The qualifying competition for the Scottish Open continues on Tuesday when the latest 16 players take to the baize in Cannock each looking for the four frames they need to make it through to the main draw.
We saw one of the leading lights on show this week on the tables on Monday and on Tuesday we get a couple more which should make for a decent day of snooker throughout the four sessions of action we have.
Morning Session
As seems to be the case with all of these qualifying competitions the Chinese players on show play their matches earlier in the day and we have two of them up in the morning session. It is actually Anthony McGill who is the highest ranked player on show to open up the day. He has just dropped out of the top 16 and takes on Wu Yize for the second tournament in a row having met him in the opening stage of the English Open. The other match in the morning sees Fergal O’Brien going up against Tian Pengfei.
Early Afternoon Session
Two more class acts are on show in the second session of the day as the former Championship League winner Dave Gilbert headlines the first part of the afternoon. He goes up against one of the two Chinese players on show in Xu Si. Ding Junhui is the better of the two Chinese acts on show in this session. He has looked back to his best this season and will be looking to show that once again when he meets the competent Elliot Slessor.
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Later Afternoon Session
The current Welsh Open champion Joe Perry is the main man in this second afternoon session on Tuesday. He hasn’t had the beginning to the campaign he would have desired but he has the chance to make up for that when he takes on the veteran Peter Lines. The other match in this session is potentially a closer looking battle as Scott Donaldson will look to make it through to the main draw of his home tournament. In order to get there he has to beat Louis Heathcote.
Evening Session
The final session of the day will have the former world finalist Matthew Stevens as the highest ranked player on show. He is joined in this slot by three lower ranked players who will each be looking to improve their ranking. Stevens’ opponent will be Anton Kazakov but it might be that the other match is the more high profile. That one sees Mitchell Mann taking on the multiple time women’s world champion Reanne Evans.
Betting
This is not the easiest day of qualifying action I can remember from a betting point of view. I say that because we largely have a bunch of mismatches. One match the bookmakers think might be different comes in the morning match between Fergal O’Brien and Tian Pengfei but I’m not sure the Irishman is at a standard to cope with the Chinese player. O’Brien fell off the tour at the end of last season. To his credit he got his card back at Q-School but it highlights the decline in his game.
O’Brien hasn’t really inspired this season whereas Pengfei has actually started the campaign quite well, without getting the standout result which would have made people notice. What I like about Pengfei is he is scoring better this season. He has 12 60+ breaks in the 34 frames he has played this season and for a player who has a reputation for being a little on the dour side that is a good improvement. If he scores like that here I think he’ll have more than enough to finally get a win against the veteran.
Tips
Back T.Pengfei (-1.5 frames) to beat F.O’Brien for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back him here:
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