The second round of the European Masters draws to a close throughout another three session day of action inside the bio-secure bubble at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes as we head towards the second half of the first event to be won of the season.
Judd Trump made a smooth passage into the third round on Wednesday evening and on Thursday the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan, Neil Robertson and Mark Selby will all be looking to join him on what should be another good day of snooker.
Morning Session
The former world champion Mark Williams will grace the TV table in the morning session. The Welsh ace goes up against the tour newcomer Peter Devlin, who looked a little out of his depth in the Championship League last week but who came through the first round here successfully. On the streamed table Mark Selby gets to feel the baize for the first time in this tournament after he was given a bye when his first round opponent Michael White was withdrawn due to Covid protocols. He faces the Chinese rookie Cao Yang.
There are some big names on the outside tables throughout the day beginning with the Tour Championship holder Stephen Maguire. He meets James Cahill, who like Selby had a bye in the first round. Zhou Yuelong was a finalist in this event last year and he’ll aim to take a step closer to a return when he meets Jak Jones while two veterans meet when Mark Davis faces Nigel Bond. Dave Gilbert is a man many think is a dark horse for this tournament. He takes on Robert Milkins while Tom Ford meets the amateur Antoni Kowalski. The other match has Matthew Stevens facing Xiao Guodong.
Afternoon Session
UK champion Ding Junhui is the man who will grace out TV screens on Thursday afternoon. The Chinese superstar has a tricky looking assignment with Hossein Vafaei to negotiate if he is to make it through to the third round. On the streamed table Neil Robertson will be looking to do just that too when he meets Riley Parsons with the Australian looking to keep his title defence and hopes of retaining the title very much alive.
Elsewhere in this session Mark Allen and Ken Doherty meet in a match that is surprisingly not on one of the main tables while Robbie Williams faces Pang Junxu in another. World Championship semi-finalist Anthony McGill is also reduced to an outside table for his match against Peter Lines while the man who beat him in that epic last four clash, Kyren Wilson, takes on Chris Wakelin. Martin Gould’s reward for a good win over John Higgins in the first round is a clash with Ian Burns and the other match will pit Andrew Higginson and Duane Jones against each other.
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Evening Session
We finally get to see Ronnie O’Sullivan as the world champion for the first time on Thursday evening after he was awarded a bye in the first round when Daniel Wells tested positive for Covid-19. The Rocket will get his new season up and running on the TV table when he takes on Aaron Hill for whom this is a chance to take a major scalp. Shaun Murphy is back on the streamed table when he takes on the veteran Alan McManus who survived a marathon with Rod Lawler in the opening round of the competition.
Barry Hawkins is among the big names out in the extremities of the setup in Milton Keynes. He faces Jordan Brown who finished last season strongly. Ashley Carty takes on Simon Lichtenberg while Graeme Dott has a tasty looking clash with Lyu Haotian. Fraser Patrick and Liam Highfield will both sense an opportunity when they meet while Stuart Bingham goes up against Chen Zifan. The other match in the session sees Jack Lisowski taking on the Welsh youngster Jackson Page.
Betting
This isn’t an easy day to bet on because there are a lot of hot favourites who may well go on to win their matches but I’m a little reluctant to be asking players to cover big handicaps this early in the season. Our four remaining outright players are all in action on Thursday though so that gives us plenty of interest in the day naturally but there is one outsider who I think can hold his higher ranked opponent to close quarters at least.
That is Jackson Page who actually played Jack Lisowski in this round of this tournament last year and beat him 5-4. I’m not sure whether he will beat him this time but I’ve seen enough to suggest that he can run him quite close. For one reason or another Lisowski hasn’t got going this season yet. He was beaten by Rory McLeod in his Championship League group and didn’t progress as a result and in the first round here he needed a deciding frame to edge out French amateur Brian Ochoiski and in nine frames never made a single 50 break. Page has been playing well this term even though he didn’t win a match in his Championship League group. He may not have won but he drew two games and had a good win in the first round here. You can get the Welsh youngster on a 2.5 frame handicap which looks too big given how Lisowski has started the season.
Tips
WON – Back J.Page (+2.5 frames) to beat J.Lisowski for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
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