It is the penultimate day of qualifying in the Shanghai Masters on Thursday and by the end of it we will know the 16 men who will be going up against those ranked just outside the top 16 in the world to try and seal a place in the main draw.
Thursday’s action sees all 32 of Wednesday’s winners back in action so there shouldn’t be too much in the way of advantage for anyone with every player playing having had at least one match on the table so far this week.
Morning Session
This is the busiest session of the day with six matches in play. They see Robbie Williams taking on Mark King, Zhang Anda facing Dechawat Poomjaeng, Daniel Wells playing Scott Donaldson and Paul Davison playing Thor Chuan Leong on the tables which aren’t being streamed.
On the streamed tables Jack Lisowski faces Zhao Xintong who will be eager to make it to the final stages in his home country as will Xiao Guodong who faces Jimmy Robertson on the other streamed table.
Afternoon Session
We only have five matches in this session with the two streamed matches seeing Andrew Higginson facing Li Hang and Jamie Jones back in the spotlight when he goes up against the evergreen Irish player Fergal O’Brien in what could turn out to be a bit of a battle.
Away from the streamed cameras we have Ian Preece and Chris Wakelin doing battle for the right to face Dave Gilbert on Friday, Rod Lawler plays Kurt Maflin and Adam Duffy takes on Mark Joyce with the winner of that one setting up a meeting with Robert Milkins.
Evening Session
The round of matches conclude with five more in the evening session and on the streamed tables we have Dominic Dale against the surprise Chinese star Mei Xiwen while Martin O’Donnell will meet Matthew Stevens in the other match.
The matches which don’t carry the spotlight are Gareth Allen against Stuart Carrington with Luca Brecel awaiting the winner while Rory McLeod meets Hammad Miah and Nigel Bond goes up against the relatively unknown Thai Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn.
Betting
I’m going to go with three bets in this set of action. Two of those bets go in the afternoon session and then there is one in the evening. The afternoon bets involve the Rod Lawler vs Kurt Maflin and Andrew Higginson vs Li Hang matches.
I’ve always been a Kurt Maflin fan and I always think his scoring power gives him the edge over Rod Lawler when they meet and their head to head reflects that. Quite often Lawler’s dour style means these two are quite tight when they play but Maflin can mix it in that and when the frames are open he has a significant advantage, an advantage which could prove the difference here.
Andrew Higginson’s decline over the last 2-3 years has been steady but there hasn’t been any sign of it ending any time soon whereas his opponent Li Hang is someone on the up and in this sport it often pays to take the man on the up with the positive vibes behind him over the one who isn’t flowing and might not be carrying much confidence. That’s what I’m going to do here so I’m with Li Hang.
Finally I think Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn isn’t without a chance against Nigel Bond. I took Nigel Bond on in the previous round but he came through a messy match with Jamie Cope however the way the Thai is scoring I don’t think Bond is guaranteed to come through here. Of course it could be that Bond ties him up and feasts on his chances but Lertsattayatthorn will get chances and based on how he has scored this week I think it is worth backing him to take enough of them.
Tips
WON – Back K.Maflin to beat R.Lawler for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Betfred
Back him here:
Back L.Hang to beat A.Higginson for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
Back him here:
Back K.Lertsattayatthorn to beat N.Bond for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Coral
Back him here:
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