The latest big ranking event of the snooker season takes place next week. Many of the stars of the baize head out to China for the World Open, the first of four events in China this season.
There has already been a qualifying round for the tournament. This only eliminated Martin Gould from the list of top 16 players who entered. We are set for a top quality week of snooker to follow on from a good week in India earlier this month.
The Format
Unlike in India we have a best of nine frame format for the early rounds of this tournament. This builds to the best of 11 for the semi-finals. Then the final will be played over the best of 19 frames. The winner will pocket a hefty £90,000. The prize will rocket someone up the world rankings so this is a big tournament for everyone.
We’ve had one round of the tournament earlier in the season. So we have the last 64 onwards at this venue along with four matches that were held over and the dreaded wildcard round.
Top Half
The top half of the draw this week is a bit of a tournament in itself. I guess it was always going to be with Shaun Murphy defending the title and therefore the number one seed.
He is joined in the top half in terms of seeded players by the likes of Ding Junhui, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson, Joe Perry and Barry Hawkins. This is a tough section without even mentioning the others like Stephen Maguire and Michael White.
When you throw in some dangerous floaters in the form of Peter Ebdon, Dave Gilbert, Luca Brecel and Mark Davis you can see why it is looking as strong as it does.
Bottom Half
In terms of absolute top drawer stand out names the bottom half looks much the weaker of the two. Providing he comes through his first round game against Jimmy White, held over from earlier in the season, Mark Selby will be the biggest name here.
He is joined by the man he recently replaced as world champion Stuart Bingham. John Higgins, Mark Williams, Ricky Walden, Marco Fu, Kyren Wilson and Liang Wenbo are also seeded in this half of the draw.
Ali Carter, Riga Masters finalist Michael Holt, Indian Open champion Anthony McGill, Matt Selt and the World Championship semi-finalist Alan McManus are outsiders capable of taking care of more illustrious names in this section too.
Betting
I had the Indian Open down as a young man’s tournament. So it proved with a couple of relative youngsters making the final but I think this one could be for the wise old heads. The best players in the world are such because they can play under the biggest pressure. Over this format I’m expecting the better players to rise to the top.
That doesn’t necessarily mean I think one of the absolute favourites will win this week. However, I would be very surprised if the winner comes from too far outside the top 12. That is certainly how I’m approaching the event from an outright betting point of view.
Given how tough the top half looks this week I’m going to take a couple from the bottom half. My hope is that it opens up a little bit and allows a bit of value to come through. I’m going to begin with Marco Fu.
Fu had that wonderful run in the World Championship. He hasn’t really got going this season. I’m not going to hold that against him because he probably needed a decent break after his exertions in Sheffield. He tends to play the bigger events well and this is a big event for him in size and because he is relatively local coming from Hong Kong.
There isn’t such a thing as an easy draw this week but his isn’t as hard as some. Fu at 28/1 I think is worth following to come through the bottom half of the draw.
Mark Williams has a wonderful record overseas and he has already made the semi-final of one tournament this season. He did lose in the last four in Riga but is a positive as it shows he has form.
As with Fu his draw isn’t easy this week but if he is on song he can come through any draw. This certainly isn’t the toughest with Stuart Bingham the main seed in his quarter so Williams looks a touch overpriced at 50/1 here.
Tips
Back M.Fu to win World Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 29.00 with Betfair (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
Back M.Williams to win World Open (e/w) for a 1/10 stake at 51.00 with William Hill (1/2 1-2)
Back him here:
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