The Shanghai Masters main draw might be some three weeks away but qualifying for the tournament begins in Barnsley of all places on Tuesday morning and continues throughout the week until we determine the 16 men who will join the seeds in the Chinese city.
This tournament works under the old style set up where the top 16 in the world rankings automatically qualify and then depending on where you are in the rankings you might need to win one match to qualify or four. Everyone in action on Tuesday are four wins from the main draw.
Morning Session
Although Tuesday is for players ranked 65-128 and amateurs there is one huge name in action in the morning session and that is Jimmy White, fresh off his run to the quarter final of the Paul Hunter Classic over the weekend. He takes on Daniel Wells here.
Anda Zhang finished last season at the Crucible and since then he has already recorded a win over Judd Trump and he is in action too on Tuesday morning. He faces the Indian player Aditya Mehta. Zhao Xintong, Liam Highfield, Peter Lines and Zak Surety are in action in the morning too.
Afternoon Session
Andy Hicks and James Wattana are the standout names in play in this second session of the day. They go up against Sam Craigie and Sydney Wilson respectively and have tough matches in that respect. Wattana is a favourite which is a bit of a surprise although Wilson is yet to win a match this season.
Craig Steadman and Cao Yupeng have put in big performances in the World Championship in the past and they face each other in this session while Noppon Saengkham, Adam Duffy and James Cahill are among those also taking to the tables.
Evening Session
This session is headlined by Anthony Hamilton. The Sheriff takes on Kritsanut Lertsattayatthorn of Thailand in his first match, a match he is widely expected to win. Jamie Cope is another relatively big name who has been saved for this final session of the opening day.
On the other tables there aren’t too many standout names although we’ve seen Mitchell Mann in the World Championship before while Zhang Yong could be another in the long line of young Chinese players ready for stardom.
Betting
I like three bets here. The first is going with the form man from the weekend in Jimmy White. I’m a believer in following the form when tournaments are this close together and White’s run was no fluke. He took care of Xiao Guodong and Michael White among others in Germany so he is playing well and even money over Daniel Wells looks good to me.
Wells had a good run in the World Open but he won’t have been favourite for too many matches in his career and White performs much better in matches he isn’t expected to win as we saw at the weekend so I’m happy to side with the Whirlwind there.
I’m keeping with the weekend form for my second bet where Thor Chuan Leong and Christopher Keogan meet for the second time in four days having met in the first round of the Paul Hunter Classic. Keogan won that match 4-0 so a shade under evens looks a bit of a gift on him here. Leong has enjoyed an up and down season so far but the form of a few days ago looks worth sticking with.
Finally in the evening session I like Zhang Yong against Fraser Patrick. Yong has beaten some good players to qualify for all the tournaments so far this season and he hasn’t disgraced himself when he has been there even though he’s yet to win a main event match. Yong has taken three frames off Kyren Wilson and a couple off Mark Allen at the weekend which is no mean feat.
Fraser Patrick seems to be very much all or nothing both at the minute and in his career as a whole and while I’m never one to get on the wrong side of Scottish snooker players I just fancy Yong is a player waiting to burst through but just needs a friendly draw to do it. He has it here.
Tips
Back J.White to beat D.Wells for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfred
Back him here:
Back C.Keogan to beat T-C.Leong for a 4/10 stake at 1.95 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back Z.Yong to beat F.Patrick for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
Back him here:
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