As the tournament unfolds it’s increasingly clear that the two players in form in Beijing are Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham. Luca Brecel also looks in good nick, although he made a rather slow start against Hossein Vafaei. Jack Lisowski made his fair share of errors but then it transpired that his tip was damaged. He had to take a break  after framùe 8 to fix the problem. Therefore it’s hard to know exactly how well he’s playing (or not… ). He’s facing Stuart Bingham tomorrow and will need to improve to stand any chance, unless Bingham has a bad day in office. In any case, going by what we have seen so far, I would be very surprised if we didn’t have two top 16 players in the final come Sunday.  One of Scott Donaldson and Ben Woollaston will reach the semi-finals. Ben in particular had a poor season so far but he’s turning it around and making it count in Beijing! Alan McManus will play Luca Brecel tomorrow. It’s fair to say that their styles are radically different. Anything can happen: Luca might well out-pot Alan and keep him cold off the table, but equally, Alan who is experienced and shrewd could outfox and frustrate Luca pushing him into taking a few risky shots too many.

Here is the report by Worldsnooker:

Thursday 4 Apr 2019 11:33AM

Luca Brecel and Neil Robertson produced blistering displays to secure their quarter-final places at the XingPai China Open with whitewash wins in Beijing.

Brecel progressed courtesy of a 6-0 defeat of Iran’s Hossein Vafaei. He needed just under an hour and a half to secure the comprehensive victory.

The Belgian was given a boost yesterday after David Gilbert’s 6-3 defeat to Scott Donaldson confirmed his World Championship place in the Race to the Crucible.

Breaks of 68 and 55 helped Brecel into a 3-0 advantage in the early stages. He then surged to the line with a blitz of unanswered points. Contributions of 80, 35, 60, 47 and 43 saw Brecel string together a run of 265 points without reply, to ease into the last eight 6-0.

“When I got the news that my Crucible place was confirmed I was very happy. I’ve been quite close to qualifying so many times this season and I have finally done it,” said Brecel. “Hossein is a very good friend of mine so it wasn’t easy to play him today. I felt very relaxed, he was a bit unlucky at times with his positional play, but I just took my chances very well and didn’t miss much.”

Robertson dispatched China’s Lu Ning 6-0 in an equally quickfire fashion. The world number seven is the highest ranked player left in the tournament after a series of shock defeats, which have seen the likes of Mark Selby, Mark Williams, John Higgins and Judd Trump fall by the wayside.

Australia’s Robertson is currently in superb touch, having reached three consecutive ranking finals. He was victorious at the Welsh Open and runner-up at the Players Championship and Tour Championship.

The 2010 World Champion composed breaks of 56, 100, 75, 60 and 77 on his way to victory today. Afterwards Robertson sympathised with his opponent following the conclusive result.

He said: “I just gave him a hug there. I would also have done that to pretty much any other player in the world today, as I played really well. Snooker is like that, it is such a tough sport because there is nothing you can do when your opponent is at the table and you are sitting in your chair. He is a much improved player and I’m sure he will learn from this today.”

Robertson will face Sam Craigie in the last eight after the Englishman defeated Liang Wenbo 6-2 to book his first ever ranking event quarter-final appearance.

Jack Lisowski survived problems with his tip to battle back and defeat Li Hang 6-4. The Gloucestershire potter came from 4-2 down to level at 4-4, before requiring a break in play to remove the damaged tip from his cue and fit a replacement.

That didn’t appear to inhibit him too much when they returned. Lisowski moved one from victory, before crossing  the line by stealing the tenth frame on the final black.

Stuart Bingham will be Lisowski’s opponent in the last eight. He progressed courtesy of a 6-1 demolition of Rod Lawler. The 2015 World Champion is in fine form having won the recent Gibraltar Open and he carried that into this week, firing in a 147 break in his previous match against Peter Ebdon.

Bingham and Lawler shared the opening two frames today, before the Basildon potter surged clear. He compiled breaks of 83, 100, 103, 60 and 81 in consecutive frames to emphatically blitz to victory.

World Snooker

✔@WorldSnooker

“You said I had back-to-back tons, I can’t remember”@Stuart__Bingham was in the zone as he swept aside Rod Lawler to reach the last 8 at the XingPai China Open!

56 centuries and 8 quarter final appearances for “Ball Run” this season #ChinaOpen

Alan McManus is through to the last eight of a ranking event for the first time since reaching the World Championship semi-finals in 2016. The Scot battled hard to defeat compatriot Anthony McGill 6-3 and will face Luca Brecel tomorrow.

Ben Woollaston booked his place in the quarter-finals with a narrow 6-4 win over Lyu Haotian. It’s the Leicester potter’s first trip to the last eight of a ranking event since the 2017 Paul Hunter Classic.

He’ll face Scott Donaldson tomorrow for a place in the last four. Donaldson won a fiercely contested clash with Ricky Walden 6-5 to progress. Both players still have a chance to grab a surprise last gasp place in the world’s top 16 to qualify for the Crucible. However, along with McManus, they must win the event to do so.

…

The last 32 round was played to a completion yesterday in Beijing.

For a moment it looked like the last “poster boy” standing could well go out in the last 32, as Neil Robertson trailed Mei Xiwen by 3-1 at the MSI in the main match of the afternoon. Mei is a capable player, but by no means a brilliant one and surely not many expected him to dominate Neil Robertson, but it’s what he did for the first four frames. It didn’t last though … I’m not sure what kind of vegan tea Neil had during the MSI but he came back a different man.

The main evening match saw Peter Ebdon do battle with Stuart Bingham. “Vegan Power” against “Chicken, chicken winner dinner”. The Chicken won … Watching Ebdon play is quite fascinating. Whoever he plays he almost always manages to dictate the pace of the match … and it’s not fast. It’s hard to believe that Peter once was a very fluent player, but yes, he was. Now he’s slow, contemplative … but creative. He very often comes up with the unexpected. Because of the slow pace, our commentators seem to feel the need to “fill” the time by babbling about things irrelevant to the match in progress. I hate it, so I mute the sound, which transforms watching Ebdonesque snooker into a kind of zen experience. Anyway, it was 3-3 after 6 lengthy frames. Then Stuart Bingham constructed an excellent 147 and that seemed to wake him up from a trance as he then concluded the match swiftly. Our commentators were probably also in a trance as they only noticed that Stuart was on a 147 when he reached the colours… (by then I had restored the sound).

I saw very little from Liang Wenbo in action against Craig Steadman but for what I saw, Liang is back playing well and maybe just a bit more cautious (or less crazy depending on how you want to look at him). If he keeps this form, he could go deep this week. I hope he does although I barely dare to imagine the celebration if he manages to win the title …

Here are the reports by Worldsnooker:

Afternoon session

Wednesday 3 Apr 2019 12:26PM

Neil Robertson came from 3-1 down to beat Mei Xiwen 6-3 and reached the last 16 of the XingPai China Open in Beijing.

All results

With Mark Selby, John Higgins, Judd Trump and Mark Williams already knocked out, Australia’s Robertson is the highest ranked player left in the field at number seven. He has already won two titles this season and reached three other ranking finals, and Robertson is aiming to reach a fourth consecutive final having won the Welsh Open in February then finished runner-up to Ronnie O’Sullivan at both the Players Championship and Tour Championship.

The 37-year-old left-hander struggled in the early stages today, but then stormed back after the interval to win five consecutive frames with breaks of 141, 70, 55, 71 and 83. The first of those was the highest break of the tournament so far and his 73rd century of the season.

“At 3-1 down I was thinking about booking the next flight home,” said Robertson, who won this title in 2013. “After the interval I was aggressive and played very well. I made a ridiculous clearance to go 4-3 up, that was the best clearance I have made this season.

“This has been my best season and I am in the best form of my career at the moment, I am very proud to have reached the last three finals. I will enjoy the rest of this week and everything is good looking ahead to the World Championship.

“A lot of players are not sleeping well here. I have been waking up at 10.30pm and trying to work out what time zone I am on. I just sleep when I’m tired and I’m smashing a large Soya Latte at Starbucks before every match, which seems to be working.”

Robertson is a fan of the TV series Game of Thrones and swiped the air with his cue after that crucial 55 clearance in the seventh frame and again at the end of the match. “I drove the trident right into the chest!” he joked. “I am hyped for Game of Thrones and that was running through my veins. Sometimes it helps to release some energy, if you focus  it in a positive way then it can have a good effect.”

He now meets another Chinese opponent, Lu Ning, who beat Mark King 6-2 with a top break of 104.

World number eight Kyren Wilson was beaten 6-4 by Rod Lawler, who made breaks of 76, 90 and 57.

Ali Carter let slip a 3-1 lead as he went down 6-4 against Sam Craigie, who fired runs of 68, 75, 73, 136 and 54. That result means two-time Crucible finalist Carter will have to play in the qualifying rounds of the World Championship next week. Click the Race to the Crucible to follow that story.

Ken Doherty could not follow up yesterday’s win over Mark Williams as he lost 6-1 to Ricky Walden. Chester’s Walden managed a top break of just 54 but won several scrappy frames as he booked his placed in round four.

Joe O’Connor knocked out John Higgins yesterday but his run ended with a 6-3 reverse against Hossein Vafaei. Iran’s top player Vafaei, who reached the semi-finals of this event two years ago, knocked in runs of 125, 85, 86, 58 and 75.

Luca Brecel top scored with 83 in a 6-4 win over Michael Holt, while Ben Woollaston was in fine form in a 6-3 win over Andrew Higginson, making breaks of 90, 87, 53, 55, 135 and 77.

Evening session

Wednesday 3 Apr 2019 05:08PM

David Gilbert lost 6-3 to Scott Donaldson in the last 32 of the XingPai China Open and must now wait for other results to find out whether he will be among the top 16 seeds for the World Championship.

All results

Gilbert is 16th in the Race to the Crucible and hoping to be a seeded player in Sheffield for the first time. But with a £225,000 top prize up for grabs this week in Beijing, there are several players below him who could jump into the top 16 by winning the title. All 15 players above Gilbert in the list are now sure of their places at the Crucible.

Scotland’s Donaldson produced a fine display to knock out Gilbert, making breaks of 92, 78, 60, 50 and 64.

Anthony McGill is one of those who could leapfrog Gilbert by winning the title, and he won a Glasgow derby against Stephen Maguire 6-3. After losing the first frame, McGill took six of the next eight with top runs of 70, 70, 73, 82 and 51.

“I scored well and got the run of the ball,” said McGill, who now meets Alan McManus. “It will be another tough game against Alan, he has been a top player for a long time. If I win the title then I’ll deserve to be in the top 16. Otherwise my season has been pretty bad so I don’t deserve it.”

Veteran McManus impressed in a 6-0 whitewash of Stuart Carrington, his top break 97.

Stuart Bingham pulled away from 3-3 against Peter Ebdon to win 6-3, making a 147 in the seventh frame. Read more about that here.

Bingham, who could be in a line for a £27,000 bonus, said: “To make a 147 on the TV table is brilliant. I’m sure my wife and family will be pleased because we have just booked a holiday to Tenerife so hopefully that’s it paid for!  I have had a great season with two titles, and it hasn’t finished yet.”

Liang Wenbo came from 5-3 down to beat Craig Steadman 6-5, making breaks of 134, 85 and 43 in the last three frames. Li Hang saw off Robbie Williams 6-4.

Jack Lisowski top scored with 71 in a 6-3 defeat of Gerard Greene while Indian Open finalist Lyu Haotian eased to a 6-2 win over James Wattana.

Stuart Bingham’s 147

It’s only day 2 and all the posters boys, except Neil Robertson, have gone already. Indeed Neil, the n°7 in the rankings, is the highest ranked player standing in Beijing as the last 32  rounds starts.

Joe O’Connor is rapidly becoming John Higgins bogey player, a bit like Elliott Slessor is for Ronnie. I can’t comment on the match that was played at ungodly hours for us here in mainland Europe. One thing is certain though, this will do john Higgins confidence no good.

Mark Williams and Ken Doherty played an excellent and entertaining match. Ken is obviously extremely motivated and determinded to get his professional status back. Last DEcember he ran Ronnie, the eventual champion, very close at the UK Championship – closer than anyone else. That day he lost in the decider. Yesterday he defeated the World Champion, Mark Williams by 6-4. Ken can still play at a very high standard, although maybe not as consistently as he used to do. He dreams of another appearance at the Crucible next month. It’s certainly in the realm of possibilities.

Judd Trump lost in a deciding frame to Robbie Williams. Robbie is a very capable , solid, player, albeit not a brilliant one. But yesterday he was the better player all along. I only saw the last frames of this match, the rest I followed on the live scores. I was wondering if this was a case of Judd taking too many risky shots whilst playing a lower ranked player. For what I have seen, this was not the case at all. Judd was trying his hardest, but was missing balls he would normally pot easily… and he looked like a bloke who hasn’t slept in a week. Credits to Robbie though for jeeping himself together in the grueling deciding frame that lasted over an hour.

Ding Junhui was outplayed by another veteran: James Wattana. James is rather inconsistent nowadays, but when he does hit a bit of form, he’s a beautiful player to watch. Yesterday was such a day. Ding was poor, missing too many easy balls. This doesn’t bode well for his Crucible campaign. And what’s worse, it felt to me that he didn’t really care. I’m not saying that he wasn’t trying, he tried, but somehow he didn’t look too unhappy losing out there. Maybe I’m wrong though.

Here is the report by Worldsnooker:

Tuesday 2 Apr 2019 09:58AM

Judd Trump, John Higgins and Mark Williams all suffered surprise defeats in the last 64 of the XingPai China Open on Tuesday.

Defeat for Mark Selby yesterday and the absence of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen had left Trump, Higgins and Williams as the highest ranked players left in the £1 million tournament, but they are all now heading out of Beijing. Just two days into the tournament, world number seven Neil Robertson is the highest ranked player remaining.

All results

Higgins admitted he could be an “also-ran” for the World Championship after a 6-2 defeat against rookie pro Joe O’Connor.

Four-time Crucible king Higgins has had a poor season by his standards, his only appearance in the final of a ranking event coming at the China Championship in September. This is the second time within two months he has lost to world number 84 O’Connor; they met in the quarter-finals of the Welsh Open in February with Higgins beaten 5-3.

This time, Higgins went 2-0 up but Leicester’s O’Connor took the next six frames with top breaks of 72, 66, 63 and 65. The 23-year-old, whose promising debut season was highlighted by that run to the Welsh Open semi-finals, now meets Iran’s Hossein Vafaei in the last 32.

Scotland’s Higgins will go to the Crucible later this month short of form. “Right now I’m an also-ran for the World Championship,” said the world number four. “We’ll see what happens. I might go on holiday with my family for a week, it might help me to do something different. It might give me a clear perspective.

“I missed a couple of chances today to go 3-0 in front, and after that I was really poor. Joe played well, he’s a very good player with a bright future in the game. This is a big tournament so to go out in the first round is not good confidence wise, going to the Crucible. My confidence was at a low ebb anyway so this will compound it. I’ve got one tournament left, then I’ll put the season to bed and hopefully come back stronger next year.”

O’Connor, who has travelled to Beijing with his father and grandfather, said: ” I still haven’t got over beating him at the Welsh Open so this is adding to it – it’s madness! It’s surreal, it hasn’t sunk in yet that I have beaten some top names in the last few weeks. It fills me with confidence in my game to know that I can beat anyone.

“I played well and John wasn’t at his best. After the interval I froze him out. I’m really pleased. My temperament is good so I didn’t lose my head when I went 2-0 down.”

Williams, who won the World Championship title for the third time last May, was beaten 6-4 by veteran Ken Doherty in a high quality match. Irishman Doherty, who tuns 50 later this year, compiled breaks of 76, 62, 115 and 90. Williams made 91, 53, 75 and 71 but it wasn’t enough and he will go into his Crucible defence having not reached a ranking event semi-final since winning the Yushan World Open in August.

Doherty said: “To beat the current World Champion is a great win for me. I didn’t expect to play that well. I was delighted by the way I finished off because I could have twitched in the last frame. I had booked my flight home tomorrow as a safety net so I’m going to make alternative plans now!

“Before I retire I would love to play at the Crucible one more time, to say thanks for the memories and this is my last time. It will be very tough to come through the qualifiers, but after today I’ll go there with more confidence and a spring in my step. I don’t think many players would want to draw me there.”

While in Hong Kong last week, Doherty met legendary actor and martial artist Jackie Chan. “He is one of my heroes, he is fantastic,” added the 1997 World Champion. “I was invited to have dinner with him at a charity night, then we went to sing karaoke together, than played snooker and I showed him some trick shots. He is great company, just the way you see him on screen. And he loves a sing-song, just like the Irish. It was one of the best and funniest night I’ve ever had.”

Trump has had the best season of his career, having won the Masters and two ranking titles, but he was edged out 6-5 by Robbie Williams. A break of 119 helped world number 64 Williams build a 3-0 advantage and he later led 5-3. Trump took frame nine on the black and won the next as well for 5-5. The decider lasted 65 minutes and came down to the colours. Trump trailed by 21 points when he played a loose safety on the green and his opponent potted it, later adding the brown to secure victory.

China’s top player Ding Junhui was yet another high profile casualty as he lost 6-3 to James Wattana. Thailand’s 49-year-old Wattana scored breaks of 81, 99 and 98. Ding has reached the quarter-finals of just one ranking event this season.

World number ten Barry Hawkins was beaten 6-5 by Lu Ning. From 5-4 down, China’s Lu took the last two frames with runs of 87 and 74.

Kyren Wilson top scored with 72 in a 6-1 win over Yuan Sijun while Jack Lisowski made a 105 in a 6-2 defeat of John Astley. Stephen Maguire fired runs of 128 and 103 as he beat Xu Si 6-1.

Sam Craigie made a 120 in a 6-1 defeat of Ryan Day. That result ends Day’s hopes of being among the top 16 seeds at the Crucible as he needed to reach at least the quarter-finals this week. David Gilbert’s position in 16th place in the Race to the Crucible looks more secure.

On another subject, there was controversy around Anthony McGill win yesterday. McGill overslept, and if it wasn’t for a (waking) call from Martin Clark, the tournament director, he would most probably have missed his match completely. As it happened, “Ants” rushed to the venue and despite being docked a frame, won at the expense of Nigel Bond. Bond was unhappy – an understatement – and took on social media venting his discontentment, arguing that it’s the player responsibility to make sure they are ready and in time for their match and that Martin Clark should not have interfered. I can see where Nigel comes from. Nigel is probably playing his last season as a pro, he hasn’t got many good results this season and that also means that he hasn’t earned much money either. For him the difference between £5000 and £11000 is surely significant. Had the tournament director not called his opponent, he would probably still be in the draw today, and £6000 the better. On the other hand, it’s not unusual that the tournament director calls a player when they go “missing”, this to be able to get organised should the player forfeit their match, notably not keeping the opponent and audience waiting in vain, and, of course, to make sure nothing serious is happening to them, especially when far from home.

The tournament has lost its defending champion right away: indeed Mark Selby, whose first round (last 128) match was held-over went out by 6-3 to Craig Steadman. Craig played really well, but, it has to be said, Mark Selby was poor in this match. Claiming that he played well is either delusional, or driven by the will not to appear to belittle his opponent performance.

Ding Junhui had an easy passage to the second round. His opponent, 20 years old Zhang Jiankang struggled for cue ball control from start to finish. He had chances, because Ding wasn’t at his best at all, but he couldn’t build much from them. Towards the end of the match Ding appeared to play much better. He finished with a 139.

Neil Robertson beat Kishan Hirani easily. No surprise there: he is one of the men in form at the moment. Yet, Neil wasn’t a happy bunny, judging by this tweet:

Very fortunate having played in front of packed crowds every match for the last 3 months. This week the players get to feel like footballers being forced to play behind closed doors. I love China but the players hate the crowd/ticket price situation that prevents people watching

The World Champion, Mark Williams, also had his last 128 match held-over, and was given a serious test by rookie Harvey Chandler. Harvey had runs of 130, 95 and 70 but was still beaten by 6-4. The 130 was his highest break as a professional so far. “Willo” scored breaks of 106, 62, 101, 102 and 72. It was a really good match, and, once again, I feel that it’s not right that Harvey will go home without any prize money – nor ranking points – having made the trip to China, and given the reigning World Champion a seriously good game. There was nothing mediocre about that performance. Mark though came on twitter later, lamenting that his tip got damaged. Fortunately, Gerard Greene, who also won today, was able to come to the rescue.

… and Anthony McGill managed to get docked a frame…

Here is the report by Worldsnooker:

Monday 1 Apr 2019 11:49AM

Mark Selby’s hopes of winning the XingPai China Open for a third consecutive year were crushed at the first hurdle as he lost 6-3 to world number 92 Craig Steadman.

All results

Selby won this event in Beijing in 2015, 2017 and 2018 but this time he faces an early flight back to the UK. It has been a patchy season for the Leicester cueman, his only real highlight coming at the China Championship in September when he beat John Higgins in the final.

Selby will head to the Crucible later this month lacking sharpness, on a streak of four consecutive defeats going back to February’s Welsh Open. Today’s result also means that Ronnie O’Sullivan will be world number one going into the World Championship.

Beating Selby in this lucrative event, which has total prize money of £1 million, is perhaps the best result of 36-year-old Steadman’s career so far. He goes through to the last 64 to face Dominic Dale on Tuesday.

Breaks of 64 and 99 helped Selby take a 3-2 lead but he didn’t score a point in the next three frames as Lancashire’s Steadman fired runs of 77, 108 and 86 to go 5-3 up. Frame nine lasted 53 minutes and came down to the colours, with Selby making a crucial error when he attempted to pot the yellow but sent it flying off the table. Steadman eventually potted the brown to seal the result.

“Craig was unbelievable, he played as well as a top 16 player,” said Selby. “From 3-2 I didn’t do much wrong. Sometimes you just have to say ‘well played’ to your opponent. It seems to be going that way for me at the moment, I am playing well and still losing.

“Hopefully my results will turn around. I had the number one spot for four years but sooner or later I was going to lose it, and Ronnie has played well this season. It will make me stronger, to try to get it back. I’ll go home now and prepare for Sheffield.”

Steadman said: “It’s a really big win on TV against a top player, especially as Mark is defending champion and has a good track record in China. I felt comfortable all the way through, I was calm and in control.”

Anthony McGill beat Nigel Bond 6-4 despite being docked the first frame for arriving late at the venue. The match was due to start at 2.30pm but Glasgow’s McGill was still asleep in his hotel room until two minutes earlier. If he had arrived at the venue later than 2.45pm he would have been docked the second frame as well, but made it in time and compiled a break of 77 to level at 1-1. He then fell 3-1 behind but hit back to win five of the next six frames with top breaks of 133, 100, 86 and 61.

“I have been sleeping a lot since I got here, so I didn’t bother setting an alarm,” explained 28-year-old McGill. “I woke up during the night, practised for two hours then went back to bed at 7am.  The next thing I knew, my phone was vibrating. It was 2.28pm, it was (tournament director) Martin Clark ringing me. I got dressed in 60 seconds and ran down to the hotel foyer. I didn’t even have a shower or brush my teeth. My shoelaces were still untied, it was like a movie scene.

“I managed to get a car to the venue quickly so I got ready for the match in the car. I was thinking I would be quite happy to be 3-0 or 4-0 down as long as I got to play. When I got to the venue and found I would only be 1-0 down, I couldn’t believe it.

“After that I played pretty well. I have been practising really hard and I am feeling good about the game. I feel I have been playing better than my results suggest, but that’s all in the past and I’m looking forward to the future.”

China’s top player Ding Junhui saw off Zhang Jiankang 6-1 with a top break of 139. World Champion Mark Williams had a tougher test against  Harvey Chandler but came through 6-4 with top runs of 106, 62, 101, 102 and 72.

Stuart Bingham was in superb form in a 6-0 win over Elliot Slessor, firing breaks of 92, 140, 101 and 104. Neil Robertson top scored with 119 and 138 in a 6-2 win over Kishan Hirani.

Ali Carter came from 4-2 and 5-4 down to beat Kurt Maflin 6-5, making a 73 in the decider. Promising Chinese wild card Chang Bingyu beat Mark Davis 6-4.

David Gilbert beat Matthew Selt 6-4 with top breaks of 108 and 100, a result which boosts Gilbert’s hopes of being a seeded top 16 player at the World Championship for the first time. His nearest challenger Ryan Day must reach at least the quarter-finals this week to overtake him. To keep an eye on that race click here.

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