The last two second round matches get underway at the World Championship on Sunday when we move to within 24hrs of completing the quarter final line up at the iconic Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
There are three sessions of action for us to enjoy as the four remaining matches in the round each play down to the end of their second session on what is a potentially busy day in the competition.
Saturday Recap
The tournament is reeling from the exit of Ronnie O’Sullivan. We’re not though as we backed Ali Carter to beat him and he duly did. That was as good as it got for us from a betting point of view though as there was no fourth century in that match. Worse still for us, Jack Lisowski ran into a train and trails John Higgins 8-0 overnight so we can pretty much forget about our bet on him.
Barry Hawkins made it through in the opening match of the day when he saw off the strong challenge of Lyu Haotian 13-10 while Kyren Wilson powered past Jamie Jones 13-5 to set up a repeat of The Masters final with Mark Allen in the next round. Mark Williams leads Robert Milkins 5-3 overnight in the other outstanding match.
In Play Betting
I was hoping that Robert Milkins would win the final frame against Mark Williams to make it 4-4 and offer us a betting chance but he didn’t and that has lengthened the handicaps that Williams is being asked to cover. Neither man looked particularly sharp in that first session so I should probably leave it alone, which I will. The other match offers no interest at all.
Ding Junhui vs Anthony McGill (Sunday 10am, Sunday 7pm & Monday 1pm)
The new tournament favourite Ding Junhui is in action in one of the matches to begin on Sunday. He takes on Anthony McGill for the right to face Barry Hawkins in the quarter final later in the week.
I thought Ding looked ultra-good in the opening round. He put in a performance against Xiao Guodong that merited his status as favourite for the tournament now and if he can repeat that here I don’t see him having too many problems. McGill was ordinary at best against Ryan Day in the first round.
McGill won seven of the last eight frames in that match but he only made one 50 break in that time. In fact he never really scored in the match at all and if he doesn’t score here he has absolutely no chance. Ding scored very well against Guodong and I just don’t see McGill staying close on current form.
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Ricky Walden vs Judd Trump (Sunday 10am, Sunday 7pm & Monday 1pm)
The last of the second round matches sees Ricky Walden looking to make it back to the quarter final of the tournament when he faces a Judd Trump who must surely be relieved he is still in the competition after surviving an epic deciding frame in the first round.
Trump looked to have that match in the palm of his hand when he was 8-4 up on Chris Wakelin but chance after chance came and went and eventually he fell over the line. Towards the end Walden fell over the line in his match too but in building a big lead on Luca Brecel he played very well, continuing his excellent recent form.
Going into the tournament I thought the first decent player Trump came up against, or one in form, would put him out and I’ll put my money where my mouth is. I’m backing Walden to come through here. He is playing the sort of snooker needed to win this match. He is scoring well and his safety is generally tight. I think he’s great value. I’m also going to take Walden to make a break of 108 or more. I highlighted his scoring in the previous round and he continued it there. He has a big break in him here.
Tips
WON – Back D.Junhui (-3.5 frames) to beat A.McGill for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfred
Back R.Walden – 108+ break for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfred
Back R.Walden to beat J.Trump for a 3/10 stake at 4.00 with Coral
Back him here:
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