2018 World Championship

[ste bed]

Looking at it I can’t see anyone in the bottom half that will give O’Sullivan any real problems over the distance but you never know.

[The Boss]

A good draw for Mark King and Joe Perry. Would be great if they both qualified

[DeanH]

May I know the name of the facebook page please?

sorry no, I don't do facetwit

I assume you can search for World Snooker on facetwit and go from there

World Snooker website has help for you
http://www.worldsnooker.com/world-sn...facebook-live/
I assume the same for Qualies

the list of countries included is impressive, I hope they will be able to gather viewing figures and publish them for these "new" countries

[armstm]

https://www.oddschecker.com/snooker/...ionship/winner

would be a buyer of Higgins at 11 and seller of Ronnie at 2.

[CueAntW147]

...like Jimmy White sailing through to his 7th final at the WC :-)

(I can still hope)

Come on Jimmy ! it's a tough qualifying group he's in, but it would be great to see Jimmy walk out at the Crucible again, as fans we all still hope ;-)

https://youtu.be/0ifZglGgKGI

Jimmy's Crucible 147 in 1992, Drago enjoyed it as much as Jimmy !

[DeanH]

May I know the name of the facebook page please?

sorry no, I don't do facetwit

I assume you can search for World Snooker on facetwit and go from there

[anish147]

...like Jimmy White sailing through to his 7th final at the WC :-)

(I can still hope)

[JimMalone]

A quick look at the Qualifiers


Section 1
Ryan Day – Igor Figueiredo
Mitchell Mann – Peter Lines
Robbie Williams – Jak Jones
Peter Ebdon – James Wattana

Ryan Day is surely the huge favorite here. He was playing great during the last weeks and hadn't he lost in the China Open Qualifying he now might not need to play this week. Also his draw is very comfortable. With Robbie Williams, as World Number #48 the second highest player here, there is really only one player in Day's section, who did anything noteworthy this season, when he made the quarterfinal of the International Championship. Though Ebdon vs. Wattana surely is a lovely match for the nostalgics. :smile:

Qualifier: Ryan Day

Section 2
Zhou Yuelong – Ian Preece
Daniel Wells – Kurt Dunham
Tom Ford – Leo Fernandez
Liam Highfield – Chen Zhe

Of course it becomes much trickier here already by logic of the draw. While #17 Rya Day had only #48 Robbie Williams as his next highest player, #32 Zhou Yuelong has #33 Tom Ford as the next best player here. And this is as close as it gets for a top-ranked player in this qualifying. There's also Liam Highfield, who has reached at least the fourth round of three events this season and while those were always Best-of-7-Events (India Open, Northern Ireland Open, Welsh Open), it was once more a proof, that indeed he can play pretty well.
But still it's between Ford and Zhou for me. Ford had his best result of the season just in Beijing last week, when he got to the quarterfinals, losing narrowly 5-6 to Barry Hawkins. So his form seems to be strong at the right point of the season. Zhou also enjoyed his best result in quite a long time there, reaching the last 16, where he lost heavily to Neil Robertson though. In those long matches experience obviously always plays a factor and this should clearly point to Tom Ford against his young chinese opponent. He made it to the Crucible three times, but also Zhou was able to qualify already last year, so at least he has the experience of having done this before. Still by the overall measure Ford may be the favorite in this duel. But I have experienced him as a player that doesn't cope very well with the pressure a good player puts on him. And overall at this point I already estimate Zhou as the slightly better player. So I'll go with him here.

Qualifier: Zhou Yuelong

Section 3

Matthew Selt – Ng On Yee
Mark Joyce – Adam Duffy
Mei Xiwen – Basem Eltahan
Xiao Guodong – Chris Totten

Another intreresting part of the draw. I think Selt, Joyce, Mei and Xiao should win the first rounders. Mark Joyce has put together a very solid season, earning not less than 83.500 pounds and points, which makes him #29 on the one-year-list (excluding already points from last year’s World Championship). Xiao Guodong has done even better though, he is #23 on this list with 93.000 points, and the best of his results just came quite recently with three quarterfinals at the Scottish Open, the German Masters and the Grand Prix, where he beat Mark Allen as well as John Higgins, albeit just in a Best-of-7-format. Mei Xiwen and Matthew Selt had solid seasons in that aspect, that they made most tournaments, but didn’t win many matches there. They can pull of a little surprise here, but Xiao is the favorite with Mark Joyce as second option.

Qualifier: Xiao Guodong

Section 4
Stuart Carrington – Nigel Bond
Ben Woollaston – Kacper Filipiak
Zhang Anda – Zhang Yong
Martin Gould – Paul S. Davison

Martin Gould can’t really bemoan his draw. Well, he could meet Zhang Anda, who is kind of a World qualifiers specialist, making it already three times to the Crucible, in the second round. And then Stuart Carrington or Ben Woollaston would be next, but there are really much tougher ways to the World Championship. Woollaston often has problems beating “superior” players and Carrington didn’t really have a good season. But of course Gould is always a candidate for surprising defeats as well in my books, so an upset here wouldn’t be shocking.

Qualifier: Martin Gould

Section 5
Graeme Dott – Adrian Justin Ridley
Sunny Akani – Lukas Kleckers
Dominic Dale – Reanne Evans
Mike Dunn – Duane Jones

Will Sunny Akani make his Crucible debut? It would be fun to watch. Or will Reanne Evans be the first woman to qualify? It would be historic. Much more likely though is we will see the 2006 World Champion Graeme Dott competing for the 19th time there. He had a good second half of the season, making his first ranking final in almost eight years at the German Masters and last week he at least made the third round at the China Open. Sunny Akani is as unpredictable as his style of play and therefore he could be a hurdle. Third round opponent would likely be Dominic Dale, who has got easy first two rounds on paper. Dale has a pretty good record against Dott, leading 5-2 in ranking events, but with his determination to make the World Championship I’d still back the Scotsman.

Qualifier: Graeme Dott

Section 6
Michael Holt – Thor Chuan Leong
Elliot Slessor – Eden Sharav
Robert Milkins – Aaron Canavan
Scott Donaldson – Tyler Rees

I was already a bit worried as so far I had to go with the highest seed in every section, though I’m sure there will be plenty of upsets. But this is finally a section, where it seems tempting to go with someone else. Despite Michael Holt made the World Championship already eight times! But Robert Milkins did achieve this seven times as well and I think he ist he more consistent player. So if they meet in round three he would be the safer pick. Both hade similiar seasons with Milkins being the 39th best player in terms of ranking points, while Michael Holt, despite being the highest ranked in the World Ranking, is only third of the season in this section as #43.
Cause in between at #41 is Elliot Slessor, who famously won two duels with Ronnie O’Sullivan this season. At the first occasion he used this to got the semifinal at the Northern Ireland Open, but aside from this wins his season wasn’t extraordinary. He played in the qualifiers for the World Championship three times, but didn’t win a single match, so it’s unproven if he can win over the longer distances.
Another youngster here is Scott Donaldson, who beat Selby this year, but aside from this had a disappointing season. He played Robert Milkins in the 2016 qualifiers, losing narrowly 8-10 and now they could meet in the second round as well.

Qualifier: Robert Milkins

Section 7
Rory McLeod – Ian Burns
Li Hang – Ashley Hugill
Lyu Haotian – Fang Xiongman
Anthony Hamilton – Martin O'Donnell

Anthony Hamilton is the highest seed here, but this is due to his great 2016/17 season. This year he sadly hadn’t any good run. Contrary to Li Hang, who garnered the 24th-most ranking points this season. But this is mainly because of his semifinal at the China Championship and the quarterfinal oft he World Open, both lie already way behind us. He also made the 4th round at the UK Championship, which is one more hint that Li is indeed strong in the long matches, but his in comparison quite poor recent run makes me struggle to pick him here.
What about his compatriot Lyu Haotian, semifinalist of the Northern Ireland Open? He also made the fourth round at the UK Championship and when I saw him play I mostly liked what I saw, though he could need some of Li Hangs patience.
Patience is also one word that describes Rory McLeod and the people who have to watch him. He struggled with good results this season, but he did so last year, then qualified for the Crucible and beat Judd Trump there.

Qualifier: Lyu Haotian

Section 8
Matthew Stevens – Ryan Thomerson
Fergal O'Brien – Yuan Sijun
Ken Doherty – Josh Boileau
Mark King - Gerard Greene

This is the meeting point of veterans. Matthew Stevens, Fergal O’Brien, Ken Doherty and Mark King – one of those players should reach the main draw here. Doherty had a strong start to the season, but has then faltered. Stevens and O’Brien had similiar success like the 1997 World Champion if you go by ranking points.
King was way better than the three others, with his quarterfinal at the UK Championship shining out. He and Fergal have immense fighting spirit and qualities and I think this may be an advantage in the tough qualifying matches. But O’Briens appearance at the Crucible in the last year was his first one in seven years, so it seems unlikely he makes it again so shortly after. While I personally think it would be nice to have Doherty back for the first time since 2014, I guess it will be King for the first time since 2013.

Qualifier: Mark King

Section 9
Liang Wenbo – Rod Lawler
Zhao Xintong – Adiya Mehta
Yu Delu – Sean O'Sullivan
Jamie Jones – Craig Steadman

A chinese loaded section with Liang Wenbo the most famous name. But the World Number 19 didn't have a good season, in which he made only the 38th most points. You know what? He was still the by far most succesful player of this section. Yu Delu is number 53 as next best. So you can really call it an easy section with a chance for probably anyone of them to come through. But still Liang is by far the best player here and should have the best chances.

Qualifier: Liang Wenbo

Section 10
Jack Lisowski – Christopher Keogan
David Grace – Wang Yuchen
Alan McManus – Rhys Clark
Oliver Lines – Harvey Chandler

Things in this section certainly point towards Jack Lisowski, who finally had something like a by many fans long awaited breakthrough year. He had wins over John Higgins, Mark Allen and Barry Hawkins at big tournaments, he had deep runs with the semifinal at the Shanghai Masters and more important, cause it indicates good present form, at the China Open. And after this great season he will have a chance to even fight for a Top 16 spot next year. With his game consistency will always be a problem though and I wouldn’t be surprised if he fell in the qualifiers. His draw is pretty easy though and there’s only really one name to my eyes that I can pick instead of Lisowski.
Alan McManus had a bad season and has to fear for his tour card. But in the past years he had similar years that didn’t keep him away from playing great over the long distance at the World Championship.

Qualifier: Alan McManus


Section 11
Andrew Higginson – David John
Cao Yupeng – Robin Hull
Lee Walker – Kristjan Helgason
Ricky Walden – Joe Swail

This is a really tough section in my books. It has much experience in person of Lee Walker, who had some good results this year. It has the always dangerous Andrew Higginson, it has a former crucible semifinalist, Ricky Walden, who is slowly retaining a bit of his past form and it has Cao Yupeng, one of the newcomers of the year. The Chinese started the year at #89, now is #34, up 55 places, far more than anybody else. Also his last tournament was pretty good, before he once again stumbled over his nerves against Barry Hawkins. I think Higginson or Walden could become spoilers, but I’ll go with Cao here.

Qualifier: Cao Yupeng

Section 12
Michael Georgiou – Matthew Bolton
Mark Davis – Sanderson Lam
Sam Craigie – Jimmy White
Joe Perry – Ross Muir

Last year’s World Championship was a rare edition where we didn’t see Joe Perry. And his chances to come back are golden. The next highest seeds here are Mark Davis and Michael Georgiou and both had their only successful tournament this season at the travesty called the Shoot-Out, with the man from Cyprus winning it and gaining nearly half his ranking points of the season there. Of course Davis has the experience and Georgiou can be dangerous when he is on his game, but still Joe Perry should be a favorite against both of them. The sleeper is Sam Craigie, who played well last week in Beijing, first beating Martin Gould 6-4, then losing narrowly 5-6 to Neil Robertson.

Qualifier: Joe Perry

Section 13
Yan Bingtao – Jackson Page
Tian Pengfei – Li Yuan
Kurt Maflin – Hamza Akbar
Chris Wakelin – Xu Si

A duel of two youngsters opens this section, but with all respect to the talent of Jackson Page I don’t see any other outcome than a win by Yan Bingtao here. He would certainly have an older compatriot in the next round and those can sometimes be intimidating to the young Chinese players. Maflin and Wakelin could be the last hurdle, both very solid players that can be hard to crack, but Yan really should come out victorious here.

Qualifier: Yan Bingtao

Section 14
David Gilbert – Billy Joe Castle
Alfie Burden – Jamie Curtis-Barrett
Gary Wilson – Adam Stefanow
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh – Alexander Ursenbacher

David Gilbert is still the highest ranked of these players, but after quite a good start to the season he hasn’t done much, though on a bonus site he has always been there at the main events, and slowly fell down the rankings to #26. He still should be the clear favorite in his two first matches. The third round could be interesting. I think Gary Wilson is the logical choice to be Gilbert’s opponent there, which could be a very good match with the outcome totally open.

Qualifier: Gary Wilson

Section 15
Sam Baird – Soheil Vahedi
Jimmy Robertson – Alex Borg
John Astley – Marvin Lim
Michael White – Niu Zhang

Michael White, when in form, is surely the best player out of this group. But he also is highly unreliable. Jimmy Robertson surely hasn’t White’s high points, but he is more consistent. Sam Baird, the third player here, to already play at the Crucible, had a pretty bad season. I think I’ll pick another underdog here and go with …

Qualifier: Jimmy Robertson

Section 16
Noppon Saengkham – Chen Zifan
Hossein Vafaei – Jamie Cope
Hammad Miah – Jordan Brown
Stephen Maguire – Allan Taylor

In the last section of course there is the second highest seed with Stephen Maguire and therefore he is the heavy favorite here. Midway through the season he played really well again and if he recaptures that kind of form he easily should come through. His 5-6 loss against Fergal O’Brien at the China Open last week was a bit worrying sign though.
I think the biggest danger to him is Hossein Vafaei, who can play very well himself and showed this occasionally. He has retained his Tour Card and could have been higher in the ranking, had he entered more events. The third potential winner is Noppon Saengkham, who twice beat Maguire at the International Championship and who was at the Crucible already last year.

Qualifier: Stephen Maguire



I guess I should have gone with more surprises and especially more debutants though.

[fkhan]

Two TV tables at the qualifiers via Eurosport Player. great if you have paid the subscription.
Cheep tickets to watch any match you like

With also the following:
"During the final round on Tuesday April 17 and Wednesday April 18, we will also have extensive coverage on our Facebook Live channel."
good if you have facebook, watch the last two days for free

http://www.worldsnooker.com/betfred-...alifiers-draw/


timing of matches
http://livescores.worldsnookerdata.c...018-qualifiers

May I know the name of the facebook page please?

[Rane]

Thing are looking tough for young Xhao Zintong. But with Aditya Mehta in first round and then Liang Wenbo in the next it´s not going to be easy to get enough points for a new tour card. I think he has been quite unlucky with the draw for many tournaments running into top players again and again.

[philmac74]

It seems that the qualifiers are at the English Institute of Sport this year as opposed to Ponds Forge in Sheffield?

[Mr Snooker]

Yan Bingtao V Jackson page should be a good match, could go all the way to a deciding frame, Peter Ebdon V James Wattana two players who met at the Crucible in the first round in 1994, James Wattana won that match 10-6, and in 2001 which Peter Won 10-8 and also in the qualifiers which Peter won 10-6 in 2016, Jimmy White as a tough match against Sam Craigie who as had a good season and beaten some top players this season, also Alan McManus could lose his tour card, because he will have £66,000 (Points) removed from his Order of merit ranking for reaching the Semi finals two years ago, his first round opponent is Rhys Clark who as being struggling to win a match this season. Looking forward to it all from Wednesday like most of you.

[DeanH]

Two TV tables at the qualifiers via Eurosport Player. great if you have paid the subscription.
Cheep tickets to watch any match you like

With also the following:
"During the final round on Tuesday April 17 and Wednesday April 18, we will also have extensive coverage on our Facebook Live channel."
good if you have facebook, watch the last two days for free

http://www.worldsnooker.com/betfred-...alifiers-draw/


timing of matches
http://livescores.worldsnookerdata.c...018-qualifiers

[Odrl]

Of course there are some uncomfortable possible qualifiers in the draw like Ryan Day or Yan Bingtao, that could shake up the difficulty of the draw a little bit.

I honestly can't remember there ever being so many dangerous qualifiers before. Obviously not everyone will get through, but you have the likes of Day, Maguire, Liang, Perry, Yan, Gould, White... Even Ricky Walden is probably still capable of playing world-class snooker if he finds his form. There are always one or two players everyone is looking to avoid, but this year there could be five or six of them. :smile:

[JimMalone]

At first glance, Selby got a pretty tough quarter. All the players from the 5-8 group are tough opponents, so he can't really complain about getting Murphy, but getting Allen in the 2nd round is a little harsh. The Masters doesn't affect the rankings, which means Allen is much lower than his ability and results would suggest. I know I would much rather face McGill or Carter in the 2nd round anyway...

O'Sullivan has landed in a dream quarter for him, with two players he has an extremely dominant record against, so he should be fine. He is still a big favourite even if he ends up playing Robertson, but I'm sure he would prefer Williams in the quarter-finals.

Trump drawn against his nemesis Higgins, that could be tough for him... I can definitely see one of those two getting through in this quarter, rather than Bingham or Brecel.

Ding seems to be the big winner here. We know Hawkins plays well at the Crucible, but an in-form Ding really should take care of business in that quarter. :smile:

As so often I agree. Mark Allen is really a Top-13-player (stronger for sure than McGill, Carter, Brecel) and he tends to play often his best, when playing the elite. And Kyren Wilson, who could be Selbys quarterfinal opponent, has always kept matches close against the world champion.

Trump has a lucky draw with Brecel in a potential second rounder, but than Higgins or Bingham, which would be tough. And at first glance Higgins might be the favorite here.

Hawkins and Ding have quite good places in the draw as I don't expect too much from Fu this time.

And so does Ronnie. Though I think Williams if he reaches the quarterfinal could be more of a competitor in a duel this time as his form the last few months was pretty good. But with his aggressive style of game, that more often than not gives chances to the opponent, O'Sullivan is quite a bad match-up for him.

Of course there are some uncomfortable possible qualifiers in the draw like Ryan Day or Yan Bingtao, that could shake up the difficulty of the draw a little bit.