World Championships 2016

SnookerFan wrote:How is that an April Fools? That's just repeating what Ronnie has been saying his entire career.

It'd be more outrageous if he's led us to believe Ronnie WASN'T moaning about retirement.

It was like snake hissing in the ocean yes

Rockettim147 wrote:http://snookerhq.com/2016/04/01/osullivan-announces-plan-to-quit/. Got to be April fools or should I say April Fool!

It clearly says at the bottom of the article "Footnote: check the date"

Crucible Seeding:

1. Stuart Bingham
2. Mark Selby
3. Shaun Murphy
4. Neil Robertson
5. Ronnie O'Sullivan
6. Judd Trump
7. Mark Allen
8. John Higgins
9. Ricky Walden
10. Joe Perry
11. Barry Hawkins
12. Martin Gould
13. Mark Williams
14. Marco Fu
15. Michael White
16. Stephen Maguire

Walden's semi-final win has seen him move above Perry - and confirms seeds 7-10.
A Trump win against Maguire would have Judd 'overtaking' Ronnie, and it would then confirm all 16 seeds, leaving Mags in 16th.
But, if Maguire beats Trump, Judd and Ronnie would remain as they are with Mags moving up to 15th. He could then even reach no.11 if he won the Final.

If the top 16 get through the first round the second round would look like this

Bingham - Maguire
Higgins - Walden

Trump - Gould
Robertson - Williams

--------------------

Murphy - Fu
O'Sullivan - Hawkins

Allen - Perry
Selby - White

Pains me to say it, but I think Higgins has a great chance of making a world final again.

A Higgins-Sullivan final is a big possibility. I think that's pathetic given that they're both over forty.

Crucible Seedings:

1. Stuart Bingham
2. Mark Selby
3. Shaun Murphy
4. Neil Robertson
5. Judd Trump
6. Ronnie O'Sullivan
7. Mark Allen
8. John Higgins
9. Ricky Walden
10. Joe Perry
11. Barry Hawkins
12. Martin Gould
13. Mark Williams
14. Marco Fu
15. Michael White
16. Stephen Maguire


And TheRocket has posted (above) the potential last-16 matches. But, I'm sure at least one qualifier will beat a seeded player!

Does anybody know whether it has been decided which half of the draw will play on which table?

Bottom half looks weak as anything especially if Selby isn't 100%.

If Selby isn't at his best then that's a prefect chance for Allen to make the one table stage for the first time in SEVEN YEARS. Plus we have a chance of a rematch of this years classic Masters final in the second round. For me the most interesting finals that realistically could happen are Ronnie versus Robertson, Trump or Higgins (as bad as that might look for Snooker it's still a huge pairing) and the draw makes all of them a possiblility. I can already see a Trump-Robertson QF going to 12-12 on the second wednesday night.

Would like to see a Robertson/Trump v White final

kruppy wrote:Does anybody know whether it has been decided which half of the draw will play on which table?

Top half always played on Table one

Alex0paul wrote:Would like to see a Robertson/Trump v White final

Jimmy White?

I think White would get obliterated by those two. Wouldn't be surprised if he went out first round.

Wildey wrote:

kruppy wrote:Does anybody know whether it has been decided which half of the draw will play on which table?

Top half always played on Table one

Thank you!

Following the conclusion of the semi-finals of the China Open today, the seeding list for the 2016 Betfred World Championship has now been set.

Wins for Ricky Walden and Judd Trump in Beijing mean that they move to fifth and ninth places respectively and now cannot climb higher, irrespective of the outcome of tomorrow’s final.

As well as knowing who the top 16 will be (all have confirmed their entry for the year’s biggest tournament), we now also know how they will each be placed into the draw for the Crucible, with top seeded Stuart Bingham set to face the 16th seed in the second round, 2 v 15 and so on.

The draw will therefore be as follows:

Stuart Bingham (1) / Qualifier

Stephen Maguire (16) / Qualifier

Ricky Walden (9) / Qualifier

John Higgins (8) / Qualifier

————————————

Judd Trump (5) / Qualifier

Martin Gould (12) / Qualifier

Mark Williams (13) / Qualifier

Neil Robertson (4) / Qualifier

————————————

Shaun Murphy (3) / Qualifier

Marco Fu (14) / Qualifier

Barry Hawkins (11) / Qualifier

Ronnie O’Sullivan (6) / Qualifier

————————————

Mark Allen (7) / Qualifier

Joe Perry (10) / Qualifier

Michael White (15) / Qualifier

Mark Selby (2) / Qualifier

As we have learned many times previously, inevitably there will be opening round shocks, not least with the likes of Ali Carter and Ding Junhui potentially involved this year, however it is always interesting to look ahead to potential second week matches.

Before today we were on course for a quarter-final encounter between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson, but Judd Trump’s victory means that he now switches places with O’Sullivan in the draw and so could face Robertson in a repeat of their 2014 quarter-final at the Crucible.

The qualifiers get underway next Wednesday from Ponds Forge, Sheffield, with the draw set to be made at 11:00am Monday morning live on the World Snooker YouTube channel.

In fact being overtaken by Judd Trump in the ranking might prove a blessing in disguise for Ronnie as he is now “away” from Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and John Higgins; he can only meet them in the final.

Of course, he’s in the same half as Shaun Murphy and Mark Selby, but he has a very good record over Shaun, and going by their last encounters I have a feeling that he’s over his mental block against Mark Selby, having realised, during the last UK Championship, that Mark isn’t playing any different when he faces other guys, and, that he’s also a very, very good player. In fact Ronnie has turned into a Selby fan, believe it or not.

Anyway … bring it on!

That is s post from Monique wo I follow on her blog

That is s post from Monique wo I follow on her blog

That is post from Monique who I follow on her blog.

Apologies for the previous spelling mistakes

I simply cannot see how anybody but Ronnie wins this. He wins more when he's rested, and hasn't played in a while.

Rockettim147 wrote:That is s post from Monique wo I follow on her blog

So you keep saying.

No matter the changes to the draw its always good news for Ronnie it seems

Certainly seems like Ronnie's road to the final isn't too tough. Murphy and Selby are his biggest possible tests, and judging by their last two encounters Ronnie is very comfortable against Selby, and Shaun would probably have to show some of the kind of form he had last year to be in with a chance.

GJ wrote:No matter the changes to the draw its always good news for Ronnie it seems

This time it is though. Avoiding Neil in the quarters is obviously not a bad thing for Ronnie and vice versa for Neil as well even though Neil hasn't got it much easier with probably facing Judd in the quarters.

But the draw is not bad at all for Ronnie. I think that Neil and Judd are the two biggest threats on his way to a sixth World title and both are in the other half of the draw. Selby obviously can be a threat as well but Ronnie looked very good in his last two matches against him and Selby hasn't played a good season so far even though that can change of course.

But atm Ronnie is the clear favourite to come out on top in the bottom half of the draw.

Agree Ronnie big fav , Im not afraid to say im delighted Ronnie moved halfs and before wild says oh losers mentality if you ask any tennis player do you want to be in quarter with Djokovic or Federer I know which they would pick

I hope though that Hawkins doesn't pull out a match against Ronnie like he did against Neil last year lol. I still can't believe how Neil lost that match, given how extremely well and heavy he was scoring. Neil must have been sick afterwards and especially after seeing how Hawkins played in his next match against Murphy.

Hawkins definitely has a mental block against Ros but I don't rule out that he can produce something special. Most people here will say that he doesn't have a chance whatsoever but the same was said about Bingham last year against ROS and we know what happened.

Ronnie definitely is the favourite but Hawkins could cause him trouble.

Hawk used up so much energy in early rounds he had nothing left in semis so I think in a 2nd round match hes a far bigger threat to Ronnie early on than in semis or final

Yeah. Good point that.

But atm I have the feeling, it's going to be a Trump/Robertson vs O'Sullivan final.

It's just a shame though that the possible Robertson Trump encounter will be already taking place in the quarters. A Robertson-Trump and Ronnie-Selby semifinal would be just a dream line up. The best since 1999 when we had Hendry-ROS and Higgins-Williams.

Naturally very early days indeed but I don't think there's much danger for O'Sullivan now as there might have been earlier. He recently battered Hawkins at the Masters and though Hawkins does play very well at the Crucible - the same could be argued for Carter when he faced Ronnie in the 2013 Second Round. I don't see Hawkins making a fourth semi-final on the trot this year. - Indeed though there's a few capable of beating Ronnie in that half - the one you'd give the best chance of beating him - Selby given his good record against him at the Crucible - and it remains to be see how Selby will do at Sheffield.

Would love a robbo v haggis match up always is a close one and a shame they havnt faced off at worlds yet.

Just shows how weak top of the game is right now