The English Open has reached the quarter final stage with all four matches being played out across two sessions of play inside the Brentwood Centre as eight players will look to move a step closer to the Steve Davis Trophy.
That will be presented to the winner on Sunday and with just three top 16 players left in the draw there is a feeling that this tournament could be won by anyone. We are up to the best of nine frames now which should help the better players.
Afternoon Session
Judd Trump vs Matthew Selt
The opening quarter final of the tournament sees two good friends facing each other when The Masters champion Judd Trump takes on the man who won the last Indian Open when it was staged in Matthew Selt.
Selt has actually played quite well this week and held his nerve well in pressure situations and has spoken about how confident he is with his game and how he is feeling good. Trump has also suggested he is happy with where his game is right now so we should be in for a decent quarter final. One issue for Selt might be that he hasn’t played much on the main table and everyone says that is different to the outside ones. That puts me off getting involved in this one, especially as the prices are about right.
Martin O’Donnell vs John Higgins
When the first quarter final is done the second one will take to the main table when the conqueror of Mark Selby earlier in the tournament, Martin O’Donnell, takes on a John Higgins who seems to be getting to this stage of events with ease at the minute.
Higgins looks in very good touch at the minute. He is scoring heavily and generally his safety play is always good so he is going to be very tough to beat but just when you think he is going to push on and make a real play for winning a title he coughs up a lead in a match you wouldn’t expect him to and then he is on his way. I don’t expect that to be the case here because O’Donnell plays largely the same game as Higgins but nowhere near as well but he does merit respect having taken care of Selby earlier in the week, albeit a jaded version of the Jester. I’m expecting a Higgins win but I can do without him carrying my money with a lead.
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Evening Session
Liu Hongyu vs Ding Junhui
It is Chinese snooker all the way in the evening session on Friday night and on the main table their finest exponent Ding Junhui will look to make it through to another semi-final when he takes on Liu Hongyu who is in his maiden quarter final at this level.
These two met early in the British Open last week when Ding won in a deciding frame so that suggests we could see a close match here. Hongyu took care of Mark Williams on Thursday night, although Williams had run out of gas by then after winning last week, and Shaun Murphy earlier in the event so he needs to be taken seriously. Ding saw off the world champion Luca Brecel in a deciding frame in the previous round and has played well against Gary Wilson this week too so this should be a good game but experience of matches at this level would have to give more than a slight edge to Ding.
Zhang Anda vs Zhou Yuelong
The one match on table two on Friday evening is the other Chinese clash as Zhou Yuelong looks to make it back into the semi-finals when he takes on a Zhang Anda who is quietly having a positive start to the season.
These two men have been in decent form this week. Yuelong was probably fortunate to see off Andrew Higginson earlier in the week but he has kicked on since then and scored very heavily on Thursday. Zhang Anda had one of his best results on Thursday night when he saw off Ronnie O’Sullivan where he scored exceptionally well, as he did when beating Anthony McGill earlier in the week. With both men in decent scoring form and enough away from the spotlight to be comfortable I like the look of over 7.5 frames in this one. Their last two meetings have gone to a deciding frame and I wouldn’t be surprised if this one does as well but 5-3 either way is the worst I see this ending.
Tips
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