The second day of the Northern Ireland Open sees the first round of the tournament draw to a close on what is another packed schedule of action inside the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Tuesday. We have a day full of matches as the first half of the field exit the event.
The seeds tumbled like the bricks in a game of Jenga on Monday which should put the big names getting their tournament underway on Tuesday a little on edge and make sure that they focus strongly.
Morning Session
Mark King will get the TV treatment on Tuesday morning. The inaugural champion of this tournament meets John Astley for a place in the second round. David Gilbert takes on the Irishman Fergaal O’Brien in a tough looking match on the streamed table after Liang Wenbo withdrew on the eve of the tournament.
The outside tables will be in use in the morning session. Mei Xi Wen and Zhang Jiankang meet in a Chinese battle while Kishan Hirani meets Jak Jones. Craig Steadman goes up against Lu Ning while there is a good chance of a win for Hammad Miah. He faces Basem Eltahhan with Dominic Dale meeting Chris Totten in the other match.
Afternoon Session
The Champion of Champions winner Ronnie O’Sullivan is first up on the main table on Tuesday afternoon. He faces Soheil Vahedi while the streamed table will see Marco Fu playing Chen Feilong. Two veterans meet on one of the outside tables as Peter Ebdon plays Patrick Wallace while Alan McManus meets Allan Taylor on another of them. Robert Milkins faces Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in a juicy looking match with Elliot Slessor playing Ross Muir. The other two matches in the first set of afternoon games sees Simon Lichtenberg playing Robbie Williams and Andy Lee meeting Sean O’Sullivan.
The world number one Mark Selby will occupy the TV table in the second set of matches. He plays Anthony Hamilton while on the streamed table Shaun Murphy meets Sam Baird looking to revenge a 6-0 loss to him in International Championship qualifying. Sanderson Lam and Joe O’Connor play on one outside table while Ken Doherty meets Scott Donaldson on another.
The matches between Jack Lisowski and Hossein Vafaei and Zhang Anda and Yan Bingtao have been saved for a third TV and streamed match should they be needed. If not they will be played on one of the outside tables.
Evening Session
Judd Trump is the first man up on the main table in the last session of the first round. He takes on Matthew Selt while local lad Joe Swail will be on the streamed table when he meets Luke Simmonds. Jordan Brown faces Robin Hull on an outside table while Ricky Walden and Matthew Stevens meet in a match which might deserve a better stage. David Lilley plays Duane Jones with the other matches seeing Jimmy White playing Martin O’Donnell and Ashley Hugill facing Hamza Akbar. European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson faces James Cahill.
The second match on the TV table looks a juicy clash as Neil Robertson goes up against Ben Woollaston with Robbo’s good friend Joe Perry on the streamed table. He goes up against the former world finalist Nigel Bond.
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Betting
I’ll go with a pair of bets across the day on Tuesday. The first of those is Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who I always feel is well suited to this quick dash format and he showed that in the English Open last month until he ran into the eventual champion Stuart Bingham in the third round. He made a 147 in that tournament though so there is nothing wrong with his game. To be fair his opponent Rob Milkins has picked up in recent times so this is probably a 50:50 match now. With that in mind there is enough value on the Thai to warrant a bet.
Moving into the evening session and I’m amazed that Jordan Brown is as big a price as he is to come past a Robin Hull who might be talented but who doesn’t win many matches these days. Hull has only won two matches all season and one of them was against an amateur right at the start of it. Brown is the polar opposite of that. In the last month he has wins over Luca Brecel, Andrew Higginson and Jimmy Robertson. He has scored well in that time and if he scores well here he should win.
Tips
WON – Back T.Un-Nooh to beat R.Milkins for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back J.Brown to beat R.Hull for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Coral
Back them here:
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