There is just one day left in the Indian Open Snooker in Hyderabad and we have just four men left with the chance to win the title after a frantic Friday got rid of 75% of the players who went into the day.
Both semi-finals and the final will be played on Saturday with someone walking away at the end of it a cool £50,000 richer and with a spot in the Champion of Champions. We’ll preview both semi-finals here but with the lack of time between the semis and the final we won’t be able to provide a preview for the finale.
Friday Recap
It was a winner and our first loser of the week from the two bets we had on Friday as Peter Ebdon eased past Dominic Dale but Nigel Bond proved too good for John Astley. With both being priced up at evens we lost nothing on the day but in effect we did gain something because both our outrights also came through that round and then they won their quarter finals as well so we go into the final day with betting tickets for an 18/1 shot and a 40/1 shot still very much alive.
Kyren Wilson vs Nigel Bond
Our first outright bet in action is Kyren Wilson when he goes up against the veteran Nigel Bond. Wilson has come through some awkward opponents to make it this far but having won in Shanghai last year he’ll know all about going all the way in major competitions.
Nigel Bond has seen off Peter Ebdon, Ricky Walden and Sam Baird to make it this far so he is very much here on merit but he won’t have been in many semi-finals at this level for a while and it will be interesting to see how he handles the match.
We were confident that Kyren Wilson would come through this half of the draw before the tournament began and nothing has changed in that regard but given there are question marks about how Bond might perform in this match I’ll sit this one out in the hope that Wilson wins and brings in the first part of the potential dream final for us.
Shaun Murphy vs Anthony McGill
This should be a really good quality semi-final especially if their match in the World Championship last year is anything to go by. The scoring was top quality in that match and I expect it to be here too I have to say.
Murphy has come through the draw quite comfortably to date although you could argue he has had it easy with the draw opening up for him but he has scored well and apart from in the second round when he was taken the distance by Michael Georgiou he has largely been on easy street.
Anthony McGill has had much the harder of the draw so far and if that counts for anything then our outright is in good shape here. He has already seen off Matt Selt, Stuart Bingham and Stephen Maguire and looks to be getting better and better as the tournament has gone on.
I’m going to leave the match betting alone here. I’m already effectively on the Scot at 20/1 to win this match and I’m more than happy to carry that position into the match but I will go with one bet which is to take the even money on there to be at least one century. They both made two centuries in that World Championship between the two and they’ve both made centuries this week. Even money on one between them here looks a little too big to ignore.
Tips
Back S.Murphy vs K.Wilson – Over 0.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
Back it here:
