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Format:
128 Players
First four rounds are Best-of-7
Quarterfinals: Best-of-9
Semifinals: Best-of-11
Final: Best-of-17
Ranking Points and Prize Money breakdown:
Winner: £70,000
Runner-up: £30,000
Semi-final: £20,000
Quarter-final: £10,000
Last 16: £6,000
Last 32: £3,500
Last 64: £2,500
Draw:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_E...Open_(snooker)
Not exactly the most intriguing tournament of the season, since it's a Best-of-7-event until the quarterfinals.
For a positive note, all players are here, even Ding Junhui and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
I'll make the preview just quick now:
Section 1:
Has defending champion Liang Wenbo, who hasn't shown much this season, he could meet Tom Ford in the second round. Yan Bingtao is here and Anthony McGill vs. Michael Holt is one of the most interesting first rounders. I could easily see a very surprising player in the fourth round here. For example Akani Songsermsawad.
Section 2:
This is the section with the two top seeds who struggled heavily this season with Neil Robertson and Barry Hawkins. Both are in urgent need of a good result and their draw seems to give them the opportunity, though Robertson would eventually play Li Hang in the second round, to whom he lost at the China Championship. But the Chinese, who plays Chris Wakelin first, is more comfortably over the longer matches this season.
I wouldn't be that surprised if we get a surprise quarterfinalist out of those two top sections.
Section 3:
This part of the draw is way more dense. Recent European Masters champion Judd Trump is on the top of it and opens against Robbie Williams, before playing the winner of Yu - Joyce. Even more interesting is the path of Luca Brecel, that is pretty tough. He has Ryan Day first, than meets the winner of Mark Williams - David Grace.
Section 4:
Here is Ronnie and John Higgins is there as well. O'Sullivan has the slightly easier path to their possible rendez-vous in the Fourth Round as Higgo would play against Selt or Burden in the second round and likely Maguire or Milkins in the third one.
Section 5:
Ding Junhui could meet Michael White already in round two, in the down half there's Ali Carter as well as Joe Perry. Over a longer distance I'd make Ding easily the favorite here, but the way how it is we could have a surprise as well.
Section 6:
Mark Allen has found to a pretty good form lately and is maybe the favorite here. Along with Shaun Murphy who has been to two finals this season, but wasn't very consistent overall. Possible spoilers for them could be the well playing Ken Doherty or Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who wasn't convincing during the last weeks though.
Section 7:
Marco Fu is the top seed here and he urgently needs a good result as well. He could meet Zhou Yuelong in the third round, while in the down half Stuart Bingham certainly is the favorite after his run to the final in Lommel. But he won't have it easy. He opens against Lee Walker, then could meet Mark King and in the third round Martin Gould or Hossein Vafaei would loom.
Section 8:
Mark Selby showed splashes of increasing form at the European Masters, but still was a bit inconsistent. He still is the man to beat here, as the next "best" players in that section are Kyren Wilson and at this point maybe Cao Yupeng, who was in the semifinals at Belgium.
Predictions:
Quarterfinals:
Anthony McGill - Gary Wilson
Judd Trump - Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ali Carter - Mark Allen
Zhou Yuelong - Mark Selby
Semifinals:
McGill - O'Sullivan
Allen - Zhou
Final:
O'Sullivan - Allen
Winner:
O'Sullivan
128 Players
First four rounds are Best-of-7
Quarterfinals: Best-of-9
Semifinals: Best-of-11
Final: Best-of-17
Ranking Points and Prize Money breakdown:
Winner: £70,000
Runner-up: £30,000
Semi-final: £20,000
Quarter-final: £10,000
Last 16: £6,000
Last 32: £3,500
Last 64: £2,500
Draw:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_E...Open_(snooker)
Not exactly the most intriguing tournament of the season, since it's a Best-of-7-event until the quarterfinals.
For a positive note, all players are here, even Ding Junhui and Ronnie O'Sullivan.
I'll make the preview just quick now:
Section 1:
Has defending champion Liang Wenbo, who hasn't shown much this season, he could meet Tom Ford in the second round. Yan Bingtao is here and Anthony McGill vs. Michael Holt is one of the most interesting first rounders. I could easily see a very surprising player in the fourth round here. For example Akani Songsermsawad.
Section 2:
This is the section with the two top seeds who struggled heavily this season with Neil Robertson and Barry Hawkins. Both are in urgent need of a good result and their draw seems to give them the opportunity, though Robertson would eventually play Li Hang in the second round, to whom he lost at the China Championship. But the Chinese, who plays Chris Wakelin first, is more comfortably over the longer matches this season.
I wouldn't be that surprised if we get a surprise quarterfinalist out of those two top sections.
Section 3:
This part of the draw is way more dense. Recent European Masters champion Judd Trump is on the top of it and opens against Robbie Williams, before playing the winner of Yu - Joyce. Even more interesting is the path of Luca Brecel, that is pretty tough. He has Ryan Day first, than meets the winner of Mark Williams - David Grace.
Section 4:
Here is Ronnie and John Higgins is there as well. O'Sullivan has the slightly easier path to their possible rendez-vous in the Fourth Round as Higgo would play against Selt or Burden in the second round and likely Maguire or Milkins in the third one.
Section 5:
Ding Junhui could meet Michael White already in round two, in the down half there's Ali Carter as well as Joe Perry. Over a longer distance I'd make Ding easily the favorite here, but the way how it is we could have a surprise as well.
Section 6:
Mark Allen has found to a pretty good form lately and is maybe the favorite here. Along with Shaun Murphy who has been to two finals this season, but wasn't very consistent overall. Possible spoilers for them could be the well playing Ken Doherty or Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, who wasn't convincing during the last weeks though.
Section 7:
Marco Fu is the top seed here and he urgently needs a good result as well. He could meet Zhou Yuelong in the third round, while in the down half Stuart Bingham certainly is the favorite after his run to the final in Lommel. But he won't have it easy. He opens against Lee Walker, then could meet Mark King and in the third round Martin Gould or Hossein Vafaei would loom.
Section 8:
Mark Selby showed splashes of increasing form at the European Masters, but still was a bit inconsistent. He still is the man to beat here, as the next "best" players in that section are Kyren Wilson and at this point maybe Cao Yupeng, who was in the semifinals at Belgium.
Predictions:
Quarterfinals:
Anthony McGill - Gary Wilson
Judd Trump - Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ali Carter - Mark Allen
Zhou Yuelong - Mark Selby
Semifinals:
McGill - O'Sullivan
Allen - Zhou
Final:
O'Sullivan - Allen
Winner:
O'Sullivan
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