The German Masters qualifying competition continues on Saturday as another bunch of talented cueists take to the baize to either begin their campaign or look to seal their place in the main draw in the Tempodrom in Berlin in 2022.
Four more men will book their spot in the main draw over the course of the day while another 16 will get their qualifying competition underway on a day where there are plenty of big names on show to keep us entertained.
Morning Session
Shaun Murphy is the star act on show in the morning session. He will be disappointed to have lost in the quarter final of the Northern Ireland Open last week and will look to take that disappointment out on Mark King in their first round clash. That will be on one of the main tables while the other one will see Cao Yupeng continuing his return to the levels he was before his ban. He meets Robbie Williams in the second qualifying event in the last four.
Four other players will be looking to make progress from the outside tables on Saturday morning. Kurt Maflin hasn’t done much at all since he made the quarter finals of the World Championship a couple of seasons ago but he has the chance to make progress when he meets Andy Hicks here. The other match sees two players with a big opportunity to make the second round when the amateur David Lilley takes on the Northern Ireland Open quarter finalist Mitchell Mann.
Afternoon Session
Once again it is all about spots in Berlin in the afternoon session and there are two big names in particular who will be looking to seal their place at the Tempodrom. Mark Allen has kicked off the season on fire with a final in the Championship League and winning the Northern Ireland Open. He’ll be looking to get the better of Sunny Akani on one of the main tables. The 2021 finalist Jack Lisowski will be looking to come through on the other main table. He has a meeting with Liam Highfield to overcome.
The other two matches offer the opportunity for four players to progress and book a seat on the plane to Berlin. Ali Carter is a former champion in this event and he has made another final in it as well so he’ll be keen to return to the main draw. If he is going to do that then he needs to beat Lyu Haotian, while on the other table there is a battle of two Chinese players as Fan Zhengyi takes on Lu Ning.
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Evening Session
We are back into first round action for the evening session, as has been the case all week, with John Higgins very much the standout name on show. He’ll be on one of the main tables with all eyes on him to see how he has come out of losing the Northern Ireland Open final last week. He faces a tricky test against the Thai star Noppon Saengkham. Jimmy White will begin another campaign over on the other main table. In order to make the second round he’ll have to get the better of the Shootout champion Ryan Day.
Two matches round off the day over on the outside tables and there is a competitive looking contest between Alexander Ursenbacher and Jak Jones on one of them. Both those players are capable of making it through to Berlin but only one will make the second round. There is Welsh representation in the other match on show on Saturday night when Jamie Clarke takes on a Nigel Bond who really needs a few wins at some point.
Betting
One bet takes my fancy in these matches and it comes in the form of Jak Jones whose form over the last season and into this one has been very good. I took Jones on in Northern Ireland last week in case his form was purely a behind closed doors thing but found out the hard way that it wasn’t the case as he beat Martin Gould and then had Mark Williams on the ropes before Willo produced a four frame burst of snooker that was like something from his pomp.
There was no shame in Jones going down 4-2 there and that form line should be good enough for him to see off to see off Alexander Ursenbacher, who is more than capable of being competitive but for whom there are signs his form isn’t what he would like. I mentioned about Jones excelling behind closed doors and this is effectively one of those matches and with the confidence he looked to be playing with last week I think he’s good value to take care of the Swiss ace here.
Tips
Back J.Jones to beat A.Ursenbacher for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back him here:
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