We are set for another busy day of action in the English Open on Wednesday when the entire second round of the tournament is played out across three sessions of play inside the Metrodome in Barnsley.
We had some juicy clashes in the first round and we have some real crackers to enjoy in the second round as well as a host of huge name players gracing the main tables on what should be a decent day of snooker action.
Morning Session
Mark Allen will be the first on the main table when he takes on Stuart Carrington. The other spotlighted table will see Barry Hawkins meeting Chen Zifan while on the outside tables Anthony McGill faces Lu Haotian, Yan Bingtao goes up against Jamie Jones, Jimmy Robertson plays Gary Wilson, Jack Lisowski takes on Li Yuan and Rhys Clark meets Zhang Yong.
Afternoon Session
We have three sets of matches as ever in the afternoon. Judd Trump will be first onto our screens when he faces Mark Joyce with the streamed table being occupied by the defending champion and number one seed Liang Wenbo who faces Tom Ford. Akani Songsermsawad plays Joe Swail on one of the outside tables with Robert Milkins up against Ashley Hugill on another. Zhao Xintong will face Hossein Vafaei while Thor Chuan Leong meets Cao Yupeng. Kyren Wilson takes on Mike Dunn in the other game.
In the next set of matches the TV tables will see Luca Brecel playing Mark Williams in the tie of the round with Matt Selt playing John Higgins on the other one. Away from the spotlight Craig Steadman will meet Ben Woollaston, Liam Highfield will play Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Tian Pengfei faces Hammad Miah and Xiao Guodong will face Ricky Walden.
The final set of matches sees Shaun Murphy on the main table when he plays Daniel Wells with Stuart Bingham up against Fang Xiongman on the other. Matthew Stevens plays Dave Gilbert on an outside table with Ian Preece playing Aditya Mehta on another.
Evening Session
All eyes on the TV table will begin with the focus on Ronnie O’Sullivan. He will go up against Mark Davis in a dangerous battle while on the other streamed table Mark Selby will play Ross Muir. The outside tables will be full with Mitchell Mann playing Andrew Higginson, Gerard Greene meeting Alexander Ursenbacher, John Astley facing Yuan Sijun and Allister Carter going up against James Wattana.
The remaining two matches to close out the day on the main tables will see Ding Junhui facing Michael White in a humdinger on the TV table with Neil Robertson facing the awkward challenge of Li Hang on the streamed offering.
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Betting
I like three over the course of the day with the first one being the game between John Higgins and Matt Selt. Higgins did not look great in his opening round win and then mentioned that he hasn’t been on the table as much as he should be as he wants to do family things before the heavy schedule. He spoke about staying at Centre Parcs this week and that all suggests he isn’t too worried about results here. Selt will be. In fact the Englishman almost beat Higgins at the World Open last month, going down in a decider. Higgins was focused and on form then but I sense he isn’t here which opens the door for Selt at a massive price.
Later in the afternoon I quite like Ian Preece to see off Aditya Mehta. This will be the second time I have taken Mehta on this week but I remain convinced he is pretty limited and with Preece banging in a ton in his first round win this looks like a good chance to be with the Welshman. Preece is a player improving this season as wins over Mark Davis and Ricky Walden can testify to. At odds against he looks overpriced here.
Gerard Greene is enjoying something of a resurgence now that he is back on the tour and that can continue when he plays Alexander Ursenbacher on Wednesday. I took the Swiss player on Tuesday and he did the job but without making much of an impression. Greene is a battler but just recently he’s found his scoring boots too and if he can score here with his ability to keep things tight too he can pick up another win.
Tips
Back M.Selt to beat J.Higgins for a 3/10 stake at 3.75 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back I.Preece to beat A.Mehta for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
Back him here:
Back G.Greene to beat A.Ursenbacher for a 4/10 stake at 2.02 with Bwin
Back him here:
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