We haven't had a repeat champion since Earl managed to successfully defend his title in 1991 after winning the year before. So what do you think the chances of Chia-Ching Wu doing the same thing are? There is no question he has the talent and composure to do it but the talent in this event is second to none. Wu is placed in group 1 consisting of:
Group 1
Wu Chia-ching
Chan Keng-kwang
Harold Rousseau
Sven Pauritsch
I would expect Wu to advance out of this group, but not as easily as you might think. Pauritsch has reached the quarter finals of this event before and is a force, the alternating break format probably doesn't help Wu either considering he would be capable of running out an entire match in a winner breaks format. It will be interesting to see how Wu plays outside of his home country this year with the spotlight on him, we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.
Group 1
Wu Chia-ching
Chan Keng-kwang
Harold Rousseau
Sven Pauritsch
I would expect Wu to advance out of this group, but not as easily as you might think. Pauritsch has reached the quarter finals of this event before and is a force, the alternating break format probably doesn't help Wu either considering he would be capable of running out an entire match in a winner breaks format. It will be interesting to see how Wu plays outside of his home country this year with the spotlight on him, we'll have to wait and see how it plays out.