Friday isn’t just April Fools Day, it is quarter finals day at the China Open snooker out in Beijing and for one man in particular it will feel like a final.
That man is Stephen Maguire. He faces Alfie Burden in the later session of the two on Friday knowing that a win will move him above Ding Junhui in the world rankings and into the automatic qualifying places for the World Championship. Should Maguire lose it would be Ding who goes straight to Sheffield.
The other three quarter finals sees John Higgins facing Noppon Saengkham, Judd Trump playing Mark King and Ricky Walden taking on the world champion Stuart Bingham.
The first session of matches sees Higgins playing Saengkham and Walden vs Bingham. All the matches are on the TV tables from here on in for the remainder of the tournament. Usually you would wonder if Saengkham could deliver on the main table but he’s already beaten Neil Robertson this week so we can eliminate those doubts straight away.
It is hard to go against Higgins at this stage of a tournament though. The fact he’s come through a battle in the previous round only highlights how tough he is to beat the longer a tournament goes on and while I would imagine the Thai will give a decent account of himself I don’t see past Higgins in this one but you have to say the match is priced accordingly.
The other match in the session looks to be a really good one. Walden was playing well coming into the week and often goes well in China while Bingham looks to have found the form which saw him win the world title last year.
Bingham has hit three centuries this week and a host of decent breaks around that which is what he was famed for when he became world champion. Walden hasn’t had much time to think in recent times but there has been no downside to his form it must be said.
There isn’t much between these two when they both play well so with that in mind I’m going to go with over 7.5 frames here. I just don’t see either being overpowered in this match and given that both are winning frames in one visit a share of the chances will see this match end 5-3 or 5-4 either way, as matches should do at this stage of an event.
The later session matches look tasty too. I can’t be betting on the Maguire vs Burden match. I took the chance that Maguire would feel the pressure in the previous round but he didn’t but this is pretty much his final. A win is huge for him and his career.
Alfie Burden can give that match a good go and if he gets himself in from distance regularly then he could be a handful for the Scot but if he doesn’t he leaves himself open too much and someone of Maguire’s class should be able to pick him off. That said the odds reflect that and I don’t want to take a handicap given the pressures and the fact that winning is the only thing on Maguire’s mind not the winning margin.
I do like the handicap in the other match though where Judd Trump looks in menacing form so far this week. The style in which he dispatched Marco Fu in the previous round was so eye catching that anyone who doesn’t make him a very strong favourite for the tournament from here must lack a little sanity.
Trump’s scoring was fantastic and when you think his safety has improved beyond all question it is hard to see where King gets a look in here. Credit to King. He is reaching the latter stages of tournaments a lot more often in the twilight of his career and he has come through the draw nicely this week but he’s back up against it here.
Neither Marco Fu nor Jimmy Robertson could get close to Trump this week and I don’t see King doing it either. I’ll take the former champion to win 5-2 or easier in this one.
Tips
Back R.Walden vs S.Bingham – Over 7.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Coral
Back it here:
Back J.Trump (-2.5 frames) to beat M.King for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with William Hill
Back him here:
