Top players tumble out of the Northern Ireland Open

The first round of the Northern Irish Open has produced shock after shock over the first two days of play in Belfast. Less than half of the top 16 seeds have made it through to the second round with Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby the only members of the top 16 left in the entire bottom half of the draw. 

Monday afternoon saw the exit of home hope Mark Allen. The recent International Champion could not get going against Niu Zhuang as his recent good form failed to show in a surprise 4-1 loss to Niu. Former Northern Ireland Open runner-up Barry Hawkins was taken down in a deciding frame by Chen Zifan, who beat Hawkins in last year's English Open as well as thrashing Murphy in this event 12 months ago. 

The million pound dream ended on Monday evening when English Open champion Stuart Bingham lost out 4-2 to Peter Lines, meaning the £1 million bonus for any player that could win all four Home Nations events is safe for another year. Champion of Champions runner-up Kyren Wilson also exited on Monday evening, starting his match with Lee Walker less than 24 hours after the heartbreaking 10-9 loss to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Walker won the last two frames of the contest to triumph 4-3. 

English Open semi-finalist Stephen Maguire also fell at the first hurdle, losing 4-2 to Michael Holt in what was a tough draw for both players. Fellow Scotsman John Higgins was also left packing his bags earlier than expected as he fell to a 4-2 defeat against Rory McLeod, who gained a much-needed win for his tour survival hopes. Anthony McGill and Graeme Dott completed a bad Monday for the Scottish players, with McGill being whitewashed by Alexander Ursenbacher, while Dott lost out in a decider to Billy Castle. 

Tuesday's play saw the shocks continue as Chen Feilong gained his first ever win as a tour professional by defeating Marco Fu 4-2, with the Hong Kong player's poor form continuing. There was also another disappointing first round exit for Shaun Murphy who succumbed to Sam Baird. Baird had beaten Murphy just last month 6-0 in International Championship qualifying and this time won frames four and five on the black to come from 2-1 down to win 4-2. 

Judd Trump needed to win the last three frames of his match with Matthew Selt to come through 4-2 and avoiding following the over big names out of the tournament in round one. World Champion Mark Williams came through a tricky match 4-2 against Alfie Burden to continue his title defence, but last year's runner-up Yan Bingtao was another of the first round losers, with Zhang Anda winning that all-Chinese clash in a deciding frame. 

World number one Mark Selby came through comfortably 4-1 against Anthony Hamilton, while recent Champion of Champions Ronnie O'Sullivan whitewashed Soheil Vahedi to progress to Wednesday's last 64. Meanwhile, recent International Championship runner-up came back from 3-1 down to avoid being another big name casualty, seeing off a good performance from Ben Woollaston to win 4-3. 

Last 128 results:

Mark Williams 4-2 Alfie Burden
Ali Carter 4-1 Paul Davison
Akani Songsermsawad 4-0 Fan Zhengyi
Xiao Guodong 4-3 Harvey Chandler
Joe Swail 4-1 Luke Simmonds
Nigel Bond 4-2 Joe Perry
Michael White 4-0 Mark Joyce
Eden Sharav 4-3 Li Yuan
Sam Craigie 4-0 Adam Duffy
Li Hang 4-3 Zhang Yong
Kurt Maflin 4-0 Ashley Carty
Neil Robertson 4-3 Ben Woollaston
Mark Davis 4-3 Noppon Saengkham
Luo Honghao 4-2 Lu Haotian
Peter Ebdon 4-0 Patrick Wallace
Lee Walker 4-3 Kyren Wilson
Judd Trump 4-2 Matthew Selt
Stuart Carrington 4-1 Xu Si
Liam Highfield 4-2 James Wattana
Jack Lisowski 4-0 Hossein Vafei
Luca Brecel 4-1 Raymond Fry
Ian Burns 4-1 Farakh Ajaib
Daniel Wells 4-1 Zhao Xintong
Gary Wilson 4-3 Adam Stefanow
Robin Hull 4-1 Jordan Brown
Tian Pengfei 4-3 Mike Dunn
Zhang Anda 4-3 Yan Bingtao
Ryan Day 4-1 Michael Georgiou
Yuan Sijun 4-1 Jamie Clarke
Andrew Higginson W/O Liang Wenbo
Billy Castle 4-3 Graeme Dott
Rory McLeod 4-2 John Higgins

Ronnie O'Sullivan 4-0 Soheil Vahedi
Mei Xiwen 4-0 Zhang Jiankang
Chris Wakelin 4-1 Thor Chuan Leong
Tom Ford 4-3 Rod Lawler
Michael Holt 4-2 Stephen Maguire
Mark King 4-0 John Astley
Zhou Yuelong 4-1 Lukas Kleckers
Kishan Hirani 4-3 Jak Jones
Alan McManus 4-0 Allan Taylor
Lu Ning 4-3 Craig Steadman
Hammad Miah 4-2 Basem Eltahhan
Niu Zhuang 4-1 Mark Allen
Matthew Stevens 4-3 Ricky Walden
Gerard Greene 4-0 Oliver Lines
David Gilbert 4-1 Fergal O'Brien
Chen Zifan 4-3 Barry Hawkins
Sam Baird 4-2 Shaun Murphy
Chris Totten 4-3 Dominic Dale
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-0 Robert Milkins
Ross Muir 4-1 Elliot Slessor
Peter Lines 4-2 Stuart Bingham
Robbie Williams 4-0 Simon Lichtenberg
Sean O'Sullivan 4-1 Andy Lee
Sanderson Lam 4-3 Joe O'connor
David Lilley 4-2 Duane Jones
Scott Donaldson 4-1 Ken Doherty
Martin O'Donnell 4-3 Jimmy White
Chen Feilong 4-2 Marco Fu
Alexander Ursenbacher 4-0 Anthony McGill
Hamza Akbar 4-2 Ashley Hugill
Jimmy Robertson 4-1 James Cahill
Mark Selby 4-1 Anthony Hamilton

Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)

Mark Williams Vs Ali Carter
Xiao Guodong Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Nigel Bond Vs Joe Swail
Michael White Vs Eden Sharav
Li Hang Vs Sam Craigie
Neil Robertson Vs Kurt Maflin
Mark Davis Vs Luo Honghao
Peter Ebdon Vs Lee Walker
Judd Trump Vs Stuart Carrington
Jack Lisowski Vs Liam Highfield
Luca Brecel Vs Ian Burns
Gary Wilson Vs Daniel Wells
Robin Hull Vs Tian Pengfei
Ryan Day Vs Zhang Anda
Andrew Higginson Vs Yuan Sijun
Rory McLeod Vs Billy Castle

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Mei Xiwen
Tom Ford Vs Chris Wakelin
Mark King Vs Michael Holt
Zhou Yuelong Vs Kishan Hirani
Alan McManus Vs Lu Ning
Niu Zhuang Vs Hammad Miah
Matthew Stevens Vs Gerard Greene
David Gilbert Vs Chen Zifan
Sam Baird Vs Chris Totten
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Ross Muir
Robbie Williams Vs Peter Lines
Sean O'Sullivan Vs Sanderson Lam
Scott Donaldson Vs David Lilley
Martin O'Donnell Vs Chen Feilong
Alexander Ursenbacher Vs Hamza Akbar
Mark Selby Vs Jimmy Robertson

The one thing that stands out now is how big an opportunity is out there for all of the players that are left in the competition, especially in the bottom half of the draw where only two top 16 players remain. 

At the top end of the draw we will see a last 64 encounter between defending champion Mark Williams and 17th seed Ali Carter. Williams has not found things easy in the last three tournaments and could well be up against it against Carter, who has made back-to-back ranking quarter-finals and looks to be finding some form in recent weeks. If Williams is not quite on top of his game here then Carter is certainly playing well enough to put his name into the draw for the last 32. 

Judd Trump faces Stuart Carrington 12 months after a day he will want to forget. On the brink of defeat, he conceded the match halfway through a frame at 3-2 down by smashing the reds open with his cue, having just flown back from the Shanghai Masters. His head should be in a better place on this occasion and he will surely recognise the opportunity that has already presented itself this week with so many big name casualties. If he is not quite on the money then Carrington is more than capable of putting up a stiff challenge and matching Trump when it comes to heavy scoring. 

Jack Lisowski's 4-0 first round win was quite flattering given the quality of his match with Hossein Vafei and he will need to up his game against the dangerous Liam Highfield. Things could have been very different at the International Championship if Allen had not found his form at the right time against Highfield, who had almost shut Allen out on the way to a 4-0 lead and he is more than capable of doing the same to Lisowski over a shorter format. The one thing that has been impressive with Lisowski in the last year or so is his consistency. No longer are there just flashes of brilliance from him and he is looking like a real tournament contender all the time. 

Luca Brecel is a player that could potentially take advantage of the big boys falling early on in Belfast to end his recent poor form with a good run. However, his form has shown no signs of improvement in recent months and it is the games like the one he faces against Ian Burns that he has been losing all to regularly. As a top 16 player Brecel is expected to win these matches and reach the latter stages of tournaments but it just has not happened for him and it has been a year since his last ranking quarter-final appearance. If he does not up his game then Burns has every chance of adding to the Belgian's woes. 

Ryan Day will be quietly feeling good about his chances of success in Belfast. He will not be sad to see Yan Bingtao lose to Zhang Anda, having lost to him in this event last year and in the last ranking event. Zhang still provides a real threat and is someone who I still believe has a lot of unfulfilled potential. Day is trending the right way though, having made quarter-finals at the European Masters and English Open and given Zhang's lack of consistency, the Welshman will be heavily fancied here. 

In the bottom half, Ronnie O'Sullivan takes on China's Mei Xiwen. O'Sullivan will be very confident of getting the job done here in the sort of match that he has made to look very easy in the last year, making it to the quarter-finals in four of the last five Home Nations events, negotiating these best-of-7 frames matches better than the majority of top players. Mei offers a threat but whether he can produce the heavy scoring against O'Sullivan on the TV table is another question entirely. 

Former Northern Ireland Open champion Mark King takes on Michael Holt in a cracking last 64 tie. King was a 4-0 winner against John Astley in the first round while Holt picked up a nice 4-2 victory against Stephen Maguire. In the recent International Championship Holt showed signs of a return to form in a 6-4 victory against Luo Honghao, just after Luo had reached the quarter-final of the English Open, as Holt made three centuries in the process there. King meanwhile was a semi-finalist last month at the European Masters so is clearly playing well himself, making this a tight one to call and a match that could go the full distance. 

The final match that needs a strong mention is that of Mark Selby against European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson. In the first round, Selby was a 4-1 victor in a tough draw against Anthony Hamilton while Robertson scored heavily with two centuries, one of which was a maximum attempt that saw him miss the yellow on 120, in a 4-1 win against James Cahill. Robertson is clearly cueing well and will never be more confident than he is now after winning the title in Lommel last month. As for Selby, he is most vulnerable over the best-of-7 frame matches and his record in the Home Nations series is one of the few things that the world number one could improve. All in all, this is a very tough last 64 match for both players and like the King/Holt clash it has the potential to go the distance. 

All last 64 matches will be played on Wednesday over the best-of-7 frames with a selection of matches on both Eurosport TV and the Eurosport Player, with the potential for even more upsets. 

Fantasy Snooker: Champion of Champions points and Northern Ireland reminder

With Ronnie O'Sullivan winning the Champion of Champions in Coventry there are plenty of benefactors in the Fantasy Snooker league.

Most of all is defending champion Kellie Barker who has extended her lead at the top of the standings heading into this week's Northern Ireland Open.

A week previously, Barker had hit the front after selecting International champion Mark Allen, so that's two winners in a row a feat that has been repeated by Matt Butler, Rob Francis and Phil Robinson.


Here are how the standings now look after the last two weeks:

Kellie Barker 461

Ryan Duckett 429

Rob Chipp 412

Matt Butler 411

Stephen McCabe 387

Tungsten Darts 378

Daniela Reich 374

Rob Francis 374

Daz Muckian 368

Dani M (esnukero) 357

Phil Mudd 353

Andy (APB147) 351

Munraj Pal 349

Steven Bunn 347

The Cue View 347

Cluster of Reds 344

Martin Pearlman 344

Anatole Compton 339

LTD Syndicate 338

Andrew Devonshire 335

Phil Robinson 331

Voihelevettisua 330

Shaun Hunt 324

Square Sausage 322

Chris Watts 316

FAM147 313

Markus 302

Kim Kristensen 281

Debbie Dymott 278

Alex Abrahams 274

Anthony (antow73) 241

Pete Tscherewik 214

Daniel Gavin 175

Kelvin Platten 166

The next event as I have mentioned is the Northern Ireland Open and again it is a short turnaround with the deadline for picks falling on November 12 at 10am.

A full updated 'warnings list' will be issued prior to the UK Championship with all participants being reminded of players they have either selected two or three times, remembering of course that each Fantasy Snooker entrant can only select any given player three times over the course of the season.

All the best of luck to those making picks for this week.

Northern Ireland Open Preview

The second Home Nations series sees 128 players heading to Belfast searching for glory at the Northern Ireland Open. 

World Champion Mark Williams is all set to defend the title he won 12 months ago with a dramatic 9-8 victory that denied Yan Bingtao his first ranking title. Mark King is the other former champion in Belfast having beaten Barry Hawkins back in 2016. 

The man to watch is Stuart Bingham after his win at the English Open kicked off the Home Nations series and he is now the only man that can complete the unlikely clean sweep in the four events which would make him the first ever recipient of the £1 million bonus. 

Home favourite Mark Allen comes here in arguably the form of his life having just won the International Championship in style and keeping that going at the Champion of Champions, while other Northern Irishmen in the field include Joe Swail, Gerard Greene, Jordan Brown and amateur invites Patrick Wallace and Raymond Fry. 

Notable absentees are few and far between for this week, though Ding Junhui is making us wait for his first appearance this season in a ranking event outside of China, while Martin Gould has also opted out of a trip to the Waterfront Hall this week. 

There are plenty of big names that will be competing for the Alex Higgins trophy and a winner's cheque of £70,000 over the next seven days. 

Quarter 1

Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)

Mark Williams Vs Alfie Burden
Ali Carter Vs Paul Davison
Akani Songsermsawad Vs Fan Zhengyi
Xiao Guodong Vs Harvey Chandler
Joe Perry Vs Nigel Bond
Joe Swail Vs Luke Simmonds
Michael White Vs Mark Joyce
Eden Sharav Vs Li Yuan
Sam Craigie Vs Adam Duffy
Li Hang Vs Zhang Yong
Kurt Maflin Vs Ashley Carty
Neil Robertson Vs Ben Woollaston
Mark Davis Vs Noppon Saengkham
Lu Haotian Vs Luo Honghao
Peter Ebdon Vs Patrick Wallace
Kyren Wilson Vs Lee Walker

Mark Williams is this week's defending champion and the as the reigning World Champion he almost has two targets on his back this week in Belfast. Of late his form has dipped with a last 32 exit in the English Open, being followed by a last 64 loss in the International Championship and a first round exit at the Champion of Champions. This week his draw is far from easy either. Alfie Burden could cause problems for him in a banana skin of a first round tie, before a potential last 64 tie with Ali Carter, who has made the quarter-finals of the last two ranking events and is more than capable of making that three quarter-finals in a row this week, or maybe even going on beyond that stage in Belfast. With the likes of Akani Songsermsawad (who beat Williams in Daqing) or Xiao Guodong potentially waiting in the last 32 as well, there are plenty of big hurdles standing in Williams way if he is not quite at his best once again. 

At the time of writing Kyren Wilson is in the final of the Champion of Champions in Coventry. That will mean he has a shorter turnaround before starting his campaign in Belfast but after a couple of quieter tournaments he looks to be back in the form that took him to Paul Hunter Classic victory back in August. Wilson was a semi-finalist at this event two years ago and faces the strong possibility of a repeat of the Paul Hunter Classic final against Peter Ebdon in the last 64 this week. Tough matches lie in wait after that with each of his potential last 32 opponents bringing a big threat to the table. While it will be tough to go deep into two tournaments in a row, Mark Allen has showed what is possible by winning the International Championship before losing to Wilson in the semi-finals in Coventry. There is still a lot of competition in this section though and he started off the Home Nations series with a last 128 exit so it's very tough to predict how Wilson will do in Belfast. 

Joe Perry and Mark Davis are two of the last three ranking event runners-up with the third also sitting in this quarter. Perry went close at the European Masters, though he lost in the first round of the opening Home Nations event in Crawley, before losing to International runner-up Neil Robertson in Daqing. In my view Perry has a very gettable draw this week in Belfast and should be targeting a spot in the last 16 at least, with a quarter winning a big possibility. As for Mark Davis, he lost out to Perry in the last 64 of the International Championship after falling just short in the English Open final and he faces another tough first round draw this week taking on Noppon Saengkham. The Thai has already shown what he can do in these Home Nations events in 2018 with a run to the semi-finals in Cardiff as well as making the quarters in Crawley last month. 

My first quarter pick this week is in-form Neil Robertson. It has taken the very best of Mark Allen to prevent Robertson from having two potential title charges in the last two weeks. First off in Daqing Robertson had beaten the likes of Mark Selby, Jack Lisowski and dug deep to overcome Joe Perry and Yuan Sijun before being blown away in the final by Allen's heavy scoring. He then came to the Champion of Champions and saw off the world number one Selby for the second week in succession, only for Allen to make three centuries in a thumping 6-1 win over the Australian in the quarter-finals. This comes for Robertson after a slightly quieter spell of tournaments since his season opening Riga Masters win, but it finally looks as though he is back to his very best and can threaten in every tournament he plays in once again. The draw for him this week is not straightforward but if he can get beyond Ben Woollaston in round one he would have a good chance in my view to go on and make the latter stages. As a previous Home Nations series winner he has shown that he can perform over this format and the way he is playing at the moment it would be very tough to rule him out for another big run. 

Best of the rest: Joe Perry

Quarter choice: Neil Robertson

Quarter 2

Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)

Judd Trump Vs Matthew Selt
Stuart Carrington Vs Xu Si
Liam Highfield Vs James Wattana
Jack Lisowski Vs Hossein Vafei
Luca Brecel Vs Raymond Fry
Ian Burns Vs Farakh Ajaib
Zhao Xintong Vs Daniel Wells
Gary Wilson Vs Adam Stefanow
Robin Hull Vs Jordan Brown
Mike Dunn Vs Tian Pengfei
Yan Bingtao Vs Zhang Anda
Ryan Day Vs Michael Georgiou
Yuan Sijun Vs Jamie Clarke
Liang Wenbo Vs Andrew Higginson
Graeme Dott Vs Billy Castle
John Higgins Vs Rory McLeod

Judd Trump will be looking to put his Champion of Champions exit behind him having lost convincingly in the Coventry quarter-finals to Kyren Wilson. It seems that Wilson has his number at the moment and things will not get easier this week based on his draw. Matthew Selt is capable of causing problems on his day, while a potential last 64 encounter with Stuart Carrington would put him up against the player who saw to his early Belfast exit last year. Meanwhile, a third meeting in three ranking events against Jack Lisowski could come as early as the last 32 stage. His quarter-final exit to Lisowski in Daqing was preceeded by a last 16 loss at the English Open and a last 32 loss in the European Masters so he has not been in bad form, but is neither at his very best. 

Yan Bingtao was the runner-up here 12 months ago losing very narrowly to Mark Williams. It could so easily have been his breakthrough moment and having reached the International Championship semi-finals just a couple of weeks before that, a lot of fans thought he may have gotten over the line and won a ranking event by now, but it is still so early in his career that it is tough to be critical of him. In the opening Home Nations event a tough draw saw him exit at the last 64 against Stephen Maguire, while he also lost in the last 64 of the European Masters to a Scotsman in the form of Alan McManus. Bookending that period are two last 16 appearances in Chinese ranking events which both ended in defeats to Judd Trump. This week he opens up against fellow Chinese player Zhang Anda in a match you would expect him to win, before a potential last 64 tie with Ryan Day, whom he overcame 6-5 in the last 32 in Daqing recently. If he were to come through those tough opening tests then this could be the week where he really gets another big run under his belt. 

Ryan Day as mentioned above suffered a tough loss at the International Championship to Yan Bingtao 6-5 having fought back from 5-3 down and it was another deciding frame that cost him in the Champion of Champions against John Higgins. Prior to that he made consecutive quarter-finals at the European Masters and English Open but is yet to really find the same form that saw him win three times last season. It is very much the case that the winner out of potential Day vs Yan last 64 tie could go on a big run here in Belfast. Luca Brecel meanwhile is another top 16 that is yet to match the heights he reached in the first half of last season, though his struggles are to a much greater extent than Day's. Brecel has been almost anonymous in the entire of 2018, failing to reach a ranking event quarter-final for almost a full year now. One thing he does have in his favour is that he is fresh, having lost in the first round of the Champion of Champions and failing to qualify for the International Championship. 

John Higgins is also one of those players that did not feature at the International Championship and may come to this tournament a bit fresher for that. He looked good at the Champion of Champions beating Ryan Day in a good contest before running into an in-form O'Sullivan who was untouchable in the final four frames there. He has mentioned this season that he has struggled to get over the World Final loss in May but with the UK Championships on the horizon this is the time to find some form and he could be set to do just that this week. His first round draw against Rory McLeod is a pretty kind one given the form that McLeod is in and although Graeme Dott could prove a tough last 64 opponent, he has started the season slowly too, while a potential last 32 tie against Liang Wenbo would put him up against someone out of form who has a poor record against Higgins, though young Yuan Sijun could cause problems if they ended up meeting at that same last 32 stage. 

Zhao Xintong could provide the sort of run we saw from Yan Bingtao at this tournament last year. His start to the season has been sensational and it seems as though he has had that wake up call that could see him realise his potential. After the run that took him to the China Championship semi-finals, losing 6-4 there to Mark Selby he has lost out in the last 64 of the English Open 4-3 to a trio of Trump centuries from 3-1 down, before a last 32 exit at the International Championship 6-4 against Ding Junhui. The point here is that it is taking some of the world's best players to beat him now, where in the past couple of seasons he was often providing his own downfall with ultra aggressive game plans that just were not working for him. He does not have a simple draw opening up against Daniel Wells who reached the last 16 in Crawley with wins against Joe Perry and Barry Hawkins, while Gary Wilson could provide tough last 64 opposition if he comes through that. For me though, that China Championship semi-final was the start of something big for Zhao and there is plenty more to come. 

My selection for this second quarter and someone who I think has an excellent chance of winning the title this week is Jack Lisowski. The left-hander was back in the latter stages of a tournament again at the International Championship, defeating the likes of Judd Trump and Marco Fu to make the semi-finals, where an added bit of experience for Robertson was one of the deciding factors in a tight contest. Robertson was also his nemesis at the start of the season in the Riga Masters final, but Lisowski is getting closer and closer to his big breakthrough win and it would be a surprise to me if he has not won a full ranking title by the he walks out at the Crucible at the end of the season. He is putting himself in position in almost every event, having also made quarter-finals at the World Open, Paul Hunter Classic and the European Masters and if he keeps knocking on the door, then eventually he will get through and this could be the week where he does. The Home Nations series should suit a player like Lisowski who can blow opponents away quickly and clearly has no trouble in the short best-of-7 frames format. Unlike some of the other top players, he has also had a week off since the International Championship in order to come to Belfast slightly fresher, having scored superbly out in Daqing and continuing to improve his safety play. With Yan Bingtao coming close 12 months ago and Mark King winning in 2016, this event has already shown it can produce a first time ranking winner, so if you are looking at candidates in that category, Lisowski has to be at the top of the list. 

Best of the rest: Zhao Xintong

Quarter choice: Jack Lisowski

Quarter 3

Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Soheil Vahedi
Mei Xiwen Vs Zhang Jiankang
Chris Wakelin Vs Thor Chuan Leong
Tom Ford Vs Rod Lawler
Stephen Maguire Vs Michael Holt
Mark King Vs John Astley
Zhou Yuelong Vs Lukas Kleckers
Jak Jones Vs Kishan Hirani
Alan McManus Vs Allan Taylor
Craig Steadman Vs Lu Ning
Hammad Miah Vs Basem Eltahhan
Mark Allen Vs Niu Zhuang
Ricky Walden Vs Matthew Stevens
Gerard Greene Vs Oliver Lines
David Gilbert Vs Fergal O'Brien
Barry Hawkins Vs Chen Zifan

Mark Allen is the man all of the home fans will want to watch this week, especially given his recent form. He was simply unstoppable at the International Championship, making 14 century breaks on the way to winning another ranking title and adding to his Masters triumph back in January, which will make him an even bigger hero to the Northern Irish supporters. Allen followed this triumph by coming close again at the Champion of Champions, defeating Barry Hawkins and then thrashing Neil Robertson with continued heavy scoring before losing out 6-5 in the semi-finals to Kyren Wilson. Hopefully he still has something left in the tank, but he has admitted previously that this event has brought with it a lot of extra pressure, losing in the last 64 last season, but with the form he is in this is a great chance to go further into the draw. If he keeps playing as he has been it is hard to see him not reaching Thursday night's last 16 at the very least, and he is one of many strong contenders in a hugely competitive quarter of the draw. Whether he overcomes the pressure of being on home turf though is another question and there is also a worry that he could run out of steam after so much snooker and travelling in a short period of time. 

Barry Hawkins is a former runner-up at this event, losing against Mark King in 2016 and he could well go deep in the draw again this week. This is one of the toughest quarters of the draw to predict and Hawkins is one of many serious contenders. His form at the start of the season was impressive though it has dropped off in recent weeks. At the European Masters he exited at the last 64 stage and that was followed by last 32 losses in the English Open and International Championship and a first round loss at the Champion of Champions, though that was to the man of the moment in Allen. His draw here sees him face either World Open runner-up David Gilbert, who beat Hawkins on the way to that final, or Fergal O'Brien who has had plenty of success against top 16 players already this season, in the last 64 should he get beyond Chen Zifan as easily as expected. Then a possible last 32 tie could await against potentially Ricky Walden or Matthew Stevens which is also far from easy, especially over a shorter format. 

Ricky Walden and Matthew Stevens should be a cracking first round encounter given Stevens' resurgence to make the International Championship. Given what the likes of Mark Williams, Ronnie O'Sullivan and John Higgins are still achieving in their forties, hopefully that run was not just a flash in the pan for the Welshman. His comeback against Ding Junhui in the last 16 was exceptional and he threw the kitchen sink at Allen in the semi-finals in a match that could have gone the other way had Stevens not lost his way at the end of the first session, given how well he played in the evening session. Walden meanwhile comes to Belfast having not qualified for the International Championship, though he did make the last 16 in Crawley before losing to eventual champion Stuart Bingham, having also made it to the last 16 of this event a year ago making this match with Stevens a tough one to call. 

Stephen Maguire is another player that could do some serious damage in this quarter. He was a semi-finalist in the opening Home Nations event before losing to eventual winner Bingham, while it was not third time lucky in the last 32 of the International Championship against Ali Carter who overcame Maguire at that stage of the event for the third year in succession. His first round draw against Michael Holt is another nasty one for Holt who faced European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson in round one of the first Home Nations event, though he did overcome English Open quarter-finalist Luo Honghao in the last 64 of the International, making three centuries in the process showing the damage he could do here. If the Scotsman can get beyond Holt, then a meeting with 2016 winner Mark King could await. King was recently a semi-finalist in the European Masters so has shown that he still has that form within him and can produce another tough match for whoever comes through the Maguire/Holt clash.

David Gilbert could be one of the players from outside of the top 16 that has a big run in Belfast. His first round match against Fergal O'Brien will cause some problems given some of the results that O'Brien has had this season so far, though Gilbert of course has reached another ranking event final. In Daqing he fell at the last 16 stage to Martin O'Donnell who had an incredible purple patch in the middle of that tournament, while at the English Open Gilbert lost a tight match against Shaun Murphy. He is not playing badly at all and with so many big names in this section a couple of results here or there could see the draw open up and Gilbert could well be one of the players in position to take advantage of such an eventually if he can get through the first couple of rounds. 

My third quarter choice is someone who should still be fresh and if he fancies the job will take some serious stopping looking at the draw and that is Ronnie O'Sullivan. At the time of writing O'Sullivan is in his fifth Champion of Champions final, having never missed out on making the final in any year that he has entered the event in Coventry. While it may be tough for him to get to the final and have the possibility of winning back-to-back events, a year ago after losing the final to Shaun Murphy he flew out to Shanghai and won the Shanghai Masters title without anyone else looking like beating him. O'Sullivan will be fresh after skipping the trip to Daqing for the International Championship and in the other two events he has won this season he has won the Shanghai Masters invitational and made the semi-finals of the English Open in Crawley, making a 147 break in the process. This comes after a season last time out where he won five ranking titles and with how tough he looks to beat again in the early stages of this campaign, a similar title haul is not unrealistic. Except for Stephen Maguire, there are not many names standing between O'Sullivan and the quarter-finals this week that you would give much of a chance against him at anything close to his best. The one remaining question if whether O'Sullivan will truly fancy the job for a second week in a row, or instead he may ease off and suffer a similar exit to that of his last 32 loss to Elliot Slessor in this event last season. 

Best of the rest: David Gilbert

Quarter choice: Ronnie O'Sullivan

Quarter 4

Last 128 draw: (Picks in bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Sam Baird
Dominic Dale Vs Chris Totten
Robert Milkins Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Ross Muir Vs Elliot Slessor
Stuart Bingham Vs Peter Lines
Robbie Williams Vs Simon Lichtenberg
Sean O'Sullivan Vs Andy Lee
Sanderson Lam Vs Joe O'Connor
Duane Jones Vs David Lilley
Scott Donaldson Vs Ken Doherty
Martin O'Donnell Vs Jimmy White
Marco Fu Vs Chen Feilong
Anthony McGill Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Ashley Hugill Vs Hamza Akbar
Jimmy Robertson Vs James Cahill
Mark Selby Vs Anthony Hamilton

Stuart Bingham is going to have a lot of pressure and attention on him this week after winning the English Open. However unlikely it may seem that he will win the three remaining Home Nations events, it is at least possible until someone beats him. Therefore, everyone in press and TV interviews this week will keep asking the question and talking about it more and more, the deeper he goes into the event. Last year Ronnie O'Sullivan was in that position and his chances ended with a last 32 loss to Elliot Slessor, while Liang Wenbo fell a round earlier in 2016 to eventual champion Mark King, so Bingham may suffer the same fate, or he could be the first player in this position to really have a run at it. His first round draw against Peter Lines could well cause him problems. Lines overcame John Higgins in the International Championship qualifiers so it would not be an unexpected occurrence. Compared to some other top players, his draw for the first three rounds is not as difficult on paper, though the same could have been said before his last 64 loss to Eden Sharav in the International Championship. 

World number one Mark Selby props up the draw and is an example of another top player who has a tough draw for the opening three rounds. In round one he faces 2016 semi-finalist Anthony Hamilton who also made the semi-finals of the European Masters a few weeks ago, so that is not a game Selby can take lightly. In round two he could then face the winner in Lommel with Jimmy Robertson providing a potential last 64 challenge, with Anthony McGill the most dangerous of his potential last 32 opponents. Selby's record in the Home Nations series testifies to that fact that he is most vulnerable over the best-of-7 frames format, with Ben Woollaston defeating him 4-3 at the last 64 stage in Crawley. In the last two events it is Neil Robertson that has proved his undoing, losing 6-4 in the International Championship quarter-finals and 4-3 to the Australian in the first round of the Champion of Champions, despite a third career 147 break from Selby which shows that he is in decent form. 

Marco Fu and Anthony McGill are two top 16 players that are not having their own way at the moment. It would be no surprise whatsoever to see either player lose early on in the week once again in Belfast, after their recent struggles. For Fu, he lost in the last 32 of the International Championship to Jack Lisowski despite some good breaks in that contest, though he had only just beaten Andrew Higginson 6-5 a round earlier. Prior to that were last 64 exits at the China Championship, European Masters and the English Open which is not a good omen for him coming to Belfast. As for McGill he lost in the last 64 of the International Championship to Stuart Carrington after a last 32 loss in Crawley to Luo Honghao. The European Masters provided his best run of the season, making the last 16 but having chances to beat Jimmy Robertson. Prior to that the Scot had suffered another two last 64 losses and a last 128 qualifying defeat, but one good win may be all it takes for either McGill or Fu to turn their fortunes around. 

My fourth and final quarter choice goes slightly against his form in this event, but nonetheless I am going for Shaun Murphy. This may seem like an odd choice given that Murphy has been handed the task of overcoming the 6-0 International Championship qualifying loss he suffered a month ago, to try and defeat the same opponent in round one here. Although, in his run to the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions there have been positive signs that Murphy is finally ready to get his season going. The quarter-final victory in Coventry against Ding Junhui was impressive and he looked to be playing more like the man who made it to five finals last season and not the one that has failed to get beyond the last 16 in a ranking event in this campaign. One thing that his failure to qualify for a couple of Chinese events does mean that without some of this travelling and competition he should be fresh and raring to go in Belfast. One other thing he has had plenty of time for is practice and he has said that he has been learning a lot from Fergal O'Brien since Murphy and his family moved to Ireland. When Murphy first mentioned prior to losing against O'Brien in the Paul Hunter Classic that O'Brien was his new practice partner, my first thought was that this could be a big help to his safety play and he has now said as much during the Champion of Champions this week. Seeing him in the club 9-5 every day has inspired Murphy to up his practice regime and while these things do take time, it could now be starting to pay off. The fact that he has never passed the first round in Belfast is only a slight concern given that this event is only in it's third staging this year as a Home Nations event and when Murphy won the Champion of Champions it came after four successive first round exits in Coventry. Having seen his good friend Mark Allen win a big title recently, Murphy has that added bit of inspiration too, just look at how Mark Davis reacted to seeing his practice partner Jimmy Robertson win in Lommel. 

Best of the rest: Stuart Bingham

Quarter choice: Shaun Murphy 

Tournament winner selection: Jack Lisowski 

With just four ranking events left prior to the World Grand Prix it is worth noting that all of Ronnie O'Sullivan, Shaun Murphy, Luca Brecel, Graeme Dott, Liang Wenbo, Anthony McGill and Michael White are on the outside looking in at the 32 players currently set to qualify for that event via the one-year money list. 

The format in Northern Ireland is the same as the English Open and all of the Home Nations events from last year with best-of-7 frames matches in the first four rounds, before best-of-9 frame quarter-finals, best-of-11 frame semi-finals and a best-of-17 frame final. As always the action from this event can be viewed on Eurosport and the Eurosport Player with afternoon action throughout the week being available on freeview channel Quest for UK viewers. 

Sublime Ronnie O'Sullivan sets up Coventry semi-final with Shaun Murphy

Ronnie O'Sullivan will face a repeat of last year's Champion of Champions final when he takes on Shaun Murphy in Friday night's semi-final, after coming through the second day's play in Coventry with wins over Stuart Bingham and John Higgins.

It will be a third final repeat out of three games for O'Sullivan who made it three wins out of three against Bingham in this tournament, having previously defeated him in the 2013 final and the first round the following year, while John Higgins overcame O'Sullivan to win the title back in 2016, but could not get the better of him on this occasion.


After losing the opening frame to English Open champion Bingham, on Tuesday afternoon, the two-time Champion of Champions winner sparked into life with consecutive tons to take the lead. Those breaks of 109 and 116 were excellent after a couple of early mistakes, but Bingham was not fazed and soon had the scores level again with a contribution of 56 in the fourth.

He was unable to contain the Rocket much further though as he fired into the quarter-finals with breaks 68 and 60 in frames five and six to seal a 4-2 victory.

The second first round tie on the day saw Welsh Open champion Higgins battle hard to defeat Gibraltar Open winner Ryan Day. The Welshman took the opening frame with a break of 69, before Higgins hit back with his own back-to-back tons to mirror O'Sullivan in the first match. Those breaks of 106 and 100 put the Scotsman 2-1 ahead but he was soon 3-2 in what was very much a one visit contest.

Day rattled off breaks of 56 and 106 to move 3-2 up and one away from the quarter-finals. He had his chances in a scrappy sixth frame but in trademark style, it was Higgins who was stronger and was able to force the seventh and deciding frame. Again, Day had early chances but once Higgins was in he always looked like being the man to get over the line, and his decisive break of 66 booked a date with O'Sullivan.


The evening's quarter-final perfectly mirrored the frame-by-frame progress of Shaun Murphy's victory over Ding Junhui a night earlier. O'Sullivan surged into an early 2-0 lead after breaks of 57 and 109, only for Higgins to hit back with three on the spin. A run of 91 got him on the board, before he made a crucial clearance in the fourth to square the match at 2-2 at the interval. O'Sullivan had been in first and made a break of 59, but the counter clearance of 70 from Higgins drew him level.

A break of 83 after the mid-session break put Higgins 3-2 ahead, but he would only score a further 10 points in the match thereafter as O'Sullivan found top gear. The break of 101 in the sixth was a signal of things to come as he then went up a level in the seventh with a magnificent run of 137 to move ahead at 4-3. A couple of visits were needed in the eighth but he was now keeping the Scotsman at arms length and leading 5-3, one away from the semi-finals. There was no slowing up as he reached the line though, with his third century in four frames and sixth ton of the day putting the icing on a great day's work for O'Sullivan, finishing with a 114.

With the top half of the draw complete now until Friday night when O'Sullivan will meet defending champion Murphy, attention now turns to the bottom half.

Day 3 Preview

First round draw:

Mark Williams Vs Kyren Wilson
Judd Trump Vs Luca Brecel


The third day of Champion of Champions action features two players facing off in round one who have not won a title in the year since last year's Coventry showdown. Judd Trump and Luca Brecel will meet in the first round for a second year in a row in round one, with Brecel impressively whitewashing Trump 12 months ago. This was arguably the last tournament that Brecel played like a top 16 player, as he then defeated Mark Selby before narrowly losing in the semi-final to Murphy. In 2018 he has failed to register a ranking event quarter-final, let alone a tournament win and yet he is still ranked high enough to be the fourth and final invitation to the tournament based on the world rankings.

Trump was also invited on his world ranking, but he has been closer to victory than Brecel in the last 12 months. First of all he reached the Shanghai Masters final a week after events in Coventry, though he has not been in a final since then, losing at the semi-final stage of the Scottish Open, the Masters, the German Masters and March's Players Championship. Based on the two players form this season, it looks as if Trump is starting to build towards something good, though this week will be a better indicator of that against a field of top opposition. As for Brecel, he looks miles away from his best right now, but memories of last year's thrashing of Trump may give him the boost he needs.


The opening match on Wednesday sees the entrance of World Champion Mark Williams to the competition as he faces Paul Hunter Classic champion Kyren Wilson. If you remove matches from the Six-Reds World Championship and Championship League from the head-to-head then the three major meetings between these two have all ended in victories for Wilson, at the 2016 Northern Ireland Open quarter-final, the 2017 World Open quarter-final and a 6-1 thrashing in this year's Masters quarter-final. Both players have already won ranking titles in the early season to back up excellent season's that they had last campaign, but have struggled for form in the last few tournaments.

At the English Open, Wilson lost in the last 128 from 3-1 up to Akani Songsermsawad while Williams looked to really be struggling when he lost in the last 32 4-3 to Zhou Yuelong. Roles were reversed at the International Championship with both losing in the last 64, Williams this time 6-3 to Akani while Wilson lost to a young Chinese prospect, 6-2 against Yuan Sijun. This makes this contest a tight one to call, with not much between them in the form guide, the head-to-head favouring Wilson but only over a small sample size and over the best-of-7 frames either player could get on a run and win in no time.

Looking slightly further to the Group final, should Trump make the group final it brings up two interesting potential head-to-heads against Wilson and Williams. Firstly, Trump and Williams have have met eight times since the start of 2015, with five of those meetings coming that year alone. Those eight have been shared, but Trump was on a three game win streak against the Welshman before he defeated his fellow left-hander 6-1 in the semi-finals of the German Masters.

Meanwhile, Wilson has a winning head-to-head over Trump as well as Williams, with Wilson leading 5-3 overall, though two of Trump's victories were before Wilson's big breakthrough. That came when Wilson beat Trump in the 2015 Shanghai Masters final and since then he has added a victory over Trump in this competition, along with three wins against him this year at the Shanghai Masters, Romanian Masters and most famously from 5-2 down in the semi-finals of the Masters in January.


So whatever happens today, there are some fascinating matches in store as we will discover our third Champion of Champions semi-finalist.

Shaun Murphy is the first man into the Champion of Champions semi-finals

Shaun Murphy stormed to victory on the first day of the Champion of Champions and keeping up his defence by booking his place in Friday night's semi-final.

Murphy faced European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson on Monday afternoon in the last 16, coming through a tough tie against the in-form man 4-2. Robertson started strongly with a break of 85 to take the opening frame, before Murphy hit back and went 2-1 ahead after a run of 96 in third frame.

Robertson was soon level again after a break of 80 in the fourth, but would only score one more point in the contest, as the defending champion looked to be playing his best snooker of the season so far, with further breaks of 68 and 76 in the final two frames helping him to clinch victory.

Awaiting him in Monday evening's semi-final was Ding Junhui after he was also a 4-2 winner against Shoot-Out champion Michael Georgiou. Ding is one of four players in the Champion of Champions this week based on rankings, as there were fewer than 16 tournament winners on the main tour in the last 12 months.

Georgiou started out with a break of 76 to take the opener, but fell 3-1 behind after contributions of 139 and 85 Ding. Georgiou kept himself in the tie by winning frame five, but Ding dominated the sixth to book his spot in the last eight.


When the evening came, Murphy was in fine form once again on the way to a 6-3 triumph over China's number one. Breaks of 79 and 80 got Murphy off to a flying start and into a 2-0 lead early on before he went off the boil slightly in the next three frames. He lost a tight third on the colours and had chances in the fourth as well, before an excellent snooker on the yellow from Ding in the fifth saw him win that frame on the pink to move 3-2 ahead.

That did not concern Murphy though who quickly regained his form from the start of the match, making the match high break of 118 in frame six to square the scores at 3-3. That was followed by a superb 88 and an even better 110 to move one away from the last four at 5-3. The ninth and final frame could easily have gone the other way. Ding was in first and looked like taking the frame until missing an easy green on 58 and leaving Murphy a chance to make a counter clearance. It was all going well until a poor positional shot from blue to pink cost him good position on match-ball black, before missing the black on the near jaw to end his break of 65. Ding then attempted a tough black from distance, missing and leaving Murphy a shot into the middle and he was not to need a third chance, burying it for the victory.

That means that Ding's first tournament in the UK since the World Championships has ended abruptly on the first day and having not entered next week's Northern Ireland Open, we will not see him again until the first Triple Crown event of this season, at the UK Championships.

For Murphy, the four first round exits that he suffered in Coventry during the first four stagings of this tournament are now firmly behind him and if he continues performing as he did on the first day then he has an excellent chance of lifting the trophy for a second year in a row. His semi-final on Friday will see him take on the winner of Tuesday's play.

Day 2 Preview 

First round draw:

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Stuart Bingham
John Higgins Vs Ryan Day


Day two sees the entrance of two-time Champion of champions winner Ronnie O'Sullivan and the other player (besides Murphy) to beat O'Sullivan in this event in 2016 champion John Higgins, as well as the inaugural finalist Stuart Bingham.

O'Sullivan has won multiple tournaments since last year's final loss to Murphy, including the invitational Shanghai Masters in September and the only other tournament he has featured in this season saw him make the semi-finals of the English Open in Crawley. In the Champion of Champions he has reached the final on each of the four occasions he has played in it, choosing not to enter the 2015 edition.

His first round opponent is English Open champion Stuart Bingham whom O'Sullivan overcame 10-8 in the 2013 final here in Coventry, as well as then beating him 4-2 at the first round stage the following year. The head-to-head heavily favours O'Sullivan to the tune of 13-3, though the three victories for Bingham have come during the 2015 World Championships and in both the 2013 and 2010 UK Championships. They have played this season at the Shanghai Masters with O'Sullivan winning comfortably there and having skipped the International Championships, where Bingham lost in the last 64, he will come here fresh and raring to bag a third Champion of Champions crown.


The second first round fixture sees Welsh Open champion John Higgins play Gibraltar Open winner Ryan Day. Higgins like O'Sullivan has had two weeks off since a last 16 exit at the English Open, after failing to qualify for the International Championship. The Scotsman has admitted that he has struggled at the start of this season, after taking a while to get over his second World Championship final loss in two years. He did reach the final of September's China Championship but went on to admit afterwards that he was nowhere near the level that should be required to get as close as he did to winning such a big title.

As for Day, his start to the season has been reasonable with a couple of quarter-finals at the European Masters and the English Open, where he played excellently against Judd Trump in the last 16. He did feature in last year's Champion of Champions, defeating Barry Hawkins before losing out to Anthony Hamilton in a match he really should have won. The record he has against Higgins is not bad by any means. Excluding Championship league matches, Higgins leads the head-to-head 11-6 but Day has actually won four of their last six meetings. This will also be their fourth meeting of the year, with Higgins winning 6-1 in the quarter-finals of the Masters, before Day clinched a 4-1 victory during the Romanian Masters, a title the Welshman would go on to win, as well as earning a 6-5 win in the first round of the Shanghai Masters with a gusty 87 break in the decider there.


Overall, you have to say that Day has an excellent chance against Higgins but O'Sullivan given his record and form in the last year has to be the favourite to join Shaun Murphy in the semi-finals.

Neil Robertson to meet Mark Allen in International Championship final

Neil Robertson has come through a tight semi-final with Jack Lisowski to reach the final of the International Championship where he will face Mark Allen.

Allen booked his place in the final after a 9-6 victory over Matthew Stevens in the first semi-final on Friday, despite the Welshman throwing everything thing at him in that contest.

Early on in the contest, Stevens looked like his old self taking three of the first four frames and claiming an early lead, after breaks of 58, 70 and 86 to leave Allen in trouble early on. The response from the Northern Irishman was to come from behind to win frame five, before runs of 70 and the matches first century, a 120, put Allen ahead at 4-3. Stevens had a golden chance to level at the end of the opening session, but missed a tricky pink to take the frame and Allen picked up the pieces to claim a 5-3 advantage.

That advantage extended to 6-3 at the start of the evening session, before Stevens really hit his stride. Back-to-back centuries of 110 and a magnificent 144 total clearance got him back in the contest at 6-5, before Allen responded in style with his own break of 102 to maintain the two frame advantage that he had started the session with. That lead was cut once again though when Stevens made his third century in four frames, with another excellent contribution of 115 this time. It looked like he was going to level at 7-7 in the next before missing a cut on the black, leaving Allen the chance to clear which he did superbly under the pressure, a run of 85 putting him one away from victory, which he would secure soon after.


The second semi-final had just as many twists and turns as the first, with Lisowski looking to avenge his defeat to Robertson in the season opening Riga Masters final. A scrappier opening four frames of the match were shared, but the real drama began after the mid-session interval of the opening session. Lisowski's break of 64 in the fifth was not enough to clinch the frame as Robertson stole it after getting the snooker he required. Just when Robertson looked like taking charge he missed on a break of 66, leaving Lisowski the chance to clear which he took superbly with a 71 to square the match at 3-3. He followed that with a 102 and had the chance to lead 5-3 at the end of the session, but Robertson would take the eighth on the colours to make sure it was a best-of-9 for a final spot in the final session.

The evening started well for Lisowski with a run of 76 putting him back in front at 5-4, but things then quickly turned against him. Two tight frames in the 10th and 12th both went the way of the Australian, with breaks of 54 and 119 giving him the 11th and 13th respectively, with those four successive frames putting him one away from victory at 8-5. There was no giving up from Lisowski though with breaks of 133 and 60 in the next two frames really starting to put the pressure on Robertson at 8-7. He responded like a true champion though, taking advantage of any errors Lisowski made, as he had been doing all day long, and making a closing statement of 67 to clinch a 9-7 win.


The Final: (Pick in bold)

Mark Allen Vs Neil Robertson (Best-of-19 frames)


What a week it has been for these two players. In a week that has yielded centuries aplenty, Allen is already into double figures for the week with a total of 10 tons made, while Robertson has made seven overall. In terms of the frames they have conceded in making it to the final, Allen has lost 15 and Robertson slightly more at 21 though arguably with a slightly tougher route as well.

The Australian was a comfortable winner in the last 64 against Matthew Selt, but then faced trouble in the last 32 when he faced Joe Perry. On that occasion he came from 4-2 down to overcome the European Masters runner-up in a deciding frame. Then against Yuan Sijun he was 3-1 and 4-3 adrfit and starting down the barrel of a 5-3 deficit before coming back from snookers required to take the eighth frame and then finishing with back-to-back centuries. In his quarter-final he took down the world number one Mark Selby, ending his incredible defence and ending an 18 game win streak of Selby's in the International Championship with a four straight frames from 4-2 down. The semi-final was another match that could have gone either way but his patience and full punishment of Lisowski's mistakes were the two deciding factors.

As for Allen, he was down and out in the last 64 when he trailed Liam Highfield 4-0 and then 5-2, but he stood strong and made three centuries on the way to an amazing 6-5 triumph that has set him up for the rest of the week. Breaks of 142 and 146 were the highlight of his last 32 victory against Hossein Vafei, 6-3 from 2-0 down before losing just one frame in his last 16 and quarter-final ties against Alfie Burden and Ali Carter, with the whitewash against Carter one of the most impressive results of the week. Then in the semi-final he withstood everything that Matthew Stevens had to throw at him. Forget Stevens ranking, because for two or three matches this week including against Allen it was as if the clock had gone back to a time when Stevens was winning his Masters and UK titles and reaching two World finals and snooker fans will be hoping to see Stevens climb back into the top 32 and maybe beyond.

For Allen, this is his third International Championship final, having lost out Mark Selby 12 months ago as well as falling short against Ricky Walden in 2014. Robertson meanwhile is also a former runner-up in this tournament, coming up short in the inaugural edition in 2012 against Judd Trump. The head-to-head is not favourable for Allen by any means, with the record standing at 10-4 to Robertson if Championship League matches are excluded. Their last meeting was in the 2017 World Open which Allen won 5-4 and they have had a lot of close encounters and classic ties in the past. Those include an enthralling Welsh Open semi-final in 2016 and meetings every year at the Masters between 2011 and 2014, two of which went the distance, while they have also contested a final at the 2015 Champion of Champions - Robertson winning 10-5. This week though is arguably some of the best snooker Allen has played to reach a sixth ranking final in China and certainly the best he has played since winning the Masters at the start of the year. That Masters win will give him extra confidence on occasions like this that he truly belongs at this level and that he can win these big titles. Robertson has regained that belief in the last 12 months and is now looking for his third ranking title since briefly dropping out of the top 16 last December, setting this up to be a potentially thrilling final.

Neil Robertson fightback ends Mark Selby's International Championship defence

Neil Robertson won the last four frames of his International Championship quarter-final against Mark Selby, to end the Englishman's chances of winning a third International title in a row.

Selby took the opening frame with a break of 137 and despite an excellent 135 from Robertson to move him 2-1 ahead. From there the Australian would only score one more point before falling 4-2 adrift, as Selby added breaks of 83 and 133 to move towards a fourth International Championship semi-final in a row. A crucial and lengthy seventh frame went the way of Robertson to spark the fightback and he followed it up with two top class contributions of 113 and 95 to go 5-4 up. Selby had chances in the tenth after Robertson went in-off on a break of 53, but some unlucky positional play cost him and it was the 2012 runner-up he ran out victorious.

2012 champion Judd Trump was taken down 6-2 by Jack Lisowski with an emphatic win. Trump was not at the races early on in the contest, while breaks of 53, 95 and 71 put Lisowski 3-0 up. Trump got a frame on the board in the fourth and still had hope after a run of 119 got the match back to 2-4. Once Lisowski stole the seventh on the black though it looked like an impossible task for Trump and the game would not last much longer, as Lisowski swiftly compiled a match-winning 106 to book his semi-final spot.

Two-time runner-up Mark Allen has breezed into the semi-finals after a 6-0 whitewash win over Ali Carter. Allen started strongly with a break of 129, his eighth century of the week, giving him the opener. The second went to the Northern Irishman on the black and after breaks of 57 and 70 in the fourth he had taken a 4-0 lead into the interval. Just as Carter looked like giving himself a glimmer of hope in the fifth, Allen came from snookers required to go one away from victory and soon wrapped up his place in the last four.

Matthew Stevens is into his first ranking event semi-final since the 2013 Wuxi Classic after a third deciding frame victory in a row, defeating Martin O'Donnell 6-5. The Welshman started strongly with a the match high break of 127, though when O'Donnell cleared the colours to win the sixth frame on the black, Stevens had fallen 4-2 behind. Breaks of 63 and 85 in the next two frames saw Stevens level at 4-4 without O'Donnell scoring a point. The ninth also went the way of the former UK and Masters champion, though the left-hander responded to overcome the pressure and force a final frame. Both players had chances in the decider, and O'Donnell had a chance to force a re-spot after getting a snooker, but a missed green cost him and Stevens was relieved to get over the line.

Quarter-final results: 

Neil Robertson 6-4 Mark Selby
Jack Lisowski 6-2 Judd Trump
Matthew Stevens 6-5 Martin O'Donnell
Mark Allen 6-0 Ali Carter

Semi-final draw: (Picks in bold) 

Neil Robertson Vs Jack Lisowski - Saturday 3 November
Mark Allen Vs Matthew Stevens - Friday 2 November


The first best-of-17 semi-final comes over two sessions on Friday with Mark Allen facing Matthew Stevens. The pair last met at the 2017 China Championship with Stevens coming through in a deciding frame, while their most high profile meeting in recent years was the 2013 World Open final which Allen won 10-4 and was also the last time Stevens reached a final. This week has been a week of resurgence for Stevens who had not gone beyond the last 16 in a ranking event for over four years, though he has done it the hard way. He has needed 43 out of 44 in Daqing to make the semi-finals after a 6-4 win over Jordan Brown was followed by deciding frame wins over Mark King, Ding Junhui and Martin O'Donnell. Progress has not been completely plain sailing for Allen, who had to come from 4-0 and 5-2 down to defeat Liam Highfield in the last 64. Following that was a 6-3 winner against Hossein Vafei which featured breaks of 146 and 142, before a 6-1 win over Alfie Burden and a 6-0 thrashing of Ali Carter. Allen has made eight centuries in all this week and looks to be in the sort of form that took him to the Masters title in January, as he now aims for a third International Championship final. Stevens is looking like his old self this week, but Allen with the way he is playing is the favourite, though a close game can be expected if both play as they have been.

Saturday's semi-final features a repeat of the season's opening ranking event final between Neil Robertson and Jack Lisowski. Robertson won on that occasion, but that was Lisowski's first ranking final and brought obvious pressure along with it. The pair have played and scored very well all week and had tough routes to this stage. Robertson overcame Matthew Selt easily in round one but could have lost in each of the last three rounds, beating Perry 6-5, Yuan Sijun 6-4 with three frames in a row from 4-3 down, and defending champion Mark Selby 6-4 from 4-2 down. Lisowski meanwhile started the week against Chris Wakelin before defeating former finalist Marco Fu, last year's semi-finalist Martin Gould and 2012 champion Judd Trump. The key to this match will be how Lisowski handles the pressure in the latter stages and getting beyond the quarter-finals is a big step for him after losing three quarter-finals, losing 3-0 leads in two of them and playing badly in the other, since that Riga Masters final. There is also an extra carrot for Lisowski, who is provisionally 16th on the Race to the Masters list, as victory against Robertson would all but secure his place at the Ally Pally in January, though with that will come even further pressure. Robertson meanwhile has a chance this weekend to win his third ranking title in less than 12 months which would silence a lot of people that have been critical of him since a poor run of form that saw him fail to reach the 2018 Masters.


Both semi-finals will start and finish on the day shown above, over two sessions and the best-of-17 frames and full coverage will be on Eurosport TV.