The first round of the Welsh Open concludes and the second round gets underway on what is another busy day of snooker on Wednesday as we reach the middle part of the week in the last Home Nations event of the season.
We have seen some shocks and surprise results already in the opening round and the big names on show in that part of the day will be on their toes, while those who have made it through to the second round will relax into the event now.
Morning Session
It is first round matches all the way in the morning session and two home players will battle it out on the main table when the veteran Dominic Dale takes on the young amateur Alfie Davies in what could be a tense tussle. Marco Fu had a good win over Stuart Bingham to reach this tournament and he will be looking to build on that when he meets Zak Surety while the former champion Jordan Brown is also on show in the morning. He faces the dangerous youngster Stan Moody in what is the only other match taking place after Andrew Higginson withdrew from his match against Elliot Slessor.
Afternoon Session
The first round concludes in the afternoon session where as ever we have two sets of matches taking place. The world champion Luca Brecel will grace the main table first up in the session. He has an awkward challenge against Joe O’Connor who is more than capable of causing an upset. Kyren Wilson opens the afternoon on one of the other tables when he meets Anthony Hamilton while Tom Ford will be looking to continue his good season when he faces Ian Burns. The other match in the first set of games sees Wu Yize facing Graeme Dott.
Mark Selby will be the top draw in the second part of the afternoon and he’ll be on the main table when he goes up against Aaron Hill, who can be dangerous when the need arises. Zhang Anda is another leading light taking to the table in the second set of matches. He faces Jak Jones while Hossein Vafaei opens his account in the main draw when he meets the former Shootout finalist Julien Leclercq. Noppon Saengkham came second in the Scottish Open and he’ll face the home man Dylan Emery.
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Evening Session
We get the second round of the tournament underway on Wednesday evening and there are some really good matches for us to enjoy with the home star Mark Williams on the main table in the first part of the session. He faces Anthony McGill while on the next table Mark Allen will take on the German Masters finalist Si Jiahui in a good looking game. Robbie Williams has given himself a shot at a deep run in the tournament and he’ll be aiming to overcome Adam Duffy while Matthew Selt faces the home player Duane Jones.
The action on the main table in the second part of the evening will see the other leading home player Ryan Day in action. He faces a tricky test against John Higgins which means that the defending champion Robert Milkins will only be on one of the outside tables when he takes on Dave Gilbert. Neil Robertson is another star on show in the second bit of the evening session. Ricky Walden is his opponent after he came from 3-0 down to Matthew Stevens in the previous round. The other match on the Wednesday schedule sees Jack Lisowski meeting Gary Wilson.
Betting
Two bets take my fancy over the course of Wednesday and they both come in the evening session with the first of them being on Anthony McGill to get the better of Mark Williams. Williams hasn’t played well this week and has been honest enough to state that his preparation hasn’t been that it should be of a professional. He should have been put out of his misery in both matches so far and while he will probably get better the longer he is in this event, he is going to need to bridge a big gap between his two opponents so far and McGill. McGill has had a match on the tables this week so there is no competitive disadvantage and the Scot has beaten Williams in this event before. He generally plays his best snooker on centre stage and I think he is a little overpriced to get the job done here.
Ricky Walden is another who I think is overpriced to win too. He takes on a Neil Robertson, who showed signs of coming back to form in the Championship League last week, but who fell over the line in the first round here and who might just be having a doubt or two under the pressure of the bigger events given his poor form for the last year or so. While Robertson looked better at the Championship League, Walden did beat him there last week to add to two wins in their two previous meetings so the Englishman certainly shouldn’t be fearing his Australian counterpart here. Walden might also have a feeling of free rolling for the rest of this event having looked down and out in the previous round. I think this is a much closer match than the odds suggest and I wouldn’t be at all surprised if in their current mood and form Walden comes out on top.
Tips
Back A.McGill to beat M.Williams for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Betway
Back R.Walden to beat N.Robertson for a 3/10 stake at 2.80 with Betfred
