We are in for a big day of snooker inside the Barbican Centre in York on Friday when the four quarter finals of the UK Championship takeplace over what should be two high quality sessions of action in the first realbig tournament of the season.
Some big names have made it to the last eight of the tournament and with the prize money escalating dramatically from here on in the pressure cooker intensity should increase, which should ensure a very good day of action.
Afternoon Session
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Martin O’Donnell
It is something of a David vs Goliath encounter on the main table in the afternoon session on Friday when Ronnie O’Sullivan continues his title defence against Martin O’Donnell in what will be comfortably the biggest match of the career of the outsider.
O’Sullivan overcame a scare in the second round but either side of that he has dropped just two frames to make it to this quarter final. O’Donnell has had to battle to make it this far but you would expect that of a man who is only just breaking into the top 50 in the world.
O’Donnell has done brilliantly well to get this far but he just doesn’t score heavily enough at this level to take O’Sullivan close. The fact that seasoned scorers Zhou Yuelong and Jack Lisowski won a grand total of one frame between them doesn’t bode well for O’Donnell. I don’t see him winning three frames.
Joe Perry vs Tom Ford
I think it is fair to say that the most low key quarter final of the four is the one between Joe Perry and Tom Ford. I say that for two reasons. The first being it is the only one of the four without a member of the top 16 and the second reason being that it is on the other table while O’Sullivan is on.
Perry won’t care much for that. He has come through this draw nicely and it was hard not to be impressed by his win over Judd Trump in the last 16. That was easily the best piece of form either of these two have put together in the competition to date. Ford has done well to get this far but he fell over the line in the previous round.
Based on what we’ve seen so far this week I think Perry is a good thing here but we would need to take a handicap to get anything like a fair price on him. The -1.5 price is a bit skinny whereas the 2.5 lacks wiggle room so I’ll leave this one alone.
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Evening Session
Stuart Bingham vs Kyren Wilson
One of the quarter finals in the evening session sees two men who have tournament wins to their name this season doing battle when Stuart Bingham takes on Kyren Wilson for a spot in the semi-final on Saturday.
Bingham hasn’t really been tested this week but he has played some decent snooker regardless of that but he will face a real battle here against a Kyren Wilson who has looked awesome in the last two rounds and who is showing signs of getting better and better with every match he plays.
Amazingly these two have met six times and Wilson has won the lot. I think he will win this one as well. His all-round game is very good and as we saw in the Champion of Champions final he can do it under pressure against the best. Bingham has either scored brilliantly or struggled this week. I don’t think he can afford that here. I’ll take Wilson in this one.
Mark Allen vs Stephen Maguire
The other match in the quarter finals sees the Masters and International Championship winner Mark Allen taking on the former champion of this tournament in Stephen Maguire in a contest that should be fierce and fiery.
Allen has shown signs of class this week without being atthe tip top form he was in during the International Championship while from 4-0 down against Mark Williams in the previous round, Maguire was superb with threetons in a row and a sustained burst of scoring seeing him over the line.
Whichever way I look at this match I see it as a closebattle. Both men are strong competitors and can play under pressure of being behind. They are both heavy scorers and play a similar game. I would besurprised if over 9.5 frames doesn’t land here.
Tips
WON – Back R.O’Sullivan (-3.5 frames) to beat M.O’Donnell for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Bet365
Back K.Wilson (-1.5 frames) to beat S.Bingham for a 4/10stake at 2.00 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back M.Allen vs S.Maguire – Over 9.5 frames for a 4/10 stakeat 2.20 with William Hill
Back it here:
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