The second day of the 2021 UK Championship sees three sessions of first round action being played out on a day where 48 players will be battling it out in the two halls in the Barbican Centre in York, each looking to book a spot in the TV stages.
The shocks in this tournament started on the opening day so all the big names who are lining up to compete over the course of Wednesday will already be on their toes. We are all set for a fascinating day of snooker.
Morning Session
The Championship League winner Dave Gilbert is the star act on show in the morning session. He will be on the main one of the four tables which have cameras on them. Gilbert will look to make progress against Alfie Burden. Xiao Guodong is another leading light on show on Wednesday morning. He meets his countryman Zhang Jiankang. Gary Wilson will be looking for a good run this week in order to push for The Masters and that begins with a match against Ian Burns while on the other main table Ricky Walden meets Craig Steadman.
Four other matches take place in the session. They see the former world finalist Nigel Bond meeting Robbie Williams while Stuart Carrington will hope to dispose of Zhao Jianbo. The other two matches offer up two of the better youngsters on the circuit. The first of those is Jamie Wilson. He takes on Liam Highfield in a good looking match while on the other table Noppon Saengkham takes on the Irish player Aaron Hill.
Afternoon Session
The big names come along in the afternoon session and on the TV we will get to see the world champion Mark Selby in action. He faces the amateur Ross Muir but just because he hasn’t got professional status doesn’t mean he should be overlooked, as he showed at the English Open where he made the last 16. Ding Junhui will also be on one of the main tables in this session when he meets his fellow Chinese player Zhang Anda. Barry Hawkins is another recognisable face on the main tables. He faces the female star Reanne Evans with the other main table being occupied by Mark Williams and the Chinese amateur Lei Peifan.
The tables away from the cameras sees the former German Masters champion Anthony Hamilton taking on the more than capable Allan Taylor in a match it would have been nice to watch. Another match which would have been nice to be able to see is the one between Jamie Jones and Cao Yupeng which looks very competitive. The other two matches in this session see Matthew Selt taking on Chang Bingyu and Alexander Ursenbacher facing Ben Hancorn.
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Evening Session
The evening session is when Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin his quest for another major title. He faces a player who should be achieving a lot more in the game than he is in the form of Michael White. That will occupy the TV attention but I would imagine there will be regular updates on the clash between Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Stephen Hendry. Jack Lisowski hasn’t had the best start to the season but he has the chance to change that when he takes on Sean Maddocks. Kurt Maflin is the other leading light on show in the evening session. He meets Gerard Greene.
As with the rest of the day there are four matches away from the TV and streamed cameras with the first of those seeing the former champion Matthew Stevens going up against Hammad Miah while Mark King takes on Jackson Page. Sunny Akani is also in action in this session when he faces the competent Steven Hallworth with the other match on show seeing Elliot Slessor looking to make progress when he takes on Fan Zhengyi.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the day with the first one being on Zhang Anda with a three frame advantage on the Asian handicap line. That means if he loses his match 6-3 we get a refund and if he wins four, five or the full six frames we win. Should he get two frames or less we would lose the bet. Ding isn’t playing well at the minute and he is under all sorts of pressure in this match as he is defending the winning prize from a couple of years ago else his ranking is going to suffer. Ding has been inactive this season until the last couple of events which hasn’t helped his form and while he might still win this match, Zhang Anda has stayed close to him in their previous three meetings and can do the same again here.
I expect that match to be close but I’m not convinced the one between Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Stephen Hendry will be as tight. I expect the Thai to come through here. I’ve mentioned in recent previews how the safety of Hendry is causing me a lot of concerns and you need to be tight against Thepchaiya because he can get in from distance and when he is in he can score heavily. Hendry might get the odd chance to score too so that he can tick the scoreboard over but I would be surprised if he gets more than two frames against a player who is nothing like as bad as his ranking would suggest.
Tips
Back Z.Anda (+3 frames AH) to beat D.Junhui for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Bet365
Back T.Un-Nooh (-3.5 frames) to beat S.Hendry for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Boylesports
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