Rankings updated throughout the day…
As readers may or may not be aware, tonight saw the draw for the last 16 of the World Open made and undoubtedly the stand-out tie is that between Stephen Hendry and either Ronnie O’Sullivan or Jimmy White, both of whom of course have a long history with the Scot.
Meanwhile it has been a day for the seeds in Scotland as all of the matches so far have gone the way of the higher ranked player…
The last 16 draw and schedule:
Thursday September 23rd
Afternoon session
Marcus Campbell v Ding Junhui
7pm
Mark Williams v Barry Hawkins
Peter Ebdon v Liu Song
Friday September 24th
12:30pm
Jamie Cope v Ricky Walden
Stephen Hendry v Ronnie O’Sullivan or Jimmy White
Alan McManus v Stephen Maguire
7pm
Neil Robertson v Marco Fu or Andrew Higginson
Stephen Lee v Martin Gould
A quick summary today due to the lateness of the hour but as you can see, the tie between Stephen Hendry (a BBC commentator today no less), and either Ronnie O’Sullivan or Jimmy White will be one to watch, for nostalgia’s sake if not necessarily quality if Stephen and Jimmy’s recent form is anything to go by. Still, in a best of 5 format you never know although I would expect Ronnie to come through this little section.
Neil Robertson meanwhile will take on either Marco Fu or Andrew Higginson in a match that if he wins, will guarantee that the Australian moves up to number 1 in the world rankings ahead of the UK Championship and Masters tournaments.
Like many of the higher ranked players today, Neil won comfortably against Davy Morris, although one man pushed was Stephen Maguire who edged out Judd Trump to set up an all-Scottish tie with Alan McManus.