World Open 2017

[JimMalone]

Again not a good tournament for the top players. After Selbys loss against Walker and Murphys first-round-exit against Daniel Wells also Marco Fu is gone in the top half, as he lost his second round match against Peter Ebdon 3-5. And Cao Yupeng defeated Stuart Bingham by 5-4.

Ding, who leads Xiao 2-0 at the moment now would be the logical favorite to reach the final there, but in this season this means that he will probably lose soon. If he wins today, he would face Joe Perry, who beat Ryan Day comfortably 5-0, in the round of the last 16.

In the bottom half John Higgins stumbled through into the next round with a 5-4 over Matthew Selt, now meets David Gilbert.
Mark Allen seems on good form. After beating Oliver Lines 5-1, he now leads Allan Taylor 3-0.

[jonny66]

Again not a good tournament for the top players. After Selbys loss against Walker and Murphys first-round-exit against Daniel Wells also Marco Fu is gone in the top half, as he lost his second round match against Peter Ebdon 3-5. And Cao Yupeng defeated Stuart Bingham by 5-4.

Ding, who leads Xiao 2-0 at the moment now would be the logical favorite to reach the final there, but in this season this means that he will probably lose soon. If he wins today, he would face Joe Perry, who beat Ryan Day comfortably 5-0, in the round of the last 16.

In the bottom half John Higgins stumbled through into the next round with a 5-4 over Matthew Selt, now meets David Gilbert.
Mark Allen seems on good form. After beating Oliver Lines 5-1, he now leads Allan Taylor 3-0.

I only saw the last frame of the Yupeng - Bingham match, but Yupeng fluked the brown for the match, unbelievable fluke and Bingham must be livid.

[DeanH]

Again not a good tournament for the top players. After Selbys loss against Walker and Murphys first-round-exit against Daniel Wells also Marco Fu is gone in the top half, as he lost his second round match against Peter Ebdon 3-5. And Cao Yupeng defeated Stuart Bingham by 5-4.

Ding, who leads Xiao 2-0 at the moment now would be the logical favorite to reach the final there, but in this season this means that he will probably lose soon. If he wins today, he would face Joe Perry, who beat Ryan Day comfortably 5-0, in the round of the last 16.

In the bottom half John Higgins stumbled through into the next round with a 5-4 over Matthew Selt, now meets David Gilbert.
Mark Allen seems on good form. After beating Oliver Lines 5-1, he now leads Allan Taylor 3-0.

or you could say, again a good tournament for low rank players to shine and.... :biggrin:

[Odrl]

I think it's quite an interesting last16 line-up, despite a few of the top players going out. It will be interesting to see what Li Hang can do here, after his good showing in the China Championship. Can he get to the business end again? Should really be favourite against Peter Ebdon... Cao Yupeng is having a good tournament as well, his best result in ages. Okay, Jimmy Robertson and Lee Walker are complete outsiders, but guys like Un-Nooh and Gilbert have contested major semi-finals and finals in the past, so we know they can play entertaining and high-quality snooker. :smile:

I'm not sure how they come up with these TV choices though... We had the usual mix of Selby, Higgins and Robertson against outsiders in the first couple of days, while matches such Maguire-McGill get played on the outside tables. And now when Higgins has finally drawn an interesting and worthy opponent in Gilbert, they've decided to show Williams against Jimmy Robertson instead? I just don't get the logic there...

[motorhead]

And now when Higgins has finally drawn an interesting and worthy opponent in Gilbert, they've decided to show Williams against Jimmy Robertson instead? I just don't get the logic there...

True.... puzzling.

[JimMalone]

I think it's quite an interesting last16 line-up, despite a few of the top players going out. It will be interesting to see what Li Hang can do here, after his good showing in the China Championship. Can he get to the business end again? Should really be favourite against Peter Ebdon... Cao Yupeng is having a good tournament as well, his best result in ages. Okay, Jimmy Robertson and Lee Walker are complete outsiders, but guys like Un-Nooh and Gilbert have contested major semi-finals and finals in the past, so we know they can play entertaining and high-quality snooker. :smile:

I'm not sure how they come up with these TV choices though... We had the usual mix of Selby, Higgins and Robertson against outsiders in the first couple of days, while matches such Maguire-McGill get played on the outside tables. And now when Higgins has finally drawn an interesting and worthy opponent in Gilbert, they've decided to show Williams against Jimmy Robertson instead? I just don't get the logic there...

Well, here in Austria they show Neil Robertson - Mark Allen, which seems the logical choice to me.

[JimMalone]

It's already a bit late, since the matches have already started, but here a few quick thoughts about the 3rd rounders and I'll begin with the bottom half, as those are the matches that are already underway:

Jimmy Robertson - Mark Williams:
This seems the clearest to me down there, as Jimmy Robertson is probably the one claring outsider. Mark Williams seems to have found a bit of form again lately and didn't lose a frame in his first two matches, so I reckon him to win 5-2.

Kyren Wilson - Thepchaiya Un-Nooh:
Highly interesting match for me. Both are due a good run again. Kyren Wilson is usually the better player - though I think Un-Noohs ranking should be way higher than it is and the Thai can be a danger to anyone - so I go with the Englishman to win 5-4.

Neil Robertson - Mark Allen:
The highlight of this round probably. Mark Allen has been showing strong results at Yushan so far, but Robertson had the stronger opponents. I go with Allen to win 5-4.

David Gilbert - John Higgins:
After a strong start, Higgins wasn't impressive in his close second-round-win against Selt. He just won the Indian Open, so I expect him to run a little bit out of gas at some point. I still think, he gets into the quarterfinals today, winning 5-3.

[Odrl]

Well, here in Austria they show Neil Robertson - Mark Allen, which seems the logical choice to me.

Yeah, that was always going to be the obvious choice for the main match, I have no complaints about that. It's the other TV choice that has surprised me. :smile:

[JimMalone]

or you could say, again a good tournament for low rank players to shine and.... :biggrin:

That's of course true as well. Every medal has two sides.

[JimMalone]

Yeah, that was always going to be the obvious choice for the main match, I have no complaints about that. It's the other TV choice that has surprised me. :smile:

For me the second most interesting match of this half would have been Wilson - Un-Nooh. But for the broadcasters this is probably the least likely choice as it has no big name in it as opposed to Higgins and Williams.

[JimMalone]

So Williams and Wilson are through and meet in the next round and David Gilbert takes out the next "giant" by beating John Higgins 5-3.

So Ding is the last remaining Top-7-player, but he still has his match in the round of 16 against Joe Perry to play.

[JimMalone]

Finally I've got one result right as Mark Allen beats Neil Robertson 5-4 from being 2-4 down. Sadly I have very much work to do today, so couldn't follow it closely, but what I saw seemed like an enojoyable match.

[Odrl]

Finally I've got one result right as Mark Allen beats Neil Robertson 5-4 from being 2-4 down. Sadly I have very much work to do today, so couldn't follow it closely, but what I saw seemed like an enojoyable match.

Quite scrappy for the most part, but Allen was able to put a couple of nice breaks together in the end. :smile:

A nice win for David Gilbert against Higgins. He was 2-1 down, then outscored Higgins by 359 to 7 in the last four frames to win 5-2. :smile:

[JimMalone]

Quick thoughts on the afternoon matches:

Lee Walker - Anthony McGill
While I played with the thought of letting Selby lose early again I certainly didn't expect Lee Walker in this match. Anthony McGill did well, beating Stephen Maguire, to whom he lost so heavily at this years World Championship, so he should have garnered some confidence. He is the better scorer as Walker and should be able to keep up in the safety department as well. So I say 5-3 to McGill.

Cao Yupeng - Luca Brecel
Brecel took his chance at the China Championship, when all the top players dropped like flies, will he do it this time as well? I make him the favorite against Cao, to whom reaching the round of 16 here is already the biggest success in his career. 5-2 to Brecel.

Peter Ebdon - Li Hang
Li Hang is another player, who achieved a great result at the China Championship, where he reached the semifinal. He seems to play pretty consistent this season and with his style of play he shouldn't be somebody, who is totally uncomfortable with Ebdons style. 5-3 to Li.

Joe Perry - Ding Junhui
Originally I predicted an early exit for Ding and I'm tempted to pick Perry, who played a strong match in his 5-0 victory against Ryan Day, as the winner here. Especially cause the pressure on Ding, now that he is the lone top player left in this tournament that also is in his home country, has surely grown. And so far Ding has had flashes of strong performances, but wasn't playing at his best level and also not very consistent over the length of a full match. Also Perry won their last three duels quite easily - two at the Masters and one at the Players Championship Grand Final in 2015, when he went on to win his sole ranking title. But on the other hand it's somehow hard to imagine already the next big tournament without any top 10 player in the quarterfinale. So, 5-4 to Ding.

[JimMalone]

Wow, now this is a very weird decision. Eurosport shows Brecel - Cao instead of Perry - Ding.