The World Open continues to roll on at quite some pace and on Thursday the entire last 16 of the tournament will be played out in China as we start to march towards finding out who will claim the £90,000 first prize and win the first major title of the season.
Wednesday was not a good day for the big names and as such we are left with some intriguing matches on Thursday and some less so but which give the lesser names the chance to nail a few more quid and potentially change some careers.
Wednesday Recap
It was a really bad day for star names as three of them bombed out in sensational style when Mark Selby, Ding Junhui and Judd Trump all offered little against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh, Ben Woollaston and Anda Zhang respectively. Barry Hawkins, Kyren Wilson, Ricky Walden, Liang Wenbo and Stuart Bingham were other top 16 stars who exited the tournament on a day for the underdog on Wednesday.
Not all the star names went though. There were comfortable wins for Shaun Murphy and Neil Robertson while John Higgins came through a decider against Michael Holt to make his way into the last 16.
Sadly it wasn’t a good day for our bets either as both Anthony McGill and Kurt Maflin were far too good for their opponents and Liang Wenbo surrendered an early 2-0 lead. Some comfort was taken from Ali Carter’s win over Stuart Bingham while Mark Williams kept our one remaining outright bet alive when he won the last three to see off Graeme Dott.
Morning Session
Four matches will take place in the morning with two of them on the televised tables. The pick of the matches sees Mark Williams taking on John Higgins while the other game has Anthony McGill taking on Matt Selt for a place in the last 16. The other morning matches sees Alan McManus up against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh and Ali Carter faces Daniel Wells.
I’m hoping that Mark Williams comes through because his half of the draw has suddenly opened right up with the exits of Selby, Wilson and Bingham on Wednesday and if he can beat Higgins he’ll fancy his chances of going all the way to the final. Nothing interests me away from the TV.
I have to take Anthony McGill in the other TV match though. I fancied Ricky Walden could run him close on Wednesday but he was blown away and the same thing could happen to Selt too. McGill rammed in the highest break in the tournament so far on Wednesday, his third century of the tournament already and we know he is in fantastic form after winning in India earlier in the month.
Selt played well in his first round match but was on the edge of being eliminated by Sam Craigie on Wednesday so he is going to have to up his game alarmingly if he is to beat McGill here. I don’t see it happening and I fancy McGill to win by more than a frame just as he has in their four previous meetings.
Afternoon Session
Not surprisingly Neil Robertson and Shaun Murphy share the TV tables in the afternoon session of play. That half of the draw has opened up so much now that they are the standout names in it. They take on Ryan Day and Kurt Maflin respectively.
Neil Robertson has been superb in this tournament so far knocking in a crazy 11 50+ breaks in the 13 frames he has played which include three centuries. On that form he is the man to beat and I’m not sure Ryan Day will be the one to do it.
The other game is interesting though as Kurt Maflin is scoring really well in this tournament so far whereas Murphy has largely got by from winning frames in more than one visit. That is a dangerous game to play against a scorer so this could be a banana skin for Murphy.
Maflin has won the last two matches between the two, both in a deciding frame, so he should go into the match with plenty of belief and while I’m not entirely convinced he gets the job done this time I do fancy he will keep it close and maybe force another decider again. Odds against on the Norwegian with a 2.5 frame start looks the way to go to me.
The other two matches see Dave Gilbert taking on Anda Zhang and Joe Perry goes up against Ben Woollaston. I would expect Gilbert to put up a better show on Zhang than Trump did while the other game could go either way so I’ll leave those two alone.
Tips
WON – Back A.McGill (-1.5 frames) to beat M.Selt for a 4/10 stake at 2.05 with Betfair
Back him here:
Back K.Maflin (+2.5 frames) to beat S.Murphy for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfred
Back him here:
