We are down to the quarter final stage at the English Open, with all four matches taking place on one excellent day of action in Crawley, as we head towards the business end of the opening Home Nations event of the season.
We saw some carnage for the bigger names on Thursday which leaves some new names on show for the quarter finals. The remaining players can relax a little with the format going up to the best of nine, which should make for some high quality snooker.
Afternoon Session
Dave Gilbert vs Ricky Walden
The day begins with the closest quarter final of the four in terms of the closeness of the rankings between the two players when the World Championship semi-finalist Dave Gilbert meets a former last four man at the Crucible Theatre in Ricky Walden.
Both these men have played well in getting to this stage. They both saw off dangerous opponents on Thursday night and you get the feeling this could be a pretty tight quarter final. I think recent form and play would be in favour of Dave Gilbert, but generally when Walden goes deep in a tournament he knows how to win it. I don’t really see a standout bet in this match though so I’ll sit this one out.
Mei Xiwen vs Mark Selby
The second quarter final of the afternoon session sees Mei Xiwen looking to build on his scalp of Ronnie O’Sullivan when he plays in the quarter final of a major tournament for the first time in his career. He faces Mark Selby who has been involved in a number of them.
You would expect Selby to win this, but Mei beat O’Sullivan on merit and needs to be respected for that. He didn’t get gifted the win by Ronnie pushing the boat out so if he can repeat that he should be competitive here at the very least. It is always hard to do that the next day after such a huge win though so I’ve got to think Selby will come through here but the odds fully reflect that once again.
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Evening Session
Mark Allen vs Lee Walker
We have matches on both main tables in the evening session and on the TV table we will see the former Masters champion Mark Allen going up against the lowest ranked player left in the tournament in the form of Lee Walker.
Allen would be wise not to underestimate Walker because the Welshman has already taken out Judd Trump and Gary Wilson on Thursday in this competition and in both matches he looked to be cueing very well, and withstood pressure strongly too. Allen was in sensational form against Barry Hawkins on Thursday night, finishing off with a couple of centuries but Hawkins gave him chances which I’m not so sure Walker will give away. Based on what we’ve seen this week I think Walker with the 2.5 frame start is the way to play this one. He looks to be cueing well enough and scoring well enough to keep close order here.
Tian Pengfei vs Tom Ford
The match on the second table on Friday night sees the maximum man Tom Ford taking on the dour and gritty Chinese player Tian Pengfei in what the bookmakers believe will be the closest of the four quarter finals.
I’m happy to agree with that too. Both men are playing pretty well and both of them are capable of getting in and scoring. I think Pengfei has the better tactical game but inevitably Ford will get in and score well at times himself. Their last three meetings have all been pretty close and given what is on this one I expect this to be as well. The 10/11 on there being over 7.5 frames appeals to me in this match.
Tips
Back L.Walker (+2.5 frames) to beat M.Allen for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back T.Pengfei vs T.Ford – Over 7.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back it here:
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