The 2019/2020 snooker season starts here in Riga, Latvia! After many months of twiddling thumbs and realising we have interests outside of snooker, it’s good to be back!
The Kaspersky Riga Masters has become a staple in the snooker calendar. Since it became a full-blown ranking event in 2016, it’s a popular event for those who want to get their season off to a good start. It is also one of the very few tournaments to not be sponsored by a betting company – how about that? It is also fantastic to maintain a link to Continental Europe. Riga is a beautiful city with plenty of fresh fish, churches and random jazz clubs. Nearby is a charming town of Sigulda full of green hills and castles.
The Event
The Riga Masters still operates under the BO7 format, with the semi-finals and the grand final being BO11. There is no doubt who the man to watch is in this event. Defending champion Neil Robertson won the title here twice in the past three years.
The only downside is that not many top players participate in this event. This year is no exception, with Ronnie O’Sullivan, John Higgins, Mark Allen and World Champion Judd Trump are among the absentees. Not only that, there are a number of top players who failed to even qualify, with Stuart Bingham, David Gilbert and Barry Hawkins out.
However, this just means that this is a fantastic opportunity for other players to obtain a rare piece of silverware. Riga is where Michael Holt and Jack Lisowski reached their first ranking event final in 2016 and 2018 respectively. Ryan Day went one better by winning his first ranking title by defeating Stephen Maguire 5-2 in 2017. Dynamite went on to have the most successful season of his career, obtaining two more titles.
This will lastly be a fantastic indicator to how the rookies do. The Q School graduates and amateur champions among the professional elite, this will lead to a lot of unpredictable results.
- For more information on who the Q School graduates are, please click here.
- For more information on which players outside of the Top 32 I think may shine this season, please click here.
Will the young generation of Jackson Page, Kacper Filipiak and James Cahill make their mark. Will we finally see another Chinaman win a ranking title? Who will be next to win their first title – could it even happen in Riga? Click here for my thoughts on this season’s talking points!
Let’s go!
The Kaspersky Riga Masters Draw
First Quarter
Neil Robertson/Robert Milkins vs. Ben Woollaston
Kishan Hirani vs. Andres Petrov (a) vs. Chen Zifan
Yan Bingtao vs. Rod Lawler
Bai Langning vs. Alan McManus
Mei Xiwen vs. Chang Bingyu
Lukas Kleckers (a) vs. Zhang Anda
Ricky Walden vs. Yuan Sijun
Mike Dunn vs. Li Hang
First Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson vs. Li Hang
Second Quarter
Jamie O’Neill vs. Sam Craigie
Matthew Selt vs. Lu Ning
Ali Carter vs. Jak Jones
Michael Holt vs. Alexander Ursenbacher
Mark King vs. Allan Taylor (a)
Zhou Yuelong vs. Louis Heathcote
Soheil Vahedi w/o Christopher Keogan (a)
Xiao Guodong vs. Kyren Wilson
Second Quarter Winner: Ali Carter vs. Kyren Wilson
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Third Quarter
Mark Selby/Harvey Chandler vs. Hossein Vafaei
Lee Walker vs. Graeme Dott
Joe Perry vs. Anthony Hamilton
Brandon Sargeant vs. Stuart Carrington
Scott Donaldson vs. Mark Joyce
Adam Stefanow vs. Liam Highfield
Craig Steadman vs. Daniel Wells
Duane Jones/Rodion Judin (a) vs. Jack Lisowski
Third Quarter Winner: Graeme Dott vs. Scott Donaldson
Fourth Quarter
Ian Preece vs. Gerard Greene
Oliver Lines vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Luca Brecel vs. Lyu Haotian
Joe O’Connor vs. Kurt Maflin
Kacper Filipiak vs. Tom Ford
Jackson Page vs. Gary Wilson
David Grace vs. Luo Honghao
James Cahill vs. Mark Williams/Jordan Brown
Fourth Quarter Winner: Luca Brecel vs. Gary Wilson
2019 Kaspersky Riga Masters Champion: Neil Robertson vs. Graeme Dott
