2017 International Championship

[snari]

Some virtuoso stuff from Ronnie, absolute master class.

That was really good performance from Ronnie. I also liked how he hid the referees remote control after one frame

[Ethanat]

Saw something interesting in this match.

https://youtu.be/BkI0cEfFm3g

Ronnie was playing a screw shot at 13.22. Was his cue bent when he did the back swing? If so then he must be applying alot of pressure on the cue.

[jonny66]

Saw something interesting in this match.

https://youtu.be/BkI0cEfFm3g

Ronnie was playing a screw shot at 13.22. Was his cue bent when he did the back swing? If so then he must be applying alot of pressure on the cue.

Someone posted some slow motion shots on here a while back and I noticed this also, he seems to put a lot of pressure on his chin when he pulls the cue back. Just part of his technique as he keeps his elbow high on the back swing then pushes it through when he delivers the cue.

[Ethanat]

Someone posted some slow motion shots on here a while back and I noticed this also, he seems to put a lot of pressure on his chin when he pulls the cue back. Just part of his technique as he keeps his elbow high on the back swing then pushes it through when he delivers the cue.

Ouch, that much pressure on the chin? Thought he was doing it with his grip.

[sealer]

Saw something interesting in this match.

https://youtu.be/BkI0cEfFm3g

Ronnie was playing a screw shot at 13.22. Was his cue bent when he did the back swing? If so then he must be applying alot of pressure on the cue.

They thing is you really do not need much to bend the cue like that. It is enough to just have the chin on it and it bends like this. It is minimal pressure.

[JimMalone]

So I'll use my quite sparely time this week and have a short view on the draw here as well. If only I've got a chance after picking Trump and O'Sullivan correctly to win the two latest events to make it three in a row here ;-)

First Quarter
Mark Selby is the defending champion and usually would be the favorite at a tournament as big as this one. As we know his form in this season so far has been mostly poor though. For me it is one of the biggest questions of this week: Will he respond and come back strongly in an important tournament with a lengthier format? If he qualifies Selby will already have a tough first rounder against Cao Yupeng, who was in good shape recently. He would likely have Tom Ford next and then Mark Williams, whose season has been quite satisfying so far, reaching the quarterfinals in four of five events.

The other section was supposed to have Stuart Bingham alongside Neil Robertson, but the 2015 World Champion won't be able to contend due to his ban. So this could be quite an open fight for a place among the last sixteen. Robertson has a tricky opener against Gary Wilson, also here is Joe Perry. But with Bingham out you have to say, that overall Selbys draw in this quarter isn't as tough as it could be.

Second Quarter
After a strong start to the season Shaun Murphy has lost earlier matches during the last events, while Stephen Maguire hasn't done anything of note since starting with a final appearance at Riga and Ali Carter has only played in two events. Also their first-round-opponents are not exactly the strongest you can draw, so this could be a good chance for any of them to reach at least the fourth round.

In the other half there is Ding Junhui, who lost early in Barnsley, but I expect him to be much stronger in the Best-of-11-matches. The last bigger tournament were the World Open and of course Ding won the title there, when he beat Kyren Wilson with a convincing final performance. He could meet the Englishman as early as in round 3 here and I don't really see Ding not appearing to this rendez-vous, with Chen, Oliver Lines and either Milkins or Dott in his way. In this quarter I'd call Ding the favorite to make the semifinals.

Third Quarter
This is a quite interesting one as it is very top-heavy. In the top half you've got Judd Trump, who obviously is the favorite here. But he could have Zhou Yuelong already in round 2 and at the moment that's nearly as tough as it gets for a seed in the second round. But it's difficult to say in which mental shape Zhou Yuelong will be, cause he is mourning the death of his mother, who passed away recently. The other second round match here could be a chinese battle between Liang Wenbo and Li Hang, who reached a semifinal and a quarterfinal in the two other longer events of this season so far. And while he hasn't done much aside from the China Championship and the World Open this has to be noticed, since the International Championship is a very similiar event and also played in China. It also wouldn't surprise me if he loses to David Gilbert though.

The other half here is much easier with Mark Allen being the favorite. The toughest challenge could be a third round match against either Hossein Vafaei or Akani Songsermsawad, who had quite decent results recently.

Fourth Quarter
Will Ronnie continue where he left in Barnsley and play brilliant snooker again? Then he would be hard to stop. But winning two titles in a row (the only player to achieve this during the last four seasons - if we include this half-season already - was Mark Selby who won the China Open and the World Championship last year) and also the draw isn't without traps. O'Sullivan could open against Yan Bingtao, then play Peter Ebdon, though this is obviously much easier and therefore less interesting than it was 10 years ago, before running into Barry Hawkins (who needs a good result urgently), Jack Lisowski or Xiao Guodong.

And of course there is already the next match between O'Sullivan and John Higgins looming in the quarterfinals. But before this the Scotsman would likely face a really, really difficult test in the third round. Cause Anthony McGill (opens against Mark Joyce) and Luca Brecel (against Li Yuan) are there and could meet in the second round. Brecel still tops the list of this seasons ranking with McGill being seventh. So this definitely would be a highly interesting second round match.

Possible Quarterfinals:
Mark Williams - Neil Robertson
Ali Carter - Ding Junhui
Judd Trump - Hossein Vafaei
Ronnie O'Sullivan - John Higgins

Semifinals:
Williams - Ding
Trump - Higgins

Final:
Ding - Higgins

Winner:
Higgins

[Mr Snooker]

Will Stuart Bingham have his £4,000 added to his order of Merit ranking since he won his first qualifying match before he received his ban from World Snooker and does this also apply for the Shangi Masters as well because he also won his first qualifying match in that event as well.

[Odrl]

Ah yes, the third major ranking event of the season starts tomorrow...

The International Championship has been one of my favourite events on the calendar right from its inception five years ago. The best-of-11 format gives it a sense of prestige that is sadly lacking in most events these days, and there is almost always high quality and exciting snooker to be seen. Last year we had an unusually high percentage of one-sided matches, so I'm hoping for some closer games this year. :smile:

The field is world-class, as expected. All the top players entered this event, and the vast majority are still here at the venue stage. The only really notable victims of the qualifiers were Marco Fu and Michael White, while Stuart Bingham is of course missing following his suspension. A lot of the matches involving Chinese players have been held over, so there should be a nice local flavour to the event, and I would not be surprised to see two or three home players at the business end. The four notable youngsters are all here, as are a couple of the Chinese players from the previous generation who are experiencing something of a resurgence this season. I think JimMalone's predictions are quite sensible, so I would go along with most of them. That said, let's have a quick look at the draw in its entirety...

Quarter 1:

Mark Selby/Ashley Hugill v. Cao Yupeng
Tom Ford v. Ian Preece
Ryan Day v. Kurt Maflin
Mark Williams v. Yu Delu/Lyu Haotian

Joe Perry v. Sam Craigie
Stuart Bingham v. Robbie Williams
Michael Holt v. Matthew Selt
Neil Robertson v. Gary Wilson

Mark Selby is at the top of the draw for a change, attempting to defend the first of the four major ranking titles he won last season. We know that his record in the slightly longer tournaments is superb, I would even say unrivalled in recent seasons. He has won the last four ranking events with best-of-11 or longer matches and reached at least the semi-finals in the last six. You have to go back to the UK Championship two years ago to find the most recent one he failed to win. He played very well to win the title here last year, some commentators even described it as some of his best-ever snooker, although I personally think that was a slight overstatement. We haven't seen anything of the sort from his this season so far, indeed his 1st round defeat to Lee Walker in the World Open was probably his worst result in a very long time, but of course this is the part of the season where most of the really big events are played, so I would expect Selby to find some form again. Yesterday was the final of the Haining Open, a rather obscure tournament that we didn't hear a lot about, but quite a few familiar players played in it, and Selby defeated Tom Ford in the final, making a 147 in the process. It's a good sign for both players ahead of this week, particularly for Ford who hasn't had too many notable runs in recent times. He did reach the final of the Paul Hunter Classic last season, and there too he was defeated by Selby. Of course Selby has some work to do to set up that meeting here. He could play Cao Yupeng in the 1st round proper, a player who is finally showing some potential again after five years of mediocre results. He got to the last16 of the World Open and the semi-finals of the European Masters recently, so he could be a danger here. He has been on the scene for a long time, so it would be easy to dismiss him as someone who never really fulfilled his talent, but he is still only 26, which is roughly the same age as Anthony McGill and Kyren Wilson... Ryan Day won the Riga Masters at the start of the season, his first title that carried ranking points, but apart from that he hasn't really made much of a mark. Mark Williams has been the opposite case, very consistent performances, which include runs to the quarter-finals of both major events in China, but he hasn't made it to any finals. As a specialist for the Chinese tournaments, I think Williams is the biggest danger to Selby in this section. It's interesting, Williams, Day, Cao and Ford were all in the same little section in the China Championship as well, and it was Williams who came through on that occasion. This section also includes Kurt Maflin, an underwhelming performer so far this season, as well as two very intriguing Chinese players. Yu Delu got to the semi-finals in Haining the other day, losing 4-3 to Ford, while Lyu Haotian played a good game against Selby in the recent European Masters, only losing in the deciding frame. Lyu is also a former quarter-finalist in this event, five years ago as a wildcard, when he was only 14!

A lot of people have their doubts about Selby at the moment, but his struggles are nowhere near the crisis Neil Robertson is going through. The last major event he won was the UK Championship two years ago, and when the points from that come off next month, his ranking is set to drop quite dramatically. Winning the invitational Hong Kong Masters in July was a nice consolation prize for him, as the money in that was very nice, but as far as ranking snooker is concerned, Robertson's best run this season has been the quarter-final in the English Open. Bingham being removed from the draw has opened things up a little for him, but he still has to put in a good performance to get through this section. He opens against former China Open finalist Gary Wilson, who beat him on TV a couple of years ago in the Welsh Open, and you may remember that Robertson lost one of the frames in that match after missing three times when he could see a ball on. He has some unpleasant memories of Michael Holt as well, having lost to him in the 1st round of the World Championship last year, in a match where Holt played out of his skin. Robertson then beat him in the final of the Riga Masters a few months later, but lost again when they met in the International Championship a year ago. Holt hasn't had any notable results yet this season, but he does tend to play some of his best snooker when travelling abroad, so I could easily see him going through here. Matthew Selt is perhaps a bigger outsider at the moment, after a period of fairly dreadful results for him, but he did reach the quarter-finals in Haining this week, and that could be a decent sign. Of course he also has a notable win over Robertson to his name, having beaten him in the Australian Open the last time the event was held. Robbie Williams is already through to the 2nd round, but I can't see him making any further progress really, as he has never been to the business end of any ranking event outside of the short format. That leaves Joe Perry as the most realistic danger for Robertson, and of course they have had quite a rivalry in recent years. Robertson won 10-9 in the final of the Wuxi Classic three years ago, but Perry won both times they played in China last year. He played fantastic stuff in the semi-finals of the 2016 World Open, finishing the match with three centuries and a 90 to win 6-2, then added another 6-2 win in the International Championship, leaving Robertson visibly frustrated towards the end of the match. Unfortunately Perry hasn't been in great form so far this season either, so it will be interesting to see if anyone in this section can raise their game this week. Personally, I would still go for Robertson.

Quarter 2:

Shaun Murphy v. Mei Xiwen
Alan McManus v. Zhang Yong
Allister Carter v. Andrew Higginson
Stephen Maguire v. John Astley

Martin Gould v. David Grace
Kyren Wilson v. Tian Pengfei
Graeme Dott v. Robert Milkins
Ding Junhui/Chen Zhe v. Oliver Lines

Very few genuine contenders in the next section. Shaun Murphy is the biggest name, looking to win his first event outside of the short format in almost three years. He came close in the China Championship at the start of the season, losing to Brecel in the final, although his performance that week wasn't all that great in my opinion. He then followed it up with a run to the final of the short-format Paul Hunter Classic, but since then he has been somewhat disappointing, even losing in the qualifiers for the Shanghai Masters a couple of weeks ago. Mei Xiwen seems like an easy draw on paper, but he can actually be quite a tricky opponent. He is the same age as Murphy, quite experienced with a number of decent scalps to his name in recent years, and he did well in Haining this week with a run to the quarter-finals. The second of our three big contenders in this section is Ali Carter, last year's World Open champion and a semi-finalist in the China Championship this season. We haven't seen a lot of him lately. He chose not to defend his World Open title, and he skipped most of the short-format stuff as well, either losing in the qualifying or not entering the events at all. Clearly he has his reasons for not playing as much as most others, but when he does play he is still a top player and a big danger in events such as this one. Stephen Maguire still has his moments as well, but they are quite rare and difficult to predict. His best events traditionally used to be the UK Championship and the Welsh Open, but lately most of his runs to the business end of events have been on travels, so that's one thing in his favour here. There is lots of history between the three main players in this section, but if we just stick to the more recent stuff, Murphy beat Carter 6-4 in the semi-finals in Guangzhou, and he whitewashed Maguire earlier that week as well, so he has a slight psychological edge over the other two. It's hard to see anyone else getting through in this section. Alan McManus hasn't been to the business end of any event since that surprising run at the Crucible 18 months ago, and his last visit to China saw him whitewashed by a local amateur, so the signs are not good for him. Andrew Higginson has done little better, a quarter-final in Riga is his lone notable result, and even that was in the short format.

The other section in this quarter intrigues me a little more. We could have a repeat of the World Open final between Ding Junhui and Kyren Wilson as early as the last16 here, two players who are in the top4 on the 1 year ranking list, so this draw is somewhat harsh on both of them. Ding won 10-3 in Yushan, so I'm sure he will fancy his chances here as well. He is always a bit of a mystery in the first half of the season though, because he skips almost as many events as O'Sullivan does. He was heavily beaten by Selby in last year's final, so I'm sure he will be motivated to have a strong tournament here. Wilson we know is in good form, having reached the final of the English Open last week. It has to be said that his draw in Barnsley was incredibly easy on paper, but of course that's not something he can influence, and he did play very well in the matches that were televised. He has had notable results in several Chinese venues in the past, but the International Championship has been an exception so far. On paper, the player most likely to cause problems for the two favourites here is Martin Gould, but he is going through a period of very average results, with only one appearance at the business end of any tournament that carried ranking points since his triumph at the German Masters two seasons ago. Graeme Dott has struggled even more in this period. He was beaten by Gould in the semi-finals of that German Masters tournament, and he hasn't been to the quarter-finals of any other ranking tournament since, not even a minor one. He came fairly close in Guangzhou though, losing to O'Sullivan in the last16. Robert Milkins was his 1st round opponent in that event as well, and I think Dott will enjoy meeting him again here, because he has quite a strong record against him. Milkins had the better last season, with a couple of good runs in the short format, but this season he hasn't done anything notable either, so I don't have much confidence in him ahead of this week. No results to mention from the remaining players in this section either, but perhaps Tian Pengfei is one who should not be underestimated. He has had notable wins at Chinese venues in the past, and I think he will eventually string a few of them together to have a good run. He played in Haining a few days ago, but he was unfortunate to run into Stuart Bingham very early on, so his result there doesn't really tell us much...

Quarter 3:

Judd Trump v. Ian Burns
Zhou Yuelong/Robin Hull v. Jimmy Robertson
Liang Wenbo/Adam Duffy v. Lee Walker
David Gilbert v. Li Hang

Mark King v. Rory McLeod
Mark Allen v. Matthew Stevens/Zhao Xintong
Martin O'Donnell v. Sanderson Lam
Hossein Vafaei v. Akani Songsermsawad

One of the strongest and most interesting sections of the draw, with five players who could easily have a good result in this tournament. Judd Trump is the biggest name, the winner of the short-format European Masters this season. He is another player who hasn't played at venues a lot lately, but as I said before, this is the part of the season where everyone wants to raise their game. There are five players who have pulled away a little from the rest of the contenders over the past season a half, and Trump has established himself very firmly in that group now. As I said though, this is a tough section for him. Liang Wenbo beat him in the final of the English Open last season to win his biggest title to date, and he generally does quite well against Trump. He has a major problem though, and that's his dreadful record at venues in China over the years. He seems to lose in the 1st round more often than not, although on the positive side, his record in the International Championship is not quite as bad as the other events. I think Li Hang could be a big danger in this section. He did very well in the first two major events of the season, first getting through a very tough draw to reach the semi-finals of the China Championship, then adding a run to the quarter-finals of the World Open as well, beating Liang on his way. I personally did not expect such results from him this season, but he has played solid stuff every time he's been on TV, and he has the kind of game and temperament that is well suited to the slightly longer matches. Some people may remember him beating Trump on TV in the Wuxi Classic a few years ago, a big shock at the time, but it wouldn't be nearly as surprising if it happened again here. Then we have David Gilbert, meeting Li in one of the most exciting prospects of the 1st round, a match that will hopefully be televised. He too reached the quarter-finals of the World Open, then added another good run in the short-format Indian Open the following week. He is one of the few players who have appeared at the TV stage of every event so far this season, and he usually wins at least a match or two. He reached the final of the International Championship two years ago, so I am sure he is looking forward to playing in Daqing again. Another possible quarter-finalist from this section could be Zhou Yuelong. He got to that stage in the China Championship at the start of the season, then added a run to the semi-finals of the short-format European Masters. At 19 years of age, he is now firmly established in the top32 of the rankings and looks set to make another step up in the near future. It's just a question what kind of mental state he will be in this week, following his loss. I think these five players as a group are too strong to let any surprises through, although Ian Burns and Jimmy Robertson have had good trips to China in the past, so one can never be sure. Lee Walker as well actually, he only recently got to the last16 of the World Open, shocking Mark Selby along the way.

By contrast, our next section is a bit on the weak side, and not all that exciting either. Marco Fu's defeat in the qualifiers has left Mark Allen as the lone big name here, and even his name isn't all that big these days. Well, that's a little harsh perhaps. He did have a pretty dreadful last season, but he has improved a lot in the first part of this season, most notably with his run to the semi-finals of the World Open, and he was actually a couple of balls away from making it to the final. He then added a run to the quarter-finals of the European Masters as well, in the short format. Rather ironically, China seems to be Allen's favourite place to play snooker, as four of his five major ranking finals have been here, including his two World Open titles. In his second of those he beat Matthew Stevens in the final, and he could play him in the 1st round on this occasion. It was the same in the China Championship at the start of the season, where it was Stevens who produced a surprising victory. It's more than three years since Stevens last reached the business end of any event that carried ranking points though, and his rather low ranking at the moment reflects that. It's a question whether he is even favourite to beat young Zhao Xintong at this point in time, although Zhao has now fallen a little behind a couple of the other Chinese youngsters in terms of ranking and results. One player who could be a genuine danger in this section is Hossein Vafaei. In fact, I don't think I'm overstating it in any way if I say he is second favourite behind Allen, whom he lost to in the European Masters in a close match a few weeks back. He got to the quarter-finals of the English Open last week, beating Bingham along the way, so he is clearly in good form at the moment. He also has a notable result outside of the short format in the fairly recent past, having got to the semi-finals of the China Open at the end of last season, where his most notable scalp was Judd Trump. Vafaei has shown steady improvement since finally getting the opportunity to become a proper professional, and he plays the game with great heart, so I would expect him to push towards a top32 place in the rankings this season. Mark King would normally be a decent bet in sections like this one as well, especially with a semi-final appearance in the Indian Open to his name in the fairly recent past, but he generally struggles in events where the matches are slightly longer. He has been losing very early in the vast majority of such events for a number of years now, so he would not be my pick here. The only other player I will mention in this section is Akani Songsermsawad, the player who knocked out Fu in the qualifiers. He is one of the younger players at the venue stage, and well capable of taking advantage of this fairly favourable draw.

Quarter 4:

Barry Hawkins v. Jack Lisowski
Xiao Guodong v. Eden Sharav
Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Yan Bingtao/Wang Yuchen
Ricky Walden v. Peter Ebdon

Anthony McGill v. Mark Joyce
Luca Brecel v. Li Yuan
Ben Woollaston v. Dominic Dale
John Higgins/Elliot Slessor v. Niu Zhuang

Ronnie O'Sullivan is the man of the moment, having just won the English Open in great style. He played very well for most of the tournament, particularly in the final where he was just superb. Unlike most Chinese events, the International Championship is a tournament O'Sullivan has entered quite often in the past, but he has not had any great success in it thus far. This season he only played in two ranking events prior to this one, the other being the China Championship in August, where he was actually fairly unlucky to lose to Brecel in the quarter-finals from well ahead. He looked quite annoyed when he lost that match, and he was the same the few times things were going against him in Barnsley, which suggests he is in quite competitive spirit these days. I think that kind of attitude generally makes him play better, in contrast to someone like Maguire for example. There are quite a few dangers for him in this section, the first one possibly coming as early as the 1st round proper in the form of young Yan Bingtao. O'Sullivan won 4-2 when they played in the World Grand Prix last season, but of course Yan is still only 17 and improving all the time, and he seems to have an unusually balanced and mature game for such a young player. He was 16 when he reached the quarter-finals of the German Masters last season, in the traditional best-of-9 format, and I would expect a few more results of that sort this season. Moving on, Ricky Walden is traditionally a very strong player in China, and now that his problems with injury are largely behind him, he is under the radar a little and ranked much lower than his ability would suggest. It's more than a year since his last appearance at the business end of any event, so I think he is due a good result. He has been on the wrong end of a couple of thrashings against O'Sullivan in the past, but it's worth noting that he actually beat him in the final of the Shanghai Masters way back in 2008. He then added two further major ranking titles in China, including the International Championship in Chengdu three years ago, his biggest title to date. Two years previously his progress in Chengdu was stopped by Peter Ebdon in the quarter-finals, with a 6-0 scoreline after what was a very scrappy game. Ebdon himself is experiencing a bit of a drought these days, a much longer one than Walden in fact. His last appearance at the business end of any event outside of the short format was in this very tournament four years ago, and the one before that was in the same tournament one year prior, so if he is going to get a decent result in any event at the moment, the International Championship seems like the most likely. He has actually played better in the first part of this season than he did for most of the last one, so the signs are not that bad for him. Barry Hawkins is one of the biggest disappointments of the season so far, but then again, it was the same last year and the year before. He just seems to save his best snooker for the second half of the season, particularly the Crucible where he has reached at least the semi-finals four times in the last five years. This bloc of Chinese events in the first half of the season has never been his favourite, so I don't fancy his chances here. He beat Jack Lisowski 10-3 the only time they've met outside of the short format, at the Crucible four years ago, but this time I think things could go the other way. Lisowski did alright in the recent minor events, including a run to the quarter-finals of the English Open, where he lost 5-2 to O'Sullivan, so he comes here with more confidence and momentum than usual. The only problem is that his particular game and his struggles with consistency are not best suited to this format. It will be interesting to see what Xiao Guodong can do as well, following the resurgence of the likes of Cao Yupeng and Li Hang this season, players who came onto the scene at roughly the same time as Xiao. Losing early to a player I've never heard of in Haining this week is perhaps not the best sign, but your never know...

Finally, another interesting section to conclude with. John Higgins has been in fairly unremarkable form this season, apart from winning the short-format Indian Open last month. He was also the player who came closest to beating O'Sullivan in Barnsley, losing 4-3 in a match that really could have gone either way in the last16. The International Championship two years ago is the last major ranking event Higgins has won, so with those points coming off now, we might have an unusual situation where he is ranked in the top4 without winning a single major ranking title in the two-year period that counts towards the rankings. Of course he did win high-profile invitational tournaments in that time, and he contested a World final which only just eluded him by a couple of frames. I think JimMalone's prediction of Higgins winning this week is entirely possible, but I also think he has a tricky opening match that he could have done without. He only just beat Elliot Slessor in the English Open, and this time Slessor comes to the event on the back of a nice run to the quarter-finals of the Haining Open, which means he will be match-sharp and well adjusted to the time zone. It has to be said that this format favours players such as Higgins though, unlike events such as the Indian Open where Slessor was a quarter-finalist this season. Luca Brecel and Anthony McGill could meet in what would be by far the most exciting prospect of the last32 round, and again, that's a little harsh on both players. Brecel did very well in the first two major events of the season. He won the title in Guangzhou with a little bit of luck along the way, then followed it up with a run to the semi-finals in Yushan, beating McGill 5-4 in the quarter-finals. The short stuff didn't go as well for him, so I'm sure he is glad the longer matches are back. McGill, on the other hand, has played consistently well this season regardless of format, reaching the business end in five of the seven events he's played in, six in eight if you count the six-reds as well. He lost the final of the Indian Open to Higgins, and he made a very good match of it against O'Sullivan in the semi-finals of the English Open, losing 6-4 in the end. He hasn't won a major title yet, but finding some consistency was an important step for him, and I think it's only a matter of time before the titles follow. That said, he will miss out on the Shanghai Masters next month, having lost in the qualifiers recently. It's hard to see anyone else making it through in this section, although there are a couple of outsiders who shouldn't be underestimated. Mark Joyce, for example, has had a couple of decent runs himself in the short format this season, and he also beat McGill in the 1st round of the China Championship. Ben Woollaston is always a danger as well, although as I was surprised to find out when I was doing my last preview, he has never actually got to the business end of any event outside of the short format in his professional career, and I think that's a remarkable statistic for a top32 player. As for the two local players, they don't seem particularly dangerous in this section, though Li Yuan did play in Haining this week and won three matches, so he could be coming here well prepared.

Possible QF line-up:

Mark Selby v. Neil Robertson
Allister Carter v. Ding Junhui
Judd Trump v. Mark Allen
Ronnie O'Sullivan v. John Higgins


There we are... It looks set to be a great event, and I am sure I will enjoy every minute of it. :smile: I wish everyone a great snooker week. :wink:

[JimMalone]

The only surprise in the remaining qualifiers was the loss of Zhou Yuelong to Robin Hull. Seems as his mind wasn't already set on snooker again, which is of course highly understandable.

[Steve748]

I find it really hard to read great big chunks of script when there are no paragraphs to break it up...just saying. Sorry.

[Erwan_BZH]

Dings just looks bored to death........He has a gigantic "get me outta here" sign on his face.

[motorhead]

Has anyone been able to register here? http://juxingzaixian.com/pc/pages/cu...p?courseType=2
they broadcast all tables but I just can't get it to have the code sent to mail email in order to proceed with registration.ù


ps tnx Jim and Odrl for the previews.

[DeanH]

Has anyone been able to register here? http://juxingzaixian.com/pc/pages/cu...p?courseType=2
they broadcast all tables but I just can't get it to have the code sent to mail email in order to proceed with registration.ù


ps tnx Jim and Odrl for the previews.

Maybe be regionally restricted, if your email is not recognised as China-based, it may not allow the registration.
Let us know how you get on, as I would like to see the other tables, on top of the two TV ones Eurosport has access to

[Odrl]

Dings just looks bored to death........He has a gigantic "get me outta here" sign on his face.

I got that impression as well. He always looks a bit like that, but today was ever worse than usual. If he can't get himself up for an event such as the International Championship, you really have to question his ambition and desire at the moment...

But anyway, a fairly boring opening day. The match that stands out statistically was Day against Maflin, where Maflin had three centuries in the first four frames, but lost in a decider in the end. Trump had another one of his thrashings against Burns, outscoring him by 619 to 70, with three centuries along the way. Ebdon and Walden are still playing their decider, at almost 1am local time. :smile:

Tomorrow looks like it could be an interesting day. Selby against Cao Yupeng in the morning, looking forward to that one. Li Hang against Gilbert is in the same session, but I fear they might put something like Murphy vs Mei Xiwen on TV instead. Some great prospects in the afternoon as well. It's a shame Ding is playing in that session, because his match against Oliver Lines looks like one of the least interesting, but I think the other table might be O'Sullivan against Yan Bingtao, so no complaints there. :smile:

[motorhead]

Maybe be regionally restricted, if your email is not recognised as China-based, it may not allow the registration.
Let us know how you get on, as I would like to see the other tables, on top of the two TV ones Eurosport has access to

I tried a chinese VPN and it worked.