The run of qualifying competitions for the upcoming snooker tournaments continues on Friday when the event for the Scottish Open gets started in the very un-Scottish venue of Barnsley as eight matches take place over the course of the day.
As with the Northern Ireland and English Open competitions, the task at hand for this involved over the next few days is a simple one. Win one match and progress through to the main draw later in the season. Each match is the best of seven frames.
First Two Sessions
The early part of the day sees matches beginning at 10am and 1pm with two matches in each time slot. All the matches can be watched with the bookmaker streams with Xiao Guodong the highest ranked player on show first up on the day. He will take on the Scottish player Fraser Patrick who will be eager to get the win to qualify for his home tournament. The other match in this early session sees John Astley taking on Lee Walker in what is a good opportunity for both men.
It is another Chinese player who is the highest ranked cueist on show in the second session of action. That is Zhao Xintong who faces an all-Chinese clash with the lower ranked Lei Peifan for a place in the main draw. The other match on this session could be quite a lengthy affair as Fergal O’Brien looks to get to the main venue when he goes up against a David Grace who is capable of winning plenty of matches but probably doesn’t win as many as he should do.
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Later Two Sessions
Two more sessions take place later in the day with those matches beginning at 4pm and 7pm. The headliner of the 4pm matches is the Championship League winner Dave Gilbert. He is in great form at the minute and he’ll look to continue that when he takes on the German player Simon Lichtenberg. The other match in this first later session sees two lower ranked players battling it out when Duane Jones takes on Ian Burns in a tasty clash.
Gary Wilson is the highest ranked player on show in the evening session on Friday. He faces a pretty stiff assignment though against a Cao Yupeng who is a world better than his ranking would suggest so this looks like it will be the best match on the opening day of the event. The other match on the day sees Oliver Lines looking to continue what has been a decent start to the campaign when he goes up against the veteran Gerard Greene.
Betting
I’ll go with the one bet on Friday and it comes in the evening matches where I like Cao Yupeng to see off Gary Wilson for the second time this season. These two met in the Championship League earlier in the campaign and Yupeng won on that occasion 3-0. He has gone on and had a decent enough season since then and has already qualified for both the tournaments that qualifying has been played for recently.
To be fair to Wilson he has had a good season too. He has made the final of the British Open and then won the one qualifier he has had to play since then so he’s in decent enough nick. Wilson never seems to enjoy the game though and I always think that is a concern when he’s in with someone competent. If you don’t enjoy something you talk yourself down in it and don’t feel great and I think Wilson will need to be at his best to come through here. Cao has a point to prove and is on track to do it and I think he can get the win here which will further enhance that.
Tips
Back C.Yupeng to beat G.Wilson for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Betway
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