It is the final day of qualifying for the European Masters on Thursday, which means that at the end of the three session day we will know the identity of the 32 players who will be heading to Vienna next month to look to get their hands on the first piece of silverware in the BetVictor Series.
The majority of the big names have made it through the opening round unscathed which means we have a packed schedule full of quality to enjoy over the course of what promises to be a dramatic Thursday if the first two days are anything to go by.
Morning Session
The former world champion Neil Robertson is the headline attraction to get the final day of action underway. He will go up against the veteran Gerard Greene who could do with a win to kick his season into life. Kyren Wilson is the other star on show in this first session and he will have to overcome the challenge of the lowly ranked Chen Zifan if he is going to be boarding a plane to Vienna next month.
The outside tables are loaded as they have been all week here. World Championship semi-finalist Gary Wilson will be looking to make progress when he meets Kacper Filipiak while Xiao Guodong takes on Lukas Kleckers. Ryan Day meets David Lilley on another table with Zhou Yuelong meeting David Grace, Li Hang taking on Lu Haotian, Kurt Maflin playing Graeme Dott, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh going up against Luo Honghao and in the other two matches Martin O’Donnell meets Daniel Wells and Jordan Brown plays Robbie Williams.
Afternoon Session
The UK champion Ding Junhui headlines the afternoon session as he looks to build on his good form to end 2019 with. He will be on the plane to Vienna at the end of next month if he can take care of the challenge of the former world champion Peter Ebdon. That will be on one of the streamed tables while on the other we may well be seeing Liang Wenbo, fresh from three tons in the last round, going up against Stuart Bingham in one of the best matches of the day.
If that match isn’t on a streamed table then we will be enjoying John Higgins taking on Yuan Sijun for a place in the main draw. Elsewhere Mitchell Mann will meet Michael Holt, Tian Pengfei takes on James Cahill, Ali Carter faces Dominic Dale and Robert Milkins plays Tom Ford. There are a few other matches in this session too which have Fraser Patrick playing Fergal O’Brien, Luca Brecel against Martin Gould in an appealing looking match, Michael White taking on Rod Lawler and the talented Zhao Xintong meeting Ian Burns who took care of the world champion Judd Trump in the first round.
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Evening Session
There are former world champions everywhere we look in the evening session on Thursday with Mark Williams the highest ranked player left in the tournament after the demise of Judd Trump on Wednesday. He faces Eden Sharav for a place in the main draw on one of the streamed tables while the recently crowned Scottish Open champion Mark Selby will be on the other main table. He takes on the veteran Jimmy White for a place out in Vienna, with the Whirlwind looking to back up a first win of the season on Wednesday.
The outside tables are absolutely loaded on Thursday with Shaun Murphy on one of them. He faces the experienced Alfie Burden while Marco Fu is on show against Ben Woollaston. Mark Allen is also on one of the outside tables. He meets Lu Ning for a spot in the final stages while Jak Jones plays the Indian Open champion Matt Selt. Barry Hawkins is also out in the extremities of the venue when he takes on Lee Walker with the other three matches seeing Yan Bingtao meeting Andy Hicks, Jack Lisowski playing Jackson Page and Mei Xiwen facing Scott Donaldson.
Betting
I’ll finish this qualifying campaign off with just the one bet. That comes in the form of Marco Fu, who I’m convinced isn’t far away from a major breakthrough in his form. He is in good touch at the minute but in the last two tournaments he has run into monster performances to take care of him but that can only happen for so long. I don’t see Woollaston at the level to be another one of those such displays though.
I’m like a broken record admittedly but as I keep maintaining when Fu is scoring well he is so tough to beat and even from 3-0 down to Ricky Walden in the previous round he still managed to score well enough to win five on the bounce and win 5-3. That shows that he is confident even with his back against the wall and that is certainly a positive to his form. I expect him to come through this one and do it no worse than 5-3.
Tips
WON – Back M.Fu (-1.5 frames) to beat B.Woollaston for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Back him here:
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