The last snooker tournament before the World Championship begins on Monday when the China Open gets underway in Beijing. This is a big week for a few players as those inside the top 16 in the world rankings at the end of the tournament qualify automatically for the Crucible and those who aren’t face three qualifying matches.
I guess the first thing to point out is that there has already been a qualifying round for this tournament, a round which saw the likes of Mark Allen and Mark Williams knocked out. Since then Mark Selby has pulled out of the event but Ronnie O’Sullivan aside all of the other big names are in the event.
The other thing we need to appreciate is the closeness of this tournament to the Players Championship which finishes on Sunday. Those who went deep in that event have to be at a disadvantage here. They will arrive in China very late and the fatigue and jet lag factor has to go against them.
Selby’s withdrawal in the top half of the draw has left a huge hole, particularly in the top quarter where he was situated. Mark Allen had already exited the tournament from that section of the draw so there is only one top 16 player in that quarter now. That is Joe Perry.
Perry has been in excellent touch in recent times. He made the semi-finals of the Welsh Open where in fairness he ran into an O’Sullivan who was just too good that night. He was also a semi-finalist in the World Grand Prix too so few head to China in the sort of form he is in.
We know he goes well overseas. He won the Players Championship in Thailand last year and has reached both the final in Wuxi and the semi-final of the International Championship. With the draw having opened up for Perry he looks a great bet at 33/1 this week.
The bottom half is loaded with plenty of big names. Neil Robertson, Ding Junhui, John Higgins, Stuart Bingham and Barry Hawkins are all in this part of the draw so you could say it is a mini tournament in itself.
Hawkins might well be inconvenienced by going deep in the Players Championship, as could Ricky Walden who is another big name in this part of the draw while the others, Ding aside, could be using this event for match practice.
It is a big week for Ding. Not only does he play in front of his home crowd this week but he needs plenty of wins to be sure of qualifying automatically for the World Championship next month so he is going to be under all sorts of pressure.
In the past we’ve seen some careers launched in this tournament. Judd Trump won this event for his first ranking title in 2011 and Gary Wilson was a surprise finalist last year and it could be that we get another surprise come through this week.
Kyren Wilson has already announced himself as a major player by winning the Shanghai Masters earlier in the season and he looks decent value at 50/1 for a Chinese double. Since winning in Shanghai, Wilson has made the semi-final of the Champion of Champions, the German Masters and one of the European Tour events so he’s capable of going deep in any event.
I’ll back him to emulate his namesake Gary and make it to the final of this tournament and hopefully go one further should he get there.
Back J.Perry to win China Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 39.00 with NetBet (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back K.Wilson to win China Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with Titanbet (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
