The opening day of the Players Championship sees two matches taking place on Monday with both of them coming alone in the evening session, which is the only one as we get the second leg of the Players Series underway.
We head to the bottom quarter of the draw on Monday evening where we have four relentless tournament winners in their career on show looking to pick up the six frames that they need to make it into the quarter final.
Table One
Mark Allen vs Kyren Wilson
The opening match on the main table this week sees the defending champion against the world champion when Mark Allen looks to revive his form and give himself a chance of making the Tour Championship when he faces off against Kyren Wilson.
Allen has had an pretty inconsistent season by his standards and it yet to make a ranking event final. He has made a bunch of semi-finals but he has been around long enough to know that you don’t make the Tour Championship tournament without at least reaching a final, unless you happen to time the semis you make incredibly well. Allen hasn’t done that so he is under pressure to deliver this week. Wilson has had much the better season. He has won three titles and will want a fourth before he heads to Sheffield to attempt to defend his world title. If you go by the season so far then Wilson has to be the winner here, especially in light of the recent comments from Allen where he said he didn’t want to be in this tournament such is his poor form and struggles but that felt like a heat of the moment thing and a match as a clear outsider where his mind is focused knowing he needs to play well might bring his best snooker back out. Wilson is probably just the right price and if anything Allen is a little short so I’ll leave this one alone.
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Table Two
Mark Williams vs Ding Junhui
The first match over on table two is a repeat of a clash from the opening round of The Masters where Mark Williams faces the man who got the better of him at Alexandra Palace in Ding Junhui, which is a pretty decent offering to be away from the main table.
Williams might consider himself fortunate to be here when you consider that the majority of the money he earned from ranking events this season came in Saudi Arabia when he made the final. He won the Champion of Champions and deservedly won it too but in ranking events he hasn’t been past a quarter final other than in Saudi Arabia so it feels like he is vulnerable even though there is a chance that these elite events will inspire him. That wasn’t the case in Hong Kong and I have to think that Ding is the one to be on here. He has played his best snooker in the latter half of the season and we know that over these longer matches where he can relax and get his scoring boots going that he can be very dangerous. Williams can win any match he plays but if this match is played multiple times I would expect Ding to come out on top more often than not, particularly with the form they have shown in recent times, and so even at 4/5 I have to be on the Chinese star here.
Tips
Back D.Junhui to beat M.Williams for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with William Hill
Back him here:
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