The second day of action at the Cazoo Players Championship sees four first round matches being played over what should be another excellent two sessions of play inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Tuesday.
The tournament is still reeling from the shock departure of the defending champion and world number one Judd Trump on the first night of the competition and eight men will all be looking to take advantage of that on Tuesday.
Afternoon Session
Neil Robertson vs Lu Ning
The afternoon match on the main table sees two men who had good campaigns at the UK Championship in action as the winner of that tournament, Neil Robertson, takes on the beaten semi-finalist Lu Ning for a place in the quarter final where Kyren Wilson will await the winner.
Robertson hasn’t actually won a competitive match since he won the UK Championship which has to be something of a concern here. Mind you, Lu Ning hasn’t pulled up any trees since his run to the last four of that event so it will be interesting to see who is in the better form of the two here. It might be that Ning has been more active since the turn of the year and that is on his side so there is a bit of me that is tempted by him but I’d rather wait and see how he settles before I get involved in him. Robertson looks a little on the short side to me so I don’t want to get on his side.
Jack Lisowski vs Martin Gould
The match on table two on Tuesday afternoon sees two very fluent cueists in operation when Jack Lisowski goes up against Martin Gould in a clash between two men who have both made ranking event finals this season and are pushing for spots at the Tour Championship as a result.
Lisowski has been in terrific form in the last couple of months, making the final of the World Grand Prix and the German Masters, while Gould showed last week that he is in pretty good nick despite having no answer to the challenges that Ronnie O’Sullivan posed him. He showed in his run to the final of the European Masters earlier in the campaign when Judd Trump was among his victims that he is back in decent touch. He hasn’t quite hit the same heights since then though it is fair to say. Lisowski feels like a worthy favourite here but Gould is dangerous so I’m happy to sit this one out.
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Evening Session
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Ding Junhui
The pick of the first round matches will be the match played out on the main table on Tuesday evening when the world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan takes on the Chinese superstar Ding Junhui in what promises to be a cracking encounter.
This will be the fourth time these two have met this season. O’Sullivan has won all three of them, as he did in their clash at the Crucible towards the end of the previous campaign. The worry for Ding is he was two up with three to play in the last two of those matches and in truth he never looked like winning either. It isn’t for me to say that Ding doesn’t believe he can beat Ronnie any more but that is certainly how it looks from the outside. O’Sullivan went deep in the Welsh Open last week though and whether he has a full tank here remains to be seen. I expect O’Sullivan to win here but bookies seem to have cottoned on to Ding’s lack of belief so in order to get any price on the world champion we have to take a handicap which opens up the question over what he has in the tank. I’ll watch this one but fully expect an O’Sullivan win.
Zhou Yuelong vs Barry Hawkins
The match on table two in this evening session is the closest match of the first round on paper as it sees the men ranked eighth and ninth in the seedings battling it out when Zhou Yuelong takes on Barry Hawkins for the right to take on Stuart Bingham in the last eight.
This match isn’t just big for the hopes of the two men in their quest for the title this week, it is also huge for their chances of qualifying automatically for the World Championship later in the season. The pair sit at 15 and 16 in the provisional rankings so the winner here is going to add £15,000 to their ranking and move up to 13 in the rankings and be looking good to make it to Sheffield without needing the qualifying event. The loser is staring that competition in the face so this is pretty big.
Given everything that is on the line for the pair, and the fact that they have both been in decent touch in recent times, I’m expecting a close contest here. Matches between these two have generally been pretty tight in their careers and there is nothing to suggest we are going to see any different here. These two play a similar game which is probably why they have been involved in some close battles. Hawkins is never one to rely on from the front but produces his best with his back against the wall. We saw both points at the German Masters where he won 5-4 from 4-0 down and lost 6-5 from 5-1 up. That all makes me think over 9.5 frames is the way to go here.
Tips
WON – Back Z.Yuelong vs B.Hawkins – Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
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