The Grand Prix starts tonight, the opening of the three tournaments that make up the Players Series (Grand Prix, Players Championship & Tour Championship). It's the top 32 players of this season alone, so there's some obvious missing players like John Higgins, Stephen Maguire and, of course, the Chinese players who've been suspended. There's also other names on there who may be unfamiliar to a lot but because of how the ranking system works, they've qualified for this thanks to one decent run in a tournament like Sam Craigie in the UK Championship or Joe O'Connor getting to the final of the Scottish Open.
Some really mouth-watering prospects but as it's the top 32 players you would expect some belting matches.
Draw in full;
Mark Allen 4 v 2 Dave Gilbert
Zhou Yuelong 4 v 3 Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
Jack Lisowski 4 v 3 Rob Milkins
Neil Robertson 1 v 4 Xiao Guodong
Mark Williams v Jamie Jones
Ricky Walden v Ryan Day
Ding Junhui v Stuart Bingham
Mark Selby v Noppon Saenngkham
Lyu Haotian v Joe O'Connor
Ronnie O'Sullivan v Barry Hawkins
Judd Trump v Hossein Vafaei
Kyren Wilson v Robbie Williams
Sam Craigie v Tom Ford
Shaun Murphy v Ali Carter
Gary Wilson v Anthony McGill
Luca Brecel v Joe Perry
I'm sure Trump and O'Sullivan will start as the usual favourites, they've both been handed very difficult opening matches. Mark Allen starts as the number one seed thanks to the season he's had so far but in the last couple of tournaments he's gone off the boil slightly. Out in the group stage of the Champion of Champions, first round defeat in the Masters, 2nd round exit in the Scottish Open - the exception being the English Open where he reached the semis. Robertson is another who'll be highly fancied but this season has been feast or famine for the Aussie, three semi finals in all of the Home Nations series so far and first round exits in the other tournaments (UK Champs, Champion of Champions and Masters).
But it has to be only a matter of time before Lisowski wins something so I'm gonna pick him as the winner of this one.
« Last Edit: Jan 16, 2023 11:23:06 pm by dunlop liddell shankly »
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