International Championship Preview
World Champion Selby and Home Favourite Ding fails to Qualify
As Ronnie O`Sullivan and Neil Robertson avoid shocks
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| Junhui failed again to qualify for a home tournament |
World Champion Mark Selby, suffered the first big upset after be crowned World Champion back in May.
He lost 4(11)6 to Oliver Lines in Barnsley, but played really well, all credits to Lines, a very dedicated professional, who's playing such a great snooker so far this season.
Current Champion Ding Junhui will be another miss in Chengdu, as he lost to Wang Zepeng in the decider. Zepeng played perfect snooker to force a decider, making breaks of 103, 120 & 85, then won the decider 71-6.
Anyway Ding could win it easily if he had played a half of what he did when he won this tournament one year ago.
Junhui is playing in very few events, missing all European Tours so far, and failed to qualify for both Shanghai Masters and International Championship, and of course fans, sponsors and organizers from China aren't happy at it, anyway he won the Asian Tour 1, his only event in China so far this season.
Neil Robertson was leading Alex Borg 5(11)3, but his opponent forced the decider, just for Robertson to make a century break.
Ronnie O`Sullivan beat James Cahill 6-3 with top breaks of 79 and 60, very poor performance but never lost control of the match.
Let's see what we can expect from the big stage in Chengdu:
Quarter 1:
Wang Zepeng Vs Mann/Zhuang
Aditya Mehta Vs Michael White
Dominic Dale Vs Ian Burns
Craig Steadman Vs Graeme Dott
Stuart Bingham Vs Robbie Williams
Mark Joyce Vs Ryan Day
Martin Gould Vs Joel Walker
Nigel Bond Vs Mark Allen
This part of the draw, have the miss of the defending champion Ding Junhui, what is a big chance for Michael White, Aditya Mehta or Graeme Dott to get a place in the quarter finals of a Ranking Event, and of course, if they do, it will give them a lot of confidence for the rest of the season, but for me, recent Shanghai Masters Champion Bingham, and recent Paul Hunter Classic Champion Allen, are favourites to get a semi-final place.
Bingham is full of confidence, and he'd beat Allen in the Shanghai's final, but I don't believe he's favourite against Allen again, as we are talking about a short match format.
Semi-Finalist: Mark Allen
Quarter 2:
Barry Hawkins Vs Jimmy White
Oliver Brown Vs Mark Williams
Sam Baird Vs Kyren Wilson
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Mark Davis
John Higgins Vs Li Hang
Jones/Xintong Vs Kurt Maflin
Alan McManus Vs Anthony McGill
Been Woollaston Vs Ronnie O`Sullivan - Sunday 26, 19:30 local time
Well, in my opinion, any result here, wouldn't be shock, as every player at this part of the draw is in a good moment and is well capable of reach to a quarters or a semis in a Ranking Event.
Hawkins is - alongside with O`Sullivan - the only player who was in both 2012 and 2013 World Snooker Championship's semi-final, but he's not shining after the last World Championship, so White, who's having a nice month, can make a little upset there, McManus, who's been one of the best players currently, will face the Scot McGill, a player with a great potential of a future World Champion, and the 5 Times World Champion, Ronnie O`Sullivan, face the easier draw in the first round, but his recent form don't guarantee anything for him, he must improve a lot if he wants to win again, as the competition today is so hard.
As you can see, it's very hard to predict a winner for this quarter, but I believe Ronnie can improve, as he looks hungry and focused on snooker.
Semi Finalist: Ronnie O`Sullivan
Quarter 3:
Neil Robertson Vs Matthew Selt
Swail/Bingtao Vs Andrew Higginson
Zhou Yuelong Vs Chris Melling
David Morris Vs Ricky Walden
Joe Perry Vs Mark Dunn
Andrew Pagett Vs Peter Ebdon
Matthew Stevens Vs Jamie Burnett
Jimmy Robertson Vs Judd Trump
This is a very strong point of the draw, Neil Robertson and Judd Trump are big contenders for the title, but before they met each other in a possible quarter final, they need to be better against very good opponents.
Robertson start against Matthew Selt, one of the most improved players of the year, and if he reach to the second round, he can face the WildCard Yan Bingtao - who's been danger for all his opponents this season, highlighted by his run in the Wuxi Classic, reaching to the Last 32 and just losing the decider against Hawkins -, so Neil won't have an easy work, however I don't expect him to lose before the quarter final. In the other hand, Judd Trump starts his run against Young Talented Jimmy Robertson, and he can play the likes of Matthew Stevens and Joe Perry - the most improved player of year - before the quarters.
Judd have a difficult draw to the quarters, it's possible that he even not reach there, and Neil Robertson is very confident and very solid (as well as Judd but), as very good when playing China, he is my favourite here.
Semi Finalist: Neil Robertson
Quarter 4:
Shaun Murphy Vs Yu DeLu
Barry Pinches Vs Robert Milkins
Xiao Guodong Vs Eden Sharav
Noppon Saengkham Vs Stephen Maguire
Marco Fu Vs Liam Highfield
David Gilbert Vs Zak Surety
Fergal O`Brien Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Rod Lawler Vs Lines/Jiahao
Even with players like Maguire and Fu, this is the poorest part of the draw, a great chance for Oliver Lines to produce his greatest run in a Ranking Event, and of course, a nice chance for Xiao Guodong to show a little of form again, but the young player who reached the Shanghai's final last year, will have a big weight on his shoulder as he is the biggest hope for the Chinese crowd as Ding and Wenbo lost in the qualifiers.
But I don't believe that some of these players will be in the semi final, just because my favourite for the title is in this part of the draw, his name is Shaun Murphy, who has won three titles this year, and has made 2 maximum breaks (and counting).
Neil Robertson Vs Matthew Selt
Swail/Bingtao Vs Andrew Higginson
Zhou Yuelong Vs Chris Melling
David Morris Vs Ricky Walden
Joe Perry Vs Mark Dunn
Andrew Pagett Vs Peter Ebdon
Matthew Stevens Vs Jamie Burnett
Jimmy Robertson Vs Judd Trump
This is a very strong point of the draw, Neil Robertson and Judd Trump are big contenders for the title, but before they met each other in a possible quarter final, they need to be better against very good opponents.
Robertson start against Matthew Selt, one of the most improved players of the year, and if he reach to the second round, he can face the WildCard Yan Bingtao - who's been danger for all his opponents this season, highlighted by his run in the Wuxi Classic, reaching to the Last 32 and just losing the decider against Hawkins -, so Neil won't have an easy work, however I don't expect him to lose before the quarter final. In the other hand, Judd Trump starts his run against Young Talented Jimmy Robertson, and he can play the likes of Matthew Stevens and Joe Perry - the most improved player of year - before the quarters.
Judd have a difficult draw to the quarters, it's possible that he even not reach there, and Neil Robertson is very confident and very solid (as well as Judd but), as very good when playing China, he is my favourite here.
Semi Finalist: Neil Robertson
Quarter 4:
Shaun Murphy Vs Yu DeLu
Barry Pinches Vs Robert Milkins
Xiao Guodong Vs Eden Sharav
Noppon Saengkham Vs Stephen Maguire
Marco Fu Vs Liam Highfield
David Gilbert Vs Zak Surety
Fergal O`Brien Vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Rod Lawler Vs Lines/Jiahao
Even with players like Maguire and Fu, this is the poorest part of the draw, a great chance for Oliver Lines to produce his greatest run in a Ranking Event, and of course, a nice chance for Xiao Guodong to show a little of form again, but the young player who reached the Shanghai's final last year, will have a big weight on his shoulder as he is the biggest hope for the Chinese crowd as Ding and Wenbo lost in the qualifiers.
But I don't believe that some of these players will be in the semi final, just because my favourite for the title is in this part of the draw, his name is Shaun Murphy, who has won three titles this year, and has made 2 maximum breaks (and counting).
Semi Finalist: Shaun Murphy
Runner Up: Ronnie O`Sullivan
Champion: Shaun Murphy
Shaun Murphy is the best player of the year so far in my opinion, and he's won a title in China already, the World Open, when conditions are very poor in China, so he've show that he's capable of, and for me he's going for the trophy there.
I believe a lot in Ronnie O`Sullivan, but at the way he's playing recently, I was being so fanatic if I said that he's going to win,
but we know Ronnie, and sometimes he shock us as he've done so many times, and in my opinion, at his current form he's not able even to reach to the last 16, but if he improves enough to reach, he's gonna be the champion, as he looks very motivated and hungry as you can see on his last eurosport blog.
Up and including Quarter Finals - Best of 11 Frames
Semi Finals - Best of 17 Frames
Final - Best of 19 Frames
The Asian Tour 2, which Ding Junhui will be in action, will run from Monday 20 to Friday 24, and the International Championship starts not so long after, it runs from Sunday 26 to Sunday 2.
Remember you can always follow all news and results from the World of Snooker via Ronnie O`Sullivan Brasil on Facebook.
We send our thoughts to Graham Miles' family, who sadly passed away last Sunday.
Miles was one of the first TV Stars in the start of the modern era of Snooker, he was very important for Snooker, and loved the sport. He also had a snooker club and was a very fun guy.
You can watch him in action by clicking here.
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