It does not seem like five minutes since Ali Carter won his first ranking event title at the Welsh Open but already we are just a couple of months away and World Snooker have published both the qualifying and last 32 draws for the 2010 edition…
I will post a full tournament preview closer to the time but already we can see some interesting potential ties in prospect.
Turning first to the qualifying draw, Jimmy White fans will be interested to see that he is in the same section as the likes of Ian McCulloch and Barry Hawkins, not easy opponents but ones that on his day he is capable of defeating. Elsewhere Andrew Higginson could meet Stephen Lee in what would be a hard match to call while Martin Gould could meet Matthew Stevens and the mast two Masters qualifying event winners Rory McLeod and Judd Trump could also clash.
Looking ahead to the last 32 meanwhile, top seed Ali Carter could face Joe Swail in a repeat of last year’s final before meeting the man who defeated him at the Crucible, Neil Robertson in the last 16. Another re-match from the Crucible could be Ronnie O’Sullivan v Stuart Bingham before the winner potentially meets Ding Junhui or Jamie Cope in the second round.
Thoughts?