There is barely time for the dust to settle on the final of the British Open before the qualifiers for the Northern Ireland Open begin inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Monday as 20 players attempt to make it through to the main draw.
We are used to seeing the whole 128 player field turning up to the main draw in these Home Nations events but whether it is a change in policy or the result of Covid restrictions, there is a qualifying round to be played, the majority of which will be away from the main venue apart from those games involving the star players.
Morning Session
There are two sets of matches across the two tables in the morning session of action and first up on one of them is the Chinese player Lu Ning. He will look to build on his quarter final in the British Open by qualifying for this event but in order to do that he will need to defeat Scott Donaldson. Over on the other table there is the chance for two of the lower ranked players on the tour to make it through to the main event when Michael Judge, who as an Irishman isn’t likely to lack for motivation here, meets Jamie O’Neill who has completed his hush hush suspension.
The second set of matches in the morning should have seen the former world champion Graeme Dott on what will be the main table even though the only coverage we have of these matches comes via the bookmakers, but he has withdrawn which means James Cahill will get an entry into the qualifiers. He takes on the highly rated Chinese player Chang Bingyu while on the other table Gerard Greene will look to qualify for his home event. In order to make it over to Belfast he will have to overcome the challenge of Sunny Akani.
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Afternoon Session
Zhao Xintong is the main man in action in the afternoon session on Monday. The young Chinese ace has an intriguing looking match to come through to make it into the main draw as he faces a Matthew Stevens who has shown signs of life over the last year or two but nothing like as much consistency as he requires at this stage of his career. The other match could be something of a war of attrition as Zhang Anda takes on Fergal O’Brien.
Alexander Ursenbacher has seen his stock rise to the point that he is now headlining sessions in the qualifying draws. He’ll be on the main table when he takes on the entertaining Peter Devlin who has started the season fairly well. With no disrespect meant to those two men I think the better match could come on the other table when Robbie Williams faces a Cao Yupeng who has come back to the tour as if he had never been away.
Evening Session
There is only the one set of matches in the evening session and it is Ryan Day who will be the main attraction when he takes on the popular Brazilian player Igor Figueiredo, who has the game to be a success on the tour but needs to start consistently coming through these opening round matches. Two of the tour’s lower ranked players get the chance to boost their ranking when Hammad Miah goes up against Dean Young in what must be considered to be a huge match for both gentlemen.
Betting
I’ll ease my way into the week with just the one bet on Monday. We are still fairly early in the season and I don’t want to go too mad although this is the only snooker for the next three weeks so hopefully more bets will present themselves as the week goes on. The bet I like comes first up on Monday too where I fancy Lu Ning to beat Scott Donaldson in a match the rankings suggest will be tight but I’m not convinced it will be quite as close as that.
Donaldson hasn’t got the season started as well as he would have liked and he might be vulnerable here to a Ning who got plenty of match practice last week and who is improving all the time as a player anyway. I always think in the early stages of a season form is probably more important than at any other time, especially when the action comes in quick chunks like it does here. Ning is the one who has all of that and I think he can get the better of Donaldson in this one.
Tips
Back L.Ning to beat S.Donaldson for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Betfair
Back him here:
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