Williams, O’Sullivan, Hendry, Junhui form top 16 of the upcoming China Open 2011 – Snooker news
The China Open 2011 which is going to be held from March 28 to April 3, 2011 will feature Mark Williams, Ronnie O’Sullivan, Stephen Hendry and Ding Junhui in the top quarter of the draws.
The top seeded Mark Williams has won China Open three times in 2002, 2006, 2010 and is also the defending champion for the title. Williams, the world number two, had recently won German Masters and was hoping to win the Welsh title near his home before
he lost to Stephen Maguire 5-3 in the quarter-final.
However, Williams is still in a very good form and a very strong contestant for the China Open. He was looking to have his consecutive second ranking title by winning the Welsh Open but after losing, he said he is going to focus now on the China Open.
The 10th seed Ronnie O’Sullivan, former two-time winner of the China Open, is a bit doubtful here as he has been seen missing in 10 events out of 12 held recently, reasoning illness and family issues. This absence has brought him down
to the 10th spot in the world rankings. This is the first time in 17 years he has been ranked so low. Ronnie always brings a huge crowd with him and is liked by many snooker fans of course but he lost to Ryan Day 4-2 in the very first round of
the Welsh Open.
This time Ryan day is again lying in the last round of qualifiers and if he comes up, which is likely to happen, he will again be facing Ronnie O’ Sullivan in the first round.
The 13th seed lying at number three is the seven-time world champion, Stephen Hendry who can never be underestimated in any case. In the Welsh Open held recently he was going pretty well before he came head to head with another Scottish
player Stephen Maguire and lost 4-1 to him.
However, he showed his master class by making a maximum break of 147 in the one which he had won. He previously had beaten his opponent by a 4-0 frame score. Stephen has won many titles but not the China Open as of yet as he has been only a runner-up
once in 2005 where he lost to Ding Junhui 9-5. Therefore, Stephen definitely will be focusing more towards his first victory in the China Open.
Ding Junhui lies at the last in the top section and is the 5th seed. The local hero Ding has also won the China Open in the year 2005 beating Stephen Hendry 9-5. He has not been able to perform very well previously in the Welsh
Open.
He lost at the Newport playing against Ali Carter by a frame score of 5-2 but did produce two century breaks overall in the tournament. This time thing which favours him the most is the homeland. Therefore, the Chinese Star would also be looking to
land a trophy for his country once again.
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