PREVIEW: 2020 Welsh Open



This is the fourth ranking tournament in four weeks. Goodness me. If people aren’t feeling exhausted enough already, we have come to the fourth and final Home Nations event! The £1,000,000 bonus to someone who wins all four Home Nations events is no more (and never will be) but there’s a ranking title in store! If someone wins, he may have a very good chance of qualifying for the Players Championship too. Also, if you want to read my recent countdown on the Top 5 Home Nations Finals, please click here!

The Welsh Open has the longest history of the four. Stephen Hendry won the inaugural event back in 1992. It started in Newport, went to Cardiff, then back to Newport and back to Cardiff again. Very indecisive. John Higgins is the most prolific winner, lifting the title five times. It was also the first time I saw a snooker match live, when my Dad and I went to Cardiff for the first session between Higgins and Ben Woollaston in the 2015 Welsh Open. Good times.

Anyway, here is the draw below!

Section 1

Neil Robertson vs. Jamie Clarke

Fergal O’Brien vs. Mark Joyce

Noppon Saengkham vs. Alan McManus

Hammad Miah vs. Alexander Ursenbacher

Ali Carter vs. Adam Stefanów

Gerard Greene vs. Liang Wenbo

Joe Perry vs. Ashley Carty

Daniel Wells vs. Barry Pinches

Section 1 Winner: Neil Robertson vs. Ali Carter

Section 2

Yuan Sijun vs. Thor Chuan Leong

Jimmy Robertson vs. Riley Parsons

Nigel Bond vs. Ricky Walden

Ding Junhui vs. Marco Fu

Martin O’Donnell vs. Andy Hicks

Tom Ford vs. Xu Si

Zhang Anda vs. Liam Highfield

Kyren Wilson vs. Jackson Page

Section 2 Winner: Yuan Sijun vs. Tom Ford

Image result for jackson page 2018

Section 3

Mark Selby vs. David Grace

Kurt Maflin vs. Chen Zifan

Matt Selt vs. Andy Lee

Robbie Williams vs. Chris Wakelin

David Gilbert vs. Matthew Stevens

Brandon Sargeant w/o Peter Ebdon

Graeme Dott vs. Zhao Xintong

Lu Ning vs. Louis Heathcote

Section 3 Winner: Robbie Williams vs. Graeme Dott

Section 4

Si Jiahui vs. Lei Peifan

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs. Soheil Vahedi

Lee Walker vs. John Astley

Jack Lisowski vs. Li Hang

Anthony Hamilton vs. Michael White

Lyu Haotian vs. Kishan Hirani

Stuart Carrington vs. Mike Dunn

Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Zhang Jiankang

Section 4 Winner: Lee Walker vs. Michael White

Section 5

Mark Williams vs. Oliver Lines

Jordan Brown vs. Alex Borg

Anthony McGill vs. Duane Jones

Mei Xiwen vs. Michael Georgiou

Stuart Bingham vs. Martin Gould

Chen Feilong vs. Sam Baird

Yan Bingtao vs. Michael Holt

Mitchell Mann vs. Bai Langning

Section 5 Winner: Anthony McGill vs. Stuart Bingham

Image result for mark williams 2020

Section 6

Luca Brecel vs. Kacper Filipiak

Scott Donaldson vs. Sunny Akani

Tian Pengfei vs. Jamie O’Neill

Barry Hawkins vs. Sam Craigie

Peter Lines vs. Fan Zhengyi

Xiao Guodong vs. Fraser Patrick

Mark King vs. Ken Doherty

John Higgins vs. Joe O’Connor

Image result for joe o'connor snooker welsh open

Section 6 Winner: Scott Donaldson vs. Graeme Dott

Section 7

Mark Allen vs. Andrew Higginson

James Wattana vs. Jimmy White

Ryan Day vs. Simon Lichtenberg

David Lilley vs. Dominic Dale

Shaun Murphy vs. Gavin Lewis (a) / Darren Morgan (a)

Alfie Burden vs. Amine Amiri

Zhou Yuelong vs. Elliot Slessor

Eden Sharav vs. Ben Woollaston

Section 7 Winner: Mark Allen vs. Zhou Yuelong

Image result for darren morgan

Section 8

Jak Jones vs. Robert Milkins

Gary Wilson vs. Chang Bingyu

Ian Burns vs. Harvey Chandler

Stephen Maguire vs. Rod Lawler

Hossein Vafaei vs. Igor Figueiredo

Mark Davis vs. Luo Honghao

Craig Steadman vs. Billy Joe Castle

Judd Trump vs. James Cahill

Section 8 Winner: Stephen Maguire vs. Hossein Vafaei

2020 ManBetX Welsh Open winner: Ali Carter vs. Stuart Bingham


The 2020 ManBetX Welsh Open was a professional ranking snooker tournament which took place from 10th to 16th February 2020 at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff, Wales.

2 thoughts on “PREVIEW: 2020 Welsh Open”

  1. Some very bold predictions! I assume you mean Scott Donaldson beats John Higgins in Section 6 (or maybe the boy Fan Zhengyi will storm through!). I will be in Cardiff for the first few rounds, my first time at this venue. I try to watch several games at once, focusing on the young players, which might be tricky with 3 tables offset.

    1. My predictions aren’t fantastic – I don’t recommend putting your money towards them! It’s bold because the Home Nations events with the BO7 matches. There’s always a couple of outsiders in the late stages (Joe O’Connor last year). Plus Scott Donaldson has improved so much – I doubt he would fear anyone after beating Ding three times.

      I hope you enjoy Cardiff!

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