The second day of action at the Players Championship in Llandudno sees the first round of the tournament continue with four more matches over two sessions of action at Venue Cymru on the Welsh coast.
We saw some decent players on show on the opening night of play and some of the really big names come out to play on Tuesday including the world champion Mark Selby and the box office star Ronnie O’Sullivan. Home hopes Mark Williams and Ryan Day also begin their campaigns on the second day.
Afternoon Session
Mark Selby vs Ryan Day
The main table will be graced in the afternoon session by the world champion Mark Selby and the man looking for a fourth title this season in Ryan Day in a first round match with the winner due to face the victor from the other table in the quarter final.
Day is very much the form horse heading into this tournament having landed wins in Gibraltar and Romania in the last week or so and you could argue he should start off as the favourite against Selby. Writing Selby off has always been a major faux pas though, especially in these big events. That said he clearly is not firing on all cylinders.
Selby has won the last two meetings between these two in proper competitions 5-3 and 5-4 but Day has a lot more belief in himself now and coming off the back of two tournaments wins he has to be the call at a shade over 2/1.
Mark Williams vs Yan Bingtao
The other table will see a repeat of the Northern Ireland Open final when local lad Mark Williams takes on the young star from China in Yan Bingtao for the right to face Selby or Day in the quarter final.
Williams won that final in a deciding frame and if Bingtao is on it here then he could easily for this one to go the distance too. He will need to be on it to come through though because since that Northern Ireland final, Williams has since won in Germany and has been playing very well.
I’m already on Williams outright and this could be his biggest test of the week so I’m happy to have that outright bet as interest on this one without having another bet despite being tempted by over 9.5 frames.
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Evening Session
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Graeme Dott
The World Grand Prix champion Ronnie O’Sullivan will be on centre stage in the evening session when he takes on the former world champion Graeme Dott over the best of 11 for the right to face Ding Junhui in the quarter finals later in the week.
O’Sullivan has looked in good touch for much of the season and has already whitewashed Dott in the Welsh Open last month but Dott hasn’t been playing badly himself of late and he won’t fear O’Sullivan. I’ve still got to think the Rocket will win but having not seen him for a few weeks I’d like to see his form before ploughing into him. It feels right to leave this one alone.
Luca Brecel vs Neil Robertson
Two tournament winners will be on the other table in the evening session when the China Championship winner Luca Brecel takes on the Scottish Open champion Neil Robertson for a place in the quarter final.
One of the big mysteries of recent times is what has happened to the form of Luca Brecel. It appears to have completely disappeared and there have been times where he has looked totally disinterested which is not good. Neil Robertson is his stable mate so he is sure to know about that and I expect the Australian to come through in style here.
In the last few weeks Brecel has lost 4-0 to Michael Georgiou, 4-1 to Mike Dunn and Martin O’Donnell and 4-0 to Judd Trump in Romania last week. I expect another heavy beating here.
Tips
WON – Back R.Day to beat M.Selby for a 3/10 stake at 3.05 with LeoVegas
Back him here:
WON – Back N.Robertson (-2.5 frames) to beat L.Brecel for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with 888sport
Back him here:
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