The second day of the Players Championship snooker tournament in Telford will see four matches being played out across two sessions of action as another eight players get their campaign in the second Players Series event underway.
We have some huge names on show across the four matches which will be played on the two tables on Tuesday and that includes two members of the covered ‘Class of 92’ as well as one of the leading lights in the world game today.
Afternoon Session
Mark Williams vs Mark Allen
The match on the main table in the afternoon session on Tuesday should be an absolute corker as the British Open winner Mark Williams meets the Champion of Champions champion Mark Allen in a clash between two of the best left-handers in the game.
Williams readily admitted that he hadn’t been working on his game as much as maybe some would expect him to do at the Welsh Open last week but he is a competitor and he will have a professional pride and he will be eager to show his best stuff in a tournament of this kind so I would have expected him to be on the practice table as much as he needed to be in order to perform well here. Mark Allen looked much better at the Welsh Open last week, at least in the early stages, and he will be eager to build on that here and put that disappointing defeat to John Higgins in the quarter final in Llandudno behind him. I don’t think that there is a huge amount between these two men but Allen did look in good order last week and does have a good record against Williams so that might be the difference but the odds are reflective of that.
Gary Wilson vs Hossein Vafaei
Over on table two on Tuesday afternoon we have two competitive players battling it out in what should be a good match when the recently crowned Welsh Open champion takes on the former winner of the Shootout as Gary Wilson faces Hossein Vafaei.
Wilson goes into the match as the favourite to come out on top but I guess the immediate question is whether he has recovered from what would have been an emotional high of winning the Welsh Open. We know he is playing well. We saw that for much of last week but if there isn’t anything left in the tank that won’t matter for much. Vafaei is a streaky sort of player. When he is good he is very good but he doesn’t seem to deliver his best in these eliter events and that is the challenge for him. If Wilson is still riding the crest of a wave I fancy him to win this but we will only really know for sure after the match has begun so I’ll leave this one alone.
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Evening Session
Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Zhou Yuelong
The action on the main table in the evening session on Tuesday sees the UK Championship, The Masters and World Grand Prix winner Ronnie O’Sullivan back in action for the first time since he won the third of those events when he takes on Zhou Yuelong.
These two men met at both the UK Championship and the World Grand Prix and each of them went to a deciding frame so if that is the case here we could be in for something of a dramatic evening. O’Sullivan hasn’t been seen for a month so it might be that he needs this match to shake off the rust while that defeat in the semi-final of the Scottish Open to Gary Wilson when Wilson needed three snookers in the decider looks like it has affected him as he hasn’t had many great results since then and the ones he has had haven’t been convincing. I wouldn’t be surprised if Zhou gets the chances to win this but having never beaten O’Sullivan I wouldn’t be certain he’ll take them. This feels like one to leave alone.
Tom Ford vs Ali Carter
The match over on table two on Tuesday evening looks like a competitive one and is a repeat of the German Masters final of last year as Ali Carter, the man who won that title, takes on Tom Ford in what is a big game for the latter in particular.
Ford is currently sat at 16 in the overall world rankings but with the two men immediately below him in the standings not here this week he could do his chances of qualifying for the World Championship automatically the world of good should he win here. These two are eight and nine on the one-year list too so the winner of this match will pretty much be able to guarantee their spot at the Tour Championship later in the season. Carter has had a decent season but was put in his place by Sam Craigie in his German Masters title defence and then he was beaten by Elliot Slessor in the first game at the Welsh Open so I wonder if the campaign is catching up with him slightly. Ford has also had a positive season, he wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t, and took care of Barry Hawkins at the Welsh Open last week before running into a monster display from the world champion Luca Brecel. I don’t think there is a huge amount between these two but I just wonder if the more positive scoring of Ford might just edge this one. I don’t have this much different to 50:50 so the 11/8 on Ford looks a big price.
Tips
Back T.Ford to beat A.Carter for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Betway
