It is last 16 day at the Northern Ireland Open on Thursday with all eight matches being played out inside the Waterfront Hall in Belfast on a day where we will find out the full quarter final line-up in the second Home Nations event of the season.
The draw is beginning to open up after a number of shocks in the early rounds but there are enough big names left in to keep the quality high and a couple of big chances for outsiders to make a name for themselves to bring the drama to proceedings.
Afternoon Session
We have two sessions of play and two sets of matches in each on Thursday. The main table action will be opened up by the former champion Judd Trump. He meets the Wuhan Open finalist Gary Wilson in what should be a belting match. While they are battling it out on the main table, the other table will see the Shootout champion Tom Ford meeting the Chinese player Yuan Sijun for a place in the quarter final of the tournament.
The home star Mark Allen will be on the main table in the second part of the afternoon. He has ridden his luck a touch in this tournament already but might need to be much nearer his best if he is to come through against the man from the other part of Ireland in Aaron Hill. The other match is probably more high profile as two top 16 players go at it when John Higgins looks to make yet another ranking event quarter final when he takes on the Chinese star Si Jiahui.
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Evening Session
The British Open champion Shaun Murphy will be the headline act in the first part of the evening on the main table on Thursday. The Xi’an Grand Prix finalist will look to continue a sensational few weeks of form when he faces the home player Jordan Brown for a spot in the quarter final. The other table will see Kyren Wilson continuing his title defence. He will face the third lowest ranked player left in the tournament in the shape of He Guoqiang.
We have a really exciting clash on show in the second part of the evening on the main table when two of the best players to watch in the modern game go at it when Thepchaiya Un-Nooh meets Jack Lisowski in a clash which isn’t likely to see much safety played and probably won’t be lengthy in time either. Ali Carter will look to make it into the last eight on the other table when he faces off against Zhou Yuelong, the Chinese ace who is aiming for back-to-back Home Nations finals after reaching the title game in the English Open earlier in the year.
Betting
Ali Carter has looked in excellent touch in this tournament. I didn’t fancy him to come through the first round against Stan Moody given that he had lost to him twice this season already but he came through well from 2-0 down, notching a couple of centuries and holding himself together in the deciding frame. He came through another deciding frame against Jimmy Robertson in the previous round where he made two more centuries, one a total clearance in the decider having been pegged back from 3-0 up to 3-3 which shows his character.
Zhou Yuelong has been going well this season too. He made the English Open final and had a really good run there so he won’t be easy to beat but he hasn’t quite hit the heights of that week here just yet and if this does go close then the fact he has played a couple of deciding frames and flourished in them makes me think that Carter would be the one to be on to come through. These two haven’t met for a while so this one could be about the form of the week and Carter looks to be hitting the white very well and can win this.
Tips
Back A.Carter to beat Z.Yuelong for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with Betfred
