The Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters continues on Monday when the fourth round of the tournament is played across two sessions of action in Jeddah with 32 men lining up to attempt to win the five frames they need to set up a clash with a top 16 player on Tuesday.
The players on show on Monday were the winners from Sunday so everyone has had a match on the tables, the format has gone up to the best of nine frames and the rewards are getting bigger so we should be in for a cracking day of snooker.
Afternoon Session
We have some good matches on show in the first session of the day. Gary Wilson was the top seed in the early rounds of the tournament and he’ll look to justify that and make it through to the last 32 when he takes on Aaron Hill. Stuart Bingham looked decent enough on Sunday and he’ll go up against a Sam Craigie who will know he needs every ranking point he can get this week after his ranking was reset in the summer. Thepchaiya Un-Nooh made a 147 in his win on Sunday and he will go up against the former world finalist Jak Jones in another appealing match. Elsewhere, Noppon Saengkham faces Oliver Lines, Jack Lisowski will take on Ben Woollaston, we have an all-Chinese clash between Long Zehuang and Pang Junxu, Elliot Slessor meets Lan Yuhao and Stan Moody faces Yuan Sijun in another good game.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Evening Session
There are some good matches in the evening session as well with the pick of them probably the one between Wu Yize and Matthew Stevens with one man hoping this is the week his career parachutes into the big time and the latter hoping it is the crowning glory on a great history in the game. We are guaranteed a player from the first round through to the fifth round because Louis Heathcote takes on Iulian Boiko. Dave Gilbert will be hoping to progress to the last 32 when he takes on Chang Bingyu while Joe O’Connor continues his quest to go one better than he did in the Championship League when he meets Sanderson Lam. Stephen Maguire will look to extend his winning run when he takes on his friend Anthony McGill. The other three matches see Hossein Vafaei facing Martin O’Donnell while Jamie Jones will meet Farakh Ajaib. Steven Hallworth will swap the commentary box for the baize to take on Zhou Yuelong.
Betting
Sam Craigie has played some nice stuff this week and I think he is a fair value price to see off a Stuart Bingham who wasn’t exactly full of beans in his post-match interview after his win on Sunday. He was suggesting that his confidence is low and there are certain shots he doesn’t fancy before clarifying he is having eye surgery in a couple of weeks and those are not the vibes of a man who is sure to win this match without help from his opponent.
He got that on Sunday when the youngster Michal Szubarczyk fluffed his lines with a couple of frames at his mercy but the way that Craigie is scoring this week you wouldn’t expect him to offer up the same opportunities and more importantly, he could climb all over the Bingham errors which in turn may well create more of them. Craigie has built up a lot of confidence this week and having had his ranking reset in the summer he knows he needs to maximise tournaments like this and I see no reason why he can’t take care of a clearly low on confidence Bingham.
Tips
Back S.Craigie to beat S.Bingham for a 3/10 stake at 2.40 with Coral
