It is the penultimate day of action in the qualifying event for the German Masters on Thursday with the first round of competition concluding and the second round beginning which means the first eight players will book their spot in the main event in Berlin.
We are yet to see any major shocks in qualifying so the main draw is shaping up nicely. A couple of big names will look to confirm their returns to the Tempodrom in the evening session while some others set off on their journey in the first two sessions.
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Morning Session
Stuart Bingham is the main attraction in the morning session. He plays his first round match against the Chinese player Chen Feilong while Marco Fu is the other big show taking to the baize in the first session of the day. He goes up against Matthew Selt for a place in the second round of the tournament.
Joe Swail is on one of the outside tables when he goes up against the amateur Richard Wienold while the European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson takes on Dechawat Poomjaeng in another match. Niu Zhuang plays Simon Lichtenberg while the other three matches have Paul Davison facing Kurt Maflin, Alfie Burden meeting Oliver Lines and Mark King taking on Rod Lawler.
Afternoon Session
John Higgins looks to move to within a win from Berlin when he faces the Iran number two Soheil Vahedi on one of the main tables in the afternoon session. Former world champion Mark Selby is the other star attraction on the streamed showings when he goes up against Billy Joe Castle in the last session of the first round.
Elsewhere Andrew Higginson takes on John Astley, Ricky Walden plays Scott Donaldson, Ross Muir goes up against Li Yuan, Mike Dunn and Ben Woollaston go up against each other with David Gilbeert facing a potentially tricky test in Ashley Hugill. The other match in this session has Craig Steadman facing Hamza Akbar for a place in the second round on Friday.
Evening Session
The second round of the tournament begins in the evening session and it does so with the defending champion Mark Williams on one of the streamed tables. He faces fellow Welsh player Jak Jones for a spot in Berlin while on the other main table Shaun Murphy will go up against the Whirlwind himself Jimmy White.
The outside tables are full again in this session with Zhou Yuelong playing Dominic Dale, Sam Craigie meeting Sam Baird and Joe Perry going up against Chris Totten. Martin Gould is a former winner of this tournament and he takes on Rory McLeod for a place back in Berlin while the other two matches see Noppon Saengkham playing Yuan Sijun and Sunny Akani taking on Ryan Day.
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Betting
In truth I don’t see this as any easier than Wednesday’s card where I only had one bet and that is all I am having on Thursday as well. The big names are having to cover large handicaps which I wouldn’t mind in a race to six but best-of-nine is just in that middle ground that I don’t like. I’ll go with one in the evening though.
Noppon Saengkham is having a decent enough season with a semi-final in the World Open and a quarter final in the English Open. He beat Yuan Sijun early on in the latter and he faces the Chinese player again on Thursday. I expect the Thai to win again too. After losing the first frame he went on a scoring spree against Liam Highfield to back up how well he has been playing this term. Sijun is a good prospect but there are still holes in his game. Saengkham can exploit them at a big looking even money.
Tips
Back N.Saengkham to beat Y.Sijun for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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