The opening day of the UK Championship sees a quarter of the first round matches being played over the course of three sessions of play with spots in the main televised stages the reward for those who can win their match inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Monday.
Often we have to wait until a bit later into the tournament for the big names to come out to play but we actually have three of the biggest on show on this first day of the event as Mark Williams, Mark Selby and John Higgins look to make it into the second round.
Morning Session
There are six matches in the morning sessions this week with four of them being available on the streams. Two of them come along on the main tables with Mark Williams on table one when he goes up against Ben Hancorn who will be competing in his first UK Championship here. Yan Bingtao is on table two when he goes up against the youngster Sean Maddocks in a match he’ll be expected to win. The other two streamed tables are available to view with bookmakers and they see Li Hang going up against Fraser Patrick and Tom Ford going up against Pang Janxu.
Two matches will be completed away from the spotlight of any cameras and things and one of them sees the man who very much had the attention on him last week when he made the semi-final of the Northern Ireland Open in David Grace. He faces off against Ian Burns while a former semi-finalist of that tournament is in action in the other match in the session. That is Anthony Hamilton and he goes up against the Chinese player Xu Si.
Afternoon Session
The headline act in the afternoon session and the man on the TV table is Mark Selby. He has drawn something of a short straw here as technically he should be up against the fifth worst player in the tournament but his opponent is actually Michael White who gets in as an amateur but is clearly a whole lot better than that. Former world champion Graeme Dott is on the streamed table in this session for his match against the Chinese youngster Zhao Jianbo.
There are two lesser spotlighted streamed tables on show in this session and they will screen the matches between Scott Donaldson and the German player Simon Lichtenberg as well as Martin O’Donnell and the man who came to prominence in the last BBC event in Jamie Clarke. He’ll be looking to back up his World Championship run here. The match not being streamed sees Sam Craigie taking on another Chinese youngster in Chang Bingyu.
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Evening Session
It is John Higgins who will be the centre of attention in the evening session on Monday night. He will be on the TV table where he has a battle on his hands against Fergal O’Brien in a match which could have plenty of mileage in it before it is done. Barry Hawkins will be on the main streamed table for a match which is huge for him as he looks to get back into the top 16 by the end of the tournament. He takes on a Riley Parsons who returns having missed the Northern Ireland Open due to a positive Covid test.
There are two other streamed matches in this session as well with one of those being an all-Welsh clash between Ryan Day and Jak Jones who had a good run in the English Open earlier in the campaign. The other one sees Ben Woollaston facing Andy Hicks. There is one match which is not able to be viewed in this session as well and that one pits Daniel Wells and the experienced Gerard Greene against each other.
Betting
I’ll go with the one bet on Monday which comes in the big clash in the afternoon session when Mark Selby takes on Michael White and although White has lost his professional status he hasn’t completely lost his game so I fancy him to get to three frames here if not more. White comes into this match in decent enough form. Although he is playing as an amateur he has already qualified for the German Masters and beat Barry Hawkins in the Northern Ireland Open last week.
Selby started the season in excellent touch, winning the European Masters and making the semi-final of the English Open and the Champion of Champions but since he lost that epic last four clash against Robertson in the latter event he has gone quiet. He lost in the first round of German Masters qualifying and got wiped out 4-0 by the lowly Lukas Kleckers in the Northern Ireland event last week. It might be that Selby has been in the bubble for too long and is starting to struggle. Every match is important for White as he bids to regain his tour place so he’ll be giving this one his all. I think he’s perfectly good enough to win three frames if not the six he needs.
Tips
WON – Back M.White (+3.5 frames) to beat M.Selby for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back him here:
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