We move towards the close of the first round of the Championship League Snooker tournament on Monday when two more groups take place inside the Mattioli Arena in Leicester as another eight players look to make it through.
We have the highest ranked player in the tournament making his competition bow for the year on the main table on Monday and some very capable operators on show on the other table so this looks to be a decent day of snooker.
Group 1
Fixtures
Barry Hawkins vs John Astley
Haydon Pinhey vs Haris Tahir
Haydon Pinhey vs John Astley
Barry Hawkins vs Haris Tahir
Haris Tahir vs John Astley
Barry Hawkins vs Haydon Pinhey
Preview
We have had to wait a couple of weeks but the top seed in the draw enters the stage on Monday when Barry Hawkins heads up Group 1 which will take place on the main table. He will be expected to dominate proceedings and progress to the second round with the minimum of fuss. One of the reasons for that is because he has the lowest second seed of the lot in his group in Haydon Pinhey, who is really still making his way on the tour. The third seed is Haris Tahir who has been around a while but hasn’t really done anything of note. In fact, the second most experienced player in the group is the bottom seed John Astley. He was a professional for a while but gets into the field as an amateur here.
Group 20
Fixtures
Zhou Yuelong vs Ashley Hugill
David Lilley vs David Grace
David Lilley vs Ashley Hugill
Zhou Yuelong vs David Grace
David Grace vs Ashley Hugill
Zhou Yuelong vs David Lilley
Preview
Over on table two it is the Chinese star Zhou Yuelong who is the top seed and the main expected to make it through to the second round. He had a win and a defeat in the two qualifying events last month and that is kind of how his career is going at the minute. He’ll hope to find his consistency over the course of the day. The experienced David Lilley is the second seed in this section and he might see an opening with Yuelong not at his best. David Grace got back on the tour when he won his card back at Q-School and he is the third seed in this group. Much like the group over on table one, arguably the second best player in the section is the bottom seed in Ashley Hugill who is playing as an amateur having fallen off the tour.
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Betting
This isn’t a day where a bet naturally stands out but I’m a little surprised that David Lilley is the outsider to get the better of David Grace. Grace really had a poor season last term, so much so that he fell off the tour and had to go to Q-School to get his card back. He deserves a lot of credit for coming through successfully and getting the card again and he is already making full use of it because he has beaten Ricky Walden in Wuhan Open qualifying but he feels vulnerable here.
Grace doesn’t score particularly well, hence why he fell off the tour and I do think the format benefits the scorers because if you let the opponent come to the table enough he’ll do the business. Clearly it is fair to say that David Lilley isn’t in his prime but he does tend to start matches well and actually made the final day of the tournament last year. He also won his first group in 2021 so this is clearly a format that he enjoys. The draw is definitely in play here so I’ll lower my stake by a point but a shade over 2/1 on the established professional feels a little too big here.
Tips
Back D.Lilley to beat D.Grace for a 2/10 stake at 3.10 with William Hill
Back him here:
