2018 UK Championship

[DeanH]

Eurosport schedule states they are starting on Nov 27.
BBC does not start till Saturday 1st

No play on Friday 30th

[Mark187187]

Eurosport just has replays of last years UK and World final listed for me on 27th. Suppose i'll wait and see

[bobmikeking]

Maybe it is only on the Eurosport player from the 27th?

[DeanH]

It is looking like the first 3 days are on the Player only, better than nothing I suppose

[wemba]

Will Willie Thorne be commentating?

[DeanH]

not on BBC, as he was "let go" last year(?)

[jamesg19851]

The BBC coverage starts on 1st December. What round will that be? Also, on the Eurosport player coverage of the first rounds will there be commentary? I'm pondering whether to get a month's subscription. Thanks

[DeanH]

1st Dec is Round 2 (or Last 64)
I cant recall commentary for Round 1 on the player but I could be wrong
If there is, probably only on table 1, none on the other tables (usually at least one other table).

[jamesg19851]

1st Dec is Round 2 (or Last 64)
I cant recall commentary for Round 1 on the player but I could be wrong
If there is, probably only on table 1, none on the other tables (usually at least one other table).

Thanks for that Dean. I'll probably start watching then on December 1st. I'm not overly bothered about the first round although I may watch one or two of the matches that get posted on YouTube.

[Billy]

The BBC coverage starts on 1st December.

Hazel

She's like the modern day David Vine when it comes to snooker presentation.

[JimMalone]

Just as usual some thoughts before the UK Championship.
Thanks to tradition I would probably still rank the UK Championship as the second most important tournament of the season, but the International Championship and the China Open are on the way to overtake it. I say this probably every year, but while I'm absolutely fine with the existence of such a big event that consists of all players on the tour, the UK Championship should at least have longer semifinals (Best-of-17).

Section 1:
Ronnie O'Sullivan is the defending champion and this doesn't bode well for his chances, cause not since Stephen Hendry in 1996 could a UK champion repeat his triumph in the following year. O'Sullivan is playing pretty well though and it will likely take a strong performance to take him out. Yuan Sijun could be a little stumbling block in round two, but he usually doesn't go to deep in the tournaments yet. Mark Davis beat O'Sullivan this year already over Best-of-11, but this was on a day, where O'Sullivan just wanted to go home after his foul controversy in the match before.
In the down half there are Jack Lisowski and Marco Fu (still far off his best, but slowly climbing back) who could give Ronnie a good match in the round of 16. And maybe even young Luo Honghao his opponent in the controversial English Open match.

Quarterfinalist: Still think O'Sullivan will make it here, but I could see Lisowski upsetting him.

Section 2:
The "chinese" section with seven of eight players coming from there. Among them the most famous: Ding Junhui. His form is very dubious though and he hasn't played much. I wouldn't even wonder if he stumbles as soon as round two (against Matthew Selt or Zhang Yong), in round three he could meet Xiao Guodong, who has cooled off a bit since last season.
With Shaun Murphy also the second top seed here is a mystery this season with mostly horrible results. The opposite here is true for Jimmy Robertson. Does he use the opportunity to go through to the quarterfinals? Or could Lyu Haotian do so?

Quarterfinalist: This section is wide open IMO, I'll pick Lyu Haotian here.

Section 3:
Judd Trump is in great form and his draw is also favorable with mostly players in bad shape near him except for Mark King. The down side is similar weak with either Ryan Day or Joe Perry the favorite to come through. Those two should have a chance against Trump though.

Quarterfinalist: Ryan Day

Section 4:
Another rather poor section. I think the upper one is wide open with Luca Brecel being the top seed here. In the other half it's John Higgins, who hasn't played much and had two disappointing tournaments lately. I wouldn't be surprised if he fell to compatriot Alan McManus in round two.

Quarterfinalist: John Higgins

Section 5:
Mark Selby was playing better than for most of last season in recent days and lost very unlucky to Ronnie O'Sullivan in the Northern Ireland Open and after a good start also just narrowly to an inspired Neil Robertson in the International Championship before. He usually plays well at the huge tournaments so I expect him to go deep here, though his draw isn't too easy. Selby could meet Ricky Walden in round 3 and Stuart Bingham in round 4 and for me the world number one is probably the favorite in this tournament.
Another candidate aside from Bingham or Walden to upset Selby is David Gilbert, who had some success this season and could meet Bingham in the third round.

Quarterfinalist: Mark Selby

Section 6:
One of the more interesting sections in my opinion. Kyren Wilson and Barry Hawkins are the players to overcome here. Both have pretty makeable rounds early on, but in round three Wilson could meet Yan Bingtao (whose performances and results are clearly behind last season's though) and Hawkins could meet either Liang or - Wilson (Gary, this is), which definitely could beat him. Both are on a rather weak streak with early losses lately, but they have a very well all-around game and are usually solid over the longer distances so I still expect one of them to get through.

Quarterfinalist: Kyren Wilson.

Section 7:
As the section before here are also two players, who could even go on to win the tournament. Mark Allen and Neil Robertson, two of the season's strongest players are the favorites to make the quarterfinal here. A meeting in the round of sixteen would be a chance for revenge for Robertson for the loss in the final at the International Championship. Possible hurdles: Gould or Vafaei for Allen and Un-Nooh or Stevens for Robertson. All of them not very high though in my opinion. I think the Aussie is a tad more reliable lately.

Quarterfinalist: Neil Robertson

Section 8:
Ali Carter vs. Stephen Maguire is a promising third rounder in this part and Zhao Xintong and Mark Williams could already meet one round earlier. Then there is Noppon Saengkham, who had some good results and could make the section really interesting. Williams still should be the favorite here, but lately I didn't like his body language.

Quarterfinalist: I need another surprise somewhere so I just pick Noppon Saengkham.

[Odrl]

Sensible choices for the most part, with a surprising one in section 2 and 8. I actually wouldn't mind a QF line-up like that. :smile:

I really wanted to post my own predictions this morning, but unfortunately I ran out of time halfway through. It will have to be later, some time during this afternoon's matches. :smile:

[F_Ivanovic]

Does anyone know what's happening with the Tian Pengfei vs Lyu Haotian match? I had a bet on it and it's suspended everywhere!

[Odrl]

Thanks to tradition I would probably still rank the UK Championship as the second most important tournament of the season, but the International Championship and the China Open are on the way to overtake it.

Yep, I think the China Open in particular is a comparable event nowadays, with longer matches and significantly higher prize money, so the "Triple Crown era" definitely seems to be coming to an end. That said, the UK Championship is still one of the highlights of the season, with a world-class field and matches of decent length, so I'm definitely looking forward to the next two weeks. :smile:

I don't have time to go over all 128 players here, so I'll do what I did last year and just look at the top five contenders in each section. The top five in my opinion of course...

Quarter 1:

Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Luke Simmonds
Yuan Sijun v. Ken Doherty
Zhou Yuelong v. Soheil Vahedi
Mark Davis v. Sam Craigie
Marco Fu v. Hammad Miah
Michael Georgiou v. Luo Honghao
Jack Lisowski v. Zhang Jiankang
Fergal O'Brien v. Mei Xiwen

Ronnie O'Sullivan is the defending champion and starts this event as one of the big favourites. He has not played a lot of snooker this season, in fact, he didn't play in any of the first three major ranking events in China, so he missed the opportunity to perhaps return to the top of the rankings for the first time in a long time. He has been more prolific in the invitational events though, winning the biggest two we've had so far this season. In all honesty, it's tough to see him losing a best-of-11 match against any player in this section. He has such a strong B-game at the moment that it always takes a very strong performance from his opponents to take him out, and most of the time they aren't even up for it mentally, because O'Sullivan has such an intimidating presence on the table. He has had his share of "weird" moments in York in the past, such as conceding a two-session match midway through the first session, or sitting in his chair with a towel over his head for no apparent reason, but he just doesn't look like he wants to get involved in any of that nonsense at the moment, and that's usually a very good sign for him.

It's a huge opportunity for everyone else in this section if O'Sullivan somehow goes out, and I think Jack Lisowski is first in line to take advantage. He has been remarkably consistent this season, with no fewer than five runs to the business end of ranking events, which is something he never really got anywhere close to in the past. His decision-making on the table leaves a lot of room for improvement, but I was impressed with the fight he showed throughout the International Championship, and pushing an in-form Robertson all the way in a two-session match showed how much he has improved as a player over the last year or so. I think he has an excellent chance to reach at least the last16 here.

Marco Fu is one of the players standing in his way, but Lisowski has already beaten him in a major match this season, 6-3 in the International Championship. Unfortunately Fu hasn't really been a factor in the game over the past 18 months... The QF he reached in the World Open this season was his first in a very long time, and so far it's been an isolated good result in a fairly mediocre season. He is just about hanging onto his top16 spot at the moment, but he has some big points coming off shortly, so he is desperate for a few good results in the near future. He may be struggling at the moment, but he definitely has the class to go far in any event, so it would be unwise to dismiss him here.

Mark Davis also deserves a mention here, having already beaten O'Sullivan in a best-of-11 match this season, 6-1 in the English Open. I think it's slightly unfair to put that result down to O'Sullivan's mental state, because Davis really did play well in that match. If he could repeat the performance he produced in Crawley, he would definitely be a contender here, but I fear the English Open could prove to be his one and only highlight of the season. There is certainly no indication he could play that well on a consistent basis, having played in every ranking event this season and going out early in most of them. That said, he is a former semi-finalist in this event, so I am definitely not ruling him out.

The rankings say Zhou Yuelong should be our fifth contender here, but I think Yuan Sijun is actually the bigger danger at the moment. He was a quarter-finalist in the China Championship this season, then pushed Robertson really close in the last16 of the International Championship as well, and all that at the age of only 18. The lack of experience has been pretty evident with him at times, so I think he might get overwhelmed if he plays O'Sullivan in the 2nd round here, but he is definitely one to keep an eye on.

Lyu Haotian v. Tian Pengfei
Jimmy Robertson v. Jordan Brown
Martin O'Donnell v. Xu Si
Shaun Murphy v. Chen Feilong
Ben Woollaston v. Alfie Burden
Xiao Guodong v. Sean O'Sullivan
Matthew Selt v. Zhang Yong
Ding Junhui v. Adam Stefanow

This section is a little weird, because the two biggest names have both had very poor seasons so far, so it's tough to pick a favourite at the moment. I suppose Shaun Murphy should be our man, mainly because his previous performances in York have mostly been very solid, and he is kind of due a good result. He lost in the qualifying stage in two of the big three Chinese ranking events in the first half of the season, which means he has dropped out of the top8 of the rankings for the time being, but I think this is the part of the season where we could see him raise his game again.

Ding Junhui is a very similar story to Murphy, the difference being that he tends to skip most events in the first part of the season these days, only playing in the major events in China. He won the UK title in great style in York in 2005, but the more recent years have seen him struggle really badly in this event. He is 31 now, so he should be enjoying some of his very best years, but instead he looks disinterested most of the time, and he tends to lose in the early rounds against players that are clearly nowhere near his level. This event last year was a perfect example of that, when he lost to Leo Fernandez from 5-1 up in a pretty pathetic way. He hasn't won any titles in over a year now, which is shocking for a player of his class, but for some reason I am not really surprised. He inevitably has a couple of good tournaments every season though, and it could be here...

Jimmy Robertson surprised everyone by winning the European Masters this season, which makes him the only player in this section to have won anything recently, but I'm not sure I like his chances here. My main worry is that his best results have all come in the short format this season, whereas the matches here are slightly longer and might favour a different type of player.

I am thinking Xiao Guodong could be a danger here. He has slowly but surely climbed back up the rankings with a couple of decent runs in the last year or so, and he now finds himself comfortably in the top32 again. He has a very calm presence around the table and always looks strong when he finds a bit of form, the only problem is that it doesn't happen for him as consistently as he would have liked. His best result this season is a QF in the World Open, but unfortunately it remains an isolated good run for him so far. He came very close to reaching the business end of the UK Championship a year ago, can he make it this time?

Tough call between Lyu Haotian and Martin O'Donnell for my fifth contender, but I will go with the former. The two actually played each other in the QF of the China Championship this season, and Lyu won that one very comfortably. He also beat Murphy in that event in the last16, eventually losing to Higgins in the semi-finals. Inconsistency may be a problem for most of the players in this section, but I think Lyu is right at the top of the list in that regard, having lost early in every event this season apart from that run in Guangzhou. I think the slightly longer matches will be in his favour here though, and we might see him playing a prominent part in this section.

Quarter 2:

Judd Trump v. David Lilley
Dominic Dale v. Gerard Greene
Mark King v. Elliot Slessor
Li Hang v. Lee Walker
Ryan Day v. Joe O'Connor
Andrew Higginson v. Nigel Bond
Joe Perry v. John Astley
Michael Holt v. Chen Zifan

Easy call in this section. Judd Trump is the man of the moment, having won the Northern Ireland Open two weeks ago in a very exciting final. He also has a couple of quarter-finals in the Chinese events this season, which makes him one of the better performers, but I would personally like to see him raise his game for the really big events, in the way that top players such as Selby usually do. Trump wins a title or two every season, but it's mostly the short-format stuff, which always leaves me with the feeling that he could and should be doing even better. He won this title in 2011 and almost added another one three years later, so he clearly has what it takes to win here, and I think a favourable section like this one is exactly what he needs to play himself into the tournament.

Ryan Day would be my second pick if Trump falters for some reason. It was 5-3 to Trump when they played in Belfast, but Day did prevail when they met in the English Open earlier in the season. I was really impressed with the way Day played to reach the SF of this event last year, particularly under pressure to win all of those close matches. Pressure play was actually considered to be one of his weaknesses for most of his career, but recently he has improved dramatically in that respect, and I think it's probably been the main reason for his resurgence. Well, apart from that shocking decider against Yan Bingtao in the International Championship perhaps, I still don't know how he managed to lose that one. :smile: Anyway, Day's best results this season have all come in the short format, so he is probably due a good result in a proper event. Could it be here?

Joe Perry is another player whose chances I quite like here. He lost in the final of the European Masters this season, another missed opportunity to finally win something notable, but I thought he never really played his very best snooker that week, so to even reach the final was a good result for him. He is a former UK semi-finalist, with all the experience in the world, and he definitely has the quality to go far if he finds his form.

Mark King has been a pleasant surprise so far this season, consistently reaching the venue stage of events and usually winning a match or two there, the highlight being his run to the SF of the European Masters in the short format. Like Perry, he too is a very experienced player and a former semi-finalist here. He got to the QF last year after a pretty long drought, which was quite a surprising result, but this year I think his odds before the tournament are quite a bit better...

The last player I will mention here is Li Hang, who lost a dramatic match to Day in the last16 here a year ago. He hasn't had any particularly impressive results this season, but his run to the last16 in Belfast is a promising sign, and he actually made more centuries that week than any other player except the two finalists. Actually, Selby made the same number, but he played two matches more than Li did! Li is usually a very steady and methodical player, and he seems to play better in this format than any other, so it will be interesting to see what he can do here.

Mark Joyce v. Niu Zhuang
Anthony McGill v. Lu Ning
Liam Highfield v. Robin Hull
Luca Brecel v. Fan Zhengyi
Tom Ford v. Craig Steadman
Robert Milkins v. Sanderson Lam
Alan McManus v. Alexander Ursenbacher
John Higgins v. Dechawat Poomjaeng

This is one of the weakest sections of the draw for me, particularly when you take the players' recent form into account. I believe they only have one single run to the business end of any event that carried ranking points this season, and that's between all 16 of these players. It was John Higgins who managed it, when he reached the final of the China Championship in September. I thought he didn't even play particularly well that week, and certainly the rest of his season has been disappointing so far. He's managed to win a few minor trophies in recent times, but the last major ranking title he won was over three years ago, so he could do with another one. Especially after having lost a couple of really close finals recently.

Luca Brecel has traditionally done okay in the UK Championship, and of course he is a better player now than when he reached two quarter-finals here in the past. No notable runs to report from him this season, but at least reaching the last16 in Belfast was a step in the right direction, although the draw he had there was quite easy. He has won a big ranking title in the past, so I can't be too harsh on him, but like Lisowski, he too is his worst enemy at times and doesn't always make the best decisions on the table. He is still a young player in today's game, about the age Robertson was when he made his big breakthrough, so I'm hoping we'll see him raise his game and mature as a player over the next couple of seasons.

Anthony McGill is the opposite of Brecel in many ways, a very solid and steady player who is unlikely to do anything crazy on the table, but at the same time he doesn't really have the firepower to blow his opponents away on a consistent basis. He knocked out Higgins in this event four years ago, then pushed the eventual winner O'Sullivan pretty close as well, but he never really improved as a player to the extent I was expecting after that. He is almost 28 now and has only won a couple of very small titles, but outside of the short format he has never even got beyond the quarter-finals in any event, which is surprising and somewhat disappointing for a player who has been in the top16. Well, a section like this is a good opportunity for him, so we'll see what he can do here.

What about Robert Milkins? In all honesty, he doesn't seem particularly dangerous at the moment. He has qualified for the venue stage of most events this season, but he hasn't managed a run beyond the last16 yet, and only managed one of those in the entire last season. I don't think this format suits him particularly, so he wouldn't be my choice here.

It's tough to find a fifth contender in this section, but I suppose Mark Joyce would be the best choice. Again, no results to speak of, and it's even worse in his case, because he has actually lost in the qualifying or the 1st round of every major event so far, which is clearly not a good sign ahead of this week. On the other hand, he has already reached two UK quarter-finals in his career, including last year when he was a frame away from making the semi-finals. I'm sure he is happy to return to York.

Quarter 3:

Mark Selby v. James Cahill
Akani Songsermsawad v. Eden Sharav
Ricky Walden v. Jak Jones
Michael White v. Joe Swail
Stuart Bingham v. James Wattana
Kurt Maflin v. Zhang Anda
David Gilbert v. Ashley Carty
Peter Ebdon v. Chris Totten

Very unusual to see Mark Selby in the third quarter of the draw, he has almost always been either at the top or at the bottom in the major events in recent years. It's a strong section as well, because players like Michael White and Eden Sharav, a semi-finalist in Belfast, don't even make my top five. Selby has actually played quite well this season, winning the China Championship in September, and he can count himself unlucky to have come up against such an inspired Robertson in Daqing, as well as losing his SF against O'Sullivan in Belfast on a fluke. The best-of-11 format has got a lot more common in recent years, and Selby is probably the player who has benefited the most from that, having won eight major events with this format in the past ten years or so. One of the big tournament favourites for me, and I think it will take a very strong performance from someone to take him out.

Stuart Bingham has had mixed results this season, winning the English Open with a strong performance, but also losing in the qualifying or the early rounds in all of the biggest ranking events so far. Unusual, considering he usually performs strongly in China. He definitely has the class to get through this section, but I would be surprised if he managed to get past Selby on this occasion. His best previous runs in York are a couple of semi-finals, and I'm sure he is happy to be back after missing out on last year's event.

Now, David Gilbert could be a danger here is as well. He seems to like playing in China, so it's not surprising that the first part of the season went well for him, including a run to the final of the World Open, where he was actually well in front before losing to Williams in a deciding frame. He also showed some decent form in Belfast, reaching the QF before running into O'Sullivan and failing to produce the kind of snooker that got him there. Gilbert is definitely a strong player when he finds his form, but unfortunately he lacks a bit of consistency, which has stopped him winning titles and getting into the top16. He is not far off though, and a good performance here could see him get there.

Peter Ebdon is also having quite a good season by his recent standards. Last season he failed to reach the QF in any event that carried ranking points, but this season he has already done so twice, including a run to the final of the Paul Hunter Classic, though it has to be said he had quite a favourable draw there. He also got to the QF in Belfast, and probably should have gone a round further as well, but let a good lead slip away against Sharav. Ebdon used to be something of a specialist for the longer format in the past, but these days most of his best results come in the shorter events, so he wouldn't be my choice here.

Finally, I keep waiting for Ricky Walden to have a good run. Clearly he is not the same player he was two or three years ago, and his mediocre form has seen him drop down the rankings quite a bit in recent times, but he is not all that old for a snooker player these days, so I wouldn't give up on him just yet. He too has mostly played well in the shorter events recently, but who knows...

Stuart Carrington v. Paul Davison
Yan Bingtao v. Lukas Kleckers
Mike Dunn v. Allan Taylor
Kyren Wilson v. Andy Lee
Gary Wilson v. Billy Joe Castle
Liang Wenbo v. Sam Baird
Robbie Williams v. Ian Burns
Barry Hawkins v. Jamie Clarke

A couple of strong players in this section, but unfortunately some of them are not really living up to their potential at the moment. Kyren Wilson is probably the favourite for me here. He has never reached the business end of the UK Championship before, nor of the International Championship for that matter, but he has done so quite a few times in the other longer events, so this is clearly a format that shouldn't cause him any trouble. It's tough to say what his most impressive result has been so far this season. He won the Paul Hunter Classic in the summer, but the competition he beat there was kind of laughable for a ranking event, so that win didn't impress me particularly. Perhaps more impressive was his run to the final of the Champion of Champions, where he stood up pretty well to O'Sullivan and would have probably won with just a little bit more luck. He has had quite a few near misses recently, which must be pretty frustrating for him, and there is a danger it becomes a pattern with him. I hope he can make another step forward in the remainder of this season and possibly challenge for these really big titles, and this is where it could all start for him.

Barry Hawkins is the other player in this section who has been playing well this season, though he hasn't actually managed to win anything. He came close in the Shanghai Masters, losing 11-9 to O'Sullivan after being in front in the first session. He also had a couple of good runs in the Chinese ranking events, the SF in the World Open and the QF in the China Championship to be specific. In the UK Championship he has only managed a single QF in his entire career so far, so it's clearly not his favourite event. Still, he should be the favourite in every match he plays until at least the last16 here.

It will be interesting to see what Yan Bingtao can do here. He has so far failed to reproduce the kind of snooker he was playing last season, but there is still a lot of snooker to be played. Running into Trump a couple of times in the big events certainly didn't help, so perhaps he couldn't have done a little better with slightly more favourable draws, but of course you have to hold your own against the top players if you want to be challenging for major titles. He is still only 18 and seems to be a pretty mature character, so I would be surprised if he went on a prolonged run of mediocre results at this point.

And on that note, what a perfect opportunity to introduce Liang Wenbo, a former finalist in this event. He has actually failed to reach the QF in any event that carried ranking points in the last 18 months, which has seen him drop down the rankings quite a bit now, and I don't think anyone really expects him to go far in events anymore. Still, he has usually done well in the longer games, and he is the same age as Ding, which means these should probably be his prime years. Things surely have to turn around for him at some point, don't they?

Tough call for our fifth contender, but I think Gary Wilson is probably the most sensible choice. He got to the QF of the World Open earlier in the season, where it was actually Hawkins who beat him. He struggled for a couple of seasons after reaching the final of the China Open in 2015, but he has played a lot better again recently, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a few good runs from him. Getting to the QF in this section is a big ask though...

Quarter 4:

Mark Allen v. Basem Eltahhan
Rory McLeod v. Peter Lines
Martin Gould v. Harvey Chandler
Hossein Vafaei v. Ashley Hugill
Neil Robertson v. Kishan Hirani
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v. Jimmy White
Graeme Dott v. Oliver Lines
Matthew Stevens v. Ross Muir

A tricky section, with two players who have definitely been among the best performance this season, but only one can make it through. Let's start with Neil Robertson, a UK champion on two occasions in the past. His UK title in 2015 is actually the last really big title he has won, but it's not been a complete drought for him, with several minor titles to add to his legacy, including the Riga Masters title this season. He also reached the final of the International Championship for the second time in his career, and he didn't really do much wrong to lose 10-5, he just ran into another top player playing their absolute best stuff. It's nice to see Robertson playing a little more consistently again, and I think it's just a matter of time before he gets back into the top8 and starts looking really dangerous in these events again.

Mark Allen has played some terrific snooker this season, particularly at the business end of the International Championship, where he won the title in great style. Along with the Masters, he now holds two of the five or six biggest titles in snooker, which is something he never really got close to doing before. Unlike Ding and Liang, he actually does seem to be enjoying his best years now at the age of 32, and I don't think anyone would be particularly surprised to see him winning another title here. If he could play the way he did in Daqing, he would certainly be very difficult to stop.

Matthew Stevens completes the little International Championship reunion in this section, yet another semi-finalist from Daqing. My scepticism about his chances there is well documented, but he actually played terrificly well after barely managing to win a match all season prior to that. Was it a single moment of inspiration, or can he start playing like that on a more consistent basis again? I still think it's probably the former, but I won't make the mistake of underestimating him again...

Tough to see anyone else coming through in this section, although Martin Gould is always a dangerous player. He has actually been quite disappointing this season, only playing at the venue stage of two events, but he reached the QF of the UK Championship twice in the last three years, so he clearly has the class to get through again. His record against Robertson is not the best though, so I'm sure he would prefer to avoid him here.

Finally, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh played some good stuff in Belfast a couple of weeks ago, pushing Selby fairly close in the QF, so he is clearly in decent form at the moment. He had that disappointment in York a few years ago when he missed a black on 140, but he has since managed to make a 147 on two occasions, so I'm sure he is over it by now. A fantastic potter, capable of blowing his opponents away when he is on his game, but it's still tough to see him prevailing in section like this one.

Chris Wakelin v. Duane Jones
Allister Carter v. Thor Chuan Leong
Scott Donaldson v. Li Yuan
Stephen Maguire v. Simon Lichtenberg
Noppon Saengkham v. Hamza Akbar
Anthony Hamilton v. Rod Lawler
Daniel Wells v. Zhao Xintong
Mark Williams v. Adam Duffy

Another fairly strong section to conclude with. Mark Williams starts the UK Championship as one of the big favourites for the first time in many years, but he hasn't exactly been the most consistent player this season. He managed to win the World Open in the summer, the first major event of the season, but he hasn't really been able to follow it up with any other good results. I agree with JimMalone about his body language, at times he looks so disinterested that he makes Ding look like a model of concentration, which suggests he doesn't really have much ambition at the moment after his great success at the Crucible. Still, he has enormous quality and all the experience in the world, so he should still be tough to beat in this format.

I think his most dangerous opponent here will probably be Stephen Maguire. His win in York in 2004 remains one of the most impressive displays of snooker we've ever seen, and he has reached the business end of this event a total of nine times in his career, even in periods where he was generally struggling with his form. He is 37 now, so I don't think he can magically become a top player again, but surely he still has a few good results in him. It's amazing to think he hasn't won any titles in four years, and nothing outside of short format in more than ten years now! His record against Carter is not the best, but he if can beat him (or avoid him) here, he definitely has a chance to go far.

Ali Carter will probably be optimistic about his chances as well. He has a couple of quarter-finals this season, and with recent wins over both of his main rivals here, there really isn't any reason for him to be scared of anyone. I think his main problem recently has been his overly negative attitude, his tendency to obsess about every little setback, whether it's bad luck or his own mistakes. If he ends up playing Maguire, there will definitely be some expressions of displeasure from whoever is losing. :smile:

I think Noppon Saengkham has been one of the most improved players this season, with runs to the QF of the English Open and the SF of the World Open, and he can consider the latter to be a missed opportunity, because he actually had a commanding lead against Williams and let it slip. He is another one of those players who sometimes take a little longer to get going, so I think the best-of-11 format will definitely suit him.

That just leaves Zhao Xintong, a semi-finalist in the China Championship this season. He actually beat quite a few tough opponents there, including Williams, which was surprising for a player who has a bit of Brecel or Lisowski in him, and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way. He is only 21, so still plenty of time to mature as a player, and beating the likes Wells in the opening round of major events would be a good start.

Possible QF line-up:

Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Shaun Murphy
Judd Trump v. John Higgins
Mark Selby v. Kyren Wilson
Neil Robertson v. Mark Williams


There we are then... Sorry for the late post, but there just wasn't any time earlier. Should be a nice event whatever happens. :smile:

[DeanH]

Does anyone know what's happening with the Tian Pengfei vs Lyu Haotian match? I had a bet on it and it's suspended everywhere!

it is on... not a TV table though
http://livescores.worldsnookerdata.c...mpionship-2018