Yes, this is very dramatic.
After many days of countless hours on the green baize, only 32 are left to battle it out to join the 16 seeds already at the Crucible. Many fought bravely but ALAS have fallen not only out of qualifying but out of the professional tour altogether. Others are still waiting to see if they made it to the Top 64 and if not, the Top 8 of the one-year ranking list. But only a select few now must CHOOSE THEIR OWN DESTINY to reach the bright light of of the Crucible. Who are among these VALIANT and TENACIOUS WARRIORS?
QUARTER 1
QUARTER 1 PREDICTED QUALIFER: Ryan Day vs. Peter Ebdon
QUARTER 1 QUALIFIER: Ryan Day vs. Peter Ebdon
I think everyone will be in Ryan’s corner – two ranking titles and a non-ranking event win almost should be an automatic qualification for the Crucible but it doesn’t work out that way! He swept past Brazilian Igor Figueiredo and was leading 7-1 to Mitchell Mann until Mitchell conceded the match due to ill health. I do hope he gets better. Peter Ebdon had a less straightforward route. In what felt like a draw from the 90’s, he beat James Wattana 10-4, followed by defeating Robbie Williams 10-5.
Both players are very good in this format and it is a shame not to see them in this World Championship. Day has won five of the eight meetings together and he is in good scoring form with three centuries to his name. He’s my man for this section.
QUARTER 2
QUARTER 2 PREDICTED QUALIFER: Zhou Yuelong vs. Tom Ford
QUARTER 2 QUALIFIER: Daniel Wells vs. Liam Highfield
DEBUTANT ALERT.
I doubt anyone saw this coming. After being relatively untroubled in the first round, though Kurt Dunham did pose a challenge to the Welshman, Daniel Wells and Liam Highfield conjured up surprise results against section favourite Zhou Yuelong and former Riga Masters finalist Tom Ford. Both are young players who have always been around the periphery of the Top 64 and maybe they chose this time to show everyone what they are made of and at the time of writing, are in the Top 64 as well.
Liam has a 3-0 head-to-head record against Daniel and my is telling me to go for Liam. He has had a number of good results such as taking scalps of Liang Wenbo, Mark Davis and Fergal O’Brien – I think I will go with him, though I don’t know these players too well.
QUARTER 3
QUARTER 3 PREDICTED QUALIFER: Mark Joyce vs. Xiao Guodong
QUARTER 3 QUALIFIER: Adam Duffy vs. Xiao Guodong
Adam Duffy is the only left who is unseeded in the World Championship qualifiers. He impressively defeated Mark Joyce and Matthew Selt, while Xiao Goudong had a much easier route by beating Chris Totten and Mei Xiwen.
A lot of people will be supporting Duffy because no player born in Sheffield has ever played at the Crucible and he is the only one currently in the circuit, as former pro Joel Walker failed to make the cut. However, I cannot see this happening as Xiao’s experience will be too strong for Duffy. I am ready to be surprised, there’s been many so far!
QUARTER 4
QUARTER 4 PREDICTED QUALIFER: Ben Woollaston vs. Martin Gould
QUARTER 4 QUALIFIER: Stuart Carrington vs. Zhang Anda
Both of these players seem to be low-ranked staples of the Crucible, with both players being in the Theatre of Dreams 5 times between them already. Carrington is consistent and with a great temperament. Zhang always turns up for the Crucible when he’s been anonymous for the rest of the season – clearly tour survival does something to people. Based on his scoring and from what I’ve seen from him against Gould yesterday, I will choose Zhang Anda to join the elite.
QUARTER 5
QUARTER 5 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Graeme Dott vs. Dominic Dale
QUARTER 5 QUALIFIER: Graeme Dott vs. Mike Dunn
The pair met on five occasions, with Dott winning all but one of their meetings. Oddly enough, they last met in the 2nd round of the World Championship Qualifying last year, where they were fairly neck and neck until Dott pulled away at 7-5 up and came out triumphant at 10-7, with four 50+ breaks each. I will go the the Scotsman I think due to form, track record and their last meeting.
QUARTER 6
QUARTER 6 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Elliot Slessor vs. Scott Donaldson
QUARTER 6 QUALIFIER: Michael Holt vs. Robert Milkins
Michael Holt has a slight edge over Milkins and Holty would love to reach the Crucible this time around, especailly was he was visibly annoying in his final frame decider last year in the final round of qualifying when he lost to Peter Ebdon. Both had to go through bruisers with Holt and Milkins beating Slessor and Donaldson. This could go down the wire and I will go for Holty.
QUARTER 7
QUARTER 7 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Li Hang vs. Lyu Haotian
QUARTER 7 QUALIFIER: Rory McLeod vs. Lyu Haotian
It has Rory McLeod in it and he loves this format. Come back to me in June when his match will be finished (great player though!).
QUARTER 8
QUARTER 8 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Fergal O’Brien vs. Mark King
QUARTER 8 QUALIFIER: Matthew Stevens vs. Ken Doherty
Well done me on that one.
Both Mark Kind and Fergal O’Brien were knocked out by lower seeds Gerard Greene and Yuan Sijun respectively, who then got beaten by Ken Doherty and Matthew Stevens respectively. Crafty Ken made it tough for himself in the first round by scraping through 10-8 against Irish compatriot Josh Boileau and played well to defeat Greene 10-4. For Stevens it’s the reverse. He dispatched Australian Ryan Thomerson while winning the decider against prodigy Yuan, despite being behind at the end of the first session.
It’s a shame for the purists to lose either of these famous faces, but to lose one we must. Head says Doherty and my heart says Stevens. I’ll go with my heart here.
QUARTER 9
QUARTER 9 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Liang Wenbo vs. Jamie Jones
QUARTER 9 QUALIFIER: Liang Wenbo vs. Jamie Jones
Match of the round. Liang’s form has come out of nowhere since he’s had a very poor season. We all heard of his maximum break and missing on the final break of ANOTHER maximum in the same match against Rod Lawler and safely beat Zhao Xintong. Jamie Jones also has pedigree here. In the second round, he was 9-1 against Yu Delu and was pegged back by quite a margin. He composed himself to finally win 10-7.
I’m tempted to go with Liang but this match can go either way. Liang is the man on form here and Jamie Jones may be too knackered to keep up. He will put up a great fight and it will be a hell of a game.
QUARTER 10
QUARTER 10 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Jack Lisowski vs. Alan McManus
QUARTER 10 QUALIFIER: Jack Lisowski vs. Alan McManus
Youth vs. Experience. We have seen it all before. Jack is one of the few players who is performing well this season to still be in the competition. It is strange to see McManus being threatened for relegation but this was due to a combination of poor form and losing money from his World Championship semi-final successes. He has showed no signs of nerves he was the last to finish his match against Oliver Lines las night at 10-9. Jack has done very well to reach this stage and looked really good against David Grace and I expect him to carry that form against Angles to get ot the Crucible
QUARTER 11
QUARTER 11: PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Cao Yupeng vs. Ricky Walden
QUARTER 11 QUALIFIER: Andrew Higginson vs. Ricky Walden
Nearly every man and his dog thought Cao Yupeng based on his brilliant season and form that he should go through in this group. After he was knocked out by Robin Hull, it opened it up completely.
Both Higginson and Walden are season pros and know the Crucible well. Higginson was last at the Crucible in 2012 when he defeated Stephen Lee before losing to Jamie Jones in the Last 16 and most of us remember The Man With No Nickname reach the semi-finals of the World Championship in 2013. Ricky Wladen will most likely be the favourite in this match and through I can see this going into a decider, it will be a close game.
QUARTER 12
QUARTER 12 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Mark Davis vs. Joe Perry
QUARTER 12 QUALIFIER: Mark Davis vs. Joe Perry
Another tie for the purists! With 24 Crucible appearances between them, this should be a cracking match. Both players came from their matches fairly easily, which Dark Mavis thrashing Sanderson Lam 10-1 and whitewashing Michael Georgiou 10-0 and Joe Perry thumping Ross Muir 10-=1 and topped it off by breaking a few hearts by defeating Jimmy White 10-4.
In professional competition, they have met 13 times, with Joe Perry winning 9 of them, with Mark Davis winning the last three meetings including the Snooker Shoot-Out (I know, I know). Based on current form this season, I will go with The Gentleman.
QUARTER 13
QUARTER 13 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Yan Bingtao vs. Chris Wakelin
QUARTER 13 QUALIFIER: Tian Pengfei vs. Chris Wakelin
ANOTHER DEBUTANT ALERT.
Every man and his dog thought that Yan bingtao would walk it, especially after his test against hot prospect Jackson Page. Alas, the Northern Irish Open finalist was involved in the biggest shock of the qualifiers after losing to compatriot Tian Pengfei. All credit to Tian, he came back from 6-1 to force a decider and finished off with a lovely century break. Chris Wakelin looked very impressive against Kurt Maflin, building on the promise he showed a few years ago, showing there are many talented English players younger than Kyren Wilson.
Tian is a mystery to me because he is one of the biggest underachievers in the tour, having needed get on the tour multiple times and during that time has seen Yan, Cao, and Zhou Yuelong surpass him. Wake There is even more pressure since neither of these players have qualified for the Crucible before, hence the subtle alert. Tian has won their only meeting 4-1 in the Northern Ireland and he must feel invincible from his match against Yan. I will pluck for him at the moment but will they choke under the pressure?
QUARTER 14
QUARTER 14 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: David Gilbert vs. Gary Wilson
QUARTER 14 QUALIFIER: Alfie Burden vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
YET ANOTHER DEBUTANT ALERT.
It is weird to find out that both of these players have never qualified for the Crucible, especially Alfie, who has been a professional for 22 seasons. Both have met just once, though that was in 2009 in a professional tour qualifier, so we have nothing to judge on.
Alfie Burden has not had a good season, having lost more matches than won and getting past the Last 64 stage just twice. However, he beat Jamie Curtis-Barrett 10-6 and held off a fightback against David Gilbert in the deciding frame, despite being 8-5 ahead. Despite falling to No. 58 seed in the World Championship Qualifiers, his form has been decent and consistent. He has been scoring well in his victories against Alex Ursenbacher and Adam Stefanow. My heart and heart say the Thai, but it is difficult to know, as pointed out before, if they crack under the pressure of reaching the Theatre of Dreams.
QUARTER 15
QUARTER 15 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Jimmy Robertson vs. Michael White
QUARTER 15 QUALIFIER: Jimmy Robertson vs. Michael White
One of the more even matches here and both won their close encounters in the previous round against Sam Baird and John Astley respectively. I expect a really close encounter here, however I am unsure which Michael White I am going to get next to be honest, even when he had to fightback to save his blushes against Niu Zhuang in the first round. Jimmy Robertson seems very cool, calm and collected so I will plump with him.
QUARTER 16
QUARTER 16 PREDICTED QUALIFIER: Noppon Saengkham vs. Stephen Maguire
QUARTER 16 QUALIFIER: Hossein Vafaei vs. Stephen Maguire
Another match to watch for me. In an interview after Vafaei came from behind to beat Jamie Cope, he said that he feels powerful and more confident in how to prepare for the qualifiers after losing in the final round last year. After a tight first session, he romped home from 5-4 up to 10-5 against Noppon Saengkham. Maguire beat Taylor and Miah to reach this stage and though the scores are flattering, especially in the first session against Miah, he didn’t look convincing and as usual, was frustrated very easily.
I still back Maguire though. He come through the qualifiers with ease and knows exactly what he must do. I assume there is also added pressure for Vafaei to be the first Iranian at the Crucible too.
The final round of qualifying will be streamed LIVE on both Facebook and YouTube with the excellent coverage fronted by Rob Walker and Neal Foulds.
