The first round of the English Open concludes on Tuesday when the matches that have not been played down in Crawley are done so in what is another hectic and crazy day of snooker at the first Home Nations event of the campaign.
Monday saw the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Judd Trump and Shaun Murphy make it through to the second round and on Tuesday we see players such as Mark Williams, Kyren Wilson and Neil Robertson looking to join them.
Morning Session
We have just the six matches in the morning session on Tuesday but the two main tables will be filled in it. Stephen Maguire will be on the TV table in this session and he has a right tussle on his hands against the Shootout champion Thepchaiya Un-Nooh while over on the streamed offering Dave Gilbert will be looking to make progress when he meets the perfectly competent Stuart Carrington.
Ricky Walden is the highest ranked player on the outside tables in this session. He has a date with Alex Borg while two evenly matched men meet when Luo Honghao takes on Sam Craigie. There is also a battle of the veterans as Fergal O’Brien goes up against Nigel Bond and the other match sees the talented Chinese player Yuan Sijun taking on the Brazilian top dog Igor Figueiredo for a spot in the next round.
Afternoon Session
As with Monday, we have two sets of matches in the afternoon session with the first of those seeing Mark Williams on the TV table. He faces his fellow Welsh player Jamie Clarke while over on the streamed table we have Scott Donaldson meeting Zhao Xintong in what looks a really good match. There is plenty of quality on the outside tables with Hossein Vafaei in action in that part of the hall. He meets Simon Lichtenberg while Thor Chuan Leong takes on Chen Feilong. The other three matches see Lu Haotian facing Zhang Anda, Jak Jones meeting Brandon Sargeant and Ashley Carty goes up against Elliot Slessor.
The big match in the second set of games in the afternoon sees Kyren Wilson going up against the first winner of this tournament in Liang Wenbo in a match that will be on the TV stage while over on the streamed table Marco Fu meets Ken Doherty. Indian Open champion Matthew Selt is the pick of the players on the outside tables here. He faces Craig Steadman while Hammad Miah meets Mitchell Mann. Alexander Ursenbacher faces Martin O’Donnell in another match while the last two games sees Michael Georgiou facing David Grace and Jordan Brown taking on Louis Heathcote.
Two extra matches are saved in this session in case a third game is needed on either of the live tables. On the TV table we have Jack Lisowski going up against the talented Welsh youngster Jackson Page while on the streamed table we should get to see the World Championship semi-finalist Gary Wilson who meets Mark Joyce.
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Evening Session
Mark Allen will have the honour of playing on the TV table first up in the evening on Tuesday. He faces the veteran James Wattana while over on the streamed table we have Ryan Day going up against Eden Sharav. Jimmy White will be a popular player on the outside table. He faces the Chinese player Bai Langning in what isn’t the worst draw for the Whirlwind. Elsewhere we have Billy Joe Castle playing John Astley while Liam Highfield meets Oliver Lines. Lee Walker faces Chen Zifan and Sam Baird meets Daniel Wells.
Two other matches are saved for a second game on each of the live tables. It will be Neil Robertson who rounds off the show on the TV table, assuming he gets to the right venue! He is due to meet Kishan Hirani while the beaten finalist of last year Mark Davis starts his title quest on the streamed table as he goes up against former world champion Graeme Dott.
Betting
I like three bets over the course of the second day with Zhang Anda the first of them. He has faced Lu Haotian three times in their careers with Zhang leading 2-1 but he has won their last two meetings 4-0 and I suspect there is something in that. He is experienced enough to keep the youngster at long range and pick him off when the chances invariably arise and be might not have to wait long in this match either because Haotian is having a pretty ordinary season to date. Zhang has a win over Shaun Murphy on his CV this season and he beat Mark King a couple of weeks ago in World Open qualifying. He can come through here.
Michael Georgiou and David Grace met in that World Open qualifying event and Georgiou won 5-2 so I’m a little surprised that he isn’t more of a favourite here. I get that it is a different format but he is the better player of the two anyway. Admittedly Georgiou hadn’t had a great season up to that point but he is a decent enough player. Grace isn’t exactly pulling up trees at the minute. His only win this season came when Anthony Hamilton quit with illness halfway through the match so he should be there for the taking. I’ll back Georgiou to do that taking.
Finally in the final match of the night I think Mark Davis is a spot of value to see off Graeme Dott. He has won four of their last five proper meetings and is on home soil here. He’ll have slept in his own bed and will be among friends and family which should never be discounted, as he showed here last year. I’m never convinced these short sprints suit Dott at the best of times and he’s been a little hit or miss for me this season. I’m happy to take him on with the home man at the prices.
Tips
WON – Back Z.Anda to beat L.Haotian for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfred
Back him here:
WON – Back M.Georgiou to beat D.Grace for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Coral
Back M.Davis to beat G.Dott for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Coral
Back them here:
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