The opening night of the Players Championship sees both tables in operation as four men go in search of a spot in the quarter final of the second Coral Snooker Series event, out in the Guild Hall in Preston.
Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Allen headline the card but there is no poor player here this week so we are guaranteed great action everywhere we look over the course of the competition. Both matches are the best of 11 frames.
New customers, bet €/£20 on the Exchange and if your first bet loses, we’ll refund you €/£20 in Cash. Bet must be placed in first 7 days of account opening. T&Cs apply. 18+|Gamble Aware.
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Barry Hawkins
The main focus of the TV coverage on Monday night is going to be the match between Barry Hawkins and Ronnie O’Sullivan where the winner will progress to the quarter final where either Mark Selby or John Higgins will be waiting.
This is their second meeting this season with their first coming in the final of the Shanghai Masters, which O’Sullivan won 11-9 but that was in the first part of the season and very rarely is Hawkins firing on all cylinders at that part of a campaign. He gradually builds up his form and I’m expecting him to be bang on it over the course of this week.
I don’t actually think O’Sullivan is on the top edge of his form. He lost in the first round of the World Grand Prix to Marco Fu and then played some very strange snooker in the Welsh Open before Alexander Ursenbacher finally put him out of his misery. It remains to be seen whether Hawkins is good enough to get over the line but I certainly think he is good enough to get to four frames and at 9/10 that will do for me.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Mark Allen vs Stephen Maguire
On the other table the leading money earner for the season, Mark Allen, takes on the last man into the draw in Stephen Maguire in a match where the winner will progress to a quarter final against either Stuart Bingham or Dave Gilbert later in the week.
Allen has been excellent this season. He has picked up the International Championship and Scottish Open titles and made the final of the UK Championship as well but since The Masters his form has taken a bit of a dip. I suspect that might just be down to the best of seven format and now that we are up to 11 frames he should relax and play better. Maguire has begun 2019 nicely with a run to the semi-finals in Berlin and a couple of other appealing displays.
I see no reason why this won’t be a really good match. Both these men appreciate the big events and the longer matches and neither went anywhere near India last week which is a positive. You can get 4/5 on there being more than 6.5 50 breaks in this match and given that both like to play open and attacking snooker I’m expecting that to land.
Tips
WON – Back B.Hawkins (+2.5 frames) to beat R.O’Sullivan for a 4/10 stake at 1.90 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Back M.Allen vs S.Maguire – Over 6.5 50+ breaks for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfair
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019
