The second day of the World Championship takes place inside the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Sunday as another two first round matches set off on their journey and four more conclude on a decent looking day of snooker.
We have already had the first seed tumble out of the tournament and that will only ensure that the seeded players will have their eye even more on the ball here. Some matches are interestingly poised so expect even more drama.
Day 1 Recap
The opening day of the World Championship never disappoints and it didn’t on Saturday either. Just the one match concluded and it saw the defending champion Luca Brecel get struck by the Crucible curse as he went down in a deciding frame to Dave Gilbert. Our outright pick was 7-3, 8-5 and 9-6 down but won the last four to make it through to the second round. Four other matches got underway with Jak Jones 5-2 up on Zhang Anda when they rain out of time. Ali Carter edged 5-4 up on Stephen Maguire while Judd Trump and Tom Ford are 6-3 up on Hossein Vafaei and Ricky Walden respectively.
It was a quiet betting day for us on Saturday with neither of our bets finishing on the opening day of the tournament. We are in a good position to cash with Jak Jones on Sunday morning though, although it might be that we are kept waiting given that he and Zhang Anda were two frames short in their opening session. The over 16.5 frames in the match between Tom Ford and Ricky Walden isn’t in brilliant shape at 6-3 to Ford but a Walden comeback isn’t impossible there.
In Play Betting
We have four matches which are in play heading into Sunday and I’m looking pretty good in one of them with Jak Jones 5-2 up on Zhang Anda and much the better player of the two in their opening session. I’m happy to let that one play out. I’m also happy to see if I can cash in my other ongoing bet between Tom Ford and Ricky Walden where the over is very much in play. I’m tempted to back Walden to come back and win because Ford didn’t look comfortable at all to me in the Saturday evening session but I’ll stick with just the over.
The Judd Trump and Hossein Vafaei match doesn’t really interest me for a bet but the other one does. That sees Ali Carter leading Stephen Maguire 5-4 and I really think we are in for a Crucible cliffhanger on Sunday evening when these two resume. We know they are both feisty competitors who aren’t going to give an inch to the other and both can handle the pressure of an intense contest. They look in good form to me and so over 17.5 frames at odds against certainly appeals in this one.
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Mark Selby vs Joe O’Connor (Sunday 10am & Monday 2.30pm)
The first of the two matches to begin on Sunday will be a local battle between two men from Leicester as the former champion of this tournament Mark Selby goes up against the man appearing at the Crucible for the first time in Joe O’Connor.
The last time we saw Mark Selby he was talking about retiring if he was that bad again. Given his record here and in the longer matches as a whole I don’t think we can expect him to be that poor here but I would like to see how he goes before I’m convinced enough to put any hard earned down on him. Maybe last season I might have chanced O’Connor in this match but he didn’t look good at all in the qualifiers and only got through by outlasting Matt Selt in a marathon clash. He isn’t going to outlast Selby and if he has some nerves on his debut here he could be cannon fodder if Selby is good enough to put him away. I’ll see how the first session plays out here.
Shaun Murphy vs Lyu Haotian (Sunday 2.30pm & Monday 10am)
The other match to get going on Sunday sees Shaun Murphy beginning another quest for a second world title when he takes on the Chinese qualifier Lyu Haotian in the afternoon session where they will share the arena with the Judd Trump match.
I will be interested to see how Murphy plays here because I really am not a fan of him commentating the day before he is due to be playing in a tournament. His record in these BBC events since he has been working for them as a pundit and commentator isn’t the best and I don’t think it is a coincidence. Lyu has only won one match here in his career so you wouldn’t say he is the most trustworthy player to take Murphy on with but the Magician has already seen his quarter open up with the exit of Brecel and that might add a bit more pressure to him. This is another one that I’ll watch the first session of before I get involved.
Tips
Back A.Carter vs S.Maguire – Over 17.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Coral
