It is the penultimate day of qualifying for the British Open on Saturday when another 16 players take to the baize in Wigan with the intention of winning their match and booking their place in the main draw next month.
There are some big names on show over the course of the day on Saturday which should see us treated to a pretty competitive day of snooker and one where the quality can be kept high from start to finish.
Morning Session
Four decent players open up the show on Saturday with the pick of the matches seeing the former ranking event finalist Cao Yupeng on show. He has picked out one of the horror draws though as he takes on Marco Fu who is obviously a whole lot better than his ranking would suggest. Fan Zhengyi begins the defence of his European Masters title next week and he will look to go there with a win over a Jamie Clarke who can certainly handle himself on the baize.
Early Afternoon Session
Ben Woollaston is the highest ranked player on show in the first of the two afternoon sessions. He has started the season fairly well and will be expected to continue that promising beginning when he takes on James Cahill who is back on the tour and looking to build his ranking. The other match sees two players ranked outside the top 100 in the world in action with the chance for both men to reach the main draw as Peng Yisong takes on Dylan Emery.
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Later Afternoon Session
Tom Ford is another big name who is on show on Saturday. He headlines the third session of the day and will be a pretty warm favourite when he takes on Mitchell Mann, who other than a decent spin in the Shootout last season has been a little too quiet in recent times. Elliot Slessor enjoyed a good run in the British Open last year and if he is going to have another he will need to get the better of Sean O’Sullivan when they meet here.
Evening Session
Ali Carter is the third highest ranked player in action this week and he will attempt to book his place in the main draw on Saturday evening. The lowly ranked Hammad Miah is the man tasked with stopping him from booking his spot in Milton Keynes. The other match sees Mark Joyce taking on the amateur player Daniel Wells who is clearly better than a traditional amateur. He had a good campaign in the Championship League and will look to progress further in this event too.
Betting
Fan Zhengyi chose not to compete in the Championship League and when you consider that he had his qualifying match for the European Masters held over to the venue next week because he is the defending champion, his match against Jamie Clarke will be his first competitive outing in four months since he was beaten in World Championship qualifying. We know he’ll have been putting in the practice because all the Chinese players do but practice isn’t the competitive environment.
Clarke had a bit of a mare in his second Championship League group and he lost in a deciding frame in qualification for the European Masters next week so this might be a bigger match for him than it is for his opponent. Clarke did come through a Championship League group which included Judd Trump who he drew with so there is enough to like about the Welshman not least the fact he has been active. I think he’s value to dump out next week’s defending champion.
Tips
Back J.Clarke to beat F.Zhengyi for a 3/10 stake at 2.40 with Betfred
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