On April 14, Beijing time, the signing table for the Snooker World Championship Round of 32 was released: the first half of the zone was led by the defending champion Selby, the top 4 seeds in the same zone were Trump, and the top 4 seeds in the bottom half were Neil Robertson and O'Sullivan.
First look at the specific signing position and the situation map:
Zone 1/8, Selby Jones, Yan Bingtao Wecklin; Zone 2/8, Barry Hawkins Page, Mark Williams Jr. White.
Zone 3/8, Karen Wilson Ding Junhui, Bingham Lu Haotian, 4/8, McGill Hayfield, Trump Wafi.
Zone 5/8, Neil Robertson Hugh Gill, Lisovsky Matthew Stevens; Zone 6/8, Brechel Sankham, Higgins Tarchaia.
Zone 7/8, Xintong Zhao- Clark, Murphy Maguire; Zone 8/8, Mark Allen Donaldson, O'Sullivan Gilbert.
Unsign them one by one, starting with the first half
Defending champion Selby sits in the 1/8 zone, Yan Bingtao is in this zone, Jones and Werklin have limited strength, not surprisingly, Yan Bingtao and Selby will meet in the 1/8 final. This season, Selby is in a poor state, the single season ranking fell out of the top 20, lost the opportunity to participate in many heavyweight events, to the World Championships, how the long-sparse Selby is in shape, this is a mystery, Yan Bingtao has every hope of reaching the top 8, moreover, Yan Bingtao has won a wave of 3 consecutive wins in the direct confrontation with Selby: the third round of the 2021 English Open, Yan Bingtao 4-3 Selby; the 2021 Snooker Crown Group Final, Yan Bingtao 6-3 Selby In the second round of the 2022 German Masters, Yan Bingtao 5-4 Selby. In the overall career record, Yan Bingtao also led Selby with 4 wins and 3 losses.
If he can successfully advance to the quarterfinals, then Yan Bingtao is more likely to reach the top 4! Because in the 2/8 zone, Mark Williams and Barry Hawkins are not as famous as Selby, at least at this stage, Yan Bingtao is expected to be in the top 4.
Zone 3/8 gathers two Chinese players – Ding Junhui and Lu Haotian. Non-seeded Ding Junhui faced the world's 5th Karen Wilson in the first round, it is worth mentioning that in the recent Turkish Masters, Ding Junhui once beat Karen Wilson 5-3, that victory made Ding Junhui end the 14 consecutive defeats against the world's top 16, but in the subsequent Gibraltar Open, Ding Junhui lost 1-4 to Karen Wilson, so the first round of the World Championship between Ding Junhui and Karen Wilson is unpredictable.
Lu Haotian, who participated in the world championship for the third time, will challenge the 2015 world championship champion Bingham in the first round, which is a big test for Lu Haotian, but Lu Haotian has been in the world championships, and defeated seeded player Fu Jiajun in the 2018 world championships to enter the round of 16.
The strongest player in zone 4/8 is undoubtedly Trump! In the first round of PK World Championship newcomer Wafi, if he successfully passes, Trump will most likely play against McGill. Trump's decline in form this season has been marked and could become a hotbed of upsets.
Starting in the second half of the zone, Neil Robertson, who ranked first in a single season, sat in the 5/8 zone, and world champion Hugh Gill was difficult to stop Neil Robertson, and as for the winner between Lisovsky and Matthew Stevens, I am afraid it is difficult to resist the hot Neil Robertson.
Higgins in the 6/8 zone, another seeded player in this district is the "Belgian Bullet" Brechel, it is worth mentioning that this season, Higgins and Brechel became enemies, the Scottish Open final, Brechel defeated Higgins 9-5 to win the second title of the career rankings, while Higgins suffered 4 consecutive Asian tragedies in the opening season, and then in the semi-finals of the Tour Championship, Higgins completed a sweet revenge 10-7!
Zhao Xintong is the top seed in the 7/8 zone and also defends the lower half of the zone for China Snooker. Clark, Murphy and Maguire are Zhao Xintong's opponents in the same area. Facing Clark in the first round, playing normally and having great hopes of promotion. In the second round, against the winner between Murphy and Maguire, the winners and losers are normal, after all, neither player is a veteran, and both are the top players in the professional snooker arena. Although Zhao Xintong won two championships in the British Championship and the German Masters this season, his state is still unstable, especially his mentality.
Finally, let's talk about O'Sullivan, the six-time winner of the World Championships in the 8/8 zone. In terms of signing, if O'Sullivan advances all the way, then he will continue to fight fiercely. First, O'Sullivan drew hard-bone Gilbert in the first round. Second, the second round could face Mark Allen.
The second half of the district is full of masters, the top four in the single season Neil Robertson, Zhao Xintong, O'Sullivan, Brechel are here, which is the best 4 people in this season, in addition, there are Higgins, Murphy 2 world champions and Mark Allen, Maguire and other famous players, the second half can be called the death half.