The last of the Home Nations events, the Welsh Open has by far the more prestige than three of its counterparts. Plenty of memorable moments and this one is an eye catching event. Not only because of how good Cardiff but the draws are something to salivate over.
Not only that, there is a tie between Britain’s and China’s hottest prospects. Amateur Jackson Page is being groomed for stardom by mentor Mark Williams. The former World U18, twice European U18 and European U21 runner-up will take on Zhao Xintong. Zhao is is on terrific form, doing well enough to qualify for the World Grand Prix very recently.
For those who have been engrossed by the Judd vs. Kyren ‘rivalry’, you haven’t seen the animosity between Mark Allen and Mark Joyce. Rivals since their junior days, they exchanged harsh words after their most recent meeting in the 2016 Northern Ireland Open, where Allen won 4-1. Though, Allen said they met up a few times and hoped that it would be called a truce, some say this isn’t the case at all.
Moving onto the draws, the out-of-form and defending champion John Higgins has probably one of the worst possible draws against compatriot Graeme Dott. The Ryan Day vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh match will last about 8 minutes. Judd Trump has one of the greatest Home Nations records but may have a tough second round should he come up against World Grand Prix semi-finalist Xiao Guodong. Lastly, Ronnie O’Sullivan will be against Sanderson Lam. He will be hoping to keep the BetVictor bosses happy while leaving the Coral executive board seething in their seats after he recently lost in the first round to Marco Fu. Probably.
Weirdly, all three Home Nations finals this season have finished 9-7. Just a thought. 🙂
THE DRAW
John Higgins vs. Graeme Dott
Li Yuan vs. Dominic Dale
Soheil Vahedi vs. Chen Feilong
Alfie Burden vs. Craig Steadman
Jack Lisowski vs. Niu Zhuang
Tian Pengfei vs. Marco Fu
Sean O’Sullivan vs. Ken Doherty
Sam Craigie vs. Mark King
Winner: Graeme Dott vs. Marco Fu
Chris Wakelin vs. Hammad Miah
Mark Davis vs. Joe Perry
Fergal O’Brien vs. Oliver Lines
Ding Junhui vs. Chris Totten
Jak Jones vs. Matthew Stevens
Michael White vs. Peter Lines
Joe O’Connor vs. Rhys Clark
Kyren Wilson vs. Andy Lee
Winner: Ding Junhui vs. Kyren Wilson
Judd Trump vs. Harvey Chandler
Xiao Guodong vs. Duane Jones
Robbie Williams vs. Rod Lawler
Anthony Hamilton vs. Sam Baird
Stuart Bingham vs. Ali Carter
Jamie Clarke vs. Matthew Selt
Martin O’Donnell vs. Hamza Akbar
Ricky Walden vs. Lee Walker
Winner: Judd Trump vs. Ali Carter
David Gilbert vs. Jimmy Robertson
Nigel Bond vs. Alan McManus
Zhao Xintong vs. Jackson Page (a)
Stephen Maguire vs. Zhou Yuelong
Zhang Jiankang vs. Fan Zhengyi
Alexander Ursenbacher vs. Yan Bingtao
Allan Taylor vs. Yuan Sijun
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Sanderson Lam
Winner: David Gilbert vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan
Mark Selby vs. Anthony McGill
Adam Duffy (a) vs. Zhang Yong
Eden Sharav vs. Xu Si
Stuart Carrington vs. Noppon Saengkham
Ryan Day vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Lukas Kleckers vs. Peter Ebdon
Ashley Hugill vs. Hossein Vafaei
Ross Muir vs. Daniel Wells
Winner: Stuart Carrington vs. Hossein Vafaei
Scott Donaldson vs. John Astley
Joe Swail vs. Li Hang
James Cahill (a) vs. Gerard Greene
Shaun Murphy vs. Adam Stefanow
Luo Honghao vs. Ian Burns
Liam Highfield vs. Liang Wenbo
Mei Xiwen vs. Michael Holt
Mark Allen vs. Mark Joyce
Winner: Li Hang vs. Luo Honghao
Barry Hawkins vs. Sunny Akani
Lu Ning vs. Ben Woollaston
Michael Georgiou vs. David Lilley (a)
Jimmy White vs. Andrew Higginson
Neil Robertson vs. Jordan Brown
Gary Wilson vs. Robin Hull
Rory McLeod vs. Thor Chuan Leong
Lyu Haotian vs. Paul Davison
Winner: Barry Hawkins vs. Neil Robertson
Robert Milkins vs. Mike Dunn
James Wattana vs. Chen Zifan
Billy Joe Castle vs. Simon Lichtenberg
Luca Brecel vs. Kurt Maflin
Alex Taubman (a) vs. Elliot Slessor
Ashley Carty vs. Tom Ford
Martin Gould vs. Zhang Anda
Mark Williams vs. Kishan Hirani
Winner: Robert Milkins vs. Martin Gould
