The opening day of the German Masters will see the half of the first round matches taking place inside the wonderful Tempodrom in Berlin as a key tournament on the calendar gets up and running across two sessions of play.
We are devoid of a number of big names this week due to carnage at the qualifiers but we do have Jack Lisowski and Kyren Wilson headlining the show on the first day, as well as a few potential champions as well.
Afternoon Session
Just the three tables are in use in the afternoon session on Wednesday. The main table will be occupied by Jack Lisowski, who after runs to the semi-final of the UK Championship and The Masters this season and previously the final of this event, will be hoping this is the week he lands a first ranking title. His opening opponent is Zhang Anda who knows the draw will open right up for him if he can take care of Lisowski. The other two matches in this session look more competitive. Tian Pengfei is up against Anthony McGill in one of them while Elliot Slessor faces Joe O’Connor in the other one.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Evening Session
The big match on the opening day schedule comes along in the evening session when Kyren Wilson is the headline act on show. He meets Sam Craigie who is having an excellent season and will be hoping to secure a place at the Players Championship this week. There are two more matches on the outside tables in the evening session and Jimmy White will be on one of them. The Whirlwind will be favourite to reach the last 16 when he goes up against Peng Yisong. Two more Chinese players take to the stage in this session. They are Xiao Guodong and Fan Zhengyi who meet each other for a place in the second round.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount to go at on the opening day of the tournament but one bet which does look a bit of value is for Fan Zhengyi to beat Xiao Guodong. To be fair to Xiao, he is having a pretty decent season but he always looks vulnerable as a favourite and much more at home on the big stage against the better players. That doesn’t bode well for him here it has to be said. He is the favourite here and this will be on one of the outside tables.
Fan Zhengyi has been moving through the gears this season. He beat Shaun Murphy in qualifying to make it to this tournament and Murphy has been in good form so that was a positive win. He probably hasn’t got the results he has deserved since then but he looked to be hitting the ball nicely last week at the Shootout and we know from the European Masters last season that he is more than capable of winning matches at this level and on these stages. I think this one is closer than the odds suggest so I’ll take the former ranking event winner here.
Tips
Back F.Zhengyi to beat X.Guodong for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with BetVictor
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023
