2019 World Open, 28th Oct - 3rd Nov - Eurosport

Frank O. Pinion

The fifth ranking event of the season. A tournament that has beginnings in 1982, has gone under different names and locations, and moved to China in 2012, current home in Yushan since 2016.

This event kicks off 21 days straight of professional Snooker, as this event is followed by the Champion of Champions, followed by the Northern Ireland Open, all back-to-back-to-back.

World #3, Mark Williams was the defending champion, defeating David Gilbert 10-9 last year, but Williams has decided not to defend his title as he plans to travel less often to China. All other top players have entered, including surprisingly, Ronnie O'Sullivan, who has never played in the Chinese version of this tournament. He last played in the World Open in 2010, when it was held in Scotland, he lost 5-1 to Neil Robertson in the final.

Higher prize money in China than a lot of the European events, top prize is £150,000, runner-up is £75,000. A qualifying round was held in Barnsley at the start of the month. There were some held over qualifying matches, including ones involving Judd Trump, Ronnie O'Sullivan, and Ken Doherty. No big Top 16 shock defeats in qualifying, except for Neil Robertson (#5) who couldn't find the correct Barnsley.

All rounds are best-of-9s until the semis, which are best-of-11, and the final is a best-of-19.

Round of 64, top half:

Judd Trump (#1)/Zhang Jiankang v Sam Craigie
Barry Pinches v Liang Wenbo
Joe Perry (#15) v Michael Georgiou
Yan Bingtao/Bai Langning v Stuart Carrington
Michael Holt v Luca Brecel/Wu Yize
Marco Fu v Barry Hawkins (#10)
Martin O'Donnell v Chang Bingyu
Liam Highfield v Ding Junhui/Billy Joe Castle
Mark Selby (#4) v Anthony Hamilton
Ricky Walden v Noppon Saengkham
Stuart Bingham (#13) v Nigel Bond
Jimmy Robertson v Jackson Page
Jordan Brown v Graeme Dott
Alan McManus v Shaun Murphy (#8)
Mark Davis v Matthew Selt
Lu Ning/Gao Yang v John Higgins (#6)

Bottom half:

Ian Burns v Craig Steadman
Scott Donaldson/Zhang Yang v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Stephen Maguire (#14) v Sunny Akani
Elliot Slessor v Xu Si
Matthew Stevens v Anthony McGill
Zhao Xintong v David Gilbert (#12) (last year's runner-up)
Li Hang v Zhang Anda
Ken Doherty/Li Yingdong v Mark Allen (#7)
Kyren Wilson (#9) v Robbie Williams
Lyu Haotian v Hossein Vafaei
Jack Lisowski (#11) v Luo Honghao
Xiao Guodong v Harvey Chandler
Alfie Burden v Mei Xiwen
Igor Figueiredo v Ali Carter (#16)
Zhou Yuelong v Ben Woollaston
Fergal O'Brien v Ronnie O'Sullivan (#2)/Dominic Dale


I'm calling it early, we could possibly get the O'Sullivan/Carter rematch in the last 16.

DuckSlice

Hopefully O'Sullivan will put in a better showing than last week, and be nice for Ken to get a good run.

Joe_ Public

Barry Pinches! Now theres a blast from the past.

I'm guessing Ronnie has ulterior motives for travelling, maybe sponsorship or commentary commitments. Or perhaps he really does believe he needs the competition, who knows? Potentially a lot of snooker for him over next month or so. Wish fergal well, nothing to lose so will relish the challenge.

Frank O. Pinion

Joe_ Public wrote: »

Barry Pinches! Now theres a blast from the past.

#121 in the world, he beat Robert Milkins to qualify.

Joe_ Public wrote: »

I'm guessing Ronnie has ulterior motives for travelling, maybe sponsorship or commentary commitments. Or perhaps he really does believe he needs the competition, who knows? Potentially a lot of snooker for him over next month or so.

He needs the ranking points for the ITV events next Spring. He's only #80 on the 1-year list, with £7,500, so he's got some work to do to at least get in the top 32 on the 1-year list before February. He doesn't want to just depend on winning the UK Championship again. Ronnie's definitely playing in the Champion of Champions, but has indicated he might skip the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast if he does well at this event next week in Yushan.

Joe_ Public

Well, he's 100th on the world grand prix list but thats hardly any reason for panic given he's less than 20k behind the 32nd on the list. But bigger money in china a very possible factor all the same, as much as he goes on about hating the travelling.

Frank O. Pinion

It's no real reason to panic, he was only on slightly more ranking points (£20,000) this time last year, but Ronnie is Ronnie and he doesn't want to put all his hopes in one or two events, even though he would prefer it to work out like that.

If he loses early in this event, he'll (in his mind) have to play in Northern Ireland. If he loses early in the UK Championship, he'll have to play in the Scottish Open (which he skipped last year). A bad run in all four (unlikely), and he'll have to think about playing in the German and European Masters in January.

A good run in this event and the UK, and he won't have to play in anything else besides The Masters (non-ranking), until the World Grand Prix in February.

Arthur Daley

This was the Rothmans Grand Prix back in the day. A tournament I always liked at this time of the year. The first year that this was a ranking tournament saw Dennis Taylor's win in 1984 which set him up for the World championship the following May. Then in October 1985 we got a repeat of the Sheffield final 5 months on as Dennis fought back from way behind to bring Steve Davis to a final frame decider. Davis won 10-9 but this was the longest one day final in history at 10 hours 21 minutes.

The BBC couldn't believe their luck with this tense match as this was peak Dennis Taylor and peak snooker loopiness.
Don't think Barry Pinches was quite involved that far back. But Jimmy was for sure.

Joe_ Public

Arthur Daley wrote: »

This was the Rothmans Grand Prix back in the day. A tournament I always liked at this time of the year. The first year that this was a ranking tournament saw Dennis Taylor's win in 1984 which set him up for the World championship the following May. Then in October 1985 we got a repeat of the Sheffield final 5 months on as Dennis fought back from way behind to bring Steve Davis to a final frame decider. Davis won 10-9 but this was the longest one day final in history at 10 hours 21 minutes.

The BBC couldn't believe their luck with this tense match as this was peak Dennis Taylor and peak snooker loopiness.

Well remember all that. Taylors mother had died shortly before the rothmans and it was very emotional. I loved the snooker back then, not so many events but every one of them was huge.

Joe_ Public

Frank O. Pinion wrote: »

It's no real reason to panic, he was only on slightly more ranking points (£20,000) this time last year, but Ronnie is Ronnie and he doesn't want to put all his hopes in one or two events, even though he would prefer it to work out like that.

If he loses early in this event, he'll (in his mind) have to play in Northern Ireland. If he loses early in the UK Championship, he'll have to play in the Scottish Open (which he skipped last year). A bad run in all four (unlikely), and he'll have to think about playing in the German and European Masters in January.

A good run in this event and the UK, and he won't have to play in anything else besides The Masters (non-ranking), until the World Grand Prix in February.

It all makes sense....i just cant help remembering that rant he had at peter ebdon last year about going everywhere and anywhere for a ranking point and wushan featured in it quite prominently iirc!

Frank O. Pinion

WorldSnooker.com

Liam Highfield has withdrawn from the Zhiyuan World Open in Yushan due to ill health.

Highfield was due to play in the last 64 on Tuesday evening, against the winner of the heldover match between Ding Junhui and Billy Joe Castle. Instead, the winner of Monday's match between Ding and Castle will receive a bye into the last 32.

zuutroy

Fairly sure O'Sullivan will do well this week. He had no interest last week and looked a mess on and off the table. Best of 9s in China where he enjoys being, with the need to get a few quid in the bank to qualify for the tournaments he really enjoys mean he'll probably show up with a bit of focus and professionalism.

Frank O. Pinion

Yeah, he was saying the English Open was just practice for this event, anyways.

Frank O. Pinion

Currently 4-3 to Dominic Dale v O'Sullivan in a first to 5...

World #14, Stephen Maguire has withdrawn from the event, so his opponent Sunny Akani gets a bye.

Frank O. Pinion

Well, Ronnie loses his qualifying round match 5-3. Big upset, he has never lost to Dominic Dale before in nine previous meetings.

Earlier, Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy both into the last 32.

TV matches at 11:30am
Yan Bingtao v Bai Langning (held over qualifying match)
Ding Junhui v Billy Joe Castle (held over qualifying match)

GeneralC

Delighted Ronnie is out and I'm happy for Dale. He has Fergal O'Brien next.

I love Ronnie but he needs to take it down a notch or two. He's been very disrespectful towards his opponents/pundits etc lately and although he's a genius and the G.O.A.T, he needs to lead by example and be a true sportsman on and off the table.

zuutroy

My post above didn't age well! Seems all over the shop. Safety was non-existent. The pink he missed in the middle was what sealed it. That's a 99/100 for me and I'm hopeless! Needs some good results now to get into the Coral tournaments. Wonder will he end up chasing the ranking points like all the players he was slagging off last year.

Frank O. Pinion

Besides the Ronnie match, no other big shocks on day 1. The bottom half of the draw is wide open without Ronnie, plus Neil Robertson and Stephen Maguire would've been in the bottom half. Judd Trump, Mark Selby, and Shaun Murphy are all in the top half.

Tomorrow's TV matches:

6:30am
John Higgins v Lu Ning
Mark Allen v Ken Doherty

11:30am
Judd Trump v Sam Craigie
Yan Bingtao v Stuart Carrington

Joe_ Public

zuutroy wrote: »

My post above didn't age well! Seems all over the shop. Safety was non-existent. The pink he missed in the middle was what sealed it. That's a 99/100 for me and I'm hopeless! Needs some good results now to get into the Coral tournaments. Wonder will he end up chasing the ranking points like all the players he was slagging off last year.

Doubt he'll be in a panic tbh. Target to reach coral finals is usually around 50-60k so one good tournament would get him there. Suppose he'd want to try get a good seeding all the same. Want to be seriously off his game to be in any trouble id think.

Frank O. Pinion

Last 32, top half:

Judd Trump (#1) v Liang Wenbo
Joe Perry (#15) v Stuart Carrington
Michael Holt v Barry Hawkins (#10)
Martin O'Donnell v Ding Junhui
Mark Selby (#4) v Noppon Saengkham
Stuart Bingham (#13) v Jimmy Robertson
Graeme Dott v Shaun Murphy (#8)
Mark Davis v John Higgins (#6)

Bottom half:

Craig Steadman v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Sunny Akani v Elliot Slessor
Anthony McGill v David Gilbert (#12)
Zhang Anda v Mark Allen (#7)
Kyren Wilson (#9) v Hossein Vafaei
Jack Lisowski (#11) v Xiao Guodong
Alfie Burden v Ali Carter (#16)
Zhou Yuelong v Fergal O'Brien

No big shocks on day 2.

12 seeds left, 7 in the top, 5 in the bottom. No former World Champions in the bottom half, but there's six in the top half, five of them being seeded players.

One of Steadman/Un-Nooh/Akani/Slessor will be a quarter-finalist, and pick up £20,000. Another interesting quarter-finalist will come from Burden/Carter/Yuelong/O'Brien.

QFs could look something like...

Judd Trump v Ding Junhui
Mark Selby v Shaun Murphy
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Mark Allen
Kyren Wilson v ...Ali Carter? (ugh, hopefully Yuelong instead)

Frank O. Pinion

Graeme Dott with a big win over #1 player of the season so far, Shaun Murphy, 5-1. Mark Selby, David Gilbert, and Jack Lisowski have also all cruised into the last 16.

TV matches at 11:30am:

Judd Trump v Liang Wenbo
Martin O'Donnell v Ding Junhui

Frank O. Pinion

There was a frame this afternoon over an hour between Ding and Martin O'Donnell that O'Donnell won, but lost the match 5-2.

Last 16:

Judd Trump v Joe Perry
Michael Holt v Ding Junhui
Mark Selby v Stuart Bingham
Graeme Dott v John Higgins
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh v Sunny Akani
David Gilbert v Mark Allen
Kyren Wilson v Jack Lisowski
Ali Carter v Zhou Yuelong

Really interested in the Un-Nooh/Akani match, two Thai players that I love watching. Carter/Yuelong is a rematch from this year's World Championship, also a last 16 match, that Carter won 13-9.

Joe_ Public

What a final frame this Trump v Perry. Trump misses match ball pink right handed before getting it on second attempt. Perry had at least 3 great chances to win that frame, didnt get a lot of the run to be fair to him.

Joe_ Public

Thepchaiya into final, delighted for him, lovely to watch a fluent player like him but, my god kyren wilson, how many chances should a top player need?

Frank O. Pinion

Been busy the last two days, so behind on viewing for this event, but that match between Un-Nooh/Wilson was incredible. Really hope he wins the final. Un-Nooh/Wilson will actually have a rematch next week in the Champion of Champions.

Frank O. Pinion

Tough loss for Un-Nooh, especially losing a frame for the "3 miss" rule. Trump is having a great season as a first-time World Champion.