The qualifying round concludes and the main draw begins at the Northern Ireland Open on Monday when a number of big names once again grace the three tables which are in use inside the Waterfront Hall in Belfast.
We saw the odd shock on Sunday but in the main the big names all came through their qualifying match to take their place in the main draw and we’ll see a few of them back in action over the course of play on Monday.
Morning Session
John Higgins is the highest ranked player on show in the morning session and he will get to compete on the main table as a result. He goes up against the veteran Fergal O’Brien who will need to play an awful lot better than he did in his Scottish Open qualifying defeat last week. Jack Lisowski is also on show in the morning session. He has a very tricky assignment against Li Hang who is beginning to show a return to form after a poor year or so. The other match sees Zhou Yuelong taking on Robbie McGuigan who had a match on the tables on Sunday.
Afternoon Session
The main draw begins in the afternoon session and as ever in the Home Nations there are two sets of matches with the first one behind headlined by Neil Robertson. He will be on the TV table when he takes on the former European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi. Xiao Guodong is on one of the other tables when he faces the one woman remaining in the event in Mink Nutcharut while the other match first up sees Andy Lee taking on Dylan Emery in what is a big opportunity for both men.
Mark Selby will be the main man in the second part of the afternoon session. He has a tricky looking clash with Sam Craigie to overcome in a match which will be on the main TV table. Stephen Maguire will be looking for a win on one of the other tables. He faces Zak Surety while the Shootout winner Hossein Vafaei will be on show in the other game. He will meet a Craig Steadman who will be looking to make up for failing to qualify for the Scottish Open last week.
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Evening Session
The defending champion Mark Allen will continue his title defence on Monday evening. As the top seed and the home star he gets chief billing so he is on the main table when he takes on Chen Zifan. The winner of the morning match between Jack Lisowski and Li Hang will be in action again in this session when they take on the Chinese ace Si Jiahui while in the other match the former European Masters winner Jimmy Robertson will go up against Andy Hicks.
Mark Williams will be the main draw on the TV table in the second part of the evening. He will take on an Alexander Ursenbacher who seems to like the big occasion as he reminded everyone when he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan at the British Open last month. On one of the other tables the home star Jordan Brown will take on Thepchaiya Un-Nooh for the second time in a few days after they met in Scottish Open qualifying last week. The other match in this session sees Ben Woollaston facing John Astley.
Betting
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh beat Jordan Brown last week at the Scottish Open qualifying and I fancy he can repeat the feat here in the Northern Ireland Open. Brown will be desperate to win this match in his home event but that can add extra pressure and weigh down on him a little. We have heard Mark Allen say in the past that he struggled to play his best here because of the weight of expectation from himself and everyone else.
Un-Nooh doesn’t have any of those issues here. He can play with a bit of freedom as he always does and the more matches he wins the more his confidence will increase and the sooner we will see him back to the player who knocked on the door of the top 16 a few years ago. In that match last week you could tell that the long game of the Thai was worrying Brown and that isn’t going to change here. Every mistake will be pounced on and I just think the 4/5 for an Un-Nooh win is a bit too big.
Tips
Back T.Un-Nooh to beat J.Brown for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back him here:
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