It is the penultimate day of qualifying for the 2022 European Masters on Saturday and another bunch of top players mixed in with those further down the rankings take to the baize looking to seal their ticket to the main draw in the new year.
While we’ve had a series of top players on show throughout the week, there is the biggest of the lot in this qualifying competition taking to the main table on Saturday. This looks like another competitive day of action.
Morning Session
As has been the case for most of the week, we have to wait until later in the day for the bigger players to come along so the lower ranked players get the chance to shine here. Lu Ning is the highest ranked player in the session and he’ll be on one of the main tables accordingly. He takes on his fellow Chinese player Pang Junxu in what should be a good match. Noppon Saengkham will be on the other table. He takes on another Chinese ace in Si Jiahui.
The two matches on the outside tables give four players the chance for a much needed win and some good prize money. Jamie Clarke hasn’t really done a lot since he had that run in the World Championship a couple of seasons ago. He will look to get the better of Farakh Ajaib while the other match sees two youngsters meeting when Sean Maddocks takes on one of the quickest players on the tour in Jamie Wilson.
Afternoon Session
The Championship League winner Dave Gilbert is the highest ranked player on show in the afternoon session which means he is on one of the main tables for his qualifier. That takes place against Jimmy Robertson who has been in brilliant form himself this season. The great Stephen Hendry will be the man on the other main table. He has a tricky test to qualify for the main venue though as he will face the competent Chinese player Li Hang.
Matthew Stevens has shown signs of playing well over the last few months and this is a chance for him to show that again when he attempts to book his place on the plane to Germany when he meets Zak Surety on one of the outside tables. Mark Joyce is a player who tends to hold his own at this level and he also has a chance to come through on Saturday afternoon. He will go up against the Chinese player Zhang Jiankang.
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Evening Session
Mark Allen is the man of the moment having won the last tournament in Belfast and qualified for the German Masters since then. In the final qualifying round of that event Allen beat Sunny Akani and it is the Thai player who will be opposing him again here too. That match will be on one of the main tables and there is a very interesting one over on the other. Anthony McGill finally kicked into gear in German Masters qualifying to make it through to the Tempodrom and he’ll be looking to book a second trip to Germany in 2022 at the expense of Oliver Lines, who has started the season well.
Tom Ford would usually be ranked high enough to be on one of the main tables in these qualifying competitions but such is the stacked nature of this evening session that isn’t the case here. He is on one of the outside tables when he faces the amateur Ross Muir. The other match on the card on Saturday is another of those which gives two players a much needed opportunity to make progress to the main draw when Duane Jones takes on Dean Young.
Betting
I mentioned in the qualifying rounds for the German Masters that I really hope this comeback of Stephen Hendry works out because I don’t want his legacy to be tarnished but the signs are not very promising in that regard. In his last two matches he has been walloped by Allan Taylor 4-0 and then Gao Yang took care of him in that qualifying event for the German Masters. Hendry only made one 50 break in seven frames in that match and that was only a 51. His safety isn’t good enough to match players at this level so that lack of scoring is a concern.
Hendry now meets Li Hang, who during lockdown didn’t play particularly great but he has found his form recently. He won his qualifying match for the upcoming English Open and the Scottish Open while in the German Masters he won his first match against Iulian Boiko before going down in a deciding frame to Kyren Wilson in a match the former world finalist made two centuries and four more breaks of 50 in. Hang made a 95 and two 65s in that match so he is scoring well. He has a much better tactical game than Hendry right now and with some scoring power to put on top of that I expect a pretty comfortable win for the Chinese player.
Tips
Back L.Hang (-2.5 frames) to beat S.Hendry for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
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