The Scottish Open begins inside the Emirates Arena in Glasgow on Monday and it does so with a day packed with action as the third of the Home Nations series events gets going. Over the course of the three session day we have a number of first round matches as well as one qualifying game on what is going to be a lengthy day on the green baize.
You would expect a tournament of this nature to start slowly in terms of big names but that is not the case. We have John Higgins, Marco Fu and Judd Trump among the cast list on the opening day which should guarantee some good action.
Morning Session
The two main tables are in action in this session with Dave Gilbert on the first of them when he goes up against the Chinese player Fang Xiongman while the young Welsh star Jackson Page competes on the other table when he goes up against the solid Stuart Carrington.
The qualifying match takes place in this session when Ross Vallance plays Robert Carlisle while elsewhere on the outside tables Zhou Yuelong plays Ian Preece, Lee Walker meets Yu Delu, Lu Haotian plays Gary Wilson, Xiao Guodong takes on Li Yuan and Chris Totten faces Sam Baird.
[the_ad id=”16647″]
Afternoon Session
As ever we have three sets of matches in the afternoon session. One of the ties of the first round gets us going on the main table when John Higgins faces Jack Lisowski. That is the TV match while Martin Gould plays Noppon Saengkham on the streamed table.
John Astley plays Liam Highfield on an outside table while David Grace meets Alexander Ursenbacher on another of them. Elsewhere Nigel Bond plays Christopher Keogan, Mike Dunn takes on Adam Duffy, Zhao Xintong plays Gerard Greene and Tian Pengfei faces Kurt Dunham.
The second set of matches sees Marco Fu beginning his title defence on one of the main tables when he faces Duane Jones while another Jones, Jamie, plays Barry Hawkins on the other live showing. On the side tables Fergal O’Brien will play Zhang Yong and Hossein Vafaei meets Mitchell Mann.
There are two more matches in this session which are due to be on the main tables. Michael White will play James Wattana in one of those while home hero Graeme Dott plays Rory McLeod on the other.
Evening Session
We get underway on the TV table in the evening session with Judd Trump taking on the former Shootout winner Robin Hull. Ricky Walden will face Billy Joe Castle on the streamed table. Away from the spotlight Yuan Sijun will play Peter Lines, Dominic Dale will meet Basen Eltahhan, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh plays Jamie Curtis-Barrett, Sean O’Sullivan takes on Li Hang and Sam Craigie plays Boonyarit Keattikun.
The final two matches of the night are on the main tables and they both involve Scots and indeed our outright punts. Stephen Maguire plays Alex Borg on the TV table while Scott Donaldson will play Josh Boileau on the streamed offering.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Tips
I like to ease my way into these events and that is what I am doing here. I’m going with three bets over the course of the day but two of them are lesser staked bets which will hopefully get us off to a good start to back up a decent UK Championship.
Alexander Ursenbacher had a great first event in this Home Nations series when he made the semi-final in the English Open and while things have gone quiet for him since he has faced Gary Wilson and Kurt Maflin in good form. He faces David Grace here and Grace has barely won a match all season so I like the Swiss player’s chances here. We know he can play this format courtesy of his wins over Anthony Hamilton, Shaun Murphy and Michael White in Barnsley. If he has that form with him here that will be too much for Grace.
Zhang Yong has already beaten Fergal O’Brien this season and he’s decent value to do it again on Monday. What was most impressive about that win in the International Championship qualifying was that he won it in a decision frame. Fergal has gone quiet since his run to the quarter finals of the China Championship. Zhang hasn’t won many matches since he beat Fergal but he has earned a lot of plaudits for his performances and if he is on it here he can see off O’Brien.
Barry Hawkins crashed out of the UK Championship with what he called his worst ever performance last week and that doesn’t bode well for him going forward so soon. What is worse is he faces a perfectly competent opponent in Jamie Jones who seems to be losing only to players who are playing well against him at the minute. There’s nothing to suggest that Hawkins is playing to that standard so if Jones can stay with him early doors the Welshman could triumph here.
Tips
Back A.Ursenbacher to beat D.Grace for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back Z.Yong to beat F.O’Brien for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back J.Jones to beat B.Hawkins for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
