The Gibraltar Open is usually one of the lower profile events on the snooker circuit but that will not be the case when the tournament begins in the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Monday. One reason for that is it is the climax of the BetVictor Euro Series but the main reason is because after nine years of retirement, seven-time world champion Stephen Hendry makes his return to the sport in this event.
Judd Trump won the tournament last year, which was the final one before lockdown as the COvid-19 pandemic struck. He heads the way in the BetVictor Euro Series so has plenty of reasons to win to retain his title this week.
Recent Winners
2020 – Judd Trump
2019 – Stuart Bingham
2018 – Ryan Day
2017 – Shaun Murphy
2015 – Marco Fu
The Format
We have a pretty simple format this week with the 128 player field competing in a knockout event. The top 16 in the world rankings are seeded for the event but then there is an open draw aside from that. Every match in this tournament from the first round through to the final will be the best of seven frames. Sunday is the key day as it is the one where the quarter final, semi-finals and final will all be played on a bumper day of snooker.
Top Quarter
This is the second of the draw where the world number one and defending champion Judd Trump will be housed. He hasn’t had the best of months after his win at the German Masters and will be looking to get back on the horse here. The other seeded players in this part of the draw are Ding Junhui, who could also do with a decent run this week for his confidence ahead of Sheffield, Mark Allen and Zhou Yuelong who could very easily win his first ranking title this week.
There are a few competent unseeded players in this section of the draw as you would expect. One of those is Joe Perry while Scott Donaldson would be another. Ricky Walden has shown signs of life in recent times while Hossein Vafaei has had a decent enough campaign too. Liang Wenbo, Gary Wilson and Alexander Ursenbacher are three other players in the top quarter who catch the eye with regards to possibly having a good week.
Second Quarter
The European Masters and Scottish Open champion Mark Selby will attempt to win a third title of the season from this quarter of the draw although it is not necessarily him that will be commanding the attention in the early stages of it. The other seeded players in this part of the draw are the Championship League winner Kyren Wilson, Barry Hawkins and the former world champion Mark Williams who has shown some decent form recently.
Those four players will all stand a chance of going deep but the only man who will get the early attention in this quarter is the returning Stephen Hendry. He faces Matt Selt in the first round which in itself is quite notable with Selt a current ranking event holder. Stuart Bingham needs a big week as he has dropped away from automatic qualification for the World Championship recently. Others who will like their chances are Sam Craigie, Matthew Stevens, Joe O’Connor, Jamie Jones, Tom Ford and Li Hang.
Third Quarter
Neil Robertson is the highest seed in the third quarter of the draw. He looked a little underdone at the Players Championship last week and will be hoping that the two matches he had there have fired him into life. The other leading light in this quarter is the man who won that Players Championship event in John Higgins, although whether he actually goes to post so soon after a euphoric win remains to be seen. The other two seeds in this quarter are David Gilbert and The Masters champion Yan Bingtao.
Once again there are a number of players who will fancy their chances of having a good week over the shorter distance. Xiao Guodong and Martin O’Donnell would be two of those while Noppon Saengkham is due a big week. Martin Gould has been a runner up in the European Masters this season while Zhao Xintong is improving all the time. Graeme Dott and Lu Haotian are others who will want a decent week here.
Bottom Quarter
It is the world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan who will head up the bottom quarter of the draw. He comes in here having made the last two finals and will be looking for his first title since that World Championship win. Shaun Murphy is a potential quarter final opponent for him while Jack Lisowski will be hoping this can finally be the week he lands the ranking title his talent deserves. Anthony McGill is the other seeded player in the draw.
As with the other quarters, there are some dangerous players in the bottom section too. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh might be out of form but he would be one of those. Two recent tournament winners are in this quarter too in the Shootout champion Ryan Day and the Welsh Open winner Jordan Brown. Ali Carter came out on top in a Championship League group last month so he is another in decent form. Pang Junxu, Louis Heathcote and Luca Brecel are all more than capable while Mark King, Anthony Hamilton and Lu Ning could also run hot.
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Betting
Regulars will know that I like to play a player in each quarter of these sort of events in the hope we get one or two through to finals day in a draw which usually always opens up. My main bet comes in the top quarter where I like Mark Allen this week. Allen hasn’t had a great season since he won the Champion of Champions earlier in the campaign but when you look at his results since then he has lost out in a deciding frame in four of his six events with a 4-2 defeat to Ali Carter in the Welsh Open not exactly a disgrace. That says to me Allen isn’t far away from delivering and although he has the WST Series later in the month, he won’t be in the Tour Championship so this is basically his last proper event until the World Championship. Add in that he should take a lot of inspiration from Jordan Brown winning the Welsh Open and I think there’s a lot to like about Allen here.
In the second quarter I’m going to keep taking a punt on Tom Ford to deliver the goods. I’m convinced he is going to come good and while it was a bit of a concern that there was talk that he’s struggling with the bubble life during the Welsh Open, he still didn’t play badly there in a deciding frame defeat to Mark Williams in which adrenalin cost him a major chance to win. He’s had a week at home in between that and here which will hopefully have lifted his spirits a little and if it has then we are talking about a man who has won eight of his 11 best of seven matches this season and made it to the semi-finals of the German Masters and the quarters of the Welsh Open in the last month or so. Mark Selby looks a little drained at the minute and Kyren Wilson is a bit hit or miss so unless Stephen Hendry suddenly comes out like he was in his pomp, which isn’t going to happen, then this quarter looks wide open. There’s no reason Ford can’t be the one to take advantage.
Down in the third quarter I’ll take Zhao Xintong to keep up the run of Chinese players who have gone well down the years. Cao Yupeng made the final of this event in 2018 and the likes of Liang Wenbo, Lu Ning, Yuan Sijun and Xiao Guodong have all made the semi-final. Xintong can follow in their footsteps. Like Allen, he has lost out in four deciding frames this season so he could easily be performing better than he is but he has two wins over John Higgins, another over Mark Selby and one over Luca Brecel this season so when he is on it he’s a match for anyone. In his quarter Neil Robertson doesn’t look quite at it at the minute and who knows whether John Higgins will compete. Even if he does he’s better suited to the longer format. Zhao is more suited to this format so I’ll pay to see how well he goes.
Down in the bottom quarter I’m going to continue to follow Jack Lisowski. He has been someone I’ve been keen on for the last three months and he could be very dangerous in this best of seven format. Lisowski has won seven of his 10 best of seven matches this season and like some of the others I’ve backed has come unstuck in a couple of deciding frames but he has reached the World Grand Prix final and the German Masters final as well as the quarter final of the UK Championship and the Players Championship. The concern is that O’Sullivan is in his quarter but I wouldn’t be surprised if he has gone by the quarter final given the amount he has played recently and if he has Lisowski has the chance to go very deep here.
Tips
Back M.Allen to win Gibraltar Open (e/w) for a 1.5/10 stake at 19.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
PLACED – Back J.Lisowski to win Gibraltar Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 34.00 with Coral (1/2 1-2)
Back them here:
Back T.Ford to win Gibraltar Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Boylesports (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back Z.Xintong to win Gibraltar Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 81.00 with Betfred (1/2 1-2)
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