The main draw of the European Masters begins in Furth on Tuesday along with the qualifying matches that were held over to the venue as the second ranking event of the relatively new season starts out in Germany.
There is a lot at stake for the players involved this competition with places at the World Grand Prix and the Champion of Champions at stake so everyone will be out to pick up an early win and build into the event.
Morning Session
The action on the main table begins with one of the held over matches from the qualifying round as the defending champion Fan Zhengyi begins his title defence when he takes on the veteran Michael Judge. The rest of the matches are all first round main draw matches with Luca Brecel the highest ranked player on show. He meets Wu Yize while Anthony McGill takes on the talented Chinese player Si Jiahui. Hossein Vafaei is due to meet Xiao Guodong in this session but he has been having visa issues so whether he turns up remains to be seen. The other match sees Zhou Yuelong taking on Graeme Dott.
Afternoon Session
There are six matches in the afternoon session and one of those is held over from qualifying. That sees the exciting Judd Trump taking on the Thai player Noppon Saengkham and will occupy the main table. The other five matches are all from the first round with Stuart Bingham the leading ranked player on show. He takes on Ian Burns while former champion Jimmy Robertson goes up against Andy Hicks. Ryan Day has made it through to the main draw and he’ll face Steven Hallworth while Gary Wilson takes on Lukas Kleckers. The other match sees Chris Wakelin facing Oliver Brown.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account to get up to £25 in free bets! Perfect offer for this event! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Evening Session
Five matches close out the day in Germany and two of them are matches held over from the qualifying competition. We were expected to have the battle of the O’Sullivan’s but Ronnie has pulled out so Sean O’Sullivan meets Luke Simmonds instead. The other held over game will form the main coverage and will see Mark Selby up against the Chinese player Yuan Sijun. There are also three first round matches taking place with Ali Carter meeting James Cahill in one, Michael White facing David Grace in another and two amateurs facing off in the other as Haydon Pinhey takes on Rory McLeod.
Betting
Lukas Kleckers will have been delighted to make it through to a tournament in his homeland but I’m not convincing his stay in it will be a long one as I think Gary Wilson will be too good for him when they meet in the afternoon session. Kleckers saw off Ryan Thomerson to qualify for this tournament but I’m not sure how much of a form guide we can get from that. He also beat Allan Taylor in British Open qualifying last week but the same statement applies to that.
Whenever Kleckers came up against anyone of note in the Championship League he was outclassed though and I suspect that is what will happen here. Wilson has looked good so far this season and is backing up the excellent start he made to the season last year as well. When he is flowing he is a match for anyone and now that we are hitting the start of the new campaign proper I expect Wilson to be right on it here and cruise to victory.
Tips
Back G.Wilson (-2.5 frames) to beat L.Kleckers for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with William Hill
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2022
