The second round of the Northern Ireland Open concludes and the entire third round will be played on what is another busy day of snooker action inside the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on Thursday, by the end of which we will know the line up for the quarter final of the first Home Nations event of the season.
There is a feeling that the tournament ramps up a notch on Thursday, firstly because the top 16 players can face each other across the day and also because from late afternoon onwards we are down to just the two tables.
Morning Session
The second round continues in the one set of matches that takes place in the morning session on Thursday with three heavy hitters all looking to make it through to the third round later in the day. On the main table the home star Mark Allen will be looking to make progress when he goes up against the former world finalist Matthew Stevens, who needs a decent run somewhere this season to remain on the tour. Neil Robertson is also on show in this session when he meets the in form Ricky Walden while on the third table Stephen Maguire continues his campaign when he faces Liam Highfield.
Afternoon Session
The one remaining third round match takes place in the afternoon session as well as the first two last 16 contests. Jack Lisowski will be the final member of the top 16 looking to make it through to the third round when he takes on the talented Jackson Page, but the attention will largely be on the two last 16 clashes. The TV table will see Ronnie O’Sullivan taking on The Masters champion Yan Bingtao in what is a very tasty looking contest while on the next table Lyu Haotian meets Mitchell Mann for a spot in the quarter finals.
Just the two matches take place in the remaining three time slots over the rest of Thursday and there is a crackerjack on the TV table where John Higgins goes up against Mark Williams as two members of the ‘Class of 92’ collide in a repeat of the 2018 world final. Two other former world champions meet on a very juicy offering on the other table when Shaun Murphy takes on Stuart Bingham for a place in the quarter final.
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Evening Session
It is all about the top two in the world on the TV table over the course of the evening once again. Judd Trump is first onto the baize as he looks to continue his amazing unbeaten run in this tournament. He meets the British Open semi-finalist Jimmy Robertson in what might be an awkward match for the world number two. On the other table the earlier winners of the Mark Allen vs Matthew Stevens clash meets the winner of Liam Highfield vs Stephen Maguire one.
Mark Selby hasn’t had the easiest of draws in this tournament and it gets no easier for the world champion in his last 16 clash on Thursday night either. He faces the Championship League winner Dave Gilbert who has been in fantastic form across the season so far. The other match is still to be finalised but it sees the winner of Jackson Page and Jack Lisowski taking on whoever comes out on top in the Ricky Walden and Neil Robertson showdown.
Betting
I get the impression that Mark Williams is ready to be put out of his misery this week but I kept on saying that at the British Open and he kept finding ways to win so with John Higgins only a 4/5 shot I can afford to let that one go and focus on another bet which comes along in the afternoon session where Stuart Bingham takes on Shaun Murphy in a match where I expect the 2015 world champion to come out on top of the 2005 Crucible hero.
Murphy has lived a charmed life getting to this stage of the tournament. He fell over the line against Allan Taylor in the opening round of the main draw and then did likewise against Tian Pengfei on Wednesday night in a match he didn’t get won until around 12.45am and he will be back on the baize barely 12 hours after that. That is a concern in itself but not as much of one as his form. He has only made two breaks over 70 in his three matches and with his safety not being the best if he doesn’t score here he’ll surely be going home. Bingham has scored much more freely in the tournament to date and although he fell across the line against Ashley Carty in the last round he did it in the early afternoon so he should be nice and fresh here. I think the even money on Bingham to win this given his better looking form and potential freshness looks good to me.
Tips
Back S.Bingham to beat S.Murphy for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
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