World Championship Qualifying

[ongkia]

Now that Luca Brecel has been drawn to meet Stephen Maguire in the main draw, it's gonna be an uphill battle for him. Buy hey who knows, may be just may be, Brecel will triumph in the end!

[nrage]

Now that Luca Brecel has been drawn to meet Stephen Maguire in the main draw, it's gonna be an uphill battle for him. Buy hey who knows, may be just may be, Brecel will triumph in the end!

Maguire has had a quiet year, aside from the German Masters where he made the final. Since then, he's lost to a number of lower ranked players.. Maguire's ranking is probably about where I'd place him in the top-16 pack, so Brecel has drawn a middling seed in that respect, there are worse draws and better ones he could have had. Ultimately no draw was going to be easy for him - these are the best players in the world after all

[Odrl]

Maguire has had a quiet year, aside from the German Masters where he made the final. Since then, he's lost to a number of lower ranked players..

Not sure about that one... Yes, he lost in the 1st round of the World Open to Robert Milkins, but other than that, a quarter-final at the Welsh Open, a semi-final at the PTC Finals, and another final at the China Open. I would say that's a pretty good run ahead of the World Championship.

[nrage]

Not sure about that one... Yes, he lost in the 1st round of the World Open to Robert Milkins, but other than that, a quarter-final at the Welsh Open, a semi-final at the PTC Finals, and another final at the China Open. I would say that's a pretty good run ahead of the World Championship.

Hrm.. seems I was looking at an old page of results, missing the more recent ones

[montoya10]

Not sure about that one... Yes, he lost in the 1st round of the World Open to Robert Milkins, but other than that, a quarter-final at the Welsh Open, a semi-final at the PTC Finals, and another final at the China Open. I would say that's a pretty good run ahead of the World Championship.

He picked up the danger man of the qualifiers, I'd say. Luca has already exceeded the expectations and will not be under any sorts of pressure to get a win in the arena as a 17-year-older. That can make a difference.
Still, an in-form Maguire will prove too much to handle, to be honest. But I'm looking forward to this one. One good match this could be (=

[AndrewB]

He picked up the danger man of the qualifiers, I'd say. Luca has already exceeded the expectations and will not be under any sorts of pressure to get a win in the arena as a 17-year-older. That can make a difference.

That said, he'll be the 5th 17-year-old to play at the Crucible, and the other four all lost...

[FerruleFox]

He wasn't expected to win any of his 4 qualifiers so who knows..

Then again, maybe he's doomed to wilt under the heat lamps of the Crucible anyway and this is all just necessary experience for his maturity.