The UK Championship returns from the day off to get the setup up to scratch inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Saturday and it does so with the full television treatment on a day where the second round of the event gets underway.
We are down to two sessions a day in the second biggest ranking event of the season now but there are still plenty of star players who will be out to secure a place in the last 32 of the competition over the course of the day.
Afternoon Session
In total there will be four matches available to watch in the afternoon session via various means. On the TV table we will see Neil Robertson continuing his quest for another Triple Crown title when he goes up against Chris Wakelin while over on the official designated streaming table Ding Junhui will continue his title defence against the Northern Ireland Open semi-finalist David Grace. Two more matches can be streamed with the bookmakers and they see Yan Bingtao going up against Chen Zifan and Stephen Maguire taking on Stuart Carrington.
There are four other matches in the afternoon session with the ever popular Jimmy White among those in action away from the spotlight of the cameras. The Whirlwind will go up against Zhou Yuelong while there is also an all-Chinese battle between Li Hang and Zhao Xintong. Luca Brecel has a Chinese opponent as well when he meets Xiao Guodong while in the other match the World Championship semi-finalist Anthony McGill also meets Chinese opposition in the form of Lyu Haotian.
Evening Session
The world number one Judd Trump is the main attraction in the evening session and he is up on the TV table as a result of that. He faces the potentially awkward assignment of Dominic Dale if he is to make it through to the third round of an event he doesn’t have the best of records in since he won it in 2011. It is another former winner in John Higgins who will be over on the streamed table when he also meets a veteran of the tour in Gerard Greene. Once again two more matches will be able to be streamed with the bookmakers and they see Mark Allen taking on Chang Bingyu while Dave Gilbert faces Robert Milkins.
As with the afternoon session there are four matches away from the cameras in the evening session. They see Jak Jones up against Simon Lichtenberg in a match which offers up a chance of significant ranking progress for the winner. That same opportunity is available in the match between Oliver Lines and Xu Si as well. It could be argued that the pick of the matches in the session will be the one between the Shootout winner Michael Holt and a very classy Hossein Vafaei. Barry Hawkins is also in action in what is a massive match for him against Robbie Williams.
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Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets from the evening session with Robert Milkins to see off Dave Gilbert being the first of them. Gilbert came into the event in terrible form. His season hasn’t really got going and in truth he hasn’t really offered up anything since the pandemic struck. It might be that the longer format suits him more and his game flourishes but I will certainly need to see it to believe it that is for sure. There are no such issues with Robert Milkins. He has been flying under the radar all season but because of his ranking he keeps coming up against the top players in the second round. That is the case here too but he has drawn one with no form whatsoever to speak of. Gilbert is that good that it wouldn’t be a surprise if he comes through here but Milkins is no 2/1 shot given the form of the two men.
The other bet I like is for Hossein Vafaei to take care of the Shootout champion Michael Holt. I’ve long thought Vafaei has the potential to be a leading player in the game but his career has continued to be stop-start because of visa issues and the like so it is probably to his benefit that the tour is solely Milton Keynes based at the minute and he can get a good run of snooker going. To be fair to Holt he has been going along alright in recent times but I just think Vafaei is a better player of the two and the scoring mite he showed in the first round will stand him in good stead. This threatens to be a close match but Holt just throws in one crazy error too many in for my liking and he is likely to pay the full price if he does that here. Vafaei for me.
Tips
WON – Back R.Milkins to beat D.Gilbert for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with BetVictor
Back him here:
WON – Back H.Vafaei to beat M.Holt for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
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