The second round of the UK Championship begins inside the Barbican Centre in York on Wednesday when the top half of the draw is back on show as they play down to the quarter final stage of the opening Triple Crown event of the season.
We have already seen this half of the draw open up with half of the seeds having bitten the dust in it so it will be interesting if that trend continues or whether the cream will rise to the top now that the seeds have had a match.
Afternoon Session
Shaun Murphy vs Ding Junhui
The action on the main table in the afternoon will see two former winners of the tournament battling it out for a spot in the quarter final when Shaun Murphy takes on Ding Junhui with the winner potentially the favourite to make the final from the top half.
Both these men had to withstand deciding frames to make it through the opening round. Murphy held off the challenge of Si Jiahui while Ding outlasted Robert Milkins from 5-3 down so both are battle-hardened and should be able to deliver a strong performance. I’m still absolutely no fan of Murphy working for the BBC the day before a big match like this but hopefully that works in my favour because he is taking on my outright bet for this tournament here and I am hoping that Ding makes it through. That is enough interest in this one for me.
Barry Hawkins vs Dave Gilbert
Two qualifiers will battle it out over on the other table when Barry Hawkins, the conqueror of Ronnie O’Sullivan in the opening round, will face off against the World Championship semi-finalist Dave Gilbert in a match which is huge for both.
Both players have the chance to make the top 16 of the world rankings with a deep run here and one of them will be in the quarter final courtesy of beating a qualifier. Hawkins has looked good in this tournament and he is a narrow favourite to come out on top here. I think that is fair enough but I wouldn’t be rushing to take on Gilbert, who has shown over the whole of 2024 that he is more than capable of winning matches. The obvious bet here is for there to be over 9.5 frames. Both their first round matches covered this line and the last two times they have met they have gone to a deciding frame and the game before that went 6-4. Both men look to be in decent touch and this is a huge chance for both of them so I like the over here.
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Evening Session
Wu Yize vs Mark Allen
The former champion Mark Allen will be the main man on the TV table in the evening session on Wednesday. The Northern Irish player will go up against the finalist of the English Open from earlier in the season in Wu Yize.
Yize came through against Si Jiahui in the opening round but you would be stretching the truth to suggest that he played particularly well in that match but you would imagine some of that would have been because he fancied the job and put pressure on himself to come through. He might see Allen as a harder proposition and as such he might be able to relax and allow the form that he had in Brentwood to come out here. Allen certainly didn’t play well in the first match and actually if Jackson Page had just tightened up a touch and realised the opportunity he had he could easily have put Allen out. I really don’t like the way Allen is playing but I’m not convinced Wu is the man to dispose of him so I’ll leave this one alone.
Jack Lisowski vs Ali Carter
The other match in the evening session on Wednesday sees two players who could very easily go all the way in this tournament meeting when the qualifier Jack Lisowski takes on an Ali Carter whose record in this event is actually quite poor given how good he is.
Carter did well to come past Ryan Day in the first round but it wasn’t a convincing performance and I think he is vulnerable to Lisowski here. The qualifier came through the match of the tournament so far when he beat Mark Selby from 3-0 down. Selby was flawless going into that 3-0 lead and then Lisowski barely missed a ball and came out with a 6-4 win and if he plays like that and Carter doesn’t show improvement, and there is every chance he won because he hasn’t been pulling up trees this season, then the former semi-finalist here would really fancy his chances of coming through. This could be a huge week for Lisowski who could return to the top 16 with a decent run here. There is nothing in the Carter form to suggest that he is suddenly going to score Lisowski off the table. Lisowski has a good record against Carter and I’ll back him to continue that here.
Tips
Back B.Hawkins vs D.Gilbert – Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Sky Bet
Back J.Lisowski to beat A.Carter for a 3/10 stake at 1.73 with William Hill
Back him here:
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