Format and Schedule of China Open

[SnookerFan]

http://www.worldsnooker.com/staticFi...~172753,00.pdf

What do people think? Not many interesting matches in the WC Round/First Round. Should Jimmy White win, we'll get Judd vs Jimmy. Which will be fast-paced, if not a bit predictable. Gould vs Hendry will also be interesting, but I can't see Hendry winning that either.

Mark Allen vs Ricky Walden being a decent looking one, and possibly the match of the first round.

I'm quite a fan of Dominic Dale, and think Ali Carter is a winnable first round match, but that won't get televised.

I've heard good things about Ben Wollaston so would be interested to see him.

Neil Robertson vs Jamie Cope might be alright, but Cope has a habit of choking, so we'll see how that goes.


Other than that, there are some blah matches there.

[montoya10]

If Ronnie doesn't withdraw, this may be Mark's chance to beat him after ten years. Asian ground always does something good to his game, after all (=

[SnookerFan]

If

The most important word in this post.

[SnookerFan]

Monday March 26th

7.30am-10.30am British Eurosport 1 and 2
12.30pm-3.30pm British Eurosport 1 and 2
7pm-9pm British Eurosport 2 (Highlights)

Tuesday March 27th

7.30am-10.30am British Eurosport 1 and 2
12.30pm-3.30pm British Eurosport 1 and 2
7pm-9pm British Eurosport 2 (Highlights)

Wednesday March 28th

7.30am-10.30am British Eurosport 1 and 2
12.30pm-3.30pm British Eurosport 1 and 2
7pm-9pm British Eurosport 2 (Highlights)

Thursday March 29th

7.30am-10.30am British Eurosport 1 and 2
12.30pm-3.30pm British Eurosport 1 and 2
7pm-9pm British Eurosport 2 (Highlights)

Friday March 30th

7.30am-10.30am British Eurosport 1 and 2
12.30pm-3.30pm British Eurosport 1 and 2
7pm-9pm British Eurosport 2 (Highlights)

Saturday March 31st

7.30am-10.30am British Eurosport 1
1pm-3.30pm British Eurosport 1
9.30pm-11pm British Eurosport 2 (Highlights)

Sunday April 1st

7.30am-10.30am British Eurosport 1
7.45pm-9.50pm British Eurosport 1 (Highlights)

Second Session of the Final Live 12.3opm
Eurosport Player http://www.eurosportplayer.co.uk/tv.shtml
FromSport http://www.sportlemon.tv/

[Odrl]

Ah yes, the China Open is finally here, one of my favourite events of the season. I'm certainly up for some early-morning snooker next week. This was one of only two "standard" events last season, a full-week best-of-9 format. We've had a few more this season, but I'm still equally excited.

Let's see what the draw looks like...

Quarter 1:

Judd Trump v. J.White/O.Alkojah
Stuart Bingham v. Joe Perry
Stephen Lee v. Tom Ford
Graeme Dott v. M.King/Zhu Y.

Quite an interesting first quarter, with possibly another round of the Bingham-Trump rivalry. Bingham won their "Chinese" meeting in Shanghai this season, before Trump got his revenge at the Masters and the Welsh Open. Bingham has been very quiet in recent months, not doing much after his Australia win. I suppose it's time for his form to come around again, but it's going to be tough to get any results now, with the top players all looking to play their best at the end of the season. Trump has been more consistent since winning the UK Championship, looking dangerous in a couple of events, but eventually losing to in-form players. I think it will take a good player to beat him here as well. I'm sure there will be a lot of interest if Jimmy White wins his wildcard match to play him in the 1st round, but I don't think that will be much of a contest. I think Bingham is more likely to be in trouble against Perry, who has been playing better recently, after a long period of mediocre form. Can either of them beat Trump? Possibly, but I think unlikely.

Stephen Lee finds himself as a big favourite for the other QF spot, a position he is not used to, at least not in recent years. He has certainly been one of the best players of the season. He hasn't won a really big title, but he has been very consistent in 2012 so far, appearing at the business end of every tournament since the Masters, and finally winning the PTC Finals last week. Perhaps more importantly, he played very well in the last tournament in China, the World Open, in very specific conditions which caught out most of the players. If it's anything similar here, he could go far again. His opposition is not the strongest. Well, since we are in China, it has to be mentioned that both Dott and King were quarter-finalists at the World Open, so they are well capable of raising their games in these events. Having said that, Dott actually lost to Lee in Haikou, a convincing 5-1 defeat, and he generally has a poor record against him. In any case, it will be interesting to see if Lee's form is still there, and how he copes with being the winner of the previous event.

Quarter 2:

Stephen Maguire v. Barry Hawkins
Mark Allen v. Ricky Walden
Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Marcus Campbell
Mark Williams v. F.O'Brien/Jin L.

An even more interesting second quarter, with four very strong seeds. The qualifiers are not bad either, starting with Barry Hawkins, a specialist for forcing deciders, but not necessarily winning them. I think his match with Maguire could be one of the best in the 1st round, especially as it's also a repeat of the 1st round match in last year's WC, which Hawkins won 10-9. Maguire has played some of his best snooker in a while recently, just falling short of winning a ranking title in Germany, but even though he won this event in 2008, China has not been his favourite place, with quite a few 1st round exits. And this is certainly a tricky opener. The other match here could be even better... Allen is of course the most recent Chinese winner. His performance in the World Open was superb, exactly the kind you need to win ranking titles. Having had his first major success, it will now be interesting to see whether Allen can establish himself even more as a major contender for titles. Thinking back to Ricky Walden's success in Shanghai in 2008, it's still his only ranking title to date, and he has had periods of good and bad form since. He usually plays well in China though, so he is really the last player Allen wanted to draw. Whatever the 2nd round match here turns out to be, I think it's going to be a good one. Maguire against Allen may be favourite, but it could just as easily be Hawkins against Walden. And none of these are particularly common pairings either. If I had to pick, at this point in time, I think Allen has the best chance to go through.

I think the fight for the other QF spot is less open, with O'Sullivan and Williams being the obvious favourites. We know O'Sullivan is not exactly the greatest traveler, but he did win his last two ranking titles outside of the UK. If he comes here as determined as he was in Germany, he could certainly have a run. He hasn't lost to Williams in a long time, and he has always played properly against him, and almost always extremely well. The other players here are not really among the dangermen, so O'Sullivan's chances look quite good. Having said that, he is now at an age where there is bound to be some inconsistency, and there is no better example than O'Sullivan's drought prior to his win in Germany. There is always a chance he comes to the tournament a bit "flat", if he comes at all, of course. Also, I don't think any tournament has seen as much nonsense from him as the China Open over the years. On the other hand, Williams is an excellent traveler, that's why I predicted a successful series of tournaments for him in this part of the season, but he has been very disappointing. Even though he has been very mediocre since September basically, I would be very surprised if he didn't have a single good run ahead of the WC. But with O'Sullivan waiting in the 2nd round, it could well be another early exit. They are also set to meet early in the WC, so this could be a good indicator of whether Williams has what it takes to beat O'Sullivan, from a mental point of view more than anything. Also worth a mention is Jin Long, who won two matches at the World Open, so he shouldn't be underestimated here.

Quarter 3:

Mark Selby v. M.Holt/Li H.
Ding Junhui v. B.Woollaston/Chen F.
Allister Carter v. Dominic Dale
Shaun Murphy v. J.Jones/Lu N.

A couple of strong contenders in the third quarter. I am very much looking forward to another clash between Selby and Ding, two players who have developed quite a rivalry over the past two seasons. Ding proved too strong in the Welsh Open final recently, but then lost in the 1st round of the World Open to Jin Long, not showing any kind of form. It's always hard to predict how well he is going to play in a Chinese tournament, because he has had about as many good runs as early exits. I have more confidence in Selby playing well, especially now that his mid-season slump seems to be behind him. He has played well in most of the recent Chinese tournaments. He arguably has a tougher 1st round draw than Ding though. Michael Holt was a good test for him at the World Open, and we all remember Li Hang's excellent performance in this tournament last season. Speaking of that tournament, the semi-final featured one of those Selby-Ding clashes, a match which saw Selby play his best snooker. He also beat Ding at the PTC Finals last week. On the other hand, that Welsh Open final and the WC quarter-final, their two biggest recent meetings, both went to Ding. Who's turn is it this time? Looking ahead to the WC, they could meet in the quarters again, and if that happens, I think the winner will most likely be the one who loses here. I'm struggling to call this, not even a gut feeling either way. But just to pick someone, let's go with Ding.

Then we have a somewhat weaker part of the draw, with Carter not performing according to his ranking recently. I keep expecting him to finally show some form again, but when there is a physical problem behind his poor performances, it's not so easy to do. I have no idea how well prepared he comes here, but I assume it will be a struggle. I would usually talk about his excellent record against Murphy at this point, but realistically, even Dale will be difficult to overcome, in the match of two former Shanghai Masters winners. This should make Murphy a reasonably big favourite to reach the QF here. Although he would have been a favourite in any scenario really, having reached at least the QF stage of every major event this season. But let's not underestimate his two possible 1st round opponents either. Jamie Jones beat John Higgins at the PTC Finals last week, so he comes here with the confidence of knowing he can beat the top players. As for Lu Ning, I'm looking forward to seeing him as well, after his good performances against Selby and Bond at the World Open. Still, I fully expect Murphy to get through.

Quarter 4:

Neil Robertson v. Jamie Cope
Martin Gould v. Stephen Hendry
Matthew Stevens v. P.Ebdon/Lu H.
John Higgins v. R.McLeod/Zhou Y.

The forth quarter is probably not the strongest, the two big names both having a couple of question marks about them, but there is a nice lineup of qualifiers, and it will be interesting to see how it all plays out. Let's start with Robertson... I suppose he is quite predictable in a way. He played brilliant snooker at the Masters, then took his foot off the gas for a couple of weeks, before playing somewhere near his best at the PTC Finals again. This being a Chinese tournament, I kind of expect something mediocre again, followed by a strong performance in the WC. Who could take him out? All three players in this part of the draw I suppose. Jamie Cope is always a danger in China, unlike Robertson he seems to be quite comfortable in this part of the world, even though you wouldn't expect that from the way his personality comes across. Then we have Martin Gould, a very familiar opponent to Robertson, also scheduled to meet him in the 2nd round of the WC this season. In a short match, and with Robertson sometimes being a slow starter, Gould is well capable of beating him. Stephen Hendry? Well, his 1st round match against Gould is one of the best prospects of the round. They've played quite a few times in recent seasons, both having some success against the other. It was Hendry who prevailed in Australia at the start of the season, still a top16 player at that time. The roles are reversed this time, but the players are basically the same, so it should be a close match. Hendry against Robertson? Could go either way, the score between them 1-1 recently. I'm tempted to go with Hendry here.

I think John Higgins will probably have it slightly easier than Robertson. He showed some good form at the World Open, losing in the QF against a brilliant Robert Milkins. It was the kind of performance from Higgins that consistently got him to the later stages of tournaments in recent years, the kind of form that has been lacking for the vast majority of this season. If he plays like that here, he should be fine. I'm sure Rory McLeod is not the opponent he would have chosen for the 1st round though, because Higgins can sometimes be vulnerable against the more methodical players. Other possible dangers? Matthew Stevens perhaps. He showed a bit of form in the first couple of events of 2012, and I suppose he was unlucky to come up against other in-form players pretty early in tournaments. Peter Ebdon could also get through. He is getting more and more inconsistent, quite understandably of course, but the worrying thing is that he hasn't really played anywhere near his best for a long time now. His performance in this tournament in 2009 was probably his last really good one, and he beat Higgins in the final on that occasion. In fact, he has quite a good record against Higgins, so he can definitely beat him if he plays well. But unfortunately that's not very likely these days.

Possible QF lineup:

Judd Trump v. Stephen Lee
Mark Allen v. Ronnie O'Sullivan
Ding Junhui v. Shaun Murphy
Stephen Hendry v. John Higgins


So there we are, all nicely set up right from the start, and we should get a pretty strong QF lineup in any case. So, I wish a great snooker week to anyone who has a chance to watch this event, and I hope I won't have to talk to myself all week.

[likahokeith]

One point had to notice(I think it's almost impossible), will Chen Feilong defeat Ding Junhui again?

2007: Ding defeat Chen(I forgot the detail)
2010: Chen defeat Ding 4-1(National event in Chengdu - First round)
2011: Chen defeat Ding 4-1(National event in Chengdu - First round)
2011: Chen defeat Ding 4-3(National Championship - Semifinal)
2012: ?

[Jake O'Sullivan]

So looking forward to this tomorrow! Can't beat a bit of early morning snooker

[Odrl]

Not sure what to think of Robertson's chances now... Does the hair mean he isn't too bothered about this event, or did he spend his hair-arranging time on the practice table instead?

[Gary Hall]

Just been watching Robertson/Cope match, When Robertson first walked in the arena thought he was wearing a wig at first lol

[SnookerFan]

Jimmy today was too good for his opponent, but that was because he was playing an opponent unused to the big environment. Jimmy made a couple of mistakes, but his opponent made more. But on saying that, Jimmy's standard picked up towards the end, he made a couple of decent breaks, and was on for a 147 at one point.

He won't beat Judd, unless Judd throws in a complete stinker. But I'm hoping he'll get a couple of frames won, just not to embarrass himself.

[wordsworth]

Any reason why Robertson has a new do?

[daffie]

Whatever the reason...big mistake! Haha he looks like a poodle jk of course

Anyway just started watching the matches of today, hopefully we are in for a good tournament...

[Odrl]

Very long match, and not surprising to see Robertson prevailing in the end. I think he will need a lot more fluency to have a run in this event though. It will be interesting too see how Gould and Hendry play now...

[snookdevon]

Just been watching Robertson/Cope match, When Robertson first walked in the arena thought he was wearing a wig at first lol

HA HA Thought the same someone tell him sports relief is over .

[daffie]

Great start from Hendry! hope he goes through to he next round...