Ding Junhui, Judd Trump, Mark Selby and Stuart Bingham made it through to the semi-finals of the International Championships on a dramatic Thursday in Daqing.
Home favourite Ding was the first man through with a crushing 6-2 victory over defending champion John Higgins. Higgins took the opening two frames, despite a break of 70 in the second frame from Ding. After getting on the board in the third the Chinese great hit Higgins with a barrage of big breaks. An 81 made the match level at the intermission, before a 56 put him in front. Consecutive centuries of 104 and 130 in frames six and seven put him one away from victory, before he clinched the match in the next courtesy of a 63.
Ding will now play Judd Trump in Friday's semi-final after a thriller with Shaun Murphy. Trump made three centuries in the match, the first of which came in frame three to make it 2-1, before Murphy clearly levelled with the first of four breaks in the 70's that he made in the contest. Another century following the mid-session interval put Trump 3-2 ahead but he lost all of the next three frames to runs of 77, 75 and 70 as Murphy put himself a frame away from the semi-finals at 5-3 and was looking very strong at this stage. However, Trump hit back in the next two frames with Murphy failing to pot a ball as a break of 74 followed by Trump's highest break of 119 forced the decider.
The decider was worthy of a match of it's own with the amount of drama it created. After early chances for Trump, Murphy then cleared the final few reds to take a handy lead on the colours but turned down the yellow early on, before narrowly missing a tough attempt that would likely have clinched him the match. Trump then clawed his way back into things and looked like clearing when he potted the blue after earlier getting out of a tough snooker when Murphy would have been over the winning line with a miss. On potting the pink into the yellow pocket he looked like landing perfectly on the black until the cue ball caught the bump of the middle pocket leaving him in no man's land. After a few safety shots, Murphy came incredibly close to doubling the final black the full length of the table into the yellow pocket. Trump then had an attempt at a thin cut, but missed and left a long chance on for Murphy. He went for it, but the black came all around the table and left a simple match ball for the left-hander to put himself into yet another semi-final.
World Champion Mark Selby overcame Joe Perry 6-3, despite a small fightback from his opponent, to book his place in the last four for the second year in succession. Perry won the opener but then Selby went into overdrive. Consecutive centuries of 132 and 127 sent Selby ahead before he dominated the fourth frame to stop Perry potting a ball or scoring a point for the third frame in succession. A tight fifth also went to the World number one, and when the sixth followed he was one away from victory. Runs of 64 and 86 kept the Gentleman in the match at 3-5, but a tight ninth frame got Selby over the line.
He will now play the World number 2 Stuart Bingham after Bingham held off a valiant Michael Holt fightback to come through 6-5. Holt did not get out of the gates in the opening four frames, after his win over Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Last 16, and runs of 87, 80 and a further 80 put Bingham 4-0 ahead and cruising into the mid-session interval. Holt did not give up though and the tables well and truly turned. He took all of the next four frames, helped by match high breaks of 81 and 63 to come all the way back and square the match at 4-4. Bingham hit back in the ninth superbly with a 131 break to have two bites at the cherry to win the match. The game became understandably tense at this stage and Holt was able to force a decider to increase the tension. It came down to the final reds but Bingham eventually got over the line to book his semi-final place.
Along with that victory Bingham has booked a place in the Champion of Champions in two weeks time. As the highest ranked player on the one-year money list not already qualified, as well as the only player left in the tournament not to have qualified, whether he wins the tournament or not he will get the 15th place. Meanwhile, if the winner of the China Championship next week is already in the Champion of Champions it will be Joe Perry that takes the place as the next highest ranked player on the one-year money list.
Semi-Final Schedule:
Judd Trump Vs Ding Junhui - Friday 28th September (First session 7am UK Time and Final session 12.30pm UK Time)
Mark Selby Vs Stuart Bingham - Saturday 29th September (First session 7am UK Time and Final session 12.30pm UK Time)
The semi-final matches are played over two days with Trump and Ding's up first on Friday and each will be played over the best-of-17 frames. It will be the first time Trump and Ding have met since the second round of the World Championships when the Chinese number one came out on top, in his run to the final. For Trump he will be looking to get to his third ranking event final in a row and with nine centuries to his name in his four matches so far this week he is clearly still on top form. As for Ding he has had a couple of scares against Mitchell Mann and Ricky Walden but aside from that his wins have been comfortable and full of high breaks also.
On Saturday it will be the turn of World numbers one and two when 2016 World Champion Mark Selby faces 2015 World Champion Stuart Bingham. The pair met recently in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters when Selby made one of his trademark comebacks. Prior to that the pair had not for nearly three years (when they had four meetings in the space of a year which were shared). Bingham had had three comfortable wins to open up this week and in the early stages of his match against Michael Holt it looked like being four easy wins out of four. If given the chance though he will need to finish off Selby as soon as possible with thoughts fresh in his mind of Selby's Shanghai comeback and Holt's fightback today. Selby has had to play one extra match this week with his heldover Last 128 tie, so will surely welcome the day off. He was pushed by Paul Davison before comfortable wins over Alfie Burden and John Astley. He had to dig in against Liang Wenbo to win 6-5 before then playing another tough player in Perry, so both players will be well prepared for the battle on Saturday.
The winner of the Trump Vs Ding contest will have the benefit of a day off before Sunday's best-of-19 frame final, which could be an advantage if Selby and Bingham's clash runs close on Saturday.
Thursday, 27 October 2016
Wednesday, 26 October 2016
Holt beats O'Sullivan again in Daqing
Michael Holt today scored his third win of 2016 against Ronnie O'Sullivan with a 6-4 victory in Wednesday's Last 16 at the International Championship. Having previously beaten O'Sullivan in March's World Grand Prix and in the Shanghai Masters just over a month ago, Holt took an early 3-1 lead at the mid-session interval and was never pegged back to level terms by his opponent. Despite losing a narrow fifth frame, Holt bounced back to take a tight frame on his own and restore his two frame advantage. 96 from Ronnie closed the gap once more, and after Holt won the eighth he closed the gap again with a 76 to make it 4-5. Holt held himself together in the next though to win the match with a run of 70.
Holt will now play Stuart Bingham who met Ali Carter for the fourth time in 2016. After losing to Carter at the World Championships and in Carter's run to winning the World Open, Bingham completed a comfortable victory in the Shanghai Masters and added to that today with a 6-1 thrashing of the Captain. Bingham's high breaks in the match were 84 and 82.
In the battle of the former International Champions, Ding Junhui came out on top in a deciding frame against Ricky Walden. Ding surged into a 5-2 lead thanks to runs of 71, 88, 93 and 98. Walden kept on going though and started to produce some real quality himself with a break of 130 in the eight and after winning a tight ninth frame, another century in the tenth forced the decider. It came down to the colours in the final frame but in the end the home favourite was just too strong, eventually closing out the match.
Ding faces the defending champion John Higgins next after Higgins beat another Chinese player in Zhou Yuelong 6-2. The only highlight for Zhou was a break of 102 in the sixth frame, but he was already 4-1 down at this stage.
World Champion Mark Selby used all of his "Master of brinkmanship" qualities against recent English Open winner Liang Wenbo. After the opening four frames were shared, including a century from Liang. Selby did move ahead at 4-2 before Liang won three on the bounce to move one away from victory at 5-4. Despite chances from the Chinese in both of the final two frames, Selby took them both helped by a break of 69 in the decider.
Selby's quarter-final opponent is Joe Perry after Perry completed his second 6-2 victory over Neil Robertson this season, after their World Open semi-final. It was not the same level of incredibly scoring from Perry on this occasion, but highs of 80, 73 and 67 were enough to put him into the last eight.
Judd Trump kept his brilliant form going with a 6-3 win over James Wattana who was in the Last 16 of a ranking event for the first time in 10 years. After making two centuries in each of his two earlier wins, today he had breaks of 137, 133 as well as runs of 83 and 77. Wattana put up a valiant effort making breaks of 94 and 75 and pushing Trump as much as any other player so far.
Shaun Murphy thrashed Sam Baird 6-1 for his most comfortable win so far. Despite Baird making a century in the opening frame, he could not reach the same heights thereafter and Murphy made breaks of 64, 86 and a high of 101 to get into the quarter-finals and set up a meeting with Judd Trump.
Quarter-Final Schedule:
7.30am UK Time:
John Higgins Vs Ding Junhui
Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy
12.30pm UK Time:
Stuart Bingham Vs Michael Holt
Mark Selby Vs Joe Perry
It is hard to pick the winners of any of those four matches with any certainty with eight such high quality players left in the competition. However, all of the last four meetings between Ding Junhui and John Higgins in ranking competition have seen Ding come out on top and it will be interesting to see if that run continues. Meanwhile Trump and Murphy will meet for the first time since November 2014 in a European tour semi-final when Murphy came from 3-0 down to win 4-3. Michael Holt will be hoping to do what he has not been able to after beating O'Sullivan on the two previous occasions in 2016 by winning his next match. As for Perry and Selby both have already had to come through deciders, Perry beating Higginson from 5-2 behind in the Last 64 and Selby coming from 5-4 down against Liang, and this could also be a very close match.
The quarter-finals will be played over the best-of-11 frames once more to set up two semi-finals that will be played on individual days over the best-of-17 frames. Presumably as the top half of the draw play earlier on Thursday, that semi-final will be on Friday but this is yet to be confirmed.
Holt will now play Stuart Bingham who met Ali Carter for the fourth time in 2016. After losing to Carter at the World Championships and in Carter's run to winning the World Open, Bingham completed a comfortable victory in the Shanghai Masters and added to that today with a 6-1 thrashing of the Captain. Bingham's high breaks in the match were 84 and 82.
In the battle of the former International Champions, Ding Junhui came out on top in a deciding frame against Ricky Walden. Ding surged into a 5-2 lead thanks to runs of 71, 88, 93 and 98. Walden kept on going though and started to produce some real quality himself with a break of 130 in the eight and after winning a tight ninth frame, another century in the tenth forced the decider. It came down to the colours in the final frame but in the end the home favourite was just too strong, eventually closing out the match.
Ding faces the defending champion John Higgins next after Higgins beat another Chinese player in Zhou Yuelong 6-2. The only highlight for Zhou was a break of 102 in the sixth frame, but he was already 4-1 down at this stage.
World Champion Mark Selby used all of his "Master of brinkmanship" qualities against recent English Open winner Liang Wenbo. After the opening four frames were shared, including a century from Liang. Selby did move ahead at 4-2 before Liang won three on the bounce to move one away from victory at 5-4. Despite chances from the Chinese in both of the final two frames, Selby took them both helped by a break of 69 in the decider.
Selby's quarter-final opponent is Joe Perry after Perry completed his second 6-2 victory over Neil Robertson this season, after their World Open semi-final. It was not the same level of incredibly scoring from Perry on this occasion, but highs of 80, 73 and 67 were enough to put him into the last eight.
Judd Trump kept his brilliant form going with a 6-3 win over James Wattana who was in the Last 16 of a ranking event for the first time in 10 years. After making two centuries in each of his two earlier wins, today he had breaks of 137, 133 as well as runs of 83 and 77. Wattana put up a valiant effort making breaks of 94 and 75 and pushing Trump as much as any other player so far.
Shaun Murphy thrashed Sam Baird 6-1 for his most comfortable win so far. Despite Baird making a century in the opening frame, he could not reach the same heights thereafter and Murphy made breaks of 64, 86 and a high of 101 to get into the quarter-finals and set up a meeting with Judd Trump.
Quarter-Final Schedule:
7.30am UK Time:
John Higgins Vs Ding Junhui
Judd Trump Vs Shaun Murphy
12.30pm UK Time:
Stuart Bingham Vs Michael Holt
Mark Selby Vs Joe Perry
It is hard to pick the winners of any of those four matches with any certainty with eight such high quality players left in the competition. However, all of the last four meetings between Ding Junhui and John Higgins in ranking competition have seen Ding come out on top and it will be interesting to see if that run continues. Meanwhile Trump and Murphy will meet for the first time since November 2014 in a European tour semi-final when Murphy came from 3-0 down to win 4-3. Michael Holt will be hoping to do what he has not been able to after beating O'Sullivan on the two previous occasions in 2016 by winning his next match. As for Perry and Selby both have already had to come through deciders, Perry beating Higginson from 5-2 behind in the Last 64 and Selby coming from 5-4 down against Liang, and this could also be a very close match.
The quarter-finals will be played over the best-of-11 frames once more to set up two semi-finals that will be played on individual days over the best-of-17 frames. Presumably as the top half of the draw play earlier on Thursday, that semi-final will be on Friday but this is yet to be confirmed.
Tuesday, 25 October 2016
Top players continue International domination in Daqing
All of the top players to make into the Last 32 at the International Championships marched on further with wins on day three in Daqing.
There were comfortable victories for Judd Trump against James Wattana, Mark Selby over John Astley, Ding Junhui thrashing Matthew Stevens, John Higgins easing past Jak Jones, Stuart Bingham beating Dominic Dale and recent English Open champion beating fellow Chinese Li Hang.
Things were not quite as simple meanwhile for Neil Robertson who played out a drawn out affair with Anthony Hamilton. Hamilton did lead 4-3 after quite a long period of play, but 50+ breaks in consecutive frames from Robertson turned the tables and put him 5-4 ahead when the match was taken off having overrun for time. Resuming after the first match to conclude in the evening session, Robertson made a further contribution of 50 to win 6-4.
Ronnie O'Sullivan had to play well to fight off Kurt Maflin. Having led 2-0 early on O'Sullivan was pegged back to 2-2 at the intermission. He edged ahead once more at 3-2, only for Maflin to win the next two and lead 4-3. However, O'Sullivan stepped up and levelled once more at 4-4 before then winning the next two frames with breaks of 84 and 101 sealing a 6-4 win.
Shaun Murphy had to battle hard against young Chinese sensation Yan Bingtao coming through in a deciding frame. As in his first round match against Robin Hull, he found himself 3-1 behind at the mid-session break before winning the sixth on a re-spot in another mirror of the Hull match to level the scores at 3-3. He took the seventh for a third frame on the trot but then lost the next two to breaks of 60 and 50 which left him on the brink, 4-5 adrift. Murphy dug in with his highest break in the match, an 84, to force the decider and then came from behind in the final frame to seal a tense victory.
Elsewhere, Ali Carter came from 5-2 behind to beat Stephen Maguire, Michael Holt came from 5-3 adrift to overcome Daniel Wells while Ricky Walden beat Graeme Dott 6-4 in a close encounter that Walden finished with a century. Joe Perry ended Aditya Mehta's run after coming with a 6-3 victory, improving on his match with Andrew Higginson when he had to come from 5-2 down to book his Last 64 spot.
Only three of the sixteen remaining players are from outside of the World's Top 32. Sam Baird was the most impressive of these adding a win over Marco Fu to his earlier scalp of Michael White in this event. Baird had led 3-0 early on in the match only for Fu to turn things right around and lead 4-3. From here Baird dug deep and turned things around himself to win all of the next three frames and record an impressive 6-4 win.
James Wattana is in the Last 16 of a ranking event for the first time since 2006 after beating Chinese amateur wildcard Xu Si 6-4, while Zhou Yuelong beat fellow non top-32 player Mark Joyce 6-4, after being pegged back from 4-1 to 4-4.
Last 16 Draw and Schedule:
7.30am UK Time:
John Higgins Vs Zhou Yuelong - TV TABLE
Mark Selby Vs Liang Wenbo - TV TABLE
Stuart Bingham Vs Ali Carter
Shaun Murphy Vs Sam Baird
12.30pm UK Time:
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Michael Holt - TV TABLE
Ding Junhui Vs Ricky Walden - TV TABLE
Judd Trump Vs James Wattana
Neil Robertson Vs Joe Perry
A brilliant line-up remains for the Last 16 with the World Champion playing the most recent winner on tour in Liang Wenbo. Stuart Bingham will take on Ali Carter for the fourth time in ranking competition in 2016, while Shaun Murphy and Sam Baird will play in a professional match for the first time. Ronnie O'Sullivan will be hoping not to fall to Michael Holt for the third time in succession, with Holt having beaten him in March's Grand Prix and in the Shanghai Masters last month. Two former winners face off when Ding plays Walden, while practice partners will turn rivals once more with Robertson taking on Joe Perry.
All of these matches remain over the best-of-11 frames format to set-up what should be a sensational quarter-final line-up given all of the top players left in this week.
Monday, 24 October 2016
World's best shine at International Championship
The top ranked players have all started well at the International Championships in Daqing, following the first two days of action. World number one Mark Selby overcame Paul Davison 6-4 in his heldover Last 128 match on Sunday, before a 6-2 victory over Alfie Burden in Monday's play saw him into the Last 32. Defending champion John Higgins also had his Last 128 match saved for the venue, beating Sydney Wilson 6-0 and then winning his Last 64 match with fellow Scotsman Eden Sharav 6-3. Ding Junhui did not have things all his own way in his held over Last 128 match (as the Chinese number 1) having to come from 5-2 behind against Mitchell Mann to eventually win 6-5, before beating David Grace 6-1 in the Last 64. Ding missed the brown in frame four of that match when on for a maximum 147 break. Finally from the hold overs, Chinese number 2 and recent English Open champion Liang Wenbo came from 5-3 behind to beat Mei Xiwen 6-5. On Monday playing one of the four Chinese wildcards that all came through their matches against professional opposition on Sunday, Liang managed to hold his nerve having watched his 5-1 lead disappear before winning a very tight deciding frame.
Mark Williams was one of the shock casualties of the Last 64 as he lost 6-5 to wildcard Xu Si, who had beaten Wang Yuchen on Sunday. Xu was 3-1 ahead at the interval before Williams went on to lead both 4-3 and 5-4, but it was the Chinese who came through the decider comfortably to book his Last 32 place. On top of that there were 6-3 defeats for Martin Gould against Mark Joyce and Indian Open champion Anthony McGill against Zhou Yuelong.
Judd Trump did overcome wildcard opposition in impressive young Yuan Sijun. Trump led 3-0 early on in the match before seeing his opponent win three in a row to draw level, only for Trump to win three more in a row and finish with two century breaks in a 6-3 victory.
Shaun Murphy meanwhile came from 3-1 and 4-3 down against Robin Hull to win 6-4 and book a Last 32 meeting with Yan Bingtao, who famously beat Murphy in last years Champion of Champions. Hull could have led 4-2 but for an in-off when potting the penultimate red and then giving away another snooker, seeing Murphy clear up to force a re-spot which he crucially won to level at 3-3.
Stuart Bingham was a comfortable winner against wildcard opposition, while Neil Robertson cruised past Oliver Lines 6-0 in the Last 64. Joe Perry meanwhile ended a poor run of results, but only just as he came from 5-2 down to beat Andrew Higginson.
Ronnie O'Sullivan had a nervous end to his 6-4 win over Xiao Guodong. O'Sullivan made a 137 break in the first frame, and went on to lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval. Xiao won the first two after the break to level at 3-3 only for O'Sullivan to step up and move one away at 5-3. Xiao won the ninth to stay in the contest, and had a major chance to force a decider, but after O'Sullivan forced a re-spot the Chinese player went in-off to gift the five times world champion victory.
Last 64 Results in Full:
John Higgins 6-3 Eden Sharav
Jak Jones 6-4 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Joyce 6-3 Martin Gould
Zhou Yuelong 6-3 Anthony McGill
Matthew Stevens 6-1 Chris Wakelin
Ding Junhui 6-1 David Grace
Graeme Dott 6-1 Fergal O'Brien
Ricky Walden 6-3 Ken Doherty
Judd Trump 6-3 Yuan Sijun
Tom Ford 6-3 Zhao Xintong
Xu Si 6-5 Mark Williams
James Wattana 6-3 David Gilbert
Sam Baird 6-2 Michael White
Marco Fu 6-4 Akani Songsermsawad
Yan Bingtao 6-2 Mike Dunn
Shaun Murphy 6-4 Robin Hull
Stuart Bingham 6-1 Zhang Jiankang
Dominic Dale 6-4 Luca Brecel
Ali Carter 6-3 Robbie Williams
Stephen Maguire 6-2 Rod Lawler
Kurt Maflin 6-2 Matt Selt
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 Xiao Guodong
Michael Holt 6-2 Jamie Jones
Daniel Wells 6-2 Stuart Carrington
Neil Robertson 6-0 Oliver Lines
Anthony Hamilton 6-2 Gary Wilson
Joe Perry 6-5 Andrew Higginson
Aditya Mehta 6-2 Ryan Day
Liang Wenbo 6-5 Chen Zifan
Li Hang 6-1 Lee Walker
John Astley 6-4 Mark King
Mark Selby 6-2 Alfie Burden
Those results have set up some brilliant Last 32 matches, so here is the draw and schedule with all of those games being played tomorrow:
Last 32 Draw:
7.30am UK Time:
Mark Selby Vs John Astley - TV TABLE
Neil Robertson Vs Anthony Hamilton - TV TABLE
Shaun Murphy Vs Yan Bingtao
Ricky Walden Vs Graeme Dott
Marco Fu Vs Sam Baird
Stuart Bingham Vs Dominic Dale
Mark Joyce Vs Zhou Yuelong
James Wattana Vs Xu Si
12.30pm UK Time:
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Kurt Maflin - TV TABLE
Ding Junhui Vs Matthew Stevens - TV TABLE
John Higgins Vs Jak Jones
Judd Trump Vs Tom Ford
Ali Carter Vs Stephen Maguire
Michael Holt Vs Daniel Wells
Joe Perry Vs Aditya Mehta
Liang Wenbo Vs Li Hang
All Last 32 matches are played over the best-of-11 frames to set the line-up for Wednesday's Last 16.
Mark Williams was one of the shock casualties of the Last 64 as he lost 6-5 to wildcard Xu Si, who had beaten Wang Yuchen on Sunday. Xu was 3-1 ahead at the interval before Williams went on to lead both 4-3 and 5-4, but it was the Chinese who came through the decider comfortably to book his Last 32 place. On top of that there were 6-3 defeats for Martin Gould against Mark Joyce and Indian Open champion Anthony McGill against Zhou Yuelong.
Judd Trump did overcome wildcard opposition in impressive young Yuan Sijun. Trump led 3-0 early on in the match before seeing his opponent win three in a row to draw level, only for Trump to win three more in a row and finish with two century breaks in a 6-3 victory.
Shaun Murphy meanwhile came from 3-1 and 4-3 down against Robin Hull to win 6-4 and book a Last 32 meeting with Yan Bingtao, who famously beat Murphy in last years Champion of Champions. Hull could have led 4-2 but for an in-off when potting the penultimate red and then giving away another snooker, seeing Murphy clear up to force a re-spot which he crucially won to level at 3-3.
Stuart Bingham was a comfortable winner against wildcard opposition, while Neil Robertson cruised past Oliver Lines 6-0 in the Last 64. Joe Perry meanwhile ended a poor run of results, but only just as he came from 5-2 down to beat Andrew Higginson.
Ronnie O'Sullivan had a nervous end to his 6-4 win over Xiao Guodong. O'Sullivan made a 137 break in the first frame, and went on to lead 3-1 at the mid-session interval. Xiao won the first two after the break to level at 3-3 only for O'Sullivan to step up and move one away at 5-3. Xiao won the ninth to stay in the contest, and had a major chance to force a decider, but after O'Sullivan forced a re-spot the Chinese player went in-off to gift the five times world champion victory.
Last 64 Results in Full:
John Higgins 6-3 Eden Sharav
Jak Jones 6-4 Jimmy Robertson
Mark Joyce 6-3 Martin Gould
Zhou Yuelong 6-3 Anthony McGill
Matthew Stevens 6-1 Chris Wakelin
Ding Junhui 6-1 David Grace
Graeme Dott 6-1 Fergal O'Brien
Ricky Walden 6-3 Ken Doherty
Judd Trump 6-3 Yuan Sijun
Tom Ford 6-3 Zhao Xintong
Xu Si 6-5 Mark Williams
James Wattana 6-3 David Gilbert
Sam Baird 6-2 Michael White
Marco Fu 6-4 Akani Songsermsawad
Yan Bingtao 6-2 Mike Dunn
Shaun Murphy 6-4 Robin Hull
Stuart Bingham 6-1 Zhang Jiankang
Dominic Dale 6-4 Luca Brecel
Ali Carter 6-3 Robbie Williams
Stephen Maguire 6-2 Rod Lawler
Kurt Maflin 6-2 Matt Selt
Ronnie O'Sullivan 6-4 Xiao Guodong
Michael Holt 6-2 Jamie Jones
Daniel Wells 6-2 Stuart Carrington
Neil Robertson 6-0 Oliver Lines
Anthony Hamilton 6-2 Gary Wilson
Joe Perry 6-5 Andrew Higginson
Aditya Mehta 6-2 Ryan Day
Liang Wenbo 6-5 Chen Zifan
Li Hang 6-1 Lee Walker
John Astley 6-4 Mark King
Mark Selby 6-2 Alfie Burden
Those results have set up some brilliant Last 32 matches, so here is the draw and schedule with all of those games being played tomorrow:
Last 32 Draw:
7.30am UK Time:
Mark Selby Vs John Astley - TV TABLE
Neil Robertson Vs Anthony Hamilton - TV TABLE
Shaun Murphy Vs Yan Bingtao
Ricky Walden Vs Graeme Dott
Marco Fu Vs Sam Baird
Stuart Bingham Vs Dominic Dale
Mark Joyce Vs Zhou Yuelong
James Wattana Vs Xu Si
12.30pm UK Time:
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Kurt Maflin - TV TABLE
Ding Junhui Vs Matthew Stevens - TV TABLE
John Higgins Vs Jak Jones
Judd Trump Vs Tom Ford
Ali Carter Vs Stephen Maguire
Michael Holt Vs Daniel Wells
Joe Perry Vs Aditya Mehta
Liang Wenbo Vs Li Hang
All Last 32 matches are played over the best-of-11 frames to set the line-up for Wednesday's Last 16.
Saturday, 22 October 2016
International Championship Preview
The International Championship, China's biggest money ranking event, starts early on Sunday morning in Daqing. John Higgins is the defending champion and he, along with World Champion Mark Selby, China's No.1 and Shanghai Masters champion Ding Junhui and China's No.2 and recent English Open winner Liang Wenbo, has had his Last 128 'qualifying' match held over to the venue.
The second quarter is where we find the other former International champion in form man Judd Trump, the way Trump has been going, winning the European Masters and making the English Open final, it's hard not to see him making the latter stages once again in China. Meanwhile, Mark Williams has struggled for form lately with a few early exits in the European and Shanghai Masters, while Shaun Murphy has also not been at his best in the last few tournaments with Last 32 exits in the Shanghai and European Masters and a Last 64 exit to eventual champion Liang Wenbo in the English Open. Last year's runner-up David Gilbert could be a sleeper in the draw having had another couple of decent results this season so far, while Tom Ford has reached the Last 16 in both the English Open and European Masters so he too could be a dark horse.
My quarter choice here is another former runner-up however in Marco Fu. Fu has not had the best of starts to the season but on the whole his form is usually fairly hit and miss. However, in the four stagings of the International Championship he has made three quarter-finals as well as being a runner-up in 2013. Fu also reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championships in the last couple of years, and the World Championship semi-finals back in April so it seems that he really thrives in some of these longer matches. With Fu's record in the International and the fact that he is certainly due a run in a big tournament this season he is my second quarter choice.
As with all of the others the final quarter in the draw is packed with talent. Liang Wenbo won his first ranking event at the English Open and with this new found confidence, he will be very hard to stop in Daqing and he showed last year in the UK Championships that he can do it over the best-of-11 frames longer matches. World Champion Mark Selby dropped off a bit in the English Open after reaching the European Masters semi-finals and Shanghai Masters final, but again over a longer format he should be able to get some results and he will be looking to go one better than his semi-finals efforts last year. Joe Perry has also been a finalist in China this season, but since the World Open in the summer he has not produced anything close to that form again with a first round exit at the Shanghai Masters, European Masters and English Open. Ryan Day reached yet another Last 16 in Manchester but once again failed to kick on, and with a lot of players from the "best player never to have won a ranking event" winning one this year, you have to ask now if Day ever will.
The fourth and final International Championship quarter selection is former finalist Neil Robertson. Robertson is a former finalist at the International Championship and his recent record in Chinese events has been a good one. Robertson has been in good form this season making the semi-finals of the World Open and the European Masters and winning the Riga Masters, and his draw for this week does look good for him to get into the event and really make a challenge for the title.
The format for the week is the much longer best-of-11 frames, compared to some of the recent best-of-7 dominated tournaments, up until the semi-finals which are played on Friday and Saturday over the best-of-17 frames before the best-of-19 frames final.
As always there is a wildcard round, with four Chinese wildcards and Ian Burns, Ross Muir, Wang Yuchen and Tian Pengfei are the unlucky professionals who have been drawn to face the four wildcard players. This weeks notable absentees are Mark Allen and Barry Hawkins, who both lost in the Last 128 round that was played in Preston in September. Kyren Wilson meanwhile failed to enter for whatever reason, but other than that we have a top field again for this week.
This will be the fifth staging of the International Championship, with Judd Trump, Ding Junhui and Ricky Walden being the other former winners that join defending champion Higgins this week, though this will only be the second year it has been held in Daqing.
For viewers in the UK there is a 7 hour time difference that will then stretch to 8 hours for the final, when the clocks go back on Saturday 28th October. The event will be covered in full on Eurosport.
Quarter 1
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
John Higgins/Sydney Wilson Vs Eden Sharav
Jimmy Robertson Vs Jak Jones
Martin Gould Vs Mark Joyce
Anthony McGill Vs Zhou Yuelong
Matthew Stevens Vs Chris Wakelin
Ding Junhui/Mitchell Mann Vs David Grace
Graeme Dott Vs Fergal O'Brien
Ricky Walden Vs Ken Doherty
Quarter one has three of the four champions in the International Championship history including Ricky Walden who has not had the best season to this point with just a quarter-final in last weeks English Open to cheer about after a few poor results. As well as Walden there is Ding Junhui who won the Shanghai Masters back in September and looks to be back to his best. Over the long format I would very much expect Ding to be a big threat and a contender for the title. Don't forget Indian Open winner Anthony McGill who has had an excellent season so far and is another big threat over the longer format. Chris Wakelin showed what he could do at the English Open in Manchester by beating McGill and Ronnie O'Sullivan on the way to the quarter-finals, while Jimmy Robertson and Martin Gould could also be dangerous players.
My opening quarter choice though is defending champion John Higgins. I have picked out Higgins to win his quarter in the European Masters and English Open and in both tournaments he lost out in the quarter-finals. He is the defending champion this week and his form has been pretty good through the first part of the season without yet really challenging for a title, but over the long format he really should be a major threat one again in Daqing.
My opening quarter choice though is defending champion John Higgins. I have picked out Higgins to win his quarter in the European Masters and English Open and in both tournaments he lost out in the quarter-finals. He is the defending champion this week and his form has been pretty good through the first part of the season without yet really challenging for a title, but over the long format he really should be a major threat one again in Daqing.
Quarter Choice: John Higgins
Quarter 2
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Judd Trump Vs Ian Burns/Yuan Sijun
Tom Ford Vs Zhao Xintong
Mark Williams Vs Wang Yuchen/Xu Si
David Gilbert Vs James Wattana
Michael White Vs Sam Baird
Marco Fu Vs Akani Songsermsawad
Mike Dunn Vs Yan Bingtao
Shaun Murphy Vs Robin Hull
The second quarter is where we find the other former International champion in form man Judd Trump, the way Trump has been going, winning the European Masters and making the English Open final, it's hard not to see him making the latter stages once again in China. Meanwhile, Mark Williams has struggled for form lately with a few early exits in the European and Shanghai Masters, while Shaun Murphy has also not been at his best in the last few tournaments with Last 32 exits in the Shanghai and European Masters and a Last 64 exit to eventual champion Liang Wenbo in the English Open. Last year's runner-up David Gilbert could be a sleeper in the draw having had another couple of decent results this season so far, while Tom Ford has reached the Last 16 in both the English Open and European Masters so he too could be a dark horse.
My quarter choice here is another former runner-up however in Marco Fu. Fu has not had the best of starts to the season but on the whole his form is usually fairly hit and miss. However, in the four stagings of the International Championship he has made three quarter-finals as well as being a runner-up in 2013. Fu also reached the quarter-finals of the UK Championships in the last couple of years, and the World Championship semi-finals back in April so it seems that he really thrives in some of these longer matches. With Fu's record in the International and the fact that he is certainly due a run in a big tournament this season he is my second quarter choice.
Quarter Choice: Marco Fu
Quarter 3
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Stuart Bingham Vs Ross Muir/Zhang Jiankang
Luca Brecel Vs Dominic Dale
Ali Carter Vs Robbie Williams
Stephen Maguire Vs Rod Lawler
Matt Selt Vs Kurt Maflin
Ronnie O'Sullivan Vs Xiao Guodong
Michael Holt Vs Jamie Jones
Stuart Carrington Vs Daniel Wells
The third quarter is where we find World Open champion Ali Carter who could meet Stuart Bingham once again in the Last 16 of this one. Carter was knocked out in the Last 32 in both the English Open and European Masters and he could face a very tough Last 32 match here. Bingham has been in decent form with semi-finals in the Shanghai Masters and the English Open so he will be hoping to carry that on in Daqing. Stephen Maguire will want to pick up from his last China trip when he too was a semi-finalist in the Shanghai Masters, looking in fantastic form there but he has not replicated this since. Matt Selt was impressive in beating Joe Perry in the first round of the English Open, but then lost in the Last 64 to Anthony Hamilton and has not looked at his best this year consistently. However, Selt did win the event in China last year that very few pro's knew anything about. Xiao Guodong was impressive when I saw him in Manchester, and he battered Michael Holt there in round one, though Holt has also looked good this year so far. Either one of those two players could be dark horses in the draw.
However, my selection in this section is the one and only Ronnie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan lost in the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters in his first event back this season before flying to the final of the European Masters before losing out in a decider to Trump. He then lost out narrowly in the Last 32 of the English Open but having played his way into the season I think O'Sullivan will be ready for a big title winning performance very soon. The longer format matches should suit O'Sullivan and all of the other very top players this week, rather than the best-of-7 of recent times, and he should be inspired by the fact that this is one of the bigger tournaments on the circuit now and he is yet to win it.
However, my selection in this section is the one and only Ronnie O'Sullivan. O'Sullivan lost in the Last 16 of the Shanghai Masters in his first event back this season before flying to the final of the European Masters before losing out in a decider to Trump. He then lost out narrowly in the Last 32 of the English Open but having played his way into the season I think O'Sullivan will be ready for a big title winning performance very soon. The longer format matches should suit O'Sullivan and all of the other very top players this week, rather than the best-of-7 of recent times, and he should be inspired by the fact that this is one of the bigger tournaments on the circuit now and he is yet to win it.
Quarter Choice: Ronnie O'Sullivan
Quarter 4
Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold)
Neil Robertson Vs Oliver Lines
Gary Wilson Vs Anthony Hamilton
Joe Perry Vs Andrew Higginson
Ryan Day Vs Aditya Mehta
Liang Wenbo/Mei Xiwen Vs Tian Pengfei/Chen Zifan
Li Hang Vs Lee Walker
Mark King Vs John Astley
Mark Selby/Paul Davison Vs Alfie Burden
As with all of the others the final quarter in the draw is packed with talent. Liang Wenbo won his first ranking event at the English Open and with this new found confidence, he will be very hard to stop in Daqing and he showed last year in the UK Championships that he can do it over the best-of-11 frames longer matches. World Champion Mark Selby dropped off a bit in the English Open after reaching the European Masters semi-finals and Shanghai Masters final, but again over a longer format he should be able to get some results and he will be looking to go one better than his semi-finals efforts last year. Joe Perry has also been a finalist in China this season, but since the World Open in the summer he has not produced anything close to that form again with a first round exit at the Shanghai Masters, European Masters and English Open. Ryan Day reached yet another Last 16 in Manchester but once again failed to kick on, and with a lot of players from the "best player never to have won a ranking event" winning one this year, you have to ask now if Day ever will.
The fourth and final International Championship quarter selection is former finalist Neil Robertson. Robertson is a former finalist at the International Championship and his recent record in Chinese events has been a good one. Robertson has been in good form this season making the semi-finals of the World Open and the European Masters and winning the Riga Masters, and his draw for this week does look good for him to get into the event and really make a challenge for the title.
Quarter Choice: Neil Robertson
Winner Selection: Ronnie O'Sullivan
A tough week to call given that this is the first longer format event of the season with the best-of-11 frames matches. In terms of scheduling, Sunday and Monday see the Last 64 completed as well as the heldover and wildcard games, Tuesday is the Last 32 before Wednesday's Last 16 and Thursday's quarter-finals. The two session semi-finals are played with one match on Friday and the other on Saturday before the final on Sunday 30th October.
Meanwhile, you can still view my combined Stat Attack and Tournament Top Ten blog here:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/international-championship-stat-attack.html
I hope to have a few updates on the blog through the International, before the build-up will again begin for the China Championships which start just a couple of days after things draw to a close in Daqing.
Meanwhile, you can still view my combined Stat Attack and Tournament Top Ten blog here:
http://cueactionsnookerblog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/10/international-championship-stat-attack.html
I hope to have a few updates on the blog through the International, before the build-up will again begin for the China Championships which start just a couple of days after things draw to a close in Daqing.
International Championship: Stat Attack and Tournament Top Ten
Heading into the start of the International Championship I have decided to combine the Stat Attack with a shortened version of the tournament top ten blog in order for me to ensure that each of my pre-tournament features was still produced.
This week also sees a change in how the statistics I work on have been presented, attempting to make them slightly easier on the eye rather than a big clump of information. As always these statistics are based on the performances from the start of the season and are as follows, the frames per 50+ break, average contribution when a player makes a break of 50+, close frames win percentage, average frame aggregates (average points scored per frame - average points conceded per frame) and the quarter-finals or better reached since the start of the 2014/2015 season.
As we know, the International Championship has been staged four times previously from 2012 to 2015, while this years will be the second year in Daqing after the tournament moved there last year.
TOURNAMENT SPECIFIC STATISTICS:
- Marco Fu has won more matches in the International Championship than anyone with 18 wins, while Mark Allen has won 15 but failed to qualify for this years tournament.
- Marco Fu has also played in more deciders than anyone else playing at the International Championship this week winning four out of seven he has played in this competition. Ryan Day is three out of three in this competition meanwhile and Michael White is three out of four in International deciders.
- Ricky Walden has won more money than anyone else from the International Championship (having won the tournament in 2014), the other three former winners take the next three spaces (Ding, Higgins and Trump). Marco Fu has won most money out of anyone never to have won the tournament.
- In terms of head to heads, Ken Doherty will be looking to end a record of heavy defeats against Ricky Walden, who has beaten Doherty 6-1, 5-1 and 5-2 in their three most recent meetings.
- Sam Baird has already beaten Michael White twice this year, including at the World Championship, ahead of their Last 64 meeting.
- Ding Junhui will meet Mitchell Mann for the second tournament in succession, following a 4-0 win over Mann at the English Open.
PLAYER PERFORMANCES KEY INDICATORS:
*Each of the following "Best Five/Worst Five" lists only takes into account the players still in the tournament, including those with Last 128 matches held over for the main venue.
Close Frames Percentage:
Best Five:
1st: Yan Bingtao (86.67%)
2nd: Alfie Burden (80%)
3rd: Liang Wenbo (78.26%)
4th: Mark Joyce (75%)
5th: Mark Selby (74.07%)
Worst Five:
1st: Robbie Williams (11.11%)
2nd: Jimmy Robertson (23.31%)
3rd: Mitchell Mann (30%)
4th: Tian Pengfei (30.77%)
5th: Michael White (33.33%)
When it comes to close frames, most players are around the 50/60% mark, which makes Yan Bingtao's efforts particularly impressive, and the efforts of someone like Robbie Williams very surprising. It's no surprise to see Mark Selby in the top five, particularly given that he has had a good start to the season. Liang Wenbo's high percentage would have certainly helped him in winning the English Open last week. Tian Pengfei's lower percentage sums up for him, what has been a very poor season so far.
Average Frames Per 50+:
Best Five:
1st: Neil Robertson (2.08)
2nd: Ronnie O'Sullivan (2.19)
3rd: Marco Fu (2.43)
4th: Anthony McGill (2.46)
5th: Judd Trump (2.49)
Worst Five:
1st: Sydney Wilson (13)
2nd: Wang Yuchen (10.5)
3rd: Paul Davison (10.33)
4th: Ken Doherty (9.71)
5th: Ross Muir (9.43)
It will come as no surprise to anyone that Neil Robertson and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the leaders when it comes to making 50+ breaks, while Judd Trump is coming into this tournament off of a tournament win and a tournament final in successive tournaments so you would also expect him in the top five, Anthony McGill's impressive figures are thanks to his early season form, while Marco Fu is the surprising man of the top five as he has not had the best of starts to this season so far, but clearly his scoring has not suffered because of that and good things could be around the corner for him.
Meanwhile, it would be fair to say each of the players in the bottom five for the season so far have had poor starts to the season, and for the likes of Sydney Wilson and Paul Davison their Last 128 matches have been held over.
Average break when 50 and above:
Best Five:
1st: Marco Fu (82.4)
2nd: John Higgins (81.88)
3rd: David Gilbert (81.16)
4th: Anthony McGill (80.93)
5th: Liang Wenbo (80.53)
Worst Five:
1st: Oliver Lines (58.13)
2nd: Lee Walker (59.36)
3rd: Paul Davison (59.5)
4th: Wang Yuchen (60.25)
5th: Jamie Jones (66.06)
Marco Fu also features very heavily on the weight of 50+ breaks he is making, which is even more surprising with his poor results to be making breaks of such weight so frequently and still not getting to the back end of tournaments. There is little surprise in the remainder of the players in the top five, all very heavy scorers. Higgins has reached a number of quarter-finals this season so this could be his week to kick on, while McGill and Liang are of course tournament winners this season.
Paul Davison once again features in the bottom five, along with Wang Yuchen. It is slightly surprising to see Jamie Jones so low on the list given that he came through the qualifying rounds to reach the main draw of the Shanghai Masters, whilst it is difficult to know what to make of Lee Walker and Oli Line's numbers here, but clearly any heavy scoring has deserted them this season.
Average Frame Aggregate:
Best Five:
1st: Anthony McGill (22.11)
2nd: Shaun Murphy (21.67)
3rd; Judd Trump (20.95)
4th: Ding Junhui (20.36)
5th: David Gilbert (19.53)
Worst Five:
1st: Sydney Wilson (-28.92)
2nd: Paul Davison (-23.36)
3rd: Aditya Mehta (-19.4)
4th: Mitchell Mann (-18.64)
5th: Wang Yuchen (-15.97)
The same faces have come up again in the bottom five, with Sydney Wilson, Paul Davison and Mitchell Mann all to play their Last 128 matches against Higgins, Selby and Ding as heldover matches. Aditya Mehta meanwhile only one his first match of the season in the qualifiers for this event.
In the top five we have McGill once again who has had a brilliant season so far, and other tournament winners in Judd Trump and Ding Junhui. Shaun Murphy's high aggregate was helped mainly by very strong showings in the World and Indian Open's, with poorer results in more recent weeks. David Gilbert's heavy scoring in many of his wins is the product of such a high aggregate, sneaking him into fifth position.
Quarter-finals or better since 2014/2015:
Top Five:
1st: Judd Trump (12)
2nd: Stuart Bingham (11)
3rd: Mark Selby, Neil Robertson and John Higgins (10)
Another tournament final for Judd Trump at the English Open saw him stay out in front on the quarter-finals or better statistic, while a semi-final for Stuart Bingham in Manchester separates him from Mark Selby, Neil Robertson who had early exits in Manchester to follow semi-final losses at the European Masters. John Higgins has joined Selby and Robertson on ten after another quarter-final at the English Open which saw him lose to Trump in the quarter-final stages for the second event in a row.
TOURNAMENT TOP TEN:
10 - Ricky Walden
9- Ronnie O'Sullivan
8 - Ali Carter
7- Marco Fu
6 - Mark Selby
5 - Liang Wenbo
4 - John Higgins
3 - Ding Junhui
2 - Neil Robertson
1 - Judd Trump
The tournament top ten for this week is incorporated of past finishes in the four stagings of the International Championships, the UK Championships of 2015, results this season in the recent English Open, European Masters but also the two Chinese ranking events in the Shanghai Masters and World Open. That also goes along with the statistics that have all been mentioned above.
In tenth we find Ricky Walden who is a former winner of this event from 2014, and with that in mind he is surprisingly low on the list which is mainly as he does not sit strongly in any statistics and has only a singular quarter-final this season, from the English Open.
Ninth is Ronnie O'Sullivan, in part because this is only the third time that he has entered the tournament, though he is a past quarter-finalist from 2014. O'Sullivan exited in the Last 16 in Shanghai and the Last 32 in Manchester but did have a final appearance in Romania, which helped near the top of the frames per 50+ break stat.
In eighth place is Ali Carter who's cancer treatments in previous years saw him miss this event a couple of times, else he may have been higher up the list. Carter features on the list mostly thanks to his win at the World Open in the summer and a quarter-final in the Shanghai Masters so he may have a third good run in the third Chinese event of the season.
Seventh position is where we see Marco Fu. Fu was a narrow runner-up to Ding in 2013, but has also reached the quarter-finals in all of the other three stagings of the International Championships, as well as a quarter-final in last years UK Championships. Added to this are his showings in the top five of both statistics related to 50+ breaks as were shown above.
World Champion Mark Selby is down in sixth position for this week. A runner-up in Shanghai he also made the semi-finals of the European Masters and going back to 2015 he made the semi-finals of both the International and UK Championships over a very similar format. Selby's best statistical showings as we saw, were in the quarter-finals or better statistic and the close frames win percentage.
Heading into the top five is recent English Open champion Liang Wenbo. That win was always going to shoot him very high up the list, but added to that is the fact that (over a similar format) he was a runner-up in the 2015 UK Championships, and has been a former quarter-finalist in this event. He also appeared above in a couple of the top fives in the close frames win percentage and average break per 50+.
Fourth position is where defending champion John Higgins appears on the list, mainly because of his win in this tournament a year ago, Added to that are a number of quarter-finals, starting in last year's UK Championships and going on to include to the World Open, and the two most recent events in Romania and Manchester. Statistically his quarter-finals or better number is high on the list along with his average break per 50+.
On the podium is the 2013 champion Ding Junhui. Ding has also been a winner this season at the Shanghai Masters, and would probably be leading the list if he would have backed that performance up in any of the other tournaments. Statistically the Chinese number 1 is in the top five for average frame aggregates that were displayed above, Clearly, he is serious contender this week.
In the runners-up spot this week is Neil Robertson. Robertson was also a runner-up the first time the International Championships was staged in 2012. Add to that a good start to the season that has included semi-finals at both the World Open and European Masters and Robertson looks like a top challenger this week. Statistically it is no surprise to see a scorer like Robertson in first place for frames per 50+ break, and he features in the quarter-finals or better statistic.
That means that this weeks tournament top ten leader is the very first International Champion Judd Trump. Trump has been flying in recent weeks with a final at the English Open to add to his European Masters victory and it really is no surprise to see him at the top of the list. He also leads this weeks field when it comes to quarter-finals or better, as well as featuring in the top five for average frame aggregates and average frames per 50+ so he is certainly worthy of the number one ranking on all fronts.
That is all of the statistical analysis offered up ahead of Sunday's start in the International Championship, and it will be interesting as always to see how closely things run to how the numbers would expect them to.
Still to come I will have my full tournament preview with my quarter choice's and winning selection before the tournament is underway.
This week also sees a change in how the statistics I work on have been presented, attempting to make them slightly easier on the eye rather than a big clump of information. As always these statistics are based on the performances from the start of the season and are as follows, the frames per 50+ break, average contribution when a player makes a break of 50+, close frames win percentage, average frame aggregates (average points scored per frame - average points conceded per frame) and the quarter-finals or better reached since the start of the 2014/2015 season.
As we know, the International Championship has been staged four times previously from 2012 to 2015, while this years will be the second year in Daqing after the tournament moved there last year.
TOURNAMENT SPECIFIC STATISTICS:
- Marco Fu has won more matches in the International Championship than anyone with 18 wins, while Mark Allen has won 15 but failed to qualify for this years tournament.
- Marco Fu has also played in more deciders than anyone else playing at the International Championship this week winning four out of seven he has played in this competition. Ryan Day is three out of three in this competition meanwhile and Michael White is three out of four in International deciders.
- Ricky Walden has won more money than anyone else from the International Championship (having won the tournament in 2014), the other three former winners take the next three spaces (Ding, Higgins and Trump). Marco Fu has won most money out of anyone never to have won the tournament.
- In terms of head to heads, Ken Doherty will be looking to end a record of heavy defeats against Ricky Walden, who has beaten Doherty 6-1, 5-1 and 5-2 in their three most recent meetings.
- Sam Baird has already beaten Michael White twice this year, including at the World Championship, ahead of their Last 64 meeting.
- Ding Junhui will meet Mitchell Mann for the second tournament in succession, following a 4-0 win over Mann at the English Open.
PLAYER PERFORMANCES KEY INDICATORS:
*Each of the following "Best Five/Worst Five" lists only takes into account the players still in the tournament, including those with Last 128 matches held over for the main venue.
Close Frames Percentage:
Best Five:
1st: Yan Bingtao (86.67%)
2nd: Alfie Burden (80%)
3rd: Liang Wenbo (78.26%)
4th: Mark Joyce (75%)
5th: Mark Selby (74.07%)
Worst Five:
1st: Robbie Williams (11.11%)
2nd: Jimmy Robertson (23.31%)
3rd: Mitchell Mann (30%)
4th: Tian Pengfei (30.77%)
5th: Michael White (33.33%)
When it comes to close frames, most players are around the 50/60% mark, which makes Yan Bingtao's efforts particularly impressive, and the efforts of someone like Robbie Williams very surprising. It's no surprise to see Mark Selby in the top five, particularly given that he has had a good start to the season. Liang Wenbo's high percentage would have certainly helped him in winning the English Open last week. Tian Pengfei's lower percentage sums up for him, what has been a very poor season so far.
Average Frames Per 50+:
Best Five:
1st: Neil Robertson (2.08)
2nd: Ronnie O'Sullivan (2.19)
3rd: Marco Fu (2.43)
4th: Anthony McGill (2.46)
5th: Judd Trump (2.49)
Worst Five:
1st: Sydney Wilson (13)
2nd: Wang Yuchen (10.5)
3rd: Paul Davison (10.33)
4th: Ken Doherty (9.71)
5th: Ross Muir (9.43)
It will come as no surprise to anyone that Neil Robertson and Ronnie O'Sullivan are the leaders when it comes to making 50+ breaks, while Judd Trump is coming into this tournament off of a tournament win and a tournament final in successive tournaments so you would also expect him in the top five, Anthony McGill's impressive figures are thanks to his early season form, while Marco Fu is the surprising man of the top five as he has not had the best of starts to this season so far, but clearly his scoring has not suffered because of that and good things could be around the corner for him.
Meanwhile, it would be fair to say each of the players in the bottom five for the season so far have had poor starts to the season, and for the likes of Sydney Wilson and Paul Davison their Last 128 matches have been held over.
Average break when 50 and above:
Best Five:
1st: Marco Fu (82.4)
2nd: John Higgins (81.88)
3rd: David Gilbert (81.16)
4th: Anthony McGill (80.93)
5th: Liang Wenbo (80.53)
Worst Five:
1st: Oliver Lines (58.13)
2nd: Lee Walker (59.36)
3rd: Paul Davison (59.5)
4th: Wang Yuchen (60.25)
5th: Jamie Jones (66.06)
Marco Fu also features very heavily on the weight of 50+ breaks he is making, which is even more surprising with his poor results to be making breaks of such weight so frequently and still not getting to the back end of tournaments. There is little surprise in the remainder of the players in the top five, all very heavy scorers. Higgins has reached a number of quarter-finals this season so this could be his week to kick on, while McGill and Liang are of course tournament winners this season.
Paul Davison once again features in the bottom five, along with Wang Yuchen. It is slightly surprising to see Jamie Jones so low on the list given that he came through the qualifying rounds to reach the main draw of the Shanghai Masters, whilst it is difficult to know what to make of Lee Walker and Oli Line's numbers here, but clearly any heavy scoring has deserted them this season.
Average Frame Aggregate:
Best Five:
1st: Anthony McGill (22.11)
2nd: Shaun Murphy (21.67)
3rd; Judd Trump (20.95)
4th: Ding Junhui (20.36)
5th: David Gilbert (19.53)
Worst Five:
1st: Sydney Wilson (-28.92)
2nd: Paul Davison (-23.36)
3rd: Aditya Mehta (-19.4)
4th: Mitchell Mann (-18.64)
5th: Wang Yuchen (-15.97)
The same faces have come up again in the bottom five, with Sydney Wilson, Paul Davison and Mitchell Mann all to play their Last 128 matches against Higgins, Selby and Ding as heldover matches. Aditya Mehta meanwhile only one his first match of the season in the qualifiers for this event.
In the top five we have McGill once again who has had a brilliant season so far, and other tournament winners in Judd Trump and Ding Junhui. Shaun Murphy's high aggregate was helped mainly by very strong showings in the World and Indian Open's, with poorer results in more recent weeks. David Gilbert's heavy scoring in many of his wins is the product of such a high aggregate, sneaking him into fifth position.
Quarter-finals or better since 2014/2015:
Top Five:
1st: Judd Trump (12)
2nd: Stuart Bingham (11)
3rd: Mark Selby, Neil Robertson and John Higgins (10)
Another tournament final for Judd Trump at the English Open saw him stay out in front on the quarter-finals or better statistic, while a semi-final for Stuart Bingham in Manchester separates him from Mark Selby, Neil Robertson who had early exits in Manchester to follow semi-final losses at the European Masters. John Higgins has joined Selby and Robertson on ten after another quarter-final at the English Open which saw him lose to Trump in the quarter-final stages for the second event in a row.
TOURNAMENT TOP TEN:
10 - Ricky Walden
9- Ronnie O'Sullivan
8 - Ali Carter
7- Marco Fu
6 - Mark Selby
5 - Liang Wenbo
4 - John Higgins
3 - Ding Junhui
2 - Neil Robertson
1 - Judd Trump
The tournament top ten for this week is incorporated of past finishes in the four stagings of the International Championships, the UK Championships of 2015, results this season in the recent English Open, European Masters but also the two Chinese ranking events in the Shanghai Masters and World Open. That also goes along with the statistics that have all been mentioned above.
In tenth we find Ricky Walden who is a former winner of this event from 2014, and with that in mind he is surprisingly low on the list which is mainly as he does not sit strongly in any statistics and has only a singular quarter-final this season, from the English Open.
Ninth is Ronnie O'Sullivan, in part because this is only the third time that he has entered the tournament, though he is a past quarter-finalist from 2014. O'Sullivan exited in the Last 16 in Shanghai and the Last 32 in Manchester but did have a final appearance in Romania, which helped near the top of the frames per 50+ break stat.
In eighth place is Ali Carter who's cancer treatments in previous years saw him miss this event a couple of times, else he may have been higher up the list. Carter features on the list mostly thanks to his win at the World Open in the summer and a quarter-final in the Shanghai Masters so he may have a third good run in the third Chinese event of the season.
Seventh position is where we see Marco Fu. Fu was a narrow runner-up to Ding in 2013, but has also reached the quarter-finals in all of the other three stagings of the International Championships, as well as a quarter-final in last years UK Championships. Added to this are his showings in the top five of both statistics related to 50+ breaks as were shown above.
World Champion Mark Selby is down in sixth position for this week. A runner-up in Shanghai he also made the semi-finals of the European Masters and going back to 2015 he made the semi-finals of both the International and UK Championships over a very similar format. Selby's best statistical showings as we saw, were in the quarter-finals or better statistic and the close frames win percentage.
Heading into the top five is recent English Open champion Liang Wenbo. That win was always going to shoot him very high up the list, but added to that is the fact that (over a similar format) he was a runner-up in the 2015 UK Championships, and has been a former quarter-finalist in this event. He also appeared above in a couple of the top fives in the close frames win percentage and average break per 50+.
Fourth position is where defending champion John Higgins appears on the list, mainly because of his win in this tournament a year ago, Added to that are a number of quarter-finals, starting in last year's UK Championships and going on to include to the World Open, and the two most recent events in Romania and Manchester. Statistically his quarter-finals or better number is high on the list along with his average break per 50+.
On the podium is the 2013 champion Ding Junhui. Ding has also been a winner this season at the Shanghai Masters, and would probably be leading the list if he would have backed that performance up in any of the other tournaments. Statistically the Chinese number 1 is in the top five for average frame aggregates that were displayed above, Clearly, he is serious contender this week.
In the runners-up spot this week is Neil Robertson. Robertson was also a runner-up the first time the International Championships was staged in 2012. Add to that a good start to the season that has included semi-finals at both the World Open and European Masters and Robertson looks like a top challenger this week. Statistically it is no surprise to see a scorer like Robertson in first place for frames per 50+ break, and he features in the quarter-finals or better statistic.
That means that this weeks tournament top ten leader is the very first International Champion Judd Trump. Trump has been flying in recent weeks with a final at the English Open to add to his European Masters victory and it really is no surprise to see him at the top of the list. He also leads this weeks field when it comes to quarter-finals or better, as well as featuring in the top five for average frame aggregates and average frames per 50+ so he is certainly worthy of the number one ranking on all fronts.
That is all of the statistical analysis offered up ahead of Sunday's start in the International Championship, and it will be interesting as always to see how closely things run to how the numbers would expect them to.
Still to come I will have my full tournament preview with my quarter choice's and winning selection before the tournament is underway.
Sunday, 16 October 2016
Judd Trump and Liang Wenbo battle for English Open crown
Judd Trump and Liang Wenbo will face off today in the final of the English Open at Event City in Manchester.
The pair had varying routes to the final with Trump beating Hawkins very easily, 6-2 in the afternoon session. Liang meanwhile played out a cracker of a contest with World number 2 Stuart Bingham that went all the way.
Despite winning the opener against Trump with a break of 64, Barry Hawkins never quite got back into the match after losing the next three and falling 3-1 behind at the interval, aided by a match high break of 88 in the third frame. A ton to make 2-3 was as good as it got for Hawkins who had a lot of trouble missing blacks off of the spot into the same corner pocket, doing it a number of times throughout the match. The crucial moment came in the seventh when Trump won a re-spot after Hawkins had had chances, and was looking to close to within a single frame once more. Another black ball frame in the eighth saw Trump make the vital shots and put himself in the final.
Liang and Bingham scored much heavier in the second semi-final with seven breaks of 50 or above from Liang and five 50+ contributions from Bingham. After a 50 from Bingham, Liang won the opener by coming back with a 58. 66 was enough for Bingham to level and he soon took the third to move in front. Liang hit back with 63 to take them into the interval all square, but runs of 95 and 89 from the 2015 World Champion saw him move two clear for the first time in the match at 4-2. In the next two frames Bingham then did not score a point as breaks of 74 and a marvellous 134 drew the scores level once more at 4-4. 116 from Bingham in the ninth put him 5-4 ahead and have two cracks at winning the match, but he did not have a scoring chance in either frame. A match high break of 138 from the Chinese number 2 forced the deciding frame. An early run of 61 in the decider put Liang nicely in front but not quite over the line, but when his next chance came an additional 53 was more than enough to put him into the final alongside Trump.
Final Schedule: (Best of 17 frame)
First Session: First 8 frames: 2pm UK time
Final Session: 7.30pm UK time
Today's winner between Judd Trump and Liang Wenbo will see the winner take home £70,000 and the new Steve Davis Trophy (which having seen it up close on Thursday looks like one of the better trophies on tour), while the loser will receive a very handy £30,000. If Liang wins it will get him into the Champion of Champions, and move up to 12 in the world rankings which would be a career high for the Chinese number 2. Victory for Trump meanwhile, will see him leapfrog losing semi-finalist Bingham into the number 2 spot in the rankings and of course it would be two titles in two weeks for him, and an overall earning of £126,250 for the fortnight.
Much like his route into the UK Championship final last December, Liang has had to come through a number of deciding frames and had his nerves tested to the maximum. He could easily have lost 4-3 to Shaun Murphy in the Last 64, and then again when playing Ben Woollaston in the Last 16 (which is probably what the celebratory slap of the face I witnessed was for). He had to dig very deep against Bingham but his best game came from that and he has been scoring superbly all week long with tough matches all the way from the start.
Judd Trump has made his week a lot more comfortable, with his only close game coming in Wednesday's Last 64 when he had a long wait before facing Jamie Bodle, coming from 2-0 and 3-2 behind to win 4-3. Since then wins of 4-1, 4-0, 5-1 and 6-2 have not tested him remotely but he should not have things all his own way against Liang, who will be much better for his experiences in that aforementioned UK Championship when he was very nervous and doing all sorts of strange twitching and movement with his body on some shots. He has certainly looked calmer this week, though the passion and big celebrations are still there and that is nice to see.
Over the best-of-17 frames this should be a brilliant match with plenty of power scoring and one to very much look forward to.
The pair had varying routes to the final with Trump beating Hawkins very easily, 6-2 in the afternoon session. Liang meanwhile played out a cracker of a contest with World number 2 Stuart Bingham that went all the way.
Despite winning the opener against Trump with a break of 64, Barry Hawkins never quite got back into the match after losing the next three and falling 3-1 behind at the interval, aided by a match high break of 88 in the third frame. A ton to make 2-3 was as good as it got for Hawkins who had a lot of trouble missing blacks off of the spot into the same corner pocket, doing it a number of times throughout the match. The crucial moment came in the seventh when Trump won a re-spot after Hawkins had had chances, and was looking to close to within a single frame once more. Another black ball frame in the eighth saw Trump make the vital shots and put himself in the final.
Liang and Bingham scored much heavier in the second semi-final with seven breaks of 50 or above from Liang and five 50+ contributions from Bingham. After a 50 from Bingham, Liang won the opener by coming back with a 58. 66 was enough for Bingham to level and he soon took the third to move in front. Liang hit back with 63 to take them into the interval all square, but runs of 95 and 89 from the 2015 World Champion saw him move two clear for the first time in the match at 4-2. In the next two frames Bingham then did not score a point as breaks of 74 and a marvellous 134 drew the scores level once more at 4-4. 116 from Bingham in the ninth put him 5-4 ahead and have two cracks at winning the match, but he did not have a scoring chance in either frame. A match high break of 138 from the Chinese number 2 forced the deciding frame. An early run of 61 in the decider put Liang nicely in front but not quite over the line, but when his next chance came an additional 53 was more than enough to put him into the final alongside Trump.
Final Schedule: (Best of 17 frame)
First Session: First 8 frames: 2pm UK time
Final Session: 7.30pm UK time
Today's winner between Judd Trump and Liang Wenbo will see the winner take home £70,000 and the new Steve Davis Trophy (which having seen it up close on Thursday looks like one of the better trophies on tour), while the loser will receive a very handy £30,000. If Liang wins it will get him into the Champion of Champions, and move up to 12 in the world rankings which would be a career high for the Chinese number 2. Victory for Trump meanwhile, will see him leapfrog losing semi-finalist Bingham into the number 2 spot in the rankings and of course it would be two titles in two weeks for him, and an overall earning of £126,250 for the fortnight.
Much like his route into the UK Championship final last December, Liang has had to come through a number of deciding frames and had his nerves tested to the maximum. He could easily have lost 4-3 to Shaun Murphy in the Last 64, and then again when playing Ben Woollaston in the Last 16 (which is probably what the celebratory slap of the face I witnessed was for). He had to dig very deep against Bingham but his best game came from that and he has been scoring superbly all week long with tough matches all the way from the start.
Judd Trump has made his week a lot more comfortable, with his only close game coming in Wednesday's Last 64 when he had a long wait before facing Jamie Bodle, coming from 2-0 and 3-2 behind to win 4-3. Since then wins of 4-1, 4-0, 5-1 and 6-2 have not tested him remotely but he should not have things all his own way against Liang, who will be much better for his experiences in that aforementioned UK Championship when he was very nervous and doing all sorts of strange twitching and movement with his body on some shots. He has certainly looked calmer this week, though the passion and big celebrations are still there and that is nice to see.
Over the best-of-17 frames this should be a brilliant match with plenty of power scoring and one to very much look forward to.
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