Ssb - higgins v trump in sky shootout

[ferret]

John Higgins v Judd Trump is the pick of the matches in the first round of the Sky Shootout, the draw for which was made today.

Higgins and Trump of course clashed over 35 frames in their Crucible final next season but their meeting in Blackpool next January will last a maximum of ten minutes.

Other standout ties include Mark Williams v Steve Davis, Neil Robertson v Jamie Cope, Stephen Hendry v Jack Lisowski and, in a repeat of last season's final, defending champion Nigel Bond v Robert Milkins.

The one surprise is that Ronnie O'Sullivan, the best player under the shot clock format, has not entered.

It may be that with his top 16 position under threat, Ronnie is concentrating on the ranking events, although this is merely my own speculation. Players don't have to enter tournaments if they don't want to.

FULL DRAW:
Mark Selby v Joe Perry
Mark Williams v Steve Davis
John Higgins v Judd Trump
Neil Robertson v Jamie Cope
Ding Junhui v Barry Hawkins
Shaun Murphy v Fergal O’Brien
Ali Carter v Matthew Stevens
Stephen Maguire v Anthony McGill
Graeme Dott v Alan McManus
Stuart Bingham v Liu Song
Mark Allen v Rory McLeod
Stephen Lee v Peter Lines
Martin Gould v Peter Ebdon
Mark Davis v Mark Joyce
Andrew Higginson v Liang Wenbo
Stephen Hendry v Jack Lisowski
Ricky Walden v Liu Chuang
Marcus Campbell v Xiao Guodong
Mark King v Dominic Dale
Marco Fu v Barry Pinches
Ryan Day v Joe Swail
Tom Ford v Jimmy Robertson
Ken Doherty v Michael Holt
Anthony Hamilton v Jimmy White
Robert Milkins v Nigel Bond
Gerard Greene v Jamie Burnett
Matthew Selt v Joe Jogia
Mike Dunn v Michael White
Jamie Jones v Adrian Gunnell
Dave Harold v James Wattana
Tony Drago v Andy Hicks
Ben Woollaston v Alfie Burden


More...

[Rane]

It is indeed a surprise, that O´Sullivan isn´t participating. The tournament last year showed that it was quite a toss of a coin who won, but O´Sulllivan doesn´t need to change much in his natural play so he would always stand as a favorit in a tournament like this. Anyway I´m hoping for another match like Drago - McLeod and I would like to see Drago do a little better this year.