It is quarter final day at the Northern Ireland Open on Friday and we have four different looking matches to get stuck into over the course of what looks like being a very good day of snooker in the latest Home Nations event.
We’ve had the usual shocks and surprises along the way in this tournament but despite that we have four of the best players in the world through to the quarter finals as well as four other hugely competent men capable of causing upsets despite the format going up to the best of nine.
Place an In-Play bet of £10 or more (at odds of 1/2 or greater) on the Northern Irish Snooker Quarter Finals today and get a £5 free bet to use on the Semi Finals on Saturday!
Afternoon Session
Mark Selby vs Thepchaiya Un-Nooh
The action gets underway with something of a clash of styles as the world number one Mark Selby goes up against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh for a place in the semi-finals. Both men have breezed through to this stage so it will be interesting to see if either pulls away here.
This should be a good watch. Un-Nooh will go for his shots and Selby will probably try and tie him down and keep things a little tighter so it will be fascinating to see which style comes out on top. At this stage of a tournament and now that the format has increased you have to fancy Selby but this isn’t a match I particularly want to bet on.
Judd Trump vs Ryan Day
The quality keeps on coming in the afternoon session as when Selby and Un-Nooh have finished their business it will be the turn of Judd Trump and Ryan Day to meet for the second Home Nations event on the spin.
Trump went into their match in the English Open not on top form and Day duly sent him packing but the roles might just have reversed for this encounter. Trump is playing some fantastic snooker whereas Day has had to battle a little more than he would have liked in order to make it through to this stage.
When these two met in the English Open it was 4-2 to Day and there was a 50 break in each frame and I’m not expecting anything different from the two here. Both are scoring pretty well and like to get the balls open and play attacking snooker. I don’t envisage much safety so over 5.5 50+ breaks looks a good bet in this one.
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Evening Session
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs David Gilbert
The evening match on the TV table sees Ronnie O’Sullivan continuing his quest for a second title in as many weeks when he takes on a Dave Gilbert who has already made one ranking event final this season and will be looking for another here.
O’Sullivan is yet to be tested in the tournament despite playing a carefree and at times careless style of snooker particularly in the early rounds. To be fair to Gilbert he has come through his draw quite nicely and he has seen off some dangerous players along the way as well so if the World Open finalist believes he can win this we should be in for a right old ding dong.
These two are two other men who score freely and if Gilbert is going to have any chance in this match he is going to have to score well. Once again I don’t envisage many tight frames so I’m expecting the 50 breaks to flow in what should be a good match. Over 5.5 can land here.
Eden Sharav vs Peter Ebdon
On the streamed table in the evening session we have a clash between two men at opposite ends of the experience scale as Eden Sharav takes on Peter Ebdon for the right to face either Judd Trump or Ryan Day in the semi-final.
Sharav will be competing in his first quarter final at this level while Ebdon is a veteran at this stage of tournaments and is in his second last eight match of the season. Both men have a big opportunity in front of them which they will both be eager to take. Sharav is lowly ranked so even one more win here will do him the world of good while if this is Ebdon’s final season he may not have many more chances at another title left.
Given what is at stake here it is hard to see this not being a tight contest and I wouldn’t be massively surprised if this one goes all the way. I certainly don’t see it being won any easier than 5-3 without a lot of luck involved or someone’s form being completely different to what we’ve seen so far.
Tips
WON – Back J.Trump vs R.Day – Over 5.5 50+ breaks for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Betfair
WON – Back R.O’Sullivan vs D.Gilbert – Over 5.5 50+ breaks for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
Back them here:
WON – Back E.Sharav vs P.Ebdon – Over 7.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back it here:
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