The second day of action at the German Masters is a bumper one as the first round concludes and the last 16 begins across the course of three tasty looking sessions inside the Tempodrom in Berlin as we speedily head towards the business end of this event.
Those who haven’t been in action in the tournament yet will grace the stage for the first time over the morning and afternoon sessions of play while the evening will see the Wednesday winners back on the baize for their second round match.
Morning Session
We were due to have four matches in the morning session of play but the Covid positive test for Liang Wenbo has put paid to one of them which leaves us with just the three to enjoy. The main match in the session is now the one featuring the world champion Mark Selby. He should have a smooth passage into round two because he takes on the lowly ranked campaigner in the form of Barry Pinches, who has done remarkably well to make it this far but his run should end here.
The other big name on show in the morning session is Mark Allen. The Northern Ireland Open champion will be looking to kick on for the remainder of the season and that can begin here when he meets Lyu Haotian for a place in the second round. The other match sees two men who have a good opportunity to make a real name for themselves when Liam Highfield takes on Fan Zhengyi for a place in round two and a potential shot at some big ranking points.
Afternoon Session
We have a full session of action on Thursday afternoon with the main match seeing the world finalist Shaun Murphy heading up the four matches. Murphy hasn’t had a great season so far but he can improve his fortunes when he takes on an equally out of form, if not worse, Kurt Maflin. The best looking match of the session sees the former Masters champion Yan Bingtao taking on the man who won the Championship League earlier in the season in Dave Gilbert.
Two other matches take place in this session and there is an attractiveness about both of them. One of them sees the former Shootout champion Ryan Day looking to continue to revive his career. He faces a tricky test in the form of the Thai ace Noppon Saengkham. The other match sees Sam Craigie looking to begin to fulfil his undoubted potential when he meets the former world champion Ken Doherty in a match which offers up a chance for both men.
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Evening Session
It is the second round which makes up the evening session with the eight players in the top half of the draw back on the baize with spots in the quarter finals up for grabs. The televised match in this session sees Judd Trump beginning his title defence after he had a bye in the first round. He meets Zhou Yuelong while the other leading light left in this half of the draw is Kyren Wilson who takes on the lowly ranked Craig Steadman.
The other two matches look weaker on paper than they were forecasted to because of the shocks of the opening day but we still have the winner of the UK Championship in Zhao Xintong taking on a Tom Ford who was in brilliant form in dispatching of Stephen Maguire on Wednesday. The other match sees the Scottish Open champion Luca Brecel looking to make the last eight of another big tournament when he takes on Ricky Walden who had a good win over Neil Robertson on Wednesday.
Betting
This should be a good day of snooker but there is just the one bet that I like over the course of the day and that comes in the afternoon session where I like Noppon Saengkham to beat Ryan Day. Day is a former semi-finalist at this event but his form in recent times has been ordinary. He won a few games in the Championship League around Christmas but other than that this has been a pretty ordinary season for the Welshman.
In truth it hasn’t been a whole lot better for the Thai but he has a couple of wins over John Higgins to his name this term including in the qualifying competition for this event. He also beat Ali Carter and Stuart Bingham at the UK Championship and although that was his only decent run in a tournament this season it does highlight what he is capable of. I think he’s in much better shape with his game than Day is with his so I’m happy to take Saengkham to win this one.
Tips
Back N.Saengkham to beat R.Day for a 3/10 stake at 2.05 with Betway
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