So we are done with the China Championship and now we have the European Masters starting tomorrow!

I rather like the European Masters. This isn’t just because my favourite player Judd Trump won the first two titles in Bucharest and Lommel. It feels like a major PTC somehow and I did enjoy the PTC circuit where players travel to many European countries. There is plenty of investment in Europe aside from the Paul Hunter Classic, German Masters and the Gibraltar Open (that’s still here, for some strange reason). After seeing 13-year-old Belgian Ben Mertens beat professional Adam Stefanow in the PHC, there is a lot of optimism.

Analysis

The European Masters gave us high-quality finals too. In Romania, Judd Trump was 6-8 down against Ronnie O’Sullivan in the 2016 final and knocked THIS blue in to keep his break alive and to win the match. Had he missed it, it would’ve been match over. In 2017, Trump was battling with Stuart Bingham and eventually managed to pull himself over the line.

Will he defend his title for the third time in a row? I’m not sure. Looking at the China Championship, he struggles when he is involved in the very scrappy frames and is easily brought down to play badly when his opponent isn’t playing well. It’s exactly what happened when he lost to John Higgins 5-3. He faces a tough opening round match against Martin O’Donnell, who also reached the quarter-finals of the China Championship. Incidentally, both Trump and O’Donnell met in Lommel last year, with Trump winning 4-3.

The draw opened up recently over the past few days. As Higgins and, more recently, Mark Williams withdrew from the event, there will be players licking their lips. This is especially the case in the second quarter! Out-of-form players Luca Brecel, Anthony Hamilton and Alan McManus will have to up their game to go past resurgent players Yan Bingtao, Jack, and Hossein Vafaei.

Day 3 of fitting 11Star Snooker Tables for European Masters in Lomell, Belgium pic.twitter.com/upiDx8L1Ld

— Ger Dunphy Snooker (@DunphyGd) September 30, 2018

What’s looking nice?

So what matches look tasty so far? Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs. Kyren Wilson look to be a great match, though I hope Kyren has recovered after withdrawing from the last event to be with his son. Also, Zhao Xintong vs. Mark King should be an excellent one too. Zhao reached his first ranking semi-final this season and in 2017, two Chinese players reached the semi-finals. Zhou Yuelong lost to Stuart Bingham and Judd Trump won against Cao Yupeng, but….he’s….unavailable…….

My predictions haven’t been great so far, but here it is for Lommel anyway!

First Quarter

Judd Trump/Martin O’Donnell vs. Liam Highfield

Tian Pengfei vs. Li Hang

Marco Fu vs. Fergal O’Brien

Liang Wenbo vs. Alfie Burden

Oliver Lines vs. Joe Perry

Andrew Higginson vs. Neil Robertson

Michael Georgiou vs. Allan Taylor

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs. Kyren Wilson

Quarter-final winner: Judd Trump vs. Neil Robertson

Second Quarter

John Higgins w/o Thor Chuan Leong

Anthony Hamilton vs. Zhang Jiankang

Luca Brecel/Daniel Wells vs. Luo Honghao

Yan Bingtao vs. Alan McManus

Duane Jones vs. Jack Lisowski

Peter Lines vs. Paul Davison

Zhang Anda vs. Alexander Ursenbacher

Hossein Vafaei vs. Eden Sharav

Quarter-final winner: Yan Bingtao vs. Jack Lisowski

Third Quarter

Mark Selby vs. Sam Craigie

Scott Donaldson vs. Mark Davis

Ryan Day vs. Yuan Sijun

David Gilbert vs. Elliot Slessor

Zhao Xintong vs. Mark King

Chris Wakelin vs. Stuart Bingham

Rory McLeod vs. Ricky Walden

Craig Steadman vs. Barry Hawkins

Quarter-final winner: Ryan Day vs. Stuart Bingham

Fourth Quarter

Gary Wilson vs. Stuart Carrington

Ross Muir vs. Lee Walker

Mark Allen vs. Ashley Hugill

Jak Jones vs. Adam Duffy

Peter Ebdon vs. Ali Carter

Chris Totten vs. Anthony McGill

Ken Doherty vs. Zhou Yuelong

Jimmy Robertson vs. Zhang Yong

Quarter-final winner: Mark Allen vs. Peter Ebdon

2018 European Masters Winner: Neil Robertson vs. Mark Allen