2012 Wuxi Classic

[LittleMissAlexa]

discuss here

[Odrl]

Well, I may not actually be the right person for this kind of post this time. To be honest, I haven't had the time to follow what's been going on in snooker recently. I've always stuck to the policy of reading every thread before posting on it, and at some point during the World final I just couldn't keep up any more, so I gave up for a month.

I guess that means I missed most of the big talking points, such as Hendry's and O'Sullivan's retirement, as well as the Q School and the qualifiers for the first two ranking events. To be honest, I could have done with another month without snooker, considering what an eventful season awaits us, but here we are, and I sure as hell don't intend to end my run of following every major ranking event, which now stands at 57 if I counted correctly.

All that being said, let's have a look at the draw anyway...

Quarter 1:

Mark Selby v. Barry Hawkins
Martin Gould v. Jamie Cope
Stuart Bingham v. Peter Ebdon
Shuan Murphy v. K.Doherty/Lu N.

A very interesting 1st round match right at the top of the draw, Selby against Hawkins, meeting again after Hawkins' convincing win over Selby at the WC. Obviously the main thing with Selby is whether his injury is now behind him. Even if it is, he is surely going to feel the effects of it for a while, at least early in the season. That being said, a healthy Selby should be the favourite to progress from this quarter. His three possible opponents are all quite strong players, and fairly evenly matched as well. Hawkins is a master of making matches close, whether he is ahead or coming from behind, so I would expect him to push Selby all the way. Gould or Cope could also go through. Two similar players, both playing a pretty one-dimensional attacking game, and both with a history of decent performances on their travels. Cope in particular has always played well in China, and also won when they met in the World Open last season. He would be my second choice here, behind Selby.

Speaking of good travelers, the other three top players in this quarter all currently hold an overseas title, although a non-ranking one in Murphy's case. Murphy is the highest seed, but not necessarily a big favourite to go through. He had a good run from the start of last season, reaching at least the QF of every event well into the season, but just running out of steam towards the end. I reckon Murphy could be one of the top early-season performers again, before most players play themselves into form. The match between Doherty and Lu Ning is one of the most interesting in the wildcard round, but a repeat of Murphy against Lu in the 1st round proper would be even better. Lu's win over Murphy in the China Open was one of the biggest shocks of last season, so Murphy would have a point to prove here. The other two players are both very dangerous as well. Ebdon is of course the most recent Chinese winner, the China Open champion in April, but also a very inconsistent performer, and always more likely to play poorly than well. As for Bingham, he went very quiet after winning in Australia at the start of last season, so perhaps it's time for his form to pick up again. In fact, he has already had some success in the build up to the season proper, so he probably starts this tournament as one of the favourites.

Quarter 2:

Neil Robertson v. J.Burnett/Jin L.
Ding Junhui v. Mark Davis
Graeme Dott v. M.White/Zhou Y.
Stephen Maguire v. R.Lawler/Li H.

Quite a strong quarter, at least as far as the seeded players are concerned. First we have Neil Robertson, a player with one of the least impressive "Chinese records" of any top player. I don't think it would be fair to call him inconsistent, but he does usually have one or two tournaments in a season where he plays well above his usual standard, and it's not normally in China. So while I wouldn't count him out, I also wouldn't make him one of the immediate favourites here. His two possible 1st round opponents could both take him out. Jamie Burnett is of course a former Shanghai finalist, so I'm sure he will be looking forward to another appearance in China. He beat Tian Pengfei in the wildcard round on that occasion, the toughest opponent he could have drawn, and it's something similar here. Jin Long is also a dangerman, very good wildcard appearances last season, particularly in the World Open where he took out Ding Junhui. In general, Ding's performances in the Chinese events haven't been consistently good in recent years, so he is far from guaranteed to go through, but considering this is played in his home city, he will surely find the motivation to do well. He has a tricky opponent, Mark Davis, a player who doesn't really let you off the hook if you don't perform, but if Ding does perform, his class should see him through. Ding against Robertson in the 2nd round is not a certainty, but I would like to see that pairing, and I would expect Ding to go through.

I think four players have at least a decent chance for the other spot here. Starting with Li Hang, unlikely to go through, but he has had some decent wildcard performances in the past, including a good run at the 2011 China Open, where he was a frame away from reaching the QF. I think with the consistency Maguire has shown in the second part of last season, it will be tough to get past him. Could Graeme Dott do it? Possibly, but he has a big problem in the 1st round, assuming Michael White gets there. White of course reached the semi-finals of the recent PTC in China, which is probably as relevant as anything, as far as predicting this tournament goes. For comparison, Dott didn't enter that event, while Li Hang and Maguire lost early. So White going through would certainly not be a surprise, but I still make Maguire the favourite, as this is a bigger event after all.

Quarter 3:

Mark Williams v. Tom Ford
Mark Allen v. D.Harold/Rouzi M.
Allister Carter v. F.O'Brien/Lu H.
Stephen Lee v. Marcus Campbell

Mark Williams is the highest seed in the third quarter, but once again, I'm not sure he is on most people's list of immediate favourites. He is of course a great specialist for the Chinese and other overseas events. He reached two ranking finals at the very start of last season, both overseas, but then performed quite poorly in the following months, and even had a disappointing run of results in the three overseas events after the new year, which was unusual for him. It will be interesting to see how well prepared he is at this point in time. We know he is not exactly the hardest worker sometimes, and I suspect he probably can't be bothered to really prolong his career by putting the hours in. I might be wrong of course, but if I'm not, that would make Mark Allen the favourite to take advantage in this part of the draw. It will be interesting to see how Allen plays here. On one hand, he is the World Open champion, so you could say China has been the most successful place of his snooker career so far, but we all know what his general attitude towards China is. Having said that, a bit of controversy seems to works in his favour sometimes...

Moving on, two realistic candidates for the other QF spot, Carter and Lee. This would be a very interesting 2nd round match, as it's not really a common pairing. Both players had their good moments last season. Carter was dreadful for most of it, but he ended it on a positive note, proving he was still a top player by reaching the WC final. He is another former Shanghai champion, so he knows what it takes to win in China. Lee's season was the opposite, nothing impressive in the major events, but he had that purple patch in the second part of the season, where he was probably playing the most consistently good snooker of any player. And he seems to be back to that sort of form, with a solid performance in the opening PTC event. I think the qualifiers here are less dangerous, although O'Brien and Campbell are certainly experienced enough to take advantage if the likes of Lee show any weakness.

Quarter 4:

Matthew Stevens v. Joe Perry
Ricky Walden v. M.Holt/Zhu Y.
Andrew Higginson v. R.Milkins/Chen F.
Judd Trump v. Dominic Dale

I think it's fair to say the fourth quarter is a relatively weak one, especially after Stevens' withdrawal. That leaves three solid English players with a good chance to reach the quarter-finals, Ricky Walden probably being the favourite. He is the seed of course, but also a very good traveler and another former Shanghai champion. It could be a chance for Michael Holt to do something, although he needs to win his wildcard match first, and the last few he's played have all been a struggle. Joe Perry could go through as well. He only needs to win one match to reach the quarters, and it won't be against a really top player. Nothing more to say about this part of the draw really... My guess is Walden will probably go through.

The last part does feature a top player, but also some tricky opposition. Trump was pretty successful in beating this type of player last season, finding some consistency in the early rounds, and he is surely the man to beat here as well. Can Dominic Dale finally take him out? He lost to Trump in the UK and the WC, but got very close both times. I think he will be really determined and motivated for this one, and since it's only a short match this time, he has a decent chance. It will be interesting to see how Andrew Higginson copes with being a seeded player here, especially since he faces a very tricky opponent. Milkins probably had the best performance of his career at the World Open last season, where he played tremendous snooker, thrashing the likes of John Higgins on his way to the semi-finals. All matches in this part of the draw should be pretty open and attacking, and I suppose Trump being off his game would make it pretty interesting and balanced. Assuming he isn't off his game however, I reckon Trump will go through.

Possible QF lineup:

Mark Selby v. Stuart Bingham
Ding Junhui v. Stephen Maguire
Mark Allen v. Stephen Lee
Ricky Walden v. Judd Trump


So that's that out of the way... I guess it's time for a couple of hours of sleep, then up to watch it in the morning.

[Jake O'Sullivan]

2012 Wuxi Classic

Can't wait mate!

[Odrl]

No one up for this?

Fair enough, I guess Burnett against Jin isn't the most exciting prospect. But it's not been too bad so far.

[Hal]

why did they swapped the referees in Burnett:Jin match?
Btw. first frame of season I saw, respotted black, not bad start. And now that missed black, interesting match :-)

[Odrl]

Not sure what Burnett and Jin were doing there, both trying their best to lose the frame.

Dave Harold is already out, but I suspect Rouzi probably played well to beat him, while Jin is just hanging in there with mediocre play at the moment.

[LittleMissAlexa]

eurosport didnt cut away to keep to schedule so they are putting snooker first this season

[daffie]

No one up for this?

Fair enough, I guess Burnett against Jin isn't the most exciting prospect. But it's not been too bad so far.

Oh I'm up for it alright, been waiting for the season to start ever since the end of the WC But only after work I'm afraid will I be able to watch some of my recorded Eurosport coverage of today. Looking forward to it...

[LittleMissAlexa]

nice ton for Mark

[LittleMissAlexa]

zhu yinghui looks special

[vmax4steve]

Selby using a glove on his bridge hand. First time I've seen a pro snooker player wear one of those, still if it's a bit warm in the arena it will stop the cue getting sticky.

[daffie]

Selby using a glove on his bridge hand. First time I've seen a pro snooker player wear one of those, still if it's a bit warm in the arena it will stop the cue getting sticky.

He has used *the glove* last season as well. Don't remember which tournament, but indeed it was hot&sticky out there at the time.

[Odrl]

Pretty high scoring from Selby, did the business nicely. Unless this tournament proves stronger than expected, this form should see him compete at the business end.

[LittleMissAlexa]

hes the complete player at the moment great breakbuilder and great match player

[Neil Taperell]

Selby using a glove on his bridge hand. First time I've seen a pro snooker player wear one of those, still if it's a bit warm in the arena it will stop the cue getting sticky.

Seem to remember another pro using one........think his name was Nigel Gilbert ......but can't recall exactly . Saw him in an Pro-am using it . Going back about 15-20 years .