The Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters continues on Monday when the fourth round of the tournament takes place as the Sunday winners battle it out for a place in the last 32 of the event and a clash with a top 16 player.
We move up to the best of nine frames for the next few rounds so there is a bit of an elevated status on a tournament which is going to have a huge impact on the remainder of the season from here on in given the huge money on offer.
Afternoon Session
We are down to just the one set of matches in each session now that mid-session intervals are on the table and things like that. Si Jiahui is the highest ranked player on show in the afternoon. He has a meeting with the former world champion Graeme Dott while Hossein Vafaei has been chosen for the main TV table. He meets Ben Woollaston in a good looking match. Pang Junxu and Matt Selt are two of relatively few players who were seeded to make this stage and they meet each other in a match while Chris Wakelin faces Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in another good looking contest. Stuart Bingham will look to continue his positive showing in 2024 when he plays Anthony Hamilton while Joe O’Connor will look to push towards the business stages of an event which could see him close in on the top 16 when he meets Lei Peifan. The other two matches offer up a great chance for four players to make a big move up the rankings with Jimmy Robertson going up against Rory Thor and Liu Hongyu facing Ashley Carty.
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Evening Session
Ryan Day is the highest ranked player taking to the tables in the evening session. He has a battle with Scott Donaldson to overcome for the right to meet Barry Hawkins in the next round. Jack Lisowski has every chance of forcing his way back into the top 16 in the rankings if he can go really deep in the competition. Martin O’Donnell is his opponent. Dave Gilbert is another who could fly up the rankings and Jordan Brown stands in his way of a battle with Gary Wilson in the last 32. Neil Robertson is another big name on show in this session and he faces the lowest ranked player left in the draw in Gong Chenzhi while Zhou Yuelong takes on Elliot Slessor. The other three matches sees the maximum man Noppon Saengkham going up against Yuan Sijun, Stephen Maguire taking on Wu Yize and Xiao Guodong takes on Lyu Haotian.
Betting
We’re getting towards the stage where the better bets could be coming in this competition and one of those might well come along on Monday evening as two Chinese players meet when Xiao Guodong takes on Lyu Haotian with the reward for the winner being a shot at the world number one Mark Allen in the last 32 of the tournament. Both these men had to come through deciding frames to make it through to this stage but there is less shame in Lyu needing all seven frames against Marco Fu than Xiao using them all against Duane Jones.
Lyu played really well in that match with Fu. He made four 50 breaks in the seven frames that were played and I’m always a sucker for a man who is in decent scoring form these days because the game seems to be ever more about getting the breaks in the bank. Guodong has actually shown some good form this season but he didn’t play great against Jones in the last round and might just be vulnerable here. These two generally have close matches but that extra scoring form of Lyu makes me think he is the one to be on here.
Tips
Back L.Haotian to beat X.Guodong for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back him here:
