Seeds hit back as Shanghai Masters reaches the quarter-final stage

The top seeds struck back on day 4 of the Shanghai Masters, although there were a couple of mild surprises, as the likes of Mark Selby, Ding Junhui, Mark Allen and Stuart Bingham roll on into the last 8 while Graeme Dott is also there after overcoming Shaun Murphy and he's joined by Fergal O'Brien, who ended the run of wildcard Zhao Xintong, Alan McManus who thrashed fellow Scotsman Stephen Maguire and Michael White who was on fire in defeating Ryan Day.


Full Last 16 Results:


Ding Junhui 5-3 Martin Gould
Graeme Dott 5-3 Shaun Murphy
Stuart Bingham 5-1 Dominic Dale
Alan McManus 5-1 Stephen Maguire
Michael White 5-2 Ryan Day
Mark Allen 5-1 Mark Williams
Fergal O'Brien 5-3 Zhao Xintong
Mark Selby 5-3 Michael Holt

Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs Graeme Dott - Both of these players were in fine form today against Gould and Murphy respectively today and this should be a really exciting close match. Graeme looked very confident from the start today against Shaun and if he can take that into the game tomorrow, score well and at a good tempo that he played with (along with taking some of the handy luck he had today too) then he has a brilliant chance of victory. Ding is steadily improving as matches go on and he also improved today on his Last 32 match which is what he'll like to see. Having lost the first 2 frames today against Gould he took the next 4 in a row with 3 good convincing breaks in there. If he continues that improvement on to the quarter-finals the home favourite and defending champion is the big favourite here for victory.


Stuart Bingham Vs Alan McManus - Both of these guys had very comfortable victories today against their respective players but both guys completed those victories in differing styles. Stuart's was very clear cut with big breaks including 2 centuries and 2 breaks of 70 odd showing that for a great deal of the match Stuart was killing frames off in one visit, which is something Alan hasn't been doing as much this week. Alan is one of the best match-players in the game and he's showed it this week because in beating Maguire and O'Sullivan this week as he hasn't been making the big breaks like Stuart has by any means but his safety play is impeccable and he knows exactly what he has to do to win matches against the best. Stuart will get chances though and if he takes them like he has so far this week he should win this match but I expect it to be very tense which will play more into the hands of the Scot.


Mark Allen Vs Michael White - Michael White played some incredible snooker today against Ryan Day and quite simply there was very little he could've done about it and if he plays like that against Mark Allen tomorrow he'll win the match. However, to repeat a performance like his one today that included breaks of 104, 78, 128, 62, 71 and 55 is incredibly tough and he will no doubt be feeling the pressure to do so again to achieve his career best ranking event finish of the semi-finals at least. Mark Allen though has been playing incredibly well so far this season and I think he has a brilliant chance to win this title on Sunday, but he has to start by continuing this tomorrow and not giving young Michael too many chances because he's shown this week that he will take them and is capable of the big victories. However, a quarter-final means high stakes something Mark is used to a lot more than Michael and that could be the difference tomorrow.


Mark Selby Vs Fergal O'Brien - One thing you don't need to be told about this match is that it will surely be incredibly hard fought between 2 players that will put everything into the match, leaving nothing in the tank and they'll have to be scraped off of the table. Both guys are in great form at the moment but they're very much at different stages of their careers and that's what's the difference between the 2 guys. Mark is very much at the peak of his career and I have to say that he seems to find a way of winning a match from any position whether he has to come back from a long way behind or whether he has to dig in when a player's coming back at him like Michael Holt did brilliantly today, Mark knows how to get out of every situation and that quite simply is the sign of a true champion.


In my view there is plenty of potential for more "surprises" tomorrow but we're getting to the stage of the tournament where the big seeds start to play their best snooker so it will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.

Seeds topple as Shanghai Masters reaches Last 16 stage

It's hardly been a week for the seeds so far in Shanghai as only 7 of the 16 seeded players made it through to the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters. UK Champion and more recently Wuxi Classic champion Neil Robertson fell in a deciding frame to Welshman Michael White who came back from 3-0 down in that match while fellow countryman Ryan Day reeled off all of the last 3 frames to beat John Higgins 5-4. The 2 qualifiers I predicted to win their opening round games both did so as Alan McManus overcame Ronnie O'Sullivan and Mark Williams beat Barry Hawkins while wildcard Zhao Xintong showed off his extreme potential once more beating Matt Selt in the wildcard round before seeing off my tournament tip Marco Fu in a yet another deciding frame. Joe Perry, Ricky Walden, Judd Trump and Robert Milkins were the other seeds knocked out in the opening round as Martin Gould, Michael Holt, Dominic Dale and Fergal O'Brien were the guys to make it through there.


The remaining guys flying the flag of the seeds are Shaun Murphy who had to win a decider against Joe Swail, defending champion Ding Junhui, world champion Mark Selby, recent 6 reds champion Stephen Maguire, recent Paul Hunter Classic winner Mark Allen, Stuart Bingham and finally Graeme Dott.


Full Last 32 Results:


Ding Junhui 5-1 Jack Lisowski
Martin Gould 5-4 Joe Perry
Graeme Dott 5-2 Yan Bingtao
Shaun Murphy 5-4 Joe Swail
Stuart Bingham 5-3 Li Hang
Dominic Dale 5-2 Judd Trump
Alan McManus 5-3 Ronnie O'Sullivan
Stephen Maguire 5-1 Jimmy Robertson
Michael White 5-4 Neil Robertson
Ryan Day 5-4 John Higgins
Mark Williams 5-4 Barry Hawkins
Mark Allen 5-3 Andrew Higginson
Zhao Xintong 5-4 Marco Fu
Fergal O'Brien 5-1 Robert Milkins
Michael Holt 5-2 Ricky Walden
Mark Selby 5-2 Ken Doherty

Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold)

Ding Junhui Vs Martin Gould - Ding Junhui may be the defending champion here and in my view the best player of last season by miles of anyone else. However, having been out of competitive snooker since June ahead of this week his rustiness certainly showed at the beginning of his match against Jack Lisowski and had his opponent been playing anywhere near his potential he'd have probably beaten the home favourite or at least made it close. Martin Gould though is playing well at the moment and starting to find some form again after a tough couple of years on tour where he has fallen down the rankings quite badly, and I expect Martin to give Ding much more of a test than Lisowski did on Tuesday. However, that opening game did see Ding improve after the interval and possibly after getting that game under his belt he's worked away the cobwebs of his time out of the game since the Yixing Open and could possibly move through the gears this week to an overall tournament victory.


Shaun Murphy Vs Graeme Dott - Graeme and Shaun seem to be drawn together a lot, and are often drawn together at big tournaments so there's plenty of games to go in terms of head to head. When it comes to recent meetings Shaun Murphy has won all of the last 5 including a World Open quarter-final, a UK Championship Last 16 tie and a World Championship last 16 encounter so all very important games. Shaun played incredibly well to beat Joe Swail who would've beaten most players in the draw with the performance he gave in that match. That was a good early test for Shaun who is confident and striking the ball well and he'll be confident tomorrow but he also knows he's in for an incredibly tough game. Graeme never rolls over easily and leaves everything out on the table after every game. He was under pressure today against Yan Bingtao when 3-0 became 3-2 but Graeme held on very nicely. The Scot's form isn't great right now but there's no reason why he couldn't beat Shaun tomorrow, but deep down I think that Murphy will just get the job done in a very hard fought match.


Stuart Bingham Vs Dominic Dale - This match is one of the matches I've picked out to go the distance tomorrow simply because of how they've both played in the first round. Dominic Dale finished off with consecutive centuries to see off Judd Trump who was very much in fine form coming into the tournament and Dale brushed him aside easily showing what superb touch he's in right now. Stuart meanwhile had to watch for a great deal of the start of his match against Li hang who was making big breaks to move 3-1 up before Bingham improved to win all of the last 4 but it did show that he's vulnerable to defeat against Dominic who has been very steady in 2014 so far ever since he won the Shoot-out in January which seems to have really boosted his confidence and he's had a lot of good runs since then in events. For me this will be another good victory for Dale as he continues to climb back up the rankings.


Stephen Maguire Vs Alan McManus - I'm going to start off here by talking about Alan McManus who is in very fine form at the moment and has climbed back well inside the top 32 of the rankings after some impressive 2014 form that he's shown, much like Dominic Dale. Alan reached the quarter-finals of the World Championship with plenty of good wins in qualifying and at the Crucible. Over the last year Alan has been very impressive and has shown he can still beat anyone on his day including Stephen Maguire in this match who will have a very tough time on his hands. Stephen's been having a moan this week about the tables and conditions and coming off of the back of a win at the 6 Reds I suddenly thought that he always seems to play his best when he's angry because it keeps him pumped up for a fight and is a sign that he really means business. Sometimes I think if you're a Maguire fan and you can see him starting to get angry it can be as good a sign as it is bad because it means he's up for the fight and knows he can play so much better and wants to play so much better than he is. So maybe is Stephen gets a bee in his bonnet this week it could perhaps work in his favour.


Ryan Day Vs Michael White - Both of these 2 players recorded very impressive deciding frame wins in the Last 32 having to come from behind and reel off a series of frames. Ryan Day played incredibly well against John Higgins showing how his form has turned around in the last year once more and that he is still a very dangerous customer who belongs in the top 16. John had control at 4-2 but Ryan put together 3 very good breaks in the last 3 frames to steal the match. Meanwhile, I wouldn't say that Michael White's form has been great since his 2013 World Championship quarter-final and perhaps the pressure to succeed is a burden on his shoulders but he does have a very good trait of being able to hang on in games without necessarily playing very good snooker. On days like he had today you can get away without playing great for a whole match as long as you hold on at the key points which is what he did in the end but unlike today when he went 3-0 down in good time, he will need to sharpen up on his safety and play well from the very first shot against Ryan because his fellow Welshman is playing good snooker once again.


Mark Allen Vs Mark Williams - This 2nd round clash should be another very tight match between 2 left handers that are pretty evenly matched when they're both on their game. Mark Williams has been working very hard in recent months both on the table with a new cue and off of the table on his health and fitness and I think it will all have a positive effect on his game as he looks to get back into the top 16. These are the types of games he knows he'll have to win to do it though and make his hard work pay off and I think he has a brilliant chance. Mark Allen is coming off of a few good results in Euro Tour events and he'll be desperate to convert that to a big ranking event and with the draw opening up as it is this could certainly be his week.


Zhao Xintong Vs Fergal O'Brien - A lot of people will look at this match and see one thing that will sway their minds to picking a winner and that is an incredible young Chinese player with bags of potential and a host of big wins already under his belt after so few matches competing with the best and at such a young age too. What they may miss is that his opponent Fergal O'Brien is one of the hardest players to beat and with form under his belt too not only will he upset a players rhythm he can keep a player in his seat for very long periods of a match and make him go cold. Fergal in my view these days is very underrated just because of his age and people don't always see the threat that he poses. Making the Gdynia Open final in February was no fluke and neither was picking up convincing victories over Mark Allen at the Australian Open and Robert Milkins on Tuesday in the Last 32. O'Brien is very solid and pretty consistent still which with all his experience added to that should make him the hot favourite for this encounter.


Mark Selby Vs Michael Holt - I think the destination of this match and how the match goes depends really on how Michael Holt can play. If he isn't at his best the likelihood is that he'll get beaten against a Mark Selby who's riding high on the crest of a wave right now, but if Michael can play at his best he can beat anyone including the World Champion who wasn't necessarily at his best today and was ill last week and could start to feel fatigued the further this week goes on if he hasn't recovered 100%. Michael has a very good chance of victory here if he plays well and I expect him to at least make this a close match with good memories of Shanghai from last year in his mind. In my view though Mark just finds a way of winning these types of games however well his opponent is playing, especially with the kind of high he is on at the moment.




To me this looks like an incredibly strong Last 16 line-up even though 9 of the 16 seeds are already which shows how much strength there is outside of the top 16 on the current tour and how many quality players there are that can give the top top players a very good game. I'm incredibly excited to see how the rest of the week pans out because right now I couldn't call a winner of the tournament because I think it's that wide open.

Shanghai Masters Preview

After a long break since the Australian Open in terms of full ranking event action that has seen a 1 month summer break and since then 2 European Tour events which were won by Mark Selby in Riga and of course Mark Allen winning the Paul Hunter Classic. Last week was the annual invitation event of the 6 Reds World Championship in Thailand which saw Stephen Maguire pick up the winners cheque beating Ricky Walden in a deciding frame in that final. With this event being played on the old style, tiered structure for ranking events like the Australian Open was the qualifiers for this event were back in early August and it is disappointing to see that 8 of those players who worked hard to qualify have been paired up in wildcard matches which is really a shame but not really up for debate again in my mind, as I'd simply be wasting my breath. The big stories from qualifying were that Joe Swail and Li Hang came through 4 qualifying matches to get to the venue in Shanghai (despite the first of Hang's being a walkover). Meanwhile all of Jack Lisowski, Jimmy Robertson, Ken Doherty and Matt Selt won 3 qualifying games to make it to the Last 32 stage which is where we start of on Monday.


It should be an incredibly good event with all of the games top stars lining up in Shanghai including Ronnie O'Sullivan who of course picks and chooses his events these days, Ding Junhui who missed both of the European Tour events and the Australian Open, while Mark Selby pulled out of the 6 Reds through illness so it's good to see that he's well enough to compete. The Shanghai Masters for me signifies a key point in the calendar where the events start to come thick and fast between now and through the early stages of autumn and winter right up until the UK Championships.


Now it's time for me to look ahead at the draw and the guys that I think will come through it to reach the latter stages:

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Ding Junhui Vs Jack Lisowski
Joe Perry Vs Martin Gould
Graeme Dott Vs Liang Wenbo/Yan Bingtao
Shaun Murphy Vs Joe Swail


For me this quarter is all about the big gun players of Ding Junhui, Shaun Murphy and Joe Perry in terms of finding our player who will make the last 4. Firstly, Ding Junhui hasn't played any snooker of any kind on the tour since his win at the Yixing Open AT1 which (to put things in perspective) ended with him winning the title on 21st June nearly 3 months ago. Having missed out on qualification for the Wuxi Classic he then didn't enter or participate in any of the Australian Open, or both ET's in Latvia and Germany as well as last weeks 6 Reds in Thailand. He may be defending champion and he may have had a very long rest at home presumably with his family but it's incredibly tough to tell how he'll play after such a long break from snooker and how much of that time would've been spent practising after his statement prior to the Masters earlier in the year that he'd put in next to no practice over the Christmas break and you have to wonder whether he's learnt from that here or not.


Shaun Murphy on the other hand seems to play in every event, simply because he loves the game and loves all of the travelling that comes with being a snooker player in the modern age. His recent displays have been mixed not making it past the Last 32 in either of the ET events and exiting Australia at the Last 16 stage as well which of course, was only his 2nd match. However, his record in Asia this season has been decent making the quarter-finals in Wuxi and more recently last week at the 6 Reds. Shaun always seems to be striking the ball well, and his confidence has been high since he won a couple of titles earlier in 2014. He won't mind me saying (on second thoughts he might but as we're here) that he has a niggling neck problem at the moment which he is working hard to try and get under control right now and things are improving with it which I think makes him more of a contender than I made him for the Paul Hunter Classic, because Shaun is never very far away from his best and it all depends on how things go on the week with Murphy.


Joe Perry also has to be a contender if he finds his form which he hasn't been able to do since making the final of the Wuxi Classic and losing out in a decider to his good friend Neil Robertson. I wondered at the time how long Perry would need to get over that and find his best again and it's proving to be a reasonable amount of time and he has quite a tough draw in this quarter to get through again this week if he's not quite at his very best.


Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Judd Trump Vs Dominic Dale
Stuart Bingham Vs Li Hang/Chen Zifan
Stephen Maguire Vs Jimmy Robertson
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Alan McManus


This quarter is another immensely tough one to call with all of Judd Trump, Stuart Bingham, Stephen Maguire and Ronnie O'Sullivan being well capable of taking the title next Sunday but only one of them can go on and make the last 4. Starting with Judd Trump, he has yet another tough first round game against Dominic Dale (who he always seems to be drawn against) but Trump really has rediscovered his game in recent times matching a win in Australia with a an appearance in the final of the Paul Hunter Classic, playing some very good stuff there up until the final and when he's on top form Judd's a very daunting player to come up against and someone incredibly tough to stop and it will take someone very good to stop Trump from winning both the quarter and the whole event again this coming week.


Stephen Maguire is a very strong contender for this quarter. It may have only been the 6 Reds but that shouldn't de-value the fact that Maguire did play well last week and unlike players that seem to play consistently well across a season without always being totally sparkling, when Maguire's on form he's a hot prospect on the table and someone who plays with a very easy style and can make breaks with ease. He was also playing well going back to the Paul Hunter Classic and was unlucky to run into Judd Trump in the Last 16 but he has a very good record against Judd and wouldn't be too surprised if he gets his revenge out in Shanghai given the opportunity.


Ronnie O'Sullivan made his first appearance of the season in Furth last month, but this is his first appearance in China to play an event since last November and I'm still of the opinion that he doesn't enjoy travelling to China to play competitive events regardless of what he says. He quite possibly has the toughest of the first round draws against Alan McManus who really has been playing some excellent snooker over the last year and has steadily been climbing back up the rankings boosted by good runs in a lot of events. There's no doubt in my mind that Alan has a very good chance of beating Ronnie and I have a gut feeling that he will do.


Quarter Winner: Stephen Maguire

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Neil Robertson Vs Michael White/ Niu Zhuang
John Higgins Vs Ryan Day/ Xu Si
Mark Allen Vs Andrew Higginson
Barry Hawkins Vs Mark Williams/Zhang Yong


The focus of this quarter in my opinion is all about Neil Robertson and Mark Allen as Barry Hawkins early season form has been mixed and doesn't really convince me that he'll have a strong run this week either, while John Higgins is becoming ever more unpredictable and his form this season hasn't been much better than his form of last year which was also inconsistent and really quite poor throughout with the odd flourish.


Neil's form this season has been very impressive of course winning the Wuxi Classic and making the final of his home tournament the Australian Open although his best in the Euro Tour events so far this season is only a Last 16 which is a little more uncharacteristic of Robertson who has been very consistent now for a few seasons. With such consistency you almost expect Robertson to make the latter stages of events even when he's not at his best, but in the last year (as he showed by making a century of centuries last season) he has always been very close to his best and never very far away from his next fantastic run whether it be to the quarter's of an event or beyond to another possible tournament victory. Neil has certainly become the complete player now.


Mark Allen meanwhile is playing well at the moment in smaller events as he showed in winning the Paul Hunter Classic, which is his 3rd Euro Tour event in around a year which is impressive going. Slightly more disappointingly though his form in the ranking events just doesn't seem to match. He has won 2 ranking titles which were both in China and both the Haikou World Open but in my opinion he doesn't challenge enough for these big ranking titles and I'd love him to prove me wrong and win another big title this week out in Shanghai but for some reason he can't recreate the magic of the ET's over a full week in the full ranking events as much as he should do, but that's just my view on things.


Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Marco Fu Vs Matt Selt/ Zhao Xintong
Robert Milkins Vs Fergal O'Brien
Ricky Walden Vs Michael Holt/ Yuan Sijun
Mark Selby Vs Ken Doherty/ Huang Jiahao


Finally, the bottom quarter of the draw features World Champion and world number 1 Mark Selby who is riding high on the crest of a wave at the moment, while Ricky Walden's record in Asia always makes him a better contender here than in the UK and he can contend for the quarter win this week showing form like he did to become the runner-up of the 6 Reds last week. Marco Fu will also be a big time contender for the title and the quarter this week as his record in Asia is also a lot better than in the UK and over the last year or so he has been working very hard to become a much more consistent snooker player.


Starting with Ricky Walden, he did play well to get to the final of the 6 reds last week but that's not quite got the same feel to it of a full ranking event which is where he needs to step up again to have a chance of contending for a spot in the last 4. Ricky is in good form at the moment having made the semi-finals of the Paul Hunter Classic and the quarter-finals before the summer break in the Australian Open where on both occasions it took a very much in form Judd Trump to stop him. He did overcome Mark Selby in the quarter-finals in Furth last month and given the chance this week there's no reason why he couldn't do the same again to make the quarter-finals in Shanghai.


Moving on to Mark Selby, he has been in incredible form since winning the World Championship in May and there's really a simple reason for that. Winning the World Championships is every snooker players lifelong dream, so to achieve it puts you on top of the world (literally) and that takes a lot of pressure off of a player to finally prove that they are at the top level of their sport and with Mark that has filled him with confidence and plenty of self-belief to go on and win a lot more titles. The thing for Mark this week will be how fully he has recovered from the illness that stopped him travelling to Thailand last week, because it's tough to go and play in an event in China when you're health is not 100% as Neil Robertson found out when he pulled off a miracle with a bad virus to make the China open final in April, but stuff like that really is rare but Selby is that kind of guy who always battles on.


Marco Fu however has been reasonably consistent with his start to the season without really drawing much attention to his performances or producing anything special which is why I get the feeling that he's due something fairly big this week in Shanghai. Marco did make the quarter-finals in Riga and was unlucky not to go on further there and he's become a much more consistent player who like Ding Junhui, Ronnie O'Sullivan and to a certain extent at the start of this season Mark Selby, is picking when and where he plays more wisely. To take 2 examples he missed both the Australian Open and last weeks 6 Reds and I think that is simply to make more of an effort to peak for the bigger events at the business periods of the season.


Quarter Winner: Marco Fu


Tournament Runner-Up: Shaun Murphy


Tournament Winner: Marco Fu


It should be another very good week of snooker this week and I am really looking forward to seeing how it all shapes up as it's a very tough tournament to call in my opinion as the draw does shape up incredibly well and there are a lot of big names who are in title winning form this week so it will be something special that goes on to win the title next Sunday. I'll be back when I can throughout the week for updates on how the tournament is going.

Paul Hunter Classic Preview

This weekend the snooker tour moves along to Furth in Germany for quite simply the European Tour event that has a feel about it of no other European Tour and quite simply should be a full ranking event. The Paul Hunter Classic played in the memory of the late great Paul Hunter is always treated in an extra special manner by all of the players on tour, and especially so by those that knew him well or those that had the privilege to compete with him on the tour. The tournament itself of course is in the same style of all of the European Tour events with half of the draw playing on Friday down to the Last 16 and the other half doing the same on Saturday in the professional stages and then the tournament being played from the Last 16 down to a winner on the Sunday. In a slight change to the amateur stages of this event most of the matches will still be played on the Thursday but there are a few matches that are being played on Wednesday evening in Germany, which it has to be said has caught a few of the amateurs out in terms of pre booking for flights in what appears to be a late change by World Snooker.


After an extended summer break for me from the last event I wrote about back in July with the Australian Open and that's simply because the tour took a month off for summer after Australia and of course I only cover a handful of ET's with the first being a couple of weeks ago in Riga, Latvia which was won by Mark Selby. However, I do love to watch this event and it is a special event that feels like more than what it essentially is so for me it is a must to cover.


Now then it's time to have a look at the draw and who I think will come out on top:

Quarter 1

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)


Mark Selby Vs Alexander Ursenbacher
Dominic Dale Vs Oliver Lines
Shaun Murphy Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Joyce Vs Lu Ning
Jak Jones Vs Amateur Qualifier
Liam Highfield Vs Cao Xin Long
Andrew Higginson Vs Liang Wenbo
Mark Davis Vs Amateur Qualifier
Chris Wakelin Vs Amateur Qualifier
Michael Wasley Vs David Grace
Allan Taylor Vs Tom Ford
Ricky Walden Vs Andrew Pagett
Ryan Day Vs Amateur Qualifier
Gerard Greene Vs Peter Lines
Fergal O'Brien Vs David Morris
Marco Fu Vs Amateur Qualifier


As with every quarter of the draw in every ET event, this quarter is packed with talent and plenty of players that could go on to the latter stages. Mark Selby of course won the first ET of the season in Riga, while Marco Fu, Shaun Murphy, Mark Davis, Ricky Walden, Ryan Day and Liang Wenbo are all capable of doing the same.


With the confidence Mark Selby's in at the moment coming off the back of his World Championship triumph which he followed up with a win in Riga to get an early season title under his belt, he's certainly the form man and the man that everyone will be targeting if they are to progress. From the rest Shaun Murphy had a good start to the season in Wuxi but has been struggling of late with a neck injury that is causing him some trouble at the moment so it'll be interesting to see hoe he goes this weekend with that in mind. There was also talk of Ricky Walden having some back issues going into the Riga Open where he suffered an earlier exit, and once again it'll be interesting to see whether that's a long term or short term problem for Ricky. Looking at the draw for both Marco Fu and Mark Davis I'd be surprised if, after starting pretty nicely this season, they both didn't make it to Sunday and possibly make a charge to win this quarter.


In ET's of course it's really tough to pick out a clear favourite to win an event or win the quarter and with plenty of guys there that could win this quarter it makes it twice as difficult, but one man really does stand out from the rest right now, and that's Mark Selby


Quarter Winner: Mark Selby

Quarter 2

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)


Judd Trump Vs Zhou Yuelong
Anthony Hamilton Vs Steven Hallworth
Tony Drago Vs Lee Page
Nigel Bond Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jimmy White Vs Ahmed Saif
Stephen Maguire Vs Hammad Miah
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh Vs Steve Mifsud
Aditya Mehta Vs Amateur Qualifier
Matt Selt Vs Alfie Burden
Michael Georgiou Vs Tian Pengfei
Chris Melling Vs Cao Yupeng
Mike Dunn Vs Ian Burns
Noppon Saengkham Vs Ronnie O'Sullivan
Robbie Williams Vs Amateur Qualifier
Michael Leslie Vs Amateur Qualifier
Barry Hawkins Vs Amateur Qualifier


The focus in this quarter by many is that of the return of Ronnie O'Sullivan to defend his Paul Hunter Classic Title and play in his first tournament since finishing runner-up at the World Championships in May. The other big names featuring in this section of the draw are the likes of Australian Open champion Judd Trump, Stephen Maguire and Barry Hawkins with this section also seeing a lot of younger players like Un-Nooh, Yupeng and Tian Pengfei.


My favourites for the quarter are clearly Trump, O'Sullivan and Hawkins, although of course Maguire can always do damage but in my opinion I think Maguire's at a stage where he's not as concerned with these smaller events as perhaps some of the other top players are. Judd Trump is of course the form horse at the moment after his win in Australia and that will give him a heap of confidence having not won a major title for over a year and half before that and stopped a lot of the doubters who were talking about where exactly his form and promise had gone and it'd be good to see him really kick on from there and win as much as possible.


Ronnie of course is picking and choosing his events wisely which was something he did very well last year to win quite a few events including this one, but it makes him an incredibly hard man to predict when he hasn't played a single tournament for over 3 months. It will be interesting to see how he goes in the early rounds though starting off against good young Thai player Noppon Saengkham and with a possible match up with Barry Hawkins waiting for him as early as the Last 32. Barry has been very consistent in the last couple of years since winning his first ranking event, and he's a contender to be in the latter stages of events. For me though at the moment Judd Trump will be full of confidence and playing with no fear like he is when he's at his very best.


Quarter Winner: Judd Trump

Quarter 3

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)


Anthony McGill Vs Mitchell Mann
David Gilbert Vs Craig Steadman
Neil Robertson Vs Elliot Slessor
Jimmy Robertson Vs Vinnie Calabrese
Kyren Wilson Vs Amateur Qualifier
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Lu Chenwei
Jack Lisowski Vs Stuart Carrington
Graeme Dott Vs Amateur Qualifier
Mark Williams Vs Rod Lawler
Sam Baird Vs Yu De Lu
Dave Harold Vs James Cahill
John Higgins Vs Zak Surety
Mark King Vs Amateur Qualifier
Jamie Jones Vs Lu Haotian
Ross Muir Vs Matthew Stevens
Stuart Bingham Vs Fraser Patrick


This quarter of course is headed by century machine Neil Robertson who has been in top form again this season, Graeme Dott and Mark Williams who these days are hovering around the 16 mark in the rankings, John Higgins who is also on a little bit of a downwards turn at the stage of his career that you would expect that to happen and Stuart Bingham who's coming back into some better form.


Neil Robertson may have suffered an early exit in Riga but you'd let him off for that after a good run at the start of the season that saw him reach the final of the Wuxi Classic and the final of his home event in Bendigo so he'd obviously the man to beat here. John Higgins, Mark Williams and Graeme Dott aren't necessarily in good enough form for me to say that they will win the quarter but you know that one of them will be challenging and the good thing about these events is that if you can get through a couple of the early rounds you can easily play yourself into form. Stuart Bingham I think has a draw where he can do that and play himself into the event and possibly save some energy for the back end of this tournament when you need to have your energy in reserve after a fast paced weekend. Bingham is always around at these ET events and for me he's certainly due a run to go really deep in the event.


Quarter Winner: Stuart Bingham

Quarter 4

Last 128 Draw: (Picks in bold)


Alan McManus Vs Amateur Qualifier
Gary Wilson Vs Steve Davis
Kurt Maflin Vs Li Hang
Joe Swail Vs Scott Donaldson
Michael Holt Vs Xiao Guodong
Alex Davies Vs Joel Walker
Jamie Cope Vs Barry Pinches
Ben Woollaston Vs Amateur Qualifier
Robert Milkins Vs Chris Norbury
John Astley Vs Amateur Qualifier
Martin Gould Vs Ryan Clark
Michael White Vs Marcus Campbell
Ian Glover Vs Ratchayothin Yotharuck
Luca Brecel Vs Ken Doherty
Rory McLeod Vs Alex Borg
Mark Allen Vs Lee Walker


Finally here we have a quarter that isn't exactly packed with top 16 stars but there are a lot of young players and players around the top 32 that can do damage. The stand out player here is Mark Allen, but guys like Robert Milkins, Martin Gould, Alan McManus, Ben Woollaston, Michael Holt, Kurt Maflin and Xiao Guodong are all capable of doing some damage and of course winning the quarter if Mark Allen falls early.


Mark Allen played out a pretty perfect week to get to the final in Riga and lead that final 3-0 against Mark Selby but he couldn't quite get over the line as Selby came back to win, but it was still a very impressive weekend for Allen and perhaps signalled a return to form for him at the same stage of the season where last time around he was able to win consecutive ET events which is a pretty big effort given the nature of these events. One man that always impresses me in these ET events is Ben Woollaston who always seems to come along and make it to the Sunday and the Last 16 of events making the Grand Finals later in the season on a regular basis, showing good consistency without actually winning a particular event.


For me though in terms of picking out a particular favourite for the quarter it's tough to see past Mark Allen if he continues his good form.


Quarter Winner: Mark Allen


Tournament Runner-Up: Judd Trump


Tournament Winner: Mark Allen


As always this event will be broadcast on Eurosport both in the UK and on the continent from Friday through to Sunday's conclusion and I'm sure that it will be another fantastic event to honour and celebrate the great player and the great man that was Paul Hunter.

Josh Cooper: A blog from an apsiring amateur player

After a large break over the course of July and the early parts of August, snooker is back this weekend in Latvia for the Riga Open which opens the European Tour events for the season. Of course, the amateurs are provided with a fabulous opportunity to compete in these events and one young man hoping to take advantage of this in the coming season is Josh Cooper. Unfortunately Josh hasn't been able to enter Riga or the Paul Hunter Classic coming later on this month but is hoping to play in some of the later ET's and has taken some time out to write a brilliant piece for the blog on him as a snooker player, where he's at with his game at present times and his aspirations for the future.


Without further delay, this is what the man himself had to say:

Hello, I’m Joshua Cooper, 18 years of age and the nephew of snnooker professional Shaun Murphy. I am currently an amateur snooker player trying to emerge through the amateur ranks and then push on to turn professional.

I recently qualified for a place on the English Junior Premier Tour which is the best 48 amateurs in the Country at under 21 level. I earned this place by competing in the u21 Regional Tour where I came 3rd in the North section, along with winning back to back events which were events 5&6, gaining automatic promotion onto the English u21 Premier Tour. I have also previously entered a European Tour Event but sadly I bowed out in the first qualifying round 4-1. It was a great experience for me and I really enjoyed taking part in the event and I am looking to enter as many European Tours as I can this season and hopefully go further than I have done in them previously.

I Currently practice on average around 4 days a week, for around 3 hours a day, but with the premier tour upcoming and entering a few European Tours, then I’m going to start putting in the hours a lot more as you need to if you want to progress in the game of snooker. I try to balance my practice out with solo practice and match practice.

My aim for 2014/2015 will be to keep my place on the Premier tour as it is my first season on there, but I will be there to win it also. Another aim is as I have previously said is to try and play in a lot of the European Tour Events and then depending on how my season has gone I will look into entering Q School to try and earn a place on the tour with the very best, but at the minute that is a long way off and there is a lot of work to be done between now and then.

Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope you enjoyed it, if you have any questions or anything like that then you can contact me either by Twitter @JCooper147 or by Email joshcooper147@hotmail.co.uk.

Thank you.   

I'd like to thank Josh for agreeing to right a piece for me on himself as a young amateur, and I hope it's given you all an insight into things within the amateur game a lot more and hopefully we'll have a lot more pieces like this to come in the near future from other aspiring amateur players.

Australian Open Preview

Such a short time after the Wuxi Classic in China and Neil Robertson's triumph, the snooker tour goes down under to Bendigo for the Australian Open's 4th staging with 32 players in the running for another big title, and with 2 Australian wildcards playing in addition could we be seeing some future Australian snooker stars. However, as always there are a number of top players missing including World No.1 and World Champion Mark Selby, defending champion Marco Fu, Ronnie O'Sullivan and Ding Junhui.


What this means then is that this title is well and truly up for grabs this week and as we've seen in previous years someone could very easily come out of the blue to win their first ever ranking title. Here's who I think will be the big players this week in Australia:

Quarter 1

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Neil Robertson Vs  Andrew Higginson/ Matthew Bolton
Stephen Maguire Vs Jamie Jones
Robert Milkins Vs Liang Wenbo
John Higgins Vs Tom Ford


The top quarter of the draw here features plenty of top players like last years runner-up (though the winner and current World No.1 haven't entered) and home man in Neil Robertson, whilst we also have more big names in Stephen Maguire, Liang Wenbo, John Higgins and Robert Milkins who are all capable of winning this quarter. Liang Wenbo really impressed me last week at the Wuxi Classic where he got to the Last 16 making 4 centuries and beating Mark Selby in the Last 32. If he can hit that form again in this event I certainly think he can beat Robert Milkins in the first round and then beat John Higgins who has been very inconsistent in the last year to make the quarter-finals. However, I don't know if he quite has enough to go on and completely win the quarter as I think it'll depend on performances of certain others.


One of those others is Neil Robertson who won the Wuxi Classic just today which may give him a slight disadvantage ahead of his home event, because in my view it's now a very short turnaround for him flying out on Monday to Australia and then having to play on Wednesday and then every day after that until Sunday to win the title it's a big ask after playing so much the week before to win in Wuxi. It may be the start of the season but I don't think Robertson will be able to quite ease through the draw again and he did look vulnerable in Wuxi and there are certainly players here who can stop them.


One of those players is Stephen Maguire. Stephen himself had a very good run in Wuxi showing some really good early season form and for him a good run is certainly possible this week. Stephen made the quarter-finals in Wuxi just losing out in a decider to Martin Gould and it'll be tough for Maguire to work out how he lost that one. I think though he'll be able to use that as inspiration in Australia this week and take the positives after a disappointing season last season to kick on and challenge for the title this week. He's certainly capable of beating Neil Robertson and getting through a tricky draw to give himself a great chance of a spot in the last 4 and a shot at a win next Sunday.


Quarter Winner: Stephen Maguire

Quarter 2

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Stuart Bingham Vs Scott Donaldson
Ryan Day Vs Mark Joyce
Mark Davis Vs Dominic Dale/ Johl Younger
Shaun Murphy Vs Jack Lisowski


Here in the 2nd quarter we also have some top players like Shaun Murphy, former winner in Australia Stuart Bingham, Ryan Day, Mark Davis and Dominic Dale. We haven't seen any of Mark Davis yet this season and based on his form of the back half of last season it's difficult to say that he will be challenging for the title this week though. It's also difficult to say that with Dominic Dale given this event is first full one of the season so for a surprise package in this quarter we'll be looking at Ryan Day who had a very good end to the season last time around and certainly looks to be getting back to his best form as he showed again in Wuxi making the Last 16, and the one thing he needs to do now is keep up a consistent level of performance and if he could challenge for this quarter he'd be doing that.


Stuart Bingham is a man that has good Bendigo memories having won his first ranking event title out at the Australian Open and he showed signs that he is getting back to the form he showed in the first half of last season at the Wuxi Classic where he made the Last 16 and he only lost out there in a decider to Marco Fu so who knows how far he could've gone if he could've got over the line in that one. He was one of the best player of the first half of last season before falling away in the second half but I think he can get over that and go well again this week and I'd be very surprised if he didn't go on and reach at least the quarter-finals and for me he is one of the main contenders for the title this week.


Another of the main contenders for the title this week is Shaun Murphy who had a good start to the season making the quarter-finals at the Wuxi Classic and he knows that he should've made the semi-finals missing an easy red in the decider close to victory against Neil Robertson. However, having only got past the Last 16 twice last season to make it to the quarter-finals of the first event of the season is a huge positive for him and he struck the ball well in Wuxi which all bodes well for Australia. In my opinion in the back half of last season Shaun Murphy almost made a second breakthrough re-discovering his form and what it is that works for him with his attacking snooker. Now that he's back on the attack he's gained in confidence and is bound to win regular titles again like he did at the start of his career.


Quarter Winner: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 3

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Judd Trump Vs Rory McLeod
Joe Perry Vs Alan McManus
Michael Holt Vs Martin Gould
Ricky Walden Vs Marcus Campbell


As we head into the bottom half of the draw, I feel that this quarter if all about Judd Trump, Joe Perry, Martin Gould and Ricky Walden as I can't see too many people coming from an outside position to win the quarter. The bottom little section looks like it'll be all about Ricky Walden and Martin Gould in my opinion. Ricky Walden I felt would have a slow start to the season and he showed that with an early exit in Wuxi at the Last 32 stage and he has a tough little draw here if he's to get any further than the Last 16. Martin Gould however is in good form having made the semi-finals in Wuxi and that will be a huge confidence boost for him as he heads into this event and the rest of the season. I think he'll have enough in the tank after a short turnaround to make it into the quarter-finals here but not to get much further than that.


I feel like the quarter winner will come from the top section of quarter 3 and one of the 2 main contenders from there is Joe Perry. Joe Perry has been in great form within the last year with his best ranking performance in the last year and for a very long while coming in Wuxi where he was runner-up in a deciding frame to Neil Robertson. Even though overall it's been a positive week for Perry I think that he may be feeling a little bit down about missing his chance to win his first ever ranking event. That paired up with a short turnaround from the Wuxi final to his Bendigo campaign points out to me that the possibility of a repeat performance this week is slightly lower if someone can really test him this week I think they'll come out on top.


Someone that can really test Joe Perry of course is Judd Trump. Judd overall would have been very disappointed with his performances in Wuxi simply not showing any form in his Last 16 loss to Stephen Maguire and I think the signs were there that he may have just been a little rusty in his first full event of the new campaign. However, his draw in Australia is not quite as tough if he can pick up a good win against Joe Perry and shake off those early signs of rustiness and get into some good form at the start of the campaign. Judd doesn't usually make the trip to Australia so he'll want to do well this week to get something out of it and make it worth his while so that could be the inspiration he needs to get back into form.


Quarter Winner: Judd Trump

Quarter 4

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in bold)
Mark Allen Vs Fergal O'Brien
Matthew Stevens Vs Luca Brecel
Xiao Guodong Vs Liam Highfield
Barry Hawkins Vs Peter Ebdon


The final quarter of the draw also has plenty of stars including former winner Barry Hawkins, Mark Allen, Xiao Guodong, Matthew Stevens and young Luca Brecel who could always make a surprise run. Firstly, after not making Wuxi this really is the first full event for both Matthew Stevens and Luca Brecel though Brecel had to play 3 matches to qualify so has more momentum than Stevens who's game has been on the decline in the last year so I think Brecel can record an outside win. Xiao Guodong though could definetly go on and outside run with the confidence he would've gained from his rise in the rankings and Shanghai Masters final last year but he's not started this season too well and appears to be coming in a little rusty and out of form as he showed in his loss to Hull. I could see him making the Last 16 but it would take him to raise his game a lot since Wuxi if he's to go any further.


Another man that may be a little rusty as this is his first event of the season and his game against O'Brien will be his first since his World Championship exit competitively. Basically, the form that he'll show and how far he gets in this event will depend on the work he's put in during the off season. He didn't have a great start to the season and his peak was around October-December once he'd warmed up and went on to win 2 European tour events and make the UK quarter-finals during this period. Also, he's not a Bendigo regular so we're lucky to be seeing him this week and I think he'll be coming in a little undercooked which could be the difference between him winning the event and exiting at the quarter-final stages.


One man that certainly isn't under cooked coming into this event is Barry Hawkins. Barry is always working hard so he came into the Wuxi Classic in fairly good shape and after getting rid of a few cobwebs on the way to the Last 16 he got a lot stronger beating Marco Fu in a decider to make the semi-finals where he was at 3-3 with Neil Robertson before the eventual champion pulled away. But with Barry in good form and with good memories of Bendigo which bought him his first ranking title he'll be full of confidence and in with a great chance of winning this whole event never mind the quarter. In my view it would be a great achievement for him to win his 2nd Australian Open title


Quarter Winner: Barry Hawkins


Tournament Runner-Up: Barry Hawkins


Tournament Winner: Shaun Murphy




Whatever the outcome is of this event I hope it is a successful one with some really exciting snooker matches and some big crowds because the Australian Open hasn't been well supported in the past and there is obviously a threat that if it isn't well supported in the future it will be taken off of the calendar which would be a real shame. I hope to be back with some updates throughout the event, and luckily this year we will also get to watch one session a day on Eurosport and hopefully they will have highlights from the earlier sessions that take place at "unsociable" times in the UK so you can all enjoy the event as much as I hope to.

Quarter-finals time in Wuxi

It's time for the quarter-finals in Wuxi as we are down to 8 after todays exciting and close quarter-finals with plenty of great snooker being played in conditions that are far from easy for the players this week given the dampness and humidity out there at present.


As I mentioned early there were plenty of exciting games with good snooker played as Marco Fu overcame Stuart Bingham in an exciting and tense deciding frame while Shaun Murphy ended the challenge of Chinese wildcard Zhao Xintong and their were comfortable wins for Neil Robertson and Barry Hawkins.


Last 16 Results:


Neil Robertson 5-1 Michael Holt
Shaun Murphy 5-2 Zhao Xintong
Marco Fu 5-4 Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins 5-2 Alan McManus
Martin Gould 5-3 Ryan Day
Stephen Maguire 5-0 Judd Trump
Robin Hull 5-1 Cao Yupeng
Joe Perry 5-2 Liang Wenbo




So then we've got some brilliant quarter-finals to look forward to tomorrow and it's now time for me to take a look at what we can expect from Friday's action:


Quarter-Final Draw: (Picks in Bold)


Neil Robertson Vs Shaun Murphy - This should be another very open match between 2 very attacking players that on their day are great long potters and excellent scorers in amongst the balls. Conditions have been slightly tougher this week as they always are in China but that hasn't stopped Neil Robertson making centuries in both of his matches so far and he's played very well for his victories and he's probably favourite in my mind to win this match if he can keep it up. Despite beating Zhao Xintong comfortably in terms of the score today Shaun Murphy could've been pushed a lot closer and possibly beaten on another day as the match went very scrappy and Shaun struggled to make anything more than a 40 break on the day, so he'll certainly have to improve tomorrow if he's to have any chance of making the win. With Murphy set to attack, and Robertson likely to do that as well it will be the player that makes the most of his chances and makes the big breaks that will win the game rather than it being decided on tactical exchanges. So far this week, the heavy scorer has been Neil so he has the edge going into it.


Barry Hawkins Vs Marco Fu - These 2 players have been very evenly matched this week looking at their performances with both having to come through deciders at some stage while both have also had some slightly easier wins. Marco Fu made 2 centuries today in beating Stuart Bingham, but with him it's always about whether he can produce this consistently and he has been doing that a lot more in the last couple of years. He also seems to play slightly better than Barry Hawkins in Chinese conditions which is especially useful as this weeks conditions (especially today in the last 16) have been even tougher than normal for China. Despite all of this, Barry has still been able to score and play well in his matches despite being pushed very close by a wildcard in the Last 32, and even though he was able to dig in and get the win someone with more experience like Marco Fu would've been able to punish him and probably knock him out. So for me, I think if Fu can keep up his consistency, Hawkins will have to up his game which is something I think he struggles with more on Chinese soil.


Stephen Maguire Vs Martin Gould - Both of these guys have played some very good snooker this week and recorded some very good wins. Maguire has to overcome some incredibly tough opponents in David Gilbert and Michael White before whitewashing his toughest opponent of the lot in Judd Trump, though Maguire won several frames that Trump simply kept gifting him, and he won't get such gifts tomorrow against Martin, but when he's really had to and been under pressure Maguire has scored well and his safety play was very impressive against Judd today. I've not seen any of Martin Gould this week but you can see from the scores he's been close to his best making the bigger breaks again and even though he only had to overcome amateurs in his first 2 matches he did it wasting little energy, which may have proved decisive in a very good win against a very tough player in Ryan Day. With both seeming to score well I can see this being a very close match that is decided on big safety battles and who really gives the most chances away. Looking at how he played today tactically I'd have to say that Maguire will be keeping it the tighter of the 2 here.


Joe Perry Vs Robin Hull - The first thing i'll say about this match is how good an achievement it is that Robin Hull has got to the quarter-finals this week and I'd also like to say how well he has played an scored throughout the week as he's really got back into things on the tour now having been back a year now after a long layoff. However, this is also the furthest Hull has got since getting back on tour and with it being so long since his last quarter-final in a ranking event this is maybe a little bit of unchartered territory for him and with that will come extra pressure. Joe Perry on the other hand has been making a lot of quarter-finals in the last year or so and having made another here with 3 very comfortable wins playing pretty well and scoring pretty well he'll be eager to make the semi's and try to convert this one into his first ranking event title. I think he's got a great chance of winning the title and an equally good chance of getting that first major after such a long time in the game.


Whatever the outcome of tomorrow's quarter-final games I'm pretty sure we'll be in for some very interesting action with plenty of close games and tension, but also 4 brilliant players to make up our semi-final line-up as the matches are upped to best of 11's for Saturday's semis and best of 19 for Sunday's final. I hope you enjoy all as much as I will and i'll be back tomorrow to look ahead to those semi-finals.


Whatever the outcome of these matches we're going to have 4 great semi-finalists and some great snooker to complete the week here in Wuxi, and I'm sure you'll all enjoy as much as I will. More tips to come from me again tomorrow ahead of the semi's.