The first round of the Northern Ireland Open concludes and the second round begins on what is yet another busy day inside the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Wednesday, as the opening Home Nations event of the season continues towards the business end of the competition.
The morning session on Wednesday brings about the end of the first round and then the afternoon and the evening session sees the majority of the second round being played out on a day where some players will have to play twice.
Morning Session
We have three matches left in the first round and they all take place in the morning session where Ryan Day is the highest ranked player on show. He will look to make it through to the second round when he takes on Liam Highfield while Gary Wilson is another household name who will look to make progress. The British Open finalist has a date with Rory McLeod whole over on the other table we have Chris Wakelin meeting Tian Pengfei for the final second round spot.
Afternoon Session
The second round begins with two sets of matches in the afternoon session with the big match on the TV table seeing John Higgins taking on Luca Brecel in a really good looking showdown. Kyren Wilson is also on show in this session. He takes on the lowly ranked Mitchell Mann for whom their contest is probably a free hit. The other match sees the first winner of this title on show in Mark King. He meets Lyu Haotian in a match he’ll be keen to win.
There should be some decent snooker players in the second set of afternoon matches as well as Ronnie O’Sullivan graces the green baize once again. He meets his former sparring partner Alfie Burden, who is having a good run now he is back on the tour. The Masters champion Yan Bingtao is also on show in this session. He faces the in form Oliver Lines while on the other side of the arena there is an all-Welsh clash between Mark Williams and Jak Jones.
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Evening Session
The top two players in the world form the schedule on the TV table in the evening session. Mark Selby will be first up on it but he won’t know who he is playing until after the morning action. He will face the winner of the clash between Rory McLeod and Gary Wilson. Stuart Bingham is also on show in the early evening set of games. He meets Ashley Carty who received a bye through to this stage. Jimmy Robertson will look to continue his good start to the season on the other table when he meets James Cahill.
The defending champion Judd Trump continues his title defence in the second evening match on the TV table. He takes on Lu Ning in what looks to be his toughest test of the week so far. Dave Gilbert continues his search for a second title of the relatively early stage of the season when he meets Louis Heathcote while the other match will have Shaun Murphy on show. He will face whoever comes through the morning battle between Chris Wakelin and Tian Pengfei.
Betting
I’ll go with just the one bet on Wednesday which sees Oliver Lines to beat Yan Bingtao. I’m a huge fan of Bingtao but I’ve always been convinced he is better over the longer distances and the struggle he had in overcoming Duane Jones in the previous round might have been down to that. Lines is one of those who has an aggressive style which is needed in these shorter sprints and he is clearly seeing the rewards for that in this tournament in particular.
He took care of Joe Perry in qualifying for the event, which was an eye catching result in itself, but then he thrashed Ben Woollaston 4-0 in the first round here so Lines is clearly in good order. Bingtao played well in his first match, ending with two centuries against Hossein Vafaei but he was nowhere near that good in his second and unless he has rediscovered his best form he could be on his way home here. Given the form he is in Lines looks a huge price at 19/10 here in a match which feels a lot more even than that.
Tips
Back O.Lines to beat Y.Bingtao for a 3/10 stake at 2.90 with Betway
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