The first and second rounds of the Shanghai Masters conclude on Wednesday with another bumper day of action. By the end of the day we will be left with just 16 men who will progress to what they hope will be two matches on Thursday.
The big names all generally made it safely through on Wednesday so as long as the globetrotters can stay awake we should be in for a fascinating conclusion to the tournament.
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Morning Sessions
There is one early morning match on Wednesday which sees Ronnie O’Sullivan, who was given a few extra hours after competing in the final of the Champion of Champions on Sunday night, taking on Gary Wilson with the winner progressing to face Joe Perry later in the day.
The main morning session sees the second round of the competition getting underway. Mark Selby will face Alan McManus on one of the TV tables with Judd Trump playing Ben Woollaston on the other. Elsewhere we have Kurt Maflin taking on Yu Delu, Fergal O’Brien up against Mark Allen, Cao Yupeng playing the in form Jack Lisowski, Robbie Williams meeting Graeme Dott, Liang Wenbo playing Dave Gilbert in a good looking match and Barry Hawkins meeting Michael White in another such contest.
Afternoon Session
They have not announced the selection for the TV tables for the later session but you would think if Ronnie O’Sullivan beats Gary Wilson his meeting with Joe Perry will be on one of them and it would be a surprise if John Higgins vs Zhou Yuelong is not on the other. Should O’Sullivan not win his first match Ali Carter vs Stephen Maguire would be an option for the TV table.
Elsewhere Mei Xiwen will face Jimmy Robertson, Luca Brecel will take on a second Welshman in as many days having beaten Matthew Stevens on Tuesday when he plays Jamie Jones while Martin Gould meets Akani Songsermsawad who had a bye in the first round. The two remaining matches sees Marco Fu playing Robert Milkins and Mark Williams going up against Gerard Greene in a clash of the veterans.
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Betting
I’m going with two bets on Wednesday. In the earlier session Robbie Williams looks to continue his good recent form when he goes up against Graeme Dott. On past achievements you would take the Scot here but Williams is going well at the minute. He made the quarter finals of the International Championship a couple of weeks ago and generally has shown good form this year. He had a solid win over the talented youngster Yuan Sijun in the opening round here too. Dott has a good result then an inexplicable loss at the minute so I’ll go for Williams in this one.
Ali Carter is meeting Stephen Maguire for the second time in the space of three weeks on Wednesday and having thrashed the Scot 6-1 in the International, I fancy he’ll get the better of him here too. Carter looks in decent nick to me at the minute which is a positive. Maguire might consider himself to be playing with the house money after rescuing himself from 4-1 down to Rory McLeod in the first round but the fact he got into that position in the first place must be a concern. Carter has won the last three between these two and he can make it four on Wednesday.
Tips
Back R.Williams to beat G.Dott for a 4/10 stake at 2.30 with William Hill
Back him here:
Back A.Carter to beat S.Maguire for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfred
Back him here:
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