The last 32 of the International Championship takes place across two busy sessions of action in Daqing on Tuesday as the remaining big names look to book their spot in the next round of the extremely prestigious competition.
I say the remaining big names because the tournament lost two stars on Monday when Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ding Junhui were both beaten, much to the shock and disappointment of the local crowds.
Morning Session
Mark Selby is back on the main table in the morning session on Tuesday. He faces his Leicester counterpart Tom Ford while in the other TV game John Higgins goes up against Dominic Dale.
There are some tasty matches on the outside table with Ali Carter against Stephen Maguire worthy of much higher billing as is the game between Martin Gould and Kyren Wilson. Shaun Murphy is on an outside table when he faces Zhang Yong and Joe Perry goes up against Robbie Williams. Judd Trump against Jimmy Robertson is another good looking game while Martin O’Donnell plays Akani Songsermsawad in the other match.
Afternoon Session
In the absence of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ding Junhui, it is Neil Robertson and Liang Wenbo who get to sample the TV lights and cameras. Robertson takes on Matthew Selt while Wenbo plays his compatriot Li Hang.
There is an all-Welsh battle on the outside tables when Ryan Day faces Mark Williams, Robert Milkins plays Ding’s conqueror Oliver Lines with two exciting youngsters meeting when Jack Lisowski takes on Xiao Guodong. Mark King meets Mark Allen while Yan Bingtao will face Ricky Walden. Mark Joyce plays the China Championship winner Luca Brecel in the remaining game.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
In the morning session I like the look of Ali Carter in his match against Stephen Maguire. Carter has a decent record in China and he generally has a good record over Maguire too. Maguire has threatened a deep run in a tournament but it hasn’t really materialised this season. Carter has picked and chosen his events so far and that freshness combined with the form of his first round win could give the Essex man the edge here.
Also in the morning Zhang Yong is being underestimated a little in his clash with Shaun Murphy. Murphy was made to battle hard to come past one Chinese player in the first round in Zhang Yong and I think he will have it tough again here. Zhang Yong has settled in on the tour and his win over Alan McManus in the first round shows he must have an all-round game. If Murphy is off his long game he could go out here but even if he has enough to win I think Zhang can make it to three frames.
In the later session Li Hang looks overpriced to see off Liang Wenbo. Hang beat Wenbo in the World Open and had a brilliant win over Dave Gilbert in the first round of this tournament. Wenbo is much improved over the last couple of years but he can still be indifferent and inconsistent as we saw at the English Open last week. If his long game is off he remains very vulnerable and with that in mind I’ll chance Li Hang in this one.
Tips
WON – Back A.Carter to beat S.Maguire for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Bwin
Back him here:
Back Z.Yong (+3.5 frames) to beat S.Murphy for a 4/10 stake at 1.90 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back L.Hang to beat L.Wenbo for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
