While Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen are busy battling it out for the UK Championship trophy, we immediately move onto the third event of the Home Nations event – the Scottish Open, where Neil Robertson will defend his crown!
Preview
Unlike the first Home Nations events, the Scottish Open has a history lasting more than two years. The tournament was formerly called the International Open, the Matchroom Trophy and the Players Championship. It was only in 1997 when the tournament moved to Aberdeen in Scotland and called the Scottish Open the year after. However, since the Home Nations was introduced in 2016, it found its home in Glasgow.
So far there have been two tournaments and two different winners. Marco Fu stampeded from 4-1 down to hammer John Higgins with eight successive frames to win 9-4. The other final was slightly different. Cao Yupeng reached his first ranking final and was on course to winning a ranking trophy on his first attempt at 8-4. However, the pressure got to him, giving Neil Robertson to comeback. After Cao missed the match-winning black at 8-7 up, Neil took the match to a decider, eventually winning the Stephen Hendry Trophy. Still, I’m looking forward to see if Cao could make it his second successive Scottish Open final! Oh, wait.
Will there be a different winner this year? There are a number of interesting and low-ranked ties such as Ursenbacher / Muir, Lam / Jones and Akbar / Vahedi. No. 1 Mark Selby and No. 2 Mark Williams are not in the draw and the majority of the professionals are in this draw. So, who’s it going to be?
Draw
Here is the preview:
Section 1
Neil Robertson vs. Peter Lines
Alexander Ursenbacher vs. Ross Muir
Martin O’Donnell vs. Chris Wakelin
Rod Lawler vs. Sam Baird
Ali Carter vs. Luo Honghao
Michael Georgiou vs. Sean O’Sullivan
Mark King vs. Mei Xiwen
David Lilley (a) vs. Tom Ford
Section 1 Winner: Sam Baird vs. Ali Carter
Section 2
Joe Perry vs. James Wattana
Liam Highfield vs. Robbie Williams
Li Hang vs. Paul Davison
Kyren Wilson vs. Oliver Lines
Nigel Bond vs. Andy Lee
Allan Taylor vs. Michael White
Sam Craigie vs. Michael Holt
Shaun Murphy vs. Sunny Akani
Section 2 Winner: Joe Perry vs. Sam Craigie
Section 3
Barry Hawkins vs. Zhou Yuelong
Lyu Haotian vs. Fan Zhengyi
Stuart Carrington vs. Gary Wilson
Hossein Vafaei vs. Eden Sharav
Stuart Bingham vs. Tian Pengfei
Robin Hull vs. Kishan Hirani
Lu Ning vs. Duane Jones
Sanderson Lam vs. Jak Jones
Section 3 Winner: Gary Wilson vs. Stuart Bingham
Section 4
Matthew Selt vs. Ian Burns
Joe O’Connor vs. Mike Dunn
Hamza Akbar vs. Soheil Vahedi
Stephen Maguire vs. Billy Joe Castle
Zhang Jiankang vs. Simon Lichtenberg
Jordan Brown vs. Lee Walker
Ben Woollaston vs. Harvey Chandler
Judd Trump vs. Jimmy White
Section 4 Winner: Stephen Maguire vs. Judd Trump
Section 5
John Higgins vs. Adam Duffy (a)
Chris Totten vs. Gerard Greene
Ashley Carty vs. Craig Steadman
Basem Eltahhan vs. Yan Bingtao
Marco Fu vs. Chen Zifan
Alfie Burden vs. Peter Ebdon
Thor Chuan Leong vs. James Cahill (a)
Zhang Yong vs. Anthony McGill
Section 5 Winner: John Higgins vs. Peter Ebdon
Section 6
Rory McLeod vs. Scott Donaldson
Graeme Dott vs. Lu Ning
Alan McManus vs. John Astley
Luca Brecel vs. Hammad Miah
Dechawat Poomjaeng (a) vs. Luke Simmonds (a)
Yuan Sijun vs. Xiao Guodong
Chen Feilong vs. Fraser Patrick (a)
Mark Allen vs. Liang Wenbo
Section 6 Winner: Graeme Dott vs. Xiao Guodong
Section 7
Ding Junhui vs. Niu Zhuang
Robert Milkins vs. Fergal O’Brien
Noppon Saengkham vs. Dominic Dale
Zhao Xintong vs. Ashley Hugill
Ryan Day vs. Rhys Clark
Kurt Maflin vs. Anthony Hamilton
Jamie Clarke vs. Mark Davis
Zhang Anda vs. Ken Doherty
Section 7 Winner: Zhao Xintong vs. Ryan Day
Section 8
Matthew Stevens vs. Li Yuan
Elliot Slessor vs. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Jimmy Robertson vs. Lukas Kleckers
Jack Lisowski vs. Adam Stefanow
Joe Swail vs. Andrew Higginson
Mark Joyce vs. Ricky Walden
Craig MacGillivray (a) vs. David Gilbert
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs. Daniel Wells
Section 8 Winner: Thepchaiya Un-Nooh vs. David Gilbert
Winner of the Scottish Open: Stuart Bingham vs. Ryan Day
The Scottish Open will take place between 10th-16th December 2018 at the Emirates Arena, Glasgow.
