The first day of the European Masters sees the two held over matches begin played and the first round of the main event beginning on a busy opening in Romania. Although it is the start of the tournament the big names are out in force on the first day to kick the event off in style.
Ronnie O’Sullivan, Mark Selby, Neil Robertson and John Higgins are just some of the names on a high profile schedule on Monday as Romania stages big time snooker for the first time. There are two sessions on Monday. A morning session with three sets of matches and an evening one with two pairs of games.
Early Session
The first set of matches sees arguably the tie of the opening round as Ali Carter takes on Anthony McGill in a match between two men who have already won a tournament this season. Tom Ford plays Robin Hull in the other match.
The second round of games in this session has John Higgins taking on Michael Holt on the TV table with the other match being between Barry Hawkins and the lowly ranked Michael Wild who has done well to make it this far.
The session concludes with Neil Robertson on the main table. He faces Graeme Dott in an all-world champion tussle while the other table has Andrew Higginson facing Marco Fu to round off a tasty looking session.
Late Session
Two of the biggest names in the game grace the TV table in this session. Mark Selby is the first on it when he plays Fergal O’Brien in the first of the two held over matches. The other table features David Grace against Rhys Clark.
Ronnie O’Sullivan concludes proceedings on the TV table when he faces Daniel Wells in the other match from qualifying that was held to the main venue. Ricky Walden faces Yan Bingtao to finish off the day on the other table.
Betting
With some people arriving in Romania quite late after the qualifiers for another tournament in Preston only finished on Saturday I’m not going to push the boat out on this opening day of action. In fact with that and the format there is only one bet I like although both my outrights get into the tournament early so I have plenty of interest besides the bet I’m taking.
The bet in question involves David Grace who is in good touch at the minute. He takes on Rhys Clark in the later session and he’ll be buoyed by the prospect having beaten the Scot 6-1 in International Championship qualifying over the weekend. That was pretty emphatic and I think this one will be too.
There is no denying that Clark is struggling this season. He has only won three matches all season and two of them were against a poor Alex Borg and an amateur so it isn’t the best of form guides. Contrast that to Grace who is in good touch and I’m expecting a comfortable win for the Leeds man.
Grace already has 4-0 wins over Jack Lisowski and Robbie Williams this season and he took care of Joe Perry in qualifying for this tournament. All of that coupled with Thursday’s win over this opponent gives me the belief Grace will win this and do so no worse than 4-2.
Tips
Back D.Grace (-1.5 frames) to beat R.Clark for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
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