World Championship Qualifiers

[jonny66]

Watching the last few frames it seems I was wrong about Xintong, he does play safe now and then, just not very well.

[philmac74]

I was at the qualifiers today and spent the afternoon watching the Poomjaeng and Chen Zhe match. At 6 - 6 Poomjaeng had a regulation final black off the spot for the frame but quite blatantly feathered the cue ball. Quite bizarrely neither the referee or Zhe seemed to see it, neither did Poomjaeng call it and continued the shot to pot the black. As a result I thought I was seeing things but it quickly became apparent that several other crowd members also saw the cue ball roll...pity it wasn't flagged up at the time as it could have had a major bearing on the outcome of the match!

[JimMalone]

Mark Williams got through in the end, winning the last five frames to secure a 10-7 victory against Zhao.

So we didn't have many upsets in the first round of qualification, but two pretty big ones in Ricky Walden and Robert Milkins (or maybe they just seem big to me cause I foolishly picked them to come through to the main stages of the World Championship.
There were also a few other ones as Robin Hull fell to Reanne Evans, Matthew Stevens lost to Lee Walker and just today Kurt Maflin stumbled in a 6-10-defeat to Sydney Wilson.

Here are the matches for the second round:
Mark Williams - Liam Highfield
Stuart Carrington - Andrew Higginson
Tom Ford - Chris Wakelin
Matthew Selt - Hossein Vafaei
Reanne Evans - Lee Walker
Noppon Saengkham - Anthony Hamilton
Li Hang - Mike Dunn
Nigel Bond - Stephen Maguire
Mark King - Fang Xiongman
Xiao Guodong - Sam Baird
Ben Woollaston - Ken Doherty
Zhou Yuelong - Ian Preece
Alfie Burden - Jamie Jones
Dechawat Poomjaeng - Graeme Dott
Tian Pengfei - Fergal O'Brien
Rhys Clark - David Gilbert
Joe Perry - Akani Songsermsawad
Mark Joyce - David Grace
Luca Brecel - Joe Swail
Dominic Dale - Daniel Wells
Gary Wilson - Peter Lines
Ross Muir - Michael White
Rory McLeord - Sydney Wilson
Martin O'Donnell - Hammad Miah
Michael Holt - Eden Sharav
Peter Ebdon - Jack Lisowski
Alan McManus - Rod Lawler
Jimmy Robertson - Oliver Lines
Yan Bingtao - Mark Davis
Scott Donaldson - Alexander Ursenbacher
Robbie Williams - Yu Delu
John Astley - Martin Gould

So plenty of tough duels and most of them are considerably harder to call than in the first round.

Some that especially stuck out to me for the one or other reason:

Mark Williams - Liam Highfield

The highest seed in qualifying had troubles in his first round match and he also had troubles with his next opponent at this seasons UK Championship. I remember enjoying some frames of their match there with funny safety duels. Williams emerged as the winner there and I see him win again here, but it won't be easy.


Selt - Vafaei

Selt is #34 of the world and the higher seeded player here, but Vafaei has shown plenty of times this year what talent he possesses and he definitely would be already higher in the rankings if he would have been allowed to enter more events. Selt is veteran, who is tough to play, but I stay by my original prediction that the Iranian will move further.

Reanne Evans - Lee Walker

Two players who caused an upset in the first round. Of couse Reanne Evans, reaching as a woman the next round of qualifying was the one, that generated more attention. Will she get to the third round, will she get just one victory away from being the first woman to play at the biggest stage of snooker? Well, on paper Lee Walker is an easier hurdle than Robin Hull, whom she beat to get here. But maybe pressure also increases and though you have only to lose, when playing a woman and Walker will have even more pressure, I'll say the Welshman will end Reannes run.

Tian Pengfei - Fergal O'Brien

Both are close in terms of the world ranking as #44 (O'Brien) and #49 (Tian) respectively. And Tian has played his best of the season lately. Both met this season at Northern Ireland, when O'Brien won 4-2 and I lean towards the Irish Man to win again here.

Yan Bingtao - Mark Davis

I think this is the most intriguing second round match. The 17-year-old "wunderkind" against the World number #36, Mark Davis, who participated in 4 of the last 5 World Championships. Yan had troubles in his first ever match that was part of the World Championship, beating Sam Craigie 10-8 after trailing 4-8. So will he have acclimated enough. I personally think Davis is the favorite here with his experience. And it's not as if Yan beats one Top-40-player after the other.

[SnookerFan]

Typical.

Looking at Eurosport's listings for next week, they are only having one table televised when Ronnie is on.

BBC will have football results on interactive.

Round a friends, so won't be able to watch online.

Still, as long as we all get to pretend Ronnie is the only player that matters, that's what's important.

[Dark]

Ursenbacher and Miah have started off well to be 3-0 up on Donaldson and O'Donnell respectively as they back up from their upset victories in the first round.

[SnookerFan]

Bingtao is a hell of a prospect

[gavpowell]

Well Evans is blowing this so far - she's had chances, particularly the 4th, and still not won a frame.

[JimMalone]

Looks good for the two chinese Xiao Guodong and Li Hang, wo lead Sam Baird 7-2 and Mike Dunn 7-1 respectively.

[SnookerFan]

Sad that Reanne Evans is getting hammered. Love to see her at The Crucible.

[JimMalone]

Scott Donaldson pulls back another frame, shortening his deficit against Alexander Ursenbacher to 5-7.

That means that now all matches except O'Donnell - Miah (which is at 2-7 also far from over though) are closely contested fights.

[Dark]

Bingtao now 7-4 ahead and looking very strong.

[JimMalone]

Yan leads Davis 7-4 now. It's still a long way to go, but am I right thinking, that Yan would be the second youngest player ever to play at the Crucible behind Brecel?

[JimMalone]

Michael Holt (10-4 agaisnt Sharav) and David Gilbert (10-6 against Clark) are the first to get through.

[JimMalone]

Yan Bingtao is through, beating Mark Davis 10-7.
He is playing the winner between Scott Donaldson and Alexander Ursenbacher, who are in a decider, for a place in the main draw of the World Championship.

Ebdon and Lisowski are in another decider, while there is an huge upsert alert with Joe Perry trailing 7-9 against Akani Songsermsawad.

[Mr Snooker]

Peter Ebdon beats Jack Lisowski 10-9 and Alexander Ursenbacher will play Yan Bingtao in the final qualifying round, so we have at least one debuant at the Crucible this year, Peter Ebdon plays Michael Holt, could be a good match that one