Three quarters of the field for the Beijing leg of the China Open have been knocked out with just 16 players remaining to chase the final trophy before the World Championship.
On Thursday all 16 men will look to make it into the quarter final as the eight matches in the last 16 get played out over two sessions out in China.
China Open Snooker last 16 – Preview
Shaun Murphy and Barry Hawkins made their bows in the tournament on Wednesday but both of their lives in the event were short lived. Hawkins went out at the first hurdle while Murphy was beaten in the second round but all the other big names to make it into Wednesday came through unscathed so this tournament is starting to warm up nicely.
There are four matches in the first session of play on Thursday. On the TV tables Tian Pengfei takes on Ricky Walden and Stuart Bingham faces Rod Lawler while away from the cameras Alfie Burden plays Rory McLeod and Martin O’Donnell goes up against Mark King.
I like the way Walden is playing at the minute but I am concerned jet lag might kick in at any point. Pengfei is capable as well so I’ll leave that alone and I still don’t fancy Bingham although Lawler is never one I like to back either so my bet for this session comes away from the spotlight.
Alfie Burden hasn’t been very good to me in this tournament so far but he has been playing well and although McLeod can grind anyone down given how well Burden is playing I’m surprised he is the outsider in their match.
McLeod isn’t known for his scoring admittedly but only two 50 breaks in his two matches so far isn’t good at all. Burden has made seven in his two matches and two of them have been centuries. You can spoil frames and matches as much as you like but in the end you’ve got to score and Burden is doing that much the better of the two so far this week.
The later session sees more of the big names in action. The two games on the main tables sees Judd Trump in a tasty clash with Marco Fu and Dave Gilbert playing John Higgins in a repeat of the International Championship final from earlier in the season.
The first of those matches should be a cracker but Judd looked ominously good in the previous round so I’m reluctant to take him on. The price on Higgins looks about right so I’ll leave both matches alone.
Away from the TV there are two matches with Graeme Dott taking on Noppon Saengkham and Dominic Dale playing Stephen Maguire and it is the latter that my bet comes here.
Things are getting serious for Maguire now. After results have gone his way this week he knows he needs to make the semi-final and hope Graeme Dott doesn’t win the title to make it into the World Championship automatically so he is two wins away from achieving that goal.
He faces a pretty tough obstacle in the form of Dominic Dale though. The Welshman is playing well at the minute as three centuries in two matches in this tournament shows us. He came into the week in good form and nothing we’ve seen this week has suggested that his confidence has left him.
Maguire is rightly the favourite here but with such an incentive so close now there is bound to be an inevitable amount of pressure mounting on him so given that he can play with much more freedom I’m going to chance that Dale can continue his good form and come out on top in this one.
China Open Snooker last 16 – Tips
WON – Back A.Burden to beat R.McLeod for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfred
Back him here:
Back D.Dale to beat S.Maguire for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Bet365
Back him here:
