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.
- Click here to view the updated tournament drawsheet
- Click here to view the latest projected seedings
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…
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)
Trump (3) v Walden (14)
Williams (11) v Murphy (6)
Maguire (7) v Ding (10)
Hawkins (15) v Selby (2)
The only change today is that with his 5-2 victory against Ricky Walden this afternoon, Leicester’s Mark Selby has moved him up above Judd Trump and into top spot in the rankings provisionally. This means that both players switch places in the draw, though both remain situated in its bottom half.
This could yet change however, with Neil Robertson (a 5-1 winner today against Mark Allen), still mathematically able to pass both, though he would need to win the title this week in Beijing. Victory for Selby against Mark Williams however, would be enough to ensure that he will head into Sheffield as the tournament’s second seed.
Elsewhere, defeat for Allen, together with wins for Shaun Murphy and Stephen Maguire, mean that both Murphy and Maguire are able to pass the two-time World Open champion with one more win and further alter the Crucible drawsheet.
Further down the list, Stuart Bingham could yet move up a position if he can win the tournament and surpass the points total of Scotland’s John Higgins. Beyond altering which seats the two will sit in at the Crucible however, the change would be of little practical consequence to the draw.
Perhaps the most significant results today were those of Ali Carter and Mark Davis, who both lost matches from 4-2 ahead in Beijing. In Ali’s case, his defeat ensures that should the pair win their opening matches at the Crucible, then he and Ronnie O’Sullivan will meet at the last 16 stage in a repeat of the 2008 and 2012 finals.
At least Ali will not have to qualify however, Mark Davis finishing up as the unlucky man to be ranked 16th at the cut-off and therefore miss out on a seeding for Sheffield due to Ronnie O’Sullivan’s status as a ‘lower-ranked’ defending champion.
Finally, Jack Lisowski kept alive his hopes of a top 32 seeding for the World Championship with his win against Davis today, though he does still have to win the tournament in order to claim it.
The action continues…