The opening day of the China Championship on Tuesday sees four matches taking place with some of the biggest names in the game on the two tables in operation. This lucrative tournament has an excellent format from the start with the matches being the best of 11 frames so we should be set for a high quality beginning to the tournament.
Mark Selby vs Anthony McGill
The tournament begins with last week’s International Championship winner Mark Selby taking on the Indian Open champion Anthony McGill. Selby was in fantastic form last week and the longer it went on the better he got. If he has anything in the tank then he should come through here.
That said, McGill is a dangerous opponent and if Selby is slightly below par after a big week then the Scot is more than capable of taking advantage of that. We’re relying on guesswork regarding Selby’s energy levels so I would prefer to sit this one out until we know for sure what the world champion has left.
Mark Allen vs Ricky Walden
This looks like being a competitive match. Mark Allen and Ricky Walden are both quality players with the latter seemingly in excellent form and the former fresh as a daisy having missed last week’s tournament.
Sometimes a bit of a break isn’t always a good thing though. Allen will have had to travel and deal with the jet lag issues which naturally come with a long journey while Walden will have done all of that having been in the country for the International Championship last week.
We saw how well Walden is playing in that tournament where he very nearly took care of Ding in the last 16 and had he done who knows how far he would have gone. Allen hasn’t been in the greatest form over the last month or so and I wonder if he will struggle without the tuition of Terry Griffiths. I hope he doesn’t but there is enough here to suggest Walden’s the value at odds against.
Judd Trump vs Ali Carter
Moving into the evening session out in China, or the afternoon one as it is in the UK, and we have a really good looking all-English clash between a Judd Trump who has shown amazing form in the last month and Ali Carter who has already won the World Open this season.
Trump went down in the semi-final of the International Championship and that was a surprise but he looked like a man who needed a couple of days off after a heavy month. I’m expecting him to be refreshed enough to give this event a good go.
Carter’s form has been indifferent since he won the World Open but he showed that week he is a quality campaigner so I expect this to be a tight match. If it isn’t tight it can only be because Trump has run away with it so the bet I like here is for Trump to make over 3.5 50+ breaks.
If he wins six frames you’d think he will cover this but even in only winning four against Ding on Friday he still made four high enough breaks so that highlights the potential and signifies how well Trump is currently scoring.
Ding Junhui vs Marco Fu
This is the match all the local eyes will be on to see if Ding can bounce back from his mauling against Mark Selby in the International Championship final on Sunday with a win here against a Marco Fu, who he has a good record against but who he knows is a very dangerous player in his own right.
Fu hasn’t pulled up any trees this season but this should be the sort of event he ups his game for being among the elite in Asian conditions with a humungous prize pool at stake. Ding looked a very jaded man on Sunday and if that tired Ding turns up Fu will win this but if Ding is at his best it is game on.
Once again we’re guessing about Ding’s state and I’m not wanting to do that. This might be a relatively short tournament but there are stacks of snooker to come in the next seven weeks so we can afford to sit certain matches like this out and that’s what I’ll do.
Tips
Back R.Walden to beat M.Allen for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with NetBet
Back him here:
Back J.Trump – Over 3.5 50+ breaks for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Paddy Power
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