The second Home Nations event of the season begins on Monday when the Scottish Open takes place in Edinburgh in what is a big week in the race to qualify for the World Grand Prix as well as being a decent event in its own right.
Luca Brecel enjoyed himself in this tournament a year ago when he won it a week after disappointment in the final of the UK Championship. He will be out to make a successful defence of the title.
Recent Winners
2021 – Luca Brecel
2020 – Mark Selby
2019 – Mark Selby
2018 – Mark Allen
2017 – Neil Robertson
2016 – Marco Fu
The Format
These Home Nations events have been around for a while now and while the format of them hasn’t changed, the way the arenas have been put together have. There are four tables in action throughout the event, which allows us to follow the action a lot easier, and there has been a qualifying round to avoid taking the whole 128 players in the field to the main venue. Some of those qualifiers have been held over and will be played on Monday though with the main draw also beginning on Monday. The tournament is the best of seven frames up to the quarter finals which are played over the best of nine frames on Friday with the two semi-finals the best of 11 frames on the Saturday and the title will be won on the Sunday of the event over the best of 17 frames.
Top Quarter
As he is the defending champion Luca Brecel is the number one seed and will be placed at the top of the draw in the top quarter. All the top 16 players have had their qualifying match held over to the main venue so they all remain in the field. The other three top 16 players when the draw was made for this tournament in this quarter are the British Open champion Ryan Day, Mark Williams and the former UK Championship winner Zhao Xintong.
There are some real quality players outside the top 16 in this part of the draw with the pick of them being the UK Championship finalist Ding Junhui. Sam Craigie had a good run in that tournament as well and he is in the top quarter this week. Other names to note are the former European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson, Jackson Page, Ricky Walden and another man who got his hands on the European Masters crown in Fan Zhengyi. Lyu Haotian and Pang Junxu will also fly the Chinese flag this week.
Second Quarter
Neil Robertson has had an indifferent season by his incredibly high standards but he is the main draw in the second quarter. Mark Selby has a wonderful record in this event having won it twice and he’ll seek a third title over the course of this week. He is seeded to meet the Australian in what would be a wonderful quarter final. Two other seeded players will be out to stop that from happening. They are Jack Lisowski and Shaun Murphy who are good players in their own right.
This second quarter is usually absolutely loaded and that is very much the case in this tournament as well. Anthony McGill will be motivated to go well on home soil as will the former world champion Graeme Dott and Scott Donaldson. The Welsh Open champion Joe Perry is another leading name in the quarter while Gibraltar Open winner Robert Milkins, Ali Carter and Mark Davis are some of the other names who could upset the rest here.
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Third Quarter
Judd Trump won’t be going to the German Masters later in the season so he will want to make the most of his appearance in this competition. He is the top seed in the third quarter and will be expected to make the quarter final where he could be on a collision course with John Higgins who will surely be determined to go well in what is his home tournament. Two seeds will be looking to stop that quarter final from happening. They are Stuart Bingham and the UK Championship winner Mark Allen.
This is another quarter which is packed with recognisable names outside the top 16 in the world rankings. Anthony Hamilton is a former ranking event winner as Martin Gould and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh while Cao Yupeng has been to the final of a Home Nations tournament in the past. Jamie Jones is more than capable of going deep as are Jamie Clarke, Xiao Guodong, Chang Bingyu, Xu Si and Tian Pengfei.
Bottom Quarter
Ronnie O’Sullivan is scheduled to be the top seed in the bottom quarter. That was expected to be the case in the German Masters last week but he pulled out before the off so we’ll only know for sure that he is competing when we see him with a cue in his hand. Kyren Wilson is the player who is seeded to meet the world champion in the quarter final but former Masters champion Yan Bingtao and the European Masters finalist Barry Hawkins will have a thing or two to say about that.
There are plenty of recognisable names in the bottom quarter as well with the Shootout champion Hossein Vafaei among them. Zhou Yuelong is teetering on the edge of the top 16 but can’t quite seem to get that killer result which would get him in there. Welsh pair Matthew Stevens and Michael White are in decent form while Stephen Maguire must be motivated in his home tournament. Noppon Saengkhan, Li Hang, Gary Wilson and Ben Woollaston are all dangerous.
Betting
I’ll go for one from each half of the draw this week with my selection in the top half being Jack Lisowski, a player who I’m convinced is going to get himself a trophy before the end of the season because he has knocked so many times that the door can’t have much more give left in it. Lisowski looked in fantastic touch in the UK Championship but just couldn’t repel a fightback from Mark Allen in the semi-final. Since then he has breezed through German Masters qualifying to show that he has put the disappointment of that match behind him. Lisowski was a finalist the last time this tournament was held in Scotland and he’s in the sort of form which can take him at least that far again this time around.
The other player I’ll take a chance on is Cao Yupeng. It was this tournament in 2017 that he made the final of so he has good memories of this event and while he has a tough draw, the majority of the tougher matches will come in the best of seven format which gives him a better chance of an upset. I referenced in German Masters qualifying last week that he has started scoring heavily again and that is always important I think. That is the guide to where his form is at so with him seemingly in decent touch and with good memories of this tournament I’ll pay to see how well he goes here.
Tips
Back J.Lisowski to win Scottish Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 26.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back C.Yupeng to win Scottish Open (e/w) for a 0.5/10 stake at 201.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
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