The opening day of the Players Championship snooker sees one session of play taking place in the second Coral Series event of the campaign on Monday, with four men looking to book their places in the quarter final of the competition.
There is quality everywhere you look in this tournament but there seems to be an abundance of it on Monday evening as we have a repeat of the UK Championship final from earlier in the season while on the other table two former world champions go at it.
Table One
Mark Selby vs Mark Williams
It is the two former world champions who will take the majority of the spotlight on the first night of the tournament as the win of the English Open and Scottish Open, Mark Selby, takes on the classy Welsh star Mark Williams.
These two are certainly no strangers to facing each other, having met on 22 previous occasions, and their record could not be closer. Both men have won 11 matches each and Williams holds a narrow 110-109 advantage in terms of the frame scores. Their last meeting was almost two years ago at the China Open where Selby ran out a 6-2 winner, a win which ended a run of two straight victories for Williams. This will be the ninth time that the pair have met in the last 16 of a tournament. Williams leads those battles 5-3.
I’m expecting a tight match here. I have a feeling that Williams is beginning to fancy the job again and his form is coming back to something like we know he has got. We always know that Selby is up for the battle and even when he isn’t playing well he can make life hard for his opponent and still come away with the victory. I’m expecting a number of close matches this week. This is very much one of them so I’ll take over 9.5 frames here.
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Table Two
Ding Junhui vs Stephen Maguire
The match away from the immediate spotlight on Monday evening comes on table two where the two men who fought out the UK Championship final meet again as Ding Junhui takes on Stephen Maguire for a spot in the last eight.
Ding won that UK final 10-6 to nudge ahead of his foe in their career meetings. He now holds a 7-6 advantage and they have also produced one draw in that time as well. Ding also leads 61-54 on the frame count which suggests when he does win he does it with a little more in hand than when Maguire comes out on top. Ding has now won their last seven meetings and you have to go back to 2009 for the last time the Scot got the better of the Chinese star. One area where Maguire does hold sway is in their last 16 battles. He leads them 3-1.
Clearly Maguire has a poor record against Ding in recent times but even though the Chinese ace came out on top when they met in the UK Championship final earlier in the season, I do think the Scot has a chance here. Ding has done nothing of note since then and doesn’t look to be in any great form at all. We know Maguire will attack the table and I think he’s playing better of the two. With an ounce of extra smartness he can be the one to come through here.
Tips
Back M.Selby vs M.Williams – Over 9.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back it here:
WON – Back S.Maguire to beat D.Junhui for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Coral
Back him here:
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