World Championship 2013 Draw & Gossip

zack01

So folks here's the draw for this years world snooker championships.

The action begins this Saturday when defending champion Ronnie O'Sullivan enters the fray to take on
Marcus Campell.


Television coverage will again be provided by the BBC and Eurosport.

I'll be at the Cruicble from Friday week for the final ten days. Any off table stories or gossip I'll share here.

Enjoy


Here's the draw in full


Ronnie O'Sullivan v Marcus Campbell

Ali Carter v Ben Woollaston

Stuart Bingham v Sam Baird

John Higgins v Mark Davis

Shaun Murphy v Martin Gould

Graeme Dott v Peter Ebdon

Matthew Stevens v Marco Fu

Judd Trump v Dominic Dale

Neil Robertson v Robert Milkins

Ricky Walden v Michael Holt

Mark Williams v Michael White

Stephen Maguire v Dechewat Poomjaeng

Mark Allen v Mark King

Ding Junhui v Alan McManus

Barry Hawkins v Jack Lisowski

Mark Selby v Mathew Selt


My predictions........

Semi final

O'Sullivan v Murphy

Robertson v Ding

Final

O'Sullivan v Robertson

Winner

Robertson

I normally back Higgins and if anyone is going to gate crash the O'Sullivan party it will be Higgins but something tells me O'Sullivan will play a lot better than most of us expect so I'll take a punt on O'Sullivan to beat Higgins in the quarters.

AngryLoner

Oh MAN! Why does Dominic Dale always draw a stinker in the first round? I LOVE Dominic Dale!

Glenman

I think the match to avoid will be the repeat of the 2006 final between Dott & Ebdon ;-) It could be boring!

Spiderpig92

nicely set up for a Allen-Ding 2nd rounder in my opinion, both too strong for King and McManus, if Galway was the appetiser, this would be a real treat!!

Spiderpig92

Just looking at the top half of the draw, there is a serious chance of a Ronnie/Higgins-Judd semi

giant_midget

AngryLoner wrote: »

Oh MAN! Why does Dominic Dale always draw a stinker in the first round? I LOVE Dominic Dale!

Here are the stats on Dale V Trump.

http://www.cuetracker.net/pages/h2h.php?ID1=1&ID2=48

I'd like to see Dale win this one, but it looks unlikely....

Myrddin

Glenman wrote: »

I think the match to avoid will be the repeat of the 2006 final between Dott & Ebdon ;-) It could be boring!

I'd the same thought. Even if I were paid to, I'm not sure I could watch that match

califano

Fair play zack01 any tid bits/observations would be of interest.

Matches incl times etc

TABLE ONE:

Match 1. Ronnie O’Sullivan v Marcus Campbell (20th April 10am & 7pm)

Match 2. Ali Carter v Ben Wollaston (22nd April 7pm & 23rd April 7pm)

Match 3. Stuart Bingham v Sam Baird (24th April 7pm & 25th April 7pm)

Match 4. John Higgins v Mark Davis (21st April 2.30pm & 22nd April 2.30pm)

Match 5. Shaun Murphy v Martin Gould (20th April 2.30pm & 21st April 7pm)

Match 6. Graeme Dott v Peter Ebdon (21st April 10am & 22nd April 10am)

Match 7. Matthew Stevens v Marco Fu (23rd April 10am & 24th April 2.30pm)

Match 8. Judd Trump v Dominic Dale (23rd April 2.30pm & 24th April 10am)


TABLE TWO:

Match 9. Neil Robertson v Rob Milkins (24th April 2.30pm & 25th April 2.30pm)

Match 10. Ricky Walden v Michael Holt (20th April 10am & 21st April 10am)

Match 11. Mark Williams v Michael White (20th April 7pm & 21st April 2.30pm)

Match 12. Stephen Maguire v Dechawat Poomjaeng (22nd April 2.30pm & 23rd April 2.30pm)

Match 13. Mark Allen v Mark King (22nd April 10am & 7pm)

Match 14. Ding Junhui v Alan McManus (23rd April 10am & 24th April 10am)

Match 15. Barry Hawkins v Jack Lisowski (20th April 2.30pm & 21st April 7pm)

Match 16. Mark Selby v Matt Selt (23rd April 7pm & 24th April 7pm)

Format for provisional matches here

TheHopeful

Can't wait for it to get started now! And I can't believe someone who has hasn't played this season is the fav to win it :pac:

The bottom half looks much stronger to me. I think Ronnie will struggle, and probably lose to Carter in round 2 imo.

I didn't fancy Trump, with his recent form, but he looks to have the easiest section of the draw and can see him growing into the tournament and getting to the final.

bradolf pittler

Heading over on sunday for a couple of days for this,first time there too so i'm really looking forward to it.
Hard to pick a winner at this stage but if i had to i'd put put my money on Robertson

StephenHendry

selby and robertson will be among the favourites, i think ronnie will at least get to the quarters where he could be meet john higgins. i'd like to see mark allen win it but i think he could find it tough if he meets ding in R2

zack01

StephenHendry wrote: »

selby and robertson will be among the favourites, i think ronnie will at least get to the quarters where he could be meet john higgins. i'd like to see mark allen win it but i think he could find it tough if he meets ding in R2

Please anyone but Mark Allen

Glenman

zack01 wrote: »

Please anyone but Mark Allen

Why not Mark Allen seeing that he is Irish? I don't know much about him but he seems to have a bit of an attitude!

giant_midget

Glenman wrote: »

Why not Mark Allen seeing that he is Irish? I don't know much about him but he seems to have a bit of an attitude!

£20,000 in fines last season for that attitude of his so far...his mouth seems to cost him a lot of money.

KingMonkey

ronsullivan for the win...easy draw for him and the man is a genius with a cue in his hand,5-1 seems like a nice price....

mr lee

cant see ronnie winning,im thinkin maybe first time winner,cant see any of the old guard winning

KingMonkey

yeh i know what u mean...hes only won it 3 times and made a 147 in under 6 mins

mr lee

i think you'll find he's won it 4 times,past achievements count for nothing,this is the 2013 championship,everyone starts off the same

AngryLoner

I don't know if I'm alone in thinking along these lines, but I could REALLY do without another Robertson V Selby final. They're a real turn off. I don't know what it is about them, and I know respect is due, but I just can't get excited about that pair at all.

In a perfect world (for me) the final would feature two of the following:

Ding, Allen, Sullivan, Trump, Lisowski, Maguire and...er, Dale.

COME ON THE MAESTRO!

KingMonkey

mr lee wrote: »

i think you'll find he's won it 4 times,past achievements count for nothing,this is the 2013 championship,everyone starts off the same

apologies bit of a typo yeh...i agree that everyone starts off the same
but after having a look at the draw i cant see anyone else with an easier run into the final...just so u know we're not arguing btw im a proper snooker fan!

cant wait

zack01

KingMonkey wrote: »

apologies bit of a typo yeh...i agree that everyone starts off the same
but after having a look at the draw i cant see anyone else with an easier run into the final...just so u know we're not arguing btw im a proper snooker fan!

cant wait

If this tournament was played over one week and shorter match format I wouldn't expect to see Ronnie get past the first round simply due to his lack of match play. Even a mercurial talent like Ronnie needs match play under his belt before tournaments.
On the other hand the first round matches here are best of 19 frames and a player as tough as Marcus Campbell will give Ronnie plenty of match snooker, I do see Ronnie winning prehaps 10-5, 10-6. He will then have several days before his next match and this will give him time to settle into a tournament atmosphere and practice with some quality players. Although he has only played one match since becoming world champion last May in a PTC event he would'nt have done a scrap of damage to his confidence. Put it this way the sponsorship deal Ronnie has signed with Oval Vodka for the duration of the championships will see him earn more than the eventual champion but cash aside Ronnie would not enter a tournament as prestigious as the worlds if he didn't feel he could win it.

He won last years title not losing a single session of snooker and basically showed everyone that he was the best player in the world. His ITV documentary revealed his toughts about that, so now this year he can surpass that feat by giving his opponents a season long start.

I fancy Ronnie to just about get by Higgins in the quarters and play Robertson in the final, however I feel Robertson may just have a little but more and defeat him, but only just.

KingMonkey

good post zack...i dont feel that marcus campbell is a tough player tbh and is likely to fold playing someone like ronnie in the opener...

the longer matches will def suit the better players of course,i cant see any banana skins in his way on the run in?

ben wollaston might be decent and could go well against carter,made 3 centuries including a 138 in qualifying

bookies have robbo and osullivan joint favorites @ 11/2 was in earlier betting ron outright,so u may not be wrong

should be a great championship

Glenman

Peter Ebdon is putting a bit of pressure on Ronnie in this article.

KingMonkey

Glenman wrote: »

Peter Ebdon is putting a bit of pressure on Ronnie in this article.

they hate each other...

ron def hates him...maybe its mutal,dunno

remember the shot time/ron wearing towel incident when they played?

Glenman

KingMonkey wrote: »

they hate each other...

ron def hates him...maybe its mutal,dunno

remember the shot time/ron wearing towel incident when they played?

If surprised they were practicing together if that is true.

zack01

KingMonkey wrote: »

they hate each other...

ron def hates him...maybe its mutal,dunno

remember the shot time/ron wearing towel incident when they played?

Surprisinly enough O'Sullivan & Ebdon actually get on well

KingMonkey

id doubt that...but its more gentlemanly to pretend to like each other...i suppose theyre frenemies

zack01

KingMonkey wrote: »

id doubt that...but its more gentlemanly to pretend to like each other...i suppose theyre frenemies

I've seen them at tournaments and believe me they get on, not to the extent of going out for a few drinks or meals with wives or girlfriends but they do get on.

inmyday

zack01 wrote: »

Surprisinly enough O'Sullivan & Ebdon actually get on well

One of the commentators said they have been practising together lately...

Anyone watching Osullivan - Campbell match now?
Entertaining so far. Ronnie is the favourite by far with the bookies, but campbell is no clown!

Spiderpig92

Ronnie's break-building is as good as ever, its just the safety and the long balls that are letting him down thus far, but as the match and indeed the tournament progresses you wouldnt expect this to be much of a problem for him, id still be expecting him to beat Campbell 10-3/4/5

cherryghost

Very exciting match so far between Murphy and Gould