The World Championship continues on Monday with three more matches setting off on their journey and three, including one which starts and finishes on the third day of the tournament, coming to a conclusion on a busy day of snooker inside the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
Sunday Recap
After losing the world number one Mark Selby on Saturday the last thing the tournament needed was to lose the second seed too but that nightmare did not become a reality as Ronnie O’Sullivan came back from 3-6 overnight to beat Stephen Maguire 10-7. There were also wins for Lu Haotian, who brought our match bet and the highest break bet in, 10-5 against Marco Fu, Ali Carter who beat Graeme Dott 10-8 and Kyren Wilson who thrashed Matthew Stevens 10-3. Mark Allen leads Liam Highfield 6-3 overnight while Shaun Murphy is 5-4 up on Jamie Jones.
In Play Betting
There are only two matches currently in play with both finishing on Monday. We already have a bet on Mark Allen which is in the ascendancy while the Murphy vs Jones match is finely balanced but it is still one I would expect Murphy to win and possibly with a bit in hand but there is no massive value with which to bet with.
Barry Hawkins vs Stuart Carrington (Monday 10am & Monday 7pm)
The first of the three matches to begin on Monday sees Barry Hawkins taking on Stuart Carrington in a match between two solid match players. Hawkins will be looking to continue his fine recent record in this tournament while Carrington will be eyeing up a first Crucible win.
We’re already on Hawkins outright so we are hoping that he comes through. I think he will come through but there is enough to suggest that Carrington will be competitive. The handicap lines are between 3.5 frames and 4.5 and to be fair that seems about right so our outright involvement will be enough here.
Ding Junhui vs Xiao Guodong (Monday 2.30pm & Tuesday 10am)
The all-Chinese battle is the match which gets going in the afternoon session when Ding Junhui takes on his countryman Xiao Guodong in an intriguing clash in which Ding is the favourite but nothing like as strong as one with the bookies as he might have been two of three years back.
The 2016 finalist Ding has had a pretty ordinary season by his standards but this is not the first time that has happened to him and he has gone well in similar circumstances before but there was a lot of be impressed with from Xiao in qualifying for this competition.
I’ve a feeling that Xiao could be a genuine contender in this match but I think I’ll watch a session and analyse how Ding is playing before I pull the trigger on Xiao here. At the minute this is a no bet match.
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Luca Brecel vs Ricky Walden (Monday 7pm & Tuesday 2.30pm)
The final match of Monday in terms of the ones that get going sees the China Championship winner Luca Brecel taking on the former semi-finalist Ricky Walden in one of the more intriguing matches in the first round.
The Belgian has completely lost his form in 2018 which would be a huge concern. Walden has seen his season go the other way. He was ordinary while injuries hampered him in the early part of the campaign but he has got stronger the longer it has gone on and qualified in fine style for this tournament.
I think Walden will win this match but he is the favourite and we’re already on outright so I’ll look elsewhere for a bet and given that Walden banged in seven centuries in qualifying the 10/11 on him to make a break of 106 or more looks very juicy. Walden is scoring well and a decent sized ton is not beyond him.
Tips
WON – Back R.Walden to make a 106+ break for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfred
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