2016 International Championship

[itsnoteasy]

I'm watching on British Eurosport 2 (Sky411) at the mo.
So it will also be on Eurosport player.

Thanks Dean, it showed car racing on the epg, so I didn't go on the channel, but it's snooker lol.

[DeanH]

strange choice of match showing on British Eurosport, as much as I like to see young Lines, not showing the Ding match?
The Ding/Mann match is on Table 1 on Eurosport Player.

[DeanH]

Ding steals frame 2 75-72 to draw level

[Odrl]

strange choice of match showing on British Eurosport, as much as I like to see young Lines, not showing the Ding match?
The Ding/Mann match is on Table 1 on Eurosport Player.

I was just about to mention that, clearly the wrong choice in hindsight. :smile:

In all honesty, Lines gave a pretty pathetic performance to lose 6-0, wasting all kinds of chances. But Mitchell Mann is playing surprisingly well today. He has been in front right from the start, and it's taken a couple of good frames from Ding just to stay in touch. Should be an interesting conclusion. :smile:

[Odrl]

And now a nice clearance from Mann to take a 4-2 lead. :smile:

Ding has lost all kinds of 1st round matches in the Chinese events in the past, but it's usually been a poor performance from him rather than the opponent playing really well like today. :smile:

[JimMalone]

Ding wins one frame more, but is still 3-5 behind and needs two win three more in a row.

[JimMalone]

There are already many matches played. But here just for fun my quarter-final picks.

John Higgins - Ricky Walden
Judd Trump - Yan Bingtao
Allister Carter - Ronnie O'Sullivan
Neil Robertson - Mark Selby

[Odrl]

Trump's match in the morning was fun to watch. Yuan did well to level the score from 3-0 down, but his shot choice was a little questionable from then on, as you would expect from such a young player, and Trump showed his experience to get in front again. Nice finish from him in the last two frames, two big breaks. :smile:

O'Sullivan-Xiao has just started, looking forward to watching this one. I think O'Sullivan will be in trouble if he is a little out of sorts here. :smile:

[JimMalone]

After escaping a qualifying loss and fighting back to beat Mitchell Mann 6-5 from 2-5 down, Ding Junhui now won his opening round match against David Grace 6-1, meaning the vice world champion won 10 of his last 11 frames.
Also the other favorites, playing in this session, Mark Selby, Ronnie O'Sullivan, Ricky Walden and Liang Wenbo are close to reach the next stage.

[Odrl]

Great match between O'Sullivan and Xiao in the end. Xiao was quite nervous early on and it looked like he would struggle, but he found his game in the middle of the match and was very close to forcing a decider. Cruel way to lose in the end, but what can you do... :smile:

I enjoyed Ding's win as well, nice to see a bit of fluency from him again. Just a shame he bottled that maximum. :smile:

[JimMalone]

Good showing bei Chinese Youngster Zhou Yuelong, making the round of sixteen by beating Mark Joyce 6-4. His compatriot Yan Bingtao was close to join him, losing narrowly 5-6 against Shaun Murphy, despite quite a good lead in the final frame. But still another good tournament when you think about his age. It's really interesting to follow Yans results.
Mark Selby again didn't play his best, but won comfortably 6-2 against John Astley.

[Rane]

The strongest line up for the last 16 for a very long time. 11 of the current 16 players are inside top 16 of the latest provisional seedings. It seems like the top players are really serious about this tournament.

[JimMalone]

What a great quarterfinal line-up we have. It includes six of the probably eight best players in the world.
The only two missing are Neil Robertson, who lost 2-6 against Joe Perry. And Ronnie O'Sullivan who lost 4-6 to Michael Holt in a match of rather low quality for the most part.

So tomorrow in the quarter-finals we get:
John Higgins - Ding Junhui
Defending champion Higgins moved easily through the field. But in recent matches against the very top players, a group in which Ding must be included, he didn't fare to well. Ding survived a comeback by Ricky Walden in the round of the last 16 and I'd make the chinese a slight favorite to win against Higgins as well.

Judd Trump - Shaun Murphy
Trump is in really great shape during the last weeks and also in Daqing he is again the player who has made the most centuries so far with six. I think this match could be quite close, but Trump is the favorite.

Stuart Bingham - Michael Holt
I didn't see Bingham play this week, but his results seem very convincing. Despite beating Ronnie O'Sullivan today I wasn't to impressed with Michael Holts performance. I expect Bingham to make it to the semifinals.

Joe Perry - Mark Selby
Selby had a difficult task today in his match with Liang Wenbo. He was 4-5 back, but as so often he found a way to win. The world champion is still not playing at his highest level, but as we have seen again and again he is always hard to beat, if you don't play your best yourself. I think Selby will find a way again here.

[Odrl]

A really good day of snooker today. Or should I say yesterday, as it's already past 3am here. :smile: I tried to watch as much of it as I could, which meant watching matches consecutively, and a couple of 6-5 results made it a very long day for me. :smile:

A classic Selby victory in the morning. Liang had a chance in the decider and missed, while Selby took his chance and got over the line in one visit. It's been a while since he played Perry in a big match. He lost heavily in the Welsh Open a couple of years ago, and Perry's impressive result against Robertson suggests this could be another close one here. I will go for Selby to win 6-5. :smile:

Ding's match was also quite entertaining, especially those two frames that went down to the colours. There were a couple of nervy shots from him towards the end, so I'm sure he was relived to get over the line. Ding has dominated the recent meetings against Higgins, including a win in the World Championship two seasons ago, but Higgins has had an easier job in the early rounds here, so I think he will be the fresher of the two tomorrow. I also get the feeling Ding has put himself under pressure a bit this week, while Higgins seems pretty relaxed. I will go for a Higgins win, 6-4. :smile:

I have to disagree with you regarding Holt today, I thought he was actually quite solid. The match was a bit of a scrap, yes, but once again Holt's concentration and discipline was immaculate, just like in Shanghai against O'Sullivan. He is always quite solid tactically, and I think the breaks might come tomorrow as well, when there won't be the O'Sullivan factor to contend with. He beat Bingham in Riga this year, so I'm sure he will fancy his chances here. That said, Bingham is obviously still the favourite, and I will go for a 6-4 in Bingham's favour. :smile:

As for Trump and Murphy, it's tough to say without seeing them play. Trump is on a good run of results and his confidence is high. He also has quite a strong record against Murphy, so I think he should take this. It could still go close though. How does 6-3 sound...? :smile:


This tournament has been superb, it has to be said, with all the big names coming through. Obviously we have lost a few in the last16, but the quarter-final line-up is still very strong. Looking forward to another long day tomorrow. :smile:

[JimMalone]

I have to disagree with you regarding Holt today, I thought he was actually quite solid. The match was a bit of a scrap, yes, but once again Holt's concentration and discipline was immaculate, just like in Shanghai against O'Sullivan. He is always quite solid tactically, and I think the breaks might come tomorrow as well, when there won't be the O'Sullivan factor to contend with.

I think Holt to often went for shots he shouldn't have gone for. Yes, that's his game. But still there were some bad choices and also a few easier mistakes.
I'm with you though that his composure through the match was quite good. Even after bad misses he didn't let himself down or get too frustrated. And also there were some good breaks of course. But overall I wouldn't say this was a very strong performance.