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August the 16th marks the start of the first big tournament of this season and I'm really looking forward to it. The China Championship in Guangzhou has its premiere as a ranking event. And with a prize fund of £ 700.000 and 150.000 for the champion it is tied with the International Championship and the World Open the third biggest tournament of this season. Of course for this significance, which is also shown by the fact that every player of note, even Ronnie O’Sullivan entered the competition (with Kyren Wilson the only Top-20-player to lose in the qualifiers), the format with Best of nine matches until the quarterfinals and only the semifinals Best-of-11 and the final Best-of-19 seems a tad short, but this is the way it is nowadays. At least we can be happy that it’s longer than Best-of-7. We should sign a petition for at least lengthening the quarterfinals and semifinals of events such as this and the UK Championship though. ;-)
So here is the basic information of ranking points and prize money:
Winner: £ 150.000
Runner-up: £ 75.000
Semifinal: £ 32.000
Quarterfinal: £ 18.000
Last 16: £ 12.000
Last 32: £ 7.000
Last 64: £ 4.000
Round of Last 64: Best of 9 frames
Round of Last 32: Best of 9 frames
Round of Last 16: Best of 9 frames
Quarterfinals: Best of 9 frames
Semifinals: Best of 11 frames
Final: Best of 19 frames
The Draw:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_C...ker)#Main_draw
It's early in the season, so it is pretty difficult, but let's try to break it down.
First Quarter:
The first seed is not the defending champion, probably because it’s a ranking event for the first time, but world number one Mark Selby, who still has his qualifier against Luo Honghao to play (has Selby ever gone to Preston in the last years by the way?). If the world champion succeeds he’ll play Noppon Saengkham in the first round and probably Zhou Yuelong in the second. In the round of the last 16 his opponent would likely be Martin Gould or Anthony McGill. So this is not exactly a terrifying draw for Selby, but we don’t really know his form at this point. Since winning his third world crown at the crucible in May he only played at the Hongkong Masters, losing his opening match there against eventual winner Neil Robertson. Still I favour Selby to make the quarterfinals here, where he could meet one of a whole bunch of players.
Cause the second part of this quarter is quite equal and unpredictable in my eyes. The biggest name here is world number 8 Shaun Murphy, but he hasn’t exactly been the most consistent player lately. And exactly contrary his first round opponent Ken Doherty was playing his best snooker in years recently. The winner would meet a veteran performer with either Peter Ebdon or Anthony Hamilton. And yet the maybe most intriguing first round match of the whole tournament is on the other side of this section with Stuart Bingham meeting Chinese talent Yan Bingtao. And the winner doesn’t have it easy in the next round with probably Stephen Maguire looming. So who will it be for Selby (if he gets there) in the quarters? I really have no idea.
Second quarter:
The highest seed here is Ding Junhui, if he qualifies against Niu Zhuang. He doesn’t face what you would call a huge obstacle early: Alfie Burden in the first round, followed by Alan McManus or Elliot Slessor in the second round. And in the third round Mark King would be the most likely opponent. Of course over such a short distance as Best-of-9 there will be plenty of upsets, but Ding has to be called the favorite.
On the other side Barry Hawkins opens against Oliver Lines and would go on to meet the winner between Ben Woollaston and Mark Davis. Ali Carter is also there. All in all the second quarter might be the least intriguing.
Third quarter:
Here things could become interesting pretty fast. Cause already in the round of the last 16 we could have the clash between Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Trump has Li Bang or Daniel Wells first, then Graeme Dott or Robert Milkins. Ronnie opens against Sam Baird before playing the winner between David Gilbert and Stuart Carrington. While those are no walkovers the chances of a meeting of Judd and Ronnie are pretty intact.
In the third quarter there is also another intriguing first rounder with the duel of Marco Fu and Hossein Vafaei. Both are playing pretty good in the last eight or nine months. Of course Fu has been on another level, but Vafaei has progressed very strong and I fully expect the Iranian to take another step this year. If Fu wins he could be in for a rematch of his first rounder of this years World Championship against Luca Brecel, where the man from Hongkong staged this fabulous comeback. Vafaei against Brecel would be a decent match-up of talents. Also here are Liang Wenbo (if he qualifies) and Joe Perry, so the third quarter really is highly interesting.
Fourth quarter:
John Higgins still has his qualifier to play as well, before the Scotsman can take on Chris Wakelin and eventually a tricky second round opponent with either Matthew Selt or Tom Ford, both who performed well in Preston last week. In the round of the last sixteen Higgins could meet old rival Mark Williams or Ryan Day.
Also some Welshmen are in the other half of this quarter with Matthew Stevens, who opens against Mark Allen and Michael White, who plays Xiao Guodong in two of the more interesting first rounders in my eyes. Allen should be favorite against Stevens, the winner plays Un-Nooh or Holt next. White or Xiao would meet the highest seed of this half-quarter probably, which is Neil Robertson. It will be highly interesting, how the Australian follows up his win in Hongkong. Can he find his form again?
Possible quarterfinals:
Selby – Maguire
Hawkins – Ding
O’Sullivan – Liang
Robertson - Higgins
So here is the basic information of ranking points and prize money:
Winner: £ 150.000
Runner-up: £ 75.000
Semifinal: £ 32.000
Quarterfinal: £ 18.000
Last 16: £ 12.000
Last 32: £ 7.000
Last 64: £ 4.000
Round of Last 64: Best of 9 frames
Round of Last 32: Best of 9 frames
Round of Last 16: Best of 9 frames
Quarterfinals: Best of 9 frames
Semifinals: Best of 11 frames
Final: Best of 19 frames
The Draw:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_C...ker)#Main_draw
It's early in the season, so it is pretty difficult, but let's try to break it down.
First Quarter:
The first seed is not the defending champion, probably because it’s a ranking event for the first time, but world number one Mark Selby, who still has his qualifier against Luo Honghao to play (has Selby ever gone to Preston in the last years by the way?). If the world champion succeeds he’ll play Noppon Saengkham in the first round and probably Zhou Yuelong in the second. In the round of the last 16 his opponent would likely be Martin Gould or Anthony McGill. So this is not exactly a terrifying draw for Selby, but we don’t really know his form at this point. Since winning his third world crown at the crucible in May he only played at the Hongkong Masters, losing his opening match there against eventual winner Neil Robertson. Still I favour Selby to make the quarterfinals here, where he could meet one of a whole bunch of players.
Cause the second part of this quarter is quite equal and unpredictable in my eyes. The biggest name here is world number 8 Shaun Murphy, but he hasn’t exactly been the most consistent player lately. And exactly contrary his first round opponent Ken Doherty was playing his best snooker in years recently. The winner would meet a veteran performer with either Peter Ebdon or Anthony Hamilton. And yet the maybe most intriguing first round match of the whole tournament is on the other side of this section with Stuart Bingham meeting Chinese talent Yan Bingtao. And the winner doesn’t have it easy in the next round with probably Stephen Maguire looming. So who will it be for Selby (if he gets there) in the quarters? I really have no idea.
Second quarter:
The highest seed here is Ding Junhui, if he qualifies against Niu Zhuang. He doesn’t face what you would call a huge obstacle early: Alfie Burden in the first round, followed by Alan McManus or Elliot Slessor in the second round. And in the third round Mark King would be the most likely opponent. Of course over such a short distance as Best-of-9 there will be plenty of upsets, but Ding has to be called the favorite.
On the other side Barry Hawkins opens against Oliver Lines and would go on to meet the winner between Ben Woollaston and Mark Davis. Ali Carter is also there. All in all the second quarter might be the least intriguing.
Third quarter:
Here things could become interesting pretty fast. Cause already in the round of the last 16 we could have the clash between Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan. Trump has Li Bang or Daniel Wells first, then Graeme Dott or Robert Milkins. Ronnie opens against Sam Baird before playing the winner between David Gilbert and Stuart Carrington. While those are no walkovers the chances of a meeting of Judd and Ronnie are pretty intact.
In the third quarter there is also another intriguing first rounder with the duel of Marco Fu and Hossein Vafaei. Both are playing pretty good in the last eight or nine months. Of course Fu has been on another level, but Vafaei has progressed very strong and I fully expect the Iranian to take another step this year. If Fu wins he could be in for a rematch of his first rounder of this years World Championship against Luca Brecel, where the man from Hongkong staged this fabulous comeback. Vafaei against Brecel would be a decent match-up of talents. Also here are Liang Wenbo (if he qualifies) and Joe Perry, so the third quarter really is highly interesting.
Fourth quarter:
John Higgins still has his qualifier to play as well, before the Scotsman can take on Chris Wakelin and eventually a tricky second round opponent with either Matthew Selt or Tom Ford, both who performed well in Preston last week. In the round of the last sixteen Higgins could meet old rival Mark Williams or Ryan Day.
Also some Welshmen are in the other half of this quarter with Matthew Stevens, who opens against Mark Allen and Michael White, who plays Xiao Guodong in two of the more interesting first rounders in my eyes. Allen should be favorite against Stevens, the winner plays Un-Nooh or Holt next. White or Xiao would meet the highest seed of this half-quarter probably, which is Neil Robertson. It will be highly interesting, how the Australian follows up his win in Hongkong. Can he find his form again?
Possible quarterfinals:
Selby – Maguire
Hawkins – Ding
O’Sullivan – Liang
Robertson - Higgins
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