Welcome to the new 2018/2019 season chaps and chapettes! As with the past few seasons, we start with the Riga Masters!
It’s been an incredibly dry July for everyone in the snooker world. I managed to get a new website and logo, which is fantastic. Unfortunately for some of us, the break was so long that some players and fans were sucked into the rancid yet addictive vortex of a program called Love Island. This season couldn’t come soon enough. If Matt Selt and Sean O’Sullivan lose their matches, you know why.
The Kaspersky Riga Masters is a very popular tournament for many. Not only is the event sponsored by something that ISN’T a betting company, Riga is also a lovely city. I’ve been once for a few nights and the people are polite, the fish is fantastic and the churches are quite beautiful. The usual MC is barking mad with his bright red jacket and it’s great that snooker is still connected with Eastern Europe in some way. There are a lot of snooker fans there, especially in Riga.
But the Riga Masters is interesting in so many ways now since it was converted into a fully-fledged ranking event. It’s the introduction of the first-timers and the amateurs. The match that emphasises this so much was when German rookie Lukas Kleckers beat Neil Robertson 4-3 last season. With so many top players in Selby, Trump, Ding and Cao (whoops) deciding to skip Riga in preparation for the World Open qualifiers (maybe not Cao!), this is a perfect opportunity to hit the season running. Ken Doherty did this in style, reaching the semi-finals last year.
But Riga may become a hotspot for first time ranking event winners. Michael Holt reached his first final in 2016, losing to Neil Robertson. Ryan Day went one step further by winning it last year, beating Stephen Maguire 5-2. This will be the first time the Welshman defends his title, so it will be fascinating to see how he will play with such unfamiliar pressure to him.
If you want to see who my eyes are on this season or the list of rookies that want to threaten the snooker world, please browse through my website. There are plenty of intriguing ties in Riga. Robertson/Luo, Wilson/White and Carty/Chandler are the big ones for me. It is also nice to see some amateurs giving the draw a shake up. Former pros Dechawat Poomjaeng, Michael Judge and Jamie Cope are the ones to watch here. Amateur Darren Morgan reached the semi-finals in Riga in 2016 and that was before he started ranting towards Mark Williams!
Only the qualifiers start on Monday, so let’s get the season started!
First Quarter
Simon Lichtenberg vs. Jamie Jones
Rod Lawler vs. Martin O’Donnell
Kuldesh Johal (a) vs. Chris Wakelin
Thor Chuan Leong vs. Sam Craigie
Robbie Williams vs. Alan McManus
Lukas Kleckers vs. Alexander Ursenbacher
Matthew Selt vs. Xu Si
Mark King vs. Peter Ebdon
Soheil Vahedi vs. Mei Xiwen
Joe Swail vs. Dechawat Poomjaeng (a)
Stuart Carrington vs. Mitchell Mann (a)
Fergal O’Brien vs. Eden Sharav
Hammad Miah vs. David Lilley (a)
Shaun Murphy vs. Sanderson Lam
Nigel Bond vs. Mark Joyce
Zhao Xintong vs. Jimmy Robertson
Second Quarter
Noppon Seangkham vs. Scott Donaldson
James Cahill (a) vs. Robin Hull
Michael Georgiou vs. Zhou Yuelong
Craig Steadman vs. Yuan Sijun
Kurt Maflin vs. Lyu Haotian
Liang Wenbo vs. Adam Duffy
Paul Davison vs. Li Yuan
Neil Robertson vs. Luo Honghao
Barry Hawkins vs. Andy Lee
Li Hang vs. Duane Jones
Ricky Walden vs. John Astley
Wildcard vs. Jimmy White
Mark Allen vs. Daniel Wells
Peter Lines vs. Shane Castle (a)
Billy Joe Castle vs. Ali Carter
Jamie Cope (a) vs. Ryan Day
Third Quarter
Gary Wilson vs. Michael White
David Gilbert vs. Farakh Ajaib (a)
Joe Perry vs. Lu Ning
Jak Jones vs. Robert Milkins
Stephen Maguire vs. Michael Judge (a)
Gerard Greene vs. Chen Feilong
Lee Walker vs. Basem Eltahhan
Jordan Brown vs. Joe O’Connor
Zhang Jiankang vs. Luke Simmonds (a)
Kyren Wilson vs. Dominic Dale
Niu Zhuang vs. Stuart Bingham
Mike Dunn vs. Simon Bedford (a)
Yan Bingtao vs. Martin Gould
Anthony Hamilton vs. Chris Totten
Liam Highfield vs. Sean O’Sullivan
Michael Holt vs. Matthew Stevens
Fourth Quarter
Zhang Anda vs. Tian Pengfei
Graeme Dott vs. Wildcard
Harvey Chandler vs. Ashley Carty
Kishan Hirani vs. Anthony McGill
Xiao Guodong vs. Tom Ford
Elliot Slessor vs. Marco Fu
Andrew Higginson vs. Mark Davis
Allan Taylor (a) vs. Luca Brecel
Rory McLeod vs. Adam Stefanów
Zhang Yong vs. Ross Muir
Rhys Clark vs. Mark Williams
Ben Woollaston vs. Sam Baird
Oliver Lines vs. Sunny Akani
Chen Zifan vs. Alfie Burden
Jamie Clarke vs. Ian Burns
Fan Zhengyi vs. Jack Lisowski
The Riga Masters qualifying round take place from 2nd – 5th July. The main event starts on 27th – 29th July.
