The televised stages of the UK Championship begin inside the Barbican Centre in York on Saturday when two sessions of second round action takes place as the first Triple Crown event of the season begins to come to the boil.
We lost a couple of big names in the opening round of the tournament but there is no saving the ones left for later in the week as we kick off with some of the biggest throughout the course of Saturday, on a day where there is plenty at stake.
Afternoon Session
The setup remains the same as the first round for this second round so four matches take place in the main arena and four are in the other room. The main man in the main arena is Ronnie O’Sullivan, who will look to overcome a meeting with Robbie Williams, while over on the second main table Kyren Wilson will go up against Jak Jones for a place in the last 32. The two outside tables in the main arena sees The Masters champion Yan Bingtao going up against Ben Woollaston and Jack Lisowski taking on Martin O’Donnell.
The four matches that are on show in the outside room have a standout clash between the former Masters finalist Joe Perry and the current Indian Open champion Matthew Selt. On one of the other tables Michael Holt looks to pick up his form against Andy Hicks. You sense this is a big week for Dominic Dale in his mission to stay on the tour. He takes on the man who caused a right kerfuffle when he beat Shaun Murphy in the first round in Si Jiahui. The other match sees Wu Yize taking on Hammad Miah.
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Evening Session
John Higgins has probably been the man of the season so far even though he hasn’t got his hands on silverware thus far. He headlines the evening session in the main arena when he takes on a Sunny Akani who is probably playing better than his results would suggest. Mark Allen has carried plenty of headlines on his shoulders in recent times but he’ll be looking to focus on events on the table when he meets the dangerous Joe O’Connor while elsewhere we have the Championship League winner Dave Gilbert going up against Alexander Ursenbacher and Barry Hawkins meeting the impressive Chinese youngster Gao Yang.
Gary Wilson made a 147 in the first round but such is the level of the standard in this session he will only have a place in the outer room for his clash with Liam Highfield. John Astley tasted the main table in defeating Neil Robertson in the first round and the amateur now takes on Mark Joyce in the other room. Ali Carter is pushing hard for a place at Alexandra Palace and needs to beat Noppon Saengkham to keep his hopes alive. Mark King and Gerard Greene meet in a battle of seasoned campaigners in the other match.
Betting
It is never easy to back up a sizable win in the next round and that is what John Astley will be looking to do but he’s had a day to come back down to earth and I think he is a big price to see off Mark Joyce. Joyce is having a terrible season so far and although the format here probably suits him, he didn’t do a great deal in beating Andrew Higginson in the opening round that suggests to me that he is firing on all cylinders. It might be that the confidence of finally winning a key match inspires him but his only other knockout win this season at the English Open was followed by a 4-0 beating.
I was really impressed with Astley. He made three or four nice breaks and generally didn’t do a lot wrong against Robertson. A couple of times he potted crucial pressure balls and when Robertson powered in a daunting looking ton to reduce his deficit to 4-2, which would have made better players than Astley wilt, the northerner came back with an emphatic century of his own and saw out the match very well. It is asking a lot for Astley to repeat that performance, he would be on the tour if he was that consistent, but if he can be anywhere close to it I see no reason why his run has to end here.
Tips
Back J.Astley to beat M.Joyce for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Bet365
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