I just returned home for a week. I feel completely relaxed, so much so that I realised that I need to write this preview of the Champion of Champions!
Introduction
After Michael Holt lost to Judd Trump in the World Open quarter-finals, Jimmy White took the last confirmed place to participate. It’s quite nice to have a field of players who won a tournament instead of via their ranking. Nevertheless, the qualification criteria was deemed controversial by the possibility of World Seniors Champion White. It was argued that Jimmy was only include because of, well, Jimmy and if Darren Morgan won the tournament instead, he would not be included. But the organisers tweak it all for the big names and The Whirlwind is box office, let’s be honest!
It wasn’t Jimmy’s fault that Ronnie O’Sullivan and Trump won eleven titles between them that he has to qualify!
The Juicy Ties
Rather conveniently, the dream tie has been made. Jimmy will face defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, which will bring SO MUCH coverage and plenty of Twitter chat. Ronnie is hugely successful in this event. Out of six editions, Ronnie reached five finals, winning three of them.
The other eye-watering tie is by Shaun Murphy and Reanne Evans. The 2019 Women’s World Champion will relish the occasion. The money is already great for her, but it will show everyone what she can do. It would be huge for the women’s sport if she beat a former world champion in Murphy.
Hopefully Trump and Shoot-Out winner Thepchaiya Un-Nooh won’t be too knackered after returning from Yushan after their World Open final. This will be the same for semi-finalists Kyren Wilson and John Higgins.
The Champion of Champions have also thrown in a few curved balls in too. Indian Open winner Matt Selt, Riga Masters champion Yan Bingtao and Championship League victor Martin Gould will look to cause a surprise. It’s a great testament of snooker to have a broad range of winners! As long has Selt doesn’t cause an argument somewhere somehow, I think he could very well challenge Allen in the opening BO7 format.
Anyways, the first match is a BO7, the next two matches are BO11s and the final will be the race to winning ten frames. It will all be shown on ITV4, which means us Brits won’t have to rely Eurosport for the time being.
Draw
I still think the idea of calling these groups is silly.
Group One (7th November)
Ronnie O’Sullivan (2018 Champion of Champions, 2018 UK Championship, 2019 Players Championship, 2019 Tour Championship, 2019 Shanghai Masters) vs. Jimmy White (2019 World Seniors Championship)
John Higgins (2019 World Championship Finalist, 2019 World Cup) vs. Stuart Bingham (2019 Gibraltar Open)
Group Four (4th November)
Neil Robertson (2019 Welsh Open, 2019 China Open) vs. Martin Gould (2019 Championship League)
Shaun Murphy (2019 China Championship) vs. Reanne Evans (2019 Women’s World Championship)
Group Three (5th November)
Mark Selby (2019 English Open) vs. Yan Bingtao (2019 Riga Masters)
Mark Allen (2018 Scottish Open) vs. Matt Selt (2019 Indian Open)
Group 2 (6th November)
Judd Trump (2018 Northern Ireland Open, 2019 Masters, 2019 World Grand Prix, 2019 World Championship, 2019 International Championship, 2019 World Open) vs. Stephen Maguire (2019 World Cup)
Kyren Wilson (2019 German Masters) vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (2019 Snooker Shoot-Out)
Very impressive lineup this year. The Whirlwind/Rocket matchup is definitely the most anticipated match of the first round between friends and two of the games greatest players. I am looking forward to the Reanne Evans Matchup and like yourself, hope she can win a few matches to show the Cue sport world, women got game too. Fantastic start to this exceptional tournament.