The International Championship gets underway in China on Sunday when the held over qualifying matches are played out as are some of the opening round of the main draw games on what looks like a decent opening day of snooker.
With there being held over matches on show it means that some big names take to the baize immediately which should ensure that the quality is high to get what is a key week in the season up and running.
Morning Session
There are seven matches in the morning session with four of them being held over qualifying matches. It is the session where Zhang Anda gets his title defence underway when he takes on the English Open semi-finalist Ishpreet Singh Chadha. Si Jiahui is the next highest ranked player on show as the Wuhan Open finalist takes on Andrew Pagett for a place in the main draw while a couple of professionals meet Chinese amateurs elsewhere when Hossein Vafaei faces Zheng Dian while David Grace takes on Zhou Jinhao. The three first round matches in this session have Ryan Day facing Daniel Womersley, Stan Moody meeting Xu Si and Lyu Haotian going up against Haydon Pinhey.
Afternoon Session
Six matches take place in the afternoon session on Sunday with the headline act being Ronnie O’Sullivan who returns to action after pulling out of the last few events. He will go up against Mink Nutcharut in one of four held over matches in the middle part of the day. The world champion Kyren Wilson will be on show here too when he meets Mitchell Mann while Ali Carter faces the Chinese amateur Cai Wei. Noppon Saengkham is the other professional in held over qualifying action. Wang Xinbo is his opponent. In the two first round matches, Jiang Jun meets Amir Sarkhosh and Simon Blackwell faces Matthew Stevens in what are key clashes for all four players.
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Evening Session
We have seven matches in the evening session on Sunday with the final held over qualifying match being the main draw as the home star Ding Junhui takes on the leading female player Reanne Evans for a place in the main draw. Mark Selby is in main draw action in this session when he takes on Jamie Clarke while John Higgins is another taking to the baize. He faces Ben Woollaston while Gary Wilson will look to kick his campaign into life when he takes on Dean Young. The two losing semi-finalists in the recent Northern Ireland Open meet when Pang Junxu goes up against Elliot Slessor while the Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong plays Ricky Walden. Robbie Williams and Stuart Carrington clash in the other game.
Betting
Although there is some good action on Sunday, the held over matches all look to be mismatches in the main so I’ll leave those alone and focus on the first round action where the bet I like comes in the evening session as the Wuhan Open champion Xiao Guodong takes on Ricky Walden in a match I think the former can come through with a bit in hand. Guodong actually leads the head-to-head between these two 5-3 and although it is a dated record, he has won the last three meetings.
That will only act as a feel good thing for Guodong but when you add it to the confidence that he has from winning the Wuhan Open I think it means he can be favoured to come through against a Walden who has gone quiet again. Guodong lost early in the Northern Ireland Open but we can allow him that because the emotional high of winning a first career title after so long in the game isn’t an automatic thing to get over. He’s had enough time to process that now though and back on home soil here I expect the Chinese player to win this one with a couple of frames in hand at least.
Tips
Back X.Guodong (-1.5 frames) to beat R.Walden for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
Back him here:
