The snooker circuit is back in China this week for the Xi’an Grand Prix, the first running of this tournament which carries plenty of prize money and should get the field nicely up and running for a regular run of events.
With this being the first time this tournament has taken place we are guaranteed an inaugural champion and there are a lot of decent names who will be looking to be the first name on the trophy and secure the hefty top prize.
The Format
We have already had a qualifying round for this event and so with the exception of a few held over matches we have 64 players making their way to China for what is a full tournament. By that I mean that the first round through to the quarter finals are the best of nine frames with the two semi-finals being the best of 11 frames. They are played on the Saturday of the competition with the final on the Sunday. That final is the best of 19 frames where the champion is crowned.
Top Quarter
As is the case when a new tournament comes along the world champion is the number one seed and so that means that Kyren Wilson is the top player in the draw bracket this week. We still have all four members of the top 16 in this section of the draw with the Chinese star Ding Junhui in this quarter. He would be a quarter final opponent for Wilson if everything goes to plan but two members of the Class of 92 will be out to stop him in the form of Mark Williams and John Higgins.
Throughout the draw there will be plenty of household names who aren’t in the top 16 and that is definitely the case in the top quarter where we have the former world champion Stuart Bingham who is looking to follow up his run to the semi-final at the Crucible earlier in the year. Anthony McGill, Ricky Walden and the former Shootout champion Chris Wakelin are also in the quarter as are home players He Guoqiang, Xu Si and Zhou Jinhao.
Second Quarter
The 2023 world champion Luca Brecel was meant to be the leading ranked player in the second quarter of the draw but he failed to turn up for his qualifying match so instead we are down to just three top 16 players in this part of the draw. The Shanghai Masters semi-finalist Ronnie O’Sullivan is now the highest ranked player in the quarter but Zhang Anda will be looking to get the better of him. Tom Ford how won’t face a player ranked higher than him until the quarter final.
This quarter is loaded with decent names outside those in the top 16. Neil Robertson could be a second round opponent for O’Sullivan while the likes of Hossein Vafaei, Si Jiahui and Joe O’Connor are all solid campaigners who are capable of decent runs in this tournament. Matt Selt has already won a ranking tournament in the past while Graeme Dott won the biggest event of them all in the past. Yuan Sijun and Gong Chenzhi will look for decent runs in a home tournament.
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Third Quarter
The recently crowned Shanghai Masters winner Judd Trump is the leading player in the third quarter of the draw this week. The Englishman will be hoping that success last month will propel him to yet another top season and he is scheduled to run into Mark Selby in what would be a tasty quarter final were it to happen. We didn’t lose any of the top 16 players in this quarter in the qualifying round so that means that Gary Wilson and Jak Jones are looking to do some damage.
There are plenty of solid players on show outside the top 16 in this quarter too. Dave Gilbert made the semi-finals of the World Championship and he is in this section while Jack Lisowski looks to push for a return to the top 16 from it too. Former Welsh Open winning pair Joe Perry and Jordan Brown are also in this quarter while home players Lyu Haotian, Ma Hailong, Tian Pengfei, Pang Junxu and Wang Xinbo all want to impress in front of a home crowd.
Bottom Quarter
This is where the new world number one Mark Allen will look to win the tournament from. It will be interesting to see how his new status impacts his play but he’ll need to go well because he is scheduled to meet the Shanghai Masters finalist Shaun Murphy in what would be a tasty quarter final. This quarter lost Ali Carter in the qualifying round so the only other top 16 player in the section is the former world finalist Barry Hawkins.
There are just as many household names in this section of the draw as well with Ryan Day the highest ranked among them. Stephen Maguire showed signs of life at the Crucible and will be looking to build on that here while the Thai pair of Noppon Saengkham and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh are also in here as are the veteran Welsh pair of Dominic Dale and Noppon Saengkham. This is the quarter that Cao Jin, Zhou Yuelong and Xiao Guodong will be looking to take advantage of home conditions.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets for this week with the first of those being the home star Ding Junhui who was a little unlucky to run into Ronnie O’Sullivan in the quarter final of the Shanghai Masters having been looking like he was cueing well prior to that match. He might hit him in the semi-final here but there is no guarantee O’Sullivan gets that far with Neil Robertson potentially waiting for him in the second round. Ding is in the top quarter where Kyren Wilson feels vulnerable and you never truly know what you’ll get out of Higgins and Williams. As ever Ding has to play the extra match this week but there’s nothing in the early part of the draw that suggests he can’t play his way into the event and he could be dangerous if he gets going.
Dave Gilbert has made it well known that the penny has dropped for him again and he is taking the game a lot more seriously and after a run to the semi-final of the World Championship, he heads to China for this tournament yet to lose a match in the new season so he should be feeling good about his chances. He is in the third quarter which it has to be said isn’t the easiest section in the draw but Gilbert has a lot of class about him and he should be in the top 16. He is motivated and can beat anyone on his day so I’ll pay to see if this is his week at a decent price.
Tips
Back D.Junhui to win Xi’an Grand Prix (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 21.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back D.Gilbert to win Xi’an Grand Prix (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 41.00 with Boylesports (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
