Who is going to win the 2018 World Championship?

[blahblah01]

You replied while I was typing, and quite similar?

[Odrl]

This match could be a blowout, but if Wilson takes a page from Selby, he can depress O'Sullivan. I think he will, because O'Sullivan hates playing players like Selby, Higgins, and other "torturers".

I don't think I've ever seen John Higgins described as a "torturer" before. :smile: I think he actually plays a pretty clean, textbook game, and he's always had the confidence to play his own game against O'Sullivan, rather than trying to go slow and negative just to put him off his game.

[blahblah01]

Hmmm, you need a camcorder thingy (or modern day equivalent) filming from within a briefcase :snooker:

[bagpiper13579]

I don't think I've ever seen John Higgins described as a "torturer" before. :smile: I think he actually plays a pretty clean, textbook game, and he's always had the confidence to play his own game against O'Sullivan, rather than trying to go slow and negative just to put him off his game.

John Higgins definitely plays how he likes to play, regardless of situation. My point is that Higgins knows how to manage his opponents very well, and even if that isn't really playing negatively, it's very tight and difficult to break out of. Just think of Selby v. Higgins last year; Higgins was really running the match until Selby's great comeback, when Selby found a way to outplay Higgins at safety and "tight" snooker.
It's not negative snooker, but it is snooker that, while you don't have a chance, you don't leave your opponent chances either. That isn't the definition of a "torturer", like Selby can be, but it can be "torturous" to a player like Ronnie.

[Odrl]

John Higgins definitely plays how he likes to play, regardless of situation. My point is that Higgins knows how to manage his opponents very well, and even if that isn't really playing negatively, it's very tight and difficult to break out of. Just think of Selby v. Higgins last year; Higgins was really running the match until Selby's great comeback, when Selby found a way to outplay Higgins at safety and "tight" snooker.
It's not negative snooker, but it is snooker that, while you don't have a chance, you don't leave your opponent chances either. That isn't the definition of a "torturer", like Selby can be, but it can be "torturous" to a player like Ronnie.

I see what you mean. Yeah, Higgins has definitely dominated some matches against O'Sullivan in the manner you describe. :smile:

[blahblah01]

Aren't you two getting pedantic about Low Risk Snooker or Sensible Match play by two of the finest around - and neither of those are in Dott\Ebdon World - oh that Final........ Imho, not enough of the younger ones look upto these two H&S, not D&E lol, and just want to pot and then play snookers when ahead\behind at the end of the Frame, with somewhere in Baulk good enough for the start of Frames.

I can't help but think that Higgins lost that Final: the key frame(s) was\were early on ie the session before the comeback. Once he let Selby roll him over and take the lead then it was all over, barring a remarkable resurrection type of thing. Apologies for my bad memory, but he drove through a night to get a new tip put on?

[bagpiper13579]

Aren't you two getting pedantic about Low Risk Snooker or Sensible Match play by two of the finest around - and neither of those are in Dott\Ebdon World - oh that Final........ Imho, not enough of the younger ones look upto these two H&S, not D&E lol, and just want to pot and then play snookers when ahead\behind at the end of the Frame, with somewhere in Baulk good enough for the start of Frames.

I can't help but think that Higgins lost that Final: the key frame(s) was\were early on ie the session before the comeback. Once he let Selby roll him over and take the lead then it was all over, barring a remarkable resurrection type of thing. Apologies for my bad memory, but he drove through a night to get a new tip put on?

We are definitely being pedantic, haha. But i figured I needed to explain myself.

To your point about Higgins losing the final, I somewhat agree, but it took a lot of digging for Selby to find that comeback and put Higgins under pressure. Higgins definitely lost his stamina, and subsequently his ability to contain Selby, but Selby also found form. If either one hadn't happened, even if the other one had, Higgins would likely be defending champion this year.

[blahblah01]

True, but that is the point re Selby? When he won the one or two Frames at the end of that session we all knew what was coming next?

Just watching JAck beating Higgins in China to see if JH and Bingham are vulnerable, lol.

[OmaMiesta]

With the form that Maguire has been showing lately I think he could possibly give Ronnie a first round upset if Ronnie doesnt play his game.

[bagpiper13579]

With the form that Maguire has been showing lately I think he could possibly give Ronnie a first round upset if Ronnie doesnt play his game.

...I think Ronnie will play his game. He has had a great season, and he hasn't lost a first-round Crucible match in 15 years. He also has only lost to Maguire 4 times out of 22 matches. I think Ronnie has it

[OmaMiesta]

...I think Ronnie will play his game. He has had a great season, and he hasn't lost a first-round Crucible match in 15 years. He also has only lost to Maguire 4 times out of 22 matches. I think Ronnie has it

True the stats are all in his favour, this years Worlds is building up to be the most exciting in a long time.

[JimMalone]

The high point of the season is finally once again here. We've had some interesting months with good and not so intriguing tournaments, but this is the World Championship, this is the Crucible, this is where it really matters. Best-of-19 in the First Round, Best-of-25 in the Round of Sixteen and the Quarterfinals, Best-of-33 in the Semifinals and of course Best-of-35 in the Final.
For most of the season it looked like Ronnie O'Sullivan, who was the dominant player, would enter the World Championship as the heavy favorite, but this shifted a little bit, when Mark Selby, who has won three of the last four crowns at Sheffield, regained some of his form right in front of the season's biggest event and won the China Open.
And those two are probably the big favorites, but there's a whole bunch of dangerous players, who all want to win the title and certainly are capable of it with a good run.


But now let's have a look at
The Draw

First Quarter
Mark Selby - Joe Perry
Mark Allen - Liam Highfield
Kyren Wilson - Matthew Stevens
Shaun Murphy - Jamie Jones

Last year we witnessed history, when Mark Selby became just the fourth player after Steve Davis, Stephen Hendry and Ronnie O'Sullivan to succesfully defend his World Title in the Crucible Era. Can he make it three in a row? Only Davis and Hendry have done that before.
Selby has won the China Open again and form seems to point into the right direction as he played some great snooker there, but also had clear lapses in the semifinal, when he allowed a little comeback of Kyren Wilson and still gifted his opponents some chances. So I'd say his form is still a little suspect, cause it wasn't there for most of the season and one tournament shouldn't be overestimated. Of course the distance of the matches will play into Selby's hands. He hasn't lost a match, that is Best-of-19 or longer since his defeat against Ding Junhui in the 2016 Shanghai Masters. Selby is #2 of the season, but this is mainly due to his win at Beijing and if we take consistency into account I wouldn't call him this season's second best player.

Due to being the defending champion, Selby sits at the top of the draw again, but his path to a potential fourth title isn't an easy one. He opens his title defence against Joe Perry. They met five times in ranking events with Selby having a 3-2 lead (one of Perry's two wins was in Best-of-7) and Selby also won 2005 in the qualifiers for the World Championship. Perry isn't the easiest first-rounder, but Selby always should have the claim to win this one.

As #1 seed Selby has the #16 seed in a potential second round, which is thought to be an advantage. But when I look at the players ranked 9-16 Allen strikes me as one of the strongest of those players. The only two I'd maybe put above him are Neil Robertson and Kyren Wilson (and usually probably Marco Fu, but certainly not this season, when he unfortunately has huge problems with his eyes). If you'd include the Masters, the only non-ranking event of real worth and one of the most prestigious events of the world, in the ranking points list, this would totally change, propelling Masters-champion Allen to the 6th place of the World Rankings (funnily enough just 200 points above Mark Williams). And in the list of this season Allen would be #3 just behind O'Sullivan and Selby.

Allen, who has a match against Liam Highfield, who only lost 13 frames during qualification, loves playing the elite. Usually against the top players he brings his best abilities to the table and he has a pretty decent record against Selby. They played seven times in Best-of-11-matches with Allen winning four of them. The man from Northern Ireland also leads in ranking duels with 2-1, albeit Selby won the longest and most recent one, 10-7 in the final of last years International Championship.

In the quarterfinals Selby would potentially meet Kyren Wilson or Shaun Murphy. Wilson, who reminds me of Selby on his B-game, had three matches against the world number one so far. The first one was in 2016 at the World Championship quarterfinals as well with Selby winning 13-8. Their two other meetings at the 2017 China Open and recently at the 2018 China Open (both semifinals) were pretty close, but Selby won both.
Against Murphy Selby doesn't have a dominant record, leading just 8-7 in their relevant meetings (ranking events and the Masters), but recent history points more towards Selby who won five of the last seven.

I think that Allen actually is a bigger threat to Selby than either Murphy or Wilson.

Who of Murphy and Wilson is more likely to get to the quarterfinals? I think both should win their first rounders. It's nice to see Stevens at the Crucible again, but his path there wasn't exactly the hardest and Stevens didn't even had one outstanding result this season, while Wilson not only has matured a lot (despite some early losses), but also played his best snooker at the two last World Championships.

Jamie Jones' run to the years biggest event was remarkable as he beat his sections clear favorite Liang Wenbo 10-0. The huge shocker of the qualifiers for me. And Murphy is always good for being a victim of an early upset. Not less than five times this season he lost his opener and while he generally has a great resume at the Crucible (2005 World Champion and twice runner-up) and certainly loves playing there, his last two years in Sheffield ended early. Still he is the huge favorite in this match and a Wilson - Murphy meeting likely, though we should also await if Murphy's back has healed well.

Murphy and Wilson played each other at the 2018 Players Championship this season and Murphy won there comfortably 6-3 after leading 5-1. This is funnily their only meeting and I'd really look forward to another one. I think over a long distance Wilson, when on his best, would like his chances against Murphy, who is always relying to much on his Plan A, cause he doesn't have much else. But Murphy has more experience and also been the little better player this season, making the fourth-most points, while Wilson has been #9.

The pick
In the first half I can't see past Selby or Allen. If it's Selby he will beat Wilson or Murphy as well I think. But I can see both of them beating Allen (especially Murphy, who has a similiar, but, when he is rolling a little better game compared to Allen and has quite a positive head-to-head in that match-up). The head says Selby, but I think he will surprisingly lose to Allen, who'll lose to...
Kyren Wilson

Second Quarter
John Higgins - Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Stuart Bingham - Jack Lisowski
Luca Brecel - Ricky Walden
Judd Trump - Chris Wakelin

It's difficult to say who's the favorite in the second quarter. Last year's runner-up John Higgins or Judd Trump. Both had similiar success this season with Trump being #5 on the one-year-list, just 2500 pounds in front of #6 Higgins, while they also entered the tournament as world numbers #4 (Trump) and #5 with the chance of surpassing Ding. Trump has been a bit more consistent this season with 5 runs to the semifinals or further. Of course there is their H2H which is heavily in favour of Higgins, which he leads 7-3 and it's 6-1 when including only matches of at least Best-of-9-distance, 4-0 with Best-of-11 and longer. Of course a quarterfinal between those two is still far away.

First Higgins has to beat Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, but with his routine the Scotsman should have success in this task. Far trickier would be the second round in my opinion. Then the four time world champion would meet either Stuart Bingham or Jack Lisowski - which leads us to one of the most intriguing first rounders.

Lisowski has made a huge step forward this season and just recently at the China Open probably played his very best Snooker - he actually beat his potentially second round opponent John Higgins there 6-2. But also Stuart Bingham, who missed parts of the season, had a strong result there reaching the quarterfinals and his form points towards the right direction. There isn't any history between two, with their only meeting an easy 6-2-win for Bingham in 2012, but Lisowski simply wasn't half the player back then he seems now.

Whoever wins this should have chances against Higgins. Lisowski proved it a few weeks ago and Binghams game is like Higgins' own quite a complete one, so the 2015 world champion should be able to contend with him. On paper Higgins still is the clearly superior player to each of them, but he has so many early losses at Sheffield it may surprise people and there may well be another one this year, despite there could have been tougher opponents for Higgins. I've got the feeling that John simply doesn't have the consistency these days for a long tournament, despite being at the final just last season. But he has so many sessions, where he makes many very, very easy mistakes and this will sometimes cost him.

Judd Trump has the slightly easier draw. He plays Chris Wakelin first, who was strong in the qualifying, but his opponents there were not nearly the calibre of Judd Trump and Wakelin's results of this year don't really show anything which would make you think he could win this match. But it was the same way last year before Rory McLeod pulled off the stunning upset against Trump.

The round of sixteen is also a case of luck for Trump. Luca Brecel, ranked 13, is surely one of the weakest seeds right now and he mainly owns this position thanks to his win at the China Championship already many months back. Since new year the Belgian has only won one match, but despite his first round opponent Ricky Walden is one of the most well-known qualifiers I'd say right now that he isn't one of the most dangerous ones. Walden is still in search of his form. Maybe his routine can help him again the younger Brecel? But one more thing that may speak in the Belgian's favour is that he has actually fared better in the events with longer distances this season.

So this is the chance for Trump to gain confidence before a meeting with Higgins or Bingham in the quarterfinals and get rolling. I still have some doubts if Trump is ready to win this tournament over such a long distance. I said it often before: His shot selection is still lacking heavily and he doesn't have the right attitude. But let's see if he has matured.

The Pick
I think Higgins, whom I didn't really like over the long distances this season, is due to another early loss (despite I'm hoping the opposite) in round two this time. Trump will face either Bingham or Lisowski in the quarters and beat him. I'd give Bingham the better chance against Trump. Cause Lisowski is just a mini-version of Trump playing-wise (though far more likeable in my opinion).
Judd Trump

Third Quarter
Ding Junhui - Xiao Guodong
Ryan Day - Anthony McGill
Marco Fu - Lyu Haotian
Barry Hawkins - Stuart Carrington

I think this section of the draw is the one that lacks a bit in top quality compared to the three other quarters. Ding Junhui is by far the biggest name here, but with his shaky season he is not guaranteed to come through here. Maybe Barry Hawkins, who always plays at his best at Sheffield, and Ryan Day, who was in great shape during the last weeks are the likeliest to profitate if Ding doesn't play at a high level this year.

In the last two seasons this wasn't an issue with the Chinese though. In the past Ding was (partly rightfully) criticised for not playing at his best at the Crucible and also for folding under the huge pressure of becoming the first Chinese World Champion. This pressure is still immense and won't go away until the 31-year old has climbed this mountain, but I think he can cope better with it nowadays. And in 2016 and 2017 he was playing better than ever at the sport's biggest stage, reaching the final and the semifinal, both times losing only to Mark Selby and last year even beating his nemesis Ronnie O'Sullivan in a great match in the quarterfinals. In those two tournaments Ding really proved that in my opinion he is the world's best player behind Selby, O'Sullivan. This season we haven't seen much of this though aside from his triumph in the World Open, where he dominated the competition, but this was in September. In the spring I was waiting for him to hit his form, but he only made tiny steps and aside for the final at the Grand Prix, where he beat Selby, but lost heavily to O'Sullivan there was no success. In the China Open he lost only narrowly 5-6 to Kyren Wilson, not as bad as in 2017, when he lost to Wilson as well at the last tournament before the World Championship, but then it was a 1-5. At least there are signs Ding is playing better in spring than he was in autumn and this is a parallel to the last two seasons.

Ding opens against compatriot Xiao Guodong, which is also good news for him, cause he beat him easily at their last three meetings and despite Xiao being in good shape, the world number #3 has a huge chance to advance.
In the next round he could also meet a qualifier, cause I actually think that Ryan Day may be the favorite against Anthony McGill.

Ryan Day missed the seeding spot for Sheffield as #17, but thanks to the qualifiers and the points dropping from the 2016 World Championship he is already #13 in the provisional ranking and in the points list of this season only the man from Wales is even #12, second only to Ding of the players in this section and just ahead of Barry Hawkins (#14), who is only there due to his final at the China Open earlier this month though. Day rolled through the qualifiers, losing only 9 frames (though him was helped by the abandonment of Mitchell Mann) and this just proved his form after winning at Gibraltar and reaching the quarterfinal at the Players Championship.

While Days form is increasing the opposite is true for Anthony McGill. In autumn he reached the final of the Indian Open along with a semifinal at the English Open and a quarterfinal at the World Open. But it's worth to point out that away from the World Open he had absolutely no success in the important events over the longer distances. And this of course doesn't bode well for the crucible. I think of all 16 first-rounders this match this is maybe the likeliest that screams "Upset" if we take this as the word for the qualifier beating the seed.

The other half of this quarter is probaly the weakest in the draw - especially if we look on the form of the players this season.
Barry Hawkins is the highest seed here, but he is only #14 in the one-year list as pointed out above. Lyu Haotian is #31, Stuart Carrington #63 and Marco Fu even only #66. For Fu of course this is due to him hardly playing this season.
He is a real Sphinx here, cause actually he could come here and play very well. But with the man from Hongkong stating that "his eyes are not better yet" I'm afraid Fu won't have a very good tournament. Which is a pity, because at the last two World Championships he impressed by showing what a good player he is, losing to eventual champion Mark Selby on both occasions.

This time I think in contrast that Fu might become the victim of an early upset, cause Lyu was playing pretty good lately (making the third round at the China Open) and while I wouldn't call him one of the more dangerous qualifiers I think that Fu's form is so questionable that any qualifier would have felt lucky to draw him this time.

As for Hawkins, while he lost in the first round as open as not (six times each) in ranking events, he also had a hard time because of the death of his brother in law. And within his last three tournaments the Hawk reached the finals at the Welsh Open and more importantly at the China Open, which were of Best-of-11 and longer and where he played some great matches (especially against Neil Robertson) before falling to Selby in the final. His first opponent Stuart Carrington showed fighting spirit and mental strength in the qualifiers as he won his first match 10-9 over Nigel Bond before winning twice 10-8 against Ben Woollaston and Zhang Anda. And we know he can play in the crucible as he made three centuries in his match against Liang Wenbo last year. But still he lost. And Barry Hawkins is a fully different calibre than his opponents in the qualification and I expect Hawkins to come through as his first loss in a crucible opener lies already back eight years.

The Pick
I can only see Ding, Hawkins or maybe Day getting to the semis here. Other than in the upper half I don't have a clear gut feeling here, so I just go with the best player.
Ding Junhui

Fourth Quarter
Mark Williams - Jimmy Robertson
Neil Robertson - Robert Milkins
Ali Carter - Graeme Dott
Ronnie O'Sullivan - Stephen Maguire

At first glance this seems a very difficult draw for Ronnie O'Sullivan, who was by far this seasons best player. He won five tournaments, among them the UK Championship and he played very well - even for his own standard - for most of the season and didn't really have a time-out. His only true fails came at the International Championship and the China Open, where he lost his openers to Yan Bingtao and Elliot Slessor respectively. Along with Selby he is clearly the man to beat and contrary to the first look I think he may have smiled when he saw the draw.

Stephen Maguire may be one of the most dangerous qualifiers, but O'Sullivan has dominated this match-up since a long time. Of course this isn't surprising cause he is a better player, but he is also a great starter. And as Maguire tends to get frustrated so easily, this never bodes well for the Scotsman, when the two of them meet. Maguire is one of the players who is for the most part already beaten when he steps towards the table against Ronnie O'Sullivan.

The very same is also true for Ali Carter, the next seed to O'Sullivan in the draw. I've always found Carter to be a bit of an overachiever with two World Finals next to his name (albeit I admit he played very well in both editions) and this season he fell a long way down, being not even in the Top 30 of this season's rankings. He opens against Graeme Dott, who beat Carter last year at Sheffield. And while Dott has a good season and in contrast to Maguire or Carter won't give up easily, I honestly can't see him beating O'Sullivan over a Best-of-25-match right now.
So this would see O'Sullivan already in the quarterfinals, where things could become interesting.

He could realistically meet two players there with Mark Williams or Neil Robertson. Robert Milkins beat Robertson famously in the first round of the 2013 World Championship and it can happen again, but I don't see him beating also Mark Williams in the next round. The same is true for Jimmy Robertson. I can't see him beating Williams and his namesake from Down Under in a row (though I guess it's more likely this way). So this would leave the option of both underdog winning their opener and then play each other for the quarterfinal and the honor to lose against O'Sullivan, a match than would scream for a blow-out.

I wouldn't have thought I would wrote this one year ago, when Mark Williams didn't even qualify for the crucible, but the Welshman is the favorite to make it to the quarterfinals, when we go by performances of this season. In terms of ranking points he was the third best player, but I'd actually say that he was better than Selby, when we inculde consistency. Selby made most of his points thanks to winning two of the three biggest tournaments aside from the World Championship, but Williams had one good result after the other, making the quarterfinals of nine ranking events, winning two of them as well.

While he isn't quite the guy he was during the late 90s or early 00s, he is the best version of this Williams we've seen in a long time. The pots are flying in from everywhere, but I still have some minor questions if he is able to keep it up over a whole tournament and also issues about his mentality. I think missing the World Championship last season gave him new motivation, but does he really have the hunger for a third World title?
And then he is also somebody who has real troubles playing Ronnie these days. Over the course of the last 15 years Williams only beat O'Sullivan once (!) - at the 2014 International Championship - but lost 12 times! With four of those losses coming at the World Championship, where funnily enough Williams never could beat O'Sullivan. Though they only played those four times, none of the matches during Williams' prime.

However that leads me to the hope, that Robertson will make it to the quarterfinals, despite I like Williams much more than the Aussie and wish the Welshman all the best for having a good tournament.
Of all the players, Neil Robertson gives me the most troubles, when estimating their chances (with Ding coming in a close second). I think Odrl said something similiar: It wouldn't surprise me to see the 2010 World Champion add another crown to his resume and it wouldn't surprise me to see him crash out in the first round. After quite a drought he won a title (other than last season's Riga Masters) again at the Scottish Open in December and I think his determination is way higher than it was last year. Of course he isn't playing his best stuff (he would be among the elite with Selby, O'Sullivan and Ding then), but his form is slowly creeping back. He still lacks in consistency, which so often is key not only over the course of a season, but also during the 17 days of a World Championship.

Williams vs. Robertson would be the highlight of the second round for me, maybe even moreso than Selby vs. Allen. They actually have played each other rarely and the longest distance was just a Best-of-11, with Robertson winning two of those matches and Williams the third one. Both can win frames in one visits, but these days Williams seems better in the scrappy frames, despite Robertson was once pretty good at them as well. Both are among the best long potters in the game and I think it might come down to who plays the better safeties and goes for the smarter shots, for who would win this battle.

If it's Neil Robertson to play O'Sullivan in the quarters this of course could be interesting again. Robertson of course is not intimitated of playing the legend and other than Murphy and Trump he has not only the confidence, but on his good days also the overall game to keep up with O'Sullivan, though admittedly Robertson's good days were rare lately. In the H2H, regarding just ranking events and the Masters, O'Sullivan leads just 7-5, but he won both duels at the World Championship and both 13-10.

The Pick
I think Robertson or maybe even Williams could give O'Sullivan trouble in the quarterfinals on a good day, but still this section is a good path for Ronnie to reach the semifinals.
Ronnie O'Sullivan

Semifinals
Kyren Wilson beats Judd Trump
Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Ding Junhui

Though I easily could see both matches going the other way around.

Final
Ronnie O'Sullivan beats Kyren Wilson
I hope I'm wrong, but my gut feeling says that after this season this will be O'Sullivan's time again.
I could see him lose to Robertson or Ding and I think Selby would be the favorite against O'Sullivan if those two meet each other in the final. But I picked Allen to beat Selby and while maybe after picking quite bad lately I should listen more to my head than to my gut feeling and pick Selby for the second round match and for the title, I will still try it this time again and go by my gut feeling.


If I should rank the players on how I'd view their general chances of becoming World Champion this year (in a mix of general strength and current form) I'd probably have them about in this order:

Tier 1:
Selby
O'Sullivan

Tier 2:
Ding
Williams
Higgins
Trump

Tier 3:
Robertson
Murphy
Allen
K. Wilson
Hawkins

[motorhead]

Very nice Odrl, I like the different colors to highlight players as well! It's become a tradition to read your preview!

[Stony152]

I'll be quite surprised if Selby doesn't win again. He's just so mentally tough in the longer format matches. I give Allen (if they meet) a chance of beating him, but only if he plays absolutely at the top of his game.

I'd like to see Ding win it, but the more years he doesn't the more the pressure builds. Ronnie is on great form, but somehow I don't see him making the final.

Of the other contenders, I like Wilson and Williams the most in terms of possibly going deep.

[Dark]

Thank you Ordl and JimMalone, excellent posts.

Selby has shown very good form recently and seems to improving heading into the World Championships. While Allen and others in his quarter might challenge him I feel he will get through the quarter and make the semi finals

Higgins or Trump in the second quarter seems to the be main question and I think if Higgins gets to play Trump he will beat him. I expect Higgins to get there, although Bingham or Lisowski could be problematic if he is not at his best.
So the first semifinal a replay of the final from last year with Selby and Higgins

The third quarter should be Ding's with Fu having problems and Hawkins not having a great season either. I would not entirely rule out Fu playing well but it seems unlikely. So picking Ding here.

The fourth quarter should be O'Sullivan's based on his quality, form and the other players in the quarter. Williams or Robertson could be competitive in the quarter final but I doubt they are going to win.

So Ding - O'Sullivan in the other semi-final is my pick.

I think the best finals in terms of match ups are
Selby - O'Sullivan - the ultimate final as far as quality goes and a clash of styles.
Higgins - O'Sullivan - two of the greats proving how great they are by still being the best in their 40s
Selby - Ding - the best player in the world against the best player to not be world champion
Higgins - Ding

After that if Selby or O'Sullivan make the final I feel the anyone else against them would be disappointing. Perhaps Trump, Williams, Robertson or Fu would be the next best options.