PREVIEW: Gibraltar Open – where players have to get BOULDER and BOULDER….

Yes, there will be many rock-based puns, this is happening. I do not want to start a QUARRY.

One of only three tournaments to remain unscathed from the PTC era (the others being the Riga Masters and the Paul Hunter Classic), it is I think a very odd choice to have a snooker tournament. Sure, the PTC circuit has  reaching Poland, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic a great stepping STONE to expand the game, but Gibraltar is a very ambiguous one. As is Jojobet.com, (who on EARTH has heard of them before?) a Turkish betting company that top players have to mention a name of to force the name as much as possible. But this is the second time the best-of-7 event has been on the snooker calendar and has been a raring success. It’s an IGNEOUS idea.

With Marco Fu unavailable to defend his title, there will be a new champion this time around. But this tournament is going to have a very big impact later on this season, not only because the World Championship Qualifiers starts in a month-and-a-half, but also because of the Players Championship in Llandudno. Only the Top 16 of the one-year-list will qualify for another opportunity to win a ranking title. The Top 15 of the list have already qualified, which means the No. 16 place is free for players to nick. Three players can take the last place: Ryan Day; Joe Perry; and Mark Williams will feel the PRESSURE of this one.

Race to the valleys

This is explained best by World Snooker:

“Perry must reach at least the final in Gibraltar to have a chance of jumping into the top 16, while Williams must win the title. No other player can catch Day. And if Day were to reach the last 16, Perry would then need to win the title, while Williams could no longer overtake his countryman.”

You can say, “it’s SEDIMENTARY, my dear Watson.”

Ryan Day has a favourable draw, but he knows he cannot take it for GRANITE. He said he will keep his concentration on his matches and ignore the others, but he is only one of the trio to rush from Coventry from the Championship League Group Final. His matches look tricky to – potential matches with Holt and Brecel are a STONE’S throw away. Perry’s toughest opponent could be Neil Robertson in the Last 16 and Mark Williams’s could have Zhao Xintong and Mark Davis waiting in the wings. So I can see a number of matches being battles of ATTRITION.

So how does the draw look?

Matthew Stevens vs. Michael White

Kurt Maflin vs. Hamza Akbar

Oliver Lines vs. Charlie Walters (a)

Barry Hawkins vs. Jeff Cundy (a)

Ken Doherty w/0 Shaun Murphy

Sam Craigie vs. John Foster (a)

Allan Taylor vs. Saqib Nasir (a)

Elliot Slessor vs. Josh Boileau

Jimmy Robertson vs. Ben Jones (a)

Paul Davison vs. Lee Walker

Mark Davis vs. Mark Joyce

Robbie Williams vs. David John

Zhao Xintong vs.Laurens De Staelen (a)

Joe Swail vs. Martin O’Donnell

Mark Williams vs. Adam Edge (a)

Andrew Higginson vs. Zhang Yong

Alfie Burden vs. Ian Burns

Anthony McGill vs. Joe O’Connor (a)

Mike Dunn vs. Michael Wild

Zhou Yuelong vs. James Cahill

Liang Wenbo vs. Ricky Walden

Yan Bingtao vs. Ashley Carty (a)

Robert Milkins vs. Christopher Keogan

Adam Duffy vs. Mark Selby

Gary Wilson vs. Peter Lines (a)

Thor Chuan Leong vs. Matthew Roberts (a)

Fraser Patrick vs. Stephen Kershaw (a)

Sydney Wilson vs. Igor Figueiredo

Darryl Hill vs. Steven Hallworth (a)

Nigel Bond vs. Aditya Mehta

Daniel Wells vs. Kyren Wilson

Fang Xiongman vs. Mitchell Grinstead (a)

Ross Muir vs. Mark Allen

Dominic Dale vs. John Higgins

Hossein Vafaei vs. David Gilbert

Ding Junhui vs. Jason Weston

Anthony Hamilton w/o Stuart Carrington

Tian Pengfei vs. Liam Highfield

Mark King vs. Simon Dent (a)

Jack Lisowski w/0 Itaro Santos

Stephen Maguire vs. Gerard Greene (a)

Matthew Selt vs. Rory McLeod

Jamie Curtis-Barrett vs. Judd Trump

Craig Steadman vs. Brandon Sargeant (a)

Scott Donaldson vs. Tom Ford

Peter Ebdon vs. Jamie Rhys Clarke (a)

Wang Yuchen vs. Sanderson Lam

Zhang Anda vs. Noppon Saengkham

Jamie Cope vs. Duane Jones

Luca Brecel vs. Martin Pitcher (a)

Michael Holt vs. Ian Martin (a)

Ryan Day vs. Phil O’Kane (a)

Fergal O’Brien vs. Ben Woollaston

Eden Sharav vs. Sam Baird

John Astley vs. Andreas Ploner (a)

Michael Georgiou vs. George Pragnall (a)

Rhys Clark vs. Sean O’Sullivan

Mitchell Mann vs. David Grace

Gareth Allen vs. Chris Wakelin

Neil Robertson vs. Jaspal Bamotra (a)

Jimmy White vs. Kurt Dunham

Joe Perry vs. Zack Richardson (a)

Hammad Miah vs. Dan Barsley (a)

Mei Xiwen vs. Jamie Jones

Okay, now I have hit ROCK bottom. It’s TUFF to make these puns on the spot, you know?