Straight after winning the International Championship, Mark Selby has to fly across the globe to Coventry, only to fly all the way back to China for the Shanghai Masters. Doesn’t make sense to me either. Because The Jester of Leicester beat Mark Allen 10-7 earlier today, Neil Robertson nicks the final spot, having won the Hong Kong Masters earlier this year. This is a superb field here, with 12 out of the Top 16 present with the other four players qualified for this event by winning their first ranking event trophies. Unfortunately, there was a poster change because of what happened to Stuart Bingham. Oops.
Anyway, this is the first properly exclusive event of the season held in England. Also, I love this event as this is on ITV4 tomorrow so I can watch these matches when I leave work listening to a fantastic commentary in Alan McManus, Stephen Hendry and Neal Foulds. Also, there have been some good matches, with Ronnie winning the crown twice, Neil winning another and John Higgins looking to defend his, smashing in three frames to beat the Rocket 10-7. Anyway, we have a preview to get through – here it is below! This is done in groups, which is a poncy way of saying it is a Last 16 linear format.
https://twitter.com/alan_mcmanus/status/927172295814209537
Group 1 – 9th November
This is a very strong group (I can hear you ranting “every group is bloody strong you nonce!” All of these players have won a trophy this season alone. In fact, three of them are currently in the Top 10 of accumulated points this season. Neil is the only player who is performing inadequately, having not reached the semi-final of a ranking event since he was whitewashed in the 2016 European Masters semi-final against Ronnie O’Sullivan. And he is conveniently against that man who he beat to win the Hong Masters in the first place. Ronnie has already won the English Open in spectacular fashion as if he’s been practising for some time. But his matches against Luca Brecel earlier this season prove that he can be beaten and his match against Yan Bingtao prove that he can be outplayed.
It does seem as if in every major tournament that a Scot will play another Scot. John Higgins is having a decent season having reached the quarter-finals of the International Championship and of course winning the Indian Open fairly easily by beating defending champion Anthony McGill. The Smiling Assassin’s main strength is his consistency and though he hasn’t won a trophy this season, he has reached one final, one semi-final and three quarter-finals. He lost in a decider against Judd Trump last year and I can see the same thing happening here.
John Higgins vs. Anthony McGill
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Neil Robertson
Group 2 – 6th November
Barry Hawkins is not having a good season. He is one of the best all-round players on the circuit who doesn’t lose to low-ranked players that often. This season he has lost to Ken Doherty, Chris Wakelin and Jack Lisowski and apart from the Hong Kong Masters, he hasn’t reached a ranking quarter-final this season yet. He is against the opponent he beat to lift the World Grand Prix trophy in Ryan Day, who is relieved to not be among the best players never to win a ranking event. Day, one of the three new raking event winners won the Riga Masters by beating Stephen Maguire. With Riga beating a mostly BO7 tourney, I can see Ryan taking advantage of this and Barry’s poor form here.
Ding Junhui smashed Kyren Wilson to win the World Open and he is against Anthony Hamilton, who won his first ranking title in poignant fashion in the German Masters. He is another one who is off-colour, though ranking-wise he has no need to worry as of yet as he is still in his second year of his two-year card. However, he has only reached the Last 32 once this season in the China Championship. I believe Ding should win this one.
Barry Hawkins vs. Ryan Day
Ding Junhui vs. Anthony Hamilton
Group 3 – 7th November
Marco is having the worst season out of the 16 players here, as he is not even in the Top 64 in ranking points this season alone, despite being No. 8 in the world. However, he reached the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Masters and the Six-red World Championship. Michael White is also having a quiet season, having tried to get into the Top 16 like how he was seeded in the 2016 World Championships. It would be very interesting to see what happens here.
Shaun Murphy managed to get here by beating Judd Trump 4-2 in the Gibraltar Open. He reached two consecutive finals this season in the China Championship and the Paul Hunter Classic. He has quite a kind group here considering the amount of talent here. He is against Mark King, the man that everyone loves and is loved even more after his emotional speech before getting his hands on the trophy in the Northern Ireland Open. Watch the speech and if you didn’t get emotional about that, you sir/madam have a heart of stone. He did reach the semi-finals of the BO7-type event Indian Open and I think he will push him here!
Marco Fu vs. Michael White
Shaun Murphy vs. Mark King
Group 4 – 8th November
Judd Trump is an absolute fiend in break-building. Hitting 26 centuries already, he successfully defended the European Masters title this season, as well as winning the Players Championship. The matches he lost players had to play well it beat him (we will forget the 6-0 loss to Sam Craigie, huh?) He has a good record against Luca Brecel, winning both of their meetings. Luca Brecel had a storming start of the season, reaching the semi-finals of the World Open and winning the China Championship. However, since then, the furthest he has reached is the Last 16 of the European Masters.
I not sure if Selby will do well here. Either he will carry on his form from the International Championship or he will be too jaded to play like he did. Liang Wenbo has a losing H2H record against Selby (5-4), though in three BO7 meetings, Liang has won two. I think Selby will win anyway, as his B Game is probably the best at the moment.
Judd Trump vs. Luca Brecel
Mark Selby vs. Liang Wenbo
Final: John Higgins vs. Shaun Murphy
