The first day of the English Open inside the Metrodome in Barnsley on Monday is going to be a busy one as a number of players start out in their quest to land the opening Home Nations event of the season.
All those who win on Monday will be a step closer to an unlikely £1 million bonus but more importantly they will be through to the second round of the tournament. We are not devoid of some big names on what should be a really good opening day of the event.
Morning Session
There is just one set of matches to begin in the morning. The two live tables will be occupied by Anthony McGill and Barry Hawkins. McGill has a juicy clash with Michael Holt while Hawkins will go up against Peter Lines. Jamie Jones faces Basem Eltahhan on one of the outside tables with Tom Ford playing Xu Si on another. The other tables will contain Fang Xiongman against Joe O’Connor, Ian Burns taking on Zhang Anda and Allan Taylor meeting David Lilley.
Afternoon Session
Judd Trump will be on the main TV table in the first of three sets of matches in the afternoon. He plays off against Robbie Williams while Stuart Bingham will take on Lee Walker on the streamed offering. There are some good players away from the spotlight too with Noppon Saengkham facing Yan Bingtao, Akani Songsermsawad playing Matthew Bolton, Chris Totten going up against Joe Swail fresh from his win over Neil Robertson last week while Neil’s namesake Jimmy Robertson plays Adam Duffy. Gary Wilson takes on Sean O’Sullivan in the other match.
The second set of matches will see Liang Wenbo play his first match as a defending champion. He plays Duane Jones on what will be on the main table with Matthew Stevens possibly on the streamed one against Eden Sharav. Elsewhere Chen Zifan plays Sanderson Lam, Sam Craigie meets Aditya Mehta, Ian Preece faces Mei Xi Wen and Li Hang takes on Chris Wakelin.
The final round of games in the afternoon will have Mark Allen playing Jimmy White on the main table with Xiao Guodong up against Wang Yuchen on the streamed table. Rory McLeod plays Jack Lisowski away from the cameras while Yu Delu faces Mark Joyce and Jamie Curtis-Barrett plays Li Yuan elsewhere.
Evening Session
The day concludes with one set of matches apart from on the main tables where there are two. John Higgins is first up on the main table. He plays Elliott Slessor with Kyren Wilson on the other main table when he plays Rod Lawler. The other clashes see Mitchell Mann playing Leo Fernandez, Liam Highfield taking on Fergal O’Brien, Ashley Hugill facing Nigel Bond, Zhang Yong going up against Kurt Dunham and Mark Davis playing Chen Zhe.
The action rounds off for the opening day with Shaun Murphy facing Soheil Vahedi on the TV table with Ali Carter going up against Oliver Lines on the secondary table which will be covered with the majority of bookmakers.
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Betting
This is not an easy opening day for finding bets so I’m not going to push the boat out or anything, especially given the huge amount of snooker we have to get stuck into over the next couple of months. I will go with two though.
Sam Craigie is a player I like and I think he is at the stage of his career where he should be beating those around him in the rankings and making his way up the list ready for bigger and better things. He takes on Aditya Mehta in the first round. The Indian is a solid campaigner who will beat his opponent if he is given the chance but he isn’t going to suddenly stick in sustained bursts of scoring or anything. Craigie can do that and as such I expect him to come through here.
Jack Lisowski is a man in form at the minute as I eluded to in my outright preview and I think he can come through against Rory McLeod, and potentially do it with a bit in hand too. He is scoring so well at the minute and that is something that McLeod doesn’t do enough. McLeod might get a couple of the frames scrappy but Lisowski should get in enough to score heavily and win this no worse than 4-2.
Tips
Back S.Craigie to beat A.Mehta for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bwin
Back him here:
WON – Back J.Lisowski (-1.5 frames) to beat R.McLeod for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Coral
Back him here:
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