After winning the UK Championship last week, Ronnie O'Sullivan again looks to be the man to stop at the Scottish Open.

Big names stumble again

O'Sullivan has reached the final in four of the last six competitions, winning three of them, and looks to have extended that form in Glasgow. After dropping just six frames in four matches, he has yet to be tested going into the quarter-final stages.

However, a number of top 16 players fell at the first hurdle. Martin Gould gave himself too much to do after conceding 374 consecutive points to Noppon Saengkham and eventually lost a final frame decider.

Mark Allen was defeated by the same scoreline against Ben Woollaston, whilst Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins lost to the Welsh duo of Daniel Wells and Jamie Jones.

The surprises continued into the second and third rounds as Anthony McGill, Liang Wenbo, Ali Carter and Ding Junhui all slipped out of the competition.

Embed from Getty Images

Cao Yupeng records maximum break

One player to watch out for is Chinese youngster Cao Yupeng. The number 66 seed hit the third maximum break of the season in his first round match with Andrew Higginson and has since defeated two more players ranked above him to reach the last eight.

Stephen Maguire could be a good outside punt after winning nine of his last ten frames and showcasing form we have not seen for the past couple of seasons.

Nobody will want to face Xiao Guodong after the number 34 seed proved his metal on two separate occasions. He saw off Gary Wilson in a final frame decider despite being 73 points behind with only 59 left on the table. He then held his nerve to defeat defending champion Marco Fu in the last 16.

However, the likes of Neil Robertson, John Higgins and Judd Trump remain as the Scottish Open begins to heat up in a freezing cold Glasgow.

VAVEL Logo
About the author