The snooker Shanghai Masters 2016 is the fifth ranking event of this jam-packed snooker season and will take place from September 19th to Sunday 25th at the Grand Stage, Shanghai.
With £85,000 up for grabs, it comes at no surprise that all of the top players will be attending this week-long event. Ronnie O’Sullivan will be making his first appearance in tournament play here, along with the other big names of the game.
Ronnie will no doubt be looking for a good run here, because as 11th in the world right now, he needs to focus to remain in the top 16. O’Sullivan will be playing either Wenbo or Hao, who could both stir up an early surprise, but Ronnie would be the overwhelming favorite for the entire tournament, which is reflected in the bookies odds.
But Ronnie is not the only player to be watchful of. The likes of Ding, who just won the world 6 red championships, Mark Selby, winner of the Paul Hunter classic at the start of september, Ali Carter, World open champion and Neil Robertson, Riga Masters open champion.
Judd Trump, whose had a pretty uneventful start to the season along with a few others such as John Higgins, Shaun Murphy and Stuart Bingham will all be looking to kick-start their seasons in this big event.
Snooker fans will also be delighted to know that Eurosport are televising the Shanghai Masters on their main channels (Eurosport 1 and 2), after a disappointing Paul Hunter Classic which was only shown on the Eurosport player.
Wildcard Round
Michael Holt v Xu Si
Liang Wenbo v Hu Hao
Anthony McGuill v Chen Zifan
Kurt Maflin v Guan Zhen
Ryan Day v Ma Bing
Stewart Carrington v Niu Zhuang
Martin Gould v Yuan Sijun
Stephen Maguire v TBD
1st Round Matches
Kyren Wilson v Holt/Xu Si
Ronnie O’Sullivan v Liang Wenbo/Hu Hao
Ding Junhui v Scott Donaldson
Mark Allen v McGuill/Chen Zifan
Judd Trump v Ben Woolaston
Ricky Walden v Michael White
Barry Hawkins v Robert Milkins
Shaun Murphy v Maguire/TBD
Stuart Bingham v Jamie Jones
Marco Fu v David Gilbert
Ali Carter v Maflin/Guan Zhen
John Higgins v Matt Selt
Neil Robertson v Day/Ma Bing
Mark Williams v Mei Xiwen
Joe Perry v Carrington/Zhuang
Mark Selby v Gould/Sijun
