Well since nobody else done it this year, I shall give my thoughts on the 8 Last 16 matches ahead of us...
Shaun Murphy v Mark Allen To start off procedings, I have no doubts as to who will win this match, and that is of course the defending Champion Murphy. Murphy has won all high profile matches against Allen, the only 4 wins Allen has over him are 2 CL matches, 1 PTC match and another Jiangsu Classic match, so you can see how meaningless his win over Murphy are. Allen always seems to play well into Murphy's hands, I feel he should try a better tactic like Robbo or Selby do against him, but I guess that's just not Allen's game, and fair to play to him.
Who I think will win: Murphy
My hope: Murphy
Barry Hawkins v Joe Perry In many people's eyes, including mine, the least interesting match, I think Perry will beat Hawkins here, in similar fashion like he beat Ding here last year. Hawkins isn't playing great at the moment, Perry not doing much better, but here I feel a bit of an upset is on the cards, plus, if you take out CL results, Perry leads 5-2.
Who I think will win: Perry
My hope: Hawkins
Judd Trump v Stephen Maguire Trump seems to be playing well again, and not saying this because he won Group 2 of CL, but because I feel he'll want to get a strong second part of the season having not won anything yet. Maguire may cause him a few problems like he's done in the past, in fact he leads their head to head 7-5 (CL excluded), but I think Trump will just edge this one.
Who I think will win: Trump
My hope: Maguire
Neil Robertson v Marco Fu Robbo is on the back of great wins in both CoC and UK Champs, in similar fashion to what Ronnie did in 2014, but straight after Robertson did lose a qualifying match against an amateur, Ashley Huggil, plus he hasn't played competitively since. Maybe he was already thinking more about Christmas at that time and after his two great wins he didn't really feel up for it (if that was the case, I think that's the wrong approach). I think Fu here will cause him huge problems, their head to head record is tied at 4-4 (again, silly CL apart), but maybe, just maybe, at the closing stages of the match Fu might struggle to get over the line and Robbo could punish him. I think this will be a very nervy and tense match, and I could be dead wrong, but a decider is probably what I think will happen here.
Who I think will win: Robertson
My hope: Fu
Mark Selby v Ricky Walden Selby just loves this event, since his debut here in 2008, he has been in 5 Finals, winning 3, and losing the other 2 to a certain O'Sullivan.
Walden has been pretty marmite and below par lately, so I expect nothing less than a Selby win here. Selby may even be a bit rusty at the start and Walden could punish, but Selby will just be too good for him and will surely win this one.
Who I think will win: Selby
My hope: Selby
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Mark Williams My thoughts on this one are pretty similar to this
link I posted above. Despite the good IC win MJW had over Ronnie last season, Ronnie played as bad as he could have done in that match, especially until 5-3 down, and still managed to get 5 frames off MJW. If he had played anything like he can do against MJW, he would have most likely hammered like so many times in the past, when since 2002 MJW has only had this single win over Ronnie, no CL included here. Plus MJW always seems to be scared of Ronnie, as a top player he should relish the challenge, but no, his Twitter comments when he knew he was going to face Ronnie are just laughable to say the least. Ronnie will be the winner here I'm sure, and very very likely earn that much awaited Quarter-Final meeting against his great rival Selby.
Who I think will win: Ronnie
My hope: Ronnie
John Higgins v Liang Wenbo Another match who I have no doubts as to who will be the winner, and that's Higgins of course. Higgins has a 7-0 winning record, and despite Liang doing ever so well to reach UK Final, let's just say his draw was kind to him at times there. Liang never seems to play well against John, and a high profile match like this won't change that.
Who I think will win: Higgins
My hope Higgins
Stuart Bingham v Ding Junhui Well discussed and documented that Ding has been on a slump of form that I could never imagine possible since he won 5 ranking events and reached another final just 2 seasons ago. He's lost to pretty much every player he could. Bingham as World Champ so far hasn't done that title justice this season, but this is nothing new, even some of the greats had trouble in their first season as WC. This might be a close match especially if Ding has a good start. I'm always waiting and thinking: when will be the tournament that Ding finally turns this horrendus form around? Sadly, this tournament won't be it I think.
Who I think will win: Bingham
My hope: Ding