So then, with the China Open now completed, all eyes now turn to Sheffield, with the seedings now confirmed for the season-ending World Championship, which means that World Snooker are now able to publish the drawsheet for the qualifiers. Click below for all that you need to know…
- Click here to view the final seedings list which will be used for the World Championship
World Championship Qualifiers – 4th-14th April 2013
The qualifiers for this season’s Betfair World Championship will begin this Thursday, as the pre-qualifying ‘members’ round is played out over the course of two days, with all matches played over the best of nine frames.
You can view the drawsheet for that stage of the tournament here, which sees the likes of former main tour players Joe Swail, Andrew Norman, Robin Hull, David Morris, Patrick Wallace and Justin Astley battle it out for two places in the main draw.
As Astley himself proved last year with wins against Sam Craigie and Tony Drago, with relatively little pressure upon them compared to those fighting it out for crucial ranking points, these players are more than capable of making an impact on the competition and therefore should not be taken lightly by their main tour opponents.
That said, the real action begins on Saturday as the first qualifying round proper gets underway in Sheffield. with rounds two, three and then crucially four to follow. As was the case last year, there will be no play on the Friday prior to the final round, as the tables are re-clothed in advance.
The drawsheet for the qualifiers will be released tomorrow (Monday), and of course there will be full analysis here at PSB later in the day.
World Championship – Crucible Draw
As regular readers of the blog this week will be aware, this week I have not only been keeping track of the results from Beijing, but also the impact that they have had on the draw for the final stages of the World Championship.
Accordingly, the placing of the seeds in the Crucible draw is now confirmed as follows:
O’Sullivan (1) / Qualifier
Carter (16) / Qualifier
Bingham (9) / Qualifier
Higgins (8) / Qualifier
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Murphy (5) / Qualifier
Dott (12) / Qualifier
Stevens (13) / Qualifier
Trump (4) / Qualifier
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Robertson (3) / Qualifier
Walden (14) / Qualifier
Williams (11) / Qualifier
Maguire (6) / Qualifier
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Allen (7) / Qualifier
Ding (10) / Qualifier
Hawkins (15) / Qualifier
Selby (2) / Qualifier
With his victory in today’s final, Neil Robertson moves up to second place in the world rankings, meaning that he will be seeded third for the World Championship, leapfrogging 2011 finalist Judd Trump in the process. This means that the two will switch places in the draw, Robertson moving into the bottom half with Mark Selby, Trump replacing him in the top.
While we only have half the story given that the identities of the qualifiers remain unknown at this stage, it is fair to say even at this early stage that the bottom quarter in particular looks to be a real ‘quarter of death’ with all of the players involved having a won at least one professional tournament this season.
Elsewhere, Ronnie O’Sullivan could also face Ali Carter at the last 16 stage in a repeat of last year’s final, with old rival John Higgins potentially awaiting him in the quarters. With all sixteen seeds having won at least one ranking event in the past however, there is quality throughout the draw and no easy sections to negotiate, even before the allocation of the qualifiers.
As usual, the qualifiers will be drawn at random shortly after the conclusion of the qualifiers in a fortnight’s time…