China Open 2018 - £1 million prize money

[JimMalone]

With Mark Williams' defeat we now know that Judd Trump will be the #4 seed at the World Championship.

[Hal]

Good stuff from Selby this morning, beginning to look a bit like his old self again. :smile:

That said, Williams didn't really put up as much resistance as I expected. He lost a couple of frames where both players had chances, so things could have been a little close had he taken those...

He scored at least 5 total clearances this tournament, can't remember any other event player achieved this. Well played to him, sad for MJW though.

[Odrl]

Good stuff from Selby this morning, beginning to look a bit like his old self again. :smile:

That said, Williams didn't really put up as much resistance as I expected. He lost a couple of frames where both players had chances, so things could have been a little close had he taken those...

[jrc750]

Where has Marco Fu been? I've noticed he hasn't competed in many tournaments of late.

He's had eye surgery so been out of action

[OmaMiesta]

Jeez that decider clearance by Kyren was insane, boys got incredible bottle.

[gettingbetter]

Where has Marco Fu been? I've noticed he hasn't competed in many tournaments of late.

[JimMalone]

I'll go along with those, I think.

Looking forward to Selby against Williams the most. They've had a great rivalry over the years, and it's been particularly prominent in the last year or so, with wins on both sides. Today was the first time we saw Williams on TV this week, but judging by all the breaks he's made in his previous matches, he's played really well all tournament. I think the kind of snooker he played in the first couple of frames against Allen would make him the tournament favourite here, but he tends to struggle to keep it up for the entire match, so it will be difficult to overcome a determined opponent such as Selby. He may still do it, but Selby won't be missing the kind of match ball Allen missed today, that's for sure.

I would expect Wilson to beat Lisowski. I've been pleasantly surprised by Lisowski's progress this season, and his run here is another example of that, but I think he is still some way off the level of Wilson at this point in time, especially when it comes to shot selection and composure under pressure. Lisowski did beat Wilson in Berlin this season though... I would also expect Hawkins to beat Ford fairly easily, although he does tend to make things difficult for himself on occasion. He beat him 4-0 in the Welsh Open recently, and also very comfortably in the World Championship last season. I think I'm right in saying Ford has never been beyond the quarter-finals of any event outside of the short format, so winning tomorrow would be one of the highlights of his career.

Robertson against Bingham is the one I'm struggling with the most... Bingham surprisingly dominates their head-to-head, but they've only ever played one match that really mattered, and Robertson won it. They are very evenly matched, and both looking for a good result this week. I think this one has 6-5 written all over it. :smile:

Selby-Williams 6-4
Wilson-Lisowski 6-3
Hawkins-Ford 6-4
Robertson-Bingham 6-5

Should be a nice day of snooker. :smile:

Agree with all you said.

I think Selby has made a step forward this week and will keep this pace and this will be enough, cause as you said Williams rarely plays on a high level for a whole match these days. Though this season certainly moreso than one of a few years ago. And Selby still has the higher level of play he can reach.

Wilson and Hawkins are clear favorites. I give Lisowski more of a chance to pull off an upset. Cause when he's in the flow and scores heavily it's imagineable that he wins a few frames in a row and makes things difficult for Wilson. But while Lisowskis progess is pleasant I think Wilson has progressed as much this season and of course from a higher starting point. I always said that scoring is quite a weakness for Wilson. But now he has already made 41 centuries this season - compated to just 16 last year. Ford is a very solid player, but Hawkins is solid in every department as well and in every aspect just better. He should also have confidence after his win today and over the longer distance I would expect Hawkins to win this match.

Bingham - Robertson was also the pick I struggled by far the most with. As for head-to-heads I usually only count ranking events and the Masters as those are the only ones I'm pretty confident the players really try to play their best. And there it would be just a 1-1 in the H2H. With Binghams one win a 4-3 in the Welsh Open, while Robertson won 9-8 in the 2013 UK Championship, clearly the more important duel.
I haven't seen Bingham play this week and only bits of Robertson. I had to go with my gut feeling here. Actually I go quite a lot with it :smile:. I just think Neil is in for a good result at a big tournament finally.

So I'll do my result picks as well:

Selby-Williams 6-5
Wilson-Lisowski 6-4
Hawkins-Ford 6-3
Robertson-Bingham 6-5

[Odrl]

My picks for this one:
Selby
Wilson
Robertson
Hawkins

I'll go along with those, I think.

Looking forward to Selby against Williams the most. They've had a great rivalry over the years, and it's been particularly prominent in the last year or so, with wins on both sides. Today was the first time we saw Williams on TV this week, but judging by all the breaks he's made in his previous matches, he's played really well all tournament. I think the kind of snooker he played in the first couple of frames against Allen would make him the tournament favourite here, but he tends to struggle to keep it up for the entire match, so it will be difficult to overcome a determined opponent such as Selby. He may still do it, but Selby won't be missing the kind of match ball Allen missed today, that's for sure.

I would expect Wilson to beat Lisowski. I've been pleasantly surprised by Lisowski's progress this season, and his run here is another example of that, but I think he is still some way off the level of Wilson at this point in time, especially when it comes to shot selection and composure under pressure. Lisowski did beat Wilson in Berlin this season though... I would also expect Hawkins to beat Ford fairly easily, although he does tend to make things difficult for himself on occasion. He beat him 4-0 in the Welsh Open recently, and also very comfortably in the World Championship last season. I think I'm right in saying Ford has never been beyond the quarter-finals of any event outside of the short format, so winning tomorrow would be one of the highlights of his career.

Robertson against Bingham is the one I'm struggling with the most... Bingham surprisingly dominates their head-to-head, but they've only ever played one match that really mattered, and Robertson won it. They are very evenly matched, and both looking for a good result this week. I think this one has 6-5 written all over it. :smile:

Selby-Williams 6-4
Wilson-Lisowski 6-3
Hawkins-Ford 6-4
Robertson-Bingham 6-5

Should be a nice day of snooker. :smile:

[JimMalone]

Is it third or fourth time this season Cao loses a match after a big lead?

There was only the final of the Scottish Open, when he lost 8-9 to Neil Robertson after leading 8-5. But it seems he has real problems to close an important match against a well-known opponent.

[Rane]

Hawkins accomplishes the comeback and beats Cao 6-5, after being already 2-5 down. Not a good day for the Chinese players sadly. All five of them lost. And while you would have expected this from Lyu and Zhou, Cao and Luo were outsiders in their matches, the defeat of Cao after this comfortable lead surely hurts. As well as the defeat for Ding, who certainly could have needed more of a confidence boost before the World Championship.

So our quarterfinals are:
Mark Selby - Mark Williams
Jack Lisowski - Kyren Wilson
Neil Robertson - Stuart Bingham
Barry Hawkins - Tom Ford

Quite a nice line-up I think.
My picks for this one:
Selby
Wilson
Robertson
Hawkins

Is it third or fourth time this season Cao loses a match after a big lead?

[JimMalone]

The quarterfinal I'm looking forward to the most is the battle of Marks. Williams won the two last meetings against Selby and it will be interesting if the world number one, with the World Championship so close, can turn things around again. Selby was playing better in Beijing so far then at the previous tournaments. A win over Williams would be a confidence boost for the World Championship.

Also Neil Robertson vs. Stuart Bingham is a very intriguing duel. Robertson has shown flashes of better form during the last months. For Bingham this is a very important tournament, as he probably still lacked a bit of match toughness before. But with two 6-5-wins and now a battle against Neil Robertson this is a very good test for the Crucible.

Of course it will also be interesting how things will eventually shake up or confirm the seedings for the World Championship tomorrow.

[sealer]

25 Chinese players and all gone already:-)

[JimMalone]

Has Fu's participation been confirmed yet?

Yes, he stated a few days ago that he will participate. But he also said on that occasion that his eyes are not better or worse. So I think expectations for him shouldn't be to high unfortunately.

[Odrl]

That's correct (in both points :smile. Unless of course either Lisowski or Ford wins the title here, then Carter would drop to #16.

Has Fu's participation been confirmed yet?

[JimMalone]

If I've understood things correctly, Carter stays 15th in the provisional rankings after Allen's defeat, which would put him in O'Sullivan's section in the World Championship. Not looking forward to watching that again, but at least that eliminates the possibly of the "nightmare final" this year. :smile:

That's correct (in both points :smile. Unless of course either Lisowski or Ford wins the title here, then Carter would drop to #16.