The final day of qualifying for the European Masters takes place on Wednesday at the Guild Hall in Preston when 30 of the 32 matches in the round are played out across four more sessions on another busy day of action.
Two matches have been held over for the main venue which leaves us with 30 to be played on Wednesday and although we won’t be seeing Mark Selby and Ronnie O’Sullivan there are plenty of other big names to interest us.
Morning Session
We kick the day off with eight matches in the morning session with John Higgins on one of the live streamed tables. He takes on Jimmy Robertson for a place in the main draw while Matthew Stevens and Ali Carter do battle on the other streamed table.
Away from the cameras we have an interesting session. Peter Ebdon takes on Dominic Dale, Barry Hawkins plays Rod Lawler in what could be a banana skin for the former world finalist, Alfie Burden goes up against Ryan Day in a lively match while Yan Bingtao and Ian Burns meet. Michael Georgiou plays Ricky Burns and Sam Craigie and Anthony McGill meet each other.
Early Afternoon Session
There are eight more matches in this session with two big names on the streamed tables. Those matches see Marco Fu playing Mei Xiwen and Shaun Murphy taking on Allan Taylor in another one of those matches which could be tricky if Murphy lets it be.
The other six matches see Michael Holt playing Kurt Maflin in a good looking game, Robin Hull faces Gary Wilson, Rory McLeod meets Tom Ford, Ashley Hugill plays Andrew Higginson, Joe Swail goes up against Bel Woollaston and David Grace plays Jak Jones.
Late Afternoon Session
This is another session with eight matches in it with Neil Robertson leading the way on the TV tables. He takes on Oliver Lines while the other match in front of the cameras sees Jack Lisowski playing Dave Gilbert in what should be a fluent match.
On the other tables Graeme Dott and Mark Joyce look set for a real battle while Mark Davis against Adam Duffy should be a good one. There is an all-amateur battle when Zak Surety plays Antony Parsons while Liang Wenbo plays Jimmy White’s conqueror Josh Boileau. Daniel Womersley plays Elliot Slessor and Hammad Miah meets Mark Allen in the other two matches.
Evening Session
Just the six matches finish us off in the evening and all eyes will be on Judd Trump and Stuart Bingham in them. Trump faces Duane Jones on one of the streamed tables while Bingham plays Scott Donaldson on the other.
The other four matches have Peter Lines playing Rhys Clark, Jamie Jones taking on Michael Wild, Zhao Xintong and Yu Delu doing battle in an all-Chinese affair and Luca Brecel takes on David John.
Betting
Two bets have my attention on this final day of qualifying and the first is Peter Ebdon against Dominic Dale. These two have already met this season when Ebdon thrashed Dale 4-1 in the Indian Open and I’m expecting him to win again here.
We know what to expect from both these guys. They are too long in the tooth to change now and the fact that Ebdon has won their last five meetings shows me that he has a style that Dale doesn’t like playing and can’t overcome without some help from his opponent. I don’t see him getting that help here so I’m on Ebdon in this one.
Robin Hull had a good win in the first round and he looks decent value to follow that up against Gary Wilson on Wednesday. Hull beat Mark Williams and banged in a century along the way and that is a very good win. Wilson also hit a ton against his namesake Sydney but the win isn’t anything like as standout a one as Hull had.
We know Hull is a confidence player and when he’s scoring he is a match for anyone and I think he can prove that to us on Wednesday and come through to another main event with a win.
Tips
Back P.Ebdon to beat D.Dale for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
Back him here:
WON – Back R.Hull to beat G.Wilson for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfred
Back him here:
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