No, I’m not being stereotypical, why do you ask? Och aye, I love haggis and all of that stuff about deep fried Mars bars (which I would love to try and then probably never again).
So, I haven’t paid too much attention to this tournament – suffering from the feeling that the UK Championship is the last tournament of the year, which is slightly weird. Most of the big guns are still in the Scottish Open and it’s been very long overdue that a tournament is situated in the Highlands. They have been treated by many tartan titans battling out in Higgins vs. McManus, Clark vs. Sharav and later Higgins vs. Donaldson. Apart from that, Bingham got knocked out of the first round, despite scoring brilliantly, Mark Allen not happy with Christopher Keogan’s slow play which brought up a weekly debate on whether Allen should stop moaning or throwing a tantrum (he shouldn’t but oh well).
The main question here is: will there be a Home Nations winner that is a Top 16 player? Look at Mark King and Liang Wenbo beating Barry Hawkins and Judd Trump respectively!
Here are the predictions anywho….:
Yu Delu vs. Daniel Wells
Mitchell Mann vs. Sean O’Sullivan
Ian Burns vs. Liang Wenbo
Mike Dunn vs. Barry Hawkins
This is a more open quarter, after the exits of Bingham, McGill and King, you’d think Hawkins and Liang would have a chance here. But let;s not forget there is a possibility of them meeting just in the Last 16, as their matches seem to be one sided. Therefore there is a chance that Wells, Mann and O’Sullivan can reach their first ranking quarter-final. Wells is the most in-form player as he is 42nd in the one year ranking list, having first the Last 16 for the first time.
Mann and O’Sullivan are slow in reaching their potential, especially Sean who hasn’t yet repeated his exploits of last season and Mann who needs to show his form that got him to the World Championships last season. I would go for a Wells vs. Liang quarter-final, though Liang and Hawkins will be a very, very tough one to call.
Quarter-final Winner: Liang Wenbo
Neil Robertson vs. Joe Swail
Robin Hull vs. Marco Fu
Stephen Maguire vs. Mark Williams
Mark Davis vs. Xiao Guodong
This quarter has the matches of the rounds. The Robertson and Swail match should be very competitive – the head-to-head record is 5-3 to Neil and both have come back after struggling in the past few tournaments. Joe won their last bout as well, back in the 2014 International Championship.
Marco is the man on form this tournament, scoring two centuries and seven half-centuries in two matches, and is very good at the best-of-7 format, having won the 2016 Gibraltar Open. Which, let’s be honest – he can do better. 🙂
One of the matches of the round is him against Robin Hull, who is rated very high by much of the tour and wrapped up a very good win against Michael White 4-1. Another brilliant match is Maguire (who doesn’t think he will even win this tournament) vs. Mark Williams, which to be honest is such as shame that it is a best-of-7 and they will be against 900-year-old Mark Davis vs. Xiao Guodong, who is slowly climbing the table hoping to reach the heights of his best ranking of No. 19. Based on form, it has to be Fu, BUT he is probably the most inconsistent player in the Top 16 – he is great one day and awful the next – we shall see.
Quarter-final Winner: Marco Fu
Judd Trump vs. Noppon Saengkham
Kyren Wilson vs. Oliver Lines
Anthony Hamilton vs. Chris Wakelin
Robert Milkins vs. Joe Perry
This is an interesting quarter, as all of these players are back into form and rejuvenated. Judd Trump hasn’t been troubled so far after two whitewashes and I doubt he will have trouble Noppon, one of the lower-ranked players I highly rate. Saengkham scraped through Steadman and Mehta to get there – however it is the next round I fear Trump will be troubled but can pull through. Kyren and Oliver Lines have beaten him in their previous meetings and Lines will be very confident after reaching the Last 16. Wilson, on the other hand, it currently in a rough spot after losing to too many lower-ranked players in previous tournaments such as Mitchell Mann and John Astley – that should be a very interesting match. Trump can beat either person, but it may depend on his confidence.
Hamilton and Wakelin will be a very tight match as both are trying to reach and stay in the Top 64 for next season, even more so Wakelin as he is in his second year of his tour card. He won his decider against Carter and just got into the Top 64, but Hamilton should be very confident after his semi-final run in the Northern Ireland Open and I reckon he should get through him tomorrow. Milkins and Perry are having very lukewarm seasons recently and Milkins’s win in the UK Championships is the first since September, while Perry was impressive in his whitewash against Hossein Vafaei. I am going for Milkins for this one, as he is more determined to regain his form after a disappointing start, and his 4-0 win over Gilbert shows that.
Quarter-final Winner: Judd Trump
Mark Allen vs. Li Hang
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Jimmy White
Dominic Dale vs. Ricky Walden
Mei Xiwen vs. John Higgins
Now, after Mark Allen has calmed down from his lovely Twittering, he has a difficult tie in Li Hang, but this will be very dwarfed by Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. the 9000-year-old Jimmy White. Jimmy has had a resurgence recently, with his 4-0 over Ryan Day is keeping his place in the Top 8 of the ranking money (£) earnt in the 2016/2017 season table (catchy!) to keep his tour card. This will be a favourite for many fans and Ronnie will be fired for this, wanting a title after three successive losses in finals and his would’ve been warmed up after his tough opening match against Matt Selt. Higgins will definitely want this, and for
Higgins will definitely want this and will be against another Chinese player in Mei Xiwen, who reaches the Last 32 for the fourth time, especially impressive for a man of a ranking of No. 77 and Higgins will be relieved to not having the pressure of playing a Scot for a change. He is also a man of form despite his loss against Zhao Xintong and will be against Dale (who is gaining in form, there is a pattern emerging here) and Walden, who will be desperate to get back into the Top 16. This has O’Sullivan vs. Higgins all over it.
Quarter-final Winner: John Higgins
Final: Marco Fu vs. John Higgins
