The UK Championship might only have finished on Sunday night but the qualifying competition for the German Masters gets underway on Monday. Unlike the Home Nations qualifiers, everyone in the tournament competes inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester.
This is also a rare tournament in that almost everyone with a tour card has entered so there are two preliminary matches and then two rounds of qualifiers so with the exception of four players, the aim for all is two wins to book a spot in Berlin in 2023.
Morning Session
There are five matches in the morning session. We have the two preliminary matches and three first round games. It is the session where the defending champion Zhao Xintong will get his title defence underway. He will take on his countryman Wu Yize for a place in the second round while also in this session first round matches see Muhammad Asif taking on Ng On Yee and UK Championship semi-finalist Tom Ford meets Zhang Jiankang. The first round matches pit Alexander Ursenbacher against Dean Young and Rod Lawler against Mink Nutcharut.
Afternoon Session
We generally have to wait until later in proceedings for the majority of the top 16 players to take to the baize this week but there is one on show on Monday afternoon as Ryan Day headlines the session when he faces his fellow Welsh player Michael White. Former world champion Ken Doherty is on show in this session too. He faces Andy Lee while Anthony McGill goes up against Jamie O’Neill. There is an all-Chinese battle between Tian Pengfei and Lei Peifan and the other match in the session sees Allan Taylor going up against Yuan Sijun.
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Evening Session
There are just the four matches in the evening session and there isn’t a single top 16 player on show as far as the rankings are concerned. Stephen Maguire really should be in that elite bracket and he will look to make progress in this tournament but he has a tricky challenge against the UK Championship quarter finalist Sam Craigie who looks in good nick. Jamie Clarke had a good run in York too and he’ll begin his quest to reach the main stages of the German Masters when he faces Noppon Saengkham. Jimmy Robertson is the highest ranked player in action in this session. Hammad Miah is his opponent and Jak Jones takes on Lyu Haotian in the other game.
Betting
I’ll open up the week with one bet which comes in the morning session where I fancy Zhao Xintong to see a title defence ended at the first stage for a second week in a row. He lost in the opening round of the main stage of the UK Championship and I think he is vulnerable to Wu Yize in the opening round of the German Masters. Xintong missed the Hong Kong Masters because he got Covid and you’d have to say he hasn’t been the same since then. He has played three matches, two in the Champion of Champions where he was terrible in the game he won against Mink then offered nothing against Ronnie O’Sullivan and he failed to land a blow on Sam Craigie in York last week.
Xintong has only made a couple of 50 breaks in those three matches and that is so unlike him. That makes me think that Wu Yize can get the better of him. He missed out on a place in the UK Championship by losing a deciding frame in the final qualifying round against Matthew Stevens but he beat Jamie Jones along the way so he is playing well and if Xintong isn’t back to full speed then the Chinese youngster is more than good enough to capitalise on the chances that come his way. He feels overpriced given Xintong’s recent struggles.
Tips
Back W.Yize to beat Z.Xintong for a 3/10 stake at 3.30 with Coral
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