Dott predicts upsets

The Embassy World Championship begins today in Sheffield with last year’s shock finalist Graham Dott predicting a flurry of early big-name casualties.

Defending champion and top seed Ronnie O’Sullivan could be the highest profile of them all to fall, as he faces the qualifier nobody wanted to be drawn against, 24-year-old hot-shot Stephen Maguire.

Not only is Maguire the new UK champion, he has also soared from 24th to number three in the provisional rankings and, to boot, has beaten O’Sullivan in two of their three meetings this season.

Their match opens the first day of action at the Crucible, with defending champion O’Sullivan looking to repeat his narrow victory over the same opponent in last year’s first round.

Dott must wait until Wednesday before commencing his challenge, and the 27-year-old Scot concedes that he will be among the vulnerable seeds when he takes on Preston’s Ian McCulloch.

“Ian got to the quarters in Sheffield last year and to the final this year of the Grand Prix, so it’s obviously a tough draw,” said Dott.

“But if you look at the 16 qualifiers, they were all tough really. There wasn’t anyone really who I’d have been happy at being drawn with.

“There’s massive strength in depth in snooker at the moment, it’s never been as hard as it is now.

“Usually there’d have been five or six players you’d have been happy to draw, and then less and less, and this year there’s none.

“You could make a case for every single qualifier beating their seeded opponent.

“It’s not going to happen in all cases, but you could make a case for each one.”

Dott brushed aside John Higgins and Matthew Stevens on a cavalier run through to last year’s final, where he led Ronnie O’Sullivan 5-0 before the anticipated order was restored.

He had entered the tournament as 13th seed, but his provisional ranking had plummeted to 24th after a series of disheartening defeats on the circuit.

It took a run to the final to keep Dott in the top 16, and since Sheffield last year he has gone from strength to strength.

A first-round victory should be all he requires to be sure of finishing inside the top eight for the start of next season, Sheffield being the climax to the 2004-05 campaign.

And, while he would relish a return to the final, Dott hinted that even he does not expect it.

“The Crucible is not like a normal tournament, where you can get a shock winner,” he added.

“It’s not like that in Sheffield. You very rarely get a shock champion.

“It’s very unusual, you might get the odd shock, like in the first round, but it’s played over 17 days and you’re having to always play someone of a very high standard over two days and it’s quite hard to keep it going.

“It’s never easy, but at the end of the day that’s the point of it.”