The final three first round matches begin on day five of the World Championship snooker at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Wednesday. They are merged in with the matches from Tuesday which will be played to a finish on what is another hectic but potentially dramatic day inside the famous venue.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Day 4 recap
Tuesday saw wins for two powerhouses in the sport in John Higgins and Ding Junhui while another Chinese star made it through too when Liang Wenbo battled past Stuart Carrington. That made it an up and down betting day for us with the centuries landing in the Higgins match but Carrington not quite getting the job done.
Worse came for us when Rory McLeod came from 4-0 down to lead Judd Trump 5-4 overnight which means out handicap bet in that match is dead. Trump was a victim of his own downfall in that session. It was clear from the outset that he took McLeod for granted but he might need to change his mind now. Graeme Dott leads Ali Carter 6-3 in the other game.
Ryan Day vs Xiao Guodong
The first of the three matches to get underway on Wednesday is the one which starts and finishes in the one day when Ryan Day takes on Xiao Guodong over two sessions in the morning and the evening.
Day sneaked into the draw as a seed when Mark Williams lost the China Open final and he will be looking to take advantage of his good fortune here. Xiao Guodong had to come through the three match qualifying system but to his credit he did so emphatically losing just eight frames and being competent opposition in Sam Baird and Mark King in particular.
I’ve a feeling this will be a close match. Ryan Day was playing well a month or so ago but we’ve not seen him since and we know Xiao Guodong is in good form so this could well turn into a right battle in the second session. 10-7 or closer either way looks very possible especially with Day being no stranger to a close first round match. His last two first round wins have been by a 10-9 scoreline.
Neil Robertson vs Noppon Saengkham
Neil Robertson gets his quest for a second world title underway when he takes on the Thai debutant Noppon Saengkham in a match which begins in the afternoon and finishes on Thursday afternoon.
Robertson and Saengkham have played each other three times with Robertson holding a 2-1 lead but the thing that caught my eye in their battles in the past has been the fact that Robertson has made seven centuries in them.
To me that suggests that Saengkham goes for his shots and when he misses he leaves the Australian right in the balls but we saw in qualifying that Saengkham can score well when he gets the chance so the 4/5 on over 1.5 centuries looks juicy to me. Robertson could easily cover this on his own but Saengkham can score so the overs should be safe.
Barry Hawkins vs Tom Ford
The final match of the first round looks like being a really juicy one as the former finalist Barry Hawkins takes on a Tom Ford who is really beginning to add consistency to the undoubted talent that he has always had.
Hawkins is a good match player these days and is a genuine contender for this tournament but he has his work cut out in this one. In terms of the actual match I am going to see how Ford settles and assess things at half time but I can’t ignore the century potential in this one.
Hawkins makes a lot more centuries than he used to do these days. He has 28 for the season coming into the tournament while Ford has 15 to his name including a 147 at the German Masters. Over 1.5 centuries looks significantly overpriced to me at 5/6 as both could easily cover this total on their own let alone together.
Tips
Back R.Day vs X.Guodong – Over 16.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back N.Robertson vs N.Saengkham – Over 1.5 centuries for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Bet365
Back B.Hawkins vs T.Ford – Over 1.5 centuries for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Bet365
Back them here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
