The final day of qualifying for the China Open takes place on Thursday with two sessions of action to complete the list of players who will head to Beijing for the final stages of what will then be the penultimate event of the campaign.
There might only be 13 matches slated in the two sessions on Thursday but that doesn’t mean we lack for quality as some of the biggest names in the game aim to get to five frames and book their spot in the final stages in Beijing.
Among the players in action on Thursday are former world champions Mark Williams and John Higgins as well as world champion in waiting Judd Trump. The support cast includes Ken Doherty, Joe Swail and Fergal O’Brien.
A quick look down the card shows another day of potentially one sided matches with big handicaps having to be covered but having failed on a handicap on Wednesday I’m reluctant to get involved in another set of them on Thursday.
If there is an upset it could come perhaps in the form of Michael Leslie who takes on Dechawat Poomjaeng but the Thai’s record against those he should beat is usually pretty good so I’m not even sure about that.
In the end I’ve decided to finish what has been a pretty quiet qualifying series from a betting point of view with a small double for Thursday. It is a double on Kurt Maflin and Oliver Lines.
Kurt Maflin showed some good form again in Germany last week where he made the last 16 before losing to the eventual runner-up Luca Brecel but prior to that he had disposed of Marco Fu 5-1 and given that Fu’s frame was won with a century we should assume the man from Hong Kong was cueing ok.
Maflin takes on a Chris Wakelin who has really struggled in recent times. The last time he won more than one match in an event was back in the Australian Open qualifying at the beginning of the season and he has lost his last two matches for the gain of just one frame which isn’t ideal.
With Maflin picking up his scoring again, which is no surprise given we’re right in the middle of the hectic period of the season where a ranking can fly up or plummet down, I think he can use that scoring power to come through here.
Oliver Lines has been going along nicely this season too. He has wins over Ali Carter, Ken Doherty, Xiao Guodong and Ryan Day on his CV this season and made it to the last 16 of the latest European Tour event to give him an outside chance of making it to the PTC Finals.
Lines’ opponent Noppon Saengkham is a dangerous player on top form but that form looks to be miles away because since he made it to the semi-final of the Six Red World Championship he hasn’t won a single main tour match in his last seven tournaments. The only one he has won in that time was a wildcard match against an amateur.
Lines has already beaten Saengkham this season at the International Championship coming through 6-4. The Thai was still going ok back then but he clearly isn’t now so I have to take Lines to double that win up with another here. When you put Lines and Maflin together you get slightly over 6/4 which is enough for me.
Back K.Maflin to beat C.Wakelin x O.Lines to beat N.Saengkham for a 3/10 stake at 2.54 with Boylesports
