Now that we are done with every qualifying round under the sun, let’s immediately move onto the Paul Hunter Classic!

This small event is a favourite for many reasons. It is named after the great Paul Hunter, the German crowds are always highly rated and they have been some fantastic matches over the years since the start of the PTC days. The likes of Mark Selby, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump, Mark Allen, and of course Paul Hunter himself won the event. There is a hint of prestige there!

However, the main concern is the lack of top seeds in the wonderful land of Fürth. Only three of the Top 16 players (Brecel, Murphy and Kyren Wilson) are in the running for a ranking event. This gives players down the ranking table a great opportunity to get their first ranking trophy. Most eyes are on Jack Lisowski and Gary Wilson as they are on fantastic form, while others think Mark Davis, Chris Wakelin and defending champion Michael White will have a decent crack!

The Paul Hunter Classic is giving amateurs a chance to participate in a ranking event. Father and son team Barry and Luke Pinches made it through the amateur pre-qualifying while hot prospects Oliver Brown, Jackson Page and Florian Nuessle are in the mix. The amateur I will recommend people having a look at is 12-year-old Iulian Boiko. He is a young boy groomed for stardom, having participated in international tournaments on a regualr basis, as well as the recent Q School. He beat Event 1 winner Brandon Sargeant to reach the real event. Also Women’s World Champion Ng On-yee made it through and is against one of two German professionals Lukas Kleckers – what a match that will be!

Let’s take a look!

First Quarter

MIchael White vs. Thor Chuan Leong

Andres Petrov (a) vs. Allan Taylor

Zhang Anda vs. George Pragnall (a)

Dominic Dale vs. Itaro Santos (a)

Mark Joyce vs. Michael Wild (a)

Sean O’Sullivan vs. Brian Cini (a)

Alexander Ursenbacher vs. Barry Pinches (a)

Fan Zhengyi w/o Harvey Chandler

Sam Baird vs. Kevin Van Hove (a)

Andy Lee vs. Reggie Edwards (a)

Ian Burns vs. Oliver Brown (a)

Zhou Yuelong vs. Jackson Page (a)

Niu Zhuang vs. James Cahill (a)

Scott Donaldson vs. Sam Craigie

Ross Muir vs. Patrick Einsle (a)

Tom Ford vs. Luke Pinches (a)

Quaterfinal Winner: Michael White vs. Scott Donaldson

Second Quarter

Mark King vs. Martin O’Donnell

Stuart Carrington w/o Jack Bradford (a)

Peter Ebdon vs. Ben Jones (a)

Basem Eltahhan vs. Andreas Ploner (a)

Ben Woollaston vs. Alex Taubman (a)

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs. Christopher Watts (a)

Michael Georgiou vs. Umut Dikme (a)

Elliot Slessor vs. Zhang Yong

Craig Steadman vs. Oliver Lines

Kishan Hirani vs. Jamie Clarke

Lee Walker vs. Regis D’Anna (a)

Jamie Jones vs. Nigel Bond

Chris Wakelin vs. Luke Simmonds (a)

Stefan Joachim (a) vs. Aaron Busuttil (a)

Chen Zifan vs. Duncan Bezzina (a)

Luca Brecel vs. Curtis Daher (a)

Quaterfinal Winner: Ding Junhui vs. Ali Carter

Quaterfinal Winner: Mark King vs. Luca Brecel

Third Quarter

Kyren Wilson vs. Chen Feilong

Ashley Carty vs. Jake Nicholson (a)

Liam Highfield vs. Sergey Isaenko (a)

Kilian Baur-Pantoulier (a) vs. Ryan Davies (a)

Gary Wilson vs. John Astley

Jordan Brown vs. Philip Ciantar (a)

Hammad Miah vs. Jurian Heusdens (a)

Gerard Greene vs. Soner Sari (a)

Matthew Selt vs. Vetter Luis (a)

Joe O’Connor vs. Sompol Saetang (a)

Daniel Wells vs. Juergen Kesseler (a)

Robert Milkins vs. Sanderson Lam

Adam Stefanów vs. Ben Mertens (a)

Andrew Higginson vs. Fabian Monnin (a)

Billy Joe Castle vs. Iulian Boiko (a)

Xiao Guodong w/o Yuan Sijun

Quaterfinal Winner: Gary Wilson vs. Robert Milkins

Fourth Quarter

Jack Lisowski vs. Dylan Emery (a)

Zhang Jiankang vs. Felix Frede (a)

Lu Ning vs. Daniel Williams (a)

Eden Sharav vs. Daniel Holoyda (a)

Jimmy Robertson vs. Chris Totten

Joe Swail vs. Paul Davison

Rod Lawler vs. Florian Nuessle (a)

Lukas Kleckers vs. Ng On-yee (a)

Alfie Burden vs. Marcin Nitschke (a)

Simon Litchtenberg vs. Wayne Brown (a)

Ashley Hugill vs. Andrew Pagett (a)

Mark Davis vs. Markus Hertle (a)

Kurt Maflin vs. David Grace (a)

Peter Lines vs. Yun Fung Tam (a)

Noppon Saengkham vs. Robbie Williams

Shaun Murphy vs. Fergal O’Brien

Quaterfinal Winner: Jack Lisowski vs. Shaun Murphy

Paul Hunter Classic 2018 Champion: Luca Brecel vs. Jack Lisowski