We go to the second event of the Home Nation Series – the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast! Since the Home Nations Series started in 2016, I would argue that the Northern Ireland Open has produced the greatest finals.
History
Who could forget the heart-stringing speech from Mark King? The emotional Romford Battler won his first ranking title by beating Barry Hawkins 9-8. Go and watch his speech by clicking here. It is completely worth it. In 2017, Mark Williams came from behind to prevent Yan Bingtao from being the youngest ranking event winner in snooker history. The Welsh Potting Machine won the decider against the then-17-year-old. Last season, the audience watched a dream final between Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan, with the Juddernaut being victorious at 9-7.
Weirdly in the past two years, the winners of the Alex Higgins Trophy have gone on to win the World Championship in the season. This was the case of Mark Williams (2017/2018) and Judd Trump (2018/2019). It would be extraordinary if it were to happen for the third time in a row. I have yet to attend the Waterfront Hall, but the crowd seem to be absolutely brilliant and make the atmosphere electric.
The permutations of the UK Championship
The Northern Ireland Open is the last tournament before the UK Championship. Why is this so important?
The UK Championship is still a Last 128 format like most ranking events, but this time, every ranking place matters. No. 1 seed (Ronnie O’Sullivan as the defending champion) will play the No. 128 seed. As No. 2, Judd Trump will play whoever is ranked No. 127. After that, it’s all the way down to No. 64 against No. 65.
With £3,000 for one victory and £4,000 for two, this is incredibly important for those near the bottom of the rankings table. Just one win can give someone a massive leap up the table to avoid the elite such as Mark Selby, Mark Williams, etc. So ties such as Riley Parsons vs. Kacper Filipiak and Louis Heathcote vs. Lei Peifan can make a huge difference.
This is the same for players hovering around the relegation zone. There is just £6,000 difference between No. 65 (Tian Pengfei) and No. 70 (Joe O’Connor). So a good run into the tournament would catapult these players to the right half of the draw, potentially overtaking No. 63 (Sam Craigie) and No. 64 (Ken Doherty). Basically, there are a lot of nerdy permutations.
Draw
First Quarter
Judd Trump vs. James Cahill
Zhang Anda vs. Simon Lichtenberg
Hossein Vafaei vs. Si Jiahui
Chen Zifan vs. Patrick Wallace (WC) / Robbie McGuigan (WC)
Ali Carter vs. Robert Milkins
Li Hang vs. Elliot Slessor
Yan Bingtao vs. Andy Hicks
Marco Fu vs. Gerard Greene
Winner: Judd Trump vs. Ali Carter
Ashley Carty vs. Rod Lawler
Tom Ford vs. Andrew Higginson
Thor Chuan Leong vs. Jak Jones
David Gilbert vs. Anthony Hamilton
Liang Wenbo vs. Kurt Maflin
Lyu Haotian vs. Tian Pengfei
Peter Ebdon vs. Jimmy White
Kyren Wilson vs. Alan McManus
Winner: Tom Ford vs. Kyren Wilson
Second Quarter
Mark Selby vs. Xu Si
Matthew Stevens vs. Chris Wakelin
Matt Selt vs. Daniel Wells
Adam Stefanów vs. Luca Brecel
Jack Lisowski vs. Soheil Vahedi
Ken Doherty vs. Michael Georgiou
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs. Mark King
Peter Lines vs. Mei Xiwen
Winner: Mark Selby vs. Mark King
Mitchell Mann vs. Liam Highfield
Ryan Day vs. Harvey Chandler
Mike Dunn vs. Mark Davis
Stephen Maguire vs. Declan Lavery (WC)
Chen Feilong vs. Kishan Hirani
Noppon Saengkham vs. Billy Joe Castle
Riley Parsons vs. Kacper Filipiak
John Higgins vs. Chang Bingyu
Winner: Mark Davis vs. Noppon Saengkham
Third Quarter
Neil Robertson (if he makes it) vs. Mark Joyce
Jackson Page vs. Barry Pinches
Anthony McGill vs. Robbie Williams
Hammad Miah vs. Martin Gould
Joe Perry vs. Zhao Xintong
Ross Bulman (a) vs. Zhang Jiankang
Graeme Dott vs. Duane Jones
Bai Langning vs. Craig Steadman
Winner: Neil Robertson vs. Graeme Dott
Lee Walker vs. Martin O’Donnell
Xiao Guodong vs. Alexander Ursenbacher
Jordan Brown vs. James Wattana
Stuart Bingham vs. Lu Ning
Ian Burns vs. Andy Lee
Scott Donaldson vs. Alfie Burden
Jamie O’Neill vs. Sunny Akani
Mark Allen vs. Sam Craigie
Winner: Lu Ning vs. Mark Allen
Fourth Quarter
Shaun Murphy vs. Fraser Patrick
Dominic Dale vs. Luo Honghao
Ricky Walden vs. Alex Borg
Sam Baird vs. Nigel Bond
Barry Hawkins vs. Eden Sharav
Michael Holt vs. Michael White
Jimmy Robertson vs. Igor Figueiredo
Winner: Shaun Murphy vs. Jimmy Robertson
Fan Zhengyi vs. Fergal O’Brien
Brandon Sargeant vs. Joe O’Connor
Gary Wilson vs. Yuan Sijun
Jamie Clarke vs. Ben Woollaston
Ding Junhui vs. David Lilley
John Astley vs. Stuart Carrington
Zhou Yuelong vs. David Grace
Louis Heathcote vs. Lei Peifan
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Oliver Lines
Winner: Joe O’Connor vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan
Winner of the 2019 Northern Ireland: Kyren Wilson vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan
The Northern Ireland Open will take place at Waterfront Hall, Belfast between Monday 11th November – Sunday 17th November.
