The qualifying competition for the World Open gets underway in Barnsley on Wednesday as the first batch of players take to the green baize looking to win the one match they are required to do in order to make it to the main event in China later in the season.
We might only just have finished one Chinese event but another looms large on the horizon with 14 players booking their flights to China at the earliest opportunity by coming through their match on Wednesday.
Morning Session
We begin the week with five matches in the first session with the new member of the top 16 in action on one of the live streamed tables as Joe Perry takes on Lei Peifan who will be looking to make it into his home tournament. Another Chinese player will be on the other streamed offering as Liang Wenbo takes on Kacper Filipiak for a place in the main draw. There are three matches on the outside tables on Wednesday morning. Sam Craigie takes on Fraser Patrick while two seasoned campaigners meet when Robert Milkins takes on Barry Pinches. Michael Georgiou meets David Grace in the other game.
Afternoon Session
Barry Hawkins has drawn a bit of a short straw to be the leading light in the afternoon session on Wednesday. He was still playing in China as recently as Friday so his match with Jak Jones on one of the streamed tables could be a challenge for him. On the other streamed table Tom Ford will take on Chang Bingyu who will be eyeing up a place in a tournament in his country. One of the matches of the day takes place in this session as well as Stuart Carrington takes on Joe O’Connor while the other two matches sees Michael Holt facing James Wattana and Marco Fu going up against Brandon Sargeant.
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Evening Session
Four matches make up the final session of the day with two big guns taking to the main tables. Kyren Wilson and Stuart Bingham add a star quality to the evening and both are on the streamed options. Wilson takes on Chen Feilong while Bingham will look to take care of Alex Borg. There are two matches on the outside tables and they see Martin O’Donnell going up against Kishan Hirani while Liam Highfield takes on Andy Lee for a place in the main draw.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the day, both of which come in the afternoon session. I like Stuart Carrington to beat Joe O’Connor in one of the matches. Carrington already has a win over Mark Selby on his CV this season in a good run in Riga and he tends to play well in home conditions. I like O’Connor and think he’ll be a big player this season but he doesn’t look in the best form at the minute and a couple of losses can soon damage the confidence which is never a good thing. Carrington will be the fresher of the two having not gone to China last week and I think that can make the difference. I’ll take him here.
Barry Hawkins has to be opposed at 3/1 against Jak Jones. To be fair in a best-of-nine Jones isn’t without a chance anyway before we bring into the fact that Hawkins can’t have been back from China for very long. Jones already has wins over Ali Carter, Mark Williams and Gary Wilson to his name this season so the big names certainly don’t have him beat mentally. Hawkins has gone along much better than I expected him to do in the last couple of tournaments but the way he exited the China Championship has got to hurt. Chuck in the jet lag as well and Jones has a chance here.
Tips
WON – Back S.Carrington to beat J.O’Connor for a 4/10 stake at 1.87 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back J.Jones to beat B.Hawkins for a 2/10 stake at 4.00 with Coral
Back him here:
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