The first day of the World Open out in China on Monday is a pretty busy one as the qualifying matches that were held over are mixed in with some of the first round as the latest ranking event gets going with a bang.
We have three sessions of action to enjoy on Monday with seven held over matches mixed in with half of the first round on what should be a day of snooker that contains plenty of quality and drama as ever.
Early Morning Session
Two big guns play their first round match in the opening session of the week and they are Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy. Both of them will be on the TV tables out in Yushan with Selby going up against Anthony Hamilton and Murphy facing the former World Championship semi-finalist Alan McManus in what might be more of a test for the China Championship winner than he might want this early in the competition.
The rest of the matches are all on the outside tables. The other two first round matches sees Joe Perry facing Michael Georgiou and Martin O’Donnell meeting Chang Bingyu while in the held over matches Luca Brecel is the big star. He faces the toughest test too in Wu Yize while Lu Ning meets Gao Yang, Scott Donaldson faces Zhang Yang and Ken Doherty goes up against Li Yingdong.
Morning Session
There are two held over matches in this session of action and they are both of the TV matches for the morning. They see two of the biggest stars in the game in action as Judd Trump and Ronnie O’Sullivan take to the baize. Trump faces Zhang Jiankang while O’Sullivan will go up against the veteran Dominic Dale who gets his moment in the spotlight in what many are suggesting could be the final season of his career.
There are six other matches on show, all on the outside tables, with Barry Pinches going up against Liang Wenbo, Ricky Walden taking on Noppon Saengkhan, Stuart Bingham clashing with Nigel Bond, Jimmy Robertson faces Jackson Page, Matthew Selt meets Mark Davis and Matthew Stevens plays Anthony McGill. All of them are first round matches.
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Late Morning Session
Once again the two televised matches are both held over qualifying games for places in the main draw. One is an all-Chinese clash between Yan Bingtao and Bai Langning but it is the other match which will get most of the attention as the former champion Ding Junhui meets Billy Joe Castle in a match the home star should win but given his recent form should not take that got granted.
Six first round matches also take place in this session with Zhao Xintong playing David Gilbert in one of them while Elliot Slessor faces Xu Si in another. Stephen Maguire is also on the outskirts of the arena when he meets Sunny Akani while Marco Fu against Barry Hawkins deserves a better stage you would think. Jordan Brown meets Graeme Dott while Ian Burns, the man who benefitted from Neil Robertson turning up at the wrong qualifying venue, meets Craig Steadman.
Betting
I’ll start the week off with a couple of bets with the first of them coming in the match between Anthony McGill and Matthew Stevens where I like the Scot to come out on top. It has been a while since we’ve seen the McGill that was winning tournaments but there were signs in the China Championship that he might be turning the corner in his form. Matthew Stevens blows a lot more cold than he does hot these days and there are few signs that he is set to deliver anything substantial. I’m a little surprised that we can get 5/6 on McGill but I’m happy to be on at that price.
The other bet I like is for Craig Steadman to beat Ian Burns. Burns is yet to win a match this season and the chances are he wouldn’t be here had Neil Robertson gone to the right venue to qualify. Craig Steadman isn’t the kind of player that will beat you in a flurry of one visits but he can grind most down and he’ll score when he gets the chance. If Burns is backing in confidence, and it is hard to see how he isn’t, then you’ve got to think Steadman, who had a couple of wins in the Haining Open last week, and who has generally been unlucky this term, will have too much here.
Tips
WON – Back A.McGill to beat M.Stevens for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back C.Steadman to beat I.Burns for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with 888sport
Back him here:
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