The first round of the International Championship draws to a close on Monday with another busy two session day of action out in Daqing. In all 32 men will be looking to secure their place in the last 32 of the lucrative tournament with some really big names among them.
The likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins begin their campaigns here while John Higgins, Mark Selby and Ding Junhui continue their quests for the title.
Morning session
There are a couple of good matches on the main tables in the morning session as Mark Selby faces Cao Yupeng on one of them and Shaun Murphy plays Mei Xi Wen on the other. They are not the only intriguing matches on the schedule.
Perhaps the pick of them is the one between Barry Hawkins and Jack Lisowski. Robin Hull will take on Jimmy Robertson on one of the outside tables while Dave Gilbert faces Li Hang on another. Rory McLeod takes on Mark King while Hossein Vafaei meets Akani Songsermsawad with Mark Joyce going up against Anthony McGill in the other game.
Afternoon Session
It is all about the two men everyone wants to see in this session. Ronnie O’Sullivan begins his quest for the title with a challenge against the dangerous youngster Yan Bingtao while Ding Junhui faces Oliver Lines on the other TV table.
Some big names are away from the spotlight, not least Mark Williams and Liang Wenbo. They face Yu Delu and Lee Walker respectively. Robert Milkins plays Graeme Dott on an outside table with Zhao Xintong facing Mark Allen, Eden Sharav meeting Xiao Guodong and Niu Zhuang playing John Higgins on the others.
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Betting
After a shocking bad beat on Sunday I’m coming back with three bets for Monday. In the morning session I really like Jack Lisowski to beat Barry Hawkins. I nearly landed a big runner in Lisowski in the outright market for the English Open but he couldn’t get the better of Ronnie O’Sullivan despite beating Judd Trump earlier in the competition. I do think he will beat Hawkins though. Hawkins hasn’t set the world alight at all this season and hasn’t been beyond the second round of the final stage of any event. I don’t even see him getting that far here with the way Lisowski is playing.
Moving into the later session and I like Graeme Dott to see off Robert Milkins. This will be the second time these two have met in China this season. Dott won their previous meeting 5-3 in the China Championship and I expect him to build on that over the longer distance here. Milkins just hasn’t got going this season yet and I reckon he is vulnerable to the all-round ability of Dotty.
I also think the over 1.5 centuries in the Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Yan Bingtao match is worth taking. We saw O’Sullivan in sensational form last week, scoring tons for fun in the latter stages of that event and he has already banged in a 147 in an exhibition against Liang Wenbo since landing in China over the last week. Bingtao has already played a match in this tournament which was his held over game against Wang Yuchen and he banged in a ton in that. These two have only met once which O’Sullivan won 4-2. He hit two centuries in that and could easily do so again here but given Bingtao scores when given the chance the 13/8 on over 1.5 is a shade big.
Tips
WON – Back J.Lisowski to beat B.Hawkins for a 4/10 stake at 2.88 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back G.Dott to beat R.Milkins for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
Back R.O’Sullivan vs Y.Bingtao – Over 1.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Bet365
Back it here:
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