As always with these Home Nations events the opening day of the Northern Ireland Open on Monday is an extremely busy one but that is no bad thing for us punters as the tournament gets underway in Belfast.
It might be the opening day but that doesn’t mean we don’t get any big names. Home star Mark Allen, the defending champion Mark Williams and the Champion of Champions finalist Kyren Wilson are just some of the huge names on the match table on Monday.
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Morning Session
Barry Hawkins will be the first man to front up on the TV table. He goes up against Chen Zifan while on the streamed table Anthony McGill will look to get his campaign back on track. He takes on the talented Swiss player Alexander Ursenbacher in a game which has banana skin written all over it.
The outside tables will be full in this first session of play with Zhang Yong playing Li Hang in a Chinese battle while talented potters Adam Duffy and Sam Craigie also meet. Eden Sharav goes up against Li Yuan and Michael White meets Mark Joyce. The other two matches sees Xiao Guodong playing Harvey Chandler and Fan Zhengyi meeting the popular Sunny Akani.
Afternoon Session
There are two sets of matches in the afternoon session and it is the world champion Mark Williams who begins his title defence first up on the TV table. He takes on Alfie Burden while Stephen Maguire will face off with Michael Holt on a hard fought clash on the streamed offering at the same time.
Once again the outside tables will be packed and Kurt Maflin is on one of them against Ashley Carty. There is a battle of two good Chinese players when Luo Honghao meets Lyu Haotian who had a good run here last year. Stuart Carrington plays Xu Si while Liam Highfield takes on James Wattana. Ian Burns will be expected to come past Farakh Ajaib while the home crowds will be hoping that Gerard Greene can beat Oliver Lines.
The home star Mark Allen will be second up on the match table when he takes on Niu Zhuang while Ryan Day plys the Shootout champion Michael Georgiou on the streamed table. Zhao Xintong faces Daniel Wells on an outside table while Gary Wilson meets Adam Stefanow. There are two matches which are saved for a third match on the two main tables if needed. Ali Carter faces Paul Davison in one and Mark Davis meets Noppon Saengkham on the other.
Evening Session
It will be all about John Higgins on the main table in the evening session. He takes on the dour style of Rory McLeod while on the streamed table things should be more entertaining when Luca Brecel looks to find some form against the amateur player Raymond Fry.
Once again there are a number of matches on the outside tables with Tian Pengfei playing Mike Dunn, Jamie Clarke meeting Yuan Sijun, Graeme Dott will face Billy Joe Castle, Thor Chuan Leong goes up against Chris Wakelin, Tom Ford and Rod Lawler clash and Zhou Yuelong faces Lukas Kleckers.
Two matches are saved for second games on the live tables. English Open champion Stuart Bingham begins his quest for another leg of the £1 million bonus when he plays Peter Lines on the TV table while Kyren Wilson is due to play Lee Walker on the streamed table although that might be moved given Wilson’s run to the final in Coventry.
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Betting
It is a fairly tricky opening day on Monday so I’m going to ease myself into the week and go with just the one bet which will see Ali Carter in action against Paul Davison on what is scheduled to be the third match on the TV table in the afternoon depending on how the matches before then go.
Davison isn’t enjoying a particularly good season and generally when he has gone up in class he has been found out and some. I’ve already mentioned in my outright preview that there is nothing wrong with Carter’s game and I’m expecting him to come through here with few problems. If this stays on the main table Davison might take too long to adjust to conditions but even if it doesn’t Carter is playing well enough to come through unscathed.
Tips
WON – Back A.Carter (-2.5 frames) to beat P.Davison for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with NetBet
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