We are back at the Cheltenham Racecourse with the World Grand Prix, the first event of the Coral Cup!
Cheltenham is a very lovely town. It is very pretty where there is lots of greenery and pleasant-looking buildings. The Cheltenham College Chapel is really beautiful. On the downside there are lots of schoolchildren. I went to watch the final of the World Grand Prix last year and its a terrific atmosphere! Spoke to a number of snooker fans (some of whom have really smoothing Welsh accents) and its a great day out! Especially when I got to see Judd Trump play against Ali Carter in the final (Trump won 10-6).
Also, there’s the Coral Cup, which consists of the World Grand Prix, Players Championship and Tour Championship. The names aren’t exactly the most imaginative in the world. I was skeptical of this last season but the organisation of promotion of the three events have been incredibly good. There are more tournaments at home, we see world-class players more often and, especially the case with the Tour Championship, longer matches. Ronnie O’Sullivan won last year’s Coral Cup by winning the Players Championship and the Tour Championship. Also there is the spectacle of O’Sullivan scoring his 1000th century break. Amazing.
The Line-Up
Moving onto the tournament, we have quite a line up! This field is made up of the best 32 players in this season alone, according to the Order of Merit. Six players in this draw aren’t even ranked in the Top 32 in the world at the moment, which certainly throws a number of spanners into the works. The lowest ranked player is Li Hang at No. 44 and as the lowest seed in the Order of Merit, will play the top seed Judd Trump. Trump got there by winning three ranking titles and going far into the German Masters. Don’t forget. he will also be defending the World Grand Prix crown as well.
There are many tasty ties too. Kyren Wilson vs. Jack Lisowski, John Higgins vs. Stuart Bingham and David Gilbert vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan are some of the match-ups you don’t expect in the first round! I think it’s hilarious that Scott Donaldson is drawn against Ding Junhui, as Scott has beaten Ding twice in the last two weeks! It feels like a while that we are back to BO7 so we all know that anyone can beat anyone in this kind of a format.
On with the show!
The Draw
FIRST QUARTER
Judd Trump (1) vs. Li Hang (32)
Kyren Wilson (16) vs. Jack Lisowski (17)
John Higgins (9) vs. Stuart Bingham (24)
Yan Bingtao (8) vs. Zhao Xintong (25)
First Quarter Winner: Judd Trump vs. Stuart Bingham
SECOND QUARTER
Neil Robertson (5) vs. Michael Holt (28)
Mark Williams (12) vs. Barry Hawkins (21)
Joe Perry (13) vs. Ali Carter (20)
Ding Junhui (4) vs. Scott Donaldson (29)
Second Quarter Winner: Neil Robertson vs. Ali Carter
THIRD QUARTER
Mark Selby (3) vs. Xiao Guodong (30)
Graeme Dott (14) vs. Kurt Maflin (19)
David Gilbert (11) vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan (22)
Mark Allen (6) vs. Liang Wenbo (27)
Third Quarter Winner: Mark Selby vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan
FOURTH QUARTER
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (7) vs. Matthew Selt (26)
Stephen Maguire (10) vs. Tom Ford (23)
Zhou Yuelong (15) vs. Gary Wilson (18)
Shaun Murphy (2) vs. Matthew Stevens (31)
Fourth Quarter Winner: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs. Shaun Murphy
Tournament Winner: Judd Trump vs. Ronnie O’Sullivan
The World Grand Prix will take place at The Centaur, Cheltenham Racecourse in Cheltenham from 3 to 9 February.
