The first round of the International Championship comes to a close on Monday when the remaining matches in the opening part of the tournament take place out in China, and there is quite some list of stars on the schedule.
With all the big names who had their qualifying matches held over to this week making it through we have big names and great matches everywhere we look across the course of the two sessions of action on Monday.
Morning Session
It is the defending champion Mark Allen who will be on one of the televised tables first up. He has the daunting challenge of Sam Craigie in a tussle that will be tricky if Allen allows it to be. On the other table the former world champion Mark Williams will be looking to make it through to the last 32 of the Chinese event. He goes up against a man he is likely to know well in fellow Welsh player Jak Jones.
There should have been six matches on the outside tables but Hossein Vafaei has had visa issues which leaves five. Mark Selby is probably the headline act among them. He faces Liam Highfield while the winner in Riga last week, Yan Bingtao, takes on fellow countryman Chang Bingyu. Xiao Guodong is also in action in this session. He meets Ashley Carty while the other Chinese player on show is Yuan Sijun. He meets Shaun Murphy in an intriguing match given the struggles of the latter for so long. Ben Woollaston takes on Mark King in the other game in what looks like a session loaded with quality.
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Afternoon Session
The local star Ding Junhui headlines this second session of the day when he takes on the dangerous Chinese player Zhao Xintong on one of the TV tables while the other one will be occupied by the new world champion Judd Trump. He also faces Chinese opposition in the form of Zhang Anda, who is no respecter of reputations so that one could turn into an awkward affair for Trump if he isn’t as careful as he should be.
John Higgins is the star name away from the cameras. He meets David Grace on an outside table while Liang Wenbo goes up against Duane Jones. Luca Brecel meets Sunny Akani in one which could be a good match while Michael Holt and Anthony McGill battle it out in a clash which has all the hallmarks of being tight throughout. The other two matches have Kyren Wilson facing Robbie Williams and Jack Lisowski meeting Andrew Higginson for places in the second round.
Betting
I’m going with a couple of Chinese youngsters to see off more experienced foes on Monday. In the morning session Yuan Sijun looks a little overpriced to me to beat Shaun Murphy. Murphy’s struggles are well known in recent times and I can’t believe he has done much to avert that given that he spent the early part of the summer looking to qualify for The Open at Royal Portrush. Sijun is committed to snooker and is getting better all the time and will be in home conditions here. Murphy may not be a complete pushover in this format but Sijun won their only career meeting to date and the form of the two have gone in opposite directions since then. It wasn’t his best weekend in Riga last week but at least he oiled his arm. I think he’s a fair bet here.
Ding Junhui rarely impresses me at all these days but it has been a long time since he has done so this early in a season and he has to be vulnerable against the classy and dangerous operator that is Zhao Xintong. The Chinese contingent often feed off the success of each other so I’m guessing Xintong will have been buoyed by Yan Bingtao’s win last weekend and inspired to go well here. I get that playing Ding is a big thing for Chinese players, especially the younger ones, but if Xintong can forget who he is playing I think he is capable of winning this. Even from 4-0 and 5-2 up against Simon Lichtenberg on Sunday, Ding had to fall over the line. He won’t be given the chance to do that here so I’m with the young left-hander.
Tips
Back Y.Sijun to beat S.Murphy for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Betway
Back him here:
Back Z.Xintong to beat D.Junhui for a 4/10 stake at 2.50 with Bet365
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