We have reached the day where two rounds are played in the Scottish Open on Thursday, with the last 32 taking place in the morning and afternoon inside the Emirates Arena in Glasgow, and the last 16 in the evening.
The tournament tends to catch fire from here as the boys have generally been found out and the men are beginning to circle to launch their title bid. We’ll cover the last 32 here but time restrictions deny us the chance to do the last 16.
Morning Session
All eight tables are in use in this first session of the day. The two TV ones are occupied by some class acts as you would expect at this stage of the tournament. On one of them Mark Allen will continue his title defence when he faces off against Elliot Slessor who could be a problem if he allows him to be. The other match in front of the cameras will see two former world champions colliding when Neil Robertson takes on Peter Ebdon.
There is another former world champion on the outside tables when the home hero John Higgins is given the minor billing for his match against Andrew Higginson. Elsewhere, Tom Ford takes on Zhang Jiankang while Scott Donaldson meets Kyren Wilson. It might be that the match of the session is the one between the Shootout winner Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and the resurgent former champion here Marco Fu. Jack Lisowski is also out in the extremity of the venue when he meets Mike Dunn while Joe Perry plays Joe O’Connor in the other game.
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Afternoon Session
It is Ronnie O’Sullivan who will grace the TV match in the first of the two matches on it in the afternoon session. He meets a Martin Gould who is back in the last 32 of a tournament for the first time this season. Shaun Murphy will occupy the streamed table when he takes on a Ricky Walden who should be competitive. The outside tables see Dave Gilbert meeting Xiao Guodong, Lu Ning taking on Chris Wakelin, Jimmy Robertson going up against Kurt Maflin and surprisingly Graeme Dott against the new UK champion Ding Junhui.
Two matches are saved for second games on the main tables and on the TV offering we will see the world champion Judd Trump looking to continue his progress in the tournament when he meets the veteran Thai player James Wattana while on the streamed table Mark Selby will go up against a Liam Highfield who appears to be in wonderful form this week with a flurry of centuries already in his two wins.
Betting
I’m always wary of getting too involved in matches on the Thursday of the tournament as historically some weird results take place and having bagged a couple of winners from the event from the two bets placed so far, there is certainly no need to push the boat out, especially with three more days to come here and a week of qualifying competitions next week.
There is one bet that I’m happy to be on though and that comes in the morning session where I’m going to take on John Higgins with Andrew Higginson, albeit only on the handicap. I’ve got to say, I wouldn’t be completely surprised if Higginson wins this match and I say that for a couple of reasons. Higgins hasn’t looked in tune for a couple of weeks now and this match is on the outside tables which will play much different to the fast conditions the Scot is used to. I’m still not brave enough to take Higgins on completely in his home tournament but the 4/5 on Higginson getting two frames looks decent enough to me.
Tips
WON – Back A.Higginson (+2.5 frames) to beat J.Higgins for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with BetVictor
Back him here:
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