With the Champion of Champions being a 16 man event, like last weeks China Championship I will rank all 16 of the players in this list featuring a lovely looking graph to show what the gaps are between certain players on the list.
16 - Martin Gould - Martin Gould has had a series of early tournament exits in recent tournaments, and only appeared in the Champion of Champions once, just failing to get past the first round. He also failed to get into the top five in any of the four statistics that helped to build the list meaning Gould finishes rock bottom on the list.
15 - Robin Hull - As the lowest ranked player in the tournament you would not expect Hull to be reaching the latter stages of many tournaments which he has not done. Hull is also a Champion of Champions debutant so he has no previous finishes to go on there, but a fourth placed finish in the field this week on the average break when 50 or above list does see him finish above Gould.
14 - Mark Davis - Mark Davis means that the bottom three players are all from the same group (with O'Sullivan). Davis did make the European Masters quarter-finals which sees him on the list above his first round opponent Gould and narrowly ahead of Hull but with nothing to report from his previous Champion of Champions appearance or any statistical high points he is not able to climb any further.
13 - Ali Carter - As his win at the World Open earlier in the season does not count to this weeks list and he has dropped off marginally in his recent results, Carter finishes quite low down on the list. He did make the International Championship Last 16 and beat Judd Trump in the first round of the China Championship last week. However, in three previous showings at the Champion of Champions he has only won one single game which also prevents a higher finish. Statistically his only high point comes with a fifth placed finish out of this weeks field on the close frames win percentage list.
12 - Shaun Murphy - Next up is the man who in three appearances at the Champion of Champions has never won a single match, which seriously impedes his chances of a high finish on this weeks list. If it were not for that his form has actually improved in the last couple of weeks in China, following an International Championship quarter-final up with a semi-final in last weeks China Championship. Statistically, he came close on a couple of lists but failed to break into the top five on any of the four categories which fails to give him an extra little nudge up the table.
11 - Anthony McGill - Narrowly missing out on the top ten this week is Anthony McGill. McGill is a debutant in Coventry so there is nothing to report there. In recent weeks results have not gone the way of the young Scotsman with his only showing of note in this busy run being a run to the last eight of the European Masters. Finally, on a statistical note he does still sneak into the top five on the average frame aggregates despite being in decline on that list. A fourth place finish with an aggregate of 17.63 edging him just ahead of Shaun Murphy who is also in McGill's group on Thursday.
10 - Joe Perry - Marginally scraping into the top ten is Joe Perry who has certainly not had things going his way in recent events. Perry's best display came in the International Championship making the quarter-finals but besides that, he has lost his first match in every other recent event that counted. He does have one good previous finish to shout about, making the semi-finals of the Champion of Champions in 2015 on his Coventry debut. Although, there is nothing to add in terms of a statistical high.
9 - Mark Allen - As the graph demonstrates really well, there is then a big jump on the list to where we find last years Champion of Champions runner-up Mark Allen. Allen also reached the semi-finals of last weeks China Championship which also gives him a big boost on the list as by far his best recent finish. Unfortunately for the Northern Irishman's sake, he had not won a match in Coventry prior to his run to the final in 2015, or else he would be even higher on the list. Another bonus comes with a third place finish on the list of average frames per 50+ where he averages 2.35 frames per 50 which is a very good ratio.
8 - Ding Junhui - If the graph shows the gap between Allen and Perry it will show another equally sized jump up to where we find Ding Junhui. Ding did not qualify for last years Champion of Champions but on his two showings in years previous he has reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively which is not bad form to take into this week, but not winning form either. His best recent finish came at the International Championship where he reached the final, after early exits at the English Open prior to and at the China Championships straight after. Finally, Ding gets an added assist from the stats where he is just behind Allen in fourth place on the average frames per 50+ break with an average of 2.48.
7 - Stuart Bingham - A reasonable amount ahead of Ding is world number two Stuart Bingham. Bingham was of course the runner-up at last weeks China Championship and he has been flying in recent weeks with semi-finals at the International Championship and the English Open to add to that. In terms of his Champion of Champions record he was a runner-up in the first year it was staged but has not won a match in the event since then, else he could have been propelled well into the top five. There is one numerical bonus for Bingham as he sits third amongst this weeks field for average break when 50 or above which is 79.8 having been boosted by his barrage of centuries in Guangzhou last week.
6 - Mark Selby - I actually expected to see Mark Selby much higher on this list given that he was a winner just a couple of weeks ago at the International Championship, and he was a semi-finalist in the European Masters which also counted to this list. Having said that he is a very long way ahead of Bingham so there was no threat of him finishing any lower than this as the graph above will portray. His previous finishes in the Champion of Champions saw him reach the semi-finals in the first year but he fell a round earlier in 2014 before a first round loss a year ago. Statistically he is boosted though finishing at the very top of the pile on the average frame aggregate list and the close frames win percentage list.
5 - John Higgins - Into the top five is last weeks winner from the China Championships in Guangzhou, John Higgins. Higgins was in good form and seemed to be building towards that big display with consecutive quarter-finals in the English Open, European Masters and International Championship. If his record from the previous stagings of this event did not read: first round loss, first round loss and quarter-finalist then he would surely be in the conversation near the very summit of this list. Statistically he looks good on all fronts with fifth placed looks on the average frame aggregate list and on the average break when 50 or above (which certainly got a boost when he finished off the final with three consecutive centuries to leave him with an average break of 78.94 when above 50). He also finishes in fourth place amongst this weeks field for close frames win percentage with a 60.71% win ratio.
4 - Liang Wenbo - Fourth place has a debutant in Liang Wenbo who qualified by winning the English Open which clearly helped him climb up this list as well. The Chinese player also had Last 16 finishes either side of that at the International Championship and English Open but the numbers are where Liang gains a lot of points. Both scoring and tactically he sits very nicely finishing second on the close frames win percentage list with a win ratio of 67.86%. Meanwhile, he is also second on the average break when 50 or above list, with an average break of 80.41 whenever he makes a contribution of 50+.
3 - Neil Robertson - In the first podium position is the defending champion Neil Robertson. Robertson is not only the defending champion but he was also a semi-finalist in both of the two Champion of Champions events prior to his victory. Recently things have not gone the way of the Australian losing in the first round of the China Championship, the Last 32 of the English Open with his recent best being a semi-final in the European Masters (though he did lose 6-0 there to Ronnie O'Sullivan). The figures give Robertson a big boost though with a third place finish out of this weeks field on the close frame win percentage list, with a 62.07% win ratio. Add to that a second place finish on the average frame aggregates and his position in first for the average frames per 50+ break stat, averaging a break of 50 or above every 2.2 frames.
2 - Judd Trump - In second position is the form man of recent weeks in Judd Trump. We all know his run of Win-Final-Semi's at the European Masters, English Open and International Championship though he did drop off last week with a first round exit in Guangzhou. Trump is of course a former Champion of Champions runner-up from 2014, making the quarter-finals in 2013 and getting knocked out in round one last year by Kyren Wilson. Statistically, Trump is still first for average break when 50 or above with an average of 80.47 following his century barrage at the International Championship. Along with that he comes third on the average frame aggregates list and fifth on the list for average frames per 50+.
1 - Ronnie O'Sullivan - No other man could finish top of this list this week though than the two time Champion of Champions winner Ronnie O'Sullivan. The graph at the top of this post shows just how far he is ahead of everyone else having won this title in 2013 and 2014, and choosing not to play in last years. He also chose not to play the China Championship after three successive tournaments, where he reached the Last 32 at the English Open and the Last 16 of the International Championship with his best being at the European Masters where he lost out in a deciding frame to Judd Trump in the final. If he needed any boosting from the figures he got in the form of a second place finish on the average frames per 50+ break list, averaging a 50 break or above every 2.26 frames.
Things do not always run to form in snooker though so anyone of the 16 could take home the title this week, but as always it will be interesting to see how they ranked on this list coming into the event.
Don't forget you can view my other statistical blog the "Stat Attack" here: http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/champion-of-champions-stat-attack.html
Also my full tournament preview is still to come ahead of the start on Monday so keep an eye out for that.
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