Welsh Open 2010 QF Discussion

[brendan147]

From the drawsheet, looks like the 3rd quarter of the draw is probably the toughest route to the QF match. The likes of ROS, Ding, Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy (from draw 9 - 12) will battling for the QF spots.

The other quarters of the drawsheet are "less pressure" for favourites such as Robbo, Williams, Maguire, J.Higgins and the current Masters champ, Selby.

Based on the Masters 2010 performance, I will say that there are 5 men to watch in this event. Selby, ROS, Williams , Maguire and Allen.

Discuss the "bumpy" route to Welsh Open QF round here.

Cheers.

[montoya10]

Baring a shock, from the top of the draw, Neil Robertson will be in the semi finals, probably, but Carter can make a surprise( considerably surprise, of course, he is not a real underdog ), so can Hendry..

If Mark Williams can reproduce the kind of play he did in Masters, he will come out of top in his quarter.. Apart from a qualifier surprise, Fu hasn't been playing at something close to his best, and same goes for Maguire and Ebdon..

I don't expect Murphy to do well here, especially thinking that he is doing better in longer formats such as UK and World Championship, whereas he had some collapses in the shorter matches in the past..Ronnie will probably beat Ding, as he holds a significant edge over the young man at the moment, and his opponent will probably be either Allen or Stevens from the qualifying round.. But still, it's hard to make either of them the favourite, so I will play it safe, Ronnie goes through

Final part relies on what Higgins and Selby bring out, but considering Selby's poor form in the last seasons( Masters is an exception, of course ), Higgins will finally be looking to break the duck and beat him to reach the semis..

Robertson-Williams, O'Sullivan-Higgins is on paper from me, but this would probably the best lineup in recent years, so expect something worse than this, or be ready to get disappointed

[brendan147]

Great post montoya10. It is still too early to predict who will go through to QF...but I'm kinda disagree with you about Maguire.

He was the semifinalist in the latest two events in a row. That's something and I still put some attention to this guy too.

Cheers.

[Odrl]

You know I love to do this sort of prediction, and I'll do my best after the qualifiers finish. But the title is slightly misleading. It looks like the discussion about the quarter-final itself. And it should be moved to the Welsh Open section.

This one might be a bit easier to predict actually, because it follows the Masters so closely. I don't think the players who were completely out of form at the Masters can seriously challenge for this title, because they haven't had enough time to sharpen their games.

The players who showed some form could be dangerous, you just need to judge whether they are on their way up or down.

As for the players that played a very good Masters... This event is close enough that they can hold their form and go far. But we said the same about Murphy a week before the UK Championship, when he won the Premier League.

Looking at the draw, Williams should be a huge favourite to reach the QF over Fu. With the way Ding played in the Masters, he could be in trouble against Cope, let alone O'Sullivan. Selby would meet King in the 2nd round, so he should reach the QF as well. As for the Higgins/Perry part of the draw... They both played crap at the Masters, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a qualifier go through there, especially looking at some of the names, like Liang, Dott or Doherty.

[spike]

I will move it to the appropriate section now Odrl..

[brendan147]

Looking at the draw, Williams should be a huge favourite to reach the QF over Fu. With the way Ding played in the Masters, he could be in trouble against Cope, let alone O'Sullivan. Selby would meet King in the 2nd round, so he should reach the QF as well. As for the Higgins/Perry part of the draw... They both played crap at the Masters, so I wouldn't be surprised to see a qualifier go through there, especially looking at some of the names, like Liang, Dott or Doherty.

Agree with you about Williams. But it is the 3rd quarter of the drawsheet (draw #9 - #12) still a bunch of tougher 2nd round matches.

You forgot to comment about Robbo...

[montoya10]

Great post montoya10. It is still too early to predict who will go through to QF...but I'm kinda disagree with you about Maguire.

He was the semifinalist in the latest two events in a row. That's something and I still put some attention to this guy too.

Cheers.

Maguire is capable of doing better than any other player in his generation, in my opinion.. But he hasn't been playing the way he could recently, something fairly understandable considering the things happened..The laser eye surgery, problems with his back, most importantly loss of his grandfather.. These factors have possibly held him back, but if he can move on and gear up to his highest level, then, he is one of the favourites to win any event out there, World Championship included

[brendan147]

Well...I do expect some more from Maguire to be in the QF round. ROS is my all time favourite (after Jimmy White) but I still can ask myself for a fair support to Maguire and the other elites such as Robbo, Ding, Allen and Williams.

[ja.]

theres no way allens getting past the first round

[Looki]

I think Ding is not be ruled out based on his performance in the Masters. I expect him to beat Cope (provided he gets through) and Ronnie is usually far from his best in the smaller tournaments, so I wouldn't be too surprised to see Ding playing Quarters.

Also I'm cheering for Williams. He's back to his best and I expect him to be in the quarters. At least we'll see if he's capable of playing well consistently. I believe he is.

[Odrl]

You forgot to comment about Robbo...

I just commented on the obvious ones.

Robertson or Carter is a tricky one, so I'll have to think that one over. But one thing that is interesting is that Carter could play Swail in the 1st round, which would be a repeat of last year's final.

[ThePhantomPotter]

Looking at the draw pre-qualifiers and based on current form, I would expect:
Robertson (played so well against Ronnie at the Masters) vs either Hendry or a qualifer
Williams (worth a bet to win the tournament actually) vs Ebdon or qualifier
Ding Junhui vs Mark Allen (O'Sullivan I think will be out of sorts, hopefully Murphy won't get past Allen)
Selby vs Higgins (the former on a roll, the latter determined to make up for his masters exit)

I suppose if it goes to form, you would then end up with Robertson/Williams and Allen/Selby. then Williams/Selby in the final. come on the welsh! lol.

of course, with such short matches, you often get strange results. Matthew Stevens / Dominic Dale could find inspiration on home soil?! in any case, it sounds like a good line up actually. well worth a welsh excursion!

[cally]

I won 3 sessions for the welsh on ebay for 99p each.....
They arrived today and look good, not written in black marker on crumpled receipts or nowt...

Come on mark j, keep that welsh slate at home where it belongs boyo....:snooker:

[missneworleans]

theres no way allens getting past the first round

Allen-Waldo coming up?

[brendan147]

I suppose if it goes to form, you would then end up with Robertson/Williams and Allen/Selby. then Williams/Selby in the final. come on the welsh! lol.

Hey...where ROS? Not listed in your mind?

Anyway, I'm expecting ROS/Allen QF match if both players survive R1 and R2. Should be a great match. Common Ronnie...!!!!