Which qualifier will go furthest?

[wildJONESEYE]

I suppose you have Hendry as favourite for the tournament?

no but he will beat williams of that im a million % possitive.....

[Mal]

I think Hendry has a tough match against Williams - I'm a Hendry fan, but it seems he struggles in the first round recently and this is clearly a tough test. However, if he does get through the first round, I fancy him to reach the semis and perhaps more as his confidence will be up and he has the game to settle into the longer matches.

Williams is a tough first round and he'll need to come out playing with confidence. He should be up for it, but so will Williams and it may be Williams who prevails. Conversely, I think that if Williams wins, he won't pose as much as a threat as Hendry as although he has played better stuff than a couple of years ago, he has never got back to his late 90s/early 00s play (2000 - 2003 he was superb) Whereas, Hendry with some confidence has shown some glimpses of some high standards - i.e. Bahrain (not his best, but Hendry at 80% is better than most at 100%)

[wildJONESEYE]

its only a test if people believe it to be a test..........

i tend to look at it as a inconvenience that will be dealt with professionally...

[spike]

I'd say Williams. I'd like to see Mark J. taking his third world title.

Well i hope your right about Mark as i intend to have a small fortune on him this week!

[Looki]

Well i hope your right about Mark as i intend to have a small fortune on him this week!

Well good luck to us then! I'm betting on him too I think he will prevail. SURE HE WILL!

[wildJONESEYE]

Well i hope your right about Mark as i intend to have a small fortune on him this week!

waste of money mate..

spend it on something else ....i dont know something with a chance .....ELVIS being found Alive maybee ?

[RocketRoy1983]

Ricky Walden..I hope he has a good run here.

[cueman]

All the qualifiers have tough matches really, but if any of them can win 1st round some of them have a good draw until the quarters if that makes any sense. I can see Swail possibly reaching the quarters if he beats Fu, ditto for Walden if he beats Selby has a very good chance of reaching the semi's. The only other surprise could be Gerrard Greene, I hear he's playing very well at the moment and Carter could have his hands full. With a potential clash with Robertson in the 2nd round and possibly Maguire in the quarter, neither player has had a great season, he would fancy his chances and is my tip of the qualifiers to go furthest.

[Odrl]

Hm, difficult question...

I think Bingham, Holt, Higginson, Greene, Davis and Burnett are huge underdogs in their 1st round matches. I would rule them out.

If McLeod gets through, he would probably play Maguire, so unless the 2nd round IS the furthest anyone gets, I'd rule him out as well. Same goes for Gould. I'd give Cope a slightly better chance, because he has beaten Higgins before and he has a reasonable chance of beating Perry.

Joe Swail has the class to beat a Fu or a Murphy, but he would need to take out both of them to get further than the 2nd round. I'd rule him out as well.

That leaves six. The Ebdon/Bond/Day/Lee part of the draw. I don't think Bond will come through here but Lee just might. He would have been favourite to beat Day in previous years, and he could certainly hold his own against Ebdon.

The Selby/Walden/Dott/Hawkins part of the draw. Walden is probably the most dangerous qualifier, but has one of the nastiest draws as well. He is not necessarily the most likely to reach the 2nd round, but if he does, he could get to the QF as well. Hawkins could get through to the 2nd round as well, but would again be the underdog against Selby/Walden.

And finally the Hendry/Williams/Ding/Liang part of the draw. I think this is the part with the most realistic chance of two qualifiers meeting in the 2nd round. There is no clear favourite here, so either Williams or Liang could get through to the QF. I'd give Williams a slightly better chance, but I wouldn't be surprised if both Ding and Hendry get through either.


I'd say the 2nd round might be the furthest anyone gets this year, and it could be several players. But if someone does get to the QF, the most likely would be Williams, then Walden, Lee and Liang.

[wildJONESEYE]

but I wouldn't be surprised if both Ding and Hendry get through either.

so it dont be 2 much of a surprise and make you faint ill cushing the shock for you....

Hendry and Ding will get through......you herd it here !!!!!!

[pat39]

I agree partly with Cueman. I think Cope, Walden, Swail, Wenbo and Williams have all got good chances of reaching the quarters and possibly further. The problem is they have all got very hard 1st round matches but if I had to choose one I would go for Swail.

[Odrl]

so it dont be 2 much of a surprise and make you faint ill cushing the shock for you....

Hendry and Ding will get through......you herd it here !!!!!!

Well, it's not exactly the "controversial prediction of the year". Ding will be favourite and Hendry will be a 50/50. Between Williams and Hendry, I promised myself I would predict the one that got further in China to lose in the WC match. Not so sure now.

[Wim]

I hope/expect Mark J Williams to do well and for some reason I think we will see the 'real Ding' now as well. So this could be a very interesting match between those 2. If M J Willliams survives Ding he could go very far even till the end.