The China Open is reaching the business end of the competition now as we have hit the last 16 stage. The entire round of matches will be played across two more sessions of snooker on Thursday as all the remaining players look to continue their preparations for Sheffield next month and potentially land a big title at the same time.
We lost our first really big name on Wednesday when Ronnie O’Sullivan was taken down in a deciding frame while Ali Carter was also victim of an upset but there are still plenty of top level players left in the tournament to enjoy on Thursday.
Early Session
The defending champion Judd Trump will be the occupant of one of the TV tables when he faces one of two remaining Chinese players in Tian Pengfei. The main match of the session will be the one between Mark Williams and John Higgins which is on the other TV table.
Just two matches will be on the outside tables in this session. They see Rory McLeod taking on Hossein Vafaei and Shaun Murphy going up against the dangerous Michael White.
Late Session
Ding Junhui will be the main feature of the later session. He was due to face Ronnie O’Sullivan in a tantalising clash but Mark Joyce has other ideas and it is he who will face the Chinese star on the main table. World champion Mark Selby meets Andrew Higginson on the other TV table.
Away from the spotlight the former China Open champion Stephen Maguire will face Daniel Wells while Stuart Bingham will go up against Kyren Wilson in a battle of top 16 seeds.
Betting
I like a bet in each session on Thursday. In the earlier session I’m a little surprised that Hossein Vafaei is odds against to see off Rory McLeod. One of the reasons why I’m surprised if because I see Vafaei as a better player than McLeod and the other is that he has played better snooker both this season and more importantly this week.
Since he sorted out his visa issues Vafaei has made the quarter finals in Northern Ireland, the last 16 in Wales and now he is in the last 16 here which is some effort for a relative newbie on tour. The fact McLeod has been on tour for a while without ever getting anywhere shows how limited he is and I fancy the Iranian could have his number there.
In the later session it is good to see that Kyren Wilson has found some form this week. He has scored well and played well and now takes on a Stuart Bingham who he has a good record over. There is something about China that inspires Wilson. I can only assume it is the conditions which suit his game but having won the Shanghai Masters last season he clearly plays well in Asia as a whole.
Bingham hasn’t been at his fluent best this week and if Wilson does have a psychological advantage of him then that only makes the 7/4 on the youngster all the more appealing.
Tips
WON – Back H.Vafaei to beat R.McLeod for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back K.Wilson to beat S.Bingham for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Coral
Back him here:
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