The second round of World Championship qualifying begins on Sunday with everyone left in the event knowing they are two wins from a place at the Crucible Theatre next week so there is plenty at stake not just the £4,000 picked up for winning in this round.
Saturday Recap
It was a decent enough day for us on Saturday with the two bets we put up in the day four preview both obliging with a little bit to spare but annoyingly Chen Zhe surrendered a 6-3 lead to Dechawat Poomjaeng so it wasn’t a perfect day.
It was a good day for the seeds in the matches which began and finished on Saturday. Kurt Maflin was the only big name to go out with Mark Williams, Stephen Maguire and Ken Doherty all making it safely through.
Morning Session
There are plenty of matches in the morning session with the two on the streamed tables seeing Joe Perry go up against Akani Songsermsawad and Yan Bingtao playing Mark Davis in a really good looking match.
Zhou Yuelong takes on Ian Preece on one of the outside tables while Alfie Burden meets Jamie Jones on another. Rhys Clark goes up against Dave Gilbert and Martin O’Donnell plays Hammad Miah. Michael Holt faces Eden Sharav with one of the matches of the round seeing Peter Ebdon taking on Jack Lisowski. Scott Donaldson plays the Swiss amateur Alexander Ursenbacher while Robbie Williams plays Yu Delu. Martin Gould meets John Astley in the other match.
Afternoon Session
There streamed matches in this session see Reanne Evans looking to build on her fine win over Robin Hull when she faces Lee Walker. On the other table Michael White continues his quest for the Crucible when he goes up against Ross Muir.
The outside tables will be full in this session too. Stuart Carrington and Andrew Higginson play in one of the matches while Tom Ford takes on Chris Wakelin. Li Hang plays Mike Dunn and Mark King faces Fang Xiongman. Xiao Guodong against Sam Baird is an appealing match while Mark Joyce and David Grace could produce a right battle. Dominic Dale plays Daniel Wells and Gary Wilson faces Peter Lines in the other two matches.
Betting
I like three bets on Sunday across the two sessions. Yu Delu is my focus in the morning session. I respect Robbie Williams and having qualified in the past he knows how to win matches here but Yu is playing some nice stuff at the minute and looks a good price to come through that one.
Moving into the afternoon and Chris Wakelin is a big price to see off Tom Ford. I’ve always thought Ford was better over the shorter distances but even if he isn’t he has his work cut out here against a Wakelin who made two centuries in the first round and was clearly hitting the ball well. Wakelin has a decent record against Ford and he is excellent value to extend that.
The final bet comes in Sam Baird who I think is just a little too big to see off Xiao Guodong. A couple of years ago you would have said Guodong was a worthy favourite in this one but I don’t think that is the case at the minute. Baird can mix it with the best of them as we saw when he beat John Higgins in the Welsh Open and I like him here.
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Tips
WON – Back Y.Delu to beat R.Williams for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Coral
Back S.Baird to beat X.Guodong for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Coral
Back them here:
Back C.Wakelin to beat T.Ford for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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