China Open 2014 - Discussion

[cyberheater]

Didnt mind playing him at all, he plays some crazy shots at times, hard to know what to play safety wise cause he's liable to see something that to most doesnt exist lol. He's a tough player, very good obviously. A nice guy with good manners round the table, comments on good shots played by opponent, apologises when he gets a rub here or there. Spoke for a minute afterwards where he said i'd been very solid and said he'd played a similar match with dott over in poland where the difference was on that day he never got the run but today he did. I felt better than i have been recently in the ranking events, having had a poor season from what i expected i was happy to make a match of it and felt i could maybe have won, still missed a few but dug in and showed i can grind it with the best i guess. On way up the road now then next stop newport for the welsh, play hawkins on saturday and i believe the match is on bbci plqyer, eurosport player and ws streaming

Thanks Frazz. Ebdon is a bit of an enigma. He is an amazing potter when he feels like it and very inventive. Obviously good enough to win one world title.
You gave him a good run for the money.
Where was the event held?

[frazz]

Gloucester swsa

[cyberheater]

Gloucester swsa

Cool. So not in China then

[DG GIBERT]

Didnt mind playing him at all, he plays some crazy shots at times, hard to know what to play safety wise cause he's liable to see something that to most doesnt exist lol. He's a tough player, very good obviously. A nice guy with good manners round the table, comments on good shots played by opponent, apologises when he gets a rub here or there. Spoke for a minute afterwards where he said i'd been very solid and said he'd played a similar match with dott over in poland where the difference was on that day he never got the run but today he did. I felt better than i have been recently in the ranking events, having had a poor season from what i expected i was happy to make a match of it and felt i could maybe have won, still missed a few but dug in and showed i can grind it with the best i guess. On way up the road now then next stop newport for the welsh, play hawkins on saturday and i believe the match is on bbci plqyer, eurosport player and ws streaming

I'm in Newport on Saturday with my son, hope to see you play.

[DeanH]

China Open 2014 - Discussion

Frazz thanks for the feedback.
Glad you are feeling good in your game, probably not a nice draw with PE though
I am at the Welsh from Monday hope to see you play!
have heard that PE is gent at the table and generally.
If you play like today at the Welsh you should have a showing.
good luck

[Mr Snooker]

Three Players have pulled out of The China Open which starts on Monday, They Are Stephen Maguire who has a bad back and was due to Play Dave Harold, Martin O' Donnell who is attending a family Funeral was Due to play Stuart Bingham and Tony Drago, no reason given, but it appears that Tony does have a fear of flying, he was Due to play Alfie Burden.

This means that Dave Harold, Stuart Bingham and Alfiie Burden will all receive byes in the last 32 and will also receive 1,400 Ranking points, plus £2,500 Pounds added to thier order of merit on the money list.

[mythman69]

Alfie Burden, no reason given, but it appears that Alfie does have a fear of flying, he was Due to play Tony Drago.

Geez, that would make it difficult to be a pro in the modern game.

[DeanH]

China Open 2014 - Discussion

on WS China Open, matches and sessions they have Harold, o'Donnell and Burden going through

[Where's Willie?]

What's happened to Odrl? Haven't seen him post in a while and am missing his in-depth tournament previews!

[cyberheater]

What's happened to Odrl? Haven't seen him post in a while and am missing his in-depth tournament previews!

He's probably working on it now. They look like they take a fair bit of time to put together. A lot of analysis and hard work.

[DeanH]

What's happened to Odrl? Haven't seen him post in a while and am missing his in-depth tournament previews!

He's probably working on it now. They look like they take a fair bit of time to put together. A lot of analysis and hard work.

he once said he took all of 10mins to write another one some time ago before heading out to work
yep, miss his reviews

[Odrl]

What's happened to Odrl? Haven't seen him post in a while and am missing his in-depth tournament previews!

Sorry, left it a bit late this time, but I didn't have much time before tonight. :smile:

I don't think I've missed a major ranking event preview since the 2008 Northern Ireland Trophy though, except for the random draw and the short-format ones, so that's a pretty good run... :smile:

Anyway, the last "snooker week" ahead of the World Championship starts tomorrow...

The China Open has been one of my favourite tournaments of the season for a while now. There is nothing to criticize about its format, it lasts the full seven days and has the proper best-of-9 matches. It is also better supported than some of the other Chinese events, but the best thing about it is that it seems to consistently produce some of the best snooker of the season, with all the players looking to hit top form for the WC.

I guess this slot on the calendar is slightly unfortunate, because the event can get overshadowed by the upcoming WC, but at the same time it's a great introduction to the final part of the season and a great indicator of how everyone is playing. You don't want to be completely out of form here, because there isn't really time to find it before the WC, but you don't want to peak too early either. :wink:

Anyway, it's a good title to win in its own right, so let's concentrate on the draw. But first of all, some of the players that aren't here... Ronnie O'Sullivan obviously, did not enter the event in the first place. Stephen Maguire and Stuart Bingham did enter, but subsequently withdrew. Some good players lost in the qualifying as well, Joe Perry stands out in particular, a strong performer in most tournaments this season. Matthew Stevens, Mark Davis and Robert Milkins also lost their qualifier, as did yesterday's finalist Gerard Greene. The most notable Chinese players who didn't make it are Liang Wenbo and Cao Yupeng, which is a bit of a shame, but there are still quite a few others remaining. So, with all that said, let's have a look at the draw...

Quarter 1:

Neil Robertson v. Anthony Hamilton
Mark Williams v. Anthony McGill
Mark Joyce v. James Wattana
Yu Delu/Chen Zifan v. Duane Jones

Mark Allen v. Luca Brecel/Yuan Sijun
Dominic Dale v. Jack Lisowski
Graeme Dott v. Rory McLeod
Stephen Maguire v. Dave Harold

Neil Robertson is the defending champion, looking to win his third major title of the season here. He has had a bit of a drought since his UK triumph just before the new year, failing to reach the business end of any tournament in 2014 so far. I guess these last couple of months have been a good time to take his foot off the gas a bit, because it's taken a bit of focus off him before the WC, and he should also be getting his hunger and motivation back just at the right time. You could say he is unlucky to get a draw this tough here, considering he is the 1st seed. He lost to Anthony Hamilton in a similar situation in the 2011 German Masters, a 1st round match where Hamilton played really well and had three centuries on his way to a 5-4 win. Hamilton has played well at times this season too, particularly in the Wuxi Classic, but will probably go into this tournament slightly annoyed that he let that 3-0 lead against Gerard Greene slip last week. Mark Williams could play Robertson in the 2nd round, another pretty harsh draw, for both players. Williams has himself been in a bit of a drought recently, failing to reach a major QF all season. Still, he is the most successful player in the history of this tournament, with three titles to his name. His wins in 2006 and 2010 both came in a period when he hadn't really been playing well. Could it happen again? He first has to overcome a tricky opponent himself, Anthony McGill. But assuming he does that, he should go into the match against Robertson with a bit of self-belief, having beaten him recently in Wales. Last month I compared Williams' hot-and-cold performances with Hendry's from a couple of years ago, and funnily enough, Hendry also beat Robertson in the Welsh Open in 2012, and then played him in the World Open and the China Open as well, but Robertson won both times. The third player who will be interesting to see here is Yu Delu, after his impressive win over O'Sullivan last week. He has never had a problem paying at venues in China, but he is still looking for his first win this season. The three times he has reached the venue stage he drew really tough opponents, Murphy, Bingham and Stevens, and he lost to all of them. This time he has a couple of matches to play himself into the tournament before he has to play a player of that quality. He has to be careful though, because his wildcard opponent, Chen Zifan, won his wildcard match in the World Open recently. Mark Joyce could also be tough at this point in time, having reached a rare QF in the World Open, beating Barry Hawkins in the process.

The second section of this quarter would have been a very strong one, but Maguire's absence has made it a bit more reasonable, with Mark Allen and Graeme Dott the big favourites now. These two haven't met a lot in recent times, but they did play that cracking World QF in 2010, Dott winning 13-12 in the end, and a repeat of that would be nice to see here. Dott's draw may look easier with Maguire gone, but he often struggles against the slower, methodical players, and they don't get much slower than Rory McLeod and Dave Harold. He will have to beat them both to reach the last16. Other than that little problem, Dott is looking pretty good at the moment, and he has already had two strong results in China this season, the SF of the International Championship, and the QF of the World Open just recently, where he lost to Murphy in a close match, with Murphy fluking the final black in the decider. Allen went one better in Haikou, losing to Murphy in the SF. He played really well in his first two matches last week as well, but then inexplicably struggled against Greene in the QF. Some other interesting players in this section... Dominic Dale has played decently at times this season, but is still waiting for his first really good run. Luca Brecel and Jack Lisowski have been two of the most disappointing players of the season, rarely even featuring at venues, let alone at the business end of tournaments. Brecel was a UK quarter-finalist last season, and Lisowski of course reached the QF of this event, but still hasn't followed it up with another good result. Could this tournament see him produce his best snooker again?

Quarter 2:

Shaun Murphy v. Jamie Cope
Dechawat Poomjaeng v. David Grace
Xiao Guodong v. Hammad Miah
Ricky Walden v. Pankaj Advani

Allister Carter v. Jamie Jones
Ryan Day v. Matthew Selt
Peter Ebdon v. Jimmy Robertson
Judd Trump v. Kurt Maflin

Shaun Murphy became only the fifth player to win a major event this season in Haikou, so he returns to China as the most recent winner, but we've seen over the last two seasons that it's not really a disadvantage anymore. He had been showing signs of a return to form for a while, and he finally got the reward with two titles, a minor and a major one, so he can finally call himself a top player again. He has also managed to beat a number of high-ranked players recently, which seemed to be a struggle for him last season and earlier in this one as well. Looking at the players who could potentially cause him problems here, Jamie Cope will be the immediate danger. Not really a major factor in events these days, and indeed not much of a challenge for the top players, but it might still be unwise to count him out here. He reached the final of this tournament back in 2007, whitewashing Murphy 5-0 in the QF. He is not the same player anymore, but there isn't a particular reason why he shouldn't be, so if that form is still anywhere in him, he could be dangerous. I'm not sure Dechawat Poomjaeng will be much of a challenge for Murphy, considering he hasn't done much this season, but he can't be underestimated either, as Carter found out in the 1st round of the German Masters a couple of months ago. David Grace is another outsider, but I mention him because he is the player that knocked out Liang Wenbo in the qualifiers. Ricky Walden is the other high-profile player here, ranked in the top16, but probably one of the worst performers form that group this season. He has a great record in China though, and it's about time he finds some form again. He has never played Murphy late in any major tournament, but while Murphy does have the edge over him in the earlier rounds, Walden did winner their biggest match to date, the QF of the 2011 UK Championship. Xiao Guodong will also be interesting to see again, runner-up in the Shanghai Masters this season, and pretty good after the new year as well. He should beat Hammad Miah in the 1st round, as he did in the Welsh Open, and he could face Pankaj Advani next, the player who took him out of the World Open. Advani also pushed Ding very close in the following round, losing 5-4, so he can certainly cause problems. On paper it should be Walden against Xiao in the last32 though, and I don't think they've ever met in a major match, so that could be a good one to see.

The second part of this quarter is probably the toughest section of the whole draw. Judd Trump is the biggest name, coming back to good form after an awful first half of the season. His turnaround started with the final of the German Masters, and he has played well since, but was unlucky to come up against John Higgins in the last16 of two events. Quarter-finalist last week as well, so maybe he has timed it perfectly for this tournament and the WC, like in 2011 when he almost did the double. He couldn't have drawn a tougher opponent in the 1st round though, because Kurt Maflin has already got a couple of good scalps this season, including Selby, Perry, and Carter, all fairly recently. Speaking of Ali Carter, his season has been a bit like Williams' in a way, showing glimpses of good form here and there, but he hasn't been able to string several good matches together. The WC is just around the corner though, and that's been Carter's best tournament in recent years. He played Jamie Jones in the QF there in 2012 and only won 13-11, unfortunately still the only real highlight of Jones' career so far. Ryan Day, on the other hand, hasn't played too badly this season. Like Carter, he was ranked in the top8 not that long ago, and this season has seen him come closer to that sort of form than the previous couple. He was a quarter-finalist in the International Championship and a semi-finalist in the German Masters, so I'm sure he is looking forward to another trip abroad. But the main reason why this section is so strong is the presence of Peter Ebdon, the champion here in 2009 and 2012, which makes this tournament his best one, certainly over the last decade or so. His season has been pretty poor really, with a bunch of exits in either the qualifiers or early at venues. His one highlight was in China though, the QF of the International Championship. Can he produce another Beijing shock this week? His problem could be Trump in the last32, as the last two major matches between them were very one-sided, 5-1 for Trump in the QF of the 2011 China Open, and an even more convincing 9-1 in the SF of the International Championship the following year. He also has a very poor record against Carter, although they haven't met in a big match for a while now. The other pairing that could be interesting here is Trump against Carter, not much of a rivalry in terms of previous matches, but the one major one they have played was a really good one, in the last16 of the 2012 WC, where there seemed to be a bit of needle between them, Carter eventually prevailing 13-12.

Quarter 3:

Ding Junhui v. John Astley/Yan Bingtao
Ken Doherty v. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Michael White v. Sam Baird/Zhao Xintong
John Higgins v. Michael Wasley

Marco Fu v. Li Hang
Mark King v. Aditya Mehta
Kyren Wilson v. Jamie O'Neill
Barry Hawkins v. Fergal O'Brien

The first part of this third quarter looks quite predictable, Ding Junhui and John Higgins the two big names seeded to meet in the last16, and no really dangerous challengers at first glance. I guess Thepchaiya Un-Nooh comes closest. He played alright in the World Open recently, beating Stephen Maguire and Andrew Higginson on his way to the last16, and I quite fancy him to beat Ken Doherty here as well. It will be tough for either of them to get past Ding though, Doherty in particular has found himself on the wrong end of a couple of real thrashings against him in the past. Higgins' most immediate "respectable" opponent could be Michael White, last year's WC quarter-finalist, who is still looking for a good run this season, outside of the short-format tournament in India. He played Higgins recently in the World Open and lost 5-0 though. It has to be between Ding and Higgins really... Higgins has probably been slightly better recently, finally putting a couple of good matches together, and he has reached the QF of three successive tournaments as a result. It took pretty good opponents to eventually beat him as well, O'Sullivan in Newport, Allen in Haikou and Fu in Preston. Higgins also seems to be playing most of his best snooker in China these days. Since his World title in 2011, five of his six ranking quarter-finals have come in China, if I'm not mistaken, so I'm sure he is quite happy to be here again. Ding has played very well in China this season as well, winning two of the four major tournaments staged there. Interesting stat that, because prior to this season the 2005 China Open was his only title in China. He has put a lot of stats right this season though. He has already played in five ranking finals (including India), wining four of them, so he still has a chance to break Hendry's record. He has suffered a couple of setbacks recently though, playing some nervy snooker at the wrong time in tournaments, like against Murphy in the Masters and the World Open, and against O'Sullivan in the Welsh Open final. He lost from 3-0 up in the PTC Finals as well, which is quite unusual, because earlier in the season he seemed very composed under pressure most of the time. The last time he has played Higgins in a big match was the World Open last season, when he lost 5-0 in the QF, and you have to go back quite a few years before that to find anything other than short-format stuff. I should also mention the very promising Zhao Xintong here. He played as a wildcard in all four previous Chinese events this season, lost in three of them, but the one time he did come through he left quite an impression, winning three matches, including a 6-1 thrashing of Barry Hawkins.

The second part of this quarter is actually quite similar, with two strong seeds set to meet in the last16, but perhaps they are a bit more vulnerable than Ding and Higgins. When Marco Fu is the favourite, you know nothing is really guaranteed... To be fair to him, he has limited his mediocre performances pretty well this season, but I still don't have much confidence in him against the lower-ranked players. His recent form is not in question though. He got through a pretty tough draw to reach the QF in Wales, where he was surprisingly whitewashed by Hawkins, 5-0, but he came back strongly in the World Open, losing to Selby in the SF. He played well last week too, but put in one of those underwhelming performances against Greene in the SF, when he probably should have won, considering how well he had played in the earlier rounds. That's all pretty recent stuff, but he played even better in the first half of the season, winning the Australian Open and reaching the final of the International Championship. So he has been consistently good all season, I just hope he doesn't run out of steam for the WC, where he is surely one of the favourites this year. Barry Hawkins also comes to this event full of confidence, having just won the PTC Finals, but there was only one day between the two tournaments, and Hawkins had to make the flight of course, so he could be vulnerable early on here. I think only Jamie O'Neill is a real outsider in this section, everyone else at least has an outside chance. Mark King has as much experience as anyone here, and he has already beaten Fu once this season, in the Wuxi Classic. Fergal O'Brien is also very experienced, and while he hasn't done anything major this season, he did reach a PTC final in Poland and qualified for the Grand Finals as a result. He lost to Hawkins in the Wuxi Classic, and it could be another close one here. Li Hang also had a memorable match in Wuxi, a 1st round win over Judd Trump, and he played alright in the UK Championship as well, before losing to Neil Robertson in the last32. I still remember his performance in this tournament in 2011, where he got through a couple of rounds as a wildcard, with wins over Ken Doherty and Greame Dott, before he lost 5-4 to Murphy. He is perhaps not one of the top Chinese players at this point in time, but you never know. He did beat Cao Yupeng in the qualifiers... Also here is Aditya Mehta, the Indian Open finalist, and Kyren Wilson, who reached the QF in Shanghai, but neither of them have done much since those tournaments.

Quarter 4:

Stuart Bingham v. Martin O'Donnell
Michael Holt v. Craig Steadman
Peter Lines v. Mike Dunn
Tian Pengfei v. Gary Wilson

Jimmy White v. David Morris
Alfie Burden v. Tony Drago
Nigel Bond v. Barry Pinches
Mark Selby v. Stuart Carrington

I'm not sure what to say about this last quarter... It's probably the weakest quarter in any major tournament since I've been watching snooker, which makes Mark Selby a huge favourite to reach the SF here. And if he should falter, a real outsider could go through, and one will definitely get to the QF at least, because Selby can't take both spots himself. :smile: The main reason for this is the absence of Stuart Bingham, who was supposed to be the big name in this first section, and there were a couple of high-profile casualties in the qualifying as well, such as Mark Davis, Robert Milkins and Martin Gould. Anyway, the most obvious candidate to take advantage of all that is Michael Holt, enjoying his best-ever season, with a SF in Shanghai and a QF in Germany already to his name. It looks like he is one of the players who have adjusted the best to this constant travelling between Europe and Asia, it's just a question if he still has the form to take advantage of this draw. The 1st round against Craig Steadman could be tricky, having lost to him in the qualifiers for the International Championship earlier in the season. Tian Pengfei could also benefit from this draw... He had a couple of really poor seasons recently, but he seems to be coming back to at least decent form, albeit very slowly. He has struggled with China this season, losing in the 1st round every time he has reached the venue stage, but he has played better in the UK tournaments and even better in Germany, where he had a great win over Neil Robertson. He was in a similar position before the 2010 Shanghai Masters, the draw opening up in the top quarter after the withdrawal of O'Sullivan, but he lost to Jamie Burnett, and it was Burnett who ultimately took advantage and reached the final. Could it be Tian this time? He plays Gary Wilson in the 1st round here, an opponent he has already beaten this season, in the qualifiers for the Australian Open. Wilson can't be underestimated though. While he hasn't done much in the majors, he played quite well in the PTCs, doing enough to qualify for the Finals. I should also mention the veteran Peter Lines, who hasn't done much either, but he is one of the few players to beat O'Sullivan this season.

And finally, Selby's little section... It's really hard to see who could take him out. He has reached the business end of most major events this season, including the UK and the Masters final, and of course the World Open final a couple of weeks ago. He has played some really poor matches late in tournaments, more memorable perhaps than some of his wins, but as far as getting through the early rounds is concerned, Selby is pretty bulletproof. He is the biggest name not to win a major title this season, along with John Higgins, so he must be pretty motivated to do something here. Or is he thinking about the WC? Of all the other players, I think David Morris has the best chance. He reached his first-ever ranking QF in the Wuxi Classic at the start of the season, and played pretty well to reach the last16 of the UK in December. Alfie Burden doesn't impress me particularly, but with Drago withdrawing he is already through to the next round, so he doesn't have to do that much to reach the business end now. This is also Jimmy White's best chance in a long time to have a good run, but he will still have to play better than he usually does on TV these days. Nigel Bond and Barry Pinches meet in a repeat of their 1st round match in the Welsh Open, where Pinches won 4-1. Could it be one of them that goes through? Unlikely, but you never know...

Possible QF line-up:

Neil Robertson v. Graeme Dott
Shaun Murphy v. Judd Trump
John Higgins v. Marco Fu
Michael Holt v. Mark Selby


Should be a great tournament whatever happens. Will be up to watch this in the morning, and hopefully in the following days as well. :wink:

[Chappy5]

Any streams for this as we get nothing here in Australia.

[gettingbetter]

Luca Brecel has won his wildcard match and progresses to the main stage of the the tournament. I went to look at who his opponent is for the 1st round and it says Mark Allen w/o. Now Brecel is in the 2nd round if that is true. Does anyone know if or why Allen withdrew? My source is World Snooker.

[Mr Snooker]

Jimmy White was explaning to the Chinese referee that you can't call a miss when your opponent needs a snooker, Mike Hallett said the referee does not know the foul and miss rule when a player requires a snooker, Jimmy White wins the first frame.