World Championship Qualifiers

[jonny66]

Mark Williams has had a bad day, first a narrow defeat and then Zhao Xintong in the first round. What an award for beeing first seed of the qulifiers.

I thought that at first, but I think Zhao Xintong is a little overrated, sure his scoring ability and technique are brilliant but he flat out refuses to play a safety shot. He's not going to get past someone like Mark Williams with that game.

[Rane]

I thought that at first, but I think Zhao Xintong is a little overrated, sure his scoring ability and technique are brilliant but he flat out refuses to play a safety shot. He's not going to get past someone like Mark Williams with that game.

Agree on that but Xintong could easily take a few frames in one visit. With three matches to be played he could have done with someone he could defeat more easily.

[trains]

Hull v R Evans
Joyce v J Brown
Un-Nooh v P Lines
and Donaldson v Milkins potential round 2 I'll keep a keen eye on.

[tomwalker147]

I thought that at first, but I think Zhao Xintong is a little overrated, sure his scoring ability and technique are brilliant but he flat out refuses to play a safety shot. He's not going to get past someone like Mark Williams with that game.

Totally agree, another overhyped youngster, hyped because he's chinese!
I'll post a video of me snapping my cue in half if Xintong beats Willo

[itsnoteasy]

Totally agree, another overhyped youngster, hyped because he's chinese!
I'll post a video of me snapping my cue in half if Xintong beats Willo

Don't do that Tom, I'm after a badged Butters cue

[tomwalker147]

Don't do that Tom, I'm after a badged Butters cue

haha as if i'd actually do that I'd say Williams will be too big a task over a best of 19 though!

[sealer]

Totally agree, another overhyped youngster, hyped because he's chinese!
I'll post a video of me snapping my cue in half if Xintong beats Willo

You only say that as Williams had a bit of for recently :-)

[tomwalker147]

You only say that as Williams had a bit of for recently :-)

I won't lie that has helped! I just think over 19 frames the better and more experienced player will usually come out on top

[itsnoteasy]

haha as if i'd actually do that I'd say Williams will be too big a task over a best of 19 though!

Toss of a coin for me, it's one of those matches that any score wouldn't surprise me.

[Rane]

Toss of a coin for me, it's one of those matches that any score wouldn't surprise me.

I would expect something like 10 - 7 to Williams. A quite close match with the experienced player coming out on top.

[Rane]

How do they chose the players in the qualifiers? Has there been some kind of prequalification? I see that Patrick Wallace is in the draw so how did he get in? It´s been a few years since he fell of the tour.

[JimMalone]

Let's break the draw down here a bit:

Section 1:
Mark Williams – Zhao Xintong
Liam Highfield – Andres Petrov
Stuart Carrington – Alex Borg
Andrew Higginson – Michael Georgiou

Mark Williams certainly is the favorite here. Zhao Xintong is a talent and dangerous, but so far his results are definitely less impressive than the ones of Yan Bingtao or Zhou Yuelong. Even tougher could be Liam Highfield in the 2nd round. The 26-year-old played a very interesting match against Williams at this seasons UK Championship, losing only narrowly 5-6 in the fourth round. I remember some fantastic safety battles from this match. Also very dangerous here is Andrew Higginson who had Mark Selby recently on the brink of defeat at the China Open, losing 4-5 to the eventuall champion. I think it will be Williams against Higginson in the 3rd round and I go with Mark Williams to qualify, as his form in the China Open was pretty strong.

Section 2:
Tom Ford - Jamie Bodle
Chris Wakelin - Elliot Slessor
Matthew Selt - David John
Hossein Vafaei - Hatem Yassen

Tom Ford (World Number 32) had the most succesful season based on ranking points here. His best results came in the first half of the season though, reaching the final at the Paul Hunter Classic and the 4th round of the English Open. Since the start of 2017 only the quarter-finals of the German Masters (where he beat Peter Ebdon and Mark King 5-2) stands out, but aside from this he didn't qualify for the China Open and won only one match in the three other ranking events (I refuse to include the Shoot-Out event here). He would be up against an english Youngster in round 2. And then?
In the other half of this section Matthew Selt is the highest rank (#33) and of course he has lots of routine. He will be a diffcult task in the qualifiers, but I think that Hossein Vafaei is the most dangerous here. He has impressed me this season whenever I saw him and his recent run in Beijing, when he reached his first semifinal beating Judd Trump on the way underlines this. He also has the experience already of playing in the World Championship qualifcation twice, so he is no newbie there. My guess here is, that Hossein Vafaei becomes the first Iranian to qualify for the Crucible.

Section 3:
Robin Hull - Reanne Evans
Matthew Stevens - Lee Walker
Noppon Saengkham - Jak Jones
Anthony Hamilton - Craig Steadman

Now this is quite an interesting part of the draw I think. With two-times Vice-World-Champ Matthew Stevens and Anthony Hamilton, the sensation of the season, here. They are not guaranteed to meet in the third round though. Stevens opens against Walker and would have Robin Hull after this and Hamilton has two potentially tricky matches, not least his first round encounter with Craig Steadman, who beat Hamilton at the Welsh Open in February. The Sheriff of Pottingham has been playing so great for most of the part since new year though, I just have to go with Anthony Hamilton here.

Section 4:
Li Hang - Fraser Patrick
Mike Dunn - Andy Hicks
Nigel Bond - Ng On Yee
Stephen Maguire - Kritsanut Lertsattayathorn

For the first time since 2005 Stephen Maguire has to qualify for the World Championship. It will be interesting to see how he can cope with that. He could have got a harder route I think with playing #115 Lertsattayathorn first and probably Nigel Bond (#73) then. The third round - maybe against Mike Dunn - could be trickier, but by then he maybe has found a rhythm? I think we will also see Stephen Maguire at the Crucible this year.

Section 5:
Mark King - Paul Davison
Zhang Anda - Fang Xiongman
Xiao Guodong - Tyler Rees
Sam Baird - Ross Vallance

I guess that Mark King will get into the third round, then likely play the winner of Xiao Guodong vs. Sam Baird. Both didn't really play convincing for most of the season. King though wasn't too impressive himself. His win at Northern Ireland and his quarterfinal at the German Masters disguise the fact that he lost at the latest at the 2nd round of the other 13 ranking events where he entered the main draw. I still think Mark King is the favorite in this part of the qualification.

Section 6:
Ben Woollaston - Chris Totten
Ken Doherty - Jason Weston
Zhou Yuelong - Christopher Keogan
Ian Burns - Ian Preece

The two prominent names that spring into your eyes here are Ben Woollaston and Zhou Yuelong. A third round encounter would be highly interesting. Woollaston is ranked #28 in the world, Zhou is #37. But the Chinese has actually been the 25th best player this season so far. He has only lost in the first round four times, his highlights were the 4th round at the UK Championship and the quarterfinals at the Welsh Open. A duel between those two would be really close to call. Maybe experience gives Woollaston the advantage? My wild guess is that it is time for Zhou Yuelong to make his debut at the World Championship.

Section 7:
Alfie Burden – Adam Duffy
Jamie Jones – Jamie Curtis-Barrett
Dechawat Poomjaeng – Chen Zhe
Graeme Dott – Allan Taylor

Now this is a wide open section. Graeme Dott is the best ranked player, while Jamie Jones is the one who had the most success this season, reaching two quarterfinals, one of them being the UK Championship. But again he was very inconsistent. Dechawat Poomjaeng had a horrible season, while Alfie Burden had at least some decent results. Routine and being a proven fighter usually isn’t a disadvantage in this kind of qualification, so I go with Graeme Dott here.

Section 8:
Tian Pengfei – Zhang Yong
Fergal O’Brien – Gerard Greene
Rhys Clark – Wayne Townsend
David Gilbert – Patrick Wallace

Gilbert should be the favorite here. He had a good start to the season, albeit he clearly struggled afterwards. But the other players in this section didn’t make a lot of noise themselves, despite Tian Pengfei increased his level of play won a few matches this year. I think David Gilbert will qualify.

Section 9:
Joe Perry – Zack Richardson
Mei Xiwen – Akani Songsermsawad
Mark Joyce – Jordan Brown
David Grace – Thor Chuan Leong

World number 19 Joe Perry is of course the favorite in this section. He missed the qualification not by much and if we regard just this season alone, he has been the 18th best player. His best results were the final at the World Open and the quarterfinal at the International Championship, the third biggest ranking tournament oft he season. Also his first two matches are very winnable, he could meet Mark Joyce, who beat Ronnie O’Sullivan last week, in the third one. Joe Perry will overcome him and qualify.

Section 10:
Luca Brecel – Sean O’Sullivan
Joe Swail – Sanderson Lam
Dominic Dale – Boonyarit Keattikun
Daniel Wells – Adam Stefanow

Despite Luca Brecel being ranked #29 when we cut the points oft he 2015 World Championship the Belgian had one more season where he didn’t fulfill his promises. Yes, he reached the quarterfinals of the UK Championship, but other than that he has a lot of first round exits. Maybe the longer format of the UK is an indicator for good things to come though? Dominic Dale had a bit more success this season, winning a match here and there and the veteran could very well make it to the crucible. Not all the favorites will win a place at the World Championship of course and I decided to side with another option here: Daniel Wells, who garnered a few decent results this season.

Section 11:
Gary Wilson – Josh Boileau
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh – Peter Lines
Ross Muir – Gareth Allen
Michael White – Aditya Mehta

Michael White could definitely have had a worse draw. He ist he 24 ranked player in the season ranking. The next highest in his section are Gary Wilson (#50) and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh (#51), who garnered roughly half of the Welshmans points. Of course both can beat him, but Michael White has steadily won matches this season and I expect him to come through here.

Section 12:
Rory McLeod – Darryl Hill
Kurt Maflin – Sydney Wilson
Martin O’Donnell – Jackson Page
Ricky Walden – Hammad Miah

Ricky Walden had problems with his back this season and that showed, as his results were not as good as the seasons before. Therefore he has to qualify for the first in four years and his way is makeable, but tricky. In the 2nd round he could meet 15-year-old Jackson Page and playing someone that young brings always pressure. But in the long Best-of-19-format the experienced Walden should win – it’s a big if anyways, cause Page has to beat Martin O’Donnell first. Then Walden would play maybe Rory McLeod or Kurt Maflin, both uncomfortable tasks. But I guess Ricky Walden will prevail.

Section 13:
Michael Holt – Hamza Akbar
Jamie Cope – Eden Sharav
Peter Ebdon – Michael Wild
Jack Lisowski – Jimmy White

Michael Holt has a quite fortunate draw I think. Peter Ebdon and Jamie Cope are clearly on ways downwards and Jack Lisowski has had an awful season so far. I really think Michael Holt should come through here.

Section 14:
Alan McManus – Kurt Dunham
Rod Lawler – Xu Si
Jimmy Robertson – Cao Yupeng
Oliver Lines – Duane Jones
Is it really just one year back, that Alan McManus made the semifinal of the World Championship? The player who made this inspiring run seems tob e a completely different one from the Alan McManus we saw this season. His path back to the Crucible could have been more difficult though. He opens against Kurt Dunham, then probably Rod Lawler. And we could have a duel of generations against Oliver Lines then. But actually Jimmy Robertson has been the most succesful player in terms of ranking points in this season in this part. When Lines and Robertson meet at the UK Championship Lines thrashed him 6-0. I feel I have relied on experience very much in my picks so far - and maybe rightfully so. But I should pick one more young guy. I liked Oliver Lines attitude and all-around game when I saw him so far though so I'll pick him here.

Section 15:
Yan Bingtao – Sam Craigie
Mark Davis – Michtell Mann
Scott Donaldson – Wang Yuchen
Robert Milkins – Alexander Ursenbacher

One oft he most difficult sections of the draw in my opinion. With Mark Davis and Robert Milkins you have two veterans who still played consistently good snooker. And on the other hand you’ve got the youngsters Yan Bingtao and Scott Donaldson here, both who had some impressive results this year. This shows in the rankings. In the rankings of just this season Milkins is #27, Yan #29, Davis #32 and Donaldson #34. The Scotsman being up there is largely due to his semifinal at the Welsh Open (where he beat Mark Davis 4-3 by the way), while the other three players have been more consistent. And for Yan it’s maybe to early to overcome possible both Davis and Milkins in the unknown Best-of-19-format. In the only duel over this distance Davis beat Milkins 10-5. But this was already five years ago at the 2012 World Championship. I’ll side with Robert Milkins now, who beat Donaldson also in last years World qualifiers, but I can see many options here.

Section 16:
Robbie Williams – James Cahill
Yu Delu – Itaro Santos
John Astley – Igor Figueiredo
Martin Gould – James Wattana

It’s sad we see Igor Figueiredo play so little. Cause when he played he had a few good results this season. And this could make him a tricky opponent here. Also for Martin Gould in a possible second round. In the 3rd one the highest ranked player of this section could meet Williams or Yu Delu, who are also no walkovers. Martin Gould should qualify though.

[tomwalker147]

Good write up Jim, I'm a bit annoyed that Wakelin and Selt could potentially meet eachother with them both playing out of our local club! It wouldn't surprise me if either of them progressed this year.

[DeanH]

David Gilbert gets a walkover from Patrick Wallace.

[DeanH]

Eurosport Player will have two TV tables - TV as in the three-per-table remotely operated mini-cams