FANTASY SNOOKER UPDATE: Indian points and World Open info

Here we are again with a short turnaround between the end of the Indian Open on Saturday and the start of the World Open on Monday. John Higgins was the winner out in India and plenty of players benefited from that, such was the popularity of his pick. A couple of people had a season pick on first time ranking quarter-finalist Zhang Anda so they pick up some handy bonus points.

Here's how the table looks after the second round: (IO= Indian Open round points - excluding beat the boss points which are added separately. PPS= Players previously selected)

LTD: SEASON: Robert Milkins and Ken Doherty    Points: 108   IO: 70

PPS: Perry, Carter, Holt, Higgins

Jake: SEASON: Mark Davis and Zhao Xintong   Points: 108   IO: 70

PPS: Hawkins, Ding, Murphy, Higgins

TY: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Zhang Anda   Points: 100   IO: 77

PPS: Ding, Robertson, Higgins, Allen

Colin Delaney: SEASON: Ken Doherty and Yan Bingtao   Points: 98   IO: 60

PPS: Higgins, Maguire, McGill, Allen

Gary: SEASON: Ken Doherty and Yan Bingtao   Points: 96   IO: 49

PPS: Carter, Robertson, Bingham, Gilbert

Couge: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 90   IO: 43

PPS: Williams, Ding, Murphy, Gilbert

Kellie Barker: SEASON: Jack Lisowski and Alex Ursenbacher   Points: 89   IO: 77

PPS: Allen, Fu, Murphy, Higgins

Igor Snooker: SEASON: Matthew Stevens and Ken Doherty   Points: 87   IO: 32

PPS: Ding, O’Sullivan, Maguire, Murphy

SnookerChicago: SEASON: Andrew Higginson and Zhang Anda    Points: 86    IO: 72

PPS: Ding, Dott, Higgins

TungstenDarts: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 80   IO: 50

PPS: Fu, Hawkins, McGill, Allen

Alex Abrahams: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and John Astley    Points: 78   IO: 27

PPS: Carter, Fu, Murphy, Perry

Andy Brooker: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 67   IO: 18

PPS: Carter, Day, Maguire, Bingham

Daniela Reich: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 57   IO: 32

PPS: Ding, Fu, Murphy, Allen

Rob Francis: SEASON: Mark Davis and Cao Yupeng   Points: 57   IO: 32

PPS: Ding, Robertson, Murphy, Allen

Ben Summers: SEASON: Noppon Saengkham and Sam Craigie    Points: 57    IO: 45

PPS: McGill x2, Day, Dott

FAM147: SEASON: Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong   Points: 56   IO: 12

PPS: Carter, Hawkins, Woollaston

John McBride: SEASON: Hossein Vafei and Sam Craigie   Points: 54   IO: 49

PPS:  Holt, Liang, Bingham, King

Matthew Lowson: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Alexander Ursenbacher   Points: 52   IO: 25

PPS: Ding, Fu, Maguire, Bingham

Kjetil: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and John Astley   Points: 51    IO: 7

PPS: Carter, Perry, Woollaston, Dott

Isitan Bakar: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Scott Donaldson   Points: 46   IO: 36

PPS: Wenbo, Robertson, Murphy, Bingham

D. Muckian: SEASON: Tian Pengfei and Zhang Anda    Points: 45    IO: 34

PPS: Ding, Perry, Maguire, Allen

Voihelevettisua: SEASON: Xiao Guodong and John Astley   Points: 43   IO: 19

PPS: Ding, Trump, Dott, Allen

GaryOnCue: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sam Craigie   Points: 42   IO: 22

PPS: Hawkins, Robertson, Maguire, Murphy

Protoursnooker: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Cao Yupeng    Points: 42   IO: 22

PPS: Ding, Allen, Maguire, Murphy

Anthony: SEASON: Xiao Guodong and Michael Georgiou   Points: 40    IO: 22

PPS: Higgins, Day, Maguire, Murphy

Beat the Boss (Me): SEASON: Hossein Vafei and Robin Hull   Points: 38   IO: 24

PPS: Maguire, Holt, Allen, Ford

Munraj: SEASON: Jack Lisowski and Michael Georgiou   Points: 36   IO: 12

PPS: Ding, Trump, Allen, Ford

Phil Mudd: SEASON: Jimmy Robertson and Sam Craigie   Points: 30   IO: 12

PPS: Ding, Fu, Woollaston, Allen

Cluster of Reds: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and John Astley   Points: 30   IO: 12

PPS: Ding, Perry, Allen, Ford

Mark Taylor: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sam Craigie    Points: 18   IO: 9

PPS: Allen, Robertson, Maguire, Perry

The World Open starts in the early hours in the UK making the deadline MONDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER at 2.30AM UK TIME for all World Open picks. Not long to go so get picking. Don't forget you can only pick the same player three times through the season and that now might be a good time to use one of your Captain's picks for double points on a selected player. Enter your picks via Twitter in the usual ways. 

My beat the boss picks (as tweeted a couple of days ago) are Mark Williams and Marco Fu 

All the best!

McGill, King, Higgins and Xu make up Indian Open final four

Defending champion Anthony McGill, number two seed John Higgins, Northern Irish Open champion Mark King and tour rookie Xu Si are the four remaining players left competing for the Indian Open title after a thrilling Friday in Visakhapatnam.

The last 16 matches took place in the morning and these saw a number of the big names exit the competition. Shaun Murphy was the most notable casualty as he fell victim to Elliot Slessor, who had already beaten Joe Perry 4-3 the night before. Slessor won three straight frames from 1-1 with breaks including a 67 and 77.

Meanwhile, Mark King produced a stunning final frame clearance to see off Stuart Bingham from 2-0 and 3-2 behind. King made breaks of 79 and 72 to level up after initially falling behind, and after Bingham regained the lead King came back again with a run of 84 to take the match all the way. Bingham came within a ball of winning the match, but a 43 clearance from King under the pressure was the decisive factor.

David Gilbert took care of Mark Allen in the last 16 in an excellent final three frames from 1-1 to win 4-1. Breaks of 61, 69 and a closing century of 102 saw Gilbert take the match out with Allen only scoring one point in the final three frames as the Englishman took control.

China's Xu Si produced his first upset of the day by beating Ricky Walden 4-3 in the last 16 with a run of 78. He joined Elliot Slessor as another of the four players that would make the quarter-finals of a ranking tournament for the first time. Liam Highfield was another as he beat one of last year's first time quarter-finalists in India, Akani Songsermsawad. Highfield took an early 2-0 lead but was shut out of the next two frames, with the Thai making breaks of 52 and 80. He added to that with a 56 in the fifth but it was not enough to win a key tight frame, and Highfield would soon win a tight sixth frame to close out victory.

Zhang Anda completed the quartet of first time quarter-finalists with a 4-3 win against the resurgent Ken Doherty. He then faced Anthony McGill after McGill had completed a simple victory 4-1 against Hossein Vafei.


In that quarter-final McGill was again dominant in a 4-0 win over Zhang. The Chinese player would only score 39 points in the match and was completely shut out of the final two frames. McGill's top breaks in the match were 57, 62 and 74 as he continued his strong defence of the title, and you would certainly not bet against him winning back to back Indian Opens now.

His semi-final opponent will be Mark King, after King saw off Elliot Slessor in the only quarter-final that did not end up being a whitewash. King did go 2-0 up and came close to making it 3-0, but Slessor was able to stay in the game by winning the tight third frame on the colours and get back to 1-2. King regained his two frame lead, before a run of 68 saw Slessor peg him back again to 2-3. However, it was the experienced man that finished things in style with a break of 110 completing a very good day at the office for King.

Xu Si was the only one of the first time quarter-finalists to make it through, as he completed yet another very impressive victory, whitewashing David Gilbert. The more experienced Gilbert would only score a total of 40 points in the match as Xu started well with a break of 72 and would then finish with runs of 52 and 60 to show why I tipped him as one of my players to watch at the beginning of the season here.

Xu will face an uphill task in the semi-finals though taking on tournament favourite John Higgins. The Scot had already beaten Michael Holt 4-1 in the morning before seeing off Liam Highfield 4-0. Highfield had his chances in the first two frames that both went close, but after that Higgins grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck with a 122 to lead 3-0 and then closing the match out with the assist of a 57.


Semi-Final Draw:  

Anthony McGill Vs Mark King
John Higgins Vs Xu Si


You have to say that Higgins is a massive favourite in the second semi-final against Xu Si, but could the Chinese rookie have another big upset in him? Meanwhile the opening semi between McGill and King looks a lot tighter with both showing good form this week so far. McGill has not exactly had to play too many top seeded players up to this point, but he has still faced players that can cause trouble on their day. King meanwhile started the week with a walkover but has seen off an in-form Graeme Dott and one of the higher seeds in Stuart Bingham since then, before then making sure not to fall victim to another Slessor giant-killing.


The semi-finals are again over the best-of-7 frames format which means that anything could happen and the final that will follow later in the day is only a best-of-9 frames affair which again does not offer the top players a huge advantage. Having made the semi-finals the players are already guaranteed £15,000 which is a huge start for Xu Si, while the eventual runner-up takes home £25,000 and the overall winner taking the cheque for £50,000.

Shaun Murphy continues fine form to reach India last 16

Shaun Murphy was one of the stars of day three at the Indian Open as he reached the last 16 with a 4-1 win over Fergal O'Brien. After coming behind to steal the first frame on the colours, the back to back ranking finalist doubled his lead with a run of 97. O'Brien stayed in the hunt as he won the third frame on the colours after an earlier 51 break, closing the gap to 1-2. Murphy finished in style though with a 125 total clearance to move within one at 3-1 and then got straight back in and made it consecutive centuries to finish with a 105 for the 4-1 win.

John Higgins made it through with a 4-2 win against Martin O'Donnell. The Scot made a high break of 74, while O'Donnell kept the game close with runs of 61 in the second and 82 in the fifth, before Higgins comfortably won the sixth frame to close out victory. Defending champion Anthony McGill is also into Friday's last 16 after beating Rory McLeod 4-1 with highs of 59 and 63.

Mark Allen backed up his flying form of the last 64 against Niu Zhuang with a 4-2 win over Alexander Ursenbacher. Allen took a 3-0 lead in the match with breaks of 58 and 75 along the way but the young Swiss prospect kept himself in the match with a match high 99 in the fourth before then winning a tight fifth to put some pressure on the Northern Irishman. The sixth frame was another close affair but it was Allen who was able to get over the line.

Stuart Bingham made the last 16 in pretty comfortable fashion beating Matthew Selt 4-1 with high breaks of 65, 67 and 68 along the way. He will now play Mark King, who was playing his first match of the week today after a last 64 walkover, as King beat Graeme Dott by the same scoreline.

Riga Masters semi-finalist Ken Doherty continued on his brilliant start to the season by winning his second decider of the week, this time seeing off Sam Baird in a tight affair. Doherty will now play Zhang Anda who won four frames in a row from 2-0 down in the all-Chinese clash with Tian Pengfei.

In a day that featured a few nice turnarounds, Michael Holt also claimed four frames in a row to beat Gary Wilson from 2-0 behind. Wilson opened up in confident fashion with runs of 95 and 79 to take the lead, but from there Holt was dominant with Wilson only scoring a further 31 points in the match. Liam Highfield made the last 16 after turning around a 3-1 deficit to beat Yu De Lu, while David Gilbert claimed the fightback of the day beating Kurt Maflin from 3-0 down, with Maflin earlier making the high break of the day at 135.


Last 16 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Anthony McGill Vs Hossein Vafei 
Zhang Anda Vs Ken Doherty
Stuart Bingham Vs Mark King
Shaun Murphy Vs Elliot Slessor
Ricky Walden Vs Xu Si
Mark Allen Vs David Gilbert
Liam Highfield Vs Akani Songsermsawad
John Higgins Vs Michael Holt 


In the morning session there are a lot of very interesting last 16 matches. The defending champion McGill has a tough test against Iran's Hossein Vafei who I continue to rate very highly and this feels like a week where he could now have a very good run. He has plenty of confidence and always seems to score heavily amongst the balls. Ken Doherty overcame Zhang Anda in the last 16 of the Riga Masters earlier this season on his way to the semi-finals, and for me I still think Zhang lacks a little bit of the consistency required to make the latter stages of tournaments.

Stuart Bingham has quietly gone about his business this week but has had two very comfortable wins and he looks to be playing and scoring better so far this week. He faces a tougher test this time with Mark King but if he can score well I would expect him to just about get the better of King. Shaun Murphy has really hit form in the last couple of rounds with high scoring in his matches with Fergal O'Brien and Hammad Miah, in which he has only dropped one frame and made three centuries. Elliot Slessor has had two nice wins so far against Alan McManus and Joe Perry, winning both matches in deciding frames. Although, after a late finish against Perry he may find it difficult to come back and repeat the dosage against an in-form Murphy.

It is nice to see Ricky Walden getting a couple of good results beating Alfie Burden and Ben Woollaston with some decent scoring. Today against Woollaston he had highs of 61, 71 and 91 as he comes back from back trouble and looks to re-climb the rankings. The 2015 Indian Open runner-up faces Xu Si in the last 16 who is in his debut season and will take a lot of confidence from having a good week so early on. However, you have to favour the class and experience of Walden to get over the line.

Mark Allen and David Gilbert looks like a very tough match to call. Allen has been scoring well so far this week, and as I have mentioned he has been scoring well for a while but hasn't quite been able to put it together for a tournament win. For me, his big week is coming soon and if he carries on as he has been so far in India he could go all the way.

Akani Songsermsawad will be eyeing making the quarter-finals in India for the second season in a row having seen off Dominic Dale comfortably today in the last 32. Add that to his win over Maguire and he is clearly playing well. Liam Highfield has played well against slightly lower ranked opposition and if he scores as well as he can he may be able to hold the unorthodox Akani.

Finally, John Higgins and Michael Holt is going to be another cracking match over the short format. Higgins came back strongly against Zhao Xintong in round one which suggested he was here for the long haul this week. Holt meanwhile has had to recover from slow starts in his matches with Ian Preece and Gary Wilson and scored well in the process against opponents that were doing similar. Over a best-of-7 you have to give Holt a better chance than most players would have against Higgins in the longer formats, especially with some of the results Holt has had in the last year, and I think that a maiden ranking title may not be a million miles away for the Hitman.



Later on Friday in the evening session, the quarter-finals will follow over the same best-of-7 frames format. Here is how the draw looks with the either/or's.

Quarter-Final Draw: 

Anthony McGill or Hossein Vafei Vs Zhang Anda or Ken Doherty
Stuart Bingham or Mark King Vs Shaun Murphy or Elliot Slessor
Ricky Walden or Xu Si Vs Mark Allen or David Gilbert
Liam Highfield or Akani Songsermsawad Vs John Higgins or Michael Holt



At the end of tomorrow's play then we will know the final four that will play for the trophy on Saturday and it is shaping up well with the top seeds playing nicely in good conditions out in Visakhapatnam. As always, the event is available to watch on Eurosport Player.

John Higgins survives scare to reach Indian Open last 32

The highest ranked player in the field this week, John Higgins, came from 2-0 down to come through a very tough match against Zhao Xintong in the last 64 at the Indian Open. The incredibly talented Chinese youngster Zhao opened up with breaks of 73 and 78 to surge ahead, before being pulled back to all square at 2-2 with the Scot making two big breaks of his own, 77 and 88. Zhao was a big favourite for much of frame five after an early 60 break but Higgins came back to steal it and get the crucial 3-2 advantage. Another break of 60 was enough this time for Zhao to force a decider, but Higgins showed all of his experience by putting together a contribution of 87 and squeezing through in a seven frame thriller, that he could easily have lost. 

However, his fellow Scot Stephen Maguire could not come through his own decider and was sent packing by Thailand's Akani Songsermsawad, despite making a century break in the second frame, while Akani's highest break in the match was 51. Continuing on the Scottish theme, defending champion Anthony McGill made it through to the last 32 very comfortably winning his heldover last 128 clash 4-0 against home favourite Aditya Mehta before winning the last four frames of his 4-1 win over Ashley Hugill. Equally, 2006 world champion Graeme Dott hit three 50+ breaks in a comfortable 4-1 win over Jack Lisowski to continue some of his good recent form, though Alan McManus perished 4-3 at the hands of Elliot Slessor. 

Recent China Championship winner Luca Brecel could not kick on here in India as he fell to a good performance from Gary Wilson, who had runs of 62, 64 and a closing 103 to complete a 4-1 win. There was also a defeat for Zhou Yuelong despite him making the highest break of the tournament so far. His 141 inconsequential to the overall outcome with Kurt Maflin booking his place in Thursday's last 32 with a 4-2 triumph. 

However, top players in Shaun Murphy, Mark Allen and Joe Perry all had easy enough routes into the round of 32. Back to back ranking finalist Murphy was made to battle in his heldover wildcard game but came through 4-2, before upping his standard in a 4-0 beating of Hammad Miah that included runs of 80 and 102. Allen was also in heavy scoring form against Niu Zhuang, who only scored 30 points in this 4-0 defeat. Breaks of 79, 83 and 89 demonstrated that the Northern Irishman could be one of the leading players this week. Joe Perry meanwhile had a high break of 93 among four breaks of over 50 in his 4-1 defeat of Daniel Wells. 

Ricky Walden came from 3-1 down against Alfie Burden to end avoid losing five straight matches against Burden, while Tian Pengfei came from the very brink at 3-0 down to see off Tom Ford 4-3 in a very closely fought contest that saw most frames come down to the final colours. 

Last 32 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Anthony McGill Vs Rory McLeod

Hossein Vafei Vs Gerard Greene

Tian Pengfei Vs Zhang Anda

Sam Baird Vs Ken Doherty

Stuart Bingham Vs Matthew Selt

Mark King Vs Graeme Dott

Joe Perry Vs Elliot Slessor 

Shaun Murphy Vs Fergal O'Brien

Sean O'Sullivan Vs Xu Si

Ricky Walden Vs Ben Woollaston

David Gilbert Vs Kurt Maflin

Mark Allen Vs Alexander Ursenbacher

Yu De Lu Vs Liam Highfield 

Dominic Dale Vs Akani Songsermsawad

Michael Holt Vs Gary Wilson 

John Higgins Vs Martin O'Donnell 

At the top of the draw I fancy defending champion McGill and Hossein Vafei to carry on while I just favour the more fluent Zhang Anda in the battle of the Chinese players against Tian Pengfei. Ken Doherty's run continues and I fancy another close game against Sam Baird, but I have to carry on sticking with Ken given his results this season. Mark King has not had a game yet after a last 64 walkover, and he comes in to a difficult opponent in Dott who is in good touch at the moment so that will make life difficult for King. Murphy will not have things all his own way against O'Brien but he knows exactly what to expect there and will be well equipped if he can keep scoring well among the reds. 

Ricky Walden may have turned a corner by coming back to beat Alfie Burden in round one, but he faces another very tough match against Ben Woollaston who has looked in decent form over the last few weeks so I give him the edge in this one. Gilbert against Maflin looks like a heavy scoring clash where I expect some heavy hitting. Gilbert looked good with a 90 and a ton in round one and has come on nicely as a player in the last couple of years, so this presents an opportunity to have a good run this week. Keep your eyes on Mark Allen this week if he carries on scoring heavily, he has scored pretty nicely for the last year or so but has not necessarily had everything come together or get that bit of good fortune needed to have a really good run. If Liam Highfield can score well against Yu then he probably may well get a win against the odds there against a player who I think is quite hit and miss. Dominic Dale has quietly been going along but doing quite well and with that section opening up a little he could be just the man to take advantage. 

Finally, Gary Wilson is someone who I think could has grown in confidence in the last few months and is scoring really well at the moment so it would not surprise me at all if he sent another couple of higher ranked players packing before his week in India is over. Michael Holt will certainly provide tough opposition and all seven frames may be needed to separate these two. Given the form shown in round one and how he fought off Zhao Xintong, I would suggest that Higgins is here for the long haul this week and will certainly take some beating. 

All matches in the last 32 are played on Thursday over the best-of-7 frames with coverage continuing throughout the week on Eurosport Player.  

Indian Open Preview

Snooker returns to India this week with the fourth staging of the Indian Open which takes place in its fourth different location, Visakhapatnam starting on Tuesday.

Nicknamed the "City of Destiny" it could well be someone's destiny to win their very first ranking title out in Visakhapatnam. Of the players in the field there are not a whole host of big names, with only defending champion Anthony McGill in attendance of the three previous winners of the title. Of the provisional top 16 only John Higgins, Shaun Murphy, Stuart Bingham, Mark Allen and Luca Brecel are in the field this week, with Ali Carter and last year's runner-up Kyren Wilson losing in qualifying. 

The tournament is played out mostly over the best-of-7 frames, with the final being upgraded to best-of-9 frames with the winner taking home £50,000, so the structure in many ways is similar to that of the Riga Masters early in the season and it is not a great surprise to see a few big names sitting it out because of that. 

Quarter 1

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Anthony McGill or Aditya Mehta Vs Ashley Hugill

Rory McLeod Vs Jackson Page 

Anthony Hamilton Vs Hossein Vafei

Li Hang or Srikrishna Vs Gerard Greene

Tom Ford Vs Tian Pengfei

Zhang Anda Vs Soheil Vahedi 

Mark Davis or Laxman Rawat Vs Sam Baird or Lucky Vatnani 

John Astley Vs Ken Doherty 

The top quarter features both the defending champion and lone Indian tour player, though unfortunately for the event they were drawn to play each other in round one, which of course saw the match held over to the venue. Anthony McGill is the reigning champion, and he will be looking to get his season going after quite a quiet start so far. Aditya Mehta will be helped on by the home crowds and memories of making the final in the first staging of the event four years ago, and over the short format it will be a tough match for McGill. Jackson Page came through the qualifying rounds just over a month ago though as you would expect, his results have been hit and miss and against the more solid tactical players he has struggled, so his opener against Rory McLeod will certainly be a difficult one. Anthony Hamilton was last in action at the China Championship where he withdrew halfway his last 32 clash with Shaun Murphy, unable to cope with his back injury any longer. With tough first round opposition in Hossein Vafei, anything short of full fitness to play will probably not be enough. Hossein has impressed me greatly every time I have watched him and I think he and fellow Iranian Soheil Vahedi spur each other on greatly. Hossein is the one more likely to go on deep runs in tournaments and if he can get past Hamilton early this week he has shown enough already to be a serious contender in this section.

Ken Doherty will be hoping to continue his very impressive start to the season so far. After reaching the Riga Masters semi-finals, he then won each of his three August qualifying matches sending Hawkins and Carter packing in the process. More recently he exited both in the China Championship last 64 and Paul Hunter Classic last 32 at the hands of Murphy, who was the eventual runner-up in both tournaments. Li Hang could also be a huge danger man in the draw after narrowly missing out on making the China Championship final. He beat some top players that week and if he can carry on from where he left off in Guangzhou there is no reason why he could not make it to the semi-finals once again.

My opening quarter choice though is someone I'm really looking at to kick on this season and that is Tom Ford. Ford comes into this event from consecutive last 16's at the China Championship, where he overcame John Higgins comfortably in the last 32, and the Paul Hunter Classic. He had a similar good run of form at a similar point last season where he reached the final in Furth and then had back to back last 16's at the European Masters and English Open (losing both to Higgins). He's such a good player when he's scoring that I'm amazed that he doesn't have good runs more often and he certainly has a ranking title in him in my view. The section of the draw he is in is not exactly the toughest and if he can find his rhythm there is no reason why he cannot make it to the last 8 at the very least. 

Best of the Rest: Hossein Vafei

Quarter Choice: Tom Ford

Quarter 2

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Stuart Bingham Vs Duane Jones

Matthew Selt Vs Cao Yupeng

Mark King Vs Adam Duffy

Graeme Dott Vs Jack Lisowski 

Alan McManus or Malkeet Singh Vs Elliot Slessor 

Joe Perry Vs Daniel Wells

Jimmy Robertson Vs Fergal O'Brien 

Shaun Murphy or Pandurangaiah Vs Hammad Miah

The second quarter of the draw is one filled with a lot of experience and some high quality players. Joe Perry is far too good to be kept down for too long and so his next big run and a surge back into the top 16 may not be far away if he keeps plugging away. Stuart Bingham has not been in the best of form either, losing in the last 128 in Furth and the last 64 in Guangzhou and not having too much good to say on his performance on social media. This week could be the catalyst for a good run though, with plenty of snooker to get stuck into over the next few weeks. Fergal O'Brien recently made the quarter-finals at the China Championship which may give him a bit of extra confidence and I would favour him in what looks a tight opening round clash with Jimmy Robertson. 

Meanwhile, Graeme Dott has sparked into life in the last couple of weeks and shown that there is life in the old dog yet. At the China Championships he defeated Robert Milkins and Judd Trump in two tough matches to make it to the last 16 and he comes into this fresh from a narrow quarter-final loss in the six-reds where he was on fire in the group stages with three comprehensive wins. His first round opposition here is no push over though. Jack Lisowski is quickly becoming a forgotten man though with so many other big young talents passing him by in the ranking list. Although it is early days, on the provisional end of season list he is 66th despite winning all of his August qualifiers.

However, I am sticking with the form man for my second quarter choice and that of course is Shaun Murphy. The key to this choice is purely Murphy's recent form. Making back to back finals in the same week with a days worth of travelling in between is really some effort, and even though the field in Furth was not as strong, with the standard as it is you still have to play well to beat whoever is put in front of you. Again this is not the strongest field ever this week, and on top of that we have the short format which appears to suit Murphy if you look at his European Tour record and his performance at the Paul Hunter Classic, as well as winning in Gibraltar in March. The other thing to point out here is that Murphy made the semi-finals in India last year before losing out to eventual champion McGill. Like most top players, when Murphy gets on a run of form and gets his confidence up he is very tough to stop, putting several good runs together in quick succession and usually with a trophy thrown in to the mix. Despite making back to back finals Murphy was disappointed to have not bagged a trophy and will be determined to put that right this week, and I think he has a great chance. 

Best of the Rest: Graeme Dott

Quarter Choice: Shaun Murphy

Quarter 3

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Robin Hull Vs Xu Si

Josh Boileau Vs Sean O'Sullivan 

Ricky Walden Vs Alfie Burden

Ben Woollaston W/O Yan Bingtao 

Zhou Yuelong Vs Kurt Maflin

David Gilbert Vs Wang Yuchen 

Andrew Higginson or Asutosh Padhy Vs Alexander Ursenbacher

Mark Allen Vs Niu Zhuang

Quarter number three has a similar look to the opening quarter where there are a number of experienced names lurking but not necessarily a stand-out favourite in what looks a tight section. Opportunity knocks for the top four in the section who are all well outside of the worlds current top 64, though one of them will make it to at least the last 16 this week (which is worth a valuable £6,000). Robin Hull is probably the best and most experienced of those four. He has threatened to have a big run in the last year or so with the odd good result. It was in the 2015 version of this tournament where Hull played an extraordinary match against Graeme Dott in the last 64. Between them they had nine 50+ breaks in seven frames, with Hull twice clearing up from over 50 points behind, before Dott came from 3-1 behind in the match, and 55 behind in the decider to win 4-3. Matches like that demonstrate both how good Hull can be but also some of the bad luck he has had at times in his career.

Further down we have a very intriguing tussle between Ricky Walden and Alfie Burden. Burden has won each of the last four times the two have met, including three times in the last year at 2016 European Masters qualifying, March's Gibraltar Open and the European Masters qualifying for 2017 that took place a month ago. Couple that with Walden's struggles over the last year and you could have a recipe for further success for Burden. Heavy scoring Zhou Yuelong and Kurt Maflin is another thrilling match-up. Zhou has the form having made the quarter-finals of the China Championship and beating Mark Selby along the way, and he is now starting to have a few more of these deep tournament runs to climb inside the top 32. David Gilbert could be another to watch but the big name in the bottom half of this quarter is Mark Allen. It feels like I have been saying for a long time that Allen is due a big run and another ranking title, and I would now say he is overdue some success. The signs have been there with him digging in to get victories in the August qualifiers, while also showing some very heavy scoring, that if he produced consistently this week he could blow the field away, because there are not many that can match the levels he is capable of reaching.

My choice in this quarter though is someone who also benefits from a first round walkover and that is Ben Woollaston. Woollaston is a player who has impressed me in the last month or so. I watched his qualifier for this tournament against Sam Craigie and for the most part both players could not quite get into their stride. However, from 2-2 in that match Woollaston then won 11 successive frames to close out his week in Preston, tearing Ian Burns apart 4-0 a couple of days after the Craigie win in no time at all, before then overpowering Peter Lines 5-0. In his last 64 loss at the China Championship he went down to someone playing quite well in Mark Davis, before making the quarter-finals at the Paul Hunter Classic by dropping just two frames in his opening four matches. The first round bye this week is an obvious help, as that is one tough game that he does not have to worry about, and for me he is the form horse of the players in the top half of this quarter and certainly the one that jumped at me. 

Best of the Rest: Mark Allen and Zhou Yuelong

Quarter Choice: Ben Woollaston 

Quarter 4

Last 64 Draw: (Picks in Bold) 

Liam Highfield Vs Boonyarit Kaettikun 

Robert Milkins Vs Yu De Lu

Stephen Maguire Vs Akani Songsermsawad

Dominic Dale Vs Rod Lawler

Luca Brecel Vs Gary Wilson 

Michael Holt Vs Ian Preece

Mike Dunn Vs Martin O'Donnell 

John Higgins Vs Zhao Xintong

In terms of sheer quality, this bottom quarter of the draw is probably the best and most eye catching. Among those hunting glory are John Higgins who is just warming into the season and is probably more likely to peak in a couple of months with some of the big tournaments that come up in late October and November, a similar time to when he thrived last season. At his best, he is the best player in the bottom half by a country mile of anyone else, even as he reaches the back half of his career. In two visits to India Robert Milkins has had a last 16 and a quarter-final and he is the favourite out of the top four names in the draw to reach at least the last 16 again this week.

China Championship winner Luca Brecel will still be on a high from his maiden ranking success and he may still be coming to terms with his new life as a big time player who everyone wants a piece of. His first round opponent Gary Wilson is someone who I have had my eye on in recent months since his return to form having kept his tour card and qualifying for the Crucible. His heavy scoring ability is far better than his ranking may suggest and he showed some good form by making the quarter-finals in the recent Paul Hunter Classic. The name Michael Holt is one that seems to be getting mentioned a lot at the moment as the next player we think will break the door down and enter the ranking event winners club. He has not had too much to shout about at the start of this season with some tough first round draws leading to a couple of early exits.

Someone else who is long overdue another ranking title is my final quarter choice Stephen Maguire. The Scotsman is someone who I have already touted a couple of times this season but having not won a big title for as long as he has, a recent return to form is good to see and suggests he could be back in the winners circle soon. Making the quarter-finals of the World Championship seemed to be the catalyst, and I think having to go to the qualifiers to do so was perhaps the wake-up call he needed. Since then he has started the season by making the Riga Masters final, which I mentioned at the top of the preview is a similar event in format to this one, but it shows that he is still more than capable of picking up trophies. The only event he has played since was the China Championship where he started with two comprehensive victories before running into Shaun Murphy. If you don't fancy his fellow Scot Higgins this week, then the choice for me is to look to Maguire who has a draw that is easy enough but will still keep him on his toes and mean he has to play well in each round and focus. The other thing I have noticed with Maguire is that he looks like he wants to win again and with the right mentality he is an incredibly dangerous animal. 

Best of the Rest: Gary Wilson

Quarter Choice: Stephen Maguire

Winner Selection: Stephen Maguire 


The tournament this week is not broadcast on TV but will be on the Eurosport Player throughout the tournament from Tuesday to Saturday and it should be a very good watch. Given all the first time ranking winners of the last year or so, these are exciting times on the tour as you wonder who could be next and I hope that feeds across to the players themselves.

FANTASY SNOOKER UPDATE: China points and India Info

The first event on the Fantasy Snooker season has come and gone after the China Championship concluded a few weeks ago, and the next event is fast approaching with the Indian Open commencing on Tuesday morning.

It's very early days in the table, but for those at the top well played but there is still a long way to go. All players still have their three "captains picks" available and don't forget that you can only pick the same player three times over the course of the fantasy snooker season.



Here's how the table stands after Event 1: (PPS= Players Previously Selected)

Igor Snooker: SEASON: Matthew Stevens and Ken Doherty   Points: 53

PPS: Ding, O’Sullivan

Andy Brooker: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 49

PPS: Carter, Day

Alex Abrahams: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and John Astley    Points: 49

PPS: Carter, Fu

FAM147: SEASON: Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong   Points: 44

PPS: Carter, Hawkins

Kjetil: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and John Astley   Points: 44

PPS: Carter, Perry

Couge: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 42

PPS: Williams, Ding

Gary: SEASON: Ken Doherty and Yan Bingtao   Points: 42

PPS: Carter, Robertson

LTD: SEASON: Robert Milkins and Ken Doherty    Points: 33

PPS: Perry, Carter

Jake: SEASON: Mark Davis and Zhao Xintong   Points: 33

PPS: Hawkins, Ding

Colin Dellaney: SEASON: Ken Doherty and Yan Bingtao   Points: 33

PPS: Higgins, Maguire

TungstenDarts: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 25

PPS: Fu, Hawkins

Daniela Reich: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Sam Craigie   Points: 25

PPS: Ding, Fu

Munraj: SEASON: Jack Lisowski and Michael Georgiou   Points: 24

PPS: Ding, Trump

Voihelevettisua: SEASON: Xiao Guodong and John Astley   Points: 24

PPS: Ding, Trump

Rob Francis: SEASON: Mark Davis and Cao Yupeng   Points: 23

PPS: Ding, Robertson

GaryOnCue: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sam Craigie   Points: 20

PPS: Hawkins, Robertson

Protoursnooker: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Cao Yupeng    Points: 20

PPS: Ding, Allen

Phil Mudd: SEASON: Jimmy Robertson and Sam Craigie   Points: 18

PPS: Ding, Fu

Cluster of Reds: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and John Astley   Points: 18

PPS: Ding, Perry

Anthony: SEASON: Xiao Guodong and Michael Georgiou   Points: 18

PPS: Higgins, Day

TY: SEASON: Yan Bingtao and Zhang Anda   Points: 18

PPS: Ding, Robertson

Beat the Boss (Me): SEASON: Hossein Vafei and Robin Hull   Points: 14

PPS: Maguire, Holt

Mark Taylor: SEASON: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Sam Craigie    Points: 9

PPS: Allen, Robertson

SnookerChicago: SEASON: Andrew Higginson and Zhang Anda    Points: 9

PPS: Ding

D. Muckian: SEASON: Tian Pengfei and Zhang Anda    Points: 9

PPS: Ding, Perry

Kellie Barker: SEASON: Jack Lisowski and Alex Ursenbacher   Points: 7

PPS: Allen, Fu

Ben Summers: SEASON: Noppon Saengkham and Sam Craigie    Points: 7

PPS: McGill, Day

John McBride: SEASON: Hossein Vafei and Sam Craigie   Points: 0

PPS:  Holt, Liang

A number of you have competed well in the "Beat The Boss" stakes in event one, with only 6 out of 27 players in the contest failing to do so. 

My two picks in India this week are: Tom Ford and Mark Allen 

The deadline to submit picks by in the usual way (usually via Twitter) is 5am UK TIME on TUESDAY 12th SEPTEMBER 

Good luck everyone!

Michael White wins Paul Hunter Classic

In the second event to conclude on the World Snooker tour in the space of six days, we had another young winner as 26-year-old Welshman Michael White won the seven matches in two days required to win his second ranking title.

Starting his tournament on the Saturday, he had to come back from the brink against Adam Duffy in the last 128 to sneak through 4-3, but from there on things were much more simple to close out his opening day. Robbie Williams and Mike Dunn were dispatched for the loss of only one frame as he booked his place in Sunday's last 16.

First up on the Sunday was a tough test against the defending champion and world number one Mark Selby. A come from behind frame win in the second set the tone as White took a 3-0 lead and though Selby won the fourth to threaten the possibility of a comeback, White closed things out with a run of 68 to put himself in the quarter-finals.

Before the tournament I pointed out that White had not been in a ranking event quarter-final since the Northern Irish Open nine months earlier, so he quickly took care of that. Ian Burns was his opponent for the last eight after Burns beat Kyren Wilson in the last 16. White was clearly the player expected to win and in the end he did so comfortably by a 4-1 scoreline to put himself in his first full-ranking event semi-final since winning the Indian Open in March 2015.

Mitchell Mann provided the opposition to White in the semi's after beating Mark Joyce in a long quarter-final to reach his first ever semi-final in ranking competition and marking a great week for him as he looks to climb into the top 64 on the ranking list. Mann started well with a 64 break to take the opening frame but that was as good as it was going to get. White won four frames on the trot, finishing with breaks of 68 and 50 in the final two frames to book his place in the final.

For a while it looked like there could be an all-Welsh final with Jamie Jones flying into a 3-1 lead against Shaun Murphy. Jones dominated the early exchanges and scored heavily getting out of the blocks with a 102 break and backing that up with a 77 to lead 2-0. Murphy nicked the third frame to get himself back in it, but Jones quickly regained the two frame cushion courtesy of a 72 break to go one away at 3-1. From there though, JJ would only score a further four points in the contest. Murphy kept himself in the tie with a break of 90 and then backed that up with a contribution of 75 to quickly force the decider. A break of 77 in the decider was more than enough for the Magician to perform another act of brilliance by coming back to win 4-3 and make his second ranking event final in the space of a week.

Much as in the China Championship final, Murphy was the favourite to win against lower ranked opposition but things (as often is the case) did not go to form. White won the opening two frames to speed into the a 2-0 but much like his fellow Welshman Jones he had to watch as Murphy took frame three, a run of 84 seeing the 2005 world champion take it out in one visit and closing to 1-2. White again regained the two frame advantage though with his own high break, an 83, putting him a frame from the title at 3-1. In the fifth frame he went a ball from winning, but rattled the final black along the cushion, leaving it for Murphy to close the gap at 2-3 and put doubt into White's mind. However, if there was any doubt it did not show as he took the first chance he got in the sixth frame to make a break of 97, just missing out on the century, to get his second ranking title after a 29-month absence from the winners circle.

In my preview I referred to White as "someone in the draw who I would probably say is due a big run in a tournament" and he certainly delivered. Despite a field that was missing many of the top players he still had to overcome the two highest ranked players who did fly to Furth in Selby and Murphy, and doing so on the final day.

As for Murphy, while there are no trophies to show for it he has had a great week making both the China Championship and Paul Hunter Classic finals, with over a days worth of travelling in between, and there are plenty of positives to take. Two of those will be practically guaranteed qualification for the World Grand Prix and Players Championship tournaments later in the season, which is a great effort given that these were his first two full tournaments of the new campaign.


The next stop for snooker is at the 6-Reds Championship in Thailand, though with no ranking importance there is not much interest there, but that is closely followed by the final stages of the Indian Open beginning on September 12.