We’re down to the last eight of the International Championship out in China now and with every match from here on in on a televised table you get the feeling the tournament, which has been full of quality already, is about to ramp up another notch or two.
We lost some big names on Wednesday with the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson getting beaten but even so the quarter final line up is one of the strongest of the season which should ensure an excellent day of snooker.
Morning Session
Two mouth-watering quarter finals await us in this first session of the day when the defending champion John Higgins goes up against the local hero Ding Junhui while at the same time on the other table Judd Trump meets Shaun Murphy in what looks an all-out attacking encounter.
Afternoon Session
The pick of the two matches in this session is the one between the World Open finalist Joe Perry and the world champion Mark Selby. That is likely to draw most of the attention but the other table isn’t bad either as the conqueror of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Michael Holt, takes on the former world champion Stuart Bingham.
Betting
I’m going with three bets in this set of matches, hopefully with better results than I managed on Wednesday. The first bet comes in the pick of the matches and I’m taking Ding Junhui to beat John Higgins. Although Higgins has a wonderful B and C game I always feel you can gauge how well he is playing by his scoring and the fact he hasn’t made a century this week yet suggests to me he is battling his game a touch.
That isn’t the case with Ding. He has been playing quite nicely and although he had to come through a deciding frame on Wednesday you have to take your hat off to Ricky Walden for the quality of snooker he produced when his back was firmly against the wall. Ding is playing well this week and he has a decent record over Higgins. That is a record I expect to be extended here.
There isn’t a player in the world in the form that Judd Trump is in right now and that might not be the best thing for Shaun Murphy. We know Murphy’s capabilities at his best but we haven’t seen that for a while. Whether that is a loss of form or the new born at home I’m not sure but something is distracting him from top form.
Murphy’s recent record against Trump isn’t the best either. He did win their last meeting 4-3 but he was 3-0 down in that at one stage having lost the previous meeting 4-0. That last win was Murphy’s first win over Trump in a proper competition since 2010 and the form the left hander is in I don’t expect Murphy to win this one. In fact I can see Trump winning with a bit to spare.
I highlighted the scoring of Joe Perry ahead of the previous round and he had three more substantial breaks against Neil Robertson on Wednesday albeit sadly not as high as I needed but you don’t thrash Neil Robertson if you’re not playing well.
Perry plays Mark Selby in the quarter final and that is a tough match but I don’t think we’ve seen Selby at his best this week. He did well to overcome the stern challenge of Liang Wenbo but the way Perry is playing this could be a tougher test than that. I’m not sure if Perry will get over the line in this one given Selby’s amazing bottle under pressure but I do fancy Perry can get to four frames.
Tips
WON – Back D.Junhui to beat J.Higgins for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfred
Back him here:
Back J.Trump (-1.5 frames) to beat S.Murphy for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Netbet
Back him here:
Back J.Perry (+2.5 frames) to beat M.Selby for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
Back him here:
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