PREVIEW: UK Championship

After finishing the Northern Ireland Open, another ranking event is around the corner! The UK Championship starts on Tuesday, with some players barely getting a few days rest, this is one of the most important tournaments on the calendar – a Triple Crown Event and Mark Selby is hoping to defend his title in York!

This event, in my opinion, has been tainted slightly because of the format change to the flat draw. Many players complained it being crowded and cramped and not attracting a crowd in the first three rounds. Since this was one of the events that the Top 16 automatically qualified for and that nearly every match was a BO17, some think it is now just another ranking event not much different to other flat-draw ranking events.

However, you can’t say it didn’t provide thrills. We had the introduction of Anthony McGill; Ronnie O’Sullivan beating Judd Trump in a thrilling final despite a buggered ankle; a 147 miss from Thephaiya Un-Nooh; an amazing run to the semi-finals from then-No.80 David Grace; No. a 147 by Neil Robertson against Liang Wenbo; and finally, another one made by Mark Allen a year later.

16 lower-seeded players won the first round last year, so there is always space for a shock, which is always exciting for us, though not the players. There are also races for a Masters place and fights to stay on tour. The £5,000 cheque for winning the 1st Round and even double for the 2nd will be huge for lower-ranked rookies, while for the big guns it is another step to lifting a wonderful trophy in York. PREVIEW!

SECTION 1

Mark Selby (1) vs. Basem Eltahhan (128)

Scott Donaldson (64) vs. John Astley (65)

Li Hang (32) vs. Gerard Greene (97)

Robert Milkins (33) vs. Chen Zhe (96)

Mark Williams (16) vs. Paul Davison (113)

Andrew Higginson (49) vs. Sam Craigie (80)

Ryan Day (17) vs. Jamie Curtis-Barrett (112)

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (48) vs. Elliot Slessor (81)

Mark Selby has a relatively easy draw in Egyptian Basem Eltahhan, who has yet to win a frame, let alone a match this season. It will be cool to see an African player in front of the camera and see if he will crack under pressure or will he play like he has nothing to lose. Mark Selby is someone who doesn’t underestimate players, though last season the defending champion got knocked out of the first round, so miracles do happen.

There are two main battles here. Despite being seeded No. 64, Scott Donaldson has now been overtaken by No. 65 John Astley in the rankings. Scott hasn’t won a single match this season, which is remarkable considering he had such a good season last season. John Astley has been Mr Consistent by winning every single 1st Round match bar two earning £24,100. The £5,000 cheque for the winner could be vital to stay on tour.

This is very important for Ryan Day, who needs to better performances from Robertson, Maguire and Gould to qualify for the Masters. Mark Williams and Elliot Slessor should be in a more relaxed state of mind due to their great performances in the Northern Ireland Open. After being the champion of that event and of course with his wife in hospital, Mark Williams will, of course, have more important things on his mind. But there are many on-form players. We have Robert Milkins, Li Hang and Sam Craigie is one of the best performing rookies this season. Selby will need to tough it out to reach the quarter-finals here, but just watch out for Sam Craigie. He’s very dangerous indeed.

Section 1 Winner: Mark Selby vs. Ryan Day

SECTION 2

Mark Joyce (41) vs. Thor Chuan Leong (88)

David Gilbert (24) vs. Christopher Keogan (105)

Gary Wilson (56) vs. Ken Doherty (73)

Neil Robertson (9) vs. Rod Lawler (120)

Peter Ebdon (40) vs. Allan Taylor (89)

Anthony Hamilton (25) vs. Lyu Haotian (104)

Rory McLeod (57) vs. Zhao Xintong (72)

Marco Fu (8) vs. Nigel Bond (121)

Neil Robertson needs a very good run to qualify for the Masters. Which I can leave it there to be honest, but chatting is necessary when a Triple Crown Champion could miss out of the Masters. It would be like if Italy miss out of the World Cup! Hang on. He has a tricky tie too – Rod Lawler’s seeding is lower than his capabilities. As with the rest of his section, it’s could’ve been a lot worse. Crafty Ken has had a quiet spell since his Last 16 appearance in the Indian Open and Gary Wilson and is having a quite lukewarm season. Gilbert is his obvious threat and his quarter-final appearance in the World Open by beating Gould and Higgins shows it.

Goodness knows what will happen on the other side of Section 2. Fu’s and Ebdon’s seasons have been mediocre yet only recently the two young Chinese players are slowly coming into their own. Zhao Xintong has promised much in the past few years and has put up a few good performances despite falling down the rankings. Lyu has been getting many points in the past two months, especially this week by reaching the semis. This group is a great opportunity for a few surprises.

However, Peter Ebdon does have a decent record in the UK Championship and his game is more suited to longer matches. He will put up an excellent fight against The Thunder From Down Under, especially since he has an 8-4 winning record against him. Stephen Maguire said he felt awful pressure two years ago when his World Champion place was under threat, but will Neil cope with the pressure of being so vulnerable?

Section 2 Winner: David Gilbert vs. Peter Ebdon

SECTION 3

Shaun Murphy (5) vs. Hamza Akbar (124)

Daniel Wells (60) vs. Liam Highfield (69)

Alan McManus (28) vs. Robin Hull (101)

Jimmy Robertson (37) vs. Alex Borg (92)

Kyren Wilson (12) vs. Sean O’Sullivan (117)

Yu Delu (53) vs. Ian Preece (76)

Ricky Walden (21) vs. Duane Jones (108)

Jamie Jones (44) vs. Craig Steadman (85)

A section without many names leaping to my face apart from the top seeds. Shaun Murphy finally broke his O’Sullivan duck in the Champion of Champions recently, before being surprising beaten by Chen Zifan in the first round the event after. He still has two ranking finals under his belt so his consistency is clearly there. Kyren Wilson, on the other hand, does not have a title this season but has also reached two finals before being outclassed by both Ding and O’Sullivan in the World Open and the English Open respectively. Both have quite easy draws, with winless Pakastani Hamza Akbar and two-win Sean O’Sullivan waiting in the wings.

We look at the rest of the field and not many are hitting where they are supposed to be in the moment. Robin Hull has been off the mark recently despite winning a few matches last event while McManus and Walden are trying to shake off their off-season last year. I never really know which Jamie Jones and Jimmy Robertson I’m going to get every event – they can either steamroll like Jamie did last year through these ties or be knocked out of the first round, less likely Jimmy. Ian Preece has been impressive in his second season, having beaten Oliver Lines twice and battled to win against Mark Davis.

However, I think this section will only end one way and that is a Murphy/Wilson showdown. But who will win? They have only met each other five times and all in matches of BO5 and BO7 matches. Personally, I think Kyren should edge it.

Section 3 Winner: Shaun Murphy vs. Kyren Wilson

SECTION 4

Mike Dunn (45) vs. Fang Xiongman (84)

Mark King (109) vs. Boonyarit Keattikun (109)

Sam Baird (52) vs. Aditya Mehta (77)

Luca Brecel (13) vs. Soheil Vahedi (116)

Yan Bingtao (36) vs. Zhang Yong (93)

Ben Woollaston (29) vs. Li Yuan (100)

Tian Pengfei (61) vs. Cao Yupeng (68)

John Higgins (4) vs. Chris Totten (125)

Jesus, I have more to write than I thought. Indian Open winner John Higgins took the last event out to prepare for this one so he will come out with all guns blazing. And with good reason. He has European Masters semi-finalist Cao Yupeng, Northern Ireland quarter-finalist Tian Pengfei, 2015 Welsh Open finalist Ben Woollaston and Yan Bingtao, who has deservedly received plaudits left, right and centre after his brilliant performance in the Northern Ireland final, despite losing in the decider. A tough one to crack indeed.

Luca Brecel is in the form of his life. Winning the China Championship, whitewashing Judd in under an hour before reaching the Champion of Champions semi-final are the main highlights. He is against Iranian Soheil Vahedi who’s having a patchy season and could potentially be against the likes of Mike Dunn and Mark King. Luca has good records against both of them, with a fantastic record to book, having reached the quarter-finals last year. We have tow in-form Chinese players (there seems to be many of them nowadays) in Tian, who needs a good run to make up for the horrendous last season and Cao, who reached the semis of the European Masters.

This is going to be an unbelievably close one, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Luca breezes through here, but will he be against Higgins or Yan? Will Yan have the stamina, considering he only finished his final yesterday? I do not think so, but I’m happy to be surprised!

Section 4 Winner: Luca Brecel vs. John Higgins

SECTION 5

Judd Trump (3) vs. Matthew Bolton (126)

Chris Wakelin (62) vs. Lee Walker (67)

Graeme Dott (30) vs. Josh Boileau (99)

Dominic Dale (35) vs. Adam Duffy (94)

Liang Wenbo (14) vs. Sanderson Lam (115)

Stuart Carrington (51) vs. Mitchell Mann (78)

Stephen Maguire (19) vs. Yuan Sijun (110)

David Grace (46) vs. Jak Jones (83)

Judd is the obvious one to watch in this section. A title, a runners-up and a quarter-final place is pretty good for the first half of the season, especially since he successfully defended his title. It’s probably a blessing in disguise that he lost to Stuart Carrington in the first round of the Northern Ireland Open – after being outclassed by O’Sullivan in the Shanghai Masters this will be a perfect opportunity to recharge the batteries. Matthew Bolton hasn’t got a win under his belt yet, but there is always room for a shock! Though he has very beatable players, he has Lee Walker who is having a very decent season indeed and Graeme Dott who beat him earlier this season in the China Championship.

This is where eyes need to be peeled for those interested in the Masters race. Liang and Stephen Maguire will need to go all guns blazing to secure a place but they do have a number of banana skins in the way. Lam and Carrington are very solid players despite their ranking and Yuan Sijun is a youngster not to be underestimated. It seems a while ago when we saw then No. 80 Grace make the semis in York two seasons ago.

Judd is a favourite to win, but since 2014 he hasn’t reached the Last 16 of the UK Championships, losing to Liang Wenbo and Oliver Lines. But he must keep his composure, otherwise, he will be beaten. What is odd to me about Judd is that he keeps saying that he loves being in the big events, yet he’s had a much better record and won more trophies in anything other than the Triple Crown events, something that was noted by both O’Sullivan and Hendry. About time he proves his point before its too late.

Section 5 Winner: Judd Trump vs. Stephen Maguire

SECTION 6

Jack Lisowski (43) vs. Wang Yuchen (86)

Joe Perry (22) vs. Billy Joe Castle (107)

Kurt Maflin (54) vs. Alexander Ursenbacher (75)

Ali Carter (11) vs. Jimmy White (118)

Mark Davis (38) vs. Xu Si (91)

Zhou Yuelong (27) vs. Peter Lines (102)

Oliver Lines (59) vs. Mei Xiwen (70)

Mark Allen (6) vs. Lukas Kleckers (123)

This is certainly one of the most interesting sections because it is full of young players on form. We have a phoenix who rose from the ashes Jack Lisowski who reached the semis of the Shanghai Masters, hot prodigy Alexander Ursenbacher who reached the semis of the English Open and Zhou Yuelong who reached the semis of the European Masters. Weirdly, Xu Si reached the semis of the Indian Open and that was the only event he won any matches this season. You get the idea. There are people that look so young you’d think they need to get ready for double Biology in school the next day.

But can they actually succeed? Jack Lisowski and Zhou Yuelong certainly have the benefit of reaching Top 16 players in the second round but we all know Joe Perry and Mark Davis won’t sit easy. Ursenbacher can certainly set an upset but is against Kurt Maflin who on his day is a very heavy scorer when he is first in. Unfortunately for anoraks I very much doubt we will see a coincidental tie with Peter and Oliver Lines, though thankfully, we have another year for that. Mei Xiwen is a tricky opponent who has already beaten Ali Carter this season. Predicting stuff is hard. Damn them numpties.

This section will be the hardest to predict. At season form, most of these players can make the quarter-finals. I’ll go with my gut here:

Section 6 Winner: Ali Carter vs. Zhou Yuelong

SECTION 7

Ronnie O’Sullivan (7) vs. Jackson Page (a)

Alfie Burden (58) vs. Michael Georgiou (71)

Michael White (26) vs. Ross Muir (103)

Matthew Selt (39) vs. Ian Burns (90)

Barry Hawkins (10) vs. Kurt Dunham (119)

Matthew Stevens (55) vs. Hammad Miah (74)

Michael Holt (23) vs. Niu Zhuang (106)

Fergal O’Brien (42) vs. Akani Songsermsawad (87)

You have to feel sorry for Rhys Clark and it is not because he is just against Ronnie O’Sullivan……oh wait he’s not there. Despite Ronnie’s grumblings, he is against the first top-up player from Q School in the form of a 15-year-old boy who looks like a 25-year-old man. I cannot even grow a beard myself. We know of Jackson Page’s quality from the 2017 Welsh Open by beating Jason Weston and John Astley and this will be a test to see what he’s capable of, considering he got whitewashed by Trump in the next round.

However, he’s against a player who blitzed through two ranking titles this season. Who happens to be Ronnie O’Sullivan. It will be interesting to see how Ronnie will bounce back from his surprise defeat against Elliot Slessor in the Northern Ireland Open earlier this week. On paper, it is very easy to see why Ronnie would go through this group. The next two strongest players Barry Hawkins and Michael Holt are struggling this season and there are others such as Matthew Selt and Matthew Stevens who have an inferior head to head record against him.

BUT. Barry Hawkins has a very good record in Triple Crown events and has quite an easy road to regain his confidence since his first-round loss to Zhao Xintong to the Northern Ireland Open. Paul Hunter Classic champion Michael White would fancy his chances too as a second ranking title but he wouldn’t have a hard task of doing that since he hasn’t reached the third round of this event yet. Sunny is a bit of a wildcard here as he is currently having a decent season, obtaining scalps of Stephen Maguire, Andrew Higginson, Marco Fu and almost Liang Wenbo. Personally, I find it quite difficult to say that the Rocket won’t progress far here along with ‘that’ annoying band of fans. It would have to take a massive dip in form for anyone to bring him down.

Section 7 Winner: Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Michael Holt

SECTION 8

Robbie Williams (47) vs. Martin O’Donnell (82)

Martin Gould (18) vs. Joe Swail (111)

Hossein Vafaei (50) vs. James Wattana (79)

Anthony McGill (15) vs. Ashley Hugill (114)

Xiao Guodong (34) vs. Chen Zifan (95)

Tom Ford (31) vs. Eden Sharav (98)

Noppon Saengkham (63) vs. Zhang Anda (66)

Ding Junhui (2) vs. Leo Fernandez (127)

Last but not least, we have Ding Junhui. Even though he won the World Open by thrashing Kyren Wilson this year, he has barely reached the third round in other tournaments. He was whitewashed by Alan McManus in the China Championship, lost to Oliver Lines in the first round off the International Championship and Stephen Hendry launched quite a scathing attacking while interviewing O’Sullivan that Ding looked like he didn’t care during the Champion of Champions. He also has a poor record in the UK Championship, as he hasn’t reached the quarter-finals since 2011 and that was before the flat draws were introduced. He may have a very difficult time with compatriots Zhang Anda, and Xiao Guodong.

The other side of the pond is much more competitive. Martin Gould will need to a good run to reach the Masters as long as he betters Neil and co. Anthony McGill has always been consistently good as he managed to reach a final, a semi-final and three quarter-finals so far and is against rookie Ashley Hugill. There is an interesting tie in Robbie Williams and Martin O’Donnell, as both players have reached the quarter-final of a ranking event this month.

In the end, I reckon this will be one of the few sections where a non-Top 16  player will go through, as I can see Martin do very well here. Ding has tricky opponents and potential banana skins his way. It might pave way for Ronnie too, if he makes it.

Section 8 Winner: Martin Gould vs. Xiao Guodong.

UK Championship Winner: Mark Selby vs. Ali Carter