The second day of action in the China Championship will see the first round concluded and by the end of the day we will know the final 32 who will be competing for the title over the weekend and into next week.
The first day saw carnage for the big names with Neil Robertson and Stuart Bingham falling by the wayside while Ali Carter and Shaun Murphy had to win deciding frames to remain in the tournament so that is likely to focus the mind of the star names on show over the two sessions on Thursday.
Morning Session
Two of the biggest names in the game are on show in this session as the world number one and world champion Mark Selby takes the focus on one of the streamed tables with Ronnie O’Sullivan on the other. Selby meets the Thai star Noppon Saengkham while O’Sullivan goes up against the talented Sam Baird.
On the outside tables there is an all-Chinese battle between Zhou Yuelong and Chen Zifan as well as Martin Gould taking on Andrew Higginson. Allan Taylor meets the conqueror of Liang Wenbo in Ian Burns with Jimmy Robertson taking on Luca Brecel. The other two matches see Hossein Vafaei playing Marco Fu in an all-Asian clash and Mark Allen meeting Matthew Stevens.
Afternoon Session
The level of star names do not diminish in this session as Ding Junhui, Judd Trump and John Higgins are all in action. Ding is on one of the streamed tables when he goes up against Alfie Burden while Trump takes on Daniel Wells.
After from the spotlight Higgins meets Chris Wakelin while Mark Williams will face Tian Pengfei. There is another China-Wales battle when Cao Yupeng meets Ryan Day and a third battle between those two nations occurs when Xiao Guodong meets Michael White. The other two matches sees Michael Holt facing Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Matt Selt meeting Tom Ford.
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Betting
I’m going with three bets over the course of Thursday. The first one comes in the form of a man who has already had a match on the tables this week in Andrew Higginson.
He goes up against Martin Gould who has flattered to deceive so far this season and who I actually think could be a perfect fit for the way Higginson plays. Gould is very much all or nothing and Higginson is adept enough in the safety game to keep him at distance. If Gould’s long game is off Higginson can take advantage and win for a second day in a row.
Michael White looks to be dipping in form quite alarmingly. In the three qualifying events last week he lost two of them 4-0 and didn’t play in the other one so how he will go here is open to debate but the likelihood is that he could struggle. Xiao Guodong had a tough week last week too but there was light at the end of the tunnel with his win over Lukas Kleckers and in home conditions and the inspiration of a home event I expect the Chinese star to triumph here.
I can’t resist a small punt on Daniel Wells in his match against Judd Trump. Wells has also already had a match this week coming through his held over game on Wednesday so he should be nicely acclimatised to conditions. Judd Trump recently had laser eye surgery and promptly lost 5-0 to Sam Craigie in World Open qualifying soon after. If the surgery was linked to that result and he isn’t quite recovered yet Wells could be a huge price here.
Tips
Back A.Higginson to beat M.Gould for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Titanbet
Back him here:
Back X.Guodong to beat M.White for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back D.Wells to beat J.Trump for a 1/10 stake at 7.50 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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