Welcome to probably the umpteenth snooker preview of the World Championship that you have read by now. If this is the first one you read, help yourself to a wonderful hobnob. You deserve it.
After the festivities of the qualifiers, we have a very interesting line-up at snooker’s Theatre of Dreams. There’s an ‘out with the old, in with the new’ kind of feel. The usual crowd of Ryan Day, Peter Ebdon, Rob Milkins and Marco Fu are staying at home. Replacing them are much younger players looking to make an impression on the biggest stage, such as Scott Donaldson, Zhao Xintong, Luo Honghao and James Cahill. We have the largest number of debutants in Crucible history with seven. We have the largest number of Asian players in Sheffield with seven. Finally, James Cahill became the first amateur in qualify in Crucible history.
Yet, I will be away for most of it as I’ll be travelling around South America. Well done me.
We have so many tasty ties in this competition. Though the draw might not be as explosive overall, there are some explosive match-ups. We could see a number of amazing shocks as well as a number of lovely smiles. Look at the first-round ties!
Mark Williams (1) vs. Martin Gould (29)
A lot of us have fond memories of Mark Williams being visibly emotional as he lifted his third World title last year. We also remember him stark naked during the press conference afterwards. He vowed to perform naked cartwheels if he repeats his stunning Betfred World Championship triumph. For the sake of our eyes, let’s hope he doesn’t win this time. If he does want to keep his promise, he has a tricky tie against a fellow SightRight player.
Since Williams won the World Open at the start of the season, he hasn’t been on fantastic form. He was busy enjoying life by drinking plenty of beer and going on caravan holidays. Over the past few months, Williams said he will practice more regularly in the run-up to the World Championship. But losing in the first round of the Tour Championship and the China Open does not make pretty reading. I’m sure those worries will melt away as soon as he will be reintroduced as the defending World Champion!
Martin Gould has been pretty anonymous this season, bar winning the Championship League. Despite appearing in eight of the past ten World Championships, Gould hasn’t won a match since 2011. All of his matches have run pretty close and he has a decent record against Williams. However, I can’t see Williams bottling it in the first round. Coupled with Gould’s poor record at Sheffield, I think Williams will scrape through.
Prediction: Williams – 10-7
David Gilbert (16) vs. Joe Perry (18)
You can’t get a match closer than this one.
This is David Gilbert’s best season to date. He reached two ranking finals this season, gained a new sense of confidence and deservedly achieved his automatic spot at the Crucible. But he would be one of the seeds the qualifiers want to face. There are a few good reasons for this. The main reason is because he is participating as a seeded player for the first time. The records of these first-timers is dire. Despite impressing as qualifiers, Michael White (No. 15 – 2016), Anthony McGill (No. 16 – 2017) and Luca Brecel (No. 13 – 2018) all fell in the first hurdle when stepping out as seeded players for the first time. It doesn’t show quite a good trend!
Joe Perry is one of the qualifiers to avoid because of his experience and prestige at Sheffield, as well breezing through the qualifiers untroubled. It also helps that he emphatically beat the defending champion Mark Selby last year. Perry has a great record against Gilbert as well but never faced each other in a match of this length. To be honest, this could go either way. I trust Gilbert to hold his own, but I can see this going very far indeed.
Prediction: David Gilbert – 10-8
Barry Hawkins (9) vs. Li Hang (28)
Barry Hawkins is a player who should never been underestimated in the World Championship. Yes, his season hasn’t been very good. But this doesn’t seem to matter to Barry. Since reaching the 2012 final, the Hawk has reached the semi-finals four times and the quarter-finals once. Winning the first-round match six times in a row is a formidable record. This is despite a haphazard record in the China Open before the World Championship.
Li Hang will be making his debut at the World Championships. He defeated Niu Zhuang and was involved in two, close victories over Ian Burns and Ben Woollaston. Li is not a hugely attacking player and is happy to scrap when he has to. He was their most recent meeting at the 2018 Riga Open. He is partial to collapsing suddenly for no apparent reason. I believe that Hawkins will use his experience to his advantage to win cleanly.
Onto more important matters, I am intrigued to see Li’s next shirt and waistcoat combo. The colours he choose should not match yet it does. Hmm.
Prediction: Barry Hawkins 10-5S
Kyren Wilson (8) vs. Scott Donaldson (39)
Kyren Wilson may have picked up two ranking events but this season, he lost the consistency that is usually the main part in his game. Since winning the German Masters, he has slightly slipped and started to lose a number of early matches. But the Crucible is becoming his fortress. Since 2016, he reached two quarter-finals and was beaten by John Higgins 17-13 in the semi-finals last year. After that performance, many touted him to be a future World Champion. If he needed a decent starter in the form of a debutant, he got his wish.
Scott Donaldson slowly crept up the rankings over the past few years and it is great to see him as an established professional. This is his best season to date, with two ranking quarter-final and semi-finals. This included his run to the semi-finals of the China Open, including Perry, Gilbert, Woollaston and Ricky Walden. Donaldson kept everyone on tenterhooks when he was dragged back from 9-4 to a decider by Lu Ning. However, the exhausted Scott managed to pull through. Thank god he wasn’t against Williams!
Despite this, I can see Wilson winning comfortably. He is better than Donaldson in every department and will want to stamp his authority before Donaldson starts to get too comfortable.
Prediction: K Wilson 10-2
John Higgins (5) vs. Mark Davis (38)
John Higgins (5) vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (58)
John Higgins is having a poor season. Even though he made the International Championship final, he seemed incredulous that he made it there at all. He complained of burnout, lack of motivation and possible retirement. He reached the last two World Championship finals, which is an incredible achievement. But he’s clearly suffering from the scars he received from losing them. Though Mark Davis may not be a bad draw for him at first glance, Higgins has an inferior H2H record against him. Davis is Higgins’s bogeyman. These are ingredients that spell disaster for Higgins.
It’s good to see Dark Mavis again! He last won a match in 2013, which was against John Higgins at 10-6, followed by a 13-10 loss to Stuart Bingham. I’ve already pointed out that he has a very good record against The Wizard of Wishaw. But he hasn’t reached the World Championship since 2015, where he lost to Ding Junhui 10-7. Three years is a while and that sort of inexperience could count against him.
A lot of people have already written off Higgins, especially because we don’t know which Higgins will turn up I’m going to be go with Higgins. The supposed burnout would’ve subsided and motivation would’ve come back. He knows he has the talent to do it and I believe he can put it behind him.
Prediction: Higgins 10-8S
Stuart Bingham (12) vs. Graeme Dott (21)
A match for the purists, this one. Graeme Dott is a tremendous competitor and is always the one who the seeded players want to avoid. He eased through the qualifiers, dropping just eight frames in three matches. This included a 10-2 thrashing of Kurt Maflin, who is a very attacking player. Dott mentioned that if he took his game to the Crucible, he would stand a good chance.
Bingham won two ranking events in Gibraltar and in Crawley, where he won the English Open. His recent form has been excellent. In the last seven tournaments, he reached the quarter-finals six times, including the final of the Welsh Open. He would’ve hoped for easier opponents than Pocket Dynamo, but he shouldn’t be discouraged. He is 8-3 ahead against Dott on H2H record and the last time he lost to Dott was in 2013. On that basis, I think Bingham will pull through this, but it’ll be close.
Prediction: Staurt Bingham 10-7
Shaun Murphy (13) vs. Luo Honghao (91)
This is an opportunity to fill in as many piano-related puns I can muster.
Shaun Murphy desperately needs to change his tune this season. In fact, bar reaching the Scottish Open final, he’s been in treble in almost every event. The World Championship hasn’t been his forte recently either. He failed to reach the quarter-finals since reaching the 2015 final. Maybe his move to Ireland had something to do with it? The Magician needs to be Bach in his usual confident form, because he cannot afford to B-flat against Luo.
Luo Honghao was the player I said was one of watch at the start of this season. The first WSF champion is very ORGANised in his approach and defeated many high-calibre opponents. Perhaps that is the key to his success. Considering the teenager wasn’t a seeded player, he did very well to make his debut at all. He never missed a note against Marco Fu, Robbie Williams and Tom Ford. He has never met Murphy, but we hope their styles will turn into a symphony. Luo looked unflappable when battling Ford!
I will go for a Luo win. I am seriously looking forward to what he can do as the tournaments builds to a crescendo. But will be under pressure in such a major event? He needs to because Murphy is not a confident player so far.
Prediction: Luo Honghao 10-5
Neil Robertson (4) vs. Michael Georgiou (52)
If you have to name the big winner of the draw, it is Neil Robertson. Because he won the China Open, he moved out of the bottom half of the draw. He, as well as Trump and O’Sullivan, are the favourites to win the World Championship. The move gave Neil a big opportunity to move away from his main rivals and would only meet them in the final. Three ranking titles and three ranking finals is intimidating enough. Having four of these appearances in the last four tournaments is scary.
Michael Georgiou is a surprise qualifiers who had to dig deep to get to the Wembley of snooker. He beat Lee Walker 10-7 and both Peter Ebdon and Yan Bingtao 10-8. He also managed to reach a wonderful milestone by becoming the first Cypriot to reach the World Championships. Cyprus is clearly a country he’s passionate about. We did an interview together! Not bad for a player who dropped out earlier in his career and ended up working in recruitment. Dear god.
However, Georgiou will be up against it here. Robertson is on fire at the moment and doesn’t look to slump and lose the first-round match like he did last year. Since Georgiou won his first ranking title last year, he hasn’t really done as much as he should have and I think he’ll be vulnerable here.
Prediction: Neil Robertson 10-4D
Mark Selby (3) vs. Zhao Xintong (66)
Mark Selby is an odd one.
But his standards, he is having a poor season. This is exemplified by his shock first-round loss to amateur James Cahill in the UK Championship. His recent form has also been rotten, as he is on a three-match losing streak from the Players Championship to the China Open. He is bound to be vulnerable coming into the World Championship. Not only is he coming to Crucible without defending the World title anymore, but without being the No. 1 spot. Worse still, he lost in the first round last year without much of a fight (10-4 to Joe Perry). This is the tournament where he has to make a statement that he is still a challenge.
So the perfect challenge for Selby will be a wonder kid who is destined to stardom. Zhao Xintong is having a dream season since he returned to the professional tour for the second time. He is currently in the Top 64 and he still has an extra year on his tour card! He reached the China Championship semi-finals and the Welsh Open quarter-finals. During the qualifiers, Matt Selt, who lost 10-4 to Zhao, said that it was scary playing against him!
I honestly think this is a BIG chance for the debutant to make another breakthrough. Especially against someone who is so down in the dumps. I expect Zhao to do this as well. Hopefully, this will be huge.
Prediction: Zhao Xintong 10-7
Luca Brecel (14) vs. Gary Wilson (32)
Amazingly, Brecel hasn’t won a match at the Crucible yet. He lost in the first round in 2012, 2017 and 2018. He was given a seed in 2018, where he lost to qualifier Ricky Walden. What would hurt the most is when in 2017, he surrendered a 7-2 lead to lose 10-9 against Marco Fu. It will be very difficult to get the monkey off his back and it is never nice to have a poor record at the Crucible. The Belgian Bullet was on poor form, however his semi-final China Open appearance shows us what he can really do.
Gary Wilson will make his second appearance at the Crucible. He put on a good show first time around, despite losing 10-7 to Ronnie O’Sullivan. He’s been a ‘steady eddy’ this season, bar the World Open quarter-finals. His 10-6 win over Liang Wenbo is a testament that he can play against high-quality opponents.
His is an even match that will go under the radar. I expect a high-quality and attacking match here. I expect Wilson to engage in a close battle here. Sorry to say, but I am not sure if Brecel can win this match.
Prediction: Gary Wilson 10-6M
Jack Lisowski (11) vs. Ali Carter (19)
Jack Lisowski will also be a Crucible seed for the first time. However, reaching the China Open, his second ranking final, will give him a lot of confidence. The main question to him would be if he is able to rise to the occasion. Jackpot does have a habit of collapsing in the major matches – his Masters debut against Ding Junhui and his heavy UK Championship defeat to O’Sullivan being the main examples. He has a tendency to crumble too quickly and, as shown against Trump in the Players Championship, can lose a big lead!
A lot of people would’ve hoped to see Ali Carter against Ronnie O’Sullivan. It sounds like he has to rub shoulders with someone else now. Carter is the person no-one wanted to draw against, so he will be delighted to see that he is against someone who is playing as a seeded player. Especially since Captain warmed up nicely against the qualifiers. He lost just nine frames in three comfortable matches and is a very confident man. Since he doesn’t need the Ronnie O’Sullivan-bravado, he can focus on this match now.
I go for a Carter for the win here. I am not sure Lisowski is ready for the bigger occasions. He beat Bingham in the last World Championships but that was when he was an underdog. Can he handle it now?
Prediction: Ali Carter 10-4
Mark Allen (6) vs. Zhou Yuelong (35)
Mark Allen’s form has been very hot and cold. His best form came when he won the International Championship, reached the UK Championship final and became victorious at the Scottish Open. A phenomenal turnaround in success in such a short space of time. Since then, he’s been slipping away slightly. He mentioned some personal problems and complained of burnout. However, he made two semi-final appearances in the Tour Championship and the Players Championship. However, he will not be happy being moved down to the half where Trump, O’Sullivan and Selby lurk!
Zhou Yuelong seems to have hit a wall where many Chinese players struggled. This has happened with Yan Bingtao, Xiao Guodong and Cao Yupeng. At least with the first two, they didn’t do anything to jeopardise their careers. Zhou was expected to win a ranking event by now, especially since he was touted as the successor to Ding Junhui. Now that he will make his second appearance at the Crucible, he can get used to the limelight again. Three decent wins against Robin Hull, Liam Highfield and Eden Sharav should put him in good stead.
Surprisingly, this pair have not met before. Based on the form as well as Allen’s extended break, I think Allen will win here. Don’t forget, Allen withdrew from the China Open. He previously mentioned he is disappointed in his World Championship record, but his first-round record is quite decent.
Prediction: Mark Allen 10-6
Judd Trump (7) vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (43)
What. An. Explosive. Tie.
We know that Judd Trump has the firepower to win this. But what had let him down was his safety game and occasionally his complacency. Not to say his safety wasn’t any good, but not up to the standard of the Selbys and the Carters. However, Trump showed throughout this season that he is able to win scrappy frames, enjoy a safety battle, successfully complete a comeback and more importantly, win on a C-game. These sort of abilities are highly sought for in such a lengthy tournament at the Crucible. Also, being a Masters and a two-time ranking champion is terrifying enough!
I’m not what it is about Thai players, but they all seem to be fan favourites. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh is one of them. A lot of the professional tour rate him incredibly highly and with good reason. The fastest player on the circuit won the Snooker Shoot-Out this season, but let’s not get carried away. He reached just one quarter-final this season, so there is something about his inconsistency which is holding him back. But his long game is exquisite!
Trump has a great first-round record, despite his shock 2017 loss against Rory McLeod. One thing that does concern me is that he never wins his matches easily. They are always 10-5 or closer, his twitchy opener against Chris Wakelin last year was a prime example. But Trump is a much better player and I’m sure will not take liberties against Un-Nooh. Trump knows that this is a very good chance to win it.
Prediction: Trump 10-6
Ding Junhui (10) vs. Anthony McGill (24)
It’s very hard to guess what kind of Ding Junhui we expect to see. It is mainly because he is not playing anywhere near the number of events like before. Currently embracing fatherhood, he made only one ranking quarter-final and barely participated during the spring. He had decent success in non-ranking tournaments, such as reaching the semi-finals of the Masters and the Shanghai Masters. He also became a finalist of the Six-Reds World Championship. But this tells us nothing about his form!
Anthony McGill is having a horror show of a season. Eight first-round losses in ranking competitions is dreadful for someone of his calibre. Maybe it is because he shaved his head? I don’t know. However, he has kept his enviable Crucible record intact. Despite being 7-2 in his final qualifying match against Rob Milkins, he reeled off seven consecutive frames to win 10-8. In the past four appearances, he lost in the first round just once.
Now, these two met up before in the last World Championship. Ding trounced him 13-4 after leading 9-0. McGill may feel at home here but I expect Ding to be fresh as a daisy and take this match. Let’s hope we see a pumped Ding rather than an unbothered Ding.
Prediction: Ding Junhui 10-6N
Stephen Maguire (15) vs. Tian Pengfei (80)
It’s amazing how a snooker player can turn his form around. After being knocked out of the first round as a seeded player for the fourth time running in 2016, Stephen Maguire felt embarrassed and flat. Three years later, he is back in the Top 16 where he belongs. He hasn’t won a ranking event since 2013, but he has been consistently better. It sounded like he has a better mindset now and hungry for victories and silverware. Three semi-final appearances is not too shabby. Maguire now has the hunger he desperately craves. He will never lose that infamous temperament though.
I mentioned several times that I will never understand the enigma that is Tian Pengfei. He plays incredibly well about first-class opponents, yet does not do very well against players of his ranking. He chalked up an impressive win over top seed Ryan Day 10-3 and held a spirited fightback from Matthew Stevens. I always thought that he would reach the Crucible and be a dangerous opponent. But I don’t know what to expect from him.
We know the Crucible comes with so many different pressures and I just don’t know if Tian, the debutant, can handle it. Maguire is one of the most experienced players in the draw and despite never playing each other, I can’t imagine Maguire losing to this chap.
Prediction: Stephen Maguire 10-4R
Ronnie O’Sullivan (2) vs. James Cahill (a)
This is the definition of David and Goliath. In fact, if James Cahill does win against Ronnie O’Sullivan, it would be the greatest shock in Crucible history.
O’Sullivan has been extremely clinical this season. He won five events this season. He reached three more finals. The Rocket lost just five matches this season. Clearly the man of the season, he couldn’t have picked an easier man on paper. They faced each other three times but none of them have been easy matches, the latest one being in the 2017 China Open.
James Cahill contemplated giving up snooker for good a couple of years ago. Now he’s in the World Championships. Dear lord. Despite being an amateur, he collected scalps of a number of professionals this season. Michael White. Shaun Murphy. Liang Wenbo. Craig Steadman. Mark Selby. In the qualifiers, he held off a fightback against Andrew Higgins, followed by Shoot-Out finalist Michael Holt and amateur Michael Judge. He will hope to get Ronnie as red his rosy cheeks.
I can only see a Rocket victory to be honest. Hopefully, Cahill will make the most of this opportunity. He will play without any pressure as he is guaranteed to return on the professional tour next season. This match is O’Sullivan’s to lose. But he’s experienced to know what to do!
Prediction: Ronnie O’Sullivan 10-3
