Let’s just cut to the chase. Four awesome ties. Five Top 8 players remaining. Seven Top 16 players left. One unseeded player still alive. My nerves dangling by a thread.
Mark Selby (1) vs. Marco Fu (8)
I wish to repeat again: Can someone bombard John Virgo with tweets that his will not miss Match of the Day during a Mark Selby/Marco Fu game like last time? Think he will be reassured! Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqM17G_Ms10
Fu’s temperament was key to beating an out-of-sorts Australian in the second round. For those who didn’t watch the final frame of his 13-11 victory, please do it. But for Fu to recover from 4-1 down to Neil to go 4-4, as well as coming back from 7-1 behind to win the decider against Luca Brecel the previous round made himself the comeback king really. He mentioned during the interview that his game is a 4/10 and his spirit is 9/10, so it’ll be really interesting how he will cope with Selby.
Mark Selby is now one step further defending his title than he was in 2015. He’s been given such a kind draw that he didn’t need to raise his game. He took advantage of the jaded Fergal O’Brien by thrashing 10-2 and comfortably beat Ryan Day-conqueror Xiao Goudong 13-6. This is probably the first proper test for Mark Selby, as he’s had superb matches against Fu in the World Championships by beating him 17-5 in 2016. This does seem to be the match of the B-gamers and it will be interesting how much the second round match took out of Fu.
I still fancy Selby to win here based on form and how comfortable his has been while Fu is being a stop-start player at the moment, but I’m sure we’ve been here before with Fu……
Winner: Mark Selby (13-10)
Ronnie O’Sullivan (12) vs. Ding Junhui (4)
The dream quarter-final everyone had been hoping for, really.
After a hard-fought win against Gary Wilson and berating the entire snooker organisation during his interview, it seemed he blew a lot of steam and let all the anxious feeling of being allegedly ‘bullied’ out. In his second round match, he knocked in nine half-centuries and two centuries against Shaun Murphy 13-7, who played poorly in the first session. This was enough for the bookmakers to orgasm a little and make him favourite of the tournament. Fickle, really. Ronnie has had flashes of brilliance and showed that he didn’t just turn up for this event – six weeks of hard graft and continuous practising throughout this tournament proved to everyone that he wants the 6th world title nearly as much as a Liverpool fan wanting Kelvin MacKenzie’s head on a silver platter.
Ding has been very impressive indeed. It is still hard to believe that in eleven Crucible attempts, a player of his calibre has now reached his fifth quarter-final. After dispatching the Chinese No. 3 Zhou Yuelong 10-5, he had to withstand two fightbacks from Chinese No. 2 Liang Wenbo from 6-2 and 9-7 up to force a decider and finish with a winning break of 70. This shows us something about Ding that is very rare about him – he is becoming very comfortable playing at the Crucible. He showed he’s got a lot of bottle and that when he’s ahead, he doesn’t slow down. He said in an interview that he isn’t buoyed by the quarter-final and just wants to get on with it.
All the statistics are screaming for Ronnie to win, as Ding hasn’t beaten him since 2011 and is currently on a five-match losing streak against him. There have been a number of close matches in the best-of-11 format, Ronnie thrashed him in the 2014 Welsh Open final 9-3, with a cherry on top in the form of a 147. But both are in high-scoring form with an excellent safety game. But I can see Ding winning here. He clearly learnt a hell of a lot last World Championships when he beat Judd Trump when the odds were against him and he took and kept that confidence from reaching a final in the first place. This will be a close game. Decider? Maybe. I think Ding can even win the tournament from here!
Winner: Ding Junhui (13-12)
Kyren Wilson (14) vs. John Higgins (6)
Not much to play with statistics-wise: they have only played each other once – that was when Kyren beat John 4-1 in the 2015 Paul Hunter Classic. That’s it. Seems strange huh?
Kyren Wilson has had a lukewarm season by his standards, probably because other players realised they had to up their game to beat him. With wins against David Grace and rather impressively against 3rd seed Stuart Bingham. His long game is extremely good, he has a great cue action and holds himself together well. Question is: can he get past the stage where he got beat last year against Mark Selby? Even then, he proved that he can withstand fight back like against Mark Allen last year and Bingham this year. In some ways, this is almost a testament to how different snooker players from different eras are – there are only 26 years between the two players!
John Higgins has played two very tough opponents in Martin Gould and Allen. Many people thought that he would slip up against the Pinner Potter but Higgins ran riot with nine century breaks and a 127 to win 10-6 and in the 2nd round, he left Allen scratching his head as to how well he has to beat him. He is one of the most in-form players alongside Ronnie and Ding left standing. Below speaks for itself:
It is very much a difficult one to predict, considering what little history there is between them and much harder at the Crucible! Head says John and heart says Kyren (very cliche I know) – and I think Higgins will be too much for Wilson.
Winner: John Higgins (13-8)
Barry Hawkins (7) vs. Stephen Maguire
Barry is the most underrated player in the Top 16. Of course, everyone talks about Robertson. Selby. Trump. Ding. O’Sullivan. Fair enough, but I would’ve thought some who won 3 ranking events, is a WC & a Masters finalist and one of the most consistent players on the circuit deserves to be mentioned, surely?
Barry comfortably beat Tom Ford and former World Champion Graeme Dott 10-3 and 13-6 respectively to make it the fifth year in a row that he reached the World Championship quarter-finals. Since Trump got bonked off early, in theory, it gives him an easier path to the semis, but Maguire is very difficult indeed.
By now, Stephen should now considers himself redeemed and showed that he getting back to the form he was in 2012. Following his semi-final appearance losing to Ali Carter 17-12, he lost four opening rounds in a row and needed a good back up the jacksie. His safety was so immaculate he didn’t let McGill in throughout his opening round drubbing, and he delivered another thumping against Rory McLeod by stealing a number of frames. Oddly as an unseeded player, he hasn’t been threatened yet, conceding only five frames in the televised stages, fifteen in three qualifying matches. What better than one of the best Crucible-specialists in the modern game?
The head-to-head between the pair is very tight, with Maguire’s 12 wins to Hawkins’s 11.I expect Barry to take this one due to his Crucible record and that he never takes his opponents lightly and his all-round game is so much better. I’m not sure what batteries Maguire is on since he hasn’t experienced this stage in such a long time, but if you are not alive for this, you might as well not be a snooker player huh?
Winner: Barry Hawkins (13-9)
