The snooker circuit has had a couple of weeks off since the conclusion of the Championship League but it returns on Tuesday when the qualifying competition for the British Open begins in Wigan as eight players look to book their place in the main draw.
We have four sessions of action over the course of a potentially entertaining day in Wigan on Tuesday, a day where Stephen Hendry headlines the card looking for his opening win of the campaign after being thrashed in European Masters qualifying last month.
Morning Session
As ever in these qualifying competitions the morning session is flooded with Chinese players with Xu Si the highest ranked player on show in this first session. He has had a good start to the season and will look to continue that when he takes on the lesser known Himanshu Dinesh Jain, It might be that the other match in this session gets more of a billing though as it sees the female player Mink Nutcharut on show. Her task to make the main draw is to get the better of Chen Zifan.
Early Afternoon Session
This is the session where most of the eyes of the snooker world will be on as it is the one which sees Stephen Hendry looking to make progress. With ITV covering the main draw he will be in Milton Keynes for that but he would like to have his cue with him and be ready to play. He has to get the better of Zhang Anda for that to be a reality. The other match sees two of the better younger players on the scene meeting when Jackson Page goes up against Zhao Jianbo, who will be looking to make the most of his chance having failed to win a tour card at Q-School.
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Later Afternoon Session
The leading light in the third session of the day is Robbie Williams. He hasn’t started his season well but I guess for established players the campaign might really start here with the gaps that have been in the schedule so far. He meets Ashley Hugill in what might be the match of the day. The other match during this session gets two lesser lights battling each other with each having a chance to win a match and earn some cash when Julien Leclerq takes on Steven Hallworth.
Evening Session
The pick of the two matches in the evening session sees Liam Highfield looking to get his season up and running after a couple of disappointing events to begin it with. He takes on the Chinese player Li Hang who has started this term promisingly and will look to build on that good start. The other match in this session sees two more lowly ranked players having the opportunity to boost their ranking when Ryan Thomerson takes on the young Belgian player Ben Mertens for a place in the main draw.
Betting
I’ll go with the one bet over the course of the day and we have to wait until the evening session for it to come along but when it does I fancy Li Hang can get the better of Liam Highfield. Highfield won the only completed meeting between these two in a deciding frame but it was nearly three years ago and I’m always one to bet on the more here and now unless history is strongly on the side of someone else, which isn’t the case here.
Highfield is yet to win a match this season and while losses to Mark Williams and Shaun Murphy were understandable and probably expected, defeats to Xu Si and Ben Mertens certainly wasn’t so the Stoke potter looks a little vulnerable here. Li Hang has had a much better start to the season and although he lost to Mark Williams in the Championship League, he had a good win over Andrew Pagett there and also beat Craig Steadman in the qualifying for the European Masters. I always think Hang is hard to beat and with Highfield not looking in the best of touch this looks like a good opportunity for a Chinese win.
Tips
Back L.Hang to beat L.Highfield for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
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