The last matches left to start out in the first round of the World Championship do so on Wednesday as the competition continues at quite some pace inside the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield with everyone left in having all seen their chances of glory increase already.
That is because the tournament is still reeling from the exit of Ronnie O’Sullivan, who was turned over by the amateur James Cahill on an incredible Tuesday inside the iconic venue. We are already near enough guaranteed drama and tension on Wednesday.
Tuesday Recap
Shock waves were sent through the draw on Tuesday when Cahill converted his 5-4 overnight lead into a 10-8 victory to blow the thing wide open. That wasn’t the only drama we had as Graeme Dott came from 8-1 down to Stuart Bingham to level up at 9-9 before the Englishman edged home in the decider. Dave Gilbert beat Joe Perry 10-7 to give us a winning bet on the day while Judd Trump trails Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-3 and Mark Allen ran into a train in Zhou Yuelong, who leads him 7-2.
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In Play Betting
I wouldn’t be completely surprised to see Mark Allen making a comeback on Wednesday but I would be wanting a lot more than 4/1 on it happening given that he is five frames behind to a man who has had a bunch of breaks above 50 already. As good as Allen is, he will need Yuelong to lose it from here and that isn’t guaranteed. The same goes in the other match between Judd Trump and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. I’m already on Trump for the quarter which looks fantastic with Ronnie out, if he can turn his deficit against the Thai around.
Kyren Wilson vs Scott Donaldson (Wednesday 2.30pm & Thursday 7pm)
The penultimate match of the first round of the tournament sees the former semi-finalist Kyren Wilson taking on the debutant Scott Donaldson in a potentially intriguing encounter for a place in the second round.
Wilson has plenty of experience of this venue, set up and tournament and will be looking to do some real damage over the course of the next couple of weeks. The same can’t be said for Donaldson, who is playing his first match in this famous venue. The scheduling has helped the Scot as he was a bruised and beaten man after the qualifiers where he nearly let a 9-4 lead to Lu Ning slip, eventually beating him in a deciding frame. I’m a big Wilson fan and I expect him to win this but there isn’t a lot of juice in the handicap lines so I’ll watch the first session and see if we can play after that.
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Jack Lisowski vs Ali Carter (Wednesday 7pm & Thursday 1pm)
The final match to get underway in the opening round sees one of the stars of the season in Jack Lisowski taking on the qualifier Ali Carter in a match where you could be forgiven for expecting the roles to be reversed.
Lisowski has made two ranking finals and a number of quarter finals and semis this season so he certainly has the game to go deep here. Carter himself has made a big final this term and did well to come through qualifying for this and is sure to give Lisowski a pretty tough examination over the course of the two days.
I think this match is all about Lisowski. If he settles and plays his game I don’t see him being beaten here because his scoring is so good and he is so natural with it. We’ve seen Carter have struggles against Trump in the past and Lisowski plays a similar game. Lisowski is getting more and more experience now and he won his first round match last year. I think the 5/6 on him here is worth taking.
I also think the 11/10 on over 2.5 centuries is worth a shot in this one. These two men have 67 centuries between them this season so they know how to clear the table up and there should be plenty of frames in the match which will help. Both men have had enough time to prepare for this as well. Carter made four tons in qualifying while Lisowski made four in China. There should be three tons here.
Tips
Back J.Lisowski to beat A.Carter for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
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Back J.Lisowski vs A.Carter – Over 2.5 centuries for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Boylesports
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