The snooker circuit is back in China for the next week when many of the leading players in the game head to Asia for the China Championship, an event not quite as lucrative as the recent Shanghai Masters but one which is a ranking event so probably carries more importance.
Mark Selby won this title last season when he saw off John Higgins in a deciding frame and he’ll be out to make a successful defence of the title and end the slump he has been in over recent times. He’ll have to see off a competitive field to do that.
Recent Winners
2018 – Mark Selby
2017 – Luca Brecel
2016 – John Higgins
The Format
We begin the week with matches over the best-of-9 frames, a format that takes us from the first round right the way through to and including the quarter finals. We move up to the best-of-11 for the two semi-finals with the champion being determined at the end of the week by the first player in the final to make it to 10 frames. The draw has been pre-determined but as ever in these Chinese events there are wildcards and matches held over from the qualifying competition.
Top Quarter
As the number one seed the defending champion Mark Selby is the big name in the top quarter of the draw. He has to come through his held over qualifying match to make it into the main draw but if and when he gets there he might like what he sees. Barry Hawkins is another top 16 member in this part of the draw with Ding Junhui the only other one, should he come through the qualifying match that he has to take part in.
The Chinese trio of Riga Masters winner Yan Bingtao, Zhao Xintong and Lu Haotian are probably the headline attractions among the best of the rest although Martin Gould might have something to say about that. Xiao Guodong, Scott Donaldson, Martin O’Donnell and Liam Highfield are other players who are capable of coming through the draw a little bit.
Second Quarter
This looks an absolute belter of a quarter where Neil Robertson is the highest ranked player in it but he is by no means guaranteed to come through it. John Higgins is scheduled to be his quarter final opponent but the runner up of the last two tournaments, Shaun Murphy is also in this quarter so this is going to take some negotiating before the semi-final spot is confirmed.
Ryan Day and Graeme Dott jump out as the main dangers from those ranked outside the top 16 while Yuan Sijun will fancy his chances of doing some damage. Indian Open champion Matt Selt, Ben Woollaston, Li Hang and Sam Craigie are just some of the other players who will fancy their chances of doing some damage over the course of the week.
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Third Quarter
Mark Williams is the top seed in the third quarter. I sense he is ready to break through again but if he is going to do that he might have to overcome Mark Allen in the quarter final which wouldn’t necessarily be too easy. Dave Gilbert and the former champion here Luca Brecel are the two other men from the top 16 who have made it through and into this part of the draw.
Marco Fu would be in the top 16 but for his eye issues and he is in this section while Noppon Saengkham, Mark King, Matthew Stevens, Tian Pengfei and Ricky Walden have all shown that they can go deep in tournaments in the past. Dominic Dale and Luo Honghao will be hoping that their week is a good one as they chase valuable ranking points.
Bottom Quarter
The world champion Judd Trump is in the bottom quarter of the draw, assuming he comes through his qualifying match which was held over to the final stages of the competition. Kyren Wilson is scheduled to be his quarter final opponent as their rivalry gets set to continue but Stephen Maguire and Jack Lisowski are the other members of the top 16 who will be looking to stop that match up from happening.
There are some decent enough outsiders in this quarter. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Zhou Yuelong are both here while Joe Perry is probably the best of the non-top 16 players at the present time. He is here along with Anthony McGill, Tom Ford, Michael Holt and Hossein Vafaei, all of whom are capable of going pretty deep in tournaments. James Wattana will hope to roll back the years.
Betting
I’ll take a player from each half of the draw and while I’m not massively smitten about the price of Shaun Murphy, his form is hard to ignore right now. He has finished second in the last two tournaments to Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan. He doesn’t need to worry about O’Sullivan because he isn’t here and once again he wouldn’t play Trump until the final. Murphy has seen off Robertson in the International Championship so he has the beating of most of the dangers in this quarter recently, he’s clearly in good form and at 18/1 there is enough juice in his price to merit a bet given his form.
I remain convinced that Dave Gilbert is going to break his duck this season and I sense when it happens it could happen in China as he seems to go very well out there. He is in a nice open section this week and by the time he would have to play Judd Trump it would be the semi-final by which time Gilbert would clearly be playing pretty well. He hasn’t done a lot wrong this season even though he hasn’t gone as deep in events as he would have liked. He showed in the World Championship that he has all the quality to win a tournament. I’ve a feeling he’ll run close here.
Tips
WON – Back S.Murphy to win China Championship (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with Sky Bet (1/2 1-2)
Back D.Gilbert to win China Championship (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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