The opening day of the Scottish Open sees the held over matches from the qualifying competition taking place as well as a sprinkling of the first round of the main draw being played out inside the Meadowbank Arena in Edinburgh.
With the top 16 all having their qualifying matches held over to the main venue it means we get to see plenty of star names on show on the first day of play in Edinburgh including the likes of Ronnie O’Sullivan and Judd Trump.
Morning Session
There are four tables in the venue this week and they are all show in the morning session. The defending champion Luca Brecel begins his title defence on the main table when he goes up against Fraser Patrick who is playing in his home event. The pick of the matches sees the exciting Zhao Xintong going up against Jackson Page while his friend and Chinese compatriot Yan Bingtao is also on show. He meets Li Hang and there is Chinese representation in the other match in the form of Fan Zhengyi. Ryan Day is his opponent.
Afternoon Session
Judd Trump is the star attraction in the first of the afternoon matches on the main table. He will face off against Sanderson Lam who might be outmatched here. Such is the quality on show over the course of this session the UK Championship winner Mark Allen will only be sighted on table two. Andy Lee is his opponent. There are huge names everywhere you look first up in this session with Jack Lisowski also on show against Gerard Greene. The other match sees Robbie Williams facing the Scottish amateur Liam Graham.
The Scottish number one John Higgins will grace the main table in his home tournament in the second set of matches in the afternoon. He faces the competent Anthony Hamilton to open up his campaign while on table two his fellow ‘Class of 92’ member Mark Williams will go up against the Estonian player on tour in Andres Petrov. Stuart Bingham meets Zak Surety and the other match sees John Astley taking on the other Scottish amateur in Amaan Iqbal.
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Evening Session
The world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan is scheduled to headline the opening part of the evening session. He will go up against Bai Langning for a place in the main draw while twice former winner of the event, Mark Selby, will get his campaign underway over on table two when he goes up against the Irish player Aaron Hill. Shaun Murphy will also be seen first up in the evening session when he takes on Lei Peifan and there is a first round match between Robert Milkins and Stuart Carrington to conclude the session.
The second part of the evening only has three matches in it as one of the held over games has been delayed until Tuesday. Neil Robertson will be the star attraction as he looks to make it into the main draw at the expense of Mark Davis, who had a good win over Judd Trump in German Masters qualifying last week. Barry Hawkins will be on table two when he goes up against Andrew Pagett. The other match comes from the main draw where Pang Junxu meets Jimmy Robertson.
Betting
Robert Milkins served me well in the German Masters qualifying last week and I’m happy to take him again here when he takes on Stuart Carrington in the first round of the main draw. Carrington hasn’t had a particularly good campaign it has to be said. He has five wins on the season but only one of them have come against anyone in the top 40 in the world so he is a little flattered by that record it has to be said.
I mentioned over the weekend that the confidence of Milkins has clearly grown since he won the Gibraltar Open. It took so much pressure off him not just because of the ranking points and financial security but also because his career has been crowned with silverware. He is almost playing free from here on in and that shows. He has wins over Graeme Dott, John Higgins and Zhao Xintong to his name this season and will fancy his chances of picking up another against a Carrington who he beat 5-0 and 4-1 in their previous two matches. I expect him to win with a bit in hand.
Tips
Back R.Milkins (-1.5 frames) to beat S.Carrington for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with William Hill
Back him here:
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