It was only yesterday when I published one article on my blog. Now I must do another, as right now tournaments are churned out at the same rate as young, Chinese superstars making their own damn breakthrough. While the event winners exhaust themselves by travelling to Coventry from Daqing and then back to the Far East again to participate in the Shanghai Masters, the rest look to take advantage of that opportunity to cling on some points. Especially for Day, Liang, Robertson and the rest, every win counts to qualify for the Masters: FEATURED: The Race for the Masters.
Here, there are a few wildcards that have squeezed into this draw. I can’t help but be underwhelmed by this draw now that it is flat, unlike previous years. I explained this in depth before but the reason why this is one of my favourites is that of the qualifying format. The fact that low-ranking players can face each other through ranking rather than luck of the draw and be in the atmosphere that they deserve to be among the 16 that qualify to join the Top 16 players makes the event extra special. This is certainly one of the reasons why the Champion of the Champions has such a lovely aura about it, that these players have worked hard and achieved to get there. The fact that this was initially shafted by the World Open and brought back almost a different animal just doesn’t sit right with me: FEATURED: From Shanghai to Yushan: does this spell an end to tiered ranking events?
Anyway, we will see if it still has the same magic this year! This is tricky. I would imagine much depends on how much they have now got left in the tank. Good ties here, have a read, make a prediction, but don’t blame me if it goes wrong. We are too good for that. 🙂
Mei Xiwen vs. Adam Duffy
Tom Ford vs. Jimmy Robertson
Lee Walker vs. Kurt Maflin
Ryan Day vs. Yu Delu
Fergal O’Brien vs. Mitchell Mann
Yan Bingtao vs. Mark Allen
Cao Yupeng vs. Michael Holt
Jack Lisowski vs. Chris Totten
Quarter Final Winner: Ryan Day vs. Jack Lisowski
Yuan Sijun vs. Robbie Williams
Graeme Dott vs. Xiao Guodong
Luca Brecel vs. Matthew Stevens
Mark King vs. Jamie Jones
Rory McLeod/ Billy Joe Castle//Zhang Jiankang vs. Stephen Maguire
Stuart Carrington/ Li Zhen//Chen Feilong vs. Ali Carter
Michael Georgiou vs. Ben Woollaston
Judd Trump vs. Alfie Burden
Quarter Final Winner: Mark King vs. Ali Carter
John Higgins/Alexander Ursenbacher vs. Ian Preece
Zhou Yuelong vs. Sanderson Lam
Liang Wenbo/Rod Lawler vs. John Astley
David Gilbert vs. Mark Joyce
Li Yuan vs. Martin Gould
Akani Songsermsawad w/o Stuart Bingham
Robert Milkins vs. Lyu Haotian
Hossein Vafaei vs. Marco Fu
Quarter Final Winner: David Gilbert vs. Martin Gould
Barry Hawkins vs. Daniel Wells
Michael White vs. Mark Davis
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Gary Wilson
Joe Perry vs. Matthew Selt
Wang Yuchen vs. Mark Williams
Sam Baird/ Soheil Vahedi//Ma Chunmao vs. Gerard Greene
Dominic Dale vs. Alan McManus
Chris Wakelin vs. Mark Selby/Ian Burns
Quarter Final Winner: Michael White vs. Mark Williams
Tournament Winner: Ali Carter vs. Mark Williams
