The final of the 2013 China Open will be contested between Mark Selby and Neil Robertson, after the two came through against Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire respectively in today’s semi-finals.
Click below for a look ahead to the final, as well as the daily update as to how those results will affect the drawsheet for the 2013 World Championship…
Good Friday today saw the conclusion of the quarter-finals of the China Open as four of the world’s top five ranked players on the latest projected seedings list advanced to the semi-finals in Beijing.
Click below for a round-up of all of the action, as well as the latest updated provisional drawsheet for the 2013 World Championship…
Down to eight in Beijing, the main stories from today include comeback wins from both Mark Williams and Jack Lisowski to reach the quarter-finals, while five of the world’s top eight (provisionally), also ensured that there will be a high-quality line-up this weekend.
While you can read reports on the day’s matches here and here at World Snooker, I am going to focus, as ever, upon the rankings implications and the impact upon the ever-changing provisional World Championship draw…
Day three in Beijing saw a missed black from Mark Selby cost him a 147, while recent PTC Grand Finals winner Ding Junhui exited his home tournament with a 5-3 defeat to Barry Hawkins in the opening session.
So what impact do today’s results have upon the provisional World Championship draw?
As it stands, the potential drawsheet for the Crucible now looks like this:
O’Sullivan (1) v Carter (16)
Bingham (9) v Higgins (8)
Allen (5) v Dott (12)
Stevens (13) v Robertson (4)
Selby (3) v Walden (14)
Williams (11) v Murphy (6)
Maguire (7) v Ding (10)
Hawkins (15) v Trump (2)
Compared to yesterday then, there have been a number of changes with Mark Allen moving up three places and therefore moving himself out of Ronnie O’Sullivan’s quarter, with Shaun Murphy, Stephen Maguire and John Higgins all changing places as a result.
Elsewhere, wins for Stuart Bingham and Mark Williams also saw them gain places today, as well as Ricky Walden, who moved above Barry Hawkins with victory against Ken Doherty.
Further down the seedings list, defeat for Liang Wenbo to Stuart Bingham was good news for Fergal O’Brien, who should now remain part of the world’s top 32 at the cut-off, while Jimmy Robertson’s loss to namesake Neil will mean that Anthony McGill will retain a top 48 seeding for Sheffield.
The action continues…
So this is it, just one more event to go before the seedings for the 2013 World Championship are finalised and following the PTC Grand Finals in Galway last week, the position is now somewhat clearer, though much can still change.
Click below for a summary of who has to do what in Beijing, as well as a preview of how the seeds would be placed in the Crucible draw, if it were to be made today…
It feels like a long time since I last prepared one of these, but with the final mid-season seedings revision looming large, below I take a look at how the rankings are shaping up ahead of the Crucible, with just the PTC Grand Finals and China Open tournaments still to be played.
I also take a look at how the draw for the World Championship is shaping up…
Shortly before Christmas, the news broke that from next season, up to eight full-ranking event tournaments will be staged with a new ‘flat’ 128 man draw, with everybody coming in at the first round, regardless of their ranking.
Arguably the biggest and most controversial change to professional snooker in many years, unsurprisingly many have had their say, some all for the move, citing the increased ‘fairness’ that it would provide, while others are far more sceptical.
With so many implications arising from the changes and factors that have been argued by those on both sides of the argument, below I try to pull those together, while trying to offer some conclusions of my own…
With the introduction of a money-based ranking list on the cards from the start of the 2014/15 season, a number of people have in recent months asked me for a copy of a one-year money list for the current 2012/13 season.
It has taken a while, but continue reading for a comparison of how this season looks, with players ranked by points and by prize money won…