The opening day of action in the Indian Open sees a large run of matches taking place as a number of players get their campaigns underway out in Kochi. Whoever wins this tournament will be playing six matches in a maximum of five days so the leading lights will be eager to win quickly.
Among the big names on show across the course of the two sessions of action are Shaun Murphy, Welsh Open finalist Stuart Bingham, Jack Lisowski and the defending champion John Higgins. That should ensure a decent day of action.
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Morning Session
The first session of the day is split up into three groups of matches. The first group sees Stuart Bingham headlining the show. He takes on Peter Lines in a first round match with the other three games all being held over qualifying matches. They see Dominic Dale going up against Asutosh Padhy, Ben Woollaston meeting Suryanarayanan Shrikrishna and Zhou Yuelong taking on Laxman Rawat.
Jack Lisowski will be on the main table in the second set of games. He faces Himanshu Dinesh Jain in his held over qualifying match with two other matches due to take place around that. Hamza Akbar is due to face Li Hang although the Pakistan player is having visa issues. Yan Bingtao meets Gerard Greene in the other contest.
Joe Perry gets to grace the TV table in the third set of matches. He goes up against Ashley Carty but to me the pick of the matches in this round of games is the one which sees Sam Craigie facing Liang Wenbo. Gary Wilson meets John Astley and Lu Ning plays Liam Highfield in the other two matches in this first session of the tournament.
Afternoon Session
John Higgins will begin his title defence in the first of the two matches on the TV table in the second session of the day. He takes on Ashley Hugill in his held over match from the qualifying round. Two other matches open up this session. Fergal O’Brien faces Oliver Lines in a potential clash of styles while Robin Hull meets Soheil Vahedi.
The final match on the TV table sees Shaun Murphy looking to find some form and some confidence when he goes up against Lucky Vatnani in a qualifying round match. Former champion Michael White is in action on one of the outside tables. He plays James Cahill with Matt Selt playing Tom Ford and Eden Sharav meeting Michael Georgiou in the other games on the opening day of action.
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Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets on the opening day of the tournament. They both come in the later session and they start with Oliver Lines who beat Fergal O’Brien in the Welsh Open last week and is surely value to repeat the trick at odds against. Fergal O’Brien has only won two matches since the European Masters back in October and they both came in German Masters qualifying. There is an air of taking them with a pinch of salt too because a number of players openly hate the set up of the venue in Berlin and might not have been too fussed to lose out. Lines might not be buzzing himself but there are signs his form is returning. He only just got edged out by Ding in the Welsh Open and qualified for the China Open with a good win over Tom Ford. O’Brien is in no form at all so I’m with Lines here.
Speaking of Ford, every time I have seen him in recent times he has looked below ordinary. I’m not too sure what is going on with him but he has missed some balls that you couldn’t believe is possible to miss and he has to be taken on here. I mentioned before the Shootout how well Matt Selt is beginning to perform and hit the ball and there were signs of that in Watford even allowing for the complete luck element of that format. One man looks to be grinding in the right direction and the other is going nowhere. I’ll take Selt on that basis in this one.
Tips
WON – Back O.Lines to beat F.O’Brien for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back him here:
WON – Back M.Selt to beat T.Ford for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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