The second round of the British Open will draw to a close inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Thursday when three more sessions of play will see players looking to make it to the three frames they need to book their spot in the last 32 of the competition.
We’ve seen the big names begin to tumble over the last couple of days of the tournament so the likes of Judd Trump, Mark Selby, John Higgins and Dave Gilbert will be looking to avoid being the latest to join them.
Morning Session
The tables are full throughout the day on Thursday and that starts out with the morning session where once again there are two parts to proceedings. First up on the main table will be Liang Wenbo when the Chinese star takes on Hammad Miah. Over on the other main table Noppon Saengkham will meet Jimmy Robertson which leaves Xu Si and Barry Pinches to battle it out on one of the outside tables while the other will see Ian Burns taking on Duane Jones.
Ricky Walden will be given the main table treatment in the second match in the morning session on Thursday. He meets Robbie Williams in a fairly even looking match while on the other main table it will be Luca Brecel showcasing his talents when he has a date with Zhao Jianbo. The other two matches sees Rory McLeod taking on Ross Muir on one of the outside tables and our pre-tournament outright Mark Davis meeting Jak Jones on the other.
Afternoon Session
John Higgins is the headline attraction in the opening match on the TV table in the afternoon session. He takes on the Chinese player Cao Yupeng who is already showing good signs on his return to the tour. Dave Gilbert continues his search for a second ranking title in as many weeks on the other main table when he meets John Astley while opening up the afternoon on the outside tables we have Matt Selt going up against Michael Georgiou and Elliot Slessor taking on Wu Yize.
The great Stephen Hendry will be the centre of attention in the second set of matches on Thursday afternoon. He will be on the TV table looking to follow up his win over Chris Wakelin in the first round when he takes on Gary Wilson in the second. That match will steal the show but over on the other main table we have Jimmy White in action when he takes on Allan Taylor. Two veterans meet in one of the matches on the outside tables when Lee Walker faces Mark King while Oliver Lines plays David Grace on the other.
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Evening Session
Mark Selby will look to continue his quest to become the world number one again this week when he takes on Ali Carter is one of the ties of the second round to start off the action on the TV table in the evening session. Martin Gould will be trusted to get the action going on the other table when he takes on Lu Ning while over on the outside tables Lukas Kleckers will look to follow up his win over Yan Bingtao in the first round when he meets the home man Louis Heathcote while Li Hang faces Zhang Jiankang.
The tie of the second round is saved for the last one on the main table with the world number one Judd Trump taking on a fellow former world champion in Stuart Bingham. Another former winner at The Crucible will occupy the other main table in the evening session when Ken Doherty meets the local player Joe O’Connor. We have an all-Chinese battle on one of the outside tables when Pang Junxu meets Bai Langning while the other match is a battle of two Welsh players with Dylan Emery meeting Andrew Pagett.
Betting
I’ll take just the one bet over the course of the day on Thursday and it comes in the afternoon session where Oliver Lines faces David Grace. Lines went pretty well in the Championship League to open up another season. He scored well in that tournament and he followed that up in the first round here where he beat Si Jiahui 3-0 with 50 breaks in all three frames and conceding just seven points in the process. That was a standout performance really.
Grace hasn’t looked as good. He didn’t come out of his first group at the Championship League and in the first round here although he overcame the amateur Mark Lloyd, he never made a 50 break and had to scrap his way through to this match. I’m a little surprised that we can get odds against on Lines for this one as he is definitely the more talented of the two players and if he continues to score like he has done in the early part of the season I expect the youngster to win this.
Tips
Back O.Lines to beat D.Grace for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back him here:
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