The qualifying section for the Indian Open is behind us but such is the modern snooker world another event begins on Friday when the two day qualification competition for the European Masters gets underway.
As with the Indian Open we have four sessions of matches and with a much stronger field for the tournament we have some more household names on show over the course of the first day of qualifying.
Morning Session
Marco Fu and Ryan Day are the top ranked players on show in the morning session on Friday. Fu faces the former world finalist Nigel Bond while Day takes on the extroverted Pakistani player Hamza Akbar. Both matches are on the streamed tables and there is a full set of games on the outside tables too.
Liam Highfield meets John Astley on one, Tom Ford takes on Tian Pengfei on another with Li Hang meeting Akani Songsermsawad out there too. Joe Swail takes on Alfie Burden in a battle of the veterans while Oliver Lines plays Matt Selt. The other match in the session sees Dechawat Poomjaeng meeting Andrew Higginson for a place in the main draw.
Early Afternoon Session
Joe Perry is the leading light in the first set of matches in the afternoon and he will be on one of the streamed tables when he goes up against Sean O’Sullivan. Anthony Hamilton will look to continue his good season on the other when he goes up against the former Shootout winner Robin Hull. Once again we have plenty of action on the outside tables. Thor Chuan Leong goes up against the World Open semi-finalist Noppon Saengkham while Harvey Chandler takes on Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. The current Shootout winner Michael Georgiou goes up against Jimmy White while Simon Bedford faces Allan Taylor. In the other match in the session Michael Holt faces Zhang Jiankang.
Late Afternoon Session
Neil Robertson and John Higgins are the two men on the baize in the second session of the afternoon. Robertson faces Dominic Dale in one of the matches of the day while Higgins meets Chen Feilong in a match he will be expected to win. Away from the main tables Niu Zhuang goes up against Luo Honghao while Yan Bingtao meets his countryman Chen Zifan. Alan McManus takes on Soheil Vahedi with Duane Jones playing Mark Joyce. The final two matches have Billy Joe Castle playing Peter Lines and David Gilbert taking on Robbie Williams.
Evening Session
Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson are set to compete on the main tables in the evening session. Selby didn’t play in the Indian Open so this is his first match of the week. He plays Mei Xi Wen while Wilson goes up against Basem Eltahhan. Stephen Maguire is another big star on show in this session. He meets Paul Davison. There is a Chinese battle between Lu Haotian and Zhang Anda while Michael White takes on Alexander Ursenbacher. Hossein Vafaei plays Rod Lawler in a match which might go on a while with Ashley Carty playing Sam Craigie and Robert Milkins meeting Scott Donaldson.
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Betting
I’ll go with a couple of outsiders in the evening session. Zhang Anda has been a little unfortunate this season. He has lost a few deciding frames but that won’t keep on happening and I think he has a fair chance of coming out on top when he takes on Lu Haotian on Friday night. Haotian won for us on Thursday but he wasn’t particularly convincing and if Zhang has his scoring boots with him he could easily take care of a Lu who has been hit and miss this season so far.
Scott Donaldson has seen all but one of his matches this season go to a deciding frame. He has won a couple and lost a couple but being battle hardened may be no bad thing when it comes to taking on Robert Milkins who has struggled in recent times. Although he could do nothing about his defeat to Marco Fu in the World Open, he fell over the line against Ding in that tournament and was useless in the Indian Open earlier in the week. Donaldson is having to battle but he’s scoring well and finding opponents playing well. I’m not convinced he has found one here though so he looks a good price.
Tips
WON – Back Z.Anda to beat L.Haotian for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back S.Donaldson to beat R.Milkins for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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