The second round of the World Grand Prix finishes on Thursday and the first two quarter finals will be played as the opening match of the Cazoo Series goes up a notch inside the Ricoh Arena in Coventry.
That means we have just six matches on the schedule over the course of the day with the second round coming to a close in the afternoon session and then the quarter finals starting to be played in the evening one.
Afternoon Session
It is the bottom half of the draw which plays their second round matches on Thursday afternoon and it will be Ronnie O’Sullivan who will get the action underway on the TV table. He will look to avenge a 5-0 defeat to Hossein Vafaei in the qualifying competition for the German Masters. It is fair to say O’Sullivan didn’t exert himself in that match so anyone thinking the Iranian is a great bet at 5/2 might need to think again. The second match on the TV table in the afternoon session sees the 2020 finalist Jack Lisowski taking on Stephen Maguire.
Although the star names are kept for the main table, the schedule on the other table isn’t a bad one. It begins with the Scottish Open champion Luca Brecel looking to make a third quarter final in as many weeks. The Belgian will go up against Jimmy Robertson for a place in the last eight. Once they are done two of Essex’s finest will get at it when the former world champion Stuart Bingham takes on the former world finalist Ali Carter for a place in the quarter final.
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Evening Session
The top half of the draw will play down to the semi-final in the evening session and with the us being into the quarter finals the format goes up to the best of nine with an interval and everything else, so the tournament feels like a proper one from here on in. It is the world champion Mark Selby who will grace our screens on Thursday evening. He takes on a fellow Leicester cueist Tom Ford who is looking to continue to run a big name gauntlet having seen off John Higgins and Judd Trump already this week.
Over on the other table we have what is probably the better of the two quarter finals as the recent English Open champion Neil Robertson takes on the current holder of The Masters in the form of Yan Bingtao. Those two met at The Masters with the Chinese player coming out on top and he’ll be looking to repeat that victory. Robertson has looked in good touch so far this week though so is unlikely to be a soft touch.
Betting
I’ll go with one over the course of the day and that comes on the main table in the second part of the afternoon where Jack Lisowski takes on Stephen Maguire and I think the left-hander can come out on top in that match. Lisowski showed something at the UK Championship that suggested the penny might be dropping in terms of winning a tournament or at least focusing stronger to give himself the best chance to do that.
There was nothing he could do about the blitz Zhao Xintong put onto him but he showed in the first round here that he’s still in decent form and I fancy him here. Maguire did me a turn in the opening round when he allowed me to collect on him beating Anthony McGill but I wouldn’t say he played overly well. Lisowski delivered the goods with his back against the wall against Williams on Monday night and that sort of thing brings about huge confidence. I think he can follow up with another win here.
Tips
Back J.Lisowski to beat S.Maguire for a 3/10 stake at 1.75 with Betway
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