The World Grand Prix continues on Thursday when the second round comes to a close and the first two quarter finals get played at Cheltenham Racecourse as the opening Duelbit Series event heads towards the business stage.
There are four second round matches left which will be played in the afternoon session and then the opening quarter finals come along in the evening session. With some big names falling by the wayside those in action on Thursday know there is a good opportunity in front of them.
Afternoon Session
Two matches take place on the main table and we have four top 12 ranked players on show in them. We begin with The Masters champion Judd Trump who goes up against the English Open finalist Luca Brecel so with both men in decent form this could be a cracking start to the day. Two class acts follow them onto the baize when the European Masters winner Kyren Wilson goes up against the former world champion Shaun Murphy in another high quality looking contest.
Over on the other table the action might not be headlined by as many standout stars but we do begin with the British Open winner Ryan Day continuing his quest for a second ITV title in succession. He faces Xiao Guodong who took care of Neil Robertson in the opening round. When they are done Anthony McGill faces Sam Craigie and with both starting the week outside the top 16 on the money list for this season, both have a chance to really enhance their Players Championship qualifying hopes.
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Evening Session
It is in the evening where things get a little more normal as the quarter finals in the top half of the draw take place. They do so over the best of nine frames with an interval which should allow the quality to rise a little. On the main table the UK Championship winner Mark Allen will face the man he knocked off in the semi-final of that tournament in the form of Jack Lisowski while over on the other table The Masters finalist Mark Williams will go in search of a second semi-final in as many weeks when he takes on a Noppon Saengkham who has already disposed of Mark Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan this week and will look to add another Triple Crown legend to his list.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets. The first one comes in the second part of the afternoon as Sam Craigie takes on Anthony McGill. McGill is doing what he usually does at this stage of a season in plodding along waiting for the bigger events to arrive. I’ve never been convinced that best of sevens suit his cautious almost safety first game but that isn’t the case with Craigie who goes after his shots and who has been in decent form all season. He certainly played well in the opening round against Tom Ford on Wednesday with two tons and a 97 and if he has that scoring power with him in this match I think he’ll be too good for McGill. Craigie has wins over Zhao Xintong, Ryan Day and Stephen Maguire this season whereas with the exception of the Northern Ireland Open where he beat Yan Bingtao on the way to the semi-final, McGill has largely plodded along and then when someone in form has come along he has lost. I see the same happening here.
The other bet comes in the evening where I think the odds against on Jack Lisowski to beat Mark Allen is big. This is a repeat of the semi-final of the UK Championship where Lisowski looked like he has Allen beat at 5-3 but couldn’t quite seal the deal as the Northern Irishman produced three great frames to make the final. Those frames were the last time we saw Allen play really well and like he can because even though he won that UK final, he didn’t play well in it and hasn’t really offered his best form since then. Lisowski has played well all year and while he got schooled by Mark Williams in the semi-final at Alexandra Palace last week he has been in good form again here and looks to be hitting the ball better than Allen and scoring better than him. Allen has not played well here and looks to be ready to be taken out. Lisowski can be the man to do it.
Tips
Back S.Craigie to beat A.McGill for a 3/10 stake at 2.25 with Coral
Back J.Lisowski to beat M.Allen for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back him here:
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