Scottish Open Preview

Just over a week after Mark Selby's stunning performance to win the UK Championships in York, we have what is the last snooker tournament on tour in 2016.

The Scottish Open has returned to the calendar as the third event in the new home series, as the players will battle it out at the Emirates Arena in Glasgow for the £70,000 top prize and the Stephen Hendry Trophy.

After winning the title in York, Mark Selby will not be at this event having opted not to play, as has Ding Junhui who was the winner the last time snooker came to Scotland four years ago. Other than there is a full field of top quality players going for glory in Glasgow, but that is not to say that a proven winner will come out on top. Liang Wenbo won the first home nations event in Manchester for his first ranking title, while Mark King was an emotional first time ranking winner at the Northern Irish Open in Belfast.

Once again the tournament will be covered by Eurosport who have been doing a brilliant job of covering the home nations events, and on top of that it will be simulcast on freeview channel Quest in the afternoons throughout the week. The format is the same as usual with matches in the first four rounds being best-of-7 frames, quarter-finals of best-of-9 frames, best-of-11 frame semi-finals prior to a best-of-17 frame final.

This is how the draw shapes up for one final week of snooker in 2016:

Quarter 1

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Stuart Bingham Vs Mark Joyce

Yu De Lu Vs Josh Boileau

Daniel Wells Vs Jamie Barrett 

Kurt Maflin Vs Sam Craigie

Anthony McGill Vs John Astley

Sam Baird Vs Mitchell Mann

Robbie Williams Vs Sean O'Sullivan 

Mark King Vs Kurt Dunham

Ian Burns W/O Martin Gould  

Alfie Burden Vs Zhang Anda

Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Sydney Wilson

Liang Wenbo Vs Darryl Hill

Mike Dunn Vs Jason Weston

Ross Muir Vs Gareth Allen 

Matthew Stevens Vs Ken Doherty

Barry Hawkins Vs Hammad Miah

In the top quarter of the draw we have both of the first two home nations champions in Liang Wenbo who has since not quite found his form losing in the Last 64 in Belfast and in the UK Championships before withdrawing from the German Masters qualifiers. The second home nations champion was Mark King who surprised everyone that week by winning his first ever professional ranking title. Anthony McGill was also a first time ranking winner earlier in the season but in recent weeks his form has also dipped, playing in his home tournament could help to spark him back to his best. Stuart Bingham is the very top seed for this week due to the non-entry of world number one Mark Selby and he will be looking to get back to the form he showed in October and the start of November. Bingham reached semi-finals at the English Open and International Championships before making the China Championship, and after taking the week of the Northern Irish Open off I fancied him heavily to do well in the UK Championships. However, he lost in the Last 64 there with a disappointing showing and Bingham is still looking for his first title since becoming a World Champion in May 2015. In terms of dark horses Ross Muir will want to go well in his home tournament while Kurt Maflin will want to build on a Last 16 showing in the Northern Irish Open.

My opening quarter choice is a man who has come close already in this season's home nations and that is Barry Hawkins. Hawkins was a semi-finallist in the English Open before losing to Judd Trump, who at that stage was going for consecutive tournament victories. Then in Belfast he lost out in a deciding frame in the final against Mark King. He completed victories in the early rounds in Belfast with the minimum of fuss, only dropping three frames on the way to the semi-finals that week. He opened up his campaign in the UK Championships with a 6-0 victory, and has just won 5-0 to qualify for the German Masters which shows his form is still good. It is not worth looking into his Last 64 exit at the UK Championships, when you see that Fergal O'Brien made five centuries in that match to beat him, which is an extraordinary effort that you just do not see everyday. The draw for Hawkins in the early rounds in Glasgow looks like one that he could get through with similar ease to that of Belfast if he keeps up his home nations form. A tough early draw can flag up problems over the best-of-7 frames, but a Barry Hawkins who is playing well should be confident of getting to the quarter-finals when the format lengthens slightly and he could come into his own, given his matchplay qualty and heavy scoring.

Quarter Choice: Barry Hawkins

Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Neil Robertson Vs Thor Chuan Leong

Gary Wilson Vs Allan Taylor

Joe Swail Vs Lee Walker 

Stuart Carrington Vs Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn 

Marco Fu Vs Sanderson Lam 

Tom Ford Vs Liam Highfield 

Robin Hull Vs Boonyarit Kaettikun 

Michael White Vs Cao Yupeng

Fergal O'Brien Vs Brandon Sargeant 

Stephen Maguire Vs Zhou Yuelong

Michael Holt Vs David Grace 

Mark Williams Vs Rod Lawler

Mark Davis Vs Rory McLeod 

Graeme Dott Vs Jak Jones

Xiao Guodong Vs Wang Yuchen 

Shaun Murphy Vs Zhao Xintong

This section of the draw is jam packed with plenty of talented players who could all go well and end up winning the entire event. Michael White made the quarter-finals in the Northern Irish Open and he will be hoping to end 2016 on a brighter note here in Glasgow. Graeme Dott has had very little form at all this season, and is yet to win a frame in the home nations but with a home tournament as inspiration he will hope to get some wins under his belt and stop the rot. Michael Holt has been in brilliant form in parts this season and as previous home nations events have showed, there is no reason why this couldn't be the week he wins his first ranking title. He could face Mark Williams in the Last 64 though, and Williams has had consecutive quarter-finals after disappointing results in September and October. Shaun Murphy made the semi-finals of the UK Championships but continues to find players when they are at the top of their game. York was the fourth time this season that Murphy had lost to a tournament winner, with only Bingham suffering that fate more with five (or six if you include the Six Reds in Thailand). Neil Robertson managed to win his two qualifiers for Germany this week, but that did follow first round exits in the UK Championships, Champion of Champions and China Championship which is very poor for somebody of his class and he seems to have gone backwards since losing 6-0 to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the European Masters semi-finals. Stephen Magurie is probably the best home favourite hope besides the in-form John Higgins, and it seems as though Maguire has played very well at times this season without kicking on. For someone of his class he is well overdue a full ranking title given that his last was the Welsh Open in February 2013.

Despite all of those great contenders, my choice for this quarter is Marco Fu. Fu has not had the greatest season so far, failing to make it past the Last 32 of a full ranking event until he broke that duck at the UK Championships. He showed his class in York by winning two of his matches 6-0 on the way to the semi-finals where he was incredibly unlucky to lose to Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5 and it was at this time last year that Fu found form, winning the Gibraltar Open after a run to the UK quarter-finals. It was tough to pick any one player out of this section, but when Fu gathers form he is a tough match player and scores very heavily, but when he is out of form he does not have the consistency required to run deep into events. Hopefully York will have come as a relief and by qualifying for Berlin in the last week he has backed that up and could be a force here. 

Quarter Choice: Marco Fu

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Judd Trump Vs Zhang Yong

Jimmy Robertson Vs Igor Figueiredo 

Noppon Saengkham Vs Craig Steadman 

Yan Bingtao Vs Aditya Mehta 

Kyren Wilson Vs Jamie Jones

Ben Woollaston Vs Ross Vallance

Rhys Clark Vs Eden Sharav 

Oliver Lines Vs Chen Zhe

Anthony Hamilton Vs Fraser Patrick

Michael Georgiou Vs Peter Lines

Chris Wakelin Vs Nigel Bond

Ali Carter Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

Michael Wild Vs Ian Preece

David Gilbert Vs Robert Milkins 

Jack Lisowski Vs Hossein Vafei Ayouri 

Joe Perry Vs Adam Duffy

The third quarter was a very tough one for me to call given the obstacles that a number of the top players face. Ali Carter faces Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in round one baring in mind this pair played out a ranking semi-final in July. Either one of those two could go far in Glasgow. Joe Perry has not been in the best of form for most of the season with a number of early exits, but a good run here could give him a lot of confidence going into the second half of the season. Kyren Wilson followed up his semi-final appearance in the Northern Irish Open with a first round exit in the UK Championships when many would have fancied him for a good run. Add to that a loss from 4-0 up in his second German Masters qualifier and he could easily lose in round one here to in-form Jamie Jones. Jones had no problem qualifying for Berlin and was very close to making the semi-finals in the UK Championships as he lost from 5-2 ahead in the last eight. Anthony Hamilton is a potential dark horse here in Glasgow having reached the quarter-finals of the English Open and coming very close to the Northern Irish Open final. Yan Bingtao is another dark horse coming into this event having reached the Last 16 of the first two home nations events and beating Shaun Murphy in German Masters qualifying to put him 29th on the provisional World Grand Prix list. Judd Trump will have been disappointed to receive two recent Last 64 thrashings, firstly by Oliver Lines in the UK Championships and then by Tom Ford in German Masters qualifying. After his great run through October it was always going to be tough for him to keep that form going forever. 

Amongst all of these players I have gone for a dark horse in David Gilbert as my third quarter choice. Gilbert has obviously played well at certain stages since his major moment at the International Championships in 2015 where he reached the final. Just recently at the UK Championships he played superb snooker to beat Ali Carter in the Last 32, but some of his inconsistencies showed in a very poor performance that saw him fall in the Last 16 to Jamie Jones. The one thing that has stopped him otherwise is coming up against top 16 players that were just a little too good for him, but in this section there are a few top 16 players that have not been in the best of form this season. The same category is where you would place Gilbert's first round opponent Robert Milkins who is going in the other direction to Gilbert in the world rankings. Should the "Angry Farmer" win that one I could certainly see him growing into this event, and if the top players in this section do not find their form a route could start to open up to the latter stages in Glasgow for him if he is good enough. 

Quarter Choice: David Gilbert

Quarter 4

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Mark Allen Vs Christopher Keogan 

Martin O'Donnell Vs Fang Xiongman 

Andrew Higginson Vs Akani Songsermsawad

Li Hang Vs James Wattana

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Matthew Selt

James Cahill Vs Adam Stefanow 

Ryan Day Vs Elliot Slessor

Jimmy White Vs David John 

Dominic Dale Vs Chris Totten 

Luca Brecel Vs Duane Jones

Alex Borg Vs Daniel Womersley

Ricky Walden Vs Tian Pengfei 

Mei Xiwen Vs Paul Davison

Peter Ebdon Vs Jamie Cope

Scott Donaldson Vs Itaro Santos

John Higgins Vs Alan McManus 

In the very last section of the draw we find the tie of the round, particularly for all of the home Scottish fans going to watch. John Higgins and Alan McManus will face off in what is sure to be a brilliant match. McManus has beaten Higgins in all of their last three meetings. With Higgins form, he could easily go on and win the tournament should he get through this round one banana skin. Ricky Walden gets into this event as a top 16 seed with the non-entries of Mark Selby and Ding Junhui having fallen out of the top 16. Walden has been in poor form for most of the last season and a half, barring the two weeks in March when he made consecutive ranking finals. His best effort this season so far is a quarter-final at the English Open and he had to battle hard to make it that far. Mark Allen has been in great form this season without landing a big title. He made the semi-finals in both the China Championship and Champion and Champions, and under the overwhelming pressure of being home favourite at the Northern Irish Open he battled to the quarter-finals before making his first professional 147 break on the way to the UK Championship Last 16 stages. Luca Brecel could be an outsider after a run to the UK Championship quarter-finals, and the 4-0 thrashing he gave Shaun Murphy in the first round in Belfast.

However, for my final quarter choice I found it tough to see past Ronnie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan has been a runner-up three times this season at the European Masters, Champion of Champions and UK Championship. He's played very well in those events but lost out in close finals to very good opposition on each occassion and it would not surprise me if went on to win this event at a canter. It is very tough to see O'Sullivan losing to anyone of a lower standard at the moment, so someone will have to step up if he is to fall before the latter stages in Glagsow. His opening round fixture with Matt Selt could be tough but Selt has had a poor run of results lately. If he gets through that tie I would expect him to make the Last 16 comfortably and more than likely the quarter-finals and beyond. 

Quarter Choice: Ronnie O'Sullivan 

Overall Winner Selection: Barry Hawkins 

Don't forget you can still see my Stat Attack blog here: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/stat-attack-scottish-open.html

Or my earlier Tournament Top Ten Blog:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/scottish-open-tournament-top-ten.html

Stat Attack: Scottish Open

Another tournament is upon and that means we are due another statistical preview.  This week we have an event in the Scottish Open that has been brought into the calendar as part of the home nations series, meaning there are no relevant tournament statistics to bring, but there are plenty of head to heads in the weeks 128 man strong field and my usual statistics. This week we have the average frame aggregates, average frames per 50+ break, average break when 50 or above, close frames win percentage and most ranking event quarter-finals since the start of the 2014/2015 season began. All of these statistics will be updated to the end of the UK Championships, and not include the German Masters qualifiers (as this was an incomplete tournament).

HEAD TO HEAD: 

- Going into their Last 128 match, Mitchell Mann and Sam Baird have only met once but that meeting was at the UK Championships a couple of weeks ago, Mann winning 6-2.

- In five previous meetings Alfie Burden has beaten Zhang Anda on four occasions. However, the Chinese player did win the most recent meeting 5-0 at last years German Masters which gives him hope of success in the Last 128 here.

- When Matthew Stevens and Ken Doherty meet in the Last 128 it will be only the second time they have met in an event of any ranking importance since 2010. The first was at the 2015 Welsh Open where Stevens was a deciding frame victor.

- In nine matches against each other, Mark Williams has beaten his Last 128 opponent Rod Lawler on seven occasions including this years Welsh Open.

- The last two times Mark Davis and Rory McLeod have played, the winner has gone on to win the event. Davis was a winner in the semi-finals on the way to his World Seniors Championship victory, while McLeod beat Davis 4-3 in the Ruhr Open quarter-finals on the way to winning the title.

- In five previous meetings, all of which were in best-of-7 frames affairs, Kyren Wilson has beaten Jamie Jones four times.

- Peter Ebdon and Jamie Cope have already met in the Last 128 of an event this year with Ebdon winning 4-0 at the European Masters.

- Alan McManus plays John Higgins in the first round of their home event, and McManus has beaten Higgins in their last three matches. This include their 2016 World Championship quarter-final and a meeting in the first round of the 2014 World Championship.

- Stuart Bingham could face Yu De Lu in the Last 64 of the third event in a row. Yu won 6-4 in the UK Championships, while Bingham was a 5-3 winner at the in the German Masters qualifiers.

- Gary Wilson could meet Neil Robertson in the Last 64 here, after beating him in the Last 16 of the 2015 Welsh Open.

- Marco Fu meanwhile could meet Tom Ford in the Last 64 here after losing to Ford in the Last 64 of the English Open in October.

- Fergal O'Brien could face Stephen Maguire in the Last 64 after their Last 32 meeting in the UK Championships that saw Maguire come from 5-3 down to win 6-5. Maguire has also won every single one of their previous meetings.

- Jack Lisowski could also meet Joe Perry in the Last 64 after beating Perry 4-3 in the Northern Irish Open.


PLAYER PERFORMANCE: KEY INDICATORS

Average Frame Aggregate: 

This week's Top 10:

1) Ronnie O'Sullivan = 20.68
2) Stephen Maguire = 17.86
3) Judd Trump = 17.22
4) John Higgins = 16.01
5) Barry Hawkins = 15.73
6) Neil Robertson = 15.28
7) Shaun Murphy = 14.68
8) David Gilbert = 14.53
9) Anthony McGill = 13.29
10) Stuart Bingham = 12.67

After a number of one sided victories at the beginning of the UK Championships it is no surprise to Ronnie top of this list for this weeks field. Hawkins has risen up thanks to easy victories during the Northern Irish Open, while Shaun Murphy has climbed a little after his run to the UK Championship semi-finals. Otherwise the top ten is filled with tournament winners or players that have had strong runs in the first half of this season.

This week's Bottom 10:

1) Darryl Hill = -38.14
2) Jason Weston = -34.05
3) Christopher Keogan = -32
4) Sydney Wilson = -30.02
5) David John = -27.86
6) Boonyarit Kaettikun = -27.28
7) Kurt Dunham = -26.18
8) Alex Borg = -24.84
9) Paul Davison = -23.42
10) Cao Yupeng = -21.03

At the bottom of the list for average frame aggregates we have the guys who have struggled in the first half of the season. Darryl Hill is yet to win a match this season, and Jason Weston is in that same boat. Success has been rare for the likes of Keogan or Sydney Wilson while Kurt Dunham and Alex Borg improved slightly after wins in the Northern Irish Open recently. Paul Davison picked up a win in the UK Championships to help out his average.

Average frames per 50+ break: 

This week's Top 10:

1) Ronnie O'Sullivan - 2.08
2) Neil Robertson -2.28
3) Shaun Murphy - 2.48
4) Judd Trump - 2.49
5) Mark Allen - 2.63
6) Liang Wenbo - 2.67
7) John Higgins - 2.68
8) Jack Lisowski - 2.71
9) David Gilbert - 2.75
10) Stephen Maguire - 2.77

Ronnie O'Sullivan tops this list as well as his average frames per 50+ break is getting better and better by the tournament, following plenty of heavy scoring in the UK Championships. Shaun Murphy has improved his standing greatly following his run to the UK semi-finals that involved plenty of big breaks. Meanwhile, Anthony McGill has fallen outside of the top ten with Maguire, Gilbert and Lisowski coming into it for this week (with Selby and Ding being absent from this event). Liang's numbers have improved despite an early UK exit.

This week's Bottom 10:*

1) Jason Weston - 20
2) Sydney Wilson - 15
3) Boonyarit Kaettikun - 14.25
4) Christopher Keogan - 14
5) Kurt Dunham - 11.67
6) David John - 11.6
7) Alex Borg - 11.17
8) Elliot Slessor - 9.78
9) Ken Doherty - 9.3
10) Ross Muir - 9

It is not getting any better at the bottom of this list for the likes of Weston and Wilson, nor Boonyarit and Keogan who were thrashed in round one of the UK Championships. Kurt Dunham has also fallen backwards a touch after a heavy first round defeat in the UK Championships which did not give him a chance to score. David John falls back after a whitewash loss to Hawkins in York, while Slessor and Muir have improved their numbers slightly despite not climbing out of the bottom ten. Ken Doherty has fallen into the bottom ten after a 6-0 loss in the first round of the UK Championships.

Darryl Hill is not included having not made a 50+ break prior to the German Masters qualifiers

Average break when 50 or above: 

This week's Top 10:*

1) Jak Jones - 84.5
2) Mark Allen - 81.99
3) Ronnie O'Sullivan - 81.89
4) Stephen Maguire - 81.25
5) Marco Fu - 81.21
6) Liang Wenbo - 81.04
7) Judd Trump - 80.73
8) Stuart Bingham - 80.58
9) David Gilbert - 80.53
10) Li Hang - 80.53

The cream is rising to the top when it comes to the heaviest scorers. Mark Allen has climbed up from outside of the top ten into second place after a 147 break in York and a number of other big centuries in the event. O'Sullivan is also a climber after all of his century breaks in the UK Championships, while guys like Michael White have fallen outside of the top ten and Li Hang is now on the fringes from a higher position earlier in the season.

This week's Bottom 10:*

1) Dechawat Poomjaeng - 58.94
2) Gareth Allen - 61
3) Oliver Lines - 61
4) Zhang Yong - 62.85
5) Nigel Bond - 64.4
6) Paul Davison - 64.47
7) Lee Walker - 64.62
8) Allan Taylor - 64.69
9) Adam Duffy - 65
10) Yu De Lu - 65

Dechawat Poomjaeng's recent poor form is reflected as he has fallen to the bottom of this list. Paul Davison has climbed slightly despite remaining in the bottom ten and as Liam Highfield has climbed out of the bottom ten, Yu De Lu has fallen into it, otherwise the personnel here in the bottom ten is very much the same as it was prior to the UK Championships, but as we have seen with other lists in this blog it can all change in one week for these guys.

* Only those with more than 10 50+ breaks this season are included

Close Frames Win Percentage: 

This week's Top 10:

1) Michael Georgiou - 80.95%
2) Yan Bingtao - 77.27%
3) Ian Preece - 75%
4) Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - 71.43%
5) Dominic Dale - 69.57%
6) Liang Wenbo - 68.97%
7) Marco Fu - 66.67%
8) Alfie Burden - 66.67%
9) Kyren Wilson - 66.67%
10) John Astley - 65%

Ian Preece and Yan Bingtao have dropped a little bit in this list to allow Michael Georgiou up to first place after slight improvements from him, but Yan and Preece do remain very high on the list and well clear of the chasing pack for now. Stephen Maguire and Mark Joyce have dropped outside of the top ten following the UK Championships and that has seen the likes of Dominic Dale who has risen rapidly in this statistic, and Marco Fu has done the same on his way to the UK semi-finals. Liang Wenbo has maintained his position, while Kyren Wilson has dropped slightly but remains in the top ten.

This week's Bottom 10:

1) Fang Xiongman - 16.67%
2) Alex Borg - 18.75%
3) Darryl Hill - 20%
4) Thor Chuan Leong - 20%
5) Robbie Williams - 21.74%
6) Hossein Vafei Ayouri - 25%
7) Jamie Cope - 27.27%
8) Cao Yupeng - 28.57%
9) Yu De Lu - 28.57%
10) Jimmy White - 31.25%

The standard in close frames has improved in this list since the UK Championships. Jimmy White in tenth place has fallen into the bottom ten despite being 3% higher than tenth place was prior to York. Yu De Lu was bottom going into York so he has risen very nicely, while guys like Jamie Cope and Hossein Vafei Ayouri have both dropped into the bottom ten after close frame loses in their first round exits at the UK.

Quarter-Finals or Better (In full ranking events) Since the Start of 2014/2015 season: 

This week's Top 10 (and Ties):

1) Judd Trump - 13
2) John Higgins and Stuart Bingham - 12
4) Neil Robertson, Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy - 10
7) Stephen Maguire and Joe Perry - 9
9) Marco Fu, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Davis - 8

The absence of Mark Selby and Ding Junhui from this weeks field has allowed those with 8 quarter-finals into the top ten. O'Sullivan and Fu both climbed to that number after making the latter stages in York, while Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy are both up to 10 and John Higgins has gone up to 12 after the UK Championships. Judd Trump still leads the way though despite an early exit in the UK Championships.


Those are the stats ahead of this week then, don't forget my Tournament Top Ten blog is already available:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/scottish-open-tournament-top-ten.html

Meanwhile watch out for my full tournament preview which will be up very soon.

Scottish Open: Tournament Top Ten

With plenty of time ahead of this week's Scottish Open in Glasgow the blog schedule is back to normal and the Tournament Top Ten blog is back out on it's own rather than being a joint blog with the 'Stat Attack' which it has been at times earlier in the season. Taken into account on the list this week are the two home nations events that have taken place already in the English Open and Northern Irish Open. On top of that is February's Welsh Open, as well as the recent UK and International Championships and the European Masters as these feel most relevant in terms of players most recent form. Along with that will be the stats on average frame aggregates, average frames per 50+ break, average contribution when 50 or above, the close frames win percentages which are all specific to this season only, and the quarter-finals or better statistic which takes into account all full ranking events since the start of the 2014/2015 season.

All of these statistics are up to date from the end of the UK Championships but do not include the German Masters qualifiers as this is an "incomplete" event.

So with all of that in the generator lets count down this weeks top ten:

10 - Mark Williams - Starting off with Mark Williams we have a man who has made a couple of quarter-finals in his last two tournaments. Both at the UK Championships and the Northern Irish Open Williams played better than he had in recent tournaments and therefore he has made it into the this weeks top ten. He also reached the Last 16 of the English Open which was the first home nations event, with the Irish Open being the second, on top of a Last 16 appearance in February's Welsh Open. Statistically Williams appears on the quarter-finals or better list in joint fourth place with 10 quarter-finals in the last two and a half seasons.

9 - Shaun Murphy - Shaun Murphy is just a tiny bit above Mark Williams to put him ninth on the list. Murphy has not gone well in the first two home nations events, but he did make the semi-finals of the UK Championships most recently, as well as the quarter-finals of the International Championships a month or so ago. In terms of the statistics Murphy is also in joint fourth with Mark Williams on the quarter-finals or better list, but he also comes in third for this weeks field for average frames per 50+ break list.

8 - Stuart Bingham - World Number 2 Stuart Bingham comes in at 8 on the list for the Scottish Open. He was a semi-finalist at the first home nations event in Manchester, and did not enter the Northern Irish Open. An early exit at the UK Championships has cost Bingham a higher finish on the list, but he did make another semi-final at the International Championships. Statistically Bingham comes in joint second on the quarter-finals or better list which helps him finish just above Murphy and Williams.

7 - Liang Wenbo - Next up is the winner of the first home nations event, English Open winner Liang Wenbo. That is the main reason that he is on the list, adding only a couple of Last 16's at the European Masters and International Championship to that. Early exits at the UK Championship and the Northern Irish Open have prevented him reaching further heights on the list and he also does not rank inside the top five on any of the statistics lists prior to this event.  

6 - Mark Allen - Allen finishes just outside of the top half on this weeks list. He has made a couple of Last 16's in events that counted to this weeks list. Those were the European Masters and much more recently the UK Championships. Neither of his semi-finals in the Champion of Champions or China Championship count towards this week as that was obviously a "restricted field". Having reached the quarter-finals of his home event in Belfast, as well as the Welsh Open semi-finals in February he has a decent home nations record. Statistically, Allen comes fifth on the frames per 50+ break statistic and second on the average break when 50 or above list, after making a 147 maximum break among a number of centuries in the UK Championship.

5 - Barry Hawkins - Hawkins enters the list in the top half, having not appeared on many of the lists this season. This comes after Last 16's at the Welsh Open in February and the European Masters. More recently he was a semi-finalist in the English Open and that was upgraded by a final appearance in the Northern Irish Open final. That run to the Irish Open final helped Hawkins into fifth position on the average frame aggregate list for this week on a statistical note and based on his recent form he is worthy of being a top five contender this week.

4 - John Higgins - John Higgins has been in fantastic form this season so far. His wins at the China Championship and Champion of Champions do not count towards this list. However, he made the Last 16 at the Northern Irish Open and has had four quarter-finals from the European Masters, English Open, International Championships and the UK Championships. His overall season performances have put him fourth on the average aggregate list for this week. Meanwhile, on the quarter-finals or better statistic he is joint second with Stuart Bingham. With all of this in mind Higgins is certainly one of the main contenders for this week.

3 - Neil Robertson - Neil Robertson makes it on to the podium of this weeks list ahead of the Scottish Open. This is mainly thanks to an appearance in the Welsh Open final in February. As well as this he was a semi-finalist at the European Masters, but has not done as well recently. In terms of the home nations he did not enter the Northern Irish Open which helps to boost his average, and he also goes well on a statistical front. In terms of the quarter-finals or better statistic he is in joint fourth position with Williams and Murphy, while he is second on the average frames per 50+ break statistic which is a list he has been very high on all season.

2 - Ronnie O'Sullivan - In the runners-up spot on the Scottish Open list is Ronnie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan was also a runner-up at the recent UK Championships as well as the European Masters back in October. In terms of home nations events O'Sullivan won the Welsh Open in February, but was knocked out in the Last 32 of the English Open and the Last 16 of the Irish Open. As for the numbers coming into this week, O'Sullivan ranks as one of the best. He is third on the average break when above 50, such is the number of centuries he has made in recent events. Meanwhile he leads the field this week for average frame aggregate and the average frames per 50+ break statistic thanks to his frequency of big breaks and the amount of big victories he had in the UK Championships.

1 - Judd Trump - Judd just Trump's O'Sullivan into first place this week purely on average after skipping the Northern Irish Open. However, at the first home nations event in Manchester, Trump was a losing finalist against Liang Wenbo. Trump won the European Masters title in October prior to the English Open, and following that he made the semi-finals of the International Championships. An early exit at the UK Championships did not prevent him from finishing as the top dog here. Trump also goes strong with the stats, leading the field for quarter-finals or better since the start of the 2014/2015 season. On top of that is a third place standing in the average frame aggregate list and a fourth place finish on the average frames per 50+ break. Therefore it is easy to see how he tops the Tournament Top Ten for Glasgow.


The Tournament Top Ten for the UK Championships was a great success with number 1 in the list player Mark Selby beating number 2 in the list Ronnie O'Sullivan in the big final, so I can't wait to see how this weeks statistically led predictions get on.

If you're a fan of my statistics there will be more stats and facts in my upcoming Stat Attack, and my full tournament preview blog will be up shortly after that.

Fantasy Snooker Update: All change after UK Championships

The first double points event of the season at the UK Championships saw a lot of movement in the table, so here's a look at how the table looks now:

1^st: Anthony: Selby x2, Ding x2, Robertson, Hawkins x2, O’Sullivan, Trump, Higgins x2, Maguire, Allen, Bingham, Wenbo, M. Williams 570

2^nd: Gary: Ding, Bingham, Murphy, Trump x2, Allen x2, Robertson, Higgins x2, Selby x2, Fu, O’Sullivan, Wenbo, McGill 546

3^rd: Isitan Bakar: Bingham x2, Maguire x2, Allen x3, Trump x2, Higgins x2, Robertson, Selby x2, Perry, O’Sullivan 494

4^th: Kellie: Selby x2, Wilson, Trump x2, O’Sullivan, Robertson, Bingham, McGill, Walden, Murphy, Higgins, Wenbo, Gould, Allen, Maguire 463

5^th: FAM147: Bingham, Perry, Robertson x2, Allen x2, Higgins, Wilson, Walden x2, Gilbert, Trump, Carter, Maguire, Selby, O’Sullivan 435

6^th: Igor: Murphy x2, Carter, Selby x2, Trump x2, Higgins, Ding x2, Robertson, Bingham, McGill, Maguire, Hawkins, O’Sullivan 433

6^th: Daniela Reich: Ding, Selby, Robertson x2, Trump, O’Sullivan x2, Allen x2, Gould, Walden, Bingham, Murphy, Wenbo, Higgins, M. Williams 433

8^th: M. Lowson: Murphy, Carter, Robertson, Selby x2, Higgins, Ding, McGill, O’Sullivan x2, Allen, Bingham, Trump x2, Wenbo, Perry 420

9^th: John McBride: Selby, Trump x2, Robertson x3, Maguire, Murphy, Higgins, Bingham, O’Sullivan, Allen, Hawkins, McGill 381

10^th: Mark Taylor: Robertson x2, Bingham, Holt, Carter, O’Sullivan, Selby x2, Maguire, Trump x2, Murphy, Ding x2, Allen, Higgins 373

11^th: SnookerFollower: Bingham, Ding x2, Carter, Holt, Allen x2, Higgins x2, McGill, Maguire, Trump, O’Sullivan, Wenbo, Hawkins 350

12^th: TungstenDarts: Perry, Bingham x2, Carter, Trump x2, Allen, Wilson, Higgins, Wenbo x2, Gould, Maguire, O’Sullivan 341

13^th: P. Mudd: Ding, Trump x2, Holt, McGill, Higgins, Gould, Robertson, O’Sullivan x2, Murphy, Bingham, Allen, Perry, K. Wilson, Wenbo 333

14^th: Couge: Carter, Holt, Murphy, Selby x2 Robertson x2, Higgins x2, Trump x2, Ding x2, O’Sullivan, Maguire, Hamilton 300

15^th: LTD: Wilson, Selby x2, Hawkins x2, Walden, Allen x2, Robertson x2, Murphy, Bingham x2, Perry, O’Sullivan, Wenbo 285

16^th: Kjetil: Wenbo, Bingham x2, Murphy, Bingtao x2, Allen, Ding, Hang, Trump, O’Sullivan, Maflin, Hawkins, M. Williams 282

17^th: TYIO: Gould, Bingham, Carter, Walden, Higgins, Trump x2, Maguire, Ding x2, Murphy x3, Allen x2, Robertson 266

18^th: Andrew Walker: Allen x2, Trump x3, Robertson x3, Selby, Bingham x2, Ding x2, O’Sullivan 253

19^th: Munraj Pal: Ding x2, Trump x2, Murphy x2, Allen x2, Robertson, Wilson, McGill, Walden, Fu, Selby, O’Sullivan, K. Wilson 222

20^th: Gorkem: O’Sullivan x2, Selby, Hawkins, Murphy x2, Ding, M. White, Robertson, Allen x2, Trump, Selt, Wenbo, K.Wilson 220

21^st: Andrew Brooker: Wilson, Maguire x2, Murphy x2, Carter, Allen x2, Ding, McGill, Bingham x2, Trump, O’Sullivan, Perry, Robertson 211

22^nd: Ezgi Ulutas: Wilson, Robertson x2, McGill, Higgins, Fu x2, Wenbo x2, Allen x2, Trump, O’Sullivan 199 

Don't forget the Scottish Open starts on Monday December 12th and the deadline for picks is 10am before the first set of matches begins. We are back to normal with single points for the last event before Christmas. A few guys have already used up their three picks for the season on certain players and the x2's are racking up across the board so be wise and careful on who to choose this week. 

Get your picks in to me in the usual ways and enjoy. 

O'Sullivan and Selby to resume rivalry in UK Final

Mark Selby and Ronnie O'Sullivan will face each other in yet another major final after making it down to the last two in York.

Selby was the first man into the UK Championship final beating Shaun Murphy 6-2 in the afternoon. Murphy started off with a break of 99 and was feeling good at that point taking a 1-0 lead. Breaks of 55 and 83 put the World number one 2-1 ahead though and he took the fourth from under Murphy's nose on the colours to take a 3-1 mid-session interval lead. 57 from the Magician after the break got him back into the match at 3-2, but Selby made 58 to regain his two frame lead. The seventh frame was another tense one and again Murphy had his chances but Selby's tactical game was too good and he pinched the frame to lead 5-2 and 51 in the eighth frame sealed his place in a third UK final inside five years.

Ronnie O'Sullivan faced a much tighter match and his first real test of the tournament, having to come back from the brink and beat Marco Fu in a decider. O'Sullivan led 3-1 at the interval, despite a break of 80 from Fu in the second. 100 in the fifth kept Marco in the match at 3-2, but like the first semi-final O'Sullivan regained his two frame advantage with 58 in the sixth. Then it was time for Fu to go on a run as he levelled the match with breaks of 85 and 59 and then stole the ninth frame on the black to move 5-4 ahead and one away from victory. It was looking good when he was in the balls in frame ten, but one of the worst kicks you are likely to see cost Fu his first chance, and his reaction told you all you needed to know putting his hand over his face in disbelief. Another chance came, missing the green when looking to clear the colours for the match but his mind was already frazzled from the previous events of the frame and O'Sullivan punished him to force a decider. Fu did not get a chance in the final frame as O'Sullivan got in first and did what he does best, making a clinical break of 130 to claw himself out of trouble and clinch a 6-5 victory.


Sunday 4th December - Sessions at 1pm and 7pm 

Mark Selby Vs Ronnie O'Sullivan


Getting to the final this week has been very easy for these two at times in this tournament, while in others they have faced rockier patches. Despite going to a decider in the semi-finals, Ronnie O'Sullivan has only dropped 10 frames in six matches while Mark Selby has still been very clinical dropping 14 frames in his six matches. We have really only seen O'Sullivan tested once and that could easily have gone against him last night versus Marco Fu, while Mark Selby could just have easily been beaten in the quarter-finals against John Higgins.

The last two meetings between the two produced victories for O'Sullivan in this years Welsh Open and Masters quarter-finals. The last final they played was the 2014 World Championship, won by Selby after O'Sullivan thrashed him in the 2014 Masters final. They both know what to expect from each other by now. Selby knows that if O'Sullivan could get off to a flier and run away with things today. Although, O'Sullivan knows just as well that know lead is safe against the current world number one.

It is such a tough match to call that it is not worth trying, but you would not expect in a match up of two great players for one to roll the other over comfortably but you never know. I expect it to be relatively close on the day as Selby has been scoring pretty well, meaning he has not had to rely solely on grinding players down and given that he is World Champion and International Champion, at the peak of his powers and confidence too you would imagine I think he could have the slightest of edges.



It has been a very entertaining week of snooker once again from the Barbican Centre in York, where the UK Championships will be held until at least 2018 after an announcement yesterday. The tour will move on though and three big draws should be released in the next 24 hours or so. First for the German Masters where the qualifiers begin in just two days on Tuesday morning and conclude on Friday when we will know the 32 making the trip to the Tempodrome in Berlin in February. Then starting on Monday 12th December is the third of the home nations series as the players head for a week at the Scottish Open. Whether the draw for the Masters will be made live on BBC during today's UK final remains to be seen, we now have the field and the seedings for all 16 players who will compete in the Masters at the Ally Pally in January (as Ronnie is guaranteed first seed as defending champion and Selby the second seed as the World Champion and world number one).

So busy times still lie ahead in the build-up to Christmas, but who will Christmas come early for on the snooker circuit?

O'Sullivan, Fu, Murphy and Selby make up UK semi-finals

Ronnie O'Sullivan, Marco Fu, Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby will play out the UK Championship semi-finals in York after victories of varying difficulty in yesterday's quarter-finals.

Ronnie O'Sullivan eased through in the evening despite not playing his best against an under performing Mark Williams. Williams certainly had his chances on the night but the common theme was that he could not punish O'Sullivan as the Rocket landed a 6-2 win. The high break of 78 from O'Sullivan came in the seventh frame to move him 5-2 up.

He will now play Marco Fu in the quarter-finals after Fu fought back from 5-2 down to beat another Welshman Jamie Jones 6-5. Jones played very well to take his 5-2 lead, and having already seen off Ding Junhui and David Gilbert 6-2 this week many would have thought that Jones was going to continue his run.

His best chances came in frame nine, but when Fu took that frame the tide had certainly turned and the highest break in the match of 75 came from Fu to force the decider. Jones missed a few chances from range in the decider, leaving Fu in each time and eventually he was punished as Fu recorded victory.

In the afternoon session Shaun Murphy cruised to a 6-1 win over Belgium's Luca Brecel who simply did not turn up with the game that saw him beat Murphy 4-0 in the Irish Open a couple of weeks ago. A 77% pot success from Brecel was never going to get him close against Murphy, who made high breaks of 112 and 88 in the win.

The match of the round between Mark Selby and John Higgins certainly lived up to its prior billing as Selby managed to edge out John Higgins 6-5. Higgins was not firing early on and Selby took advantage with breaks of 119, 63 and 67 to take a quick 3-0 lead. A close frame before the interval went to Higgins and kept him in it and from there he started to fire. The next two frames after the break fell his way too, levelling the match at 3-3.

Then the Scotsman took the lead for the first time with a magnificent century. Selby soon hit back to square things again, but it was Higgins who went one up with two to play with a 75 break for 5-4. 63 from Selby forced the decider, which got off to a very scrappy start. Selby had the early advantage but Higgins was soon clawing his way into it but a couple of tough misses with the rest let him down and eventually it was a missed cutback green that cost him as Selby clinched the 6-5 win and will now play Murphy in the semi-finals.

Semi-Final Schedule: 

Saturday 3rd December 1pm: 

Mark Selby Vs Shaun Murphy

Saturday 3rd December 7pm: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Marco Fu


Surprisingly for two guys who have met a lot over the course of their careers, this will be the first time Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy have met since the classic German Masters final of 2015 which went to Selby. Murphy has had his fair share of victories in their most recent meetings too, winning 6-5 in the first round of the 2015 Masters on the way to winning that tournament, and beating Selby in their most major meeting before that at the 2014 World Open final.

This week both players have had to grind out victories at times, with Murphy struggling more in the first couple of rounds before having two easy victories against Zhou Yuelong and Luca Brecel. Selby's game against Wells in the Last 64 could have gone either way, but he followed that up with a couple of comfortable victories before a very difficult and mentally taxing victory against John Higgins yesterday. Both players will be battle hardened by tight matches at points in the tournament, but Mark Selby was the man with all of the form coming into this week, and he will have greater confidence because of that.

In the second semi-final most people will look at that and think that O'Sullivan will have yet another easy game. He has only dropped five frames to this point as no-one has stood up and given him a challenge, and it will be interesting to see how he reacts if Fu can get off to a good start. However, Fu has not convinced me with his form this week and had suffered very poor results all season before coming to York.

Along with that, Fu has not beaten O'Sullivan since the 2009 Welsh Open, and lost their last two meetings 6-1 at the 2015 Masters and 6-0 at the 2014 Champion of Champions. O'Sullivan has not necessarily had to play out of his skin to reach this stage, but he won't have to here either unless Fu improves. The man from Hong Kong has been battle hardened by coming back against Jamie Jones and surviving a scare against Mei Xi Wen earlier in the tournament. That mixed with a couple of 6-0 wins might give him more confidence ahead of such a big match.

Top seeds cruise into UK Quarter-finals

The highest seeds that remained in the UK Championships in York coming into the Last 16 stage all eased their way into the quarter-finals over the last two days.

Ronnie O'Sullivan took his tally of frames lost in this tournament to only three from four matches after beating Matthew Stevens 6-2. World Champion Mark Selby continued his easy progress through the last couple of rounds by winning every frame after losing the opener to Zhang Anda who was not short of chances on the night but very wasteful.

Oliver Lines could not keep a run going that contained a victory over Judd Trump and a whitewash win over Jimmy Robertson, as Marco Fu beat Lines 6-0 to record his second whitewash of the tournament. Fu will now meet Jamie Jones who followed up his 6-2 win over Ding Junhui by beating David Gilbert 6-2 also. This means Jones has only dropped seven frames in progressing to the quarter-finals, but Fu has still dropped one less than that.

Tie of the round on paper was not as close as some people might have expected. John Higgins went 2-0 ahead on Mark Allen early on in the match. Higgins fell away for the next few frames though as Allen went 3-2 ahead and had a chance in the sixth to make it four in a row. Having squandered that and seeing Higgins level at 3-3, the Northern Irishman did not win another frame despite having his chances and it was the in-form Higgins that ran out an easy 6-3 winner.

Shaun Murphy showed his experience against Chinese teenager Zhou Yuelong. After going 2-0 Murphy was pegged back to 2-2 at the interval. After changing the set of balls following that break it was Murphy that upped his game with a number of heavy breaks to win all of the next four frames and record a 6-2 win.

Murphy will play Luca Brecel who had fortune on his side in beating Stephen Maguire 6-3. Maguire missed a lot of key balls on the night, and the killer blow in frame nine came after Brecel escaped from a snooker on the penultimate red, fluking it into the middle and clearing up. Otherwise it was a high quality performance from the Belgium who has started to look a lot more comfortable on the TV against top players.

By far the best and most tense match of the Last 16 came between Mark Williams and Liam Highfield going all the way to a decider. Williams was up against it throughout the match as Highfield kept edging himself in front and after he did so at 5-4 there was a strong feeling it could be his night. Chances came in frame ten but overly aggressive shot selection handed that frame to the Welshman, and it was the same story in the final frame as Highfield took on a number of ambitious shots to gift Williams chances and eventually he got over the line.


Last 16 Results:

Mark Williams 6-5 Liam Highfield
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-2 Matthew Stevens
Jamie Jones 6-2 David Gilbert
Marco Fu 6-0 Oliver Lines
Luca Brecel 6-3 Stephen Maguire
Shaun Murphy 6-2 Zhou Yuelong
John Higgins 6-3 Mark Allen
Mark Selby 6-1 Zhang Anda


The cream has risen to the top then over the last 48 hours and set up a great line-up for Friday's quarter-finals:

Quarter-Final Draw and Schedule:

Friday 2nd December 1pm:

Shaun Murphy Vs Luca Brecel
Mark Selby Vs John Higgins

Friday 2nd December 7pm:

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Mark Williams
Marco Fu Vs Jamie Jones


The eye is certainly drawn to one of the afternoon quarter-finals in particular as world number one Mark Selby takes on this seasons China Championship winner and Champion of Champions John Higgins. Both players have hit form in the last couple of rounds and this is anyone's game over the best-of-11 frames. Expect top tactical player and plenty of big breaks to go with that as well. On the whole I was more impressed by Higgins win over Allen in the Last 16 and think that his form right now is going to be very hard to stop.

The other afternoon game puts Shaun Murphy up against Luca Brecel just over a couple of weeks after Brecel thrashed Murphy 4-0 in the first round of the Northern Irish Open with Murphy scoring just eight points. This means Brecel has won their last two meetings and Murphy will want to turn it around by repeating the victory he earned in the 2012 UK quarter-finals. Murphy has played very well at times this week, while Brecel appears to love this event having made his second UK quarter-final already, and reaching the Last 16 in 2015 too.

Jamie Jones has already thrashed Ding Junhui and David Gilbert in this tournament, though both were far from their best. If he can keep his run going against Fu, then it is worth remembering that Fu has very little form this season and has not been gracing the latter stages of ranking events at all so there will be pressure on both players. However, after watching Fu punish Oliver Lines you feel that if Jones does not keep his form going that he will be punished to the maximum as well.

Last but certainly not least is Ronnie O'Sullivan against Mark Williams. This is by far O'Sullivan's toughest match on paper so far this week, having started with three rounds against players outside of the top 64, while his highest ranked opponent was Matthew Stevens the 41st seed. Mark Williams has not been his best this week, though he has already come through two deciding frames which shows his nerves are holding up. The last two times these players have met in major competition, the matches were over the best-of-11 frames and both went the distance. O'Sullivan recorded victory on the way to winning the Masters in January, while back in 2014 Williams ended a long losing run against Ronnie with a 6-5 victory in the International Championship quarter-finals.


That is what we have to look forward to today, and that should leave us a couple of cracking semi-finals for Saturday.

Ding beaten in UK Championships Last 32

Ding Junhui is the latest high seeded player to exit the 2016 UK Championships after suffering a 6-2 thrashing by Jamie Jones. Jones led 2-0 early on in the contest, but this weeks fifth seed levelled at 2-2 going into the interval only for the Welshman to win all of the last four frames.

Joe Perry was another of the top 16 seeds to exit as he also lost out 6-2 to Matthew Stevens. Stevens had already beaten Michael White in this event, while Perry had somehow dragged his previous match from the fire against Xiao Guodong. The only highlight for Perry was a 136 break in the opening frame, but after taking the lead at 2-1 he then only scored eight points in the next four frames as he fell 5-2 behind before eventually losing 6-2.

Ali Carter was the other high seeded player to lose in the third round as he squandered a 3-0 lead in losing 6-5 to David Gilbert. After getting the match back to 3-2, Gilbert then made consecutive centuries to lead for the first time and went one away at 5-3. Carter hit back with runs of 95 and 116 to force the eleventh and deciding frame and was only a couple of balls from victory when he missed a crucial pink to the middle. A 55 clearance followed from Gilbert to put him in the Last 32.

Shaun Murphy did manage to scrape through against Dominic Dale. Murphy looked strong with runs of 89 and 103 on the way to taking a 5-2 lead, only to miss chances in the next few frames to kill the match off and instead Dale forced a decider. Dale had a half dozen chances in the decider, but when Murphy's chance came he potted some good balls under pressure to book his Last 16 place.

Mark Allen meanwhile came from 4-0 adrift against Ryan Day to win 6-5. Day was flying at the interval having barely missed a ball in the first four frames, but suddenly he fell away and Allen took five frames in a row to lead 5-4. Day forced the decider and had the best of the early chances before poor safety play from Day, and a succession of snookers from Allen clawed him back into it before the Northern Irishman clinched victory.

Things were much more simple for Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Selby who both cruised to 6-1 wins against Michael Georgiou and Robert Milkins respectively. John Higgins overcame Ben Woollaston 6-2 after winning the last three frames in that match. Marco Fu had to battle hard for victory against Mei Xi Wen in a very poor performance that was not punished by his Chinese opponent who could easily have won.

The Lines family interest was halved after Peter Lines (who saw off top seed Neil Robertson in round one) lost 6-2 to Liam Highfield. Son Oliver kicked on after his victory against Judd Trump by whitewashing Jimmy Robertson.

In a key battle for Masters spots it was Welshman Mark Williams who edge the battle of 16th seed against 17th seed Ricky Walden who had led 5-3 before losing 6-5.

Last 32 Results: 

Liam Highfield 6-2 Peter Lines
Mark Williams 6-5 Ricky Walden
Matthew Stevens 6-2 Joe Perry
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-1 Michael Georgiou
Jamie Jones 6-2 Ding Junhui
David Gilbert 6-5 Ali Carter
Marco Fu 6-4 Mei Xi Wen
Oliver Lines 6-0 Jimmy Robertson
Luca Brecel 6-1 Yu De Lu
Stephen Maguire 6-5 Fergal O'Brien
Zhou Yuelong 6-5 Yan Bingtao
Shaun Murphy 6-5 Dominic Dale
John Higgins 6-2 Ben Woollaston
Mark Allen 6-5 Ryan Day
Zhang Anda 6-3 Mitchell Mann
Mark Selby 6-1 Robert Milkins

So, only seven of the top 16 seeds remain for the Last 16 at the UK Championships, so let's take a look at how they line-up for the fourth round over two tables on Wednesday and Thursday.

Last 16 Draw and Schedule: 

Wednesday 30th November 1pm: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Matthew Stevens
Shaun Murphy Vs Zhou Yuelong

Wednesday 30th November 7pm: 

Marco Fu Vs Oliver Lines
Mark Selby Vs Zhang Anda

Thursday 1st December 1pm: 

David Gilbert Vs Jamie Jones
John Higgins Vs Mark Allen

Thursday 1st December 7pm: 

Mark Williams Vs Liam Highfield
Luca Brecel Vs Stephen Maguire


An interesting line-up then that will guarantee at least two players outside of the top 16 prior to the week making the quarter-final.

It is hard to see Ronnie O'Sullivan losing to Matthew Stevens, however well Stevens may be playing. The five times world champion has only dropped a single frame in motoring to the fourth round and that can be expected to continue.

Mark Williams had to battle hard against Ricky Walden and played quite well in parts, and will hope to take advantage of Liam Highfield's inexperience at this level in order to make it into the quarter-finals.

David Gilbert is a slight favourite with the bookies to beat Jamie Jones and rightly so. Gilbert has played well in this tournament so far, with two easy wins in the opening two rounds as well as scoring heavily in a high quality match with Ali Carter. Jones though has only dropped five frames to make it this far and will be determined to carry on his great run.

Oliver Lines was flying against Jimmy Robertson following victory against Judd Trump the round before and it would not be at all surprising to see him carry that on against an out of form Marco Fu. This is the first ranking event of the season that has seen Fu in the Last 16 and he nearly threw that away against Mei Xi Wen in the last round

Stephen Maguire was the nineteenth seed for the UK Championships and now that many of the top 16 seeds have gone he will be looking to take advantage by climbing back up the rankings. His Last 16 opponent Luca Brecel has reached the Last 16 in York for the second year in a row, having previously made the quarter-finals here in 2012 so he certainly seems to bring out his best here and has hit form at the right time this season.

Shaun Murphy has had to battle to reach this stage but now plays Chinese youngster Zhou Yuelong, who he overcame at the last 64 stage last year in the UK Championships, and he will want to improve to do the same again this week and perhaps hope for signs of in experience in his opponent.

The only all top 16 match in the fourth round puts Mark Allen against John Higgins, Higgins has been in brilliant form winning two events in November, and making a 147 break in the event he did not win prior to this one. Allen came from 0-4 down against Ryan Day but he did not play badly to fall that far behind in the first place and he simply stayed strong when the Welshman's level dropped. Allen has also had a maximum, making his in the Last 64 this week. This could be a very tight match if they both play their both, and Allen will certainly look to play better than his 9-3 semi-final loss to Higgins in the China Championships which Higgins went on to win. Allen however had won their three most recent meetings in big events prior to that.

World champion Mark Selby should not have many problems overcoming Zhang Anda is he is at his best. Zhang will have to play at his very best either way if he is to complete his first ever victory against Selby. Selby may not have been playing his very best game throughout this event so far, but this is the time when it usually kicks on and if that starts to happen you almost expect him to lift the trophy on Sunday.


That is how the Last 16 shapes up for Wednesday and Thursday to produce Friday's quarter-finals line-up with all matches still being played over the best-of-11 frames.

Five ton Fergal O'Brien beats Barry Hawkins in York

Fergal O'Brien produced the best performance by far in this year's UK Championship as he made five century breaks on the way to a 6-5 comeback win against Barry Hawkins. The Irishman opened up with a century, but was soon 4-2 adrift after six frames played. Three consecutive centuries soon turned that into a 5-4 lead, and another century clearance in the decider made that five and put him into the Last 32 as well as the history books.

Elsewhere, world number 2 Stuart Bingham suffered a shock 6-4 exit at the hands of Yu De Lu after a very poor performance on the night from Bingham. Judd Trump was also beaten and outclassed by Oliver Lines following in his fathers footsteps in this tournament by beating a top seed. Last year's runner-up Liang Wenbo was also shown the door losing to the incredible Yan Bingtao who recorded another great result winning 6-4.

World champion Mark Selby had to scrap out his match with Daniel Wells winning 6-4 from 1-3 behind in a match where it is Wells who will have all of the regrets. John Higgins scrambled against Thai Noppon Saengkham, losing the seventh frame on a re-spotted black to fall 3-4 adrift before winning all of the last three frames. Shaun Murphy looked good in a match against Robin Hull that featured centuries from both players and was of good quality for the large part, with Murphy winning 6-3 just as he did against Hull at the same stage two years ago.

No such dramas took place for Ronnie O'Sullivan who is now 12 frames won and 0 lost after another 6-0 victory, this time against Rhys Clark. Mark Allen came up trumps with his first ever maximum 147 break in professional competition in his match with Rod Lawler. It was still a tight match though but Allen came out on top a 6-4 winner.

There were simple victories for Ali Carter, a 6-2 winner against Robbie Williams and Stephen Maguire who beat young Zhao Xintong by the same scoreline. Ding Junhui was also a 6-2 winner in his match against Ross Muir, winning the last five frames of that contes, while Mark Williams overcame Andrew Higginson by the same scoreline. Williams will now face Ricky Walden who was yet another 6-2 winner, beating Scott Donaldson to continue his good start in York.

The all Welsh battle between Matthew Stevens and Michael White went the way of Stevens with a 6-4 victory while another Welshman Jamie Jones held off any hopes of a Alan McManus repeating his comeback heroics from the first round. There was success for the young Chinese crop as well with Zhou Yuelong thrashing much improved Michael Holt 6-1. German Masters champion and last years quarter-finalist Martin Gould has also lost, with China's Mei Xi Wen getting the better of that match a 6-3 winner.

Last 64 Results: 

Peter Lines 6-4 Chris Wakelin
Liam Highfield 6-5 Wang Yuchen
Ricky Walden 6-2 Scott Donaldson
Mark Williams 6-2 Andrew Higginson
Joe Perry 6-4 Xiao Guodong
Matthew Stevens 6-4 Michael White
Michael Georgiou 6-4 Mike Dunn
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-0 Rhys Clark
Ding Junhui 6-2 Ross Muir
Jamie Jones 6-2 Alan McManus
David Gilbert 6-2 Mark Joyce
Ali Carter 6-2 Robbie Williams
Marco Fu 6-0 Rory McLeod
Mei Xi Wen 6-3 Martin Gould
Jimmy Robertson 6-2 Mark Davis
Oliver Lines 6-2 Judd Trump
Yu De Lu 6-4 Stuart Bingham
Luca Brecel 6-5 Sam Craigie
Stephen Maguire 6-2 Zhao Xintong
Fergal O'Brien 6-5 Barry Hawkins
Yan Bingtao 6-4 Liang Wenbo
Zhou Yuelong 6-1 Michael Holt
Dominic Dale 6-3 Graeme Dott
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Robin Hull
John Higgins 6-4 Noppon Saengkham
Ben Woollaston 6-4 Paul Davison
Ryan Day 6-2 Kurt Maflin
Mark Allen 6-4 Rod Lawler
Mitchell Mann 6-2 Sam Baird
Zhang Anda 6-3 Anthony McGill
Robert Milkins 6-5 Hammad Miah
Mark Selby 6-4 Daniel Wells

There has certainly been some surprises then in the second round and a number of top players have had to really battle for their Last 32 places, so let's have a look at who they will now face in the third round.

Last 32 Draw and Schedule: 

Monday 28th November 1pm: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Michael Georgiou
Mark Selby Vs Robert Milkins
Ali Carter Vs David Gilbert
Liam Highfield Vs Peter Lines

Monday 28th November 7pm: 

John Higgins Vs Ben Woollaston
Marco Fu Vs Mei Xi Wen
Zhou Yuelong Vs Yan Bingtao
Luca Brecel Vs Yu De Lu

Tuesday 29th November 1pm: 

Mark Williams Vs Ricky Walden
Shaun Murphy Vs Dominic Dale
Jimmy Robertson Vs Oliver Lines
Joe Perry Vs Matthew Stevens

Tuesday 29th November 7pm: 

Ding Junhui Vs Jamie Jones
Mark Allen Vs Ryan Day
Stephen Maguire Vs Fergal O'Brien
Zhang Anda Vs Mitchell Mann

Fergal O'Brien has set the standard but can he keep that up when he faces another tough opponent in Stephen Maguire? Well the draw has opened up a little in certain sections. The top quarter of the draw provides a good opportunity for Peter Lines and Liam Highfield, with the winner there getting a guaranteed £15,000 for making the Last 16 so expect plenty of tension there. Mark Williams and Ricky Walden play a key match in the battle for Masters spots with Walden having to win to keep his hopes alive there. Ronnie O'Sullivan has not dropped a frame so far against Rhys Clark and Boonyarit Keattikun, and he will be hoping to keep this up against Michael Georgiou. Joe Perry scrambled through from 4-1 down against Xiao Guodong who had plenty of chances from the fifth frame to close the match out, so Matthew Stevens has a chance of carrying on his best form for a while having already beaten Michael White this week. 

The second quarter is now void of fourth seed Judd Trump, but fifth seed Ding Junhui is still going without having looked 100% convincing so far in his two victories. He was looking up to the heavens at 1-2 behind to Ross Muir before Muir fell away but those signs of pressure getting to Ding or general despondency are not what his fans will want to see. Ali Carter has had two easy 6-2 victories so far, but so has his Last 32 opponent David Gilbert so that could well be a cracking game. Marco Fu meanwhile will be looking to reach the Last 16 of a full ranking event for the first time this season, if he can beat Mei Xi Wen who has already seen off Lisowski and Gould. Opportunity knocks for Lines junior after his victory against Trump as Oliver now takes on Jimmy Robertson, who thrashed Mark Davis in the last round and has only dropped two frames so far, for a Last 16 place and that guarantee of £15,000. 

The third quarter has seen three of the four top 16 players fall, including third seed Stuart Bingham. That has left an opportunity for Yu De Lu to put himself out of trouble in terms of tour survival, if he can beat Luca Brecel in the Last 32. Brecel has good history in the UK Championships for someone still so young though and he would expect to kick on after coming from behind to beat Sam Craigie in the last round. Whether Fergal O'Brien keeps up his unbelievable form remains to be seen, else 19th seed Stephen Maguire who has a good record in the UK Championships, will be ready to pounce. We have a battle of the young Chinese players between Yan Bingtao and Zhou Yuelong, with Bingtao flying in his first half season on tour beating Liang Wenbo to get to this stage. Zhou thrashed in form Michael Holt to get here so both are clearly in good form and that should be a cracker. The top seed remaining in the third quarter though is Shaun Murphy who has not had the best run of results this season, though has said it has taken a lot of players playing well to beat him and is confident of turning that around. His opponent Dominic Dale was in the arena watching Murphy on Sunday night against Robin Hull having seen off out of form Graeme Dott in round two and he would have seen a Murphy that looked to be striking the ball well, making two centuries. 

The bottom quarter has not opened up all that much. Going to seeding John Higgins will play Ben Woollaston, Mark Allen faces Ryan Day and second seed Mark Selby will take on Robert Milkins. If there was one problem that will stop Woollaston against Higgins it is that he just does not look like a confident enough character in matches against top players and it certainly shows to me at home, and must do to his opponent also. At times he walks around the table in a timid manner that would fit someone with far less experience than Woollaston has. Having said that Higgins was not convincing against Saengkham by any means and could be starting to tire after a long stretch of winning and competing that must take it's toll mentally in the long run. Allen and Day looks like a cracker. Particularly so if you add in the fact that Allen has made his first professional 147 break in this tournament, while Ryan Day thrashed Kurt Maflin in the Last 64. Mark Selby was far from convincing against Daniel Wells with Wells having enough chances to have beaten Selby in that contest. His Last 32 opponent Milkins has been in poor form all season though and while he can really turn on the style and score heavily to beat Selby I do not see it happening. The draw has opened up a little in this area to allow Mitchell Mann and Zhang Anda a big opportunity. Again the extra £5,000 would be a big boost to either player. Mann has looked very good in beating Kyren Wilson and thrashing Sam Baird and seems to come alive the longer the format is. Zhang Anda meanwhile saw off Anthony McGill in the last round so both players have taken out a high ranked player to reach the Last 32 stages. 

Those are my thoughts on the Last 32, and i'll be back ahead of Wednesday's play when we get down to a two table set-up at the York Barbican for Wednesday and Thursday's Last 16.

UK Championship Last 64 Preview

The first round of the UK Championships is all over which means it starts to feel like a real tournament now, with the TV stages getting underway with the Last 64 on Saturday. There has been one huge upset as the defending champion Neil Robertson is out having been beaten 6-3 by Peter Lines, which really opens up the draw from an early stage.

Kyren Wilson was the next highest ranked casualty as he also lost out 6-3 to Mitchell Mann. Ding Junhui meanwhile made a 74 clearance in his deciding frame to overcome Igor Figueiredo who came back valiantly in that match. Fellow Brazil professional Itaro Santos caused problems for Shaun Murphy leading 3-1 at the interval before Murphy came back with five frames in a row to win 6-3.

However, there were a number of easy wins for the top seeds as Stuart Bingham came through his opener 6-0, with guys like Northern Irish Open runner-up Barry Hawkins and Ricky Walden also winning by the same scoreline. Ronnie O'Sullivan took winning 6-0 to a new level as his match against Boonyarit Keattikun included three centuries and lasted just 56 minutes.

World Champion Mark Selby had a failed maximum attempt in frame one of his 6-1 win over Andy Hicks, while Stephen Maguire, Liang Wenbo and Ali Carter also won 6-1 in their first round games. Judd Trump beat James Wattana 6-2 while in form John Higgins beat Alex Borg 6-3. Mark Allen impressed with three centuries in a 6-4 win over Chen Zhe.

There were also a couple of big comebacks in round one, but the biggest of them all went to Alan McManus who came from 5-0 down to beat Michael Wild. Wang Yuchen beat Peter Ebdon 6-5 from 5-3 and 3-0 behind, while Ross Muir won all of the last four frames from 5-2 down to beat Joe Swail 6-5 in an important match for the fight for tour survival.

Meanwhile, success at the Northern Irish Open was not a recipe for more success in Northern Ireland. Semi-Finallist Anthony Hamilton lost 6-3 to Rod Lawler, just as the other losing semi-finalist Kyren Wilson had done. Belfast champion Mark King suffered a 6-2 loss to Sam Craigie including being docked a frame for forgetting his cue after the mid-session interval and therefore not being ready to re-start on time.



Last 128 Results: 

Peter Lines 6-3 Neil Robertson
Chris Wakelin 6-2 Alfie Burden
Wang Yuchen 6-5 Peter Ebdon
Liam Highfield 6-5 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Mark Williams 6-1 Jason Weston
Andrew Higginson 6-4 Hossein Vafei Ayouri
Ricky Walden 6-0 Fang Xiongman
Scott Donaldson 6-4 Dechawat Poomjaeng
Matthew Stevens 6-1 James Cahill
Michael White 6-5 Fraser Patrick
Xiao Guodong 6-3 John Astley
Joe Perry 6-3 Jamie Barrett
Mike Dunn 6-1 Darryl Hill
Michael Georgiou 6-2 Matthew Selt
Rhys Clark 6-5 Li Hang
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-0 Boonyarit Keattikun
Ding Junhui 6-5 Igor Figueiredo
Ross Muir 6-5 Joe Swail
Alan McManus 6-5 Michael Wild
Jamie Jones 6-1 Eden Sharav
Ali Carter 6-1 Christopher Keogan
Robbie Williams 6-1 Akani Songsermsawad
David Gilbert 6-2 Adam Duffy
Mark Joyce 6-3 Lee Walker
Mei Xi Wen 6-5 Jack Lisowski
Martin Gould 6-2 Gareth Allen
Rory McLeod 6-3 Jak Jones
Marco Fu 6-2 Josh Boileau
Jimmy Robertson 6-0 Thor Chuan Leong
Mark Davis 6-3 Sydney Wilson
Oliver Lines 6-5 Martin O'Donnell
Judd Trump 6-2 James Wattana
Stuart Bingham 6-0 Adam Stefanow
Yu De Lu 6-3 Nigel Bond
Luca Brecel 6-0 Aditya Mehta
Sam Craigie 6-2 Mark King
Barry Hawkins 6-0 David John
Fergal O'Brien 6-2 Zhang Yong
Stephen Maguire 6-1 Cao Yupeng
Zhao Xintong 6-2 David Grace
Zhou Yuelong 6-3 Duane Jones
Michael Holt 6-2 Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn
Yan Bingtao 6-5 Stuart Carrington
Liang Wenbo 6-1 Kurt Dunham
Dominic Dale 6-5 Sanderson Lam
Graeme Dott 6-1 Ian Preece
Robin Hull 6-1 Jamie Cope
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Itaro Santos
John Higgins 6-3 Alex Borg
Noppon Saengkham 6-0 Ken Doherty
Ben Woollaston 6-5 Elliot Slessor
Paul Davison 6-3 Gary Wilson
Mark Allen 6-4 Chen Zhe
Rod Lawler 6-3 Anthony Hamilton
Ryan Day 6-2 Jimmy White
Kurt Maflin 6-0 Allan Taylor
Zhang Anda 6-2 Tian Pengfei
Anthony McGill 6-5 Craig Steadman
Sam Baird 6-2 Sean O'Sullivan
Mitchell Mann 6-3 Kyren Wilson
Hammad Miah 6-5 Tom Ford
Robert Milkins 6-1 Hamza Akbar
Daniel Wells 6-5 Ian Burns
Mark Selby 6-1 Andy Hicks


That's set up the main stages of the UK Championships in effect, with the Last 64 being played over Saturday and Sunday so let's look at who is playing who and when.

Saturday 26th November: 1pm Session: 

Mark Selby Vs Daniel Wells
John Higgins Vs Noppon Saengkham
Mark Williams Vs Andrew Higginson
Stephen Maguire Vs Zhao Xintong
Graeme Dott Vs Dominic Dale
Luca Brecel Vs Sam Craigie
Liam Highfield Vs Wang Yuchen
Mike Dunn Vs Michael Georgiou

Saturday 26th November: 7pm Session: 

Stuart Bingham Vs Yu De Lu
Ali Carter Vs Robbie Williams
Barry Hawkins Vs Fergal O'Brien
Michael Holt Vs Zhou Yuelong
Michael White Vs Matthew Stevens
Chris Wakelin Vs Peter Lines
Jamie Jones Vs Alan McManus
Sam Baird Vs Mitchell Mann

Sunday 27th November: 1pm Session: 

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Rhys Clark
Ding Junhui Vs Ross Muir
Mark Allen Vs Rod Lawler
Liang Wenbo Vs Yan Bingtao
Martin Gould Vs Mei Xi Wen
David Gilbert Vs Mark Joyce
Robert Milkins Vs Hammad Miah
Ben Woollaston Vs Paul Davison

Sunday 27th November: 7pm Session: 

Judd Trump Vs Oliver Lines
Shaun Murphy Vs Robin Hull
Marco Fu Vs Rory McLeod
Joe Perry Vs Xiao Guodong
Ryan Day Vs Kurt Maflin
Ricky Walden Vs Scott Donaldson
Anthony McGill Vs Zhang Anda
Mark Davis Vs Jimmy Robertson


With defending champion Neil Robertson out in the top quarter of the draw, you have to look at 2014 winner Ronnie O'Sullivan as the man who could come through that section  now, particularly after an impressive first round display. Ricky Walden, who is a two time York semi-finalist from 2011 and 2013, and Mark Williams are the two men who could have played Robertson in the Last 16, which could well make a possible Last 32 meeting between the two a very high stakes affair. This is baring in mind that Masters places are very much on the line. Opportunity certainly knocks in that top little section as one of non tour card holder Peter Lines, English Open quarter-finalist Chris Wakelin, Liam Highfield or Chinese Wang Yuchen will be in the last 16 as each of those four players came through after beating a top 64 seeded player in round one.

My quarter winner for the bottom quarter has been beaten as Kyren Wilson lost out in round one, and that probably helps Mark Selby's cause more than anyone though he may still have to play Anthony McGill in the Last 16. Mark Allen's three centuries in his round one match could make him a man to watch in that quarter also.

Ding was very close to going out in round one, so he is a man to watch closely for any possible vulnerabilities going forward. Ali Carter could take advantage if Ding were to lose early, if he can keep his form going after two centuries in a comprehensive 6-1 round one win. Judd Trump is still the main man for me in that second quarter though, given that his mini section does contain the out of form Marco Fu as the biggest threat before the quarter-finals.

In quarter three, Shaun Murphy was both relieved but equally as unhappy after a first round performance where he had to pull it out of the fire to beat Itaro Santos. He faces Robin Hull (in a battle of my two favourite players) and Hull had a good chance to beat Murphy in the recent International Championships, and will be well up for that one after thrashing Jamie Cope in round one. Stuart Bingham will be very happy with his efforts at the top end of quarter three, but so will Stephen Maguire and Barry Hawkins whom he could face one of in the Last 16. Last years runner-up Liang Wenbo will also be happy with a 6-1 win and he is Shaun Murphy's potential Last 16 opponent though there is a long way to go before we reach that stage.

One of my picks in the Last 64 comes on Saturday night when Michael White plays Matthew Stevens and that could be a very competitive match if it were to be placed on TV. I'm also looking forward to following Luca Brecel who has good history in this event, and a 6-0 first round win under his belt, as he plays one of my players to watch for this season in Sam Craigie. Ryan Day against Kurt Maflin on Sunday evening could also be a very big scoring affair. Xiao Guodong could be a good match for Joe Perry, as Xiao has been in much better form this season while Perry has not had the greatest year and was nearly pegged back from 4-0 to 4-4 against Jamie Barrett in round one.

My other two players to watch this season also made it through round one with Yan Bingtao playing Liang Wenbo in round two and Zhao Xintong facing Stephen Maguire. Don't be surprised if at least one of my three players to watch is gracing the Last 32 with his presence.

It may also be worth keeping an eye on Michael Georgiou who beat Matt Selt in round one, and he now plays Mike Dunn in the second round with a possible meeting with Ronnie O'Sullivan at stake. The same could be true of Sam Baird who made the Last 16 of the International Championships a month ago and the Last 16 of the World Championship and he now plays Kyren Wilson's victor Mitchell Mann in round two.

In all, 18 of the top 64 seeds for the UK Championships fell at the first hurdle. Six of these come in the bottom quarter, and seven are in the top quarter from which Neil Robertson the very top seed was removed. Only two seeds fell in the second quarter, while the other three came out of quarter three.


So there is plenty to look forward to over the weekend, and that is before we even get to the Last 32 stages which I will be back and looking ahead to ready for Monday.

Fantasy Snooker Update: UK Championships

It's time for the first of the three double points events this year as the UK Championships have rolled around.

Other than all points being doubled everything else is the same. You can only pick two players, and you cannot pick the same player more than three times. Some players have already used their three picks on certain which hinders their selection process for these three big points events.

The DEADLINE for all picks is Tuesday 22nd November 2.30pm before the first set of matches.

Here is how the table looks after the last couple of events:

1^st: Gary: Ding, Bingham, Murphy, Trump, Allen x2, Robertson, Higgins x2, Selby, Fu, O’Sullivan, Wenbo, McGill 378

2^nd: Anthony: Selby, Ding x2, Robertson, Hawkins x2, O’Sullivan, Trump, Higgins x2, Maguire, Allen, Bingham, Wenbo 368 NI: 51

3^rd: John McBride: Selby, Trump, Robertson x3, Maguire, Murphy, Higgins, Bingham, O’Sullivan, Allen, Hawkins 345

4^th: Daniela Reich: Ding, Selby, Robertson x2, Trump, O’Sullivan x2, Allen, Gould, Walden, Bingham, Murphy, Wenbo, Higgins 317

5^th: Kellie: Selby, Wilson, Trump, O’Sullivan, Robertson, Bingham, McGill, Walden, Murphy, Higgins, Wenbo, Gould, Allen, Maguire 295

6^th: Isitan Bakar: Bingham x2, Maguire x2, Allen x3, Trump x2, Higgins, Robertson, Selby x2, Perry 294

7^th: P. Mudd: Ding, Trump, Holt, McGill, Higgins, Gould, Robertson, O’Sullivan x2, Murphy, Bingham, Allen, Perry, K. Wilson 293

8^th: Igor: Murphy x2, Carter, Selby x2, Trump x2, Higgins, Ding, Robertson, Bingham, McGill, Maguire, Hawkins 279

9^th: Couge: Carter, Holt, Murphy, Selby x2 Robertson, Higgins x2, Trump x2, Ding, O’Sullivan, Maguire, Hamilton 276

10^th: LTD: Wilson, Selby x2, Hawkins x2, Walden, Allen x2, Robertson, Murphy, Bingham, Perry, O’Sullivan, Wenbo 259

11^th: SnookerFollower: Bingham, Ding, Carter, Holt, Allen x2, Higgins, McGill, Maguire, Trump, O’Sullivan, Wenbo, Hawkins 258

12^th: M. Lowson: Murphy, Carter, Robertson, Selby, Higgins, Ding, McGill, O’Sullivan x2, Allen, Bingham, Trump, Wenbo, Perry 252

13^th: TYIO: Gould, Bingham, Carter, Walden, Higgins, Trump x2, Maguire, Ding, Murphy x3, Allen x2 242

14^th: Andrew Walker: Allen x2, Trump x2, Robertson x3, Selby, Bingham, Ding x2, O’Sullivan 209

15^th: Kjetil: Wenbo, Bingham, Murphy, Bingtao x2, Allen, Ding, Hang, Trump, O’Sullivan, Maflin, Hawkins 204

16^th: Ezgi Ulutas: Wilson, Robertson x2, McGill, Higgins, Fu x2, Wenbo x2, Allen x2, Trump, O’Sullivan 199

17^th: Munraj Pal: Ding, Trump x2, Murphy x2, Allen x2, Robertson, Wilson, McGill, Walden, Fu, Selby, O’Sullivan 198

17^th: Gorkem: O’Sullivan x2, Selby, Hawkins, Murphy x2, Ding, M. White, Robertson, Allen x2, Trump, Selt 198

19^th: TungstenDarts: Perry, Bingham x2, Carter, Trump, Allen, Wilson, Higgins, Wenbo x2, Gould, Maguire 193

20^th: Andrew Brooker: Wilson, Maguire x2, Murphy x2, Carter, Allen x2, Ding, McGill, Bingham, Trump, O’Sullivan, Perry 185

21^st: FAM147: Bingham, Perry, Robertson x2, Allen x2, Higgins, Wilson, Walden x2, Gilbert, Trump, Carter, Maguire 155

21^st: Mark Taylor: Robertson x2, Bingham, Holt, Carter, O’Sullivan, Selby, Maguire, Trump x2, Murphy, Ding x2, Allen 155

That's how things sit now but it all can change very quickly during the UK Championships with it being double points so pick wisely!!!

THE BIG UK CHAMPIONSHIP PREVIEW

There have been a lot of events on the snooker calendar in the last few weeks, so many that it has been hard to keep track of them all at times. Now though we are into one of the most popular tournaments as the first of this season's 'Triple Crown' events has arrived with the UK Championships starting in York.

It will be the first time we have seen any BBC coverage since Mark Selby won the World Championships at the beginning of May (or it will be when they pick up the live coverage from the start of the Last 64 on Saturday). They now have tough rivalry from Eurosport who have been doing very good studio coverage from the first two home nations events, while the recent Champion of Champions on ITV4 was a high point with Stephen Hendry joining Alan McManus, Neal Foulds and Clive Everton.

The format for this event has changed somewhat in recent years but now of course matches are the best-of-11 frames right from the first round through to the semi-finals with the final being the usual best-of-19 frame affair. The set-up will also be the same as recent years with four tables being situated in the main arena at the York Barbican, with another four being placed in the "Sports Hall" in another area of the venue for the first couple of rounds.

Tuesday to Thursday is when the last 128 round will be played, before a rest day on Friday to prepare things for the start of the main TV coverage from Saturday with the Last 64. This years defending champion is Neil Robertson after he made a 147 break on the way to defeating Liang Wenbo comfortably in the final a year ago. He will be fresh after skipping the Irish Open, as will reigning World Champion Mark Selby, 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham and 2011 UK Champion Judd Trump after their decisions to do the same.

Once again the draw is seeded so seed 1 plays 128 and 64 plays 65 in the first round with this layout carrying forward right the way through, so let's take a look at what sort of match-ups that has provided.

Quarter 1

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Neil Robertson Vs Peter Lines

Alfie Burden Vs Chris Wakelin

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Liam Highfield 

Peter Ebdon Vs Wang Yuchen 

Mark Williams Vs Jason Weston 

Andrew Higginson Vs Hossein Vafei Ayouri

Ricky Walden Vs Fang Xiongman 

Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Scott Donaldson

Matthew Stevens Vs James Cahill 

Michael White Vs Fraser Patrick 

Xiao Guodong Vs John Astley 

Joe Perry Vs Jamie Barrett

Mike Dunn Vs Darryl Hill

Matthew Selt Vs Michael Georgiou

Li Hang Vs Rhys Clark

Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Boonyarit Kaettikun

The top section in the draw features plenty of big names. Following a quarter-final at the recent Northern Irish Open Mark Williams will be hoping that this has turned around his form and that he can have a good run in York. Ricky Walden needs a run in York to get back into the top 16 for the Masters, and that is more than possible as he has twice made the semi-finals of the UK Championship in 2011 and 2013. Joe Perry will also be hoping not to suffer another of his early exits after a loss in the Last 32 of the Northern Irish Open. Elsewhere, Ronnie O'Sullivan may well see it that he is defending the title he won here in 2014 after not entering the UK Championships last year when Neil Robertson was the victor. O'Sullivan lost a tight contest at the Irish Open in the Last 16, after making the final of the Champion of Champions. Over the longer format of best-of-11 frames matches O'Sullivan could have another good run this week and is certainly a contender to capture another UK crown. It is hard to pick someone who could come from the outside in a quarter full of so many top players but young Michael White who made scored very heavily on the way to the Irish Open quarter-finals last week and he could certainly be in with a chance if things go in his favour.

My quarter choice in the first quarter though is defending champion Neil Robertson. Robertson has a good record over recent years of the UK Championship in York. A player of his quality who scores as well as he does is always going to be tough to handle over longer format matches, as opposed to best-of-7 contests when it can be anyone's game. Winning the UK title twice in three years is always going to make the Australian tough to rule out. I think he should get through the early rounds comfortable enough if he's playing well before the possibility of a match up with O'Sullivan. He has beaten O'Sullivan on a few occasions in the past but will be desperate to get one up on him after a 6-0 semi-final loss at the European Masters when they last met. The thing that stood out in Robertson's win last year at the Barbican is how comfortably he got through many matches, which the long format can allow you to do. Taking a week off seemed like it was much needed after a couple of poorer results and he will certainly be ready to go, and you would be a fool to rule him out. 

Quarter Choice: Neil Robertson

Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Ding Junhui Vs Igor Figueiredo 

Joe Swail Vs Ross Muir

Alan McManus Vs Michael Wild

Jamie Jones Vs Eden Sharav

Ali Carter Vs Christopher Keogan

Robbie Williams Vs Akani Songsermsawad

David Gilbert Vs Adam Duffy

Mark Joyce Vs Lee Walker 

Jack Lisowski Vs Mei Xiwen 

Martin Gould Vs Gareth Allen

Rory McLeod Vs Jak Jones

Marco Fu Vs Josh Boileau

Jimmy Robertson Vs Thor Chuan Leong

Mark Davis Vs Sydney Wilson

Oliver Lines Vs Martin O'Donnell 

Judd Trump Vs James Wattana

Elsewhere in the top half of the draw, there are another load of top players. Martin Gould narrowly missed out on the semi-finals of the UK Championship a year ago when he lost out to David Grace, and will be looking for another good run this week. Marco Fu may have reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championship in the last two years but he has not made it past the Last 32 of a full ranking event in the first half of this season so far, which is incredibly poor form for someone inside of the top 16. Ali Carter played in one of the most memorable matches of the last few years in York, when he lost 9-8 to Shaun Murphy in the 2012 semi-finals, and after winning earlier in the season he will be hoping to follow that up with his first ever Triple Crown tournament win because he is more than capable. Carter also had a week off instead of playing the Irish Open, which I hope was to prepare for the UK Championships and not because of serious matters. Ding Junhui cannot do any worse than his Last 128 exit in the UK Championship a year ago and his recent record in the UK Championships is certainly not the best in this weeks field for a player of his quality. As for possible outsiders in this quarter, Mark Davis made the York semi-finals in 2012 and the quarter-finals in 2014 so he has a good record here and is more than capable if the draw opens up.

My second quarter choice though is 2011 UK Champion Judd Trump. Trump for me has showed signs this season that he could be ready to win a lot more tournaments and perhaps dominate the game in years to come. A winner at the European Masters, he then reached the English Open final and the International Championship semi-finals in consecutive weeks to follow and was scoring for fun. His tactical play has obviously come on a lot since he was UK Champion in 2011, and this showed more in his run to the final in 2014 when he was very unlucky not to beat Ronnie O'Sullivan. He is a bit hit and miss in this event following his win in 2011 with a first round exit in 2012 and then losing in the Last 32 again last year from a comfortable position, but for me he seems to have ironed out some of these frailties and a large percentage of the time, someone will have to play very close to their best to knock him out of a tournament. There is no one in this section he will fear until a potential quarter-final with Ding Junhui, but there are a lot of ifs and buts for both players before we can look forward to that potential match-up. Like Robertson, Trump did not play in Belfast and should be fresh and ready for a big tournament at the Barbican.  

Quarter Choice: Judd Trump

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Stuart Bingham Vs Adam Stefanow

Yu DeLu Vs Nigel Bond

Luca Brecel Vs Adiyta Mehta 

Mark King Vs Sam Craigie

Barry Hawkins Vs David John 

Fergal O'Brien Vs Zhang Yong

Stephen Maguire Vs Cao Yupeng

David Grace Vs Zhao Xintong

Michael Holt Vs Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn

Zhou Yuelong Vs Duane Jones

Stuart Carrington Vs Yan Bingtao

Liang Wenbo Vs Kurt Dunham 

Dominic Dale Vs Sanderson Lam 

Graeme Dott Vs Ian Preece

Robin Hull Vs Jamie Cope

Shaun Murphy Vs Itaro Santos

Both of the home nations champions from this year appear in the draws third quarter, with English Open champion and last years UK Championship runner-up Liang Wenbo being joined by Northern Irish Open champion Mark King who won his first ever ranking title in some style in Belfast. Barry Hawkins was the man that King overcame in the final, and he will be hoping that his run in Northern Ireland will lead to a better showing in the UK Championships after consecutive Last 64 exits in 2014 (from 5-0 up famously) and 2015. Despite this Hawkins could be a major contender this week. As could Stephen Maguire who has a good record in recent years at the UK Championship, making the semi-finals in 2014 as well as the quarter-finals the year before that. This year marks eight years since Shaun Murphy won the UK Championship and he will be hoping to bag another one this year in York. He has lost in the Last 16 three years running in York, and will be hoping to call on form that saw him make the quarter-finals of the International Championship and semi-finals of the China Championship rather than the first round exits that followed in the Champion of Champions and Irish Open. In terms of dark horses for this section Michael Holt could be one of them. Holt has beaten Ronnie O'Sullivan twice this season to make the quarter-finals in Shanghai and Daqing after reaching the Riga Masters final early on in the season.

Who could top all of those players? Well my choice for the quarter is Stuart Bingham. Bingham made the semi-finals of the 2013 and 2014 UK Championships as well as the 2012 quarter-finals. After the trials and tribulations of last season when Bingham struggled under the weight of being World Champion, this season has been a much better display. Three semi-finals in Shanghai, Manchester and Daqing before a loss in the final of the China Championship to John Higgins who played stunning snooker to clinch the match. Having not won since his world title and now seeming to be in much better form, Bingham is long overdue a ranking win. Given his good record in recent years of the UK, and the fact he was a frame away on two occasions from making the final, Bingham is a hard man to count out this week. A relatively tough draw could well sharpen him up for the latter stages, because you would still expect him to come through the early rounds. Having taken the week of the Northern Irish Open off, Bingham should be rested up after a tiring run of good results in England and in China, and ready to go again here. 

Quarter Choice: Stuart Bingham

Quarter 4 

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

John Higgins Vs Alex Borg

Ken Doherty vs Noppon Saengkham 

Ben Woollaston Vs Elliot Slessor 

Gary Wilson Vs Paul Davison

Mark Allen Vs Chen Zhe

Rod Lawler Vs Anthony Hamilton 

Ryan Day Vs Jimmy White

Kurt Maflin Vs Allan Taylor

Anthony McGill Vs Craig Steadman 

Tian Pengfei Vs Zhang Anda

Sam Baird Vs Sean O'Sullivan

Kyren Wilson Vs Mitchell Mann

Tom Ford Vs Hammad Miah

Robert Milkins Vs Hamza Akbar

Ian Burns Vs Daniel Wells

Mark Selby Vs Andy Hicks

The bottom quarter is where we find a number of contenders for the title. Anthony McGill made the quarter-finals of the UK Championship two years ago and seems to enjoy the longer format as his performances in the World Championships would show. Mark Allen was a finalist in the UK's in 2011 but has not reached those highs since then in this tournament. Recent showings with semi-finals at the China Championship and Champion of Champions as well as a quarter-final despite not playing his best under the pressure of being the home player at the Northern Irish Open. Allen could certainly be a contender if he keeps that going here. John Higgins is going to be a tough man to stop having won back to back titles at the China Championship and Champion of Champions as well as making a maximum 147 break on the way to the Irish Open Last 16 when his winning run was ended. His recent UK Championship has not been as good since he won the 2010 but that should not stop him having a good run this time around. Then there is the World champion and World number one Mark Selby who comes into this week in good form. After a win earlier in the season in Furth, he followed that up by winning the International Championship played over a similar format to this year. He took the week of the Irish Open off to prepare for this event, and why would he not after making a least the semi-finals in three of the last four years, winning the title in 2012 and coming close to defending it in 2013. Selby is another who cannot be ruled out in York. 

My final quarter selection though is young star Kyren Wilson. Wilson has impressed me with how he has played in a number of tournaments since coming through with his Shanghai Masters win over a year ago. The 2016 World Championships was a clear indicator that he could compete at the top level over a long format. With a run to the semi-finals at the Northern Irish Open last week, including impressive wins against Ronnie O'Sullivan (who made three centuries against Wilson in that match) and then another gritty deciding frame win over Mark Williams, Wilson has certainly sharpened himself up for York. Having had three weeks off, not entering the International and failing to qualify for the two invitationals, Wilson will be fresh and hungry for success and having gotten rid of any rust there was in Belfast, he should be ready for another good run like one's we saw at the World Championship, and at Indian Open in the early stages of the season. 

Quarter Choice: Kyren Wilson

Overall Winner Selection: Stuart Bingham


That is all of my build-up for the UK Championships starting on Tuesday afternoon in York.

If you are a fan of my statistical work you can view my Stat Attack here:

http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/uk-championships-stat-attack.html

Or my earlier Tournament Top Ten blog on this page:

http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/uk-championships-tournament-top-ten.html

Otherwise I will back to preview the Last 64 and the start of the TV stages before on Friday's rest day at the Barbican.