch. Mehta will test him more tactically as that seems to be where his first two games have potentially been won and lost.

Judd Trump will not have things all his own way against Matthew Stevens who seems to be in good form and has his scoring boots on. One thing Stevens has not done as much in recent years is beat the top players and Trump is flying as he showed once more against Joyce and I think it will take a brilliant performance from someone to send the European Masters champion home.

Neil Robertson should take a much needed lift in the way he came back from losing three straight frames against Li Hang, but cannot rest against his namesake Jimmy who is more than capable of sending the Australian home. However, Neil has a very good record against Jimmy and with everyone gaining added importance with his race for the Masters, I do not expect him to slip up here.

Ronnie O'Sullivan will obviously be heavily fancied for an easy win against lower ranked Zhang Yong, while John Higgins will not want to suffer the same fate as fellow Scotsman Stephen Maguire by losing to Robert Milkins. 

Mark Williams and Jack Lisowski is an intriguing match on Thursday morning with Lisowski in flying form knocking in big breaks for fun at the moment, while Mark Williams overcame Luca Brecel in the last 64 to keep up his hopes of making the quarter-finals of each ranking event he has entered so far this season. If Lisowski is at his best that will be a tough one to call.

Experience may tell in a big last 32 match between Yuan Sijun and James Wattana with two players lower down in the rankings vying for crucial ranking money. Yuan is in fantastic form but Wattana has had two nice wins himself this week, fighting hard and scoring nicely also.

I also want to mention Mark Selby's match with Xiao Guodong. Selby has not hit top form yet in this event and after the opening round against Scott Donaldson he is lucky to be here. Xiao though is scoring nicely as always and finished off a nice win over Ricky Walden with a century break and he will fancy his chances a lot more over 7 frames, than he would have done in their last meeting over 25 frames in the World Championships.



It will be a busy day in Barnsley with the last 32 in the morning and early afternoon being followed by the last 16 in the evening with all matches on the day to be over the best-of-7 frames, and by the end of Thursday's play we will be down to the quarter-finals and really at the business end of proceedings this week. Tomorrow may also be a day when the players will actually be happy enough to play in the morning session at 10am and have longer off in the afternoon before the last 16.

Mark Selby, Judd Trump and John Higgins all survive last frame drama in Barnsley

The first round of the English Open has drawn to a close and for some of the top seeds it has been a nervy affair to kick start their campaigns. World champion Mark Selby, recent European Master Judd Trump and John Higgins all had to come from behind and win in deciding frames to progress into Wednesday's last 64.

Trump was in fine form early on in his match with Robbie Williams. Breaks of 114 and 143 put him 2-1 in front but a high for Williams of 95 followed by a 66 in the fifth put him in front at 3-2, though the in-form Trump finished strongly and was able to come back and complete victory.

As for Selby, he took on Scott Donaldson who came into the match without a win on the tour this season. After the world champion took the opener, Donaldson hit back nicely with a well played 121 break to level the match up. He was looking strong in the third frame, before a trademark Selby steal on the black put him back ahead. The Scot recovered well and got stronger with contributions of 72 and 57 in the next two frames to turn the game on its head and take a 3-2 lead. Selby's fantastic attitude with his back against the wall shone through in frame six as he forced the decider with a match high break of 124 before keeping up his superb record in final frames to clinch his second round place.

It's certainly fair to say that John Higgins was the better player in his match with Elliot Slessor, but the lower ranked player was the one to pot the crucial balls at key moments in the early frames and put the Indian Open champion under pressure. After losing three pretty close frames on the way to falling 3-2 adrift, Higgins had to dig in and dominated the final two, shutting Slessor out for the most part and insuring that he did not suffer an early exit.

Marco Fu was the only top 16 player to fall at the first hurdle in Barnsley, with a strong performance from Tian Pengfei sending him off for an early bath. Tian signalled his intent right from the start with an opening century of 126, and he would go on to double that lead at 2-0. Fu hit back with a 135 break in the third, but Tian soon regained his two frame cushion with a run of 78 helping him to a 3-1 advantage. It did not take long at all for Tian to finish things off and for Fu his poor start to the new season continues.

Meanwhile, wherever Ronnie O'Sullivan seems to appear he makes the headlines and this was true again in the first round on Tuesday evening. It was not so much for his snooker, where he completed a straightforward 4-1 win against Zhang Anda with top breaks of 87 and 89, but more for his footwear. After spraining his ankle in a running accident, the five times world champion came into the arena sporting a pair of blue trainers and while it caused much discussion on social media, it does not appear to have gone down well with the governing body. Following his win, O'Sullivan Tweeted "Being told by World Snooker that if I don't wear a black training shoe tomorrow I can't play #sprainedankle" and backed that up by saying "Looks like I will have to pull out of the English Open because someone's not happy with me wearing a trainer due to a sprained ankle". As usual this could all be a 'boy who cried wolf' routine from O'Sullivan and the majority of those who have seen this all before will expect him to play on Wednesday evening as planned.

Elsewhere over the first two days, there were comfortable wins for the likes of Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson while Liang Wenbo's title defence started with a simple 4-1 victory against Duane Jones that featured two centuries from the Chinese number two. Luca Brecel continued his fine start to the season by winning one of the big first round clashes against Ryan Day 4-1. Stephen Maguire was whitewashed by Robert Milkins, while the impressive young Yuan Sijun shone again with a 4-1 defeat of Joe Perry. Having seen off Shaun Murphy 5-4 to qualify for the Shanghai Masters just five days ago, the 17-year-old was straight back into the groove with two century breaks of 104 and 123 on the way to victory.

Stuart Bingham had a couple of failed maximum attempts of 104 and 112 on the way to a 4-0 thrashing of Lee Walker, picking up from where he had left off in Lommel at the European Masters. Mark Allen also continued his good run of form by seeing off Jimmy White 4-0 thanks in part to breaks of 73, 72 and 80 in the opening three frames.

There were first round exits though for Martin Gould (beaten 4-1 by Zhao Xintong), Mark King (who lost out 4-2 to fellow Chinese player Fang Xiongman) and Graeme Dott (as Thor Chuan Leong made a break of 139 in the final frame of a 4-1 win).

Finally, a special mention should go to Mike Dunn who was able to beat Alex Borg 4-2 in the face of some ill-health that he has been suffering with in recent times. I would like to wish Dunn all the best for the rest of the tournament and for his recovery.

Full Last 128 Results: 

Liang Wenbo 4-1 Duane Jones
Tom Ford 4-1 Xu Si
Yan Bingtao 4-0 Noppon Saengkham
Jamie Jones 4-0 Basem Eltahhan
Anthony McGill 4-3 Michael Holt
Lu Haotian 4-1 Allan Taylor
Akani Songsermsawad 4-2 Matthew Bolton
Joe Swail 4-3 Chris Totten
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Adam Duffy
Gary Wilson 4-1 Sean O'Sullivan
Li Hang 4-2 Chris Wakelin
Neil Robertson 4-0 Billy Castle
Ian Preece 4-0 Mei Xiwen
Aditya Mehta 4-0 Sam Craigie
Chen Zifan 4-3 Sanderson Lam
Barry Hawkins 4-2 Peter Lines
Judd Trump 4-3 Robbie Williams
Mark Joyce 4-3 Yu De Lu
Matthew Stevens 4-0 Eden Sharav
David Gilbert 4-0 Josh Boileau
Luca Brecel 4-1 Ryan Day
Mark Williams 4-1 David Grace
Li Yuan 4-2 Jamie Curtis-Barrett
Jack Lisowski 4-0 Rory McLeod
Rhys Clark 4-3 Alan McManus
Zhang Yong 4-3 Kurt Dunham
Mark Davis 4-3 Chen Zhe
Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Zhang Anda
Robert Milkins 4-0 Stephen Maguire
Ashley Hugill 4-2 Nigel Bond
Matthew Selt 4-2 Alfie Burden
John Higgins 4-3 Elliot Slessor
Ding Junhui 4-1 Chris Keogan
Michael White 4-1 Lukas Kleckers
Craig Steadman 4-3 Robin Hull
Ben Woollaston 4-2 Peter Ebdon
Ali Carter 4-1 Oliver Lines
James Wattana 4-2 Martin O'Donnell
John Astley 4-2 Paul Davison
Yuan Sijun 4-1 Joe Perry
Gerard Greene 4-1 Ken Doherty
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-2 Anthony Hamilton
Stuart Carrington 4-1 Boonyarit Kaettikun
Mark Allen 4-0 Jimmy White
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Kurt Maflin
Liam Highfield 4-3 Fergal O'Brien
Daniel Wells 4-1 Dominic Dale
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Soheil Vahedi
Tian Pengfei 4-1 Marco Fu
Hammad Miah 4-1 Michael Georgiou
Mitchell Mann 4-3 Leo Fernandez
Andrew Higginson W/O Zhou Yuelong
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Lee Walker
Fang Xiongman 4-2 Mark King
Zhao Xintong 4-1 Martin Gould
Hossein Vafei 4-2 Niu Zhuang
Thor Chuan Leong 4-1 Graeme Dott
Cao Yupeng 4-1 Hamza Akbar
Mike Dunn 4-2 Alex Borg
Kyren Wilson 4-3 Rod Lawler
Xiao Guodong 4-2 Wang Yuchen
Ricky Walden 4-2 Jak Jones
Ross Muir 4-3 Sam Baird
Mark Selby 4-3 Scott Donaldson


Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Liang Wenbo Vs Tom Ford
Jamie Jones Vs Yan Bingtao
Anthony McGill Vs Lu Haotian
Akani Songsermsawad Vs Joe Swail
Jimmy Robertson Vs Gary Wilson
Neil Robertson Vs Li Hang
Aditya Mehta Vs Ian Preece
Barry Hawkins Vs Chen Zifan
Judd Trump Vs Mark Joyce
David Gilbert Vs Matthew Stevens
Luca Brecel Vs Mark Williams
Jack Lisowski Vs Li Yuan
Zhang Yong Vs Rhys Clark
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Mark Davis
Robert Milkins Vs Ashley Hugill
John Higgins Vs Matthew Selt
Ding Junhui Vs Michael White
Ben Woollaston Vs Craig Steadman
Ali Carter Vs James Wattana
John Astley Vs Yuan Sijun
Alexander Ursenbacher Vs Gerard Greene
Mark Allen Vs Stuart Carrington
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Liam Highfield 
Shaun Murphy Vs Daniel Wells
Tian Pengfei Vs Hammad Miah
Andrew Higginson Vs Mitchell Mann
Stuart Bingham Vs Fang Xiongman
Hossein Vafei Vs Zhao Xintong
Cao Yupeng Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Kyren Wilson Vs Mike Dunn
Ricky Walden Vs Xiao Guodong
Mark Selby Vs Ross Muir


There are plenty of noteworthy second round ties to take place on Wednesday in Barnsley, with all games featuring in a packed schedule of best-of-7 frame ties.

Interestingly, Liam Highfield has won all of his three previous meetings with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh including their first round tie at the 2016 UK Championships. Highfield also came from 3-1 down to beat Fergal O'Brien in round one with a break of 140 in the deciding frame.

Lu Haotian is quietly building up some quite nice form and he could certainly give Anthony McGill some trouble, though McGill did come through a tough first round test with Michael Holt. Ken Doherty meanwhile tweeted that Gerard Greene is "playing as well as i've ever seen him" after losing out to him 4-1 in round here. Greene now faces Alexander Ursenbacher who overcame Anthony Hamilton who has been suffering with back troubles in the last couple of months.

Andrew Higginson benefited from a first round walkover so is the only player yet to play in Barnsley. He faces Mitchell Mann who made a deciding frame century to beat Leo Fernandez in round one. Jack Lisowski also still looks in strong form after two big centuries in his first round whitewash of Rory McLeod and he now plays Li Yuan who he saw off comfortably in the last 64 of the European Masters just a couple of weeks ago.

Akani Songsermsawad has been playing well lately and he is a worthy favourite with the bookies to overcome Joe Swail. It's a battle of two of the more unorthodox players, what with Swail's less than textbook cue action and some of the out of the ordinary techniques that Akani has adopted, most notably his style when using the rest.

Zhang Yong and Rhys Clark is quite a big clash between two lower ranked players. Zhang beat Kurt Dunham on the final black of their deciding frame in round one, while Clark saw off fellow Scot Alan McManus in another decider. Yuan Sijun meanwhile will be looking to fire strongly again when he plays John Astley, while other young Chinese stars Yan Bingtao and Zhao Xintong will be in action against Jamie Jones and Hossein Vafei respectively.

Defending champion Liang Wenbo is not in for an easy ride against Tom Ford, who also hit two centuries in a 4-1 first round triumph. Mark Selby faces another young Scot in Ross Muir and will need to up his game if he is to avoid another nervy finish.

Judd Trump takes on Mark Joyce who he has beaten on each of four occasions since his 2012 UK Championship collapse that saw Joyce claim each of the last four frames from 5-2 behind. There is a slight question mark with Ronnie O'Sullivan as I mentioned earlier in the piece and he will not want to let this creep into his performance against Mark Davis. In the Welsh Open earlier this year, O'Sullivan was the one losing his final four frames as Davis came from 3-0 behind to take the Rocket's scalp.

John Higgins meets Matthew Selt for the second time in three events after the pair went all nine frames in the last 32 of the World Open where Higgins came out on top 5-4. Two ranking event winners of this season face off in Ding Junhui and Michael White who both look in good form once again. Form does not come much better than that of Luca Brecel and Mark Williams who are unlucky to meet so early on. Williams has made the quarter-finals of each ranking event he's played in so far this season, while Brecel has kicked on from his China Championship triumph by making the semi-finals of the World Open and opened up with an impressive 4-1 win over Ryan Day.


So, there are 32 matches in all to get through on Wednesday before another bumper day on Thursday when both the last 32 and last 16 will be completed over the course of the day, and it will all be covered as usual on Eurosport TV and Eurosport Player.

English Open Preview

The English Open begins on Monday and Barnsley to kick off the 2017/2018 home nations series. Liang Wenbo is the defending champion after defeating Judd Trump 12 months ago in the final at EventCity in Manchester.

His million pound dream was ended by Mark King who made his own dreams come true in Northern Ireland by winning his first full ranking title, while Marco Fu was victorious in Scotland in December before Stuart Bingham concluded the series by lifting the Ray Reardon trophy in Cardiff in February.

Plenty more big stories are ahead of us in this years home nations, with the £1 million jackpot still up for grabs in the unlikely event that someone wins all four of these events, but as we know in snooker and all of sport - anything is possible.

With the carrot dangling, all of the top stars are heading for Barnsley including Ronnie O'Sullivan and world champion Mark Selby as well as Judd Trump who showed brilliant form in the home nations series last season. Despite not winning any of the events, he made two finals and a semi-final in the three events he played in.

While the million will still be a long way off for the winner this week, whoever does come out on top will head home with the Steve Davis trophy, £70,000 and receive a lot of attention in Belfast in November.

Quarter 1 

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Liang Wenbo Vs Duane Jones

Tom Ford Vs Xu Si

Jamie Jones Vs Basem Eltahhan 

Yan Bingtao Vs Noppon Saengkham 

Anthony McGill Vs Michael Holt

Allan Taylor or David Lilley Vs Lu Haotian

Akani Songsermsawad Vs Matthew Bolton

Joe Swail Vs Chris Totten 

Jimmy Robertson Vs Adam Duffy

Gary Wilson Vs Sean O'Sullivan 

Li Hang Vs Chris Wakelin

Neil Robertson Vs Billy Castle

Mei Xiwen Vs Ian Preece

Aditya Mehta Vs Sam Craigie

Chen Zifan Vs Sanderson Lam

Barry Hawkins Vs Peter Lines

The top quarter is where we find last year's ecstatic winner Liang Wenbo although this season so far has been a different story for the Chinese number 2. So far he has only competed in two ranking events, losing his heldover last 128 tie at the China Championship before then losing in the last 64 a month later at the World Open. Other than that we have not seen much of Liang and he may be coming into this week quite rusty. In the home nations we will see a number of big ties from round one with only the top 16 being seeded and the remaining players drawn at random. A prime example of that is the match between Anthony McGill and Michael Holt where the winner could go on to do very well in this tournament especially as there is not really one name that stands out in this section as the man to beat.

An in-form Neil Robertson would certainly receive the "man to beat" label but his form continues to disappoint, having just lost 5-2 in Shanghai Masters qualifying to give Chris Totten his first win as a tour pro. Robertson now has four events left to get back in the top 16 on the provisional Masters seedings list, meaning there is now serious danger that the former Masters champion will not be heading back to the Ally Pally in January. His first round opponent Billy Castle showed form recently by making the last 16 of the European Masters beating Martin Gould along the way and it would not surprise me at all if he pulled off another surprise win.

Beyond that there are two young Asian players who could be dark horses for a big run this week. The first is Yan Bingtao who had a fantastic first season on tour, and given the way that these young Chinese players all appear to be thriving on the big stage, he could well back that up in his second season. His best so far this season was a last 32 at the China Championship but there's every chance he could top that here this week. Meanwhile, Thailand's Akani Songsermsawad who could get a run this week, especially as he has been handed a draw where he will be the favourite of the four guys in his mini section to make the last 32. Akani's season kicked into gear in India just as it did in 2016. Wins there against Maguire and Dale saw him into the last 16, one round short of his performance from the year beforehand. He soon backed that up by winning the final four frames of his 6-4 victory against Marco Fu in International Championship qualifying and he has also qualified for Shanghai by defeating Andrew Higginson this week. If he keeps that form up he could certainly reach the latter stages in Barnsley.

My first overall quarter choice is someone who operated with consistency in last year's home nations and that is Barry Hawkins. In the four home nations events last season his worst finish was a narrow last 16 defeat to Liang Wenbo in Scotland, while he made the quarter-finals in Cardiff, the semi-finals of this event in Manchester and lost out to Mark King in the Northern Irish Open final. Hawkins has not had the greatest ever start to the season but that is not all that uncommon for him and not a reason to worry. The biggest aspect of this choice was the fact that the draw has worked out in such a way that he would not have to play a anyone ranked in the world's top 64 to make it to the last 16, so if he plays well enough and keeps his head down he should be able to build up some form and confidence ahead of the latter stages. As I mentioned earlier, there is not one name that jumps out based on the seasons form so I think this could be a good opportunity for Hawkins to get his season going after a strong finish to last campaign. 

Best of the Rest: Yan Bingtao and Akani Songsermsawad

Quarter Choice: Barry Hawkins 

Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Judd Trump Vs Robbie Williams 

Mark Joyce Vs Yu De Lu

Matthew Stevens Vs Eden Sharav

David Gilbert Vs Josh Boileau

Luca Brecel Vs Ryan Day 

Mark Williams Vs David Grace

Jamie Barrett Vs Li Yuan

Rory McLeod Vs Jack Lisowski 

Alan McManus Vs Rhys Clark

Zhang Yong Vs Kurt Dunham 

Mark Davis Vs Chen Zhe 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Zhang Anda or Ian Burns 

Stephen Maguire Vs Robert Milkins 

Nigel Bond Vs Ashley Hugill

Matthew Selt Vs Alfie Burden 

John Higgins Vs Elliot Slessor

The second quarter is packed with some of the games top stars, including four of the six ranking event winners from this season so far. Judd Trump is the most recent of those after coming out on top in Lommel and if he continues that fine form than there is every chance he could go one better than he did in Manchester a year ago and win back to back ranking titles. His draw for the early rounds is one he should get through if on form and the latter stages will beckon. At the other end of the draw we find Indian Open winner John Higgins who has not quite found the same form in the two events here and has a tough potential route from the last 32 onwards here. Riga Masters runner-up Stephen Maguire is a potential last 32 opponent for Higgins and Maguire is yet to kick on after making the final of the first tournament this season.

The real section of doom in the draw is where we find Riga Masters winner Ryan Day up against China Championship winner Luca Brecel with the winner likely to face Mark Williams in the last 64. Day is now operating with a new cue after the one his success in June came with broke a month or so ago and he his results suggest he is still finding his way with the new equipment. Brecel though has backed up his winning form by making the semi-finals of his next event in China at the World Open. Last week on home turf he made the last 16 before exiting to eventual runner-up Stuart Bingham and given his talent he will only continue to get stronger now that he knows he can win. Williams has been Mr Consistent so far this season. From the four ranking events he has played thus far he has made the quarter-finals of all four but only surpassed this mark once by making the semi-finals in Latvia. A tough draw awaits him but if he can keep going along as he has been then he still has victories in him.

One man in the draw who I think could operate as a dark horse is Jack Lisowski. A point I have made a couple of times this season is that Lisowski seems to prefer the best of seven frame matches, and the evidence supporting that are his last 16 appearances in the Riga and European Masters. Most recently, he came close to beating Mark Selby in the last 16 in Lommel and he also looked sharp with two centuries in a 5-1 win over Jimmy White to qualify for the Shanghai Masters. That means that overall, Lisowski has won six of his seven qualifying matches in this campaign and it is about time he kicked on.

My overall quarter choice on this occasion is Ronnie O'Sullivan. The first thing I will say about O'Sullivan is that he will be committed to the home nations series again this season, just as he was last year thanks to his work with Eurosport that runs alongside it. He may not have played a lot this season but when he has, the results have been decent. In the invitational Hong Kong Masters he beat John Higgins and Judd Trump to make the final, and only lost out narrowly to overall winner Luca Brecel in the quarter-finals of the China Championship or his name probably would have been on the trophy that week. Since then he has only played two matches, in qualifying for the International Championships and Shanghai Masters, but completed easy 6-0 and 5-0 wins to do so without bother. His recent "numpty" comments on Twitter about the lower ranked players on tour have put him under pressure to make sure he beats these players into the earth in the opening rounds this week. In doing that he would clear any rust in his game and that could all set him up for a run to the title this week. 

Best of the Rest: Jack Lisowski and Luca Brecel

Quarter Choice: Ronnie O'Sullivan 

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Ding Junhui Vs Chris Keogan 

Michael White Vs Lukas Kleckers

Craig Steadman Vs Robin Hull

Ben Woollaston Vs Peter Ebdon

Ali Carter Vs Oliver Lines

Martin O'Donnell Vs James Wattana

John Astley Vs Paul Davison 

Joe Perry Vs Yuan Sijun

Ken Doherty Vs Gerard Greene

Anthony Hamilton Vs Alexander Ursenbacher

Stuart Carrington Vs Boonyarit Kaettikun 

Mark Allen Vs Jimmy White

Fergal O'Brien Vs Liam Highfield 

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Kurt Maflin

Dominic Dale Vs Daniel Wells

Shaun Murphy Vs Soheil Vahedi 

Four of the six ranking winners from the start of this season were found in quarter two and as we enter the bottom half of the draw, the other two are located here in quarter three, and they could play each other in the last 64. Ding Junhui was victorious in Yushan at the World Open but this will be his first match in a ranking event outside of China since the World Championships. Ding's appearances in the home nations last season did not quite go to plan as he lost in the last 32 of this event and fell at the last 128 stage in both Northern Ireland and Wales. If on form he could well reach the latter stages here in Barnsley but I would fancy his chances a lot more in the International Championship in a couple of weeks. Paul Hunter Classic champion Michael White will give Ding a challenge in the last 64 should both negotiate lower ranked opposition in round one.

Non entries and qualifying losses mean that Ali Carter has only competed in qualifiers for the International Championships and Shanghai Masters since the China Championship two months ago, but with the draw he has I would expect him to make the last 16 at least this week and he could build on a semi-final appearance in China with another good run here. Mark Allen has been knocking on the door in the last month or so, playing some quality snooker, scoring heavily and in his last two events he has made the quarters in Lommel and semi-finals in Yushan. If he keeps that form going he should make the last 16 with comfort, but a trophy cannot be far away if he keeps playing well and working hard. My dark horse pick from this section is Ben Woollaston. Woollaston has quietly been going about his business lately but looks to be playing pretty well. He made the quarter-finals of the Paul Hunter Classic in Germany, and was unlucky in losing out to Neil Robertson 5-4 in the last 32 of the World Open, while last week he ran into an in-form Mark Allen in the last 16 of the European Masters. I certainly fancy his chances of getting through the first couple of rounds, and while the draw would certainly get harder from there there is no reason why he could not go on a run this week.

My third quarter pick for this week though is Shaun Murphy. Murphy has gotten off to a good start this season overall, making finals at the China Championship and Paul Hunter Classic that have really set him up for the season ahead. An early exit at the World Open can be explained by a neck injury he suffered on the flight between tournaments, and he scored well in his qualifier this week for the Shanghai Masters with two 85's and a century despite ending up on the losing side. By no means does he have an easy draw for this week but if he is scoring well it will take someone at the top of their game to beat him. Despite not making it past the last 64 in any of the four home nations series events last season, Murphy generally does quite well in the best-of-7 frame events which his European Tour record demonstrates, and I believe he will be targeting these events strongly this season. 

Best of the Rest: Mark Allen and Ben Woollaston 

Quarter Choice: Shaun Murphy 

Quarter 4

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Marco Fu Vs Tian Pengfei 

Michael Georgiou Vs Hammad Miah

Mitchell Mann Vs Leo Fernandez

Zhou Yuelong Vs Andrew Higginson 

Stuart Bingham Vs Lee Walker 

Mark King Vs Fang Xiongman or Joe O'Connor 

Martin Gould Vs Zhao Xintong

Hossein Vafei Vs Niu Zhuang

Graeme Dott Vs Thor Chuan Leong

Cao Yupeng Vs Hamza Akbar 

Mike Dunn Vs Alex Borg

Kyren Wilson Vs Rod Lawler 

Xiao Guodong Vs Wang Yuchen 

Ricky Walden Vs Jak Jones

Sam Baird Vs Ross Muir

Mark Selby Vs Scott Donaldson

The final quarter is also full of players who are close to the top of their games right now. Three of the four semi-finalists from the European Masters are in this section along with the runner-up from the World Open. Starting with Stuart Bingham, he looked to be growing in confidence with his new cue throughout his run to the final in Lommel where he took out home favourite Luca Brecel and world number one Mark Selby along the way. He was back scoring heavily, looking strong overall and he performed well in the home series last year so looking at the draw he has another opportunity for a big run this week. Cao Yupeng made it all the way to the semi-finals at the European Masters which finally backed up that he is playing better this season. A win on Friday in the Shanghai Masters qualifiers means that he is now seven out of seven in the last 128/qualifying rounds for tournaments this season, and prior to his semi-final he made the last 16 in Yushan so watch out for him again this week.

Zhou Yuelong also made it to his first ranking event semi-final last week in Lommel and is improving all the time, like so many of the young Chinese players. Given the form he has been in this season I fancy his chances of making it to the last 16 and possibly beyond again this week, especially as he now seems more and more comfortable on the big occasions. Kyren Wilson will be looking to get back to the form he showed on the way to the final in Yushan where he made the final, after successive losses to Gerard Greene in the last 64 of the European Masters and Shanghai Masters qualifying this week. I again like his section of the draw but one thing I think Wilson does not do enough of is backing up one good week by building another strong one in the next tournament. A couple of examples from last year saw him lose in the first round of the UK Championships 6-3 the week after making the semi-finals of the Northern Irish Open, and after making the 2016 Indian Open final he was whitewashed in the early stages of the next two events.

The appearances of Marco Fu have been few and far between this season and he is another player who will be looking to build his form up ahead of a busy couple of months on the tour. In the two events he has played, the World Open and China Championship, he lost out in the last 32 stage and will not be at the International Championships after losing his last 128 qualifier. After one of his better seasons in 2016/2017, most people will forget that it actually took Fu until the UK Championships in December to make it past the last 32 of a ranking event in the campaign.

My fourth and final quarter selection for the English Open is the world number one Mark Selby. Selby only played in two of the home nations events last season so there is not much that can be taken from that form wise, and despite a slow start to the campaign he looked good last week in Lommel. In eighteen frames won at the venue he made six centuries and that all took him to the quarter-finals before he was taken out by an in-form Bingham. If that is a sign that his campaign is starting to get going and he brings his best form to Barnsley this week then I could see him storming through this quarter of the draw. When you consider that Selby won five ranking titles last season, I expect him to win regularly again this year and it will not be too long until he has his first trophy of 2017/2018. 

Best of the Rest: Zhou Yuelong and Kyren Wilson 

Quarter Choice: Mark Selby

Winner Selection: Mark Selby 

The format for the week sees the last 128 played over Monday and Tuesday before the last 64 on Wednesday, while the last 32 and last 16 both take place on Thursday with all of those rounds being over the best-of-7 frames. Things ramp up a bit on Friday with best-of-9 frames quarter-finals prior to Saturday's best-of-11 semi-finals and Sunday's final will be a best-of-17 frame affair. 

The event will be covered in full on Eurosport TV with a second streaming table available on Eurosport Player. In the UK the coverage will also be simulcast on freeview channel Quest, which will show afternoon coverage from Monday to Friday, each of Saturday's semi-finals and both sessions of Sunday's finale.