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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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!