Snooker: China Open

[kevshat]

The penultimate event of the season kicks off in Shanghai in the early hours of tomorrow morning.

	O'Sullivan, R	6.5	7	7	6	6	6	5.5	6.5	7	6.5	7
	Maguire, S	8	8	8	8	8	7	8	8	8	8	8.2
	Ding, Junhui	8.5	9	9	9	8	10	9	9	9	8.5	10
	Selby, M	10	9.5	9.5	10	9	10	9	10	9.5	8	10.5
	Higgins, J	12	12	12	12	11	10	11	12	12	11	12
	Murphy, S	12	13	13	12	13	10	11	11	13	10	11
	Doherty, K	19	19	19	17	13	15	17	17	19	17	18
	Robertson, N	23	23	23	23	21	21	26	21	23	21	24
	Hendry, S	21	26	26	23	19	21	17	17	26	26	25
	Ebdon, P	23	21	21	23	23	26	23	21	21	26	28
	Cope, J	26	29	29	29	26	21	26	26	29	23	22
	Day, R	26	26	26	29	26	26	29	26	26	29	28
	Williams, M	29	29	29	34	26	34	26	34	29	34	21
	Fu, M	29	26	26	34	34	26	41	29	26	29	36
	Dott, G	34	34	34	34	34	29	41	34	34	41	40
	Stevens, M	29	29	29	41	41	34	41	41	29	41	46
	Allen, M	34	34	34	41	51	41	41	34	34	41	44
	Carter, A	41	41	41	41	34	41	41	34	41	51	44
	Lee, S	51	51	51	41	41	51	41	41	51	34	55
	Hawkins, B	51	51	51	67	51	51	51	67	51	41	55
	Perry, J	56	51	51	67	81	67	81	67	51	67	75
	Bingham, S	71	81	81	81	67	101	81	101	81	67	110
	O'Brien, F	91	81	81	101	126	81	101	101	81	81	110
	Swail, J	101	101	101	101	101	126	126	101	101	101	110
	King, M	101	101	101	151	81	151	151	126	101	126	110
	Walden, R	101	151	151	126	126	151	151	126	151	126	110
	Bond, N	151	126	126	201	101	151	201	176	126	126	150
	Davis, S	201	201	201	201	151	201	201	201	201	151	150
	Harold, D	201	201	201	201	201	201	201	201	201	201	150
	Pinches, B	151	151	151	201	101	126	151	201	151	151	150
	Campbell, M	201	201	201	251	151	201	201	201	201	201	150
	Dunn, M	251	251	251	301	151	201	251	251	251	251	200
	Qintian, Y	351	351	351			251			351		200
	Delu, Y	301	401	401	301	301	301	401	301	401	301	200
	An Da, Z	301	501	501	401	501			401	501	501	200
	Bulajiang, A	501			401	501	501	501	501		501	200
	Hang, L	501	501	501	401	501	501	401	301	501	501	200
	Long, J	301	251	251	401	501	501	501	301	251	501	200
	Xinlong, C	401	401	401	301	501	501	301	301	401	401	200
	Yuan, L	501	501	501	401	501	501		301	501	501	200
Place terms		2 1/2	2 1/2	2 1/2	2 1/2		2 1/2	2 1/2	2 1/2	2 1/2

I'm gonna go with 2 outrights for this one. 2pts ew K.Doherty to win China Open 18/1 Bet365 The draw for this tournament is very lop sided. O'Sullivan, Murphy, Selby, Higgins, Ding, Robertson and Fu are all in the bottom half of the draw so that leaves the top half wide open. Of those in the top half I sort of whittled it down to a choice of two based on the season's performances - Maguire and Doherty. Maguire is a bit skinny at 7/1 while Doherty definitely makes more appeal at 2.5 times that price. It took Doherty a while to get going this season but he then made the semis at the masters and the final of the Malta Cup so his game is still there. Obviously it's not very often we get Ronnie O'Sullivan priced up at 6/1 in a tournament but given his mindset can often go missing in these smaller overseas events I'm happy to stick with Doherty who has a pretty good record in foreign lands. 4pts S.Maguire to win 1st Quarter 13/8 Betfred As with Doherty, Maguire has a nice draw out in China. The seeded names in his quarter are Graeme Dott, Stephen Hendry and Stephen Lee. Since making the final of the UK Championship Maguire has had a couple of poor events in Malta and in the Welsh Open where he lost to Stuart Bingham in the 1st round. I'm sure he'll take this event seriously and use it to gain some wins and some match practice in preparation for next month's world championship. He was reaching semi final after semi final earlier in the season with harder draws so I'll take him to win this top quarter here. Monday sees the wild card round matches so I'll leave match betting alone until Tuesday.

[WoodyTHFC]

Re: Snooker: China Open Hawkins 66/1 2 pts e.w and 9/1 2.5 pts to win his quarter. Out of the top 16 this season after coming into the season before following a string of good results. Last season he did not quite have the results bar this event last year when he lost in the semis when he probably ought not to when Cope needed snookers with Hawkins needing just the one frame for victory. He then lost 10-9 to O'Brien at the Crucible and those two results with the ranking structure the way it is probably cost him his top 16 place, so it was not as if he was totally out of the picture. He battles frequently and has had mixed results again this season, the odd last 16 but he has qualified for this and the W/C recently so recent form cant be too bad and I do believe the top half is weaker imo, Hendry, Maiguire before the q/f is the hardest part on paper but Hawkins might just be overpriced if he can overcome then, I saw 150/1 for him in the Worlds and for me that is massive considering how open to the snooker scene is at the moment, even though he would not be the first name to come to mind for that. Stevens 50/1 2 pts e.w and 7/1 2.5 pts to win his quarter. Stevens is a player who I have always rated highly. If anything he has underachieved, someone of his ability should be in the top 8 in the world on paper, nevermind out of the top 16 as Stevens is. His record in these shorter format events probably explain why he is out of the 16 as he rarely achieves what he should do in them, he seems to like the longer matches as his UK win a few years back and his terrific record in the Worlds shows without winning it, so far. However 50/1 for him to win any event is too big imo. He qualified for this and the Worlds so he cant be totally out of form and he should not be terrified by day, Doherty, Ebdon in his section of the draw. He could have a good run that would put him in a good position to get back into the top 16.