The Welsh Open

[SnookerFan]

Anybody going to this? I have a ticket for Friday evening (unreserved seating and two quarter-finals going on). Also, I have all day semi-final and final tickets.

I used to like going up for the first round. But not keen on the best of sevens in a ranking event, so chose later stages this year.

[mrbluejay]

I might go for the evening session. Anyone fancy meeting up for a beer or two ?

[SnookerFan]

I wouldn't say no to a quick beer after the matches with anyone.

[kellie-text]

I'll be there for the week, can't wait!

I had my doubts about best-of-7's last year but really enjoyed it and looking forward to the event again.

[SnookerFan]

I thought about going the whole week, but decided against it this year. Though tickets, travel and hotels are cheaper for the whole tournament. Maybe next year.

[SnookerFan]

Hey, is that chip shop still up by the Newport Centre? I like that place.

[cally]

Not sure which chippy ya on about soz bud, i int spent much time in zooport for years.

Most i go there is this time of year, i don't hang about after the snooker. i park my van in the multi storey oppsosite venue and watch snooker and off i go afterwards. great since they built the multi storey right opposite the venue, makes life so much easier..

Theres a few tidy chippies in newport as far as i remember tho...

[SnookerFan]

There's one just round the corner, unless they've ripped it down in the last year. I'm gonna check it out at some point.

[hotpot]

I,ll be going at some stage would be great to meet you all .

[SnookerFan]

We should have a designated meeting area. Can we all get Snooker Forum T-Shirts printed?

[hotpot]

We should all meet up for a pint .

[SnookerFan]

We should all meet up for a pint .

I'm up for it.

[Ronnie's tip]

Ronnie O'Sullivan probably has the toughest first round match, against Marco Fu, especially as it's only first to 4.

On paper Ding should wipe the floor with Mark Davis but the way Ding is playing at the monent it wouldn't suprise me if there's an upset there. Neil Robertson has as good a draw as you could hope for.

[Odrl]

Another snooker week coming up... Not one of my favourite events, probably the least prestigious of these "standard" ranking events, especially after the dumbing down of the early rounds, but at least we get the full seven days of snooker this time.

Let's see the draw...

Quarter 1:

John Higgins v. Liang Wenbo
Ding Junhui v. Mark Davis
Stephen Lee v. R.Day/M.Holt
Graeme Dott v. Tom Ford

A pretty unpredictable first quarter this time, without the usual two big names seeded to meet in the QF. In fact, the two biggest names here, John Higgins and Ding Junhui, should meet in the 2nd round. It's by no means a certainty though, as these are two of the worst top16 players this season, with very disappointing results in most of the big events. Higgins against Liang Wenbo would have been the match of the round two seasons ago, but at this point in time Liang doesn't look that great either. It's nice to see him qualifying at least, but having seen his two qualifying matches, I don't think he is in the kind of form that could see him having a great run here. If it's mostly fragmented stuff without one-visit scoring, I think Higgins will have enough to come through fairly comfortably, whatever his form is like. Ding could have a tougher job, because Mark Davis is very solid and consistent these days, and won't gift him an easy win. I'm not sure what kind of form to expect from Ding actually. After a pretty good UK performance, he played quite poorly at the Masters and the German Masters, and this is all pretty recent stuff, so I don't expect a dramatic improvement. Still, with the kind of natural scoring ability Ding has, he could easily be a contender if he just finds a bit of form. All four players could potentially come through here, but I would give Higgins the best chance.

Some interesting names fighting for the other QF spot, with no big favourite. Well, I suppose the two seeds are very dangerous on their day. After all, Lee was a semi-finalst in Germany, his best run in the major events for a couple of seasons. With the next event coming so soon after that, he can further capitalize on his good form here. Or was Germany his best this season, and we can expect a decline from now on? The draw is anything but easy of course, especially if Ryan Day ends up being his 1st round opponent. Despite apparently being past his consistent best now, Day is still young enough to reach the form from a couple of seasons ago, and if he does, he will look at this as a reasonable draw. Then there is Graeme Dott as well, the 7th seed in this event, so he should be the favourite to reach the QF on paper. You can't fault his consistency I suppose, because he didn't really get this high in the rankings by winning titles or reaching finals. He could fight his way to the QF here, but at least Lee and Day, if not all four players, could take him out. Day hasn't played his qualifying match yet, so it's tough to predict his form, but I have a feeling he could play well here.

Quarter 2:

Shaun Murphy v. Mark Joyce
Allister Carter v. Steve Davis
Mark Allen v. Ken Doherty
Neil Robertson v. Stephen Hendry

Another very interesting quarter, eight players with 16 World titles between them, although that's mostly thanks to the qualifiers. I think the first quarter-finalist should be decided between the two seeded players here, although with Steve Davis' experience, you never know. Murphy has been in strong form over the last month or two, featuring in the final of the Masters, as well as the SF of the German Masters. The early rounds are where he seems to be most vulnerable these days, but I can't really see Mark Joyce taking him out. I think Carter is the better bet. Yes, Carter has been awful this season, not getting to the business end of any tournament, but surely he can't go the whole season without playing somewhere near his best at some point. I think this could be the tournament. First of all, this is one of the two tournaments he has won in the past, and also reached another final and a semi-final in the last two seasons. He also doesn't seem to struggle against opponents like Davis when on form, and his record against Murphy must be very encouraging for him, with a couple of real thrashings in the past. I will go for Carter to come through here.

I suppose it's between four players for the other spot, although once again two names stand out. First we have a grudge match between Allen and Doherty, two players who have had their differences in the past. They played each other a couple of times a few seasons ago, when Doherty was still near the top of the rankings and Allen was just breaking through. The roles are reversed here, with Doherty clearly being the underdog and the player with less to lose. He played a good Australian Open but hasn't done much since. On the other hand, Allen has been better recently, reaching the UK final, and will now be hoping for another good run or two in the buildup to the World Championship. He should meet Neil Robertson in the 2nd round, the player who took him out of the Masters in January. I'm not sure how much impact Robertson is likely to have on this tournament. It was quite easy to predict an early exit for him in Germany, where he was the winner of the previous event, but that "curse" is gone now, and I'm sure he will be looking for another good result. He has played well in this event in the past, and I'm sure he will be determined to beat Allen after Allen's comments about him at the Masters, but the best-of-7 format won't be in his favour here, as it sometimes takes him a while to play himself into matches and tournaments. He also has to take care of Stephen Hendry in the 1st round. I suppose that's not a particularly tough draw these days, and with the number of mistakes Hendry is making, a solid player like Robertson should have too much, but there is always a danger Hendry can go on a scoring spree. He also used to have a pretty good record against Robertson, although not since Robertson has improved his all-round game.

Quarter 3:

Mark Williams v. Andy Hicks
Ronnie O'Sullivan v. Marco Fu
Stuart Bingham v. Mark King
Judd Trump v. Fergal O'Brien

The quarters are quite well balanced in this tournament, once again a very interesting quarter, not too strong but certainly not weak either. Let's start with Ronnie O'Sullivan, the winner of the previous major event. He proved he can still be considered among the nine or ten players who should compete for these titles, and I'm sure this will be a welcome return to the UK for him. The best-of-7 format should also suit him quite well, even though he did lose in the 1st round last year. If he plays the way he played in Germany, he has a good chance of going far again. Having said that, he now has the difficult task of trying to play two good tournaments back to back, something which is proving quite difficult for players to do in recent years. He is also up against his bogey player in the 1st round, one of the few lower-ranked players who actually raise their game against O'Sullivan. If O'Sullivan does come through, his 2nd round draw is quite good, as it will be probably be Mark Williams. I predicted Williams to up his game after the Masters, and while a QF in Germany is a decent start, I think he would be disappointed not to come close to a title or two in the remainder of the season. This event has not been the most successful for him recently, and with O'Sullivan possibly waiting in the 2nd round, I'm not too confident of him going through either... So who will it be? O'Sullivan, Williams, or maybe even Fu?

I think Judd Trump is the biggest favourite of all players to reach at least the QF. Not so much because of his current form, although the Masters and the German Masters were not bad, but mainly because of his fairly good draw here. Possible obstacles? Stuart Bingham first of all, the Australian winner, and a player who is very hard to beat these days. This would be a repeat of the 1st round match at the Masters, where Trump won quite comfortably. Then we also have Mark King and Fergal O'Brien, two very hard players, but exactly the kind of opposition Trump should have too much firepower for. Whether Trump is in the kind of form to win this tournament I don't know, but I don't think he will really be tested before the QF.

Quarter 4:

Stephen Maguire v. Adam Wicheard
Matthew Stevens v. Barry Hawkins
Martin Gould v. Peter Ebdon
Mark Selby v. D.Dale/S.Baird

And we conclude with another intriguing quarter. It will be interesting to see how Maguire responds after the disappointing defeat in the German Masters final. He must have thought he was playing well enough to win the tournament. Can he still raise his game? I think his biggest obstacle here will be Matthew Stevens, a quarter-finalist in Germany after a decent performance, and also a Welsh Open quarter-finalist last year. The Stevens-Hawkins match could be one of the more interesting in the 1st round. Hawkins always seems to get himself involved in deciders for some reason, and we know Stevens is a master of losing deciders when he is in front for most of the match. I think it has 4-3 written all over it. As for one of these guys beating Maguire, well, Hawkins did beat him 10-9 at the WC last season, so he knows he can do it. I think Stevens can as well, but I think it mostly depends on what kind of form Maguire is in. Even if he fails to reach the standard from Germany, surely his form can't decline dramatically in a week? And if his morale is ok as well, I think Maguire should get through.

And the final spot? Four reasonable contenders once again, but one name stands out. So let's start with Selby... He came up against a very strong Murphy in the last two events, and despite not being at his best, he maybe could have gone further with a different draw. He is not as consistent as last season, but at least he has won a ranking title, which I'm sure is the way he prefers it. Looking at the players who could take him out here, Dominic Dale is an immediate danger in the 1st round. It's his home tournament, and he has a habit of producing unexpectedly good performances from time to time, such as his run to the QF of the Australian Open. He is the kind of character who won't get frustrated by anything Selby does, and it's a short match anyway, so he just needs a couple of good frames to do it. Then we have Martin Gould and Peter Ebdon, first of all against each other in an intriguing 1st round clash. As a qualifier, I think Peter Ebdon has been quite lucky so far, drawing Bingham and Gould in the last two events, although he couldn't take advantage of it in Germany. On the other hand Gould got one of the toughest opponents in Germany, Ricky Walden, despite being seeded. In a short match, and from what we've seen in the last season or two, Gould should be favourite against Ebdon. As for beating Selby, that's a tough ask at the moment. He is too solid not to take advantage of Gould's mistakes, if he makes any of course. And let's be honest, he makes them quite often. As for Ebdon, he has also found it a struggle to play Selby in recent years.

Possible QF lineup:

John Higgins v. Ryan Day
Allister Carter v. Neil Robertson
Mark Williams v. Judd Trump
Stephen Maguire v. Mark Selby


So there we are... This event was probably not in many players' minds before the season started, but now that we're here, it's a nice little title to win. There is also an interesting top16 battle going on at the same time, although that's usually not something I'm too concerned about. Looking forward to the next seven days.

[SnookerFan]

Monday February 13

11am
1 Ryan Day v Michael Holt
4 Ding Junhui v Mark Davis

Not before 1.30pm
14 Judd Trump v Fergal O'Brien
8 Ali Carter v Steve Davis


Not before 2pm
7 Shaun Murphy v Mark Joyce
6 Graeme Dott v Tom Ford

Not before 7pm
3 John Higgins v Liang Wenbo
2 Dominic Dale v Sam Baird


Tuesday February 14

1pm
11 Mark Williams v Andy Hicks
5 Stephen Lee v Winner of match 1

Not before 2pm
10 Neil Robertson v Stephen Hendry
13 Stuart Bingham v Mark King


7pm
18 Mark Selby v Winner of match 2
17 Martin Gould v Peter Ebdon


Wednesday February 15

1pm
12 Ronnie O'Sullivan v Marco Fu
9 Mark Allen v Ken Doherty


Not before 2pm
16 Matthew Stevens v Barry Hawkins
15 Stephen Maguire v Adam Wicheard