Ronnie O'Sullivan slams English Open venue despite victory

Defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan has described the K2 in Crawley as a "Hellhole" despite winning his first round match at the venue in the English Open 4-1 against Kurt Maflin. O'Sullivan's post-match comments appear to be fuelled by the general surroundings, including being interviewed near a toilet where he could smell urine and an odd anecdote involving Peter Ebdon and a man who was playing bowls on site. 

None of that stopped O'Sullivan though, despite him losing the opening frame to the Norweigian and he looked fairly sharp considering this is only his second tournament since the World Championships, which started nearly 6 months ago. 

The only big name casualty in fact over the first round action on Monday and Tuesday was that of Paul Hunter Classic champion Kyren Wilson who lost out 4-3 to Akani Songsermsawad. Despite an early century for the Thai, it looked like being a simple enough outing for Wilson when he led 3-1 but Akani had other ideas, fighting back strongly to win the last three frames of the tie. 

There was no such trouble for World Champion Mark Williams who made two centuries on the way to a 4-1 victory over Dominic Dale, while the number one ranked player Mark Selby cruised to a whitewash win over Sanderson Lam. 

Judd Trump looked far from his best in a 4-1 opening round win over Finland's Robin Hull. Hull had taken the opening frame and will be left to rue a cluster of chances that came and went later on in the match, as he failed to capitalise on Trump's short comings. Shaun Murphy meanwhile did not suffer another first round exit. The 2005 World Champion has already lost in the last 128 round of four events this season, and lost in the first round of the last three Home Nations events last season, but on this occasion he took down Mike Dunn 4-1. 

John Higgins was also a 4-1 winner in his opening round match against Li Yuan, but fans of the Scotsman will have been concerned by post-match comments he made to Eurosport. He described his run to the China Championship final as "one of the worst weeks of snooker I've played" and talked about his lack of motivation to put the practice in, sighting his back-to-back World Championship final losses as the reason his enthusiasm is not as strong at the moment. The alarming thing of the interview was how tired and sad Higgins looked and I have to sympathise with him because he is showing the signs that there is a deeper problem than just being a bit fed up with the game. 

Somebody at the other end of that spectrum is Jimmy Robertson. The recent European Masters champion will be on cloud nine and continued his excellent recent form with a 4-1 defeat of Michael Holt in round one in Crawley. Liang Wenbo looked to be in much better form as he whitewashed Gary Wilson and Barry Hawkins got off to a good start with his whitewash of Peter Lines. 

Mark Allen came through a tough opening round tie against recent European Masters semi-finalist Anthony Hamilton 4-2 to book his last 64 spot, while Neil Robertson was a 4-2 winner against Ross Muir despite seemingly forgetting to pack most of his clothes, ending up borrowing a waistcoat from Adam Duffy. 

The other big headline from round came from the cue of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. His 4-1 win against Soheil Vahedi itself may not seem like huge news and it would not have been, apart from the fact that he compiled his second career 147 break in the opening frame of the match. If the feat is not repeated by another player in Crawley this week. Un-Nooh will take home an extra £17,000. 

Last 128 results: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-1 Kurt Maflin
Allan Taylor 4-3 Scott Donaldson
Jimmy White 4-2 Lu Haotian
Matthew Stevens 4-1 Chen Zifan
Liang Wenbo 4-0 Gary Wilson
Eden Sharav 4-3 Michael Georgiou
Craig Steadman 4-1 Joe Swail
Chris Wakelin 4-0 Ken Doherty
David Lilley 4-2 Tom Ford
Alan McManus 4-0 Fan Zhengyi
Oliver Lines 4-3 Joe O'Connor
Neil Robertson 4-2 Ross Muir
Stuart Carrington 4-2 Martin O'Donnell
Luo Honghao 4-3 Adam Duffy
Anthony McGill 4-0 Simon Lichtenberg
Akani Songsermsawad 4-3 Kyren Wilson
Judd Trump 4-1 Robin Hull
Zhao Xintong 4-3 Michael Judge
Ian Burns 4-0 Li Hang
Jack Lisowski 4-2 Fergal O'Brien
Ryan Day 4-0 Ashley Hugill
Zhang Yong 4-3 Chen Feilong
Mark King 4-3 Ashley Carty
Peter Ebdon 4-0 Alfie Burden
Mark Davis 4-1 Robbie Williams
Adam Stefanow 4-1 Jamie Clarke
Mei Xiwen 4-3 James Wattana
Marco Fu 4-1 Mark Joyce
Zhang Jiankang 4-0 Luke Simmonds
Martin Gould 4-2 Billy Castle
Nigel Bond 4-3 Tian Pengfei
John Higgins 4-1 Li Yuan

Mark Selby 4-0 Sanderson Lam
Ben Woollaston 4-2 Graeme Dott
Lukas Kleckers 4-1 John Astley
Ricky Walden 4-2 Hammad Miah
Stuart Bingham 4-0 Duane Jones
Hossein Vafei 4-3 Michael White
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-1 Soheil Vahedi
Thor Chuan Leong 4-1 Hamza Akbar
Matthew Selt 4-3 Zhang Anda
Sam Baird 4-2 Liam Highfield
Ali Carter 4-2 Rory McLeod
Luca Brecel 4-0 Niu Zhuang
Lee Walker 4-3 Jak Jones
Daniel Wells 4-2 Joe Perry
Sam Craigie 4-0 Rod Lawler
Barry Hawkins 4-0 Peter Lines
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Mike Dunn
David Gilbert 4-3 Gerard Greene
Robert Milkins 4-2 Lu Ning
Elliott Slessor 4-2 Sean O'Sullivan
Mark Allen 4-2 Anthony Hamilton
Yuan Sijun 4-1 Farakh Ajaib
Noppon Saengkham 4-1 Harvey Chandler
Steven Hallworth 4-2 Xiao Guodong
Jordan Brown 4-2 Andrew Higginson
Jimmy Robertson 4-1 Michael Holt
Yan Bingtao 4-2 Andy Lee
Stephen Maguire 4-3 James Cahill
Zhou Yuelong 4-3 Paul Davison
Xu Si 4-2 Chris Totten
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-1 Kishan Hirani
Mark Williams 4-1 Dominic Dale

Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold) 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Allan Taylor
Matthew Stevens Vs Jimmy White
Liang Wenbo Vs Eden Sharav
Chris Wakelin Vs Craig Steadman
Alan McManus Vs David Lilley
Neil Robertson Vs Oliver Lines
Stuart Carrington Vs Luo Honghao
Anthony McGill Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Judd Trump Vs Zhao Xintong
Jack Lisowski Vs Ian Burns
Ryan Day Vs Zhang Yong
Mark King Vs Peter Ebdon
Mark Davis Vs Adam Stefanow
Marco Fu Vs Mei Xiwen
Martin Gould Vs Zhang Jiankang
John Higgins Vs Nigel Bond

Mark Selby Vs Ben Woollaston
Ricky Walden Vs Lukas Kleckers
Stuart Bingham Vs Hossein Vafei
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Matthew Selt Vs Sam Baird
Luca Brecel Vs Ali Carter
Daniel Wells Vs Lee Walker
Barry Hawkins Vs Sam Craigie
Shaun Murphy Vs David Gilbert
Robert Milkins Vs Elliott Slessor
Mark Allen Vs Yuan Sijun
Noppon Saengkham Vs Steven Hallworth
Jimmy Robertson Vs Jordan Brown
Stephen Maguire Vs Yan Bingtao
Zhou Yuelong Vs Xu Si
Mark Williams Vs Alexander Ursenbacher

There are a lot of stand-out ties in the last 64 in Crawley and still a host of top players in the running for the English Open title. Ronnie O'Sullivan takes on Allan Taylor and Mark Williams faces Alexander Ursenbacher in two games where it is difficult to see either of the top two seeds being too heavily troubled. 

World number one Mark Selby may have a few more problems against fellow Leicester cueist Ben Woollaston, who defeated Graeme Dott 4-2, but Selby has a good record against Woollaston and impressed enough in round one against Lam to make him difficult to back against. 

Jimmy White is still going strong into his 50's and after an International Championship qualifying win against Fergal O'Brien, victory over Lu Haotian in the last 128 backs up that he still has plenty of results in his locker and he will certainly have a good chance against Matthew Stevens in the last 64.

Judd Trump will need to improve on his first round showing against Robin Hull as he takes on the in-form Chinese youngster Zhao Xintong. Trump was nowhere near his best in round one, while Zhao held on for a 4-3 win against Michael Judge, who was a late replacement for the suspended Jamie Jones. Zhao has just been to the semi-finals of the China Championship with victories over the likes of Anthony McGill, Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins and with a good start here he is more than capable of taking Trump down. 

John Higgins of course will still be fancied strongly against Nigel Bond despite his comments about how he and his game stand at the moment, given Bond's ranking and Higgins 4-1 win in round one. Bond though has a habit of continuing to pop up with the odd great result every now and again. In round one this week he defeated Tian Pengfei 4-3 which may not seem impressive on paper, but for the fact that Tian made three century breaks in the match. 

Ricky Walden faces young German Lukas Kleckers who is almost in uncharted territory in many ways. Kleckers overcame John Astley 4-1 in round one for what was his first victory against a main tour pro, outside of his two runs in the Riga Masters both this year and last and will now look to kick on against Walden who saw off Hammad Miah in the opening round. 

Stuart Bingham and Hossein Vafei will meet again in what is a repeat of a match that must hold unhappy memories for Bingham. Not only did he lose the match against the Iranian in this tournament last year, as well as making some comments about his opponent later on social media, it would be his final match before being hit with his three-month suspension. Hossein went on to make the quarters that week and had a good result in round one here where he turned around a 2-0 deficit to beat Michael White 4-3. 

Luca Brecel takes on Ali Carter in what is one of the ties of the round. Brecel stormed to a 4-0 victory on one of the outside tables against Niu Zhuang in round one, despite his continued poor form that saw him lose his International Championship qualifier last week. Carter meanwhile was made to work hard by Rory McLeod for a 4-2 win and will have been glad of the day off before facing up to Brecel. With both players having obvious quality but little form, it provides a good opportunity for the victor to kickstart his season and put a potentially good run together. 

Barry Hawkins will face a tough test in round two as he takes on Sam Craigie. Hawkins is in good form of late and was a 4-0 winner in round one against Peter Lines, but he will still need to be on it from ball one against the impressive young Craigie. Craigie came away with his own 4-0 round one win against Rod Lawler that featured a high break of 129. 

Shaun Murphy will be hoping to get his season off and running this week, having beaten Mike Dunn 4-1 in round one. Murphy has had a horrible start to the season with four last 128 exits already and now faces a tough second round tie against World Open runner-up David Gilbert. Gilbert held on eventually against Gerard Greene, having led 3-0 with some good scoring early on in the match before coming through in a decider. He also needed a decider against Craigie in International qualifying, coming from 5-3 down that day and that could be a sign that another tight match is to be expected here. 

Mark Allen faces another tough ask in round two as he takes on Yuan Sijun. Allen had to see of recent European Masters semi-finalist Anthony Hamilton in round one and now takes on the China Championship quarter-finalist, at a time when he has admitted on Twitter that he is still not quite at his best. That may make him vulnerable to the young stars high scoring that took down Ding Junhui in his recent Guangzhou run. 

Allen's fellow Northern Irishman Jordan Brown is the next challenger hoping to stop Jimmy Robertson's winning run. Brown backed up an International qualifying win over Luca Brecel by defeating Andrew Higginson 4-2 in the first round here, while European Masters champion Robertson was a comfortable winner against Michael Holt and will be a big favourite to keep his run going. 

Finally, there is a mouth-watering tie between Stephen Maguire and Yan Bingtao. Maguire came from 3-2 down to overcome James Cahill in the first round in a match where both players played quite impressively and Cahill just happened to be the unfortunate player that had to lose on the day. Yan meanwhile was a 4-2 winner against Andy Lee but will need to up his game from that showing if he is to come out on top against the Scotsman, who has also won both of his previous meetings against the Chinese teenager. 

All of the last 64 matches will take place on Wednesday over the best-of-7 frames with a feast of snooker to look forward to on both Eurosport TV and the Eurosport Player, as 15 of the top 16 seeds in the tournament have made it into the second round. 

English Open Preview

This week is the curtain raiser for the 2018/2019 Home Nations series as the English Open gets underway in Crawley. Ronnie O'Sullivan is the defending champion after beating Kyren Wilson comfortably in last year's final. This will only be the second tournament that O'Sullivan has competed in this year, having won the invitational Shanghai Masters in September, and the opportunity for a big bonus is perhaps to much for him to resist.

Once again World Snooker are putting the £1 million bonus up if any player is able to win each of the English Open, Northern Irish Open, Scottish Open and Welsh Open this season. As unlikely as that may seem, there are a number of players that have won multiple times in the last year, but doing it with the extra pressure of life changing money on offer is a completely different story.

The large majority of the top players will be in attendance this week, apart from Chinese number one Ding Junhui who has chosen to give it a miss. The format for all of the events will be the same as last season, with the first four rounds being played over the best-of-7 frames before the best-of-9 frame quarter-finals on Friday, best-of-11 frame semi-finals on Saturday and a best-of-17 frame conclusion.

One thing the home nations has provided over the past two years is surprises and opportunities for lower ranked players, with the short format in the early stages of the events taking out a lot of the top guns early on. The very first English Open saw Liang Wenbo win his first ever ranking title and that pattern continued in Northern Ireland when Mark King was the victor. The likes of Yu De Lu, Scott Donaldson, Alexander Ursenbacher, Elliot Slessor, Lu Haotian and Noppon Saengkham all reached ranking semi-finals for the first time in one of the home nations events of the last two seasons while Yan Bingtao and Cao Yupeng were first time ranking finalists and very close to winning their opening ranking titles.

So with that in mind, that pattern will surely continue with surprises galore and players making a name for themselves at the highest level and that is a big theme to keep in mind across the home nations series, especially with Jimmy Robertson showing the way by winning the European Masters earlier this month for his first ranking title. 

Quarter 1

Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Kurt Maflin

Scott Donaldson Vs Allan Taylor

Lu Haotian Vs Jimmy White 

Matthew Stevens Vs Chen Zifan

Liang Wenbo Vs Gary Wilson 

Michael Georgiou Vs Eden Sharav

Joe Swail Vs Craig Steadman

Chris Wakelin Vs Ken Doherty

Tom Ford Vs David Lilley

Alan McManus Vs Fan Zhengyi 

Oliver Lines Vs Joe O'Connor

Neil Robertson Vs Ross Muir

Stuart Carrington Vs Martin O'Donnell

Luo Honghao Vs Adam Duffy

Anthony McGill Vs Simon Lichtenberg

Kyren Wilson Vs Akani Songsermsawad

Liang Wenbo was the first English Open champion back in 2016, defeating Judd Trump in the final that year, while last season he made a 147 break in this event. His form at best has been sporadic and his results could have been made a lot worse if he had not come from behind to defeat Alfie Burden in both the last 128 of the China Championship and last 64 of the European Masters. With his points from winning this event two years ago about to come off the rankings, the current Chinese number two would become China's number four if he cannot have a good run this week. A tough first round draw awaits though in the shape of Gary Wilson and the way things are going for Liang he will have to improve to avoid a first round exit.

Lu Haotian has continued his excellent progress since returning to the tour at the beginning of last season, having recently progressed to the semi-finals of the China Championship. Despite having less than 18 months worth of points, he is provisionally set to climb into the world's top 40 and could be a real dark horse in the draw this week and provide one of the early round challenges to Ronnie O'Sullivan.

Neil Robertson was an early season winner at the Riga Masters, but in the three ranking events since then he has failed to make it beyond the last 32 stage, which is more like the form he showed around this time last season on the way to falling out of the top 16. His first round opponent Ross Muir may have just made the last 16 of the European Masters, but Robertson played him this week in International Championship qualifying and was a 6-1 victor which bodes well for the Australian but his goal in the next few weeks should be to add more consistency to his results, starting here in Crawley.

Kyren Wilson is a man who has worked hard on his consistency, to record three final appearances last season including at this event, as well as a World Championship semi-final, before winning this season at the Paul Hunter Classic. Now he will be looking to kick on and make this a season where he wins multiple ranking titles and establishes himself as a top eight player. His draw this week could have been a bit kinder, starting out against the unorthodox but dangerous Akani Songsermsawad before a likely last 64 tie against Anthony McGill. After the match the two had against each other in the Shanghai invitational semi-finals, it would be no surprise though to see Wilson and O'Sullivan battling it out again here in the quarters.

Ronnie O'Sullivan may be the obvious choice, but he is my opening quarter pick. The only time we have seen O'Sullivan so far this season he was on the way to victory in Shanghai defeating Barry Hawkins in the final after victories against both Kyren Wilson and Neil Robertson, who are both in this quarter, earlier on in the event. Not only that but when he won this title last year he was in imperious form and came into that event fairly fresh and he will be even fresher this time around which always makes him so dangerous. He also made it to two quarter-finals in the Home Nations last year so the format seems to suit him well and looking at his draw I would fancy him to make at least the quarter-finals again this week if he is even close to his best. 

Best of the rest: Kyren Wilson

Quarter choice: Ronnie O'Sullivan

Quarter 2

Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)

Judd Trump Vs Robin Hull

Zhao Xintong Vs Michael Judge

Li Hang Vs Ian Burns

Jack Lisowski Vs Fergal O'Brien

Ryan Day Vs Ashley Hugill

Zhang Yong Vs Chen Feilong

Mark King Vs Ashley Carty

Peter Ebdon Vs Alfie Burden

Mark Davis Vs Robbie Williams

Jamie Clarke Vs Adam Stefanow

Mei Xiwen Vs James Wattana

Marco Fu Vs Mark Joyce

Zhang Jiankang Vs Luke Simmonds

Martin Gould Vs Billy Castle

Tian Pengfei Vs Nigel Bond

John Higgins Vs Li Yuan

Zhao Xintong and Jack Lisowski are two very dangerous players that could have big runs this week in Crawley. Lisowski faces a tricky test in round one though against Fergal O'Brien who has beaten plenty of top players already this season in Luca Brecel, Shaun Murphy, Ali Carter and Marco Fu. Lisowski made the final in the season's curtain raiser in Latvia and has been to three quarter-finals since then but will be disappointed with how he played in each of those efforts at the World Open, Paul Hunter Classic and the recent European Masters. Zhao meanwhile is faring well having earned his tour card back in the off-season at Q School, making the semi-finals of the China Championship, beating Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins in the process. Both could prove threatening to the hopes of 2016 runner-up Judd Trump early on in the tournament.

Ryan Day curtailed a slower start to the campaign by making the quarter-finals of the European Masters, and looking at the draw he has a big opportunity in Crawley to make at least the last 16 if he is in decent form. Day overcame Mark Selby from 2-0 down in Lommel which will be a big boost for his confidence and after winning three titles last season, he should not be short in that area. If things open up in other parts of this section, the Welshman could well be the man to pounce.

Mark Davis is playing very close to home this week and should have a good amount of supporters in Crawley, which could give him an extra boost to record some good results this week. For me, his draw presents an opportunity to record some good results. His opening round opponent Robbie Williams is not in the best form and neither of his potential last 64 opponents Jamie Clarke and Adam Stefanow have won a match so far on tour. Davis has already made the last 16 of the Riga Masters and Paul Hunter Classic this season and recorded two centuries in his recent International qualifier so he looks to be in good form and could be dangerous this week too.

John Higgins did not get on so well in International qualifying in the last week. The 2015 International champion fell to a 6-3 loss against Peter Lines. This may have been a surprise after he made the final of the China Championship, but he failed to make a break higher than 85 in his 35 frames won that week, very unusual for someone of his scoring stature, which suggests he has not on top form at the moment. Higgins also lost in the first round of the Shanghai invitational and had not played this season prior to that tournament in September so it is still very early days for him in the campaign.

Judd Trump is my second quarter choice for this week. His season has gotten off to a pretty slow start thus far. In the four events he has played he was knocked out in the last 32 of both the World Open and in his defence of the European Masters title as well as falling at the first hurdle in the Shanghai Masters. While he is yet to find the consistency so far this season, a quarter-final at the China Championship was something to cheer and his record in the Home Nations series is certainly a good one and the format really seems to suit him. While there were a couple of early exits last year in the Home Nations events he still reached the semi-finals in Scotland for the second successive year and he was a finalist at both this event and the Welsh Open in the 2016/2017 season. I think part of the reason behind that is because, out of the top players, he strikes me as one of those who is a lot less vulnerable over the best-of-7 frames format. More often than not he finds a way to blow opponents away very early on with big breaks. He does have a tough looking draw with the likes of Zhao Xintong and Jack Lisowski standing between him and a possible last 16 place, but if he can take care of them he will have all the tools to extinguish the other threats that stand in his way. 

Best of the rest: Mark Davis 

Quarter choice: Judd Trump 

Quarter 3

Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)

Mark Selby Vs Sanderson Lam

Graeme Dott Vs Ben Woollaston

John Astley Vs Lukas Kleckers

Ricky Walden Vs Hammad Miah

Stuart Bingham Vs Duane Jones

Michael White Vs Hossein Vafei

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Soheil Vahedi

Thor Chuan Leong Vs Hamza Akbar

Matthew Selt Vs Zhang Anda

Liam Highfield Vs Sam Baird

Ali Carter Vs Rory McLeod

Luca Brecel Vs Niu Zhuang

Lee Walker Vs Jak Jones

Joe Perry Vs Daniel Wells

Sam Craigie Vs Rod Lawler

Barry Hawkins Vs Peter Lines

Mark Selby is the leading man in quarter number three as the world number one. Not much is missing from the CV of Selby but since the inception of the Home Nations series in 2016 he has not been able to win one of them. Selby only played in two of them though last season, and two the year before but has failed to get beyond the last 32 in any of them, which is something he will want to put right here in Crawley. Having just won the China Championship he should be full of confidence. A potential last 64 tie with Graeme Dott could be an early tester but if he can get beyond that a big week could be in store.

Ali Carter and Luca Brecel are two top players in this section that are seriously struggling for results in recent months. Carter has failed to get beyond the last 32 of a ranking event so far this season, while a quarter-final appearance at last season's World Championship is the only time he has gone beyond the last 32 in a ranking event since the 2017 International Championship. As a result his world ranking has dipped to 21. As for Brecel, he has just been beaten in International qualifying by Jordan Brown, but did reach the last 16 of the European Masters on home turf earlier this month. However, he has not gone beyond that stage to a quarter-final in ranking competition since the Shanghai Masters in mid-November of last year. Brecel and Carter could meet this week in the last 64 and perhaps the victory could see either player get out of their respective slump in performance.

Joe Perry was a beaten finalist at the recent European Masters and will now be looking to kick on and climb back into the top 16. Perry is provisionally at 17th and having been in the top 16 as recently as the 2017 Masters, where he reached the final, he will know that he is more than capable of making that return. First up for him this week is a tester against Daniel Wells, but given recent form you have to make Perry a favourite there to start his tournament strongly.

Stuart Bingham is the man in 16th position in the rankings presently, preventing Perry's return to that top 16. Bingham was a semi-finalist at this event in 2016, before going on to win the Welsh Open in the same season so he knows his way around these Home Nations events. This season has been a bit of a slow burner for Bingham, who has failed to get beyond the last 32 of a ranking event since the China Open in April. With Michael White in Bingham's mini-section struggling for form, his draw looks very gettable and presents an opportunity to at least make this the best result of his season so far.

Barry Hawkins is my third quarter choice here though. The Hawk has a good record in the Home Nations series without having won one. In the eight tournaments since it was brought in he has made two finals and was a semi-finalist at this event two years ago, as well as making a further quarter-final. His record of late has been sensational as well. After making the final of the Welsh Open and China Open at the end of last season, on top of another World Championship semi-final, Hawkins has started this season with a semi-final at the World Open, a final at the Shanghai Masters and narrowly lost out in the quarters of the recent China Championship. The only thing that is missing is another trophy to put in that cabinet and the way his game is trending, it would not be a surprise if he were to take home a title before the end of 2018. His draw this week is not easy, starting out against a Peter Lines who was victorious against John Higgins this week, so he will need to be on it from ball one and if he is on the sort of form he showed in Shanghai last month, Hawkins will be a tough man to beat. 

Best of the rest: Stuart Bingham

Quarter choice: Barry Hawkins

Quarter 4

Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold) 

Shaun Murphy Vs Mike Dunn

David Gilbert Vs Gerard Greene

Robert Milkins Vs Lu Ning

Elliot Slessor Vs Sean O'Sullivan 

Mark Allen Vs Anthony Hamilton

Yuan Sijun Vs Farakh Ajaib

Noppon Saengkham Vs Harvey Chandler

Xiao Guodong Vs Steven Hallworth

Andrew Higginson Vs Jordan Brown

Jimmy Robertson Vs Michael Holt

Yan Bingtao Vs Andy Lee

Stephen Maguire Vs James Cahill

Zhou Yuelong Vs Paul Davison

Xu Si Vs Chris Totten

Alexander Ursenbacher Vs Kishan Hirani

Mark Williams Vs Dominic Dale

Mark Williams is the headline act in this bottom quarter as World Champion. His season has started brightly with a victory at the World Open in the summer and his draw this week looks pretty inviting for the second seed. If he is in any sort of form he should make the last 16 and is the likely candidate to win the quarter with the form of some others in this section. His victory in last season's Northern Ireland Open means he does have some form when it comes to the Home Nations series and is a format he is comfortable with. So, there are plenty of reasons to be on Williams' side this week in Crawley.

Things have been a bit of a struggle for Shaun Murphy so far this season. That was underlined this week in International Championship qualifying when he was beaten 6-0 by Sam Baird. Apart from a last 16 at the China Championship there has been little positive to take forward, losing in the last 128 four times now in the new campaign. When you need something good to happen it is nice to come to a happy hunting ground but in the eight Home Nations series events, Murphy has only gone beyond the last 64 once, and lost in the first round on four occasions. In the first round here he faces Mike Dunn who has also not had the best start to the season, but a potential last 64 tie against World Open runner-up David Gilbert or Gerard Greene (who beat Murphy 4-0 in last season's Welsh Open) is not the greatest draw ever. However, you can only keep a good man down for so long (starting with his last 64 exit in April's China Open, Murphy has only won five of his last 13 matches on tour) and you have to believe that after making five finals between mid-August and the end of March last season, he will fight back soon.

Mark Allen had his best finish of the season so far by making the quarter-finals of the European Masters in Lommel and in International qualifying this week he was a 6-0 winner against Paul Davison. However, his tweets after matches suggest that he knows he can play a lot better than he is doing and with hard work plenty more good performances are coming. Unfortunately his record in the home nations last season was not much better than his good friend Murphy. His best was a last 32 appearance in Wales, with two last 64 exits and a first round loss in Scotland. In round one this week he faces a tough test against Anthony Hamilton, who made it to the semi-finals of the European Masters and with dangerous players like Yuan Sijun, Noppon Saengkham and Xiao Guodong all lurking in his mini-section, Allen will need to be on it from ball one.

Jimmy Robertson is the latest man to enter the ranking event winners club with his amazing run to victory at the European Masters. On the way to victory he defeated Joe Perry, Mark King, Mark Allen and Anthony McGill, winning all of his first three matches in Lommel in deciders on the black so many would say it was written in the stars for him. What will be special for him this week is that he is not far from home and should have plenty of support in Crawley. Ironically, his first round opponent is Michael Holt who many would consider as the greatest player not to have picked up a major ranking title yet in his career, so in some ways Holt will have a point to prove here. Whoever gets through that one could face a last 64 tie with the Andrew Higginson who is tough to beat on his day, and then a possible last 32 test against Stephen Maguire or Yan Bingtao. Given what has happened in the last week or so though, Robertson will be full of confidence and that could lead to more big runs.

Yan Bingtao is always a player worth keeping an eye on. His best run in a ranking event came in the Home Nations series last season when he made the final in Northern Ireland. His best run so far this season was to the last 16 in the China Championship, beating Stuart Bingham before losing to Judd Trump there. Last year's efforts in Belfast are not Yan's only notable Home Nations series moments. He also made the quarter-finals in this year's Welsh Open, whitewashed defending champion Liang Wenbo in this event last year, as well as reaching the last 16 in three of the four Home Nations events in the 2016/2017 season beating the likes of Mark Allen and world number one Mark Selby. Given that previous event form, Yan could be ready to make some more great memories this week in Crawley.

Xiao Guodong is my fourth and final quarter pick for this week. Xiao is one of the players I am looking at, especially after seeing Jimmy Robertson win his first ranking title last week, to kick on and get himself into the winners circle this season. He has already been to a quarter-final early on this season at the World Open, which follows from a good season last year where he made the quarter-finals of the World Grand Prix, German Masters as well as the third Home Nations event in Scotland. He also made last 16 appearances at the UK Championships and indeed at this event where he overcame world number one Mark Selby in the last 32. His scoring is exceptional and it is hard to pick out for him what is missing, apart from more experience of beating top players and making the real latter stages of tournaments but than can all change very quickly. A lot of other young Chinese players like Yan Bingtao, Zhao Xintong and Lu Haotian are starting to knock on the door, but it would not surprise me if Xiao was the next new Chinese ranking winner given his immense quality. If the section of the draw opens up like I think it may, then the door could be wide open for Xiao to make his destiny this week. 

Best of the rest: Yan Bingtao

Quarter choice: Xiao Guodong 

Tournament winner selection: Barry Hawkins

As always with the Home Nations series the tournament will be covered in full on Eurosport and with an extra televised table on the Eurosport Player, while for UK freeview viewers the afternoon sessions in the early stages of the week, and all sessions of the final will be simulcast on Quest. If that is not enough, I will be back with round-by-round updates including all the big news and my usual predictions. 

FANTASY SNOOKER: Statement - Jamie Jones

Today's news of the suspension of Jamie Jones from the tour has raised questions on Twitter regarding Fantasy Snooker.

Several players in the competition had selected Jones as a season pick, meaning they would earn points from his performance in all events that count to the league in the 2018/2019 season.

As Jones is suspended indefinitely and these circumstances were unforeseen, I have decided to allow all players that had selected him to make a new season selection for the remainder of the campaign.

The deadline for these new picks to be made is prior to the English Open which starts on Monday October 15.

The new season selections must be ranked between 33 and 64 on the current ranking list here as this was the bracket that Jones was between at the start of the season.

The following players had selected Jones as a season pick:

- The Cue View
- Rob Chipp
- Andrew Devonshire
- Twit Torr Terry

The English Open is also the next tournament for full picks and the deadline for these picks is 10am on October 15. 

Jamie Jones suspended from snooker

World number 39 Jamie Jones has been suspended from the snooker tour with immediate effect and will remain suspended until the conclusion of any hearings into this matter.

The allegations against Jones relate to the suspension of David John earlier this year (John had dropped off of the tour by the time of his suspension). Specifically the allegation against Jones is that he "was party to, or facilitated the manipulation the outcome of David John's match with Graeme Dott that was played at the International Championship qualifiers in Preston on 29 September 2016".

The match in question saw John lose to Dott 6-1 after winning the opening frame of the contest. The WPBSA made clear in their statement that there are no suspicions over any matches played by Jones.

Jones joins Cao Yupeng and Yu De Lu as the three players that are currently suspended from the tour and at the time of writing the date of any of these cases is unknown and therefore the length of time they will be out of action is also unknown.

Jones is a two-time ranking semi-finalist and made the last 16 of the 2018 World Championship featuring a 10-0 victory over Liang Wenbo in the final qualifying round and a win over Shaun Murphy in the last 32 at the Crucible. He also made his first 147 maximum in professional competition at the start of this season, in the Paul Hunter Classic.


Looking to the immediate future, Jones was due to play Zhao Xintong in both the International Championship qualifiers this week, and in the first round of next week's English Open in Crawley. Zhao has received a walkover to the final stages of the International Championship., while Jones has been replaced in the draw for the English Open, so Zhao will now face Michael Judge in the last 128.


The full statement on Jones' suspension can be viewed here

Fantasy Snooker Update: European Masters and China Championship points

Two events have passed in quick succession since the last Fantasy Snooker update. Mark Selby overcame John Higgins to win the China Championship, while in an event filled with a few more surprises, Jimmy Robertson beat Joe Perry in the final of the European Masters to claim his first ever ranking title.

Jimmy Robertson's victory was good news for two players who had him as a season pick. One of those players is Munraj Pal who has made a huge climb up the table thanks to selecting Robertson as well as picking Zhao Xintong as a season pick, with Zhao making the semi-finals of the China Championship. Add into the equation his selection of runner-up Higgins for the China Championship and Pal has climbed up 32 places, from a lowly 36th in the standings to become a firm contender in 4th spot.

The new leader though has made his move thanks to season pick Lu Haotian's run to the semi-finals in Guangzhou as well as picking both finalists of that event. Meanwhile, only one player (LTD Syndicate) had the foresight to select European Masters runner-up Joe Perry for the event in Lommel, seeing him climb just inside the top 10.

Here is how the table now looks after the last two weeks of action:

Ryan Duckett 276

Andy (APB147) 221

Daniela Reich 219

Munraj Pal 214

The Cue View 208

Kellie Barker 200

Stephen McCabe 200

FAM147 195

Square Sausage 177

LTD Syndicate 173

Rob Chipp 167

Dani M (esnukero) 167

Matt Butler 167

Chris Watts 162

Daz Muckian 162

Phil Mudd 159

Anatole Compton 158

Shaun Hunt 156

Rob Francis 150

Andrew Devonshire 148

Voihelevettisua 147

Cluster of Reds 147

Anthony (antow73) 145

Martin Pearlman 144

Tungsten Darts 143

Kim Kristensen 137

Steven Bunn 137

Debbie Dymott 121

Markus 120

Daniel Gavin 115

Pete Tscherewik 115

Alex Abrahams 113

Kevin Platten 103

Gary Freeman 101

Phil Robinson 67

GaryOnCue 64

Twit Torr Terry 63

Next up on the Fantasy Snooker schedule is the English Open, which kicks off in Crawley on Monday 15th October, with the deadline for picks falling on that day at 10am UK time. The draw for that event has been made today and can be found on the official World Snooker, while my tournament preview will come at the end of the week, following the International Championship qualifiers.

That gives all participants plenty of time to ponder their own two selections for the English Open and plot a big move up the standings.

Good luck.

Joe Perry and Jimmy Robertson to contest European Masters final

Joe Perry and Jimmy Robertson will contest the European Masters final after coming through a pair of excellent semi-finals on Saturday in Lommel. 

Perry was the first man through to the finale after a fighting back from an early deficit to defeat Anthony Hamilton 6-3. After winning the first, Hamilton continued his good start with a break of 70 in the second frame to move 2-0 up early on. Perry hit back with a very nice break of 72 in the third, before dominating the fourth as well and squaring the match at 2-2 going into the mid-session interval. 

Frame five could have been a potential turning point. Perry was in first and compiled a break of 64 to give him a big but not unassailable lead in the frame, as Hamilton then got in and cleared with a 67 to take the 3-2 advantage. As it happened, the turning point came in the next frame instead. Hamilton was in first and had built an early lead of 47, only for Perry to hit back with a 70 break and level once more at 3-3. From there, he then took the next two frames, before clinching the match quickly in the ninth with a match high break of 74 and give himself the opportunity to win his second ranking title on Sunday. 

Jimmy Robertson meanwhile has defeated Mark King 6-4 to the make his first ranking event final, despite having never been beyond a ranking quarter-final prior to this week. Any nerves he may have had in such a massive game for him did not surface early on, starting the match in style with a break of 99 to lead 1-0. He then dominated the second to double his lead, before King fought back. Breaks of 85 and 64 in the next two saw King level at 2-2 going into the mid-session interval, without Robertson scoring a point in frames three and four. 

King then edged 3-2 in front, only for Robertson to win a tight sixth frame on the colours to keep himself right in the hunt at 3-3. The next two frames from Robertson given the pressure were simply superb. He took his chance in the seventh with a break of 81 to move ahead against 4-3, before getting in first in the eighth. What followed was a sublime total clearance of 132 to put him within one of his first ever final. King was never going to lie down and roll over though and he responded just as emphatically by getting in first in the ninth and making a superb 97 to put the pressure back on Robertson. A couple of poor safety shots from King in the tenth though handed one too many chances for Robertson to get over the line and clinch his 6-4 win. 

Semi-Final results:

Joe Perry 6-3 Anthony Hamilton
Jimmy Robertson 6-4 Mark King

The Final: (Best-of-17 frames)

Joe Perry Vs Jimmy Robertson

What a week it has been for both Joe Perry and Jimmy Robertson. Perry has beaten Oliver Lines, survived deciders against Andrew Higginson and Tian Pengfei as well as beating Kyren Wilson and Anthony Hamilton to make it down to the final two in Lommel. For Robertson, there has been plenty of drama. His opening three games this week against Zhang Yong, Zhou Yuelong and Anthony McGill all went down to deciding frames and were won on the final black. He followed that up with victory over Mark Allen in what was just his second ranking quarter-final, before then beating Mark King, who had lost just three frames in his four matches prior to the semi-finals this week, in what was Robertson's first ever semi-final. 

Now the pair face off and there is plenty on the line. The winner will receive £75,000 while the loser takes home £35,000. Victory for Perry would move him back up to 16th in the world rankings, while Robertson would move up to 26th. There is also the potential for plenty of extra earnings as the winner will take a place in the Champion of Champions and while both players should qualify for next year's World Grand Prix, the winner would have a very good chance of progressing on to the Players Championship and maybe even the Tour Championship. Perry may have the experience, but having only won one ranking title at the 2015 Players Championship Grand Finals (over the best-of-7 frames) this is just as big of a day as it is for Robertson in his first ranking final. The pair have both played well to beat a couple of top players along the way, but fought hard and ridden their luck in final frames. After how Robertson came through his opening three matches you may think that it is written in the stars that he will go on and take the trophy home. 

What impressed me about Robertson is how he cope with his maiden semi-final yesterday. He started strongly with the opening break of 99 and then made two crucial breaks from 3-3 and whatever nerves there may have been did not really hamper him. Even though the pressure and subsequent nerves may be upped for the final, I still think he will handle it well. For Perry, you only have to go back to January 2017 to when he was a top 16 player and a finalist in the Masters to remember that he does belong on this stage and is more than good enough to re-take his top 16 ranking. It may be a nervy affair and if that is the case, Perry's added experience will be valuable. 

Prediction: Perry to win 9-6. 

Jimmy Robertson beats Mark Allen to reach maiden ranking semi-final

Jimmy Robertson is through to his first ever ranking event semi-final after defeating Mark Allen 4-2 in Lommel to complete an unexpected line-up for the last four. 

After winning the first frame on the colours, he then responded to Allen's 98 break in the second frame with breaks of 135 and 81 in the next two to move 3-1 ahead. Allen was able to get one back in the next, at which point the Englishman may have thought he was in for another decider, having won all his matches 4-3 to reach the last eight. He was able to get the job done without any black ball drama though and has taken out the highest ranked player to reach the quarters. 

Robertson will now face the player that has dropped the least frames on the way to the semi-finals and that is Mark King. The left-hander secured a 4-1 victory over Ryan Day, who was the only other top 16 player (alongside Allen) to have reached the quarters. After King took the opener, Day levelled with a break of 78 but that was as good as things would get. King made a 57 to win the next and seized on Day's mistakes thereafter, to ensure he has only lost three frames from his four matches in Lommel this week.

Many may have thought, looking at the last eight line-up, that this would be Lisowski's week to secure his maiden ranking title, but that is not to be this time after a 4-3 loss to Anthony Hamilton. The match was a pretty scrappy affair, with no breaks of over 50 recorded in the first six frames, before Hamilton had a run of 67 to clinch victory. The tone was set when Hamilton came from snookers required to win the opening frame, showing that Lisowski was not at his brilliant best that fans have become used to in the last year. 

Joe Perry meanwhile had to fight hard, after losing three frames in a row in the middle of his match with Tian Pengfei, before winning the last two to come out a 4-3 winner. Perry took the first with a run of 76 and soon added the second before the Chinese player came to life. Breaks of 70 and 66 in the third were backed up by a 73 in the fourth and a run of 57 in the fifth as Tian edged 3-2 ahead. Perry hit back strongly and made a clutch break of 69 to force the decider. The final frame went scrappy with the reds all being pushed to the side cushion, but Perry used all his experience with some excellent safety play to help him win the match. 

Out of the four semi-finalists, only three full ranking titles have been won between them (Perry - 2015 Players Championship finals, King - 2016 Northern Ireland Open and Hamilton - 2017 German Masters). Given the £75,000 winners cheque, a guaranteed place in the Champion of Champions and likely participation in at least the first of the three Ladbrokes series events next year, this is a massive opportunity for all four players left in the competition. 

Quarter-final results:

Joe Perry 4-3 Tian Pengfei
Anthony Hamilton 4-3 Jack Lisowski
Mark King 4-1 Ryan Day
Jimmy Robertson 4-2 Mark Allen

Semi-final draw: (Picks in bold)

Joe Perry Vs Anthony Hamilton
Mark King Vs Jimmy Robertson

The opening semi-final puts Joe Perry up against Anthony Hamilton. To reach this stage Perry has overcome Oliver Lines, Andrew Higginson, Tian Pengfei but most impressively Kyren Wilson in the last 16. Anthony Hamilton has come through some real tough opposition, beating Jack Lisowski and home favourite Luca Brecel in the last two rounds, continuing a good start to the season after last season's troubles. The head-to-head between the two has seen Perry win all four of their previous meetings, but none of those were quite at this stage of a tournament with as big an opportunity as the one that stands before them here. Given what is at stake it would hardly be a surprise to see a more timid affair and certainly a close tussle between the two which could well go down to the final frame. Hamilton to me though looks like he is close to the sort of form he showed two seasons ago, which could give him the edge this weekend. 

The second semi-final between Mark King and Jimmy Robertson is a tale of two players that have had differing routes to the final. King has only dropped three frames this week which is a remarkable effort given the four players that he has beaten. He started with a 4-1 victory over in-form Zhao Xintong before whitewashing Stuart Bingham and his since recorded further 4-1 wins against Ricky Walden and Ryan Day. Robertson on the other hand won each of his first three matches against Zhang Yong, Zhou Yuelong and Anthony McGill on the final black in deciding frames before another good win against Mark Allen, so both players have beaten strong opponents to reach this point. King looks very confident this week, which he should be with the way he is playing and has the experience over Robertson who can expect some nerves in what is the biggest match of his life so far. 

The semi-finals will be played over the best-of-11 frames with the winners moving into the best-of-17 frame final on Sunday and doubling their money from a guaranteed £17,500 to a guarantee of £35,000 and the potential for so much more.