The first round of the qualifying competition for the German Masters comes to a close in the very un-German setting of the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Thursday as another bunch of players get their campaigns up and running.
We saw the majority of the big names come through the draw on Wednesday which will create some good matches as we head towards the main draw in Berlin in the early part of 2021. Some big players will look to join them in the second round on Thursday.
Morning Session
There are only six matches in the morning session on Thursday but four of them will be offered with a live stream with the bookmakers. The big name on show is the newly crowned Champion of Champions winner Mark Allen and he’ll occupy one of those streamed tables when he takes on Gao Yang. Elsewhere Ali Carter will be in action against Nigel Bond while Zhou Yuelong takes on Lukas Kleckers who will be eager to go within a win of his home tournament. Pang Junxu meets Alexander Ursenbacher in the other streamed game.
There are only two matches away from the streamed attention. One of those sees two of the newcomers onto the tour battling it out in what is a good opportunity for both men when Peter Devlin takes on the Ukrainian youngster Iulian Boiko. The other match sees the highly rated Louis Heathcote looking to justify his billing when he takes on another tour rookie in Farakh Ajaib in what might be more of a test than Heathcote would like.
Afternoon Session
It is all about the European Masters champion Mark Selby in the afternoon session. He will be on one of the streamed tables when he goes up against the veteran Fergal O’Brien. Elsewhere, David Grace goes up against Sohail Vahedi while Thepchaiya Un-Nooh will look to move to within a win of a spot in Berlin. The Thai star meets Mark Joyce. The other streamed match sees Jackson Page going up against Brandon Sargeant while away from the streamed cameras the German ace Simon Lichtenberg will be looking to go halfway to securing his place in his home event when he faces Amine Amiri.
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Evening Session
Neil Robertson is the big name who has had to wait until the final session of the first round to get his campaign underway. He doesn’t have the easiest task in the world either as he faces Ben Woollaston. Jack Lisowski is the other decent name on show in this evening session. He meets the Brazilian player Igor Figueiredo. Luca Brecel makes for a third leading name in action in the evening. He meets the man who is the last player to beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the World Championship in James Cahill. Noppon Saengkham meets Oliver Lines in the other streamed game. Away from the spotlight there is one more match in this session. It sees Jamie Clarke facing Andrew Higginson.
Betting
I’ll go with the one bet which comes in the evening session where Oliver Lines and Noppon Saengkham meet for the third time this season. It is surprising enough that with this being the fourth event these two could have played in they meet for a third time but the bigger surprise is that is it Lines who is looking for a hat trick in the match having won their first two meetings this term. He won 3-0 in the Championship League and 4-1 in the English Open.
Lines also has a win from the other two matches he played against the Thai and the match he lost he went down in a deciding set so there is clearly something the flashy left-hander enjoys about the game of Saengkham when they meet. I like Saengkham but to be fair he hasn’t got started this season yet and that is something that will need to change soon. Given that he’s only won one of eight frames against Lines this season he might have to wait to kick his campaign into life. The 15/8 on Lines to win this looks appealing enough given what we’ve seen when the two have met so far this term.
Tips
Back O.Lines to beat N.Saengkham for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Coral
Back him here:
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