The second round of the Northern Ireland Open concludes on Wednesday when another three sessions of snooker takes place inside the Waterfront Hall in Belfast as the last 16 of the latest Home Nations event is finalised.
A couple of big names were on show on Tuesday evening but in the main the ones remaining have been saved for the play on Wednesday where we should see some competitive snooker with players in the top 32 of the rankings able to face each other now.
Morning Session
We have two matches making up the morning session on Wednesday with the former world champion Luca Brecel the highest ranked player in action. He is in danger of losing his tour card at the end of the season if he doesn’t win a few matches and so he’ll be looking to make the most of a clash with Pang Junxu to reach the last 16. Tom Ford isn’t having a great season but he has the chance to make it into the final 16 here when he meets Lei Peifan.
Afternoon Session
There are two sets of matches in the afternoon session with the first of them being the only one where all three tables will be in use. The main table will be occupied by the home favourite Mark Allen. He takes on Oliver Lines for a spot in round three. The other tables throw up a huge chance for a lower ranked player to make the last 16. Martin O’Donnell will be a favourite to progress when he takes on the legend Jimmy White while Elliot Slessor will go up against Long Zehuang for a shot at either Ford or Peifan in the round of 16.
Just two matches make up the second part of the afternoon but we have a cracking match on the main table where the two men either side of the top 16 line coming into the event meet as John Higgins takes on Barry Hawkins in a clash which could have huge implications for both. Over on the other table the finalist here last year, Chris Wakelin, will look to make it through at the expense of the Chinese player Ma Hailong who beat Ali Carter in the opening round on Tuesday.
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Evening Session
We have two sets of matches in the evening session as well with only the two main tables being used in each. It is the point in proceedings where the world champion Kyren Wilson will come out and look to reach round three. He meets Anthony McGill in a repeat of that classic World Championship semi-final from the Covid season. Over on the other table the English Open winner Neil Robertson will face off against a Wang Yuchen who took care of Jack Lisowski in the previous round.
Mark Williams will be the main man on show in the second part of the evening. The former champion will look to make it into the last 16 at the expense of the popular Thai player Noppon Saengkham who overcame his countryman Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in the previous round. The other match sees another Welsh star taking to the baize when the World Championship finalist Jak Jones meets a Stan Moody who is getting some decent results suddenly.
Betting
Mark Williams has openly said that he doesn’t have any expectations in this tournament because of his time playing Chinese pool and while that makes him a little dangerous because he is playing even more free than usual, his performance in the opening round does suggest that he was more than a little rusty and he might be there for the taking for a competent Noppon Saengkham who generally makes the most of the chances that come his way, and they might come regularly here.
Williams beat Jamie Clarke 4-0 in the previous round but the match was much closer than that and Clarke might even have won it if he had taken any of the chances that came his way in the opening three frames. Saengkham didn’t have his own cue against Un-Nooh on Tuesday but was still good enough to get the job done and if he plays like he did in that match in this one he’ll have every chance. To add to the Williams issues, he is still bedding in a new cue and that makes the 13/8 on the Thai just too big to ignore here.
Tips
Back N.Saengkham to beat M.Williams for a 3/10 stake at 2.63 with Bet365
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