This is the third Chinese ranking event of the season and the fourth big Chinese event of the campaign for those that were invited to the Shanghai Masters in September. The defending champion this week is Mark Selby who has actually won this title two years in a row now.
One former champion that will not be here is the 2015 winner John Higgins who lost out 6-3 to Peter Lines in the last 128 qualifiers that were played two weeks ago. Also failing to qualify once again was Shaun Murphy who has hammered 6-0 by Sam Baird, while 2014 International Champion Ricky Walden fell to David Lilley and former China Championship winner Luca Brecel was taken down 6-5 by Jordan Brown.
On top of that, Shanghai Masters champion Ronnie O'Sullivan chose not to enter the event at all, though 2013 winner Ding Junhui, who is yet to enter an event outside of China this season, will be in action.
Perhaps it could be the turn of two-time International runner-up Mark Allen to get his hands on the trophy and the £175,000 winners cheque, or after the exploits of Jimmy Robertson and Mark Davis in the last two ranking events maybe another first time ranking winner or finalist could have the week of their lives in Daqing.
Quarter 1
Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark Selby or Li Yuan Vs Ken Doherty
Robert Milkins Vs Noppon Saengkham or Chang Bingyu
Liang Wenbo or Ashley Hugill Vs Ian Burns
Anthony McGill Vs Stuart Carrington
Joe Perry Vs Mark Davis
Neil Robertson Vs Matthew Selt
Xiao Guodong Vs Fan Zhengyi
Kyren Wilson Vs Yuan Sijun
Noppon Saengkham is a potential dark horse this week in Daqing. At the start of the season he was a semi-finalist in China and should have been a ranking finalist when he held a commanding lead over Mark Williams in that match at the World Open. Then last week at the English Open he showed some more of what he could do by making the quarter-finals and along the way he overcame his potential last 64 opponent Robert Milkins. First up though he has to see off dangerous wildcard Chang Bingyu who has sent Jimmy Robertson off for an early bath in the first two Chinese ranking events of the season, but you still have to fancy an in-form Noppon for that one. Then if he were to make the last 32, the defending champion Mark Selby could await him, but some of the fear for Noppon will have been taken away by beating Selby on the way to that World Open semi-final.
Joe Perry and Mark Davis face off in a last 64 tie that holds an unwanted irony for the two players as they are the last two ranking event runners-up. Perry was excellent in his big week in Lommel at the European Masters but he did not get going anywhere near quick enough against Jimmy Robertson in that match. Davis meanwhile fell short at the English Open against Stuart Bingham but he can be proud of making his first ever ranking event final and I think he has all the tools to keep that run going in Daqing. In John Higgins, Ryan Day and Ronnie O'Sullivan the scalps Davis took on the way to his final in Crawley are slightly more impressive than those of Perry in Lommel but that means very little. There would also be a slight irony if Perry saw to it that Davis suffered the same fate as him in the first event after reaching his final, after Perry lost in the last 128 in Crawley to Daniel Wells. Davis had started the season with a couple of runs to the last 16 though and his form has been more consistent over the course of the early season, making him my pick in this match but also my dark horse again for this week.
Liang Wenbo and Anthony McGill are two players in the top part of this quarter that could cause problems for Mark Selby, but based on their recent form they will need to improve massively to do so. McGill comes into this event ranked 19 in the world, while Liang is now as low as 27 after his winners money from the 2016 English Open was subtracted from the rankings. Liang was still the second highest ranked Chinese player at the time the draw for this event was made, hence his heldover last 128 match, but he actually comes to the venue for the final stages as the fourth highest ranked player from China. Ashley Hugill can take confidence from the fact that Liang has struggled in his two heldover games this season, losing to James Cahill at the World Open and coming from 4-2 down to beat Alfie Burden 5-4 in the China Championship. Even though he made the last 16 there and in Lommel, he did not play anyone seeded higher than 47 in either tournament. As for McGill, he too made the last 16 in the European Masters for his best result of the season, but in that match to Jimmy Robertson he lost 4-3 on the black having led 3-0. In the Chinese ranking events this season he has struggled further, failing to make the World Open and then losing in the last 64 of the China Championship.
Neil Robertson is another player who is looking to regain the form that took him to an early season title. In both of the Chinese ranking events this season he has lost at the last 32 stage, which is hardly an inviting statistic when he would face the winner of Davis and Perry in the last 32 here. This goes with a last 64 loss in Belgium and even though he made the last 16 at the English Open he did not play anyone seeded higher than 59 before losing to the 101st seed. In the last 64 he faces Matthew Selt who has had two matches with Robertson in the past that stand out. In this tournament last year, the pair met at the last 32 stage when Selt took a 5-2 lead before Robertson somehow came back to win 6-5. Something very similar happened in the 2015 Australian Open where Selt led 4-0 before Robertson came back to force the decider, but that time it was indeed Selt that came through 5-4.
Kyren Wilson is probably the biggest overall threat to defending champion Selby in this quarter of the draw. Having said that he has had a couple of slightly more quiet weeks, losing in the first round of the English Open from 3-1 up against Akani Songsermsawad. He did make the last 16 in the European Masters after withdrawing from the China Championship because his son was unwell, but he lacked the same spark that took him to the Paul Hunter Classic and Six Reds titles in the latter part of the summer. He'll be determined to do better this week though, having pledged at the start of the European Masters that he would donate £100 to Cancer Research for every century he made in October. Whether this has upped the pressure or not, Wilson is yet to make a century in any of his five matches in October, losing two of those.
My first quarter selection for the International Championship is the defending champion Mark Selby. The world number one has won this tournament two years in a row, beating Mark Allen in the final last year and thrashing Ding Junhui in the final a year previously. Even a year earlier in 2015, he made the semi-finals before losing to eventual winner John Higgins, meaning that he has lost only one of his last 20 matches in this competition. Add into that the fact that Selby has already won this season in China, with a final frame victory against Higgins giving him the China Championship title four weeks ago. He might have lost early on in the English Open and at the last 16 stage of the European Masters but those losses were over the best-of-7 frames format and Selby is at his best over the best-of-11 frame matches or longer, which we will see throughout the week. While there is plenty of threat to Selby in this section there are only one or two players that I think have a chance against him over the longer matches and my expectation is that he will make the quarter-finals at the very least this week in Daqing.
Joe Perry and Mark Davis face off in a last 64 tie that holds an unwanted irony for the two players as they are the last two ranking event runners-up. Perry was excellent in his big week in Lommel at the European Masters but he did not get going anywhere near quick enough against Jimmy Robertson in that match. Davis meanwhile fell short at the English Open against Stuart Bingham but he can be proud of making his first ever ranking event final and I think he has all the tools to keep that run going in Daqing. In John Higgins, Ryan Day and Ronnie O'Sullivan the scalps Davis took on the way to his final in Crawley are slightly more impressive than those of Perry in Lommel but that means very little. There would also be a slight irony if Perry saw to it that Davis suffered the same fate as him in the first event after reaching his final, after Perry lost in the last 128 in Crawley to Daniel Wells. Davis had started the season with a couple of runs to the last 16 though and his form has been more consistent over the course of the early season, making him my pick in this match but also my dark horse again for this week.
Liang Wenbo and Anthony McGill are two players in the top part of this quarter that could cause problems for Mark Selby, but based on their recent form they will need to improve massively to do so. McGill comes into this event ranked 19 in the world, while Liang is now as low as 27 after his winners money from the 2016 English Open was subtracted from the rankings. Liang was still the second highest ranked Chinese player at the time the draw for this event was made, hence his heldover last 128 match, but he actually comes to the venue for the final stages as the fourth highest ranked player from China. Ashley Hugill can take confidence from the fact that Liang has struggled in his two heldover games this season, losing to James Cahill at the World Open and coming from 4-2 down to beat Alfie Burden 5-4 in the China Championship. Even though he made the last 16 there and in Lommel, he did not play anyone seeded higher than 47 in either tournament. As for McGill, he too made the last 16 in the European Masters for his best result of the season, but in that match to Jimmy Robertson he lost 4-3 on the black having led 3-0. In the Chinese ranking events this season he has struggled further, failing to make the World Open and then losing in the last 64 of the China Championship.
Neil Robertson is another player who is looking to regain the form that took him to an early season title. In both of the Chinese ranking events this season he has lost at the last 32 stage, which is hardly an inviting statistic when he would face the winner of Davis and Perry in the last 32 here. This goes with a last 64 loss in Belgium and even though he made the last 16 at the English Open he did not play anyone seeded higher than 59 before losing to the 101st seed. In the last 64 he faces Matthew Selt who has had two matches with Robertson in the past that stand out. In this tournament last year, the pair met at the last 32 stage when Selt took a 5-2 lead before Robertson somehow came back to win 6-5. Something very similar happened in the 2015 Australian Open where Selt led 4-0 before Robertson came back to force the decider, but that time it was indeed Selt that came through 5-4.
Kyren Wilson is probably the biggest overall threat to defending champion Selby in this quarter of the draw. Having said that he has had a couple of slightly more quiet weeks, losing in the first round of the English Open from 3-1 up against Akani Songsermsawad. He did make the last 16 in the European Masters after withdrawing from the China Championship because his son was unwell, but he lacked the same spark that took him to the Paul Hunter Classic and Six Reds titles in the latter part of the summer. He'll be determined to do better this week though, having pledged at the start of the European Masters that he would donate £100 to Cancer Research for every century he made in October. Whether this has upped the pressure or not, Wilson is yet to make a century in any of his five matches in October, losing two of those.
My first quarter selection for the International Championship is the defending champion Mark Selby. The world number one has won this tournament two years in a row, beating Mark Allen in the final last year and thrashing Ding Junhui in the final a year previously. Even a year earlier in 2015, he made the semi-finals before losing to eventual winner John Higgins, meaning that he has lost only one of his last 20 matches in this competition. Add into that the fact that Selby has already won this season in China, with a final frame victory against Higgins giving him the China Championship title four weeks ago. He might have lost early on in the English Open and at the last 16 stage of the European Masters but those losses were over the best-of-7 frames format and Selby is at his best over the best-of-11 frame matches or longer, which we will see throughout the week. While there is plenty of threat to Selby in this section there are only one or two players that I think have a chance against him over the longer matches and my expectation is that he will make the quarter-finals at the very least this week in Daqing.
Best of the rest: Mark Davis
Quarter choice: Mark Selby
Quarter 2
Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)
Barry Hawkins Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Martin Gould Vs Li Hang
Marco Fu Vs Andrew Higginson
Jack Lisowski Vs Chris Wakelin
Yan Bingtao Vs Jimmy White
Ryan Day Vs Tian Pengfei
Michael Holt Vs Luo Honghao
Judd Trump Vs Alan McManus
Judd Trump was the inaugural winner of this event back in 2012 and in the last two years he has made a semi-final and a quarter-final at this event. Perhaps the good memories he has of this event from previous years will help him to kick his season off in Daqing. In the first Chinese ranking event this season he lost in the last 32, before making the quarter-finals of the China Championship and losing to his nemesis John Higgins. His run to the last 16 of the English Open last week was a bit of all or nothing in that he made a number of centuries and other big breaks but still found himself in trouble in quite a few of the games. This week you would have to fancy him to get through the first couple of rounds comfortably enough before a potential meeting with last year's semi-finalist Yan Bingtao or one of the two men that knocked him out of the last two tournaments (Ryan Day or Tian Pengfei). If he can add some more consistency to some of the big breaks he was making in Crawley then he would take some serious stopping this week.
Marco Fu is yet to find his form this season either in all honesty. He came back at the World Championships after missing a third of the year after eye surgery and while he has made a quarter-final at the World Open, he has failed to pass the last 32 in any of the four other ranking events he has played. That includes three successive last 64 exits and the opponent he faces in the last 64 here has had plenty of success against Fu in the past. Fu and Andrew Higginson met in the World Open in a match that Higginson nearly came back to win from 4-1 down. Aside from that victory and two wins against Higginson in the Championship League that mean fairly little, Higginson has won all seven of their other meetings. That all bodes well for Higginson, especially given that he overcame Neil Robertson recently in the European Masters as well.
Jack Lisowski and Yan Bingtao are two players in the draw that could well do some damage. Lisowski started the year with the run to the Riga Masters final and has since made quarter-finals at the European Masters, Paul Hunter Classic and the World Open. He has gone slightly quieter though with last 32 exits to Trump in the English Open and to Scott Donaldson in the China Championship. With that in mind, Lisowski will hardly be delighted to see a potential quarter-final meeting with Trump again this week, but he has some hurdles to pass before that. As for Yan Bingtao, he has gone a bit quiet of late, losing in the last 64 of the last two events after reaching the last 16 of the China Championship. Expectation would have been that he would have kicked on quickly after losing the Northern Ireland Open final almost a year ago, but he has only made one quarter-final in the period since, baring in mind he made the semi-final of this event just two weeks before that Belfast final.
Ryan Day is a player that is threatening more and more all of the time. After winning three events last season, two of which were ranking events he is starting to get into that position a lot more regularly. The case in point here is that he has made the quarter-finals of the last two events to get his season going and he will be looking to continue building on that this week. His performance against Trump in the last 16 in Crawley was exceptional and if he can some more of that this week in Daqing then he will be tough to live with. The next step for Day would to be to win a ranking event that carries a bit more weight in terms of prize money, because he is only a good week or two away from getting back into the worlds top 8, which is testament to the consistency he has added to his game in the last year or so.
My second quarter pick though is someone who I have been tipping up for the last couple of events in Barry Hawkins who is on a fine run of form in China. Of late Hawkins has been on fire over in the Far East. This run started with him making the China Open final at the very end of last season and continued at the start of this season when he made the World Open semi-finals before losing out to David Gilbert. Another final came when he defeated Stephen Maguire, Mark Williams and Ding Junhui to make the final of the Shanghai Masters invitational before losing 11-9 to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Then at the China Championship he made the quarter-finals and could have gone on further there but for Zhao Xintong turning that match around from 3-1 down to win a blitz of frames in one visit and take out the match 5-4. I may have been saying this on the blog for a few weeks that I think Hawkins is trending towards another ranking title, but I still believe that strongly because of how close he has come to winning big titles in 2018, with three finals and a couple of semi-finals among other results. His record in this event specifically may not be the best, but with his form that is something you can overlook slightly. His draw is not simple by any means but if he plays how he has been then Lisowski is probably the one player you would look at as being a really tight one to call. For me though, you have to say that Hawkins has every right to be one of the favourites in Daqing.
Marco Fu is yet to find his form this season either in all honesty. He came back at the World Championships after missing a third of the year after eye surgery and while he has made a quarter-final at the World Open, he has failed to pass the last 32 in any of the four other ranking events he has played. That includes three successive last 64 exits and the opponent he faces in the last 64 here has had plenty of success against Fu in the past. Fu and Andrew Higginson met in the World Open in a match that Higginson nearly came back to win from 4-1 down. Aside from that victory and two wins against Higginson in the Championship League that mean fairly little, Higginson has won all seven of their other meetings. That all bodes well for Higginson, especially given that he overcame Neil Robertson recently in the European Masters as well.
Jack Lisowski and Yan Bingtao are two players in the draw that could well do some damage. Lisowski started the year with the run to the Riga Masters final and has since made quarter-finals at the European Masters, Paul Hunter Classic and the World Open. He has gone slightly quieter though with last 32 exits to Trump in the English Open and to Scott Donaldson in the China Championship. With that in mind, Lisowski will hardly be delighted to see a potential quarter-final meeting with Trump again this week, but he has some hurdles to pass before that. As for Yan Bingtao, he has gone a bit quiet of late, losing in the last 64 of the last two events after reaching the last 16 of the China Championship. Expectation would have been that he would have kicked on quickly after losing the Northern Ireland Open final almost a year ago, but he has only made one quarter-final in the period since, baring in mind he made the semi-final of this event just two weeks before that Belfast final.
Ryan Day is a player that is threatening more and more all of the time. After winning three events last season, two of which were ranking events he is starting to get into that position a lot more regularly. The case in point here is that he has made the quarter-finals of the last two events to get his season going and he will be looking to continue building on that this week. His performance against Trump in the last 16 in Crawley was exceptional and if he can some more of that this week in Daqing then he will be tough to live with. The next step for Day would to be to win a ranking event that carries a bit more weight in terms of prize money, because he is only a good week or two away from getting back into the worlds top 8, which is testament to the consistency he has added to his game in the last year or so.
My second quarter pick though is someone who I have been tipping up for the last couple of events in Barry Hawkins who is on a fine run of form in China. Of late Hawkins has been on fire over in the Far East. This run started with him making the China Open final at the very end of last season and continued at the start of this season when he made the World Open semi-finals before losing out to David Gilbert. Another final came when he defeated Stephen Maguire, Mark Williams and Ding Junhui to make the final of the Shanghai Masters invitational before losing 11-9 to Ronnie O'Sullivan. Then at the China Championship he made the quarter-finals and could have gone on further there but for Zhao Xintong turning that match around from 3-1 down to win a blitz of frames in one visit and take out the match 5-4. I may have been saying this on the blog for a few weeks that I think Hawkins is trending towards another ranking title, but I still believe that strongly because of how close he has come to winning big titles in 2018, with three finals and a couple of semi-finals among other results. His record in this event specifically may not be the best, but with his form that is something you can overlook slightly. His draw is not simple by any means but if he plays how he has been then Lisowski is probably the one player you would look at as being a really tight one to call. For me though, you have to say that Hawkins has every right to be one of the favourites in Daqing.
Best of the rest: Ryan Day
Quarter choice: Barry Hawkins
Quarter 3
Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)
Martin O'Donnell Vs Peter Lines
Jimmy Robertson Vs Tom Ford
Stuart Bingham Vs Eden Sharav
David Gilbert Vs John Astley
Mark King Vs Craig Steadman
Matthew Stevens Vs Jordan Brown
Zhao Xintong Vs James Wattana
Ding Junhui or Robin Hull Vs Zhang Anda
Jimmy Robertson will still be riding high after winning the European Masters and climbing up to 25 in the rankings in the process. With John Higgins losing to Peter Lines in the qualifiers, the top little bit of this section does provide an opportunity for Robertson to make another last 16 here, as he would not have to play anyone ranked higher than him to do so. His first round opponent in Tom Ford is not an easy one, but Ford has struggled this season, most recently losing to David Lilley in the first round of the English Open and he barely qualified for this event, needing a decider to beat Joe Swail. That all makes Robertson a worthy favourite in my book and he could certainly do some more damage this week.
David Gilbert did plenty of damage in the first Chinese ranking event of the season, making the final and doing everything but pick up his first major title. That all comes three years on from his excellent run to the final of this tournament where he was eventually beaten by John Higgins. He may have gone slightly quiet since that World Open with three straight last 64 exits, though his most recent in the English Open was against a top player in Shaun Murphy. In his qualifier he had to fight hard against Sam Craigie just to be here and that should give him a bit of a confidence boost. Should Gilbert and Stuart Bingham both win their last 64 ties here, the last 32 meeting between the two of them could easily produce the winner of this quarter.
Stuart Bingham of course comes here as the winner of the most recent ranking event and he could face the other most recent ranking winner in the last 16 if him and Jimmy Robertson both win their first two games this week. Bingham will be full of confidence now which will make it tough for the likes of Eden Sharav in the last 64 or indeed Gilbert, Jimmy Robertson or anyone else to stop him further down the line. Whether the draw opened up for Bingham or not he still had to perform well to get the job done against some difficult opposition. Two years ago Bingham made the semi-finals here in Daqing before losing to the eventual winner Selby, so also has some decent memories to bring to this event to go with all of the other positive vibes in his game at the moment.
Ding Junhui has been one of the forgotten men of this season such is how little he has played. So far, the only major tournaments he has played in have been in his native China and that may be in part due to him becoming a father for this first time earlier on in the summer. In the World Open he just edged through his heldover last 128 match against James Wattana and overcame Yuan Sijun from 3-1 down before losing in the last 32 to Robert Milkins. Then in the invitational Shanghai Masters he overcame Mark Allen and then beat Mark Selby in a decider before falling in the semi-finals to Barry Hawkins. From there he then lost in the last 32 of the China Championship to Yuan Sijun and has not played in the four weeks since. As always he has a heldover match, this time against Robin Hull. Hull lost in the first round of the English Open last week to Judd Trump and admitted afterwards that neurological problems could bring an end to his career at the end of the season. Those comments may have come with the fact that he is likely to drop off the tour at the end of the season in mind and could serve to take the pressure off of him for the rest of the season allowing him to pick up some good results here and there. Hull did win his most recent meeting with Ding at the 2017 Welsh Open and could be dangerous again here if the 2013 International champion is carrying any rust. From there further tests against the likes of Zhang Anda and Zhao Xintong could follow in the last 64 and last 32, so another early Ding exit is not out of the question.
My third quarter choice for this week is more of an outside the box selection in Zhao Xintong, as I believe that an opportunity knocks here with two top 16 players who would have been in this quarter failing to qualify. Zhao was lucky enough not to have to come through qualifying after the suspension of his opponent Jamie Jones at short notice gave him a walkover here to Daqing. Now everyone has been impressed by how Zhao Xintong has fought back this season after dropping off tour. He was far too good to be at Q School in May, but he needed to demonstrate that and he is finally doing so. So much so that he has nearly gotten into the top 64 inside of the first half of the first season on his new two year tour card. The world number 70 got to the semi-finals at the China Championship defeating Anthony McGill, Fergal O'Brien, Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins before narrowly losing to Selby. That came after he reached the last 16 of the Riga Masters by whitewashing Shaun Murphy. Last week in the English Open he led Judd Trump 3-1 before Trump turned into a computer and made three centuries to win 4-3, so who knows how far he could have gone in Crawley but for that brilliance from Trump.
For the sheer consistency of his scoring power, he is the best of the young Chinese crop and he projects a relaxed and calm state that must be difficult to play against. His big breakthrough came at this event in many ways back in 2013, beating Steve Davis in the wildcard round before thrashing Craig Steadman and Barry Hawkins to reach the last 16. He has the sort of all-out-attack style that is reminiscent of how guys like Shaun Murphy, Judd Trump and Neil Robertson win titles and he is probably just a few errors here or there from becoming the next Chinese ranking event. Looking at the draw this week, a potentially rusty Ding Junhui is the biggest opposition between Zhao and a potential quarter-final in my view and if he gets that far he could have the confidence to go all the way this time after the experience of making a semi-final last month, mirroring the sort of progression that Yan Bingtao made this time last year.
Stuart Bingham of course comes here as the winner of the most recent ranking event and he could face the other most recent ranking winner in the last 16 if him and Jimmy Robertson both win their first two games this week. Bingham will be full of confidence now which will make it tough for the likes of Eden Sharav in the last 64 or indeed Gilbert, Jimmy Robertson or anyone else to stop him further down the line. Whether the draw opened up for Bingham or not he still had to perform well to get the job done against some difficult opposition. Two years ago Bingham made the semi-finals here in Daqing before losing to the eventual winner Selby, so also has some decent memories to bring to this event to go with all of the other positive vibes in his game at the moment.
Ding Junhui has been one of the forgotten men of this season such is how little he has played. So far, the only major tournaments he has played in have been in his native China and that may be in part due to him becoming a father for this first time earlier on in the summer. In the World Open he just edged through his heldover last 128 match against James Wattana and overcame Yuan Sijun from 3-1 down before losing in the last 32 to Robert Milkins. Then in the invitational Shanghai Masters he overcame Mark Allen and then beat Mark Selby in a decider before falling in the semi-finals to Barry Hawkins. From there he then lost in the last 32 of the China Championship to Yuan Sijun and has not played in the four weeks since. As always he has a heldover match, this time against Robin Hull. Hull lost in the first round of the English Open last week to Judd Trump and admitted afterwards that neurological problems could bring an end to his career at the end of the season. Those comments may have come with the fact that he is likely to drop off the tour at the end of the season in mind and could serve to take the pressure off of him for the rest of the season allowing him to pick up some good results here and there. Hull did win his most recent meeting with Ding at the 2017 Welsh Open and could be dangerous again here if the 2013 International champion is carrying any rust. From there further tests against the likes of Zhang Anda and Zhao Xintong could follow in the last 64 and last 32, so another early Ding exit is not out of the question.
My third quarter choice for this week is more of an outside the box selection in Zhao Xintong, as I believe that an opportunity knocks here with two top 16 players who would have been in this quarter failing to qualify. Zhao was lucky enough not to have to come through qualifying after the suspension of his opponent Jamie Jones at short notice gave him a walkover here to Daqing. Now everyone has been impressed by how Zhao Xintong has fought back this season after dropping off tour. He was far too good to be at Q School in May, but he needed to demonstrate that and he is finally doing so. So much so that he has nearly gotten into the top 64 inside of the first half of the first season on his new two year tour card. The world number 70 got to the semi-finals at the China Championship defeating Anthony McGill, Fergal O'Brien, Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins before narrowly losing to Selby. That came after he reached the last 16 of the Riga Masters by whitewashing Shaun Murphy. Last week in the English Open he led Judd Trump 3-1 before Trump turned into a computer and made three centuries to win 4-3, so who knows how far he could have gone in Crawley but for that brilliance from Trump.
For the sheer consistency of his scoring power, he is the best of the young Chinese crop and he projects a relaxed and calm state that must be difficult to play against. His big breakthrough came at this event in many ways back in 2013, beating Steve Davis in the wildcard round before thrashing Craig Steadman and Barry Hawkins to reach the last 16. He has the sort of all-out-attack style that is reminiscent of how guys like Shaun Murphy, Judd Trump and Neil Robertson win titles and he is probably just a few errors here or there from becoming the next Chinese ranking event. Looking at the draw this week, a potentially rusty Ding Junhui is the biggest opposition between Zhao and a potential quarter-final in my view and if he gets that far he could have the confidence to go all the way this time after the experience of making a semi-final last month, mirroring the sort of progression that Yan Bingtao made this time last year.
Best of the rest: David Gilbert
Quarter choice: Zhao Xintong
Quarter 4
Last 64 draw: (Picks in bold)
Sam Baird Vs Alfie Burden
Ben Woollaston or Bai Langning Vs David Lilley
Mark Allen Vs Liam Highfield or Luo Zetao
Graeme Dott Vs Hossein Vafei
Ali Carter Vs Kurt Maflin
Stephen Maguire Vs Michael Georgiou
Zhou Yuelong Vs Gary Wilson or He Guoqiang
Mark Williams or Zhang Jiankang Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Ali Carter may have gotten his season going last week at the English Open with a run to the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Bingham. Carter was yet to get beyond the last 32 after his first four ranking events and has dropped down to 18 on the ranking list meaning he has a big battle on to make it to the Masters in January. He also made the quarter-finals here last year before losing out to Martin Gould. In the first round this week he takes on Kurt Maflin who has failed to get beyond the last 64 in any event since the start of the season, so that does not bode well for his chances here against Carter. The big test for Carter would come if he meets Stephen Maguire in the last 32. If that is the case it would be the third year in succession that they have met in the last 32 of this event, with Carter winning both of the last two 6-5 and 6-1 and Carter does have the edge on the overall head-to-head.
Mark Williams is the headline act in this quarter as World Champion. Four years ago he made the semi-finals of this tournament and in the process played two of my favourite matches in the whole of 2014. In the quarter-finals he came through an incredible contest with Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-5, before losing a classic semi-final 9-8 to Mark Allen. Williams was the man to pick up the World Open title in early August and will now be searching for a second big Chinese ranking title of the season. He has had a fairly quiet time of things since that win, losing 5-3 from 3-1 up against Zhao Xintong in the last 16 of the China Championship, withdrawing from the European Masters and then losing in the last 32 in Crawley and looking like he was struggling there. Should he get over his heldover match as comfortably as you would expect, he then faces a tough test against Akani Songsermsawad he showed his metal over the best-of-11 frames by whitewashing Barry Hawkins and then just losing 6-5 to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the last 16 of the UK Championships. Akani was also a winner against Kyren Wilson at the English Open so is more than capable of causing an upset there. Beyond that he could face either Gary Wilson or Zhou Yuelong in the last 32, with Wilson making the quarter-finals of the World Open while Zhou knocked Williams out in Crawley, so this will not be a plain sailing week for the World Champion.
Stephen Maguire could be the man to take advantage of an early exit for World champion Williams. Maguire made the semi-finals last week at the English Open beating Yan Bingtao on the way as his biggest scalp. He will be determined to not let history repeat itself against Carter for the third year in a row if the pair both win their opening round matches. Maguire's sees him take on Michael Georgiou and like Carter's opponent Maflin, Georgiou is yet to get beyond the last 64 in any ranking event this season. Maguire also made the semi-finals in the season opening Riga Masters, but has struggled a little more in China losing in the last 32 and last 64 of the first two Chinese ranking events and in the last 16 of the invitational Shanghai Masters. For me though, this week presents a pretty good opportunity for Maguire to put that right and get on another good run.
My fourth and final quarter choice for this week's International Championship is the two-time runner-up Mark Allen. The Northern Irishman was the losing finalist here a year ago against Mark Selby and back in 2014 he lost out to Ricky Walden in the International final, and in two of the three other years that he has qualified for this event he made it to the quarter-finals, back in 2012 and 2015. It seems as though Allen enjoys the longer best-of-11 frame format that the event is played under, since his first ranking final came at the 2011 UK Championship, which was the first year that the event was reduced to best-of-11 frames in the early rounds. Add to that his record in China as a whole, with two of his three ranking titles and five of his seven ranking finals overall coming in China and it seems to have developed a strong combination that sees him prosper in this event. His season has not quite gotten off to a flying start though he did make the last 16 of the Riga Masters and the quarter-finals of the European Masters. In the first two Chinese ranking events he has lost in the last 32 to Jack Lisowski and Mark King respectively and last week at the English Open he felt like he was playing well despite a 4-3 loss to Yuan Sijun in the last 64. His scoring is without any question the strong area of his game and if he can find the missing piece of the puzzle like he did at the Masters where he was exceptional, then he is capable of winning so much more than he has done. Looking at his draw this week, Shaun Murphy and Ricky Walden were both drawn into this session but failed to win their qualifiers meaning that Graeme Dott is the next highest ranked player in the top half of this quarter, behind Allen. While there is still plenty of threat around him, there is certainly an opportunity given the draw and his record in this event speaks for itself, making him a big contender to go one better and take the title in Daqing.
Best of the rest: Stephen Maguire
Quarter choice: Mark Allen
Tournament winner selection: Mark Allen
The format remains the same as in previous years with all matches up to and including the quarter-finals will be played over the best-of-11 frames. Friday and Saturday will then see matters go down to one table for the respective best-of-17 frame semi-finals before Sunday's best-of-19 frame finale. All of the action will be available to watch on Eurosport TV with the second TV table available on the Eurosport Player. For those viewers in the UK that are planning on getting up early on Sunday for the start of the coverage, don't forget that the clocks go back an hour.
No comments:
Post a Comment