The new snooker season is beginning to build up a head of steam and on Thursday the qualifying campaign for the Xi’an Grand Prix begins when a bunch of matches take place in the Mattioli Arena in Leicester.
The equation for everyone on show is simple. They need to win a best of nine match to make it through to the final stage of the event. The very big names have had their qualifying match saved for the venue but we still have some top players on show on Thursday.
Morning Session
Xiao Guodong is the highest ranked player on show in the morning session on Thursday as he bids to qualify for a home tournament. He has to overcome Iulian Boiko in order to qualify. Jamie Jones and Thepchaiya Un-Nooh are the next players on show in the rankings. They meet Mostafa Dorgham and Lei Peifan respectively. Fan Zhengyi, Scott Donaldson, He Guoqiang and Martin O’Donnell are the other higher ranked players on show. Their opponents are Sunny Akani, Lim Kok Leong, Ashley Carty and Ma Hailong in that order.
Afternoon Session
John Higgins is the highest ranked player on show at any stage of the day and the former world champion will have to get the better of Alexander Ursenbacher to make it back to China. Ryan Day is another high ranked star on show and he’ll take on Cheung Ka Wai for a spot in the main draw. Robbie Williams and Jordan Brown are others on show. They face Artemijs Zizins and Liam Pullen respectively while David Grace has a meeting with Bulcsu Revesz. Two amateurs are on show in the session as well. They are Joshua Thomond and Simon Blackwell and they face Amir Sarkhosh and Ben Mertens respectively.
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Evening Session
There are plenty of household names on show in what is a really tasty evening session. Neil Robertson might not be the highest ranked player but he is the biggest name and he will go up against Allan Taylor. Hossein Vafaei is another recognisable name and he faces Ahmed Aly Elsayed while Jack Lisowski is another household name looking to make it into the main draw. Ross Muir stands in his way. Dave Gilbert has started the season where he left off last term and he meets Reanne Evans while Dominic Dale takes on Mohammed Mustafa Shehab. The other two matches also involve Welsh players with Jackson Page facing Dylan Emery and Matthew Stevens meeting Andrew Higginson.
Betting
He Guoqiang and Ashley Carty have already met in the Championship League this season and now they meet again here and I see no reason why the Chinese player can’t complete a quick double over the Englishman. He will certainly have plenty of motivation to win this one because he’ll be able to compete on home soil and that has to be a real incentive for any Chinese player in this qualifying competition let alone Guoqiang.
He Guoqiang didn’t just beat Carty in the Championship League, he also had a win over Ronnie O’Sullivan in that tournament so he is obviously in decent touch and he looks ready to back up a decent campaign last term which saw him reach the quarter final of the British Open and the last qualifying round for the World Championship. Carty only won six matches after the European Masters last season and so I’ll take the more progressive Guoqiang to come through here with a bit in hand.
Tips
Back H.Guoqiang (-1.5 frames) to beat A.Carty for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
