The opening night of the Cazoo Players Championship sees two first round matches being played out across the two tables inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes as four excellent players get their campaigns underway.
We have the defending champion beginning his title defence on Monday night with two other tournament winners this season also on show. A former world champion makes up a pretty good cast list for the first night of action.
Table One
Judd Trump vs Stuart Bingham
Two former world champions meet on the main table on Monday night when Judd Trump gets his title defence up and running against a Stuart Bingham who you get the impression has a big title in him but the ranking needs might just be shackling him a little.
Trump has no concerns over the rankings. He will be the world number one for a while to come and can move further clear at the top this week if he retains his title. Bingham needs to start winning quickly if he is going to avoid going through the qualifiers at the World Championship later in the campaign. With a lot of the players in the race for the top 16 not here, a win for Bingham in this match could be massive, particularly with the chance to take on another of those in that particular picture in the quarter final.
These two have met twice this season, both times in the first two ITV events. Bingham wasn’t at the races in the first one in the Champion of Champions then squandered a chance to get over the line in the World Grand Prix before losing 4-3. He’ll be hoping the extended length of this match helps him but the way Trump is playing you have to make him favourite. This could be closer than the odds suggest but that is all down to Bingham and he is becoming a little too unpredictable to get involved with.
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Table Two
Kyren Wilson vs Ryan Day
The match over on table two on Monday evening sees the World Championship finalist Kyren Wilson looking to make it through to the quarter final of another big event. In order to do that he will have to dispose of a ranking event winning in Ryan Day, who comes in here off the back of winning the Shootout earlier in the month.
Day actually has a decent record in matches between these two, leading 10-6 overall and 6-2 if you take the Championship League out of the equation. Wilson has been remarkably consistent this season, making it through to the quarter finals of the majority of the events he has entered, and the one thing we know about him is he never gives up and generally performs to a very high level. Day was in a bit of a slump at the beginning of the season but then won the Shootout and in the main played well last week.
That makes me think we could be in for a cracking contest. Four of their last six battles have gone to a deciding frame and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one follows that trend given the way both men are playing. Day went to a decider twice last week while Wilson seems to be involved in them quite a bit this term. Both men are likely to think they can win this match so over 9.5 frames looks to be the best way to play this one.
Tips
Back K.Wilson vs R.Day – Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Betfair
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