The second round of the Gibraltar Open concludes and the third round begins on another busy day in the tournament inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Friday, with everyone remaining having their eye on the prize on Sunday.
We’ve already seen the likes of Judd Trump, Kyren Wilson, Mark Selby and Jack Lisowski make it through to the third round and players like Mark Williams, Mark Allen and Shaun Murphy will be looking to join them on Friday.
Morning Session
We have a cracker of a match to get the action underway on Friday when Shaun Murphy takes on Luca Brecel in a heavyweight showdown on the main table. Mark Allen makes sure they are not the only top names on show when he takes to the streamed table to go up against the youngster Iulian Boiko who is in the second round of an event for the first time. The other two matches first up see Aaron Hill going up against Jamie Clarke and Anthony McGill meeting Pang Junxu.
When they are all done we have a second set of matches in the morning session. Dave Gilbert gets to occupy the TV table when he meets the former ranking event winner in Jimmy Robertson while there is a massive clash in styles on the streamed table where one of the quickest in the game in Thepchaiya Un-Nooh goes up against one of the slowest in the sport in Rod Lawler. Lei Peifan caused the shock of the tournament so far when he took care of Neil Robertson in the first round and his reward is a clash with Dylan Emery while Lu Ning meets Jamie O’Neill.
Afternoon Session
The star names meet on coming in the afternoon session when Mark Williams takes centre stage on the TV table first up. He faces Sohail Vahedi for a place in the third round while over on the streamed table Ali Carter will meet Ben Woollaston. There is a great game away from the spotlight when Liang Wenbo meets Robert Milkins while the other match in this first set of afternoon games sees Oliver Lines going up against Fraser Patrick.
Two veterans collide on the TV table in the second of the afternoon matches when Stuart Bingham meets Jimmy White in a huge match for the former as he attempts to get into a position to automatically qualify for the Crucible. The streamed table sees Martin Gould taking on Elliot Slessor while over on the other two tables Alan McManus will face Zhao Jianbo and Xiao Guodong will go up against Jamie Wilson.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Evening Session
It is the start of the third session in the evening session with Mark Selby getting to attempt to go through on the TV table. He takes on Chris Wakelin who is in unchartered territory this season. Kyren Wilson will go up against Matt Selt in a good match on the streamed table. Four other men will attempt to make the last 16 in this session too. Alexander Ursenbacher plays Mitchell Mann while Joe Perry faces Ricky Walden.
Betting
I’ll go with two bets over the course of Friday and they both come in the afternoon session where firstly I like Robert Milkins to see off Liang Wenbo. Although they were a while ago now these two men have met four times in the past and Milkins has won the lot and I fancy he’ll get the better of the Chinese ace here as well. Wenbo hasn’t really offered much since he lost to Mark Selby in the World Grand Prix and even his first round win over Brian Ochoiski here wasn’t particularly appealing. Milkins was involved in a right ding dong with Gary Wilson and while he didn’t score as well as he could do and has done in the past, he didn’t do a whole lot wrong. I think Milkins is playing some nice stuff at the minute and he looks overpriced to come through here.
Another player who looks overpriced for his afternoon match is Zhao Jianbo. He takes on Alan McManus and while I always respect a canny operator like McManus, he hasn’t been past this stage of a tournament all season and he doesn’t score like he once used to. That latter fact is a big concern for me here because I always say in these best of sevens that you need to score, or you are better suited to them if you do score. That is exactly what Jianbo did in the first round when he put together four half centuries to see off Noppon Sanegkham and that comes a couple of weeks after he took it to Judd Trump in defeat in the World Open. He looks to be in decent nick right now and is a big price to beat a McManus who might just have stalled.
Tips
WON – Back R.Milkins to beat L.Wenbo for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back him here:
WON – Back Z.Jianbo to beat A.McManus for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2021
