There are two sessions left in the qualifying event for the Riga Masters and they take place on Thursday as those yet to begin their campaign do so and look to win the one match they need to book their seat on the plane to Latvia at the end of the month.
We’ve already seen some big names in action this week and there are still one or two more to come on Thursday including Marco Fu and Luca Brecel who will be looking for positive beginnings to their campaigns.
Morning Session
Luca Brecel is one of the main stars on show in the morning session and he is on one of the streamed tables in the earlier session. He goes up against Alan Taylor. On the other streamed table Jack Lisowski gets his campaign underway when he meets the Chinese player Fan Zhengyi. Ian Burns takes on Jamie Clarke on one of the outside tables while Fergal O’Brien plays Eden Sharav on another one.
Afternoon Session
I would imagine all eyes will be on Marco Fu in the final session of the qualifying tournament. He takes on Elliot Slessor on one of the streamed tables while Zhao Xintong meets Jimmy Robertson in a tasty looking battle on another one. Out on the outside tables Andrew Higginson faces Mark Davis and Chen Zifan plays Alfie Burden for a spot in the main draw in three weeks.
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Betting
I like a couple of bets in the afternoon session of play. The first sees Jimmy Robertson in action and I think he is a better favourites than his odds suggest against Zhao Xintong. There is no doubt that the Chinese youngster is an extremely good talent but the fact he dropped off the tour and had to come through Q-School suggests that Robertson should be a much stronger favourite than he is. Robertson finished last season off well and can start this one strongly. I think he’ll be too strong for the overhyped Xintong.
Marco Fu ended last season at the Crucible Theatre but he was only there to bank some cash really because he was out for much of the end of the campaign with an eye issue. I don’t think he’ll begin this season too well either. That is nothing new though because Fu usually begins campaigns slowly. He faces Elliot Slessor who will be looking to make a major breakthrough this season. Slessor has a couple of wins over Ronnie O’Sullivan to his name so we know he can play and he’s far too big a price to ignore here.
Tips
Back J.Robertson to beat Z.Xintong for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back E.Slessor to beat M.Fu for a 4/10 stake at 2.88 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
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