Another article and another preview. The tournaments are coming thick and fast with just a weekend of rest from the Shanghai Masters qualifiers. From Lommel to Wigan (for some reason) to Barnsley, this is the first of the Home Nations tournaments, which for me is one of the best things Barry Hearn created in his tenure, though winning £1,000,000 to win all four Home Nations events is, in my opinion, impossible. There are huge memories from the last one, such as Liang Wenbo winning his first ranking title!
For me, there’s a lot of confusion and drama about this one – in a good way and a bad way. The bad way is that this is the first time a World Snooker had to handle a crowded draw. In other words, organising a number of snooker players beyond the tournament’s capacity. It’s unfair for me to say World Snooker don’t know what they are doing because they explicitly said what would happen if this situation ever came about, including pointing out that ITC’s (Jimmy White, Ken Doherty, James Wattana) will be treated like any professional player, instead of being made to stand aside for the pros. Personally, I think that is how it shouldn’t be because it’s not fair for a low-ranked player trying to get in the game but only to be pushed back a place by an ITC player who was given a professional card by his legendary status alone. I’m sure the English wildcards (Joe O’Connor and David Lilley) won’t feel part of the main draw because they are playing in the preliminary draws. The thought of No. 66 Zhang Anda playing No. 93 Ian Burns in the Last 256 is extraordinary and slightly unfair, regardless of how many times you say to me “it’s the luck of the draw.” Link: http://www.worldsnooker.com/invitational-tour-card-holders/
Second, of course, will be the attention of Ronnie O’Sullivan. Publicity of one of the greatest players of his generation is always good but I’m sure many ice-tongued people will have their keyboards ready when Ronnie loses to a ‘numpty’ or a ‘no-hoper’ this time. For more information, here a previous article: FEATURED: Who’s the numpty now?. He dispelled immediate thoughts of that happening after trouncing Christopher Keogan 5-0 in the Shanghai Masters Qualifiers with breaks of 55, 62, 77 and 50. Coincidentally, he faces the qualifying clash between Burns and Zhang in the first round proper, with the likes of possible ties with Mark Davis and Alan McManus waiting in the wings.
Actually I like it better when they want me to lose … I love proving people wrong #buzz https://t.co/OL3LYWeNNX
— Ronnie O'Sullivan (@ronnieo147) October 13, 2017
Here are reasons why I like the Home Nations events. They feel patriotic, aided with a good amount of marketing, of course, to make these events more prestigious. They are open, meaning that low-ranking players actually play against low-ranking players to get some much needed points such as Sam Craigie vs. Aditya Mehta, which is something I really missed from the tiered events days (unless you are Elliot Slessor, which means you will be drawn against John Higgins and by jove, he is in this event!) I would prefer if the Top 32 players were ranked rather than the Top 16, by then again, you wouldn’t get brilliant ties between Luca Brecel vs. Ryan Day and Anthony McGill vs. Michael Holt. We will see Liang Wenbo, who is attempting to defend his title; Judd Trump, who defended his at the European Masters in Lommel not long ago; Home Nations victors John Higgins, Stuart Bingham and Mark King; and reigning World Champion Mark Selby amongst a brilliant line up. All bet-of-7s until the quarter-finals, I’m really looking forward to this!
Random draw???me and @LittleArnie147 draw higgins for the last 5 first rounds between us.. #bringbacknamesandahatplease
— Elliot Slessor (@sless147) October 10, 2017
Liang Wenbo vs. Duane Jones
Tom Ford vs. Xu Si
Basem Eltahhan vs. Jamie Jones
Noppon Saengkham vs. Yan Bingtao
Anthony McGill vs. Michael Holt
Lyu Haotian vs. Allan Taylor vs. David Lilley (a)
Akani Songsermsawad vs. Matthew Bolton
Chris Totten vs. Joe Swail
Last 16 Winner: Yan Bingtao vs. Anthony McGill
Jimmy Robertson vs. Adam Duffy
Gary Wilson vs. Sean O’Sullivan
Li Hang vs. Chris Wakelin
Neil Robertson vs. Billy Joe Castle
Ian Preece vs. Mei Xiwen
Sam Craigie vs. Aditya Mehta
Chen Zifan vs. Sanderson Lam
Barry Hawkins vs. Peter Lines
Last 16 Winner: Neil Robertson vs. Barry Hawkins
Judd Trump vs. Robbie Williams
Yu Delu vs. Mark Joyce
Matthew Stevens vs. Eden Sharav
Josh Boileau vs. David Gilbert
Luca Brecel vs. Ryan Day
David Grace vs. Mark Williams
Jamie Curtis-Barrett vs. Li Yuan
Rory McLeod vs. Jack Lisowski
Last 16 Winner: Judd Trump vs. Mark Williams
Rhys Clark vs. Alan McManus
Zhang Yong vs. Kurt Dunham
Mark Davis vs. Chen Zhe
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Zhang Anda/Ian Burns
Robert Milkins vs. Stephen Maguire
Ashley Hugill vs. Nigel Bond
Matthew Selt vs. Alfie Burden
John Higgins vs. Elliot Slessor
Last 16 Winner: Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. John Higgins
Ding Junhui vs. Christopher Keogan
Lukas Kleckers vs. Michael White
Craig Steadman vs. Robin Hull
Ben Woollaston vs. Peter Ebdon
Ali Carter vs. Oliver Lines
James Wattana vs. Martin O’Donnell
John Astley vs. Paul Davison
Yuan Sijun vs. Joe Perry
Last 16 Winner: Ben Woollaston vs. Ali Carter
Ken Doherty vs. Gerard Greene
Anthony Hamilton vs. Alexander Ursenbacher
Stuart Carrington vs. Boonyarit Keattikun
Mark Allen vs. Jimmy White
Liam Highfield vs. Fergal O’Brien
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs. Kurt Maflin
Dominic Dale vs. Daniel Wells
Shaun Murphy vs. Soheil Vahedi
Last 16 Winner: Mark Allen vs. Shaun Murphy
Marco Fu vs. Tian Pengfei
Michael Georgiou vs. Hammad Miah
Mitchell Mann vs. Leo Fernandez
Zhou Yuelong vs. Andrew Higginson
Stuart Bingham vs. Lee Walker
Mark King vs. Fang Xiongman/Joe O’Connor (a)
Martin Gould vs. Zhao Xintong
Hossein Vafaei vs. Niu Zhuang
Last 16 Winner: Zhou Yuelong vs. Stuart Bingham
Thor Chuan Leong vs. Graeme Dott
Cao Yupeng vs. Hamza Akbar
Mike Dunn vs. Alex Borg
Kyren Wilson vs. Rod Lawler
Xiao Guodong vs. Wang Yuchen
Jak Jones vs. Ricky Walden
Sam Baird vs. Ross Muir
Mark Selby vs. Scott Donaldson
Last 16 Winner: Kyren Wilson vs. Mark Selby
Final: Judd Trump vs. Mark Allen
