We have one of the more anticipated days of snooker in recent memory on Tuesday as day two of the Gibraltar Open takes place. This might not be the highest event of the season in terms of magnitude but it is a day in which Stephen Hendry makes his long awaited return to professional competition.
He will go up against Matt Selt in the evening session, one of three sessions of action over the course of another busy day inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes, one which sees the likes of Mark Williams and Mark Selby gracing the green baize.
Morning Session
As with Monday, there are two sets of matches in the morning session. The first big name up on the TV table is Jack Lisowski and he’ll be looking to take advantage of the withdrawals of John Higgins and Ronnie O’Sullivan in his half of the draw when he meets Farakh Ajaib while over on the streamed table Chen Zifan meets Daniel Womersley. The other two matches sees Ian Burns facing Leo Fernandez and Steven Hallworth going up against Jamie Jones.
Mark Williams is the headline act in the second set of matches in the morning and he will follow Lisowski on the TV table. He takes on the tough and durable Chinese player Li Hang while over on the streamed table the legend Jimmy White will face off against Joe O’Connor. Two other matches make up the morning session. They see Chang Bingyu taking on Eden Sharav and Nigel Bond going up against Chris Wakelin.
Afternoon Session
Kyren Wilson will have the honour of opening up the play on the main table when he goes up against Kuldesh Johal in the first of the two sets of afternoon matches. The streamed table sees a more competitive looking match taking place as Andrew Higginson faces the Chinese ace Lu Haotian. The other two matches both involve Chinese players too with Gao Yang taking on Stuart Carrington in one and Zhao Xintong meeting Ashley Carty in the other.
Mark Selby will get his Gibraltar Open campaign underway in the second of the afternoon matches on the TV table. He has a tricky test on his hands in the form of Sam Craigie. It is pretty competitive looking stuff on the streamed table too as Ken Doherty meets Matthew Stevens in a repeat of the Masters final from 21 years ago. Peter Devlin meets Daniel Wells in one of the two other matches while Elliot Slessor goes up against Jackson Page.
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Evening Session
Apart from those who are on show on the other tables, the world of snooker will be watching the main table in the evening session as the seven time world champion and legend of the game Stephen Hendry will once again grace our screens on the TV table when he goes up against his friend Matt Selt in his first competitive professional outing in some nine years. While it will be interesting to see how Hendry plays you sense Selt is in a no win situation here.
The streamed table will have another class act of the game on it as the Players Championship and German Masters semi-finalist Barry Hawkins graces that in the evening session. He takes on the man with the flimsy fingers in the piano playing ace Luo Honghao. Martin Gould is a pretty big name on the outside tables. He takes on David Grace who won a bunch of best of sevens in making the semi-final of the Northern Ireland Open earlier in the season, while Zhao Jianbo meets Noppon Saengkham in the other game.
Betting
I guess a lot of people will be coming here for a bet in the Stephen Hendry against Matt Selt match but I’m afraid I don’t have one. Selt does win a lot of his best of seven matches 4-0 though. Of the six best of sevens he’s won this season he has won five of them 4-0 so when he’s on it, or in this case if Hendry is off it, Selt knows how to get it done but Selt doesn’t tend to play well on the TV table or in the spotlight which is a huge concern. If you back Hendry you are backing a bloke who hasn’t played a professional game for nine years, but the fact he’s waited seven months to kick off his comeback would suggest he feels right and ready to compete. The overall consensus is to leave this well alone but it is a match we could see Selt win 4-0 or lose.
I will go with one bet though and it comes earlier in the day than that Hendry clash, between a man Hendry beat to win one of his world titles in Nigel Bond and Chris Wakelin. I actually think Bond is one elder statesman who will win on Tuesday. Wakelin has been messy this season and not winning many matches. This is a big match for him because he currently sits outside the top 64 in the rankings and needs to get in them to keep his tour card, or hope he stays one of the best eight on the one year list to keep his professional status. Wakelin has only won four matches all season away from the Shootout but the rankings of the players he has beaten were 100, 72, 68 and 95. Bond has only lost in the first round of one event all season and in a couple of those opening rounds he has seen off Ali Carter and Zhao Xintong. He looks like a good price to add Wakelin to the list here.
Tips
Back N.Bond to beat C.Wakelin for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with William Hill
Back him here:
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