The final day of snooker in 2018 takes place on Friday when the qualifying competition for the German Masters finishes inside the Metrodome in Barnsley, as 48 players look to win the one match that will book their spot at Berlin next month.
Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy were among the eight men to book their spot at the final stages on Thursday and a host of other stars will be looking to join them on what is a frantic day of snooker on Friday with three more sessions of play.
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Morning Session
Neil Robertson is the main attraction in the morning session of play. The Australian will be on one of the main tables taking on the amateur who took Mark Selby out of the UK Championship in James Cahill, while Barry Hawkins will be on the other main table when he takes on Stuart Carrington in a juicy looking battle.
Six outside tables will be full on Friday morning, one of them will have the exciting Jack Lisowski taking on Gary Wilson while the Chinese young star Yan Bingtao meets countryman Lu Ning. Beaten finalist last season Graeme Dott goes up against Michael Georgiou while Stephen Maguire meets Gerard Greene. Mark King takes on Peter Ebdon and in the other match Robert Milkins faces Eden Sharav.
Afternoon Session
World number one Mark Selby is the big name on show in the afternoon session. He has a streamed table assignment against John Astley in a match he is expected to win while Ding Junhui will be looking to qualify for the main stages of the tournament when he faces the amateur Kuldesh Johal in a match he is favourite for.
Elsewhere Liang Wenbo will look to resurrect his season when he goes up against Fergal O’Brien while Zhao Xintong and Xiao Guodong meet in an all-Chinese battle. Jordan Brown takes on Duane Jones in what is a massive opportunity for both men while two more Chinese players go at it when Li Hang faces Luo Honghao. There is a repeat of the 2000 Masters final when Ken Doherty plays Matthew Stevens with the other match seeing Oliver Lines playing Kyren Wilson.
Evening Session
Judd Trump will look to get back to Berlin and he is an overwhelming favourite to make it through when he goes up against the German star Lukas Kleckers who will not be short of motivation to produce his best. That is on one of the main tables while John Higgins is up on the other one when he takes on Chris Wakelin.
Tom Ford meets Kurt Maflin in an evening looking match while Stuart Bingham will be favoured to come through when he takes on Niu Zhuang. European Masters champion Jimmy Robertson goes up against Joe Swail while Craig Steadman plays Dave Gilbert on another table. The other two matches sees Ben Woollaston playing Matt Selt and Ross Muir goes up against Ricky Walden for a spot in the final stages.
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Betting
I’ve had a decent 2018 in the snooker world, especially in the last few months so I’m not going to push the boat out too much on this final day of the year, but there is one bet which catches my eye as we hope to finish off the year with a winning punt ahead of Christmas.
Matthew Stevens has been in good touch recently and he has a wonderful record against Ken Doherty where not only has he won their last few meetings but the Irishman hasn’t really got close in any of them. Stevens has caught fire since the International Championship where he made the semi-final and he has already taken out Luca Brecel this week. I think he’ll come through here and do so with a bit in hand.
Tips
WON – Back M.Stevens (-1.5 frames) to beat K.Doherty for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
Back him here:
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