The qualifying competition for the 2022 European Masters continues on Friday when another 24 potters take to the baize looking to win the one match which will seal their passage to the main draw in Germany next year.
We saw some big names come to the party on Thursday with the majority of them making it through to Furth. More stars of the sport come along on Friday on what looks like being a decent day of snooker once again.
Morning Session
We have to wait until later in the day for the bigger names to come out to play. This gives some of the lesser lights the chance to occupy the main tables in the morning session. Liam Highfield is actually the highest ranked player on show in this session. He has a tricky little test to make it into the main draw though as he takes on Chang Bingyu on one of the main tables. Two veteran ranking event winners meet on the other main table when Mark King meets Anthony Hamilton in what really does look a 50:50 contest.
Cao Yupeng is probably the best player in action in the morning session but his ranking is still low ith this being his first season back on the tour. He faces Michael Georgiou who despite being an amateur these days still managed to beat Barry Hawkins on his way to the main draw of the German Masters. The other match sees Zhao Jianbo going up against a Mitchell Mann who reached the last eight of the Northern Ireland Open earlier this month.
Afternoon Session
The Masters champion Yan Bingtao comes out to play and headlines the afternoon session on Friday. He will be on the main table when he takes on the competent Ben Woollaston, albeit one who is in the middle of a horrendous run right now. Over on the other table the former world finalist Ali Carter looks to book his place in the main draw when he takes on another competent player who is out of form in the shape of Martin O’Donnell.
Martin Gould is one of the players in action on the outside tables on Friday afternoon. He takes on one of the two women to have been awarded a tour card for this season in the shape of the Hong Kong star Ng On Yee while over on the other table there looks to be a very competitive match between the reigning Welsh Open champion Jordan Brown and the Swiss ace Alexander Ursenbacher in what might end up being the match of the day.
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Evening Session
John Higgins is the standout star on show in the evening session on Friday. He failed to qualify for the German Masters so he will be doubly eager to make it through when he takes on Chris Wakelin, who also failed to make it through to the German Masters. They meet on one of the main tables and over on the other Joe Perry will be on show. He will look to find some form once again when he takes on the heavy scoring Steven Hallworth.
Gary Wilson would usually be ranked high enough to be on the main table in these qualifying events but the way the schedule he only gets a place on one of the outside tables. He takes on the amateur Sanderson Lam in a match the British Open finalist will be expected to dominate. The other match in this session looks a more competitive affair when Andrew Pagett looks to make it through when he faces Zhang Anda who found some form in the German Masters.
Betting
After a pair of winners to open up this qualifying competition I’m going to go with one bet for Friday and that comes in the afternoon when Alexander Ursenbacher takes on Jordan Brown in a match I actually fancy the Swiss star to come out on top in. I’ve felt for a while that Brown might just be overrated a little on winning the Welsh Open. That isn’t to put a dampener on his win because it was fully deserved and an excellent story but he hadn’t done much prior to it and hasn’t done anything since it either.
Ursenbacher hasn’t yet had the breakthrough in his career that Brown has had in terms of winning a ranking title but he has beaten some decent players on some big stages and shown in doing so that he can clearly play the game. He will probably still be smarting from surrendering a 4-1 lead in German Masters qualifying last week but he smashed in two centuries on his way to that advantage over Jak Jones and was playing well but never really got a chance to get over the line. If he can repeat that performance here I think it will be enough to see off Brown who isn’t pulling up any trees at present.
Tips
Back A.Ursenbacher to beat J.Brown for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
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