The second round of the European Masters will be the centre of attention in Lommel in Belgium on Wednesday. The tournament will be played down to the last 16 stage over the course of two sessions and with every player knowing they play every day from here on in there should be a nice flow to the play.
We saw some big names exit in the first round but the majority of them not only came through but looked fantastic in doing so and it will be interesting to see if they can maintain their form and set up an excellent second half of the event.
Afternoon Session
The big names are on the centre stage right from the start on Wednesday. John Higgins and Neil Robertson will grace the main tables in the first set of matches. They take on Mark Davis and Peter Ebdon respectively. Ben Woollaston meets Gerard Greene and Aditya Mehta faces Billy Joe Castle on the outside tables.
The standard shouldn’t let up in the second sets of afternoon matches either. Judd Trump will be on the TV table when he faces Martin O’Donnell while Anthony McGill is likely to be on the streamed table when he takes on Alfie Burden. On the outside tables Dave Gilbert faces Chen Zifan and Cao Yupeng goes up against Ken Doherty.
Evening Session
Luca Brecel has survived by the skin of his teeth in the tournament so far but he will get to show us what he has on the TV table once again when he takes on Chris Wakelin to open up the evening. Mark Allen meets Alan McManus on the other streamed table while Mark Williams will take on Ross Muir and Joe Perry will face Jack Lisowski away from the cameras.
In the second set of matches it will be all about Mark Selby who goes up against Lu Haotian. Stuart Bingham will be on the other main table when he faces Graeme Dott in a battle of former world champions. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh will face Ryan Day’s conqueror Peter Lines on the other table while Zhou Yuelong will go up against Michael Georgiou on the other table.
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Betting
I’m going with three bets over the course of Wednesday. In the afternoon session I think Dave Gilbert will have too much for Chen Zifan. I mentioned heading into the week how Gilbert is running into a nice vein of form and we saw that in the first round. Zifan did really well to see off Mark King earlier in the week but I think he goes up a level here. The Chinese player looked out of his depth against Ryan Day in International Championship qualifying last week and I fear the same could happen here.
I took Cao Yupeng in the first round and he obliged for me and I see no reason to desert him against Ken Doherty. I give full credit to the ‘Darling of Dublin’ for finding his best form again and he’ll win many more matches this season but Yupeng is also on the up and his scoring power could just be the difference in this one. We’ve seen in recent weeks how the Chinese player is prepared to go for his shots and that can lead him to success.
In the evening I can’t avoid the form of Mark Allen. He is hitting the ball really nicely at the minute and I expect him to brush the challenge of Alan McManus aside. McManus is more than capable of playing this game still and he will try and keep it tight but Allen can mix it in the safety game and then his scoring is so strong I expect him to come through nicely.
Tips
WON – Back D.Gilbert (-2.5 frames) to beat C.Zifan for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with 888sport
Back him here:
WON – Back C.Yupeng to beat K.Doherty for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back M.Allen (-1.5 frames) to beat A.McManus for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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