World Open 2012

[tommy2k10]

Who has got the TV rights to the 2012 World Open?

Hopefully ITV will pick it up, I was disappointed to find out the BBC have dropped it

[ferret]

Where did you hear this? there was a budget cut document going around form The BBC which mentioned The Welsh Open but because the contract with World Snooker runs till 2014 if BBC Wales cut it then BBC Corporate would have to take it over.

[tommy2k10]

From digital spy:

The BBC will continue to broadcast the 'big three' but have dropped the World Open. This, in reality, means there'll be less snooker on the BBC than at any time since (I think) 1982. This is a BBC decision, not any fault on World Snooker's part.

and on the BBC's website

[ferret]

sorry I miss read your first post and thought you said Welsh Open not World Open |

[jw147]

IMO, October isnt the same without the snooker grand prix on the bbc. Darn shame they dropped this event. At least last year they replaced it with the world open, but nothing this year at all. Not good. Dying sport at the moment.

[Inoffthered]

Not good. Dying sport at the moment.

Been dying ever since Jimmy missed 'that' black ( or more accurately, since @ 2002 ).

Though I'm confident TSF members will correct me :P

[tommy2k10]

Does anyone know who have got the TV rights yet?

[ferret]

It will only be on EuroSport in UK and Europe, major channels would not take licensing for a event not held on The UK.

[Odrl]

There seems to be a suspicious lack of discussion about this event, considering it starts tomorrow. Is it going to be one of those where I talk to myself all week?

First of all, it's nice to have another one of these "standard" events, with the medium-length format, especially as there were so few in the first half of the season. It's interesting that even World Snooker don't consider this event as the successor to last season's World Open, considering Robertson is not the 1st seed here. It's also nice to have another of these events in China, as the two we've had over the last couple of seasons have always been among my favourites. I won't be struggling to get up in the morning this week, because there is no better motivation than some early-morning snooker.

Now, onto the competition itself, let's have a look at the draw...

Quarter 1:

John Higgins v. Marco Fu
Martin Gould v. Jamie Cope
Ding Junhui v. S.Baird/Jin L.
Stephen Maguire v. R.Milkins/T.Tirapongpaiboon

A very strong top quarter, featuring two of the most interesting 1st round matches. First we have Higgins against Fu, two players capable of going far in the tournament, but with big question marks over their form. Higgins has been struggling in the early rounds all season, not really featuring at the business end of any tournament. You would think he is going to have a good run sooner or later, but with only three major events to go, time is running out. I am not sure this is going to be his tournament, but you never know. He certainly has the class to get through this part of the draw. He did win the event in Hainan last year as well, although this is a different ball game. Fu's season hasn't been all bad so far, especially his UK performance of course, but his famous inconsistency really is a big handicap for him. You can never really predict a good run, as he just plays too many bad tournaments. Also, his record in China is surprisingly mediocre. On the other hand, his record against Higgins is quite good, so there won't be any mental barrier to get past, as long as he is playing well. Then we have Gould and Cope, two very dangerous players as well. Cope in particular has played some very good tournaments in China in the past, reaching the China Open final in 2007, and also the Hainan Classic final last year. After a brief period in the top16, he now finds himself as a qualifier again, so there will be less pressure on him to get a result. On the other hand, Gould really needs a big run or two if he is to become a consistent top16 player. I can see any of these four reaching the QF, but I suppose Higgins is still the safest bet.

Two very strong contenders for the other QF spot, in fact, they are two strong contenders for the title this week. Ding did very well to win the Welsh Open, after a pretty poor first half of the season. This part of the season should suit him, two big Chinese events followed by the World Championship. His Chinese performances have been inconsistent over the years, some good runs, some unexpected early exits. Having just won an event, there won't be that much pressure on him to perform here, but perhaps motivation will be slightly lacking as well. Or will the Chinese environment inspire him this time? His main opposition should be Stephen Maguire. Maguire's form has been quite good recently, but he has had very little reward. It will be interesting to see if plays consistently well from now on, or goes back to a mediocre standard. If he does play well, it would be very disappointing for him not to get some silverware this season. My feeling is that both Ding and Maguire will play quite well here, and taking Maguire's excellent record over Ding into account, I have to make Maguire a slight favourite to go through. The qualifiers here are also not to be underestimated though.

Quarter 2:

Graeme Dott v. Barry Hawkins
Allister Carter v. Marcus Campbell
Stephen Lee v. Dominic Dale
Neil Robertson v. Stephen Hendry

A somewhat weakened quarter following the withdrawal of one of the seeds. So only three contenders for the first QF spot... Dott against Hawkins is one of the better prospects of the 1st round. Dott is a former China Open champion, so knows what it takes to win in China, although he has been somewhat less successful on his recent travels. I suppose the pressure is on him to go through now. Hawkins is not the easiest opponent though. When I think about his past Chinese performances, I always remember his great run in the 2007 China Open, where he only lost in the SF after a great match against Jamie Cope. He also played quite well at the Welsh Open, with only a 1st round exit to show for it. I think this match will go very close, and I expect the winner of it to prevail in a close match against Campbell as well. Could go either way, but I would give Dott a slight edge.

Neil Robertson is the big name of this quarter, and since we are in China, that should be a good sign for his opposition. He had never reached a Chinese QF before Shanghai earlier this season, so he really had a point to prove there. But now that that's behind him, will he still find the motivation to improve his record in China? I have a feeling he is already looking ahead to the WC. Maybe playing Stephen Hendry in the 1st round will get him up for it, following his defeat to Hendry in Wales. Another point to prove perhaps? Hendry usually plays his best in the second part of the season these days, and it looks like that's the case again. Consistency is still a problem, but I think he has an excellent chance of going through. Other than Robertson, Stephen Lee is expected to do well in this quarter. He reached a semi-final and a quarter-final in the last two events, a rare case of sustained good form from him, can he make it three in a row? I would say yes, but Dominic Dale in the 1st round could be quite a tricky opponent. Dale didn't play well at home in Wales, his best performance of the season came in Australia, and his best performance of recent times was in Shanghai in 2007, so he should be respected in this type of event. The two seeds, Robertson and Lee, are not a common pairing, so it would be hard to predict the outcome. On the other hand, Robertson against Dale would be quite interesting, after their excellent match in Australia. I wouldn't complain if it was Hendry against Lee either.

Quarter 3:

Mark Williams v. M.King/H.Vafaei
Ronnie O'Sullivan v. T.Ford/Lu H.
Mark Allen v. J.Robertson/Zhou Y.
Judd Trump v. Andrew Higginson

Another quarter with a missing seed but, in my opinion, somewhat stronger than the second one. Mark Williams looks to have an open path to the quarter-finals. He has been disappointing since the second ranking event of the season, way back in September, but this is the part of the season he should do really well in. He is the most successful "Asian" player in the tournament, along with Stephen Hendry perhaps, so I would predict him going through even in a stronger quarter. Perhaps losing those two finals at the start of the season has somewhat damaged his morale for a while, but that should get better with a good run or two. Who can stop him here? The two wildcards probably not, and even the two qualifiers are not the trickiest. King is an experienced player capable of strong performances here and there, but he has been very "quiet" lately. Ford is perhaps more dangerous, with a PTC win to his name this season, and a number of appearances at the TV stage of events. With one seed already out, and the chance of the other one not performing, he is the first in line to take advantage. Still, I consider Williams a big favourite here.

The other spot? Another Trump-Allen clash seems the most likely. Of the other three players, I think only Higginson is a realistic danger, but he doesn't really take out the favourites that often, and his loss to O'Sullivan in Germany is bound to have a demoralizing effect on him, at least for a while. So, Trump or Allen? I think it could go either way, but Trump has to start favourite. First of all, he won their last two ranking matches, so he has a psychological edge. He also has a title in China to his name, in fact, he currently holds two major titles, so I think it's fair to say he is the stronger player at this point in time. On the other hand, Allen has at times also played well in China in recent seasons, and he seems to have found some consistency lately. When you have two players who rely on their attacking game so much, it's quite possible that the underdog, especially someone of Allen's ability, just has that bit more firepower on the day. And we know Trump is not likely to be looking at his tactical options too much, even though he has the better safety game of the two. So, with Allen hungry for a win, and the possibility of him being in better form, I can see him winning. But as I said, Trump will start as favourite.


Quarter 4:

Shaun Murphy v. Ricky Walden
Matthew Stevens v. J.Perry/Rouzi M.
Stuart Bingham v. M.Holt/Zhu Y.
Mark Selby v. N.Bond/Lu N.

Onto the last quarter, at first glance dominated by two big seeds. Let's start with Murphy, who is involved in one of the best prospects of the 1st round against Ricky Walden. Murphy has been excellent after the new year, reaching the Masters final, then two consecutive ranking semi-finals. But like Maguire, he will be disappointed not to get any silverware for his good form. There is a chance his form might decline now, but he seemed pretty capable of holding it for a long time back in the 07/08 season, when he also reached a number of semi-finals. This will be his third match against Walden in the very recent past. He was outclassed in the UK, but got his revenge in Germany, so there shouldn't be any psychological edge either way. Having said that, I think Walden could be particularly dangerous here. He is an excellent traveler, always up for an Asian event. He has been around that 16th spot in the rankings for a while now, with a decent but not a great number of runs to the business end of tournaments. But of the runs he has had, a good percentage have come outside of the UK, so he will fancy his chances here. Also worth a mention, Matthew Stevens, another player in good form recently. He played very well in Germany and Wales, and I suppose he will be happy with a quarter-final and a 2nd round exit, but with a bit of luck, he could have got more. He has had some tough defeats against Murphy over the years, but has beaten him as well, so we can't count him out. Although my gut feeling is it will be Walden rather than Murphy anyway.

And finally we have Mark Selby, the Shanghai champion, with a reasonable draw. His main opposition should be Bingham, who will fancy another travel after winning in Australia, but he hasn't reproduced the kind of form that won him that title recently. I think he is perhaps due another form peak pretty soon. Then there is Michael Holt, a dangerous player on his day, but a run to the QF would perhaps be too much to ask. Nigel Bond? Similar case, no really good runs in the recent past, so it would be surprising to see him get past Selby here. The two wildcards are also inexperienced at this level, so that just leaves Selby himself. He had a somewhat weak period after his Shanghai win, but played well last week in Wales, not his best, but enough to reach a ranking final. He has the stamina to perform well in this congested part of the season, with events in different parts of the world. He should also be looking to reach his top form over the next two months. Selby is my favourite, and quite a big one, for the last QF spot.

Possible QF lineup:

John Higgins v. Stephen Maguire
Graeme Dott v. Stephen Hendry
Mark Williams v. Judd Trump
Ricky Walden v. Mark Selby


So there we are... I'm sure I'm going to have a good snooker week, and I wish everyone the same.

[montoya10]

I considered opening a discussion thread for us, but hesitated because it's the wildcard day tomorrow.

I would love to post an analysis of my own, too, but will leave it to tomorrow for now : )

[LittleMissAlexa]

[redictions for wildcard roung only shocks i see are thanawat thirapongpaiboon beating Milkins and Jin Long beating Sam Baird Shame theres No Li Hang he did well in china last season

[LittleMissAlexa]

Match schedule (times listed are local, GMT + 8 hours)

Monday February 27

2.30pm
1 Sam Baird v Jin Long
2 Robert Milkins v Thanawat Tirapongpaiboon
3 Mark King v Hossein Vafaei
4 Tom Ford v Lu Haotian

7.30pm
5 Jimmy Robertson v Zhou Yuelong
6 Joe Perry v Ruozi Maimaiti
7 Michael Holt v Zhu Yinghui
8 Nigel Bond v Lu Ning

Tuesday February 28

2.30pm
9 John Higgins v Marco Fu
21 Shaun Murphy v Ricky Walden
13 Graeme Dott v Barry Hawkins

7.30pm
11 Ding Junhui v Winner of match 1
20 Judd Trump v Andrew Higginson
23 Stuart Bingham v Winner of match 7
15 Stephen Lee v Dominic Dale


Wednesday February 29

2.30pm
24 Mark Selby v Winner of match 8
17 Mark Williams v Winner of match 3
19 Mark Allen v Winner of match 5
22 Matthew Stevens v Winner of match 6

7.30pm
12 Stephen Maguire v Winner of match 2
16 Neil Robertson v Stephen Hendry
10 Martin Gould v Jamie Cope


Thursday March 1

2.30pm
29 Winner of match 17 v Winner of match 4
32 Winner of match 23 v Winner of match 24
30 Winner of match 19 v Winner of match 20
31 Winner of match 21 v Winner of match 22


7.30pm
26 Winner of match 11 v Winner of match 12
25 Winner of match 9 v Winner of match 10
27 Winner of match 13 v Marcus Campbell
28 Winner of match 15 v Winner of match 16

Friday March 2

2.30pm
QF3 Winner of match 29 v Winner of match 30
QF4 Winner of match 31 v Winner of match 32

7.30pm
QF1 Winner of match 25 v Winner of match 26
QF2 Winner of match 27 v Winner of match 28

Saturday March 3

2.30pm
SF2 Winner of match QF3 v Winner of match QF4


7.30pm
SF1 Winner of match QF1 v Winner of match QF2

Sunday March 4

2.30pm
Final

7.30pm
Final

[Odrl]

Hoho, what an incredible ending to the 6th frame. I was just thinking how unlucky it was to lose with a foul like that, and then the black drops in the other corner. Amazing, first time I've seen something like that "live".

[missneworleans]

so cruel for Sam Baird...kick on the frame ball for a decider...

[trains]

Fould's is talking about the kick on the yellow but Baird should never have left it awkward into the green pocket,shot selection sooooo important.