Maguire one away from Crucible place

Stephen Maguire is one win away from qualifying for the World Championships as a seeded player after getting into the quarter-finals of the China Open. After Ding Junhui exited early Maguire knew that he would need to get to the semi-finals to leapfrog him and move up to 16th in the seedings list. A 5-1 victory over Dominic Dale kept him on track today and he will now face Alfie Burden in the do or die match on Friday.

 

Burden has had a good week so far himself beating Rory McLeod 5-1 today. Mark King is another non top 16 player into the quarter-finals after whitewashing Martin O'Donnell, while Noppon Saengkham beat Graeme Dott 5-1 to make it three players from outside of the top 16 into the quarter-finals.

 

Judd Trump was in a very quick mode again today beating Marco Fu 5-1 inside of an hour after a similar victory the day before against Jimmy Robertson.

 

John Higgins was equally as good in his match with David Gilbert, who did very little wrong himself in a high quality contest that saw the Scot score a 5-3 win.

 

Finally, in the bottom quarter of the draw we saw the World champion Stuart Bingham play well again to beat Rod Lawler 5-2, and he will now play Ricky Walden who has continued his run of form after reaching the Players Championship Final to beat Tian Pengfei in a decider to clinch his place in the last eight.

 

Last 16 Results:

Stephen Maguire 5-1 Dominic Dale
Alfie Burden 5-1 Rory McLeod
Judd Trump 5-1 Marco Fu
Mark King 5-0 Martin O'Donnell
Noppon Saengkham 5-1 Graeme Dott
John Higgins 5-3 David Gilbert
Ricky Walden 5-4 Tian Pengfei
Stuart Bingham 5-2 Rod Lawler

 

Quarter Finals Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Stephen Maguire Vs Alfie Burden
Judd Trump Vs Mark King
John Higgins Vs Noppon Saengkham
Stuart Bingham Vs Ricky Walden

 

Most people are now looking towards a potential John Higgins Vs Judd Trump final this week, given the way that both have played so far. However, Bingham seems to be coming back into form as well while Ricky Walden has looked in very good touch which makes that a brilliant quarter-final match-up. As for the rest, a lot of pressure is on Maguire to win tomorrow which probably makes Alfie Burden the most likely of the three lower ranked underdogs to progress into the semi-finals.

 

So then, a very important day tomorrow for Stephen Maguire as well as other guys like Stuart Bingham who are looking to find form ahead of the World Championships and of course Alfie Burden, Mark King and Noppon Saengkham will be searching for maiden ranking titles.

Wilson out, but Maguire remains in Crucible fight

Stephen Maguire is still in the hunt for a top 16 seeding at the World Championships after victory over Jack Lisowski put him into the Last 16 and just two wins away from leap frogging Ding Junhui into 16th place in the rankings.

 

Kyren Wilson meanwhile did not keep up his hopes of doing the same after losing quite emphatically 5-1 to Rod Lawler. Ryan Day was also in the hunt but lost the last three frames of a 5-3 defeat to Ricky Walden. Robert Milkins and a host of other players in the 20's needing a final or to win the event were amongst those to perish on day three in Beijing.

 

Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins also fell. Both had their Last 64 matches rescheduled to Wednesday morning in China after competing in the latter stages of last week's Players Championship finals in Manchester. Hawkins lost out in his 5-4 to Tian Pengfei who went on to beat Michael Holt 5-2 to make the last 16. Shaun Murphy did beat David Grace 5-3 only to lose out in the evening session to Mark King by the same score line.

 

There were nice wins however for higher seeds in Judd Trump, Marco Fu, John Higgins and of course the world champion Stuart Bingham, while Graeme Dott ended the run of 15 year old wildcard Yuan Sijun with a 5-2 victory.

 

Last 32 Results:

 

Dominic Dale 5-3 Darryl Hill
Stephen Maguire 5-2 Jack Lisowski
Alfie Burden 5-4 Rhys Clark
Rory McLeod 5-2 Mike Dunn
Judd Trump 5-1 Jimmy Robertson
Marco Fu 5-0 Robert Milkins
Martin O'Donnell 5-1 Matthew Selt
Mark King 5-3 Shaun Murphy
Graeme Dott 5-2 Yuan Sijun
Noppon Saengkham 5-4 Ben Woollaston
John Higgins 5-2 Mark Joyce
David Gilbert 5-1 Lee Walker
Ricky Walden 5-3 Ryan Day
Tian Pengfei 5-2 Michael Holt
Rod Lawler 5-1 Kyren Wilson
Stuart Bingham 5-3 Ian Burns

Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Stephen Maguire Vs Dominic Dale
Rory McLeod Vs Alfie Burden
Judd Trump Vs Marco Fu
Mark King Vs Martin O'Donnell
Graeme Dott Vs Noppon Saengkham
John Higgins Vs David Gilbert
Ricky Walden Vs Tian Pengfei
Stuart Bingham Vs Rod Lawler

Marco Fu was good once again today after his three centuries against Yu De Lu and his match with Trump should be a good one, after he played some nice stuff in his first match of the week after receiving a walkover. There is a fantastic opportunity for both guys in the McLeod/Burden and King/O'Donnell games with Burden being most impressive in a 5-4 win against Rhys Clark with the deciding frame being the only one where one of the two players did not make a break of 50+. Dominic Dale has also been in decent form and all of the pressure is of course on his opponent Stephen Maguire who needs two more wins this week to get back into the top 16 in the seedings for the World Championship. Further down at the bottom of the draw Stuart Bingham has shown good signs of a timely return to form, while Higgins and Dott have been solid so far and I expect that to continue. Ricky Walden was able to ease himself into the week after a first round walkover, following his appearance in the Players Championship Final. Walden is always a decent threat in China, the scene of his three ranking titles to date.

 

 

Another interesting line-up then for the latter stages of this tournament with just five players out of the 16 currently ranked inside of the world's top 16. An opportunity for plenty of guys then to go far in this event or perhaps for someone to win their first ranking event title.

Shocks galore in Beijing

The first round of the 2016 China Open has seen an astonishing amount of surprise results as the likes of Ding Junhui, Neil Robertson, Joe Perry, Martin Gould, Michael White and Liang Wenbo all lost their opening matches in Beijing.

 

Martin Gould's Last 64 loss to young wildcard Yuan Sijun 5-0 was by far the biggest surprise after Yuan overcame Andrew Higginson in the wildcard round.

 

Ding Junhui and Liang Wenbo had had their Last 128 matches held over but neither were successful in getting through. Liangs loss means he is unable to get into the top 16 and will now have to play three matches to qualify for the World Championships. Peter Lines was the man who came through that one to give his tour survival hopes a boost but he did lose in the last 64 to Rod Lawler. Ding meanwhile is now uncertain of his own place at the Crucible after losing to Lee Walker 5-1. He sits 16th in the provisional seedings and if Kyren Wilson or Stephen Maguire make the semi-finals he would be sent to Ponds Forge.

 

Maguire saw off a fightback from Gary Wilson to win 5-3, while Kyren Wilson came from 2-0 down to beat Tom Ford 5-3. Maguire will now play Jack Lisowski who beat Michael White 5-1.

 

Neil Robertson made two centuries in his defeat to Noppon Saengkham, while Joe Perry was beaten 5-0 by Alfie Burden. Burden now plays Rhys Clark who overcame Mark Davis 5-4.

 

There is a 2.30am UK time session on Wednesday to clear up the last two first round games with Shaun Murphy playing David Grace and Barry Hawkins playing Tian Pengfei who has already had to come through a wildcard match. Hawkins and Murphy were both in the Players Championship semi-finals on Saturday and therefore have arrived later in Beijing.

 

Last 64 Results:

 

Darryl Hill 5-3 James Wattana
Dominic Dale 5-1 Jamie Jones
Stephen Maguire 5-3 Gary Wilson
Jack Lisowski 5-1 Michael White
Alfie Burden 5-0 Joe Perry
Rhys Clark 5-4 Mark Davis
Mike Dunn 5-4 Alan McManus
Rory McLeod 5-0 Mitchell Mann
Judd Trump W/O Stuart Carrington
Jimmy Robertson 5-3 Anthony McGill
Robert Milkins 5-4 Ross Muir
Marco Fu 5-2 Yu De Lu
Martin O'Donnell 5-2 Joe Swail
Matt Selt 5-4 Chris Wakelin
Mark King 5-2 Ali Carter
Noppon Saengkham 5-3 Neil Robertson
Ben Woollaston W/O Adam Duffy
Graeme Dott 5-1 Matthew Stevens
Yuan Sijun 5-0 Martin Gould
David Gilbert 5-1 Gerard Greene
Lee Walker 5-3 Li Hang
Mark Joyce 5-2 Luca Brecel
John Higgins 5-2 Zhou Yuelong
Michael Holt 5-2 Nigel Bond
Ryan Day 5-4 Dechawat Poomjaeng
Ricky Walden W/O Robin Hull
Kyren Wilson 5-3 Tom Ford
Rod Lawler 5-1 Peter Lines
Ian Burns 5-0 Peter Ebdon
Stuart Bingham 5-3 Sam Baird

 

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Dominic Dale Vs Darryl Hill
Stephen Maguire Vs Jack Lisowski
Alfie Burden Vs Rhys Clark
Mike Dunn Vs Rory McLeod
Judd Trump Vs Jimmy Robertson
Marco Fu Vs Robert Milkins
Matt Selt Vs Martin O'Donnell
Mark King Vs Shaun Murphy or David Grace
Ben Woollaston Vs Noppon Saengkham
Graeme Dott Vs Yuan Sijun
David Gilbert Vs Lee Walker
John Higgins Vs Mark Joyce
Michael Holt Vs Barry Hawkins or Tian Pengfei
Ricky Walden Vs Ryan Day
Kyren Wilson Vs Rod Lawler
Stuart Bingham Vs Ian Burns

 

Looking at the draw there I was impressed with the scoring of Marco Fu against Yu De Lu making three centuries, while Dominic Dale appears to be cueing nicely and is a threat this week in that top quarter. Trump, Walden and Woollaston are all yet to play this week after walkovers, while Jimmy Robertson seemed in good form against Anthony McGill. There's a big opportunity for the likes of Burden and Clark plying each other and both played well in round one so that is quite a close call as is Lee Walker and David Gilbert with Walker playing well for his victories against Ding and Li Hang. Yuan Sijun is an unknown quantity but after such an emphatic result against Gould I cannot just write him off completely against Graeme Dott even though this match is on a Televised table this time which could prove the difference. Stuart Bingham and Ian Burns could be a great match if both score how they did in their opening round wins. Watch out for Matt Selt this week too. Scraping through a long first round match could spark him on to run very deep this week, and he could still get into the top 16 should he go on and win the tournament like many others provisionally in the 20's left in this tournament.

 

An interesting line-up then for the second round at the venue and perhaps a door has been opened for someone just outside of the top 16 to win the event and get themselves inside and seeded for the World Championships.

China Open Preview

Quite an odd situation to be in here writing this weeks preview ahead of the China Open in that the tournament prior to it has not yet been completed. The Players Championship Finals being completed on Sunday does not sit too well when the next event starts on a Monday halfway around the world in Beijing.

The notable absentees from this week are Ronnie O'Sullivan (did not enter qualifying), Mark Selby (withdrew from both this and the Players Finals a week and a half ago) as well as Mark Allen and Mark Williams who did not win their qualifying matches. This probably is not the worst thing for Allen who at the time of publication is in the Players Championship final.

The likes of Stuart Bingham, Liang Wenbo and Ding Junhui have all had their Last 128 matches held over as the world champion and top two highest ranked Chinese players respectively. Meanwhile their are also four wildcard round matches to be contested on the opening days play as well as this.

Ricky Walden and Ben Woollaston do not have to play until Wednesday and the Last 32 after Robin Hull and Adam Duffy both had to withdraw through illness, and Hull tweeted about having chicken pox which as an adult can be quite a nasty one, but that of course is a topic for another day. This is particularly lucky who at the time of publication is in the Players Championship Final in Manchester.

With this being the final event ahead of the World Championships and the seedings cut off it makes it a massive week for those chasing a place in the top 16 to avoid having to go through three rounds of qualifying. Guys like Michael White, Ding Junhui, Kyren Wilson, Liang Wenbo and Stephen Maguire are either not yet safe or chasing a place amongst a host of others who could possibly get in by winning the tournament.

With all of that in mind there are also a couple of players involved who could help their tour survival situations with a victory or two, so let's take a look at their chances and what the draw looks like for this week:

Quarter 1

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Darryl Hill Vs James Wattana
Jamie Jones Vs Dominic Dale
Michael White Vs Jack Lisowski
Stephen Maguire Vs Gary Wilson
Mark Davis Vs Rhys Clark
Joe Perry Vs Alfie Burden
Alan McManus Vs Mike Dunn
Rory McLeod Vs Mitchell Mann

Michael White and Stephen Maguire are two guys that are in that battle for World Championship seedings. White sits fairly well at the moment in 15th on the provisional seedings on £190,033 which is around £12,000 clear of provisional 17th seed Liang Wenbo. What that means for him is that if he were to lose to Lisowski and Ding made the Last 16 while Wenbo made the quarter-finals (as they both have to play their held over first round matches) then White would be struggling. Beat Lisowski and his position is made slightly stronger in the fact that both would have to go a round further to displace him. Stephen Maguire is a part of the chasing pack and the fact is he is already £13,000 adrift of Ding provisionally who would make that £17,000 if he won his held over Last 128 match. There is also the small matter of the fact that he would need to do better than Kyren Wilson and Liang Wenbo in this event who are provisional seeds 17 and 18. Maguire will probably have to make the semi-finals minimum but more than likely the final itself to have any chance and that would still be reliant on other results.

Joe Perry meanwhile is probably the favourite to win this quarter on balance. He has had a good second half to the season with runs to the semi-finals of both ranking events in Wales, and after that narrow loss at the Grand Prix to Bingham he has had a couple of weeks off to get over it and get ready for Beijing. His draw looks like one where you would expect him to do well if he keeps his form up as their are no top 16 players between him and the quarter-finals and even then only Michael White and Stephen Maguire are the only players in or around the top 16 and they are under a lot of pressure with their ranking. Perry can just go about his business and play with one eye on the Crucible and going their with another good run under his belt to further increase the confidence he must have right now.

Quarter Winner: Joe Perry

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Judd Trump Vs Stuart Carrington
Anthony McGill Vs Jimmy Robertson
Marco Fu Vs Yu De Lu
Robert Milkins Vs Ross Muir
Matt Selt Vs Chris Wakelin
Joe Swail Vs Martin O'Donnell or Wang Yuchen
Ali Carter Vs Mark King
Shaun Murphy Vs David Grace (To be played on Wednesday)

Shaun Murphy is an interesting one this week. By getting to the semi-finals of the Players Championship he now has a bit of a mad dash to get to Beijing. His Last 64 match has been moved to Wednesday which may sound helpful but all it could mean is two matches on the same day and if he is suffering with any jet lag in the aftermath of the long flight that could be his stumbling point this week, particularly with a potential last 32 tie with Ali Carter who has a good record against him. After a long couple of weeks after going deep in Manchester and winning the World Grand Prix another big run here could be a very big ask.

Judd Trump has had a very poor year this year by his standards ever since the Shanghai Masters final. Since then he has reached one ranking event quarter-final with early exits in the UK and International and more recently losing in the Last 16 of both the Grand prix and Players Championship Finals to players that he would probably have expected to beat when at his best. That sums up the rest of his season, showing brief patches of form mixed with losses to players he would have beaten if that form had have kept up. He desperately needs a run this week to give himself any kind of confidence to go to Sheffield with for the World Championships because watching him and listening to his interviews, it seems like he does not have much at the moment.

Ali Carter has been playing well recently with quarter-final appearances in both of the Players Championship finals and the World Grand Prix prior to that. What it has offered him is the opportunity to get into the top 16 for the World Championships by winning the title this week, so long as Ding and Wenbo lost before the semi-finals and Kyren Wilson lost before the final. As a former Shanghai Masters champion and a twice semi-finalist in this event, he is no stranger to doing well in China and recent events will have given him a lot of confidence. Looking at some of the main contenders in this quarter like Trump and Murphy, he has good records against both and will certainly not have a fearful approach to any of the matches that face him this week.

Quarter Winner: Ali Carter

Quarter 3

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Neil Robertson Vs Noppon Saengkham
Ben Woollaston W/O Adam Duffy
Martin Gould Vs Andrew Higginson or Yuan Sijun
Graeme Dott Vs Matthew Stevens
David Gilbert Vs Gerard Greene
Ding Junhui or Lee Walker Vs Li Hang
Luca Brecel Vs Mark Joyce
John Higgins Vs Zhou Yuelong

Neil Robertson has had a couple of weeks off since his first round exit in the World Grand Prix and having missed the Gdynia Open and Championship League prior to that he has only played one match in snooker tournament play since the middle of February when he lost the Welsh Open to Ronnie O'Sullivan 9-5 from 5-2 ahead. His record in Beijing was never that great until he won the title in 2013 and went on to lose in the final in 2014 trying to defend it. The Australian will have the World Championships very much in the forefront of his mind and knows that a good week here could set him up very nicely for a crack at winning his second world title. I think we can expect a decent run from Robertson this week.

Ding Junhui still needs to win a few games this week to secure his place in the top 16 for the World Championships. This looked very unlikely prior to the Welsh Open. A return to form with quarter-final appearances in Cardiff and Manchester with a semi-final in the World Grand Prix sandwiched in between show you how well he has had to play just to give himself this chance. On paper he you feel like he should make the last 16 which would certainly strengthen his position and a quarter-final or semi-final again this week would pretty much guarantee it barring some strange results elsewhere. He has always historically gone well in the China Open having won the title twice, reached one further final and four further semi-finals in a total of 11 appearances in the event. Once again this week I see him going very well.

Quarter Winner: Ding Junhui

Quarter 4

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Barry Hawkins Vs Tian Pengfei or Niu Zhuang (Last 64 match to be played on Wednesday)
Michael Holt Vs Nigel Bond
Ricky Walden W/O Robin Hull
Ryan Day Vs Dechawat Poomjaeng
Kyren Wilson Vs Tom Ford
Liang Wenbo or Peter Lines Vs Rod Lawler
Peter Ebdon Vs Ian Burns or Guan Zhen
Stuart Bingham or Cao Yupeng Vs Sam Baird

Ricky Walden and Barry Hawkins both have the mad dash to make it to the China Open this week after going deep in Manchester. Walden at the time of writing is still in the final, so will not be flying out until Monday if he bothers at all in fairness. The only reason he would be encouraged to is because of a first round walkover that would see him start on Wednesday in the Last 32, and of course having played well at the Players Championship he will want to keep that going, having already won three ranking events in China previously, with the China Open the only long standing one missing from his list. Hawkins meanwhile made the semi-finals which means he would not have flown out too early for this one and is the reason that his Last 64 match has been rescheduled to Wednesday which could see him play twice on the day with his last 32 match later in the day against a tough opponent in Bond or Holt. If the two of them were to under perform after a hectic period then it could give someone in this section a huge opportunity.

Ryan Day, Liang Wenbo and Kyren Wilson are all chasing places in the top 16 for the World Championships. Wenbo has the best hope as he is £5,000 behind Ding Junhui in 17th places with neither player having yet played their Last 128 games. However, Wenbo would still realistically have to make the semi-finals to have a shot and he has a very tough draw. Peter Lines in the Last 128 round needs wins himself to save his tour place so that will be a very tough match up there by the look of things. Then there is the possibility of a Last 32 match up with Wilson so one set of top 16 hopes will end at this stage, though Wilson has a tough match with Tom Ford in round one. Wilson is currently £11,000 behind Ding but again that could go to £15,000 after the held over match meaning that Wilson would have to make the semi-finals at the very least to get into the 16. Ryan Day will feel like he blew a massive chance in Manchester by losing to Mike Dunn in the last 16 of the Players Championship as another couple of wins at Event City could have given him a much more realistic chance. As it is he leads a group of several players who need at least to make the final, or possibly even win the tournament to make it.

Stuart Bingham has his final tournament before making that trip back to the Crucible to defend his World title. It has not been his best season but he has still made a semi-final in Shanghai and the final of his last event which was at the World Grand Prix. A couple of weeks off could have done him some good too in terms of preparation for this week and looking at this quarter there are players around him battling for top 16 places for the Crucible or to stay in the top 64 at the end of the season, while two more of the top players in this section have had a much shorter turnaround. His form looked a lot better in Llandudno and there is certainly less pressure on him for once than some of the players in this quarter so that could do him good.

Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham

Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Ding Junhui

Predicted Tournament Winner: Stuart Bingham


So, a very important week in store and since the clocks have gone forward the main sessions on Eurosport who are covering the event will be at 7am and 12.30pm UK time and I will be keeping you updated every step of the way with my round by round previews as things heat up before Sheffield.

Hawkins, Walden, Allen and Murphy have Good Fridays in Manchester

Barry Hawkins, Ricky Walden, Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy made it into the semi-finals of the Players Championship finals on Good Friday.

Hawkins was the first man through on a bumper day of snooker action now that play went down to a single table and he came through as the underdog against Ding Junhui. Ding was out of sorts from the start and Hawkins was much improved on a couple of poor showings at the start of the week, and after going 3-0 ahead he came through a fightback from the Chinaman to win through.

Ricky Walden will now be his opponent after he comfortably came through against Ali Carter. Walden started with a century and then had a second century in the third to lead 2-1. A fluke helped him on the way to a good clearance which gave him breathing space at 3-1, before another big break saw him over the line.

Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy both struggled but were able to come through their games and set up a semi-final. Allen missed plenty of easy shots and complained of problems with his cue but Mike Dunn was unable to capitalise and Allen still ended up winning comfortably. Murphy took a 3-1 lead against Ben Woollaston despite looking far away from the form he had shown earlier in the week, but he was soon under pressure when the Leicester man won the next two to force a decider. Both had chances once again in the decider and Woollaston probably had the best of them before Murphy ended up clinching the match with his second attempt at match ball blue.

Quarter-Final Results:

Shaun Murphy 4-3 Ben Woollaston
Mark Allen 4-1 Mike Dunn
Ricky Walden 4-1 Ali Carter
Barry Hawkins 4-2 Ding Junhui

Semi-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Mark Allen - Both of these two guys struggled through their quarter-finals this week but with differing reasons for that it would seem. Allen is struggling with his cue saying it could break on any power shot he plays. With no confidence in his tools it hardly makes a player hit the ball with any conviction and you do not want to be playing timidly in the pressure situation of a big semi-final. Murphy meanwhile just had an off night which was bound to happen eventually because you cannot keep up the same sublime form throughout two successive tournaments without some trouble. The important thing is that both players are still in and will feel more relaxed for the fact that they may be a little lucky to be here. However, if Allen continues to struggle with his cue issues then I expect Murphy to be a more able opponent to jump on his mistakes than Mike Dunn was in the quarter-finals and that could prove the difference on the night.

Barry Hawkins Vs Ricky Walden -  This semi-final brings back some interesting memories for both players. They have had three major meetings in recent years, twice at the World Championships where Hawkins came from a way behind to win both times, while Walden was victorious from a long way behind in their 2014 Masters meeting. Hawkins struggled in the first couple of rounds but is growing stronger now with his confidence and heavy scoring in the balls surging back in his win against Ding. Walden meanwhile has played really well all week. Scoring brilliantly he has already had four centuries in his 12 frames won and plenty of other big breaks on top of that. Now that Walden has found some form this week I have to say it feels like one of those weeks when he can beat anyone that is put in front of him as he has showed against Fu and Carter who did not do masses of things wrong. After a poor season there will also be that extra bit of hunger as well as plenty left in the tank to go on further here.


Two cracking semi-finals tomorrow over the best-of-11 frames with Hawkins and Walden playing in the afternoon and Murphy and Allen in the evening just before the clocks go forward here in the UK.

Fantasy Snooker: China Open

This is a very quick blog just to inform you of the players and prices ahead of the China Open. Of course the nature of the schedule means I could not leave it until after the Players Championship Finals to release the blog with an updated table because of the shot time between events.

It's the usual 8 million for picks and if you need to know how much you have leftover from previous events tweet me @CueActionBlog

Here are the prices for this week:

Stuart Bingham – 6 million
Neil Robertson – 5.8 million
Shaun Murphy – 5.6 million
Judd Trump  – 5.5 million
John Higgins – 5.4 million
Barry Hawkins – 5.3 million
Joe Perry – 5.2 million
Ricky Walden – 5 million
Ding Junhui – 4.9 million
Marco Fu – 4.8 million
Martin Gould– 4.6 million
Liang Wenbo – 4.5 million
Michael White – 4.3 million
Stephen Maguire – 4.2 million
Kyren Wilson – 4.1 million
Graeme Dott – 4 million

Players Seeded 21-32 – 3.5 million
Players Seeded 33-48 – 3 million
Players Seeded 49-64 – 2.5 million
Players seeded 65- 80 – 2 million
Players seeded 81 or below – 1 million


All the best and lucky picking!!!

Dunn stuns Day at Tour Finals

Mike Dunn was the surprise winner on day three of the Players Championship Finals at Event City in Manchester where he beat Ryan Day 4-2 to progress into the quarter-finals of a full ranking event for only the second time in his career. Day showed none of the form that saw him make a century and two 90 breaks in a 4-1 demolition of Kyren Wilson just a day earlier on his birthday, and despite a horrific miss-cue from Dunn when looking to clear for a 4-1 win, he held his nerve to take victory a frame later in the sixth.

Elsewhere there were comfortable wins for Ding Junhui and Shaun Murphy as they continued their recent returns to form, while Mark Allen felt he was stronger in round two with victory over Mark King. Ben Woollaston saw off Selby's replacement Matt Selt while his wife Tatiana refereed Barry Hawkins scrappy deciding frame victory against Robert Milkins on the next table in the evening session.

Ali Carter was much too strong for Judd Trump scoring heavily when his chance came and shutting his opponent out in the safety exchanges to really put the former UK Champion under significant pressure that he could not rise too. Carter will now play Ricky Walden who continued his return to form by reaching his first ranking quarter-final of the season with a magnificent 4-2 win over Marco Fu, which was completed with a century break.

Last 16 Results:

Ben Woollaston 4-2 Matt Selt
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Dominic Dale
Mark Allen 4-2 Mark King
Mike Dunn 4-2 Ryan Day
Ricky Walden 4-2 Marco Fu
Ali Carter 4-1 Judd Trump
Ding Junhui 4-0 Michael White
Barry Hawkins 4-3 Robert Milkins

Quarter-Finals Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Shaun Murphy Vs Ben Woollaston - This may only be Shaun Murphy's second ranking event quarter-final of the season but right now he is absolutely flying. Dominic Dale did nothing wrong last night but was beaten comfortably simply because of how good Murphy's long potting and scoring is at this precise moment. We all know that Woollaston is a class player and has been in decent form himself in recent times reaching the Welsh Open quarter-finals so he will challenge the Grand Prix champion. Murphy will be weary of the fact that he did not play too badly in a 5-4 defeat to Woollaston at the German Masters but the confidence he has right now still sees him a level up from that match and I fancy his run to continue.

Mark Allen Vs Mike Dunn - Mike Dunn is obviously the surprise name in the quarter-finals but he fully deserves to be here. Against McLeod I expected him to win and he was very good value for it, and yesterday against Ryan Day he was given plenty of opportunities by Day's frankly poor play and Dunn just about held his nerve to take them. Playing Mark Allen is a different proposition though as he has been in really good form this season. In Cardiff he was very impressive to make the semi-finals and he has started this week off fairly nicely too as he looks for another appearance in the last 4. If Allen scores heavily like he can, then I do not see Mike Dunn progressing any further.

Ali Carter Vs Ricky Walden - This match is a real coin flip affair in my opinion. Starting with Ali Carter I think he was magnificent yesterday against Judd Trump, doing everything perfectly in both the safety department and with his heavy scoring. However, it is tough to keep these high levels up in all areas from game to game, and Trump has looked off colour for some time and he almost allowed Carter to dominate him. Ricky Walden has also been out of form this season, in fact this is his first ranking event quarter-final of the season. This week though has been a different story, two very strong wins and his fluency amongst the balls seems to have returned. When Walden is at the top of his game he can reel off frames for fun with the first scoring chance he gets and it is a real joy to watch the flow and rhythm he gets into. If Carter's safety is as strong as it was against Trump then he should win but if he gives Walden chances I would expect the former International champion to take them.

Barry Hawkins Vs Ding Junhui - Finally we have another good match to look forward to between Barry Hawkins and Ding Junhui. Hawkins has had to grind for his victories against lower ranked opponents in Michael Holt and Robert Milkins and has certainly not been at the top of his game but that does not mean he will not win this. His battling qualities and match play are right up there and his scoring form has not exactly fallen off of the face of the earth. Ding Junhui however has been looking in great form so far this week, starting off both of his comfortable victories with century breaks which is a sign of class and a sign of the game that Ding Junhui showed to win five ranking events two seasons ago. This is in fact his third ranking event quarter-final in a row which is as good as anyone right now, and it took some real form to see him off in the Welsh Open quarters, and Grand Prix semi's and you would expect someone to have to play some outstanding stuff again this week if he is to be sent packing.


A cracking quarter-final line-up and the final day of best-of-7 frames matches that we will see this season, ahead of the best-of-11 semi's and best-of-19 final, before the China Open and of course the World Championships. A great time to find form.