This is where the 2021 World Snooker Championship should get more interesting!
The Last 16 line-up looked absolutely brilliant but there weren’t as many close matches as people anticipated. The match between Anthony McGill and Ronnie O’Sullivan, which went to the decider, was no doubt the best match of the tournament so far. But we saw many winners conjure up huge leads so early that interest waned pretty quickly. There were too many early night for some people’s liking.
But we have a blockbuster line-up. We have six World Champions in the quarter-finals. 105 ranking titles have been won between the eight men left standing. Three of the final four last year are still in the running. Oh, and one qualifier.
Seedings are correct to the world rankings after the 2021 Tour Championship, according to World Snooker Tour. As before, the H2H will include Championship League and Snooker Shoot-Out results. The H2H’s will come from Cuetracker. All matches are played on the 27th & 28th of April 2021.
DRAW
Anthony McGill (16) vs. Stuart Bingham (18)
H2H: Bingham is leading McGill 3-2.
Last Meeting: 2020 Championship League (Bingham winning 3-1).
Both players will see this is as the best opportunity to reach the semi-finals of the World Championship. Don’t forget, higher seeds Stephen Maguire, Ding Junhui and defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan have perished.
McGill performed admirably against O’Sullivan. He played extremely well to win the second session 6-2, but he was a shadow of that player when he lost six frames in a row. But McGill showed his tremendous temperament to win the last two frames of the match with breaks of 136 and 85. Stuart Bingham is now the last qualifier standing, after beating Jamie Jones 13-6. Bingham’s confidence has grown since the qualifiers and has carried his form very well. Amazingly, Bingham hasn’t reached this stage since he won the World Championship in 2015. It will be very interesting indeed if the pressure will be immense.
Just one of their past meetings is longer than a BO7 but that was all the way back in the 2013 UK Championship. There is very little to go on. I will go with my instinct and say that Bingham will prevail here.
Prediction: Bingham to win 13-9.
Mark Williams (12) vs. Mark Selby (4)
H2H: Selby is leading Williams 21-17.
Last Meeting: 2021 Players Championship (Selby winning 6-4).
This is one for the purists!
This is a rivalry that goes back to 1999! Both players dispatched their first and second round opponents comfortably. Mark Williams put away Sam Craigie (10-4) and dominated John Higgins by leading 10-3, before winning 13-7. But Mark Selby is arguably the man of the tournament so far. He decimated Kurt Maflin (10-1) and Mark Allen (13-7). Selby looks close to being back to his absolute best and I reckon O’Sullivan’s loss has given him a slight lift, considering how much grief he received since last year.
I would be very surprised if this match isn’t close. Both players are very confident, on great form, have great bottle and seem to be well matched. But I expect Selby to pull through. His form is slightly better and both players are due a bad session and I think Selby can cope with that slightly better.
Prediction: Selby to win 13-11.
Neil Robertson (3) vs. Kyren Wilson (6)
H2H: Robertson and Wilson are level pegging at 3-3.
Last Meeting: 2021 Players Championship (Wilson winning 6-2).
This is a very interesting match. Neil Robertson’s superme scoring power and high confidence is matched by Kyren Wilson’s never-say-die attitude and rest play.
Neil Robertson has scored the most centuries out of anyone in this tournament so far. He made seven centuries during his victories over Liang Wenbo (10-3) and Jack Lisowski (13-9). He had some trouble against Lisowski but he scored four centuries and eight half-centuries. Wilson had a much tougher route to the quarter-finals, defeating Gary Wilson (10-8) and Barry Hawkins (13-10). He handled the pressure well and but his performance needs to be better in this tie. But Wilson has the advantage over the Aussie considering this is his sixth straight quarter-final appearance in the World Championships. Robertson has reached the Last 8 three times during that time.
This feels like FORM (Robertson) vs. REPUTATION (Wilson). He has a habit of storming through this tournament early but Robertson hasn’t won a quarter-final since 2014. Even though Kyren is stronger at this stage of the tournament, I can’t see Neil losing his form this time around.
Prediction: Robertson to win 13-8.
Shaun Murphy (7) vs. Judd Trump (2)
H2H: Trump is leading Murphy 22-11.
Last Meeting: 2020 Welsh Open (Murphy winning 6-3).
This match is going to be a pot fest!
Shaun Murphy started the tournament pretty poorly in the first session of the opening round. But since then, we saw glimpses of Murphy’s best. He came from behind to defeat Mark Davis 10-7 and kept Yan Bingtao at bay by winning the tie 13-7. Murphy also has the highest round of the event with 144. Trump won his opening tie easily by beating Liam Highfield 10-4. The Juddernaut initially struggled at the start, was brilliant in the middle, but struggled at the end in his match against David Gilbert but managed to win 13-8. Trump rightly pointed out he hasn’t played his best so far but he believes he is getting stronger as the event goes on.
Though Murphy is considerably behind in the H2H record, he has won the last two meetings. Both players have got their scoring boots on, Trump’s safety play is much better than Murphy. They met at this very stage back in 2013, when Trump beat Murphy in the decider despite being 8-3 behind. I think both players will be neck and neck in the initial stages and then Trump pulls away and get stronger towards the finishing line.
Prediction: Trump to win 13-9.
The 2021 World Snooker Championship will take place between 17th April and 3rd May 2021 at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield, England.
