The opening day of the English Open is a busy one inside the behind closed doors set up at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes as 32 matches take place across the eight tables with three sessions of action being played out.
We never have to wait too long in these Home Nations events to get the big names up and running and there are plenty of them on show on Monday including the defending champion Mark Selby and the world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.
Morning Session
There are two main tables this week although certain bookmakers are actually streaming four of the tables in use. On the main table in the morning session the Riga Masters champion Yan Bingtao is in action when he goes up against the veteran Alan McManus while on the streamed table Yan’s Chinese compatriot is on show when Zhou Yuelong meets Chris Wakelin in a decent enough looking match to get the action on that table underway.
Six other tables are in use in the morning session. You’ll be able to watch the matches between Martin O’Donnell and Ashley Carty as well as Scott Donaldson against Andy Hicks with the bookmakers. The other four matches in the session sees Lukas Kleckers playing Hossein Vafaei, Mitchell Mann meeting Liam Highfield, David Grace facing Paul Davison and Barry Pinches taking on Andrew Higginson. There are three other matches scheduled for a second game in the morning on the outside tables. Rod Lawler plays FarakhAjaib in one, Gerard Greene meets Robbie Williams in another and Noppon Saengkham faces Oliver Lines in the other.
Afternoon Session
There are two sets of matches in the afternoon session and the TV table in the first of them will see Mark Selby begin his title defence when he meets the Chinese player Fan Zhengyi. Over on the streamed table first up in the afternoon we have an all-Chinese battle as Ding Junhui meets Si Jiahui. Elsewhere in this first set of matches Jackson Page faces Liang Wenbo while Lei Peifan meets Brandon Sargeant. European Masters runner up Martin Gould faces Steven Hallworth in the other match in the first batch of games.
Later in the afternoon the two main tables will be in use again. Neil Robertson will be on the TV table when he takes on Lyu Haotian in what should be the pick of the matches in the afternoon while on the streamed table Joe Perry faces Riley Parsons. The other matches in this second slot sees Sohail Vahedi meeting Joe O’Connor, Tian Pengfei playing Mark Joyce and Amine Amiri taking on Yuan Sijun. As ever there are third matches saved for the two main tables in case they are needed to fill the coverage. Michael Holt will play Jimmy White on the TV table while Anthony McGill plays Sam Craigie on the streamed one. If they are not needed to fill those tables they’ll take place on the outside tables.
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Evening Session
The world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan headlines the evening session and it goes without saying that he will be on the TV table for his first round clash against Brian Ochoiski while on the streamed table it will be the Tour Championship winner Stephen Maguire on show. He faces Sunny Akani for a place in the second round. The other matches in the first session of the evening sees Chang Bingyu meeting Aaron Hill, Kurt Maflin playing Peter Devlin, Ricky Walden up against Billy Joe Castle, Ben Woollaston playing Alex Borg and Fraser Patrick taking on Connor Benzey.
Two matches will be saved for second games on the main tables. The TV table will have Mark Alen beginning his tilt for another title when he takes on a former winner of a Home Nations event in Mark King. The streamed table will see Ali Carter taking on the man who made something of a name for himself at the World Championship a couple of months ago in Jamie Clarke.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets on the opening day of the competition but we have to wait until the evening session for them to come along. The first of those is for Aaron Hill to see off Chang Bingyu in the battle of the youngsters. To be fair to Bingyu whenever I have seen him he has looked a whole lot better than the results he has put together but his results are his form and on the whole it hasn’t been very good. Contrast that to Aaron Hill who has achieved more in one tournament than what Bingyu has done in a season and a bit. Hill made the last 16 of the European Masters where he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan fair and square and followed it up with a win over Matthew Stevens, which is sometimes harder than the win over the big name. Hill looks like he could be special and if that is the case this is a match he should be winning.
Ali Carter hasn’t done a whole lot since the return of snooker and he has to be vulnerable against Jamie Clarke, a player who has come out of lockdown completely transformed. It isn’t just his run in the World Championship which has caught the eye either. He played pretty well in the European Masters until he ran into eventual finalist Martin Gould and cruised through his Championship League group. Clearly that run to the last 16 in Sheffield has done his belief and his confidence the world of good. I’m not sure these behind closed doors sterile places are going to do much for Carter and he isn’t going to get any better at his age either. Clearly Clarke is improving by the tournament and he’s overpriced at 13/8 to get rid of the Captain here.
Tips
Back A.Hill to beat C.Bingyu for a 3/10 stake at 2.30 with William Hill
Back him here:
WON – Back J.Clarke to beat A.Carter for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Bet365
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