The first round of the UK Championship concludes on what is another busy day of action inside the Barbican Centre in York on Thursday with the 48 men yet to begin their campaigns doing so on the third day of the tournament.
In the main the big names have made it through, with the exception of Shaun Murphy, and on Thursday the biggest three in the game currently look to make it into the televised stages when Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby and Mark Williams are on the baize.
Morning Session
Luca Brecel will have the chance to showcase his talents on one of the streamed tables in the first session on Thursday. He takes on the Chinese player Fan Zhengyi in a match he’ll be expected to win. The other live table will have former champion Stephen Maguire on it. He goes up against the lowly ranked German player Simon Lichtenberg.
The six outside tables will be full in the session. Xiao Guodong goes up against Sean O’Sullivan while the Chinese star Yan Bingtao takes on Lukas Kleckers. Robbie Williams meets Ian Burns on another of the tables while veterans meet when Peter Lines faces Rory McLeod. Hossein Vafaei is due a big run in a tournament and he’ll hope to start this one with a win over Ashley Hugill with the other match in the session seeing Matthew Stevens playing Ross Muir.
Afternoon Session
It is all about Ronnie O’Sullivan in the middle session of the day when he takes on the amateur Luke Simmonds. That match will be on one of the main tables with the other of the streamed tables having Barry Hawkins on it. The Shanghai Masters finalist faces Jamie Clarke for a place in the second round.
Once again the outside tables will be full with Mark Davis against Sam Craigie being one of the highlights on them and Liang Wenbo going up against Sam Baird on another of them. Fergal O’Brien faces Mei Xi Wen while Mark King and Elliot Slessor combine for what should be a good match. Our pre-tournament pick Peter Ebdon goes up against Chris Totten with the other match on show being between Chris Wakelin and Duane Jones.
Evening Session
It is true quality on the main tables in the final session of the first round as the world number one Mark Selby and the world champion Mark Williams are both on centre stage. Selby faces local lad James Cahill while Williams meets Adam Duffy in a match which might not be all one-way traffic if Williams is not careful.
Anthony McGill is a high profile player on one of the outside tables. He takes on the competent Lu Ning while another big name Ali Carter faces Thor Chuan Leong in a huge match for the Captain and his Masters prospects. Kurt Maflin plays Zhang Anda while Scott Donaldson meets Li Yuan. The other two matches sees Noppon Saengkham facing Hamza Akbar while Daniel Wells plays Zhao Xintong.
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Betting
There are a few handicap lines which are just annoying a little on the large side in terms of the favourites covering and a couple where I would like an extra frame on the underdog to lure me into getting involved so with all that in mind I will end my first round punting with just the one bet.
Sam Baird has a couple of wins over Shaun Murphy to his name this season so he retains his ability and I think he’ll cause Liang Wenbo plenty of problems. Having pulled out of the Northern Ireland Open, the last time we saw Wenbo he was getting beaten by Ian Burns in the first round of the International Championship and I think all things being equal Baird is a better player than Burns. It is true that Baird can struggle to get over the line in tight matches but I see no reason why he can’t win four frames here. Three players ranked outside the top 80 in the world have wins over the Chinese star this season. Baird should get four frames.
Tips
WON – Back S.Baird (+2.5 frames) to beat L.Wenbo for a 4/10 stake at 1.90 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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