Smell the English air? After starting in Latvia and travelling to China, Germany, Thailand, China again (for some reason) and Belgium, we will start the first ranking event in England! Then we go to Macau and China again. Makes sense.
English Open
I’ve always enjoyed the Home Nations events. Yes, they are similar to the majority of other events on the calendar, being a flat draw event. But I do love the patriotism of these four tournaments. People were crying out for events in Scotland and Northern Ireland and they provide a fantastic push to invigorate the grassroots. Each trophy is named after a snooker legend. This enhances prestige and there’s always a feeling that a new ranking winner will emerge as well. Since the 2016/2017 season, there are eight different winners in eight different Home Nations events – yes, unpredictability!
In 2016, Liang Wenbo and Mark King captured their first ranking titles by winning the Davis Trophy and the Higgins Trophy respectively. Last year, younger players such as Alexander Ursenbacher, Hossein Vafaei, and Jack Lisowski made their mark by reaching the quarter-finals. Liang Wenbo made a maximum break against Tom Ford. But Ronnie O’Sullivan blitzed the competition and was sublime in the final, thrashing Kyren Wilson 9-2, with a pot success of 98%. Bloody hell. It was an incredible English Open last year.
Frightening!@ronnieo147 clears to win 9-2 and become the 2017 English Open Champion…
His pot success in the final: 98% #EnglishOpen pic.twitter.com/68WLtK2lJO
— WST (@WeAreWST) October 22, 2017
The Run-Up
There is a lot of interesting build-up to this event this year. Mark Davis made his battling cry to try and win his first ranking title. European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson hopes to build his career on winning his first ranking title. Ronnie O’Sullivan pulling people’s legs by claiming he is No. 132 in the world.
On the other hand, Jamie Jones has been suspended immediately due to allegations that he “was party to, or facilitated the manipulation of the outcome of David John’s match with Graeme Dott” in 2016. This means he will no longer play Zhao Xintong in Crawley on Monday. It is early days, of course, but I’ll be on the fence to say that I hope there will be a correct conclusion. Former Irish professional Michael Judge is now his replacement. He will play Zhao Xintong in the English Open. Let’s now move on.
This event is actually a big one for Liang Wenbo. As it stands, he will drop to No. 27 in the world because he will drop points from his Engish Open victory in 2016. It will also quite huge for the top players too. The likes of Ding, Trump, Bingham, Hawkins and Murphy haven’t quite hit the mark consistently this season and maybe this is the time for them it win the trophy.
This is also the second last chance for players to get to the Champion of Champions. There are five places available in the event and as it stands, those five places will be filled by the highest ranked players (the likes of Ding, Trump, Brecel and Hawkins). Maybe it’s time someone new bags a trophy this time?
The Draw
I’ll be honest, my predictions are quite poor in recent weeks. Will it be different this time? Probably not, but let me hear your thoughts anyway!
Section 1
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Kurt Maflin
Scott Donaldson vs. Allan Taylor
Jimmy White vs. Lyu Haotian
Matthew Stevens vs. Chen Zifan
Liang Wenbo vs. Gary Wilson
Eden Sharav vs. Michael Georgiou
Craig Steadman vs. Joe Swail
Ken Doherty vs. Chris Wakelin
Section 1 winner: Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Gary Wilson
Section 2
David Lilley (a) vs. Tom Ford
Alan McManus vs. Fan Zhengyi
Oliver Lines vs. Joe O’Connor
Neil Robertson vs. Ross Muir
Martin O’Donnell vs. Stuart Carrington
Adam Duffy (a) vs. Luo Honghao
Anthony McGill vs. Simon Lichtenberg
Kyren Wilson vs. Sunny Akani
Section 2 Winner: Neil Robertson vs. Kyren Wilson
Section 3
Judd Trump vs. Robin Hull
Zhao Xintong vs. Michael Judge (a)
Li Hang vs. Ian Burns
Fergal O’Brien vs. Jack Lisowski
Ryan Day vs. Ashley Hugill
Zhang Yong vs. Chen Feilong
Ashley Carty vs. Mark King
Alfie Burden vs. Peter Ebdon
Section 3 winner: Judd Trump vs. Ryan Day
Section 4
Robbie Williams vs. Mark Davis
Jamie Clarke vs. Adam Stefanów
Mei Xiwen vs. James Wattana
Marco Fu vs. Mark Joyce
Luke Simmonds (a) vs. Zhang Jiankang
Martin Gould vs. Billy Joe Castle
Tian Pengfei vs. Nigel Bond
John Higgins vs. Li Yuan
Section 4 winner: Mark Davis vs. John Higgins
Section 5
Mark Selby vs. Sanderson Lam
Ben Woollaston vs. Graeme Dott
John Astley vs. Lukas Kleckers
Ricky Walden vs. Hammad Miah
Stuart Bingham vs. Duane Jones
Michael White vs. Hossein Vafaei
Soheil Vahedi vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Thor Chuan Leong vs. Hamza Akbar
Section 5 winner: Graeme Dott vs. Stuart Bingham
Section 6
Zhang Anda vs. Matthew Selt
Sam Baird vs. Liam Highfield
Ali Carter vs. Rory McLeod
Luca Brecel vs. Niu Zhuang
Lee Walker vs. Jak Jones
Joe Perry vs. Daniel Wells
Rod Lawler vs. Sam Craigie
Barry Hawkins vs. Peter Lines
Section 6 winner: Zhang Anda vs. Joe Perry
Section 7
Shaun Murphy vs. Mike Dunn
Gerard Greene vs. David Gilbert
Lu Ning vs. Robert Milkins
Elliot Slessor vs. Sean O’Sullivan
Mark Allen vs. Anthony Hamilton
Farakh Ajaib (a) vs. Yuan Sijun
Harvey Chandler vs. Noppon Saengkham
Xiao Guodong vs. Steven Hallworth (a)
Section 7 winner: Shaun Murphy vs. Xiao Guodong
Section 8
Andrew Higginson vs. Jordan Brown
Jimmy Robertson vs. Michael Holt
Andy Lee vs. Yan Bingtao
Stephen Maguire vs. James Cahill (a)
Paul Davison vs. Zhou Yuelong
Xu Si vs. Chris Totten
Alexander Ursenbacher vs. Kishan Hirani
Mark Williams vs. Dominic Dale
Section 8 Winner: Stephen Maguire vs. Mark Williams
English Open 2018 winner: Judd Trump vs. Stephen Maguire
The English Open will take place in the K2 Leisure Centre in Crawley from Monday 15th October – Sunday 21st October. I will be at the event on Monday so if you feel like a random chat do let me know!
