Another busy day of snooker action at the World Grand Prix on Thursday sees the second round end and the quarter finals begin at the Guild Hall in Preston on what is another two session day of dramatic play.
Wednesday saw big names like Mark Selby, Ding Junhui and Ali Carter bite the dust but that doesn’t detract from what is a seriously good cast list for Thursday’s action.
Afternoon Session
All eyes will be on the main table to begin with as Ronnie O’Sullivan goes up against Neil Robertson in a real clash of the titans. Once they have done their thing Mark Allen, arguably the best performer in the first round, takes on the English Open champion Liang Wenbo for a quarter final spot.
On the other table Barry Hawkins gets things underway in a match against Judd Trump that you would think would be on the main table but isn’t. After they are finished The Masters finalist Joe Perry will take on Mark Selby’s conqueror Martin Gould.
Evening Session
In a weird piece of scheduling the four winners from earlier in the day will come back to play their quarter finals on the main table in this session. At the time of writing we don’t know who those winners are and time restrictions will deny us the chance to preview these two matches.
Betting
We can however get stuck into the four afternoon matches and that is exactly what I will do with a couple of bets. The first of them sees Ronnie O’Sullivan going up against Neil Robertson. O’Sullivan has dished out a couple of beatings on the Australian recently and that is clearly in Robertson’s head.
I say that because I was at Alexandra Palace the last time the two met and I’ve never seen Robertson so defensive and he mentioned those beatings in his interview after his first round win here. I’ve watched both matches Robertson has played since that defeat at The Masters and he looks like a man who has lost all of his confidence. Ronnie has got into his head and he feasts on his prey when that is the case. I’m expecting Ronnie to win this with a bit in hand given Robertson’s struggles at present.
The other bet sees Martin Gould taking on Joe Perry in a match I think he can win. Gould’s win over Selby on Wednesday was impressive whereas while Perry is getting the job done at the minute he isn’t looking completely convincing and is taking advantage of being let in rather than doing too much that is special. Gould is getting in and he’s filling his boots when he is in and that can continue here to propel him to victory.
Tips
Back R.O’Sullivan (-1.5 frames) to beat N.Robertson for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back M.Gould to beat J.Perry for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Titanbet
Back him here:
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