Wuxi Classic - June 23 - 29

[mrfault]

Hull seems to be back for real.

[Odrl]

So, no surprises in the end, Robertson and Fu both win their matches 5-3.

Robin Hull looks to have played really well against Dott, had a couple of centuries again. Cao Yupeng also gets a good win over Ricky Walden. He was a quarter-finalist here last year, then did nothing for the rest of the season, so it's nice to see him back in the last16 of a major event. Cao and Hull meet in the next round, should be a good one. :smile:

[Odrl]

Good start from Liang Wenbo against Selby, in what is surely the best prospect of this round. Liang had three centuries in the 1st round, and Selby was pretty solid himself, with an easy win over Robbie Williams.

Interesting to hear Mike Smith commentating again, it's been a long time. I don't think he is anyone's favourite commentator, but for me it will be a nice rest from the likes of Philip Studd, David Fitzgerald and "Tim" (sorry, don't know your full name :smile.

[P.Smith]

Wow. Can't believe Judd missed that pink. Owch!

[cyberheater]

A huge well done to Liang Wenbo for beating Selby.

[mythman69]

Selby lost 3-5

Hawkins won 5-4

Trump wins 5-3

[robertmac]

Yes some veterans players struggled but in the
end won their matches. Liang Wenbo is a very
good player especially when he is playing well
and should never be taken lightly.
Some very good matchups coming during the
next round. Looking forward to it.

[robertmac]

some good matches. I pick..

Zhao Xintong v Shaun Murphy

Neil Robertson v Michael Holt

Marco Fu v Stuart Bingham

Alan McManus v Barry Hawkins

Cao Yupeng v Robin Hull

Martin Gould v Ryan Day

Joe Perry v Liang Wenbo

Stephen Maguire v Judd Trump

[Odrl]

Yeah, a really good last16 lineup, all eight matches look like exciting prospects.

I will be watching Murphy against Zhao in the morning... A couple of days ago my mother was asking me if Murphy was playing in this event. She doesn't watch a lot of snooker, but she watches enough to have developed a strong dislike of Murphy for some reason. She was surprised that he had "the nerve" to show his face in public again, after the way he "disgraced" himself in the World Championship. She thinks Murphy should hide away somewhere, preferably in a "mouse hole". :smile: She was also interested to know whether the audience would boo him the next time he played, and seemed quite disappointed when I told her it was an unrealistic hope. :smile: This match is a completely different prospect for him, compared to playing O'Sullivan in the WC. Here he is fully expected to win, while his opponent is under very little pressure. Murphy has already been caught out in a situation like this once, when he lost to Lu Ning in the China Open a couple of years ago. On the other hand, Zhao Xintong beat Barry Hawkins in the International Championship last season, in similar circumstances. Should be interesting, but I think Murphy's experience will see him through.

The other televised match is Robertson against Holt, also looking like it could be a close one. Robertson really struggled against Georgiou and only found a bit of form in the last two frames. He will probably need a better performance tomorrow. Holt was the runner-up in Yixing, so clearly in good form, although he was on the verge of losing in the 1st round here. The head-to-head favours Robertson strongly, so I think he will prevail.

Tough choice for the afternoon match, but I think I will go for Maguire-Trump. Their matches always seem to be good ones, with Maguire usually coming through in the end. Trump was a bit rusty against Grace here, then played better against Woollaston, but this is the real test. Impossible to say how Maguire is playing, as he hasn't been on TV yet, but like Murphy, he too has something to prove after losing early in the WC, so I wouldn't be surprised if he played really well and won here.

Perry against Liang is the other TV match, also quite intriguing. Perry has had two whitewashes so far, and he seems to be making a lot of decent breaks. Liang of course had three centuries in his first match, and scored pretty well against Selby as well, with an occasional unexpected miss thrown in. Should be a high-quality match between two in-form players, with a slight edge to Perry maybe.

The other four matches would all be worthy TV choices as well. Robin Hull in particular seems to be playing really well, while Cao Yupeng got himself to this stage pretty quietly and will probably fancy his chances as well. Fu looked a little rusty today, and I missed Bingham's match in the "night session", so I'm not sure what to expect. Hawkins against McManus has 5-4 written all over it. Both players came through in deciders today, and it's interesting that Hawkins really outscored Yan Bingtao in his match but still only just won. Can McManus take him out? And the last one could be a quick and high-scoring game, Day against Gould. Gould had two comfortable wins in his first two matches, but he played two amateurs, so he was always likely to win. Day is a lot more experienced, and basically a one-visit player when he finds his form, so I think he could be a frame or two stronger than Gould here.

Should be a good day of snooker in any case. :smile:

[Alan McManus Fan]

Alan McManus has struggled to find his form this week but has still reached the last 16. This is a good sign, if he can defeat players while well below his best due to his great tactical game and knowledge. He's never been the greatest break builder, but was still at the top of the game for many years because he plays excellent match play snooker. I think a couple of years ago he had pretty much become the forgotten man of snooker but for the last year and a half he has been back at the business end of snooker. Up to 26 in the world in the provisional seedings, with a decent season he could be pushing for the top 20 if not more. I think top 16 is unrealistic but you have to take your hat off to him for climbing from 49 to 28 in the space of a season and reaching 3 Quarters in the last year and a half, now he is considered a 'veteran'. When you compare him to Ken Doherty for example there is no doubt these days Alan is the better player.

Regardless of what happens against Hawkins this has been a good solid start to the season for Alan even though I fancy him to beat Hawkins if he can up his game a tad.

[Odrl]

Murphy takes a 2-0 lead after both players had plenty of chances in both frames. Zhao Xintong was past snookers required in the second frame, but missed the pink and allowed Murphy to immediately get the snooker he needed. You can see he lacks a bit of experience. For a start, he plays ridiculously fast and gives no thought to the shots whatsoever. Can he recover from the early setbacks and make a match of it?

[Odrl]

Another similar frame, Zhao needed a lot of chances. He got to 40 and finished on nothing after the split, then got a great long pot, but was already playing the yellow within a couple of seconds and of course missed it. He played another terrible safety later on, when he pushed a red over the pocket, but luckily for him Murphy has been making just as many mistakes, so 2-1 it is.

[Odrl]

Anybody watching this? It's gone 4-1 to Murphy now, after Zhao threw another frame away with poor shot selection. Murphy is taking a few liberties as well, obviously thinking he can afford it today...

[Odrl]

And Murphy wins 5-2 in the end. Could have been 5-0 for either player, with the chances they had...

I suspect Murphy will play a different game against Robertson in the quarter-finals, but I'm not sure if he is playing well enough to beat him.

[robertmac]

Unfortunately those matches were played at 2:30a.m.
my time so I didnt get to see them. I am looking
forward to the next matches which are at 7:30a.m.