Maguire one away from Crucible place

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Last 16 Results:

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

 

Quarter Finals Draw: (Picks in Bold)

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

 

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

 

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

Wilson out, but Maguire remains in Crucible fight

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Last 32 Results:

 

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

Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

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

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

 

 

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

Shocks galore in Beijing

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Last 64 Results:

 

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

 

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

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

 

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

 

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

China Open Preview

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quarter 1

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

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

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

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

Quarter Winner: Joe Perry

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

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

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

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

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

Quarter Winner: Ali Carter

Quarter 3

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

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

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

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

Quarter Winner: Ding Junhui

Quarter 4

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

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

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

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

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

Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham

Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Ding Junhui

Predicted Tournament Winner: Stuart Bingham


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

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

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

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

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

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

Quarter-Final Results:

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

Semi-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

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

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


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

Fantasy Snooker: China Open

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

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

Here are the prices for this week:

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

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


All the best and lucky picking!!!

Dunn stuns Day at Tour Finals

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

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

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

Last 16 Results:

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

Quarter-Finals Draw: (Picks in Bold)

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

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

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

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


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

Top players all through in Manchester

The large majority of the top players involved in the Players Championship Finals in Manchester made it through to the second round over the first two days. Ding Junhui started things off with an easy victory against David Gilbert, while Marco Fu struggled through a deciding frame against Alan McManus.

Shaun Murphy carried on his winning ways with a second victory in consecutive events against Liang Wenbo, with the Chinese managing just one frame across those two meetings. One of the matches billed as match of the round did not live up to expectation as Judd Trump eased through 4-1 against Martin Gould whose only contribution was a 135 break in frame four. It was the same story when Ryan Day took on Kyren Wilson as Wilson was not at his best missing several shots with the rest while Day scored heavily to run through a 4-1 winner.

Mark Allen was the benefactor of miss of the season from Mark Davis at the start of their deciding frame as the Northern Irishman came through 4-3. Barry Hawkins had to grind in his match with Michael Holt but a good clearance in the final frame saw him take out the Hitman 4-2. Ricky Walden meanwhile seemed to find some form in his match with Tom Ford with some brilliant scoring there making Walden a 4-1 winner after a month off from competition and a very poor season.

Finally, there was one major casualty as Mark Williams poor season continued with a 4-3 loss to Dominic Dale in which Williams played quite poorly. Having not qualified for China next week he then went to Twitter and voiced his opinion that it would probably be Ponds Forge next for him for World Championship qualifiers, but looking at the provisional seedings it would take an unlikely turn of events to nudge him from provisional 13th seed out of the top 16.

Last 32 Results:

Matt Selt 4-1 Andrew Higginson
Ben Woollaston 4-3 Jimmy Robertson
Dominic Dale 4-3 Mark Williams
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Liang Wenbo
Mark Allen 4-3 Mark Davis
Mark King 4-2 Sam Baird
Ryan Day 4-1 Kyren Wilson
Mike Dunn 4-1 Rory McLeod
Marco Fu 4-3 Alan McManus
Ricky Walden 4-1 Tom Ford
Judd Trump 4-1 Martin Gould
Ali Carter 4-1 Graeme Dott
Ding Junhui 4-1 David Gilbert
Michael White 4-2 Luca Brecel
Robert Milkins 4-1 Tian Pengfei
Barry Hawkins 4-2 Michael Holt

Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Matt Selt Vs Ben Woollaston - Matt Selt was obviously in the 'lucky loser' situation when he was called up to replace Mark Selby and this match here with Ben Woollaston looks like a close one. Woollaston scraped past Jimmy Robertson in the last round and did not seem to play as well, while Matt Selt was very solid against Andrew Higginson and I think he has his eyes very firmly on a big run this week to put himself in contention for a top 16 seeding at the World Championship. This could go all the way but I think Selt has a slight edge.

Shaun Murphy Vs Dominic Dale - Dominic Dale scored well in beating Mark Williams but Williams was out of sorts in that match and you would say that Dale will have to improve even further to beat Shaun Murphy here. Murphy has been flying of late and continued to show that form I round one in Manchester and he would love to win back to back ranking events. His scoring power and long potting could be too much for Dale if they continue on as they have been for the last couple of weeks.

Mark Allen Vs Mark King - Another battle of the marks with Allen and King and this could be another close one for both players. Allen will go in as favourite and you would fancy him to win against King to be fair to both players. King will need to grind away to win this or heavily up his scoring power which is probably where he falls down against the top players these days. If he can put Allen in trouble in the safety department though, then it could be a different game.

Ryan Day Vs Mike Dunn - Ryan Day was superb last night in dispatching Kyren Wilson. His scoring was excellent just as it was in the early rounds of the World Grand Prix. Day has been threatening a big run for a number of months and he certainly has the game right now to go on through to the semi-finals or even beyond that and put his name firmly in the ring for an automatic seeding through to the World Championships. Mike Dunn played well at the end of his match against Rory McLeod and when these two met in the Welsh Open he competed well with Day but in the end it was the Welshman's scoring that got him over the line and I think that could be the same story here.

Marco Fu Vs Ricky Walden - This is another tight match to call here in round two as most of these matches are to come in the bottom half of the draw. However, the one really positive sign in round one was the return to some form of Ricky Walden and I think that is long overdue. It's tough to keep a player like Walden down for too long and if he can keep his rhythm going this week then he is an incredibly dangerous player. Fu has been struggling too in recent months and was a very lucky man to get through against Alan McManus, but I do not think he will be so lucky here is Walden scores as heavily as we know he can and as heavily as he did in round one.

Judd Trump Vs Ali Carter - Matches between Ali Carter and Judd Trump are usually quite enjoyable and I am sure todays will be no different. Trump mopped up against a sloppy Martin Gould in round one but did not quite seem to be at his best in my view. He has struggled for any consistency at all this season and did not sound very confident in his interview after beating Gould. Ali Carter meanwhile played well in my opinion at the World Grand Prix and at the start of the week I fancied him to carry that on here in Manchester. He started well against Dott and won that match by outscoring him as I expected he would. If he is on his game, which he certainly was not when the pair last met in this years German Masters, then he is more than a match for Trump in all areas of safety and scoring and he will not give in if Trump starts off well either.

Ding Junhui Vs Michael White - This is quite an important game today with the implications of the provisional seedings for staying in the top 16 for the World Championships. The one thing that strikes you is how both players would deal with that. White is very emotional and puts lots of pressure on himself as you can see in most of his matches and that will not usually lead to results. Ding meanwhile has been very calm on the subject and played very well with recent runs at the Welsh Open and Grand Prix and I fancy him to carry that good form on in this match after he was solid against Gilbert in round one. White was struggling against Luca Brecel in round one but Brecel (possibly distracted by events back home in Brussels) went off the boil at 2-0 and made some basic mistakes to let White back in, but he will not enjoy the same luxuries today so he will certainly need to up his game.

Barry Hawkins Vs Robert Milkins - Finally, we have another good little match up between Hawkins and Milkins. Both had to grind it out in their matches yesterday as they were not at their best at all. Milkins did not have a break of 50+ in a 4-1 win against Tian Pengfei and against the top players that simply will not get the job done and it will not do against Hawkins today. Barry did what he needed to when he needed it most against Michael Holt with the clearance to win 4-2 and he did have some quite bad luck at times in the match that stopped him being more clinical. Safety play could be the key aspect of this game as it is an area where Hawkins is usually better than Milkins who will need to up his game in all areas to win this.


A cracking set of matches here for today then over best-of-7 frames and i'll be back to look ahead to more best-of-7 frame matches in tomorrows quarter-finals.

Players Championship Finals Preview

After a week off from snooker after Shaun Murphy's triumph in the World Grand Prix it's time to get back into things with the Players Championship Finals at Event City in Manchester.

Once again the tournament will be covered on ITV4 with the usual suspects (though Alan McManus will be on playing duties first up on Tuesday afternoon against Marco Fu) and after their great coverage of the World Grand Prix it will be good to see them take on another new event.

The format for the week in Manchester is exactly the same to that of the one we saw in Llandudno with the tournament starting on Tuesday with a two table set-up and first round, second round and quarter-final matches all taking place over the best-of-7 frames before the best-of-11 frames semi-finals on Saturday and the best-of-19 frames final on Sunday.

There are a number of notable absentees with six of the top eight players in the world rankings not taking part. Mark Selby was meant to be the number one seed for the event but he has withdrawn from the this event and the China Open for personal reasons. Hopefully everything will be better for him to be able to compete to a good standard at the World Championships.

Ronnie O'Sullivan and Neil Robertson are also not present after not entering enough of the qualifying events to have an impact on the order of merit, while John Higgins, defending champion Joe Perry and world champion Stuart Bingham all entered plenty of the European Tour events but just fell short.

To bring in a quick statistic, despite the Grand Prix places being filled up by the top 32 players on a one year ranking list from the start of the season to the Gdynia Open, and the Players Championship Finals effectively being filled by the top 32 on a combined order of merit from the six European Tour events and lone Asian Tour event, 20 of the 32 players involved this week were also in Llandudno.

Stephen Maguire is also not present in Manchester and he is provisionally seeded 19th for the World Championships so will need a big week in Beijing to qualify automatically by getting back in the top 16. Michael White is provisionally 15th with £187,033, while Liang Wenbo is provisionally 16th on £178,101 roughly £9,000 behind. Ding Junhui is then just over £3,000 behind Wenbo, with Wilson just under £6,000 behind Liang coming into the week. Even Ryan Day could have a chance if he were to have a strong week this week despite being £27,000 behind.

A look at the money breakdown tells you that by getting into the event the players are guaranteed £4,000, with £7,000 for reaching the last 16, £12,500 for getting into the quarter-finals, £20,000 for losing semi-finalists while the runner-up receives £38,000 and the winner £100,000.

All to play for then this weeks, so here is how the draw looks for the penultimate event in the Crucible lead-up:

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Andrew Higginson Vs Matt Selt (Wednesday 23rd March at 1pm)
Ben Woollaston Vs Jimmy Robertson (Tuesday 22nd March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
Mark Williams Vs Dominic Dale (Wednesday 23rd March around 9pm - second evening session)
Shaun Murphy Vs Liang Wenbo (Tuesday 22nd March around 3pm - second afternoon session)

Looking at the top section of the quarter we have a massive opportunity for one of the four players involved. Matt Selt has been the beneficiary of a lucky loser situation after the withdrawal of Mark Selby. He just missed out on the combined list but now he is back in and will play Andrew Higginson in round one. Ironically, before this draw amendment was made, I was talking about the rise of Matt Selt with my brother and we likened him to what Andrew Higginson was essentially in around 2011/2012 when he rose up in the rankings to just outside of the top 16 and generally looking like a solid player. Now though Higginson has lost his consistency and Selt is found quite a lot of consistency through pure hard work and determination to succeed. Do not be surprised at all if Selt goes a long way this week.

Meanwhile we have Ben Woollaston and Jimmy Robertson who are also in that top section, and Ben Woollaston has found quite a bit of form in recent times. He made the last 8 both in the Welsh Open and Gdynia Open, the latter of which helped to solidify his place in this competition. Again Ben Woollaston is a hard working player who is climbing up the rankings and again if someone like himself or Matt Selt could have a good week this week they would put themselves on the edge of the top 16.

Elsewhere in this quarter we find Mark Williams who, while he has found some form over the last couple of years, has not had the results in recent times to back that up. Tough draws against Ding and Trump saw him losing in the first round of the Gdynia Open and World Grand Prix. This is also his last event before the World Championships having failed to qualify for China next week so he could do with finding some form this week to boost his confidence ahead of Sheffield you would feel.

Shaun Murphy is after another successful week having taken home the trophy and £100,000 from the Grand Prix. He seemed to find his form there after a bit of a lean season by his standards, and now he will have his sights set on more glory in a place where he lived for many years until recently. First up this week he has Liang Wenbo who he beat in the quarter-finals of the Grand Prix as Wenbo only scored 36 points. Though with plenty on the line for Liang in terms of automatic Crucible qualification you would expect him to give Murphy a closer contest on this occasion. However, once the Magician gets his tail up he is pretty tricky to stop and if he can get through the first couple of rounds again then who knows, he could be taking home another trophy and another £100,000 winners cheque.

Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Mark Allen Vs Mark Davis (Wednesday 23rd March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
Mark King Vs Sam Baird (Wednesday 23rd March around 3pm - second afternoon session)
Ryan Day Vs Kyren Wilson (Wednesday 23rd March 7pm)
Rory McLeod Vs Mike Dunn (Tuesday 22nd March around 9pm - second evening session)

Straight away by looking at the draw you can see two massive matches featuring players that are both outside of the top 32. Firstly there is King and Baird. Mark King has had a good season on the European Tour making the quarter-finals in Gibraltar and Gdynia, as well as a semi-final at the Paul Hunter Classic and after qualifying for the tour finals last year he also made it to the last 16. Sam Baird is still quite hit and miss as a player. On his day he could breeze past King but if he has not quite got it together then it could be a much easier afternoon for the KingDog. Then of course there is Mike Dunn and Rory McLeod which is a very interesting game. McLeod has been quite hit and miss this season, at times of course he has been very good. He would not have won his first professional title at the Ruhr Open otherwise. Other times he has been ridiculous. Losing from 4-1 up in the German Masters and 5-1 up at the UK Championships are not exactly habits you want to be getting in to. Mike Dunn meanwhile has been a lot better on the circuit since this time two years ago when he just avoided dropping off of the tour by making the semi-finals of the China Open. For other players around him, he is usually tough to beat just as Rory is so that could be quite a battle on Tuesday evening.

Mark Allen considered himself very unlucky last week at the Grand Prix to lose from 2-0 up in the Last 16 to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, although he did not seem to have the same comfort within his game that he had displayed a few weeks earlier on the way to the semi-finals of the Welsh Open. He starts off this week in a tough match with Mark Davis, but like Murphy, he too could go very far this week if he can get past the opening round or two. I think that could be particularly true given how much better I feel he has played this season compared with previous campaigns.

Then you have an absolutely massive match between Ryan Day and Kyren Wilson. Wilson is right in the thick of it for a place in the top 16 for the Crucible while with the form Ryan Day showed at the Grand Prix last week he could get in there with a couple of strong weeks. This match is almost too close to call given the importance and I am of the belief that the winner of this match could win the entire section. Day looks like he is very close from everything clicking into place and finally getting rid of the tag of 'best player never to win a ranking event'.

Quarter Winner: Ryan Day

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Marco Fu Vs Alan McManus (Tuesday 22nd March 1pm)
Tom Ford Vs Ricky Walden (Wednesday 23rd March around 9pm - second evening session)
Martin Gould Vs Judd Trump (Tuesday 22nd March around 9pm - second evening session)
Ali Carter Vs Graeme Dott (Tuesday 22nd March 7pm)

Tom Ford and Ricky Walden are two players that are going to be very tough to separate in round one. Walden has not had the best of years and that was signified by his absence from last weeks World Grand Prix. He is too good of a player not to turn it around though and maybe this could be the week, after a bit of time off to work on his game, where things start to click again and he finds his form. Tom Ford is not an easy opponent though as we saw from his victory against Mark Selby. He has found a lot more form this season because Ford is a better player than his ranking would suggest, and I actually fancy him to beat Walden this week.

Marco Fu has been quite inconsistent again this season. At the back end of 2015 he found some great form making the UK quarter-finals and winning in Gibraltar but since the New Year he has suffered early exits in the Grand Prix and German Masters and not been able to re-create any of his pre-Christmas snooker. I still fancy him to beat Alan McManus in round one this week but looking at the names in this quarter this week, he will have to do it the hard way to progress through the draw.

Ali Carter was quite impressive in the Grand Prix. He dominated Luca Brecel who had been in good form and then took care of Tom Ford in round two without any problems whatsoever. Joe Perry in the quarter-finals was just a step too far for Carter as he failed to really get going in that contest, but that does not mean that he will not have another very good week this week. Graeme Dott is his first round opponent this week and we all know that Dott is never an easy player to get past. The key against Dott is to score well when you get in to avoid being dragged into the kind of tactical battles in which he excels, and that is what Carter does very well when he is at his best though his tactical is also a great match for Dott on top of that.

Finally in this quarter it is time to talk about the absolute blockbuster that awaits us between Martin Gould and Judd Trump. This is the sort of match that the draw for events like this can throw up, if you get players like Judd that have not made it to the final of one of the tour events in order to get a higher seeding. Martin Gould is in the form of his life at the moment after winning his maiden ranking title and getting to the Gdynia Open final in the space of a month, while at last weeks Grand Prix it took eventual champion Murphy to beat him in the last 16 and that shows that the signs are great for him. Judd Trump meanwhile has had an inconsistent year of losing to plenty of players that he would have beaten had he been at the top of his game, having been pretty close to the top of his game in the rounds leading up to that. Trump could easily hit the ground running this week and breeze through the draw to another ranking title.

Quarter Winner: Ali Carter

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs David Gilbert (Tuesday 22nd March 1pm)
Michael White Vs Luca Brecel (Tuesday 22nd March 7pm)
Tian Pengfei Vs Robert Milkins (Wednesday 23rd March 7pm)
Barry Hawkins Vs Michael Holt (Wednesday 23rd March 1pm)

Michael White and Luca Brecel is one incredibly tough match to call as well, following the theme of the rest of the draw. Luca's run to the German Masters final did him the world of good in terms of confidence as we saw when he made the last 16 of the Welsh Open a couple of weeks after. Michael White made the quarter-finals that week in Cardiff and was unlucky to run into a bit of a steam train in Llandudno when he was playing Shaun Murphy. I have a lot of time for Brecel as a player as he seems very likeable as well as someone who works hard on his game now and is very easy to watch when knocking in the long balls and big breaks. I fancy Brecel to win this one against White.

Barry Hawkins will be looking for a good week here as he aims to defend the points won two years ago from lifting the Players Championship title. His form coming in is nothing too special after losing 4-0 in the first round of the Grand Prix and suffering a couple of last 16 exits in both Berlin and Cardiff, and he is up against his good friend Michael Holt in round one. Holt had a big win against O'Sullivan on the TV in Llandudno so he will come in with another confidence boost after a reasonable season that he will be looking to finish off well in the next few weeks. Whoever comes through that could indeed go very far this week.

Ding Junhui is the final man I want to come to in this section and this preview. He of course is still fighting hard to get back in the top 16 as a seed for the World Championships and has hit a little bit of form recently. A quarter-finalist in the Welsh Open he made a 147 there but it still was not enough to beat an in form Neil Robertson, and then he followed that up with more valuable ranking money in the Grand Prix fighting hard to get to the semi-finals before losing the final four frames of a 6-3 loss to Shaun Murphy. Working hard with Terry Griffiths looks to have been working wonders in fact and it does not feel like the Chinaman is too far away from getting back into the winners circle.

Quarter Winner: Ding Junhui

Predicted Tournament Runner-Up: Shaun Murphy

Predicted Tournament Winner: Ding Junhui


As I say this is a key event in the race to the Crucible particularly with all of the absentees and £100,000 once again for the winner. It does get very cramped at the back end of the event with the China Open starting the day after the final here in Manchester and that could cause all sorts of problems for the players that make the latter stages on Sunday and even Saturday's semi-finals and will most likely see some schedule changes for World Snooker to make with the schedule. In fact, the only two players in the top half of the draw not in the draw for the final stages in China are Allen and Williams, while in the bottom half every single player involved is on duty again in Beijing next week.

As for me, I will be back throughout this week with updates after each round with my preview of the China Open being left until as late as I can for the reasons I have mentioned above about the short turnaround as I wait to see who makes the latter stages here.

Fantasy Snooker League: Points Update and PTC Finals Players

Just three events to go now until the end of this years Fantasy Snooker and the gap at the top remains the same after many of the picks lost in the early stages of the World Grand Prix which was eventually won by Shaun Murphy.

Here's a quick look at how the table looks going into this weeks Players Championship Finals:

1^st: Igor: 684 +7.4 million O’Sullivan (0)

2^nd: Gorkem Kurt: 628 +6.7 million O’Sullivan (0) and Selby (0)

3^rd: SnookerFollower: 611 +8 million Wilson (5)

4^th: Michael Coudray: 608 +5.6 million Trump (9) and Robertson (0)

5^th: TungstenDarts: 564 +11 million Robertson (0)

6^th: Chris Watts: 552 +3.8 million Trump (9)

7^th: Anthony Ward: 542 +1 million Allen (5) and Woollaston (0)

8^th: Gary: 541 +1 million Selby (0) and Ding (21)

9^th: Kjetil: 503 +3.5 million Selt (0) and Allen (5)

10^th: Guillermo: 473 +3 million Wilson (5)

11^th: Josh Cooper: 430 +4 million O’Sullivan (0) and Murphy (49)

12^th: Spanish Snooker Blog: 394 +7.9 million Selby (0) and Williams (0)

13^th: LTD: 388 +11.7 million Selby (0)

14^th: Ezgi Ulutas: 378 +13.3 million Robertson (0) and O’Sullivan (0)

15^th: Kai: 368 +7.1 million Williams (0) and Murphy (49)

16^th: Andrew Brooker: 336 +13.3 million O’Sullivan (0) and Higgins (9)

17^th: Phil Mudd: 330 +5.5 million Wilson (5) and Gould (9)

18^th: John McBride: 327 +15.4 million Robertson (0) and Trump (9)

19^th: Kellie Barker: 317 +1.8 million Ding (21) and Williams (0)


Plenty of people have plenty of money in hand given that the totals next to each name plus 24 million is effectively how much each player has left this season, with 8 million given for every tournament.

As always it is two players that you can pick with this money and with plenty of the top players not in action this week in Manchester it will be interesting to see who people decide to spend their money on. So, here are the players priced by seeding order:

Barry Hawkins – 6 million

Marco Fu  – 5.8 million

Rory McLeod – 5.6 million

Mark Allen – 5.5 million

Ali Carter – 5.4 million

Shaun Murphy – 5.3 million

Ding Junhui – 5.2 million

Mark King – 5 million

Ryan Day – 4.9 million

Tom Ford – 4.8 million

Michael White – 4.6 million

Tian Pengfei – 4.5 million

Mark Williams – 4.3 million

Ben Woolllaston – 4.2 million

Martin Gould – 4.1 million

Andrew Higginson – 4 million

Ricky Walden – 4 million

Judd Trump – 4 million

Kyren Wilson – 4 million

Liang Wenbo – 4 million

Mike Dunn – 3.5 million

Dominic Dale – 3.5 million

Michael Holt – 3.5 million

Jimmy Robertson – 3 million

Matt Selt – 3 million

Graeme Dott – 3 million

Alan McManus – 3 million

Mark Davis – 3 million

Luca Brecel – 3 million

Robert Milkins – 3 million

David Gilbert – 3 million

Sam Baird – 3 million

 

There you have it, two players maximum to pick for the tournament and plenty of interesting names to choose from, so happy picking!!!

Bingham and Murphy to contest Crucible throwback

Stuart Bingham and Shaun Murphy will meet again in the final of the World Grand Prix, just over 10 months since Bingham snatched the world title against him 18-15.

Bingham was the first man through today in battling fashion against Joe Perry. Perry was dominant early on against the world champion and surged into a 3-0 lead as Bingham looked quite poor on the whole. Taking an important fourth frame prior to the mid-session interval proved the turning point as he then followed it with the first two after the break to level up the match at 3-3. The seventh looked key at the time as Bingham missed on 60 when looking certain to go 4-3 ahead, and Joe stepped in with 62 before missing the final black to win the frame. However, he had another chance from range a few shots later and potted a stunning long black to regain his lead. Bingham was back level with a run of 97 but a 53 from Perry put him one away at 5-4. From there though he did not score another point in the match as Bingham forced the deciding frame and went on to win it with a magnificent run of 69.

Shaun Murphy followed with a total domination of Ding Junhui in the evenings semi-final. Despite falling 3-2 behind at one stage, Shaun could easily have won four of those five frames. In the third he went in-off on the black trying to around for the yellow which would have put him 2-1 ahead and in the fourth he made a 110 break snookering himself on the last red when searching for a 145 break. Ding then made a break of 66 to win the fifth after Shaun missed a great chance. From there though the Magician really stepped up. After getting in front for the first time at 4-3 with two straight frames he rattled off the final two with runs of 88 and a 66 in the ninth to run out an easy 6-3 winner in the end.

Semi-Final Results:

Stuart Bingham 6-5 Joe Perry
Shaun Murphy 6-3 Ding Junhui

Final Preview:

Shaun Murphy Vs Stuart Bingham - Here we are then, the final of the World Grand Prix and what a final we have in prospect. Not only is it a repeat of the world final but it is the first time that either player has made it into a ranking event final since then or really even threatened to make one. Starting with Stuart Bingham, he really has had to battle hard this week and has fought his way back into form, every credit must go to him for that. Against Gilbert he started to look more lively and then he got a big win against Trump when both were feeling unwell. Against Ryan Day he had to battle again but made four 60+ breaks in the match to win it which was a sign of quality and his fight back against Perry was superb. He will be determined to show everyone what he can do and get a title under his belt while he still reigns as the champion of the world.

Then there is Shaun Murphy. He seems to have gotten his confidence back. For the route he has had playing Michael White (fighting for his top 16 place for the World Championships), Martin Gould (the in-form man of the last month), Liang Wenbo (again fighting to be a Crucible seed) and Ding Junhui (also fighting to get back into the top 16) to only drop four frames is outstanding. This time against Bingham he is very much the hunter, the challenger to the throne and very much after some satisfaction. He will want to make Stuart feel exactly what he felt in the weeks after losing that narrow Crucible classic because it was a hard one for Murphy to get over. Now is the time to channel that frustration onto the table and not just beat Bingham but bash him up all over the table. He is certainly back playing the snooker that he displayed last year in Sheffield but will not be underestimating Bingham and neither will I. This is sure to be another closely fought contest.

Prediction: Murphy to win 10-7.


After a fantastic week of snooker that has seen a few classic encounters, this final is the fitting end to another good tournament that has been well hosted by the ITV and the usual suspects like Alan McManus, Neal Foulds and Clive Everton and the addition of Phil Yates to the team too. It sets things up brilliantly for the Players Championship finals which will again be on the ITV starting on March 22nd.

Bingham, Perry, Murphy and Ding to contest semis

World Champion Stuart Bingham is into the semi-finals of the World Grand Prix and has been joined by Joe Perry, Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui after their victories today.

It was Ding Junhui who was the first man though after coming back from 3-1 behind to win a quality contest with Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-3. Un-Nooh opened up with a fantastic 97 clearance, before Ding hit back with a 92 to level the scores. Runs o 84 and 74 then put the Thai one away but he missed his chance to kill the match off in frame five and never seemed to recover afterwards. Ding rattled in a 65 in frame six to force the decider and then killed it off in style with a stunning break of 108 in which he pulled off a number of brilliant recovery pots.

Joe Perry was the next man through in the afternoons second match against Ali Carter. Perry took the opener before Carter levelled with a break of 69 but after that he struggled to stay in the game as breaks of 87 and 66 saw Perry surge and with a high pot success compared to a very low one from his opponent it was the Gentleman that ran out a comfortable 4-1 winner.

Shaun Murphy was next up when play resumed in the evening, taking on China's Liang Wenbo (who he will also play in the first round of the Players Championship Finals in a week and a half). Liang had the first chance in the opener but after a missed red with the rest he never seemed to get going again. Murphy made a 71 in that frame and then followed with breaks of 50, 50 and 55 with Liang only scoring 7 more points in a 4-0 victory that it took Murphy less than an hour to complete.

Finally, it was the turn of world champion Stuart Bingham who has been suffering with a little bit of illness over the last couple of days but that did not stop him from disposing of the last Welshman in the draw in Llandudno. Day opened up with 60 and did lead at one stage 2-1. Four 60+ breaks in the match did the job for Bingham who took advantage of his opponents mistakes and saw him continue a bit of good form that he has picked up this week.

Quarter-Final Results:

Stuart Bingham 4-2 Ryan Day
Joe Perry 4-1 Ali Carter
Shaun Murphy 4-0 Liang Wenbo
Ding Junhui 4-3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

Semi-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Joe Perry Vs Stuart Bingham - Now we are into the semi-finals the format moves on to the best-of-11 frames and the first semi-final we have sees Joe Perry take on the World Champion. Perry has been very good indeed this week dropping just a couple of frames in best-of-7 frames matches with tough opponents in Barry Hawkins, Kyren Wilson and Ali carter and if he can carry on like that then he will certainly take some stopping over the course of this weekend. Bingham has certainly been battling this week, more with the bug he has had than anything else. On the table he slowly seems to be getting some of his world championship winning rhythm and form back, and even though he has missed some easy balls in his victories over Ryan Day and Judd Trump in the last two rounds, h has also scored when it was needed. The difference in this match for me could be that fact that Bingham still seems to be battling with himself and is taking every miss to heart, while Perry is looking confident on the table and sounding very upbeat about his chances in his interviews with the ITV and there is no substitute for what confidence can bring in sport.

Shaun Murphy Vs Ding Junhui - Our second semi-final sees two players in Shaun Murphy and Ding Junhui who seem to be back to their best as they reach their first full ranking event semi-finals of the season respectively. Murphy has blitzed through three very tough matches on paper against Michael White, Martin Gould and Liang Wenbo for just the loss of a single frame. He is scoring well, knocking in some good long balls and says that after tinkering with things in practice and "wasting half a season" he is back playing how he was at the world championships last year which makes him very dangerous. Ding Junhui has played equally as well this week although he has had a couple of battles in deciding frame wins against Woollaston and Un-Nooh which he could easily have lost. He looks to be back at his best though and is very relaxed even with his situation of getting back into the top 16 for the Crucible. One thing that does go for Murphy here is that the players met on three occasions two seasons ago (when Ding won five ranking titles) and beat him in two of those, and overall he has a pretty good record against the Chinaman.


This is a particularly interesting line-up for the weekend in Llandudno given the fact that Bingham, Murphy and Ding have all struggled for results in the big ranking events this season and even Perry has had his tough times this season. Some exciting matches are certainly on the horizon in the final stages of the 2016 World Grand Prix.

Defending champion Trump and top seed Higgins defeated

Defending champion Judd Trump and the top seed for the week John Higgins both fell in the last 16 of the World Grand Prix. Trump was under the weather but so too was his opponent in world champion Stuart Bingham. It was nervy for much of the match, and the illnesses probably would not have helped but after chances to win 4-1, Bingham eventually crossed the line 4-2.

John Higgins played a very high standard match with the last Welshman standing in Llandudno, as Ryan Day had two centuries, and John had one of his own. It went down to a deciding frame there with both players missing balls in that decider before Day cleared the colours to cross the line and set up a quarter-final with the World champion.

Mark Allen also fell in the second round as he saw Thepchaiya Un-Nooh reel off four frames in a row from 2-0 behind, and later he took to Twitter and blamed as many as five flukes from the Thai for the match turning against him.

He will now play China's Ding Junhui who overcame Neil Robertson's victor Peter Ebdon 4-0. Ebdon had big chances in three of the four frames but missed balls a couple of balls at key times and Ding was certainly on top form to punish him for that.

In the evening Joe Perry was very impressive in beating Kyren Wilson. He started well with an 86 break before Wilson levelled with his own 50+ break and after the Gentleman dominated frame three it was the fourth that proved key as Wilson missed his chance and Perry punished him to move two clear and then finish the match off in style with a 125 total clearance.

Perry now faces up to Ali Carter who was a comfortable 4-0 winner against Mark Selby's victor Tom Ford. Breaks of 98, 65, 53 and 58 saw the Captain cruise to victory.

Liang Wenbo kept up his fight to get into the top 16 for the World Championships with a 4-2 victory over Ronnie O'Sullivan's assassin in Michael Holt. Wenbo took the first two and then rattled into a 3-1 lead before Holt's highest break of the match came in frame five with a 78 to keep him in it, but when Liang's chance came a 71 in the final frame was more than enough to get him over the line.

Finally, Shaun Murphy beat the in-form Martin Gould in what was always going to be a great match. Murphy opened up with 84 to shut Gould out only for the German Masters champion to hit back with a 110 break. A key miss on the yellow from Gould saw Murphy clear the colours to take a lengthy frame three, which he then followed with a 73 in the fourth to punish Martin again who had opened the reds from a tricky black which he missed by a distance. Multiple chances were needed in the end for Murphy to get over the line but the important thing for him was to make it through to his first full-ranking event quarter-final of the year.

Last 16 Results:

Ryan Day 4-3 John Higgins
Stuart Bingham 4-2 Judd Trump
Ali Carter 4-0 Tom Ford
Joe Perry 4-1 Kyren Wilson
Shaun Murphy 4-1 Martin Gould
Liang Wenbo 4-2 Michael Holt
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-2 Mark Allen
Ding Junhui 4-0 Peter Ebdon

Quarter-Final Preview: (Picks in Bold)

Ryan Day Vs Stuart Bingham - The quarter-finals remain the best-of-7 frames and we start at the top of the draw with a repeat of the last 16 tie from the German Masters last month. On that day it was Day who ran out the winner and after making two centuries in beating top seed John Higgins he certainly will not fear Stuart Bingham having beaten him so recently. Bingham has looked in better form at times this week but his match with Trump in the last 16 was very nervy and with both suffering with a little illness that was to be expected. Hopefully for his sake the world champion can overcome his little bug, but either way I expect this to run close.

Joe Perry Vs Ali Carter - Joe Perry and Ali Carter have not really met for a long time (with a Championship League match their only one since October 2012) and a lot has happened to both players since then on and off the table. This week they are cueing well and have only dropped one frame each on the way to the quarter-finals. Perry has looked particularly sharp, rounding off two victories against two quality opponents in Hawkins and Wilson with century breaks. Carter meanwhile has had slightly easier opposition in Brecel and Ford but has still done what he has had to do with some quality and is always a major threat when his name is in the draw at the back end of a tournament. On paper this really seems to me like a bit of a coin flip but with the confidence that Perry has shown this week I am inclined to lean more towards him.

Liang Wenbo Vs Shaun Murphy - After his match against Martin Gould, Murphy referenced Liang Wenbo as somewhat of a bogey player for him. For me it seems like he is living a long way in the past. Of his four losses to Liang, one was in 2009, one in 2011 and one in 2012. Murphy has also won the last two meetings in the German Masters semi-finals in 2015 and the 2014 General Cup. Liang is of course fighting for his top 16 place going into the Crucible and has played some decent snooker in the first couple of rounds against Dott and Holt. Murphy meanwhile has had two very tough matches already against Michael White and Martin Gould but has come through with the loss of only a frame and the way he is cueing is a very good sign as he looks to push on now, having made his first full ranking quarter-final of the season.

Ding Junhui Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - The all Asian clash at the bottom of the draw between China's Ding Junhui and Thailand's Thepchaiya Un-Nooh sets up to be one of the most entertaining clashes of the week if both players bring their best. Thepchaiya has already beaten Marco Fu and Mark Allen this week after showing very little form for the last couple of months coming into this. Ding Junhui has the job of clinging on to his top 16 place for the World Championships and he has gotten off to a good start this week with wins over Ben Woollaston and Peter Ebdon scoring reasonably well when he has had to. He looks relatively relaxed too, but he will be well aware that the Thai is no pushover after losing to him in their last meeting a year ago in the Indian Open. This one too could go right to the wire.


It looks like another good day of quarter-final play is upon us tomorrow as the players fight to make it through to the semi-final Saturday and get to the longer format best-of-11 frames matches. With the way the draw has opened up, it is certainly all still to play for.

O'Sullivan, Robertson and Selby all perish in Llandudno opening round

World Grand Prix favourites Ronnie O'Sullivan, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby all fell at the first hurdle as the Last 32 threw up plenty of surprise results in Llandudno.

First of all, Neil Robertson was beaten in a lengthy encounter with Peter Ebdon 4-3 after a 69 in the last from Ebdon. Ronnie O'Sullivan bowed out to Michael Holt 4-3, after Holt took a 3-0 lead with breaks of 88 and a century before the Rocket pegged him back to 3-3, but Holt hung in there with a superb 76 break in the decider to win the match.

Then in Wednesday's play Tom Ford took care of Mark Selby 4-3. Ford had a wonderful 112 break in frame three on the way to a 3-1 lead and despite losing frame five, when his chance came a break of 84 saw him hold it together to beat his fellow Leicester man and reach the last 16.

Marco Fu also perished in the opening round to Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who blitzed into an early 3-0 lead before Fu pegged him all the way back to a deciding frame. It was the Thai who eventually got over the line a 4-3 winner despite not having a 50+ break in the match.

Defending champion Judd Trump came through strongly against Mark Williams with a century on the way to a 4-1 win, while World Champion Stuart showed signs of improvement towards the end of his match with David Gilbert where he too ran out a comfortable victor.

Shaun Murphy and Michael White was the last first round match to begin on Wednesday evening but it was well worth waiting for as Murphy cued beautifully in a 4-0 crushing with three breaks of above 70. In an unexpected twist he then mentioned my banter about his poor record in Wales and on ITV4 in his studio interview.

The race to get into the top 16 for the World Championships took some twists and turns as well. Stephen Maguire is the man that they are trying to catch and he lost out to his fellow Scot John Higgins in round one without ever getting into the match as the number one seed played beautifully. That opens the door up for the three guys directly below him, the first of which is Liang Wenbo who was in fine form beating Graeme Dott 4-1. In the four frames that Wenbo won Dott was only able to score a singular point. Things were not as simple for Kyren Wilson who had to come back from snookers required in frame five to avoid falling 3-2 behind, eventually coming through his match with Welshman Jamie Jones a 4-2 winner.

Ding Junhui was the next as he came through a big battle with Ben Woollaston, coming from 2-1 and 3-2 behind to win 4-3 and book his place in the last 16 against Peter Ebdon.

Last 32 Results:

John Higgins 4-0 Stephen Maguire
Ryan Day 4-1 Matt Selt
Stuart Bingham 4-1 David Gilbert
Judd Trump 4-1 Mark Williams
Tom Ford 4-2 Mark Selby
Ali Carter 4-1 Luca Brecel
Joe Perry 4-0 Barry Hawkins
Kyren Wilson 4-2 Jamie Jones
Martin Gould 4-0 Tian Pengfei
Shaun Murphy 4-0 Michael White
Michael Holt 4-3 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Liang Wenbo 4-1 Graeme Dott
Mark Allen 4-2 David Grace
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 4-3 Marco Fu
Ding Junhui 4-3 Ben Woollaston
Peter Ebdon 4-3 Neil Robertson

Some brilliant games there in round one and some even more intriguing ones to come in Thursday's Last 16. Still best-of-7 frames matches for the second round of course.

Last 16 Preview: (Picks in Bold)

John Higgins Vs Ryan Day - Going purely on their form in round one then John Higgins has to be my pick against Ryan Day. Higgins was superb against Maguire and scored brilliantly throughout, while Day had to grind it out and win a lot of close frames against Matt Selt to come through. Day of course always gives the top players a decent game as he showed against Bingham in the German Masters and Ding in the International this season but both were very much struggling for form at the time which Higgins is not.

Judd Trump Vs Stuart Bingham - This is a tough little match to call between the defending champion and the world champion. Trump looked decent today against Mark Williams but based on some of his form of this season that does not really count for a great deal. Trump has been inconsistent at the best of times and the one thing you know you will get against him is chances. Stuart Bingham was not put under too much pressure by David Gilbert but you could see him grow in confidence towards the back end of the match as his scoring looked to get better. The one thing that might stand him in better stead tomorrow is that he will be an underdog against Trump and seems to go better in matches when this is the case.

Ali Carter Vs Tom Ford - Starting here with Ali Carter, he was very solid in beating one of the form men of the last month in Luca Brecel by a comfortable margin, finishing with a century. Tom Ford played very well against Mark Selby on the TV and that will offer him plenty of confidence and if he continues this form I think we are in for another close contest here. Of the two though, you have to say that Carter is a much more solid and consistent player who is prone to less unforced errors than Ford which could make the difference.

Kyren Wilson Vs Joe Perry - Joe Perry has had a long time off since his easy 4-0 victory in round one against Barry Hawkins where he was magnificent. It appeared that the gentleman was carrying on his good form from his last trip to Wales when he made the Welsh Open semi-finals before losing to O'Sullivan. Kyren Wilson meanwhile was in real trouble at times in his match with Jamie Jones who on the night could easily have beaten him. Someone like Joe with a more solid game would have put the Shanghai Masters champion away in my opinion and if he scores as well as he did in round one then he I fancy him to win.

Martin Gould Vs Shaun Murphy - This is arguably the match of the day in my opinion. Starting with Martin Gould, he has been in superb form over the last month or two getting to the final in Gdynia and winning the German Masters and he looked to just be carrying on again from there in round one with his whitewash of Tian Pengfei. Shaun Murphy meanwhile has beaten Martin in the past on a few occasions whilst also losing to him in recent times as well and the only common theme with those matches was that they were usually close. Murphy cued brilliantly against Michael White and looked sharp as White did not have too many chances in a 4-0 loss. The thing with runs like Gould's is that they have to end at some stage, while Murphy is too good of a player to continue missing out on the final stages of these big ranking tournaments, and I have a feeling that that will change this week.

Liang Wenbo Vs Michael Holt - This is another intriguing match, especially after Holt defeated Ronnie O'Sullivan in round one with terrific snooker and superb bottle as well as taking his natural game to the Rocket on TV, and playing on the box in the past has not always been his friend. With Terry in his corner and at the venue this week then that will lend well for Holt as well as the confidence he should take from beating O'Sullivan. Liang Wenbo was superb in round one against Graeme Dott, with plenty of high scoring in that match from the Chinese who is under pressure to make it into the top 16 for the World Championships. I feel like this match will need at least six of the seven frames to be settled and could go right down to the wire. It will all be about whether both players or either of them will continue the form shown in the last 32.

Mark Allen Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh - Mark Allen has been in fantastic form over the last few months, and he had to come through a tough match in round one against David Grace where he was clearly agitated by the late time that match had begun. He dug in well in the end to come back and beat Grace and he should have no such complaints about his starting time for this one, first on in the afternoon. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh has already seen off Marco Fu this week, despite nearly losing from 3-0 up, and he will need to tighten up a little bit against Allen to continue his progression. After beating him in Daqing earlier in the season he certainly will not fear Allen but I think the Northern Irishman will get his revenge this week and kick on to the latter stages of the event.

Ding Junhui Vs Peter Ebdon - Finally, this will be another keenly contested match after both players came through tough matches in deciding frames on Tuesday afternoon. Peter Ebdon was able to work Neil Robertson down as Robertson missed some easy balls at times and was not able to string together his usual high breaks. Ebdon still lacks a little consistency now with his age but he is a force to be reckoned with and Ding Junhui (someone who knows a lot about Peter) will not take him lightly. Ding is obviously under big pressure to save his automatic Crucible seeding, but his form over the last few weeks has looked to show the early signs of improvement and it will be interesting to see how far that can continue on in this event.


That's all from me for today, i'll be back after these eight games have been completed with another write up as we reach the quarter-finals and things really start to get serious.