The second round of the UK Championship comes to a close inside the Barbican Centre in York on Thursday when the four matches yet to take place do so across two sessions of play as we finalise the quarter final line up in the first Triple Crown event of the season.
We saw the world number one and defending champion Judd Trump make it through on Wednesday and on Thursday it will be the world champion Zhao Xintong who will headline the action on a day where three world champions and two world finalists will be on show.
Afternoon Session
Zhang Anda vs Zhao Xintong
The main table will be occupied by the world champion Zhao Xintong in the afternoon session on Thursday when the former UK title holder will go up against his compatriot Zhang Anda who had a good win over Gary Wilson in the opening round.
Zhang is looking to get back into the top 16 having fallen out of it when his International Championship winning points fell off his ranking earlier in the year and the way he held himself together from 5-3 down to Wilson in the previous round would certainly bode well for him here. Xintong won in Saudi Arabia last week but wasn’t really tested in the first round here with Long Zehuang nowhere near up to the task of challenging him so we will find out more about the world champion in this one. I think the odds are about right in this one. Zhang is capable of the upset but it is hard to take on Xintong at the minute so I’ll leave this one alone.
Ding Junhui vs Scott Donaldson
Over on table two we will have another Chinese former winner of this tournament in Ding Junhui looking to book a date with the world number one Judd Trump in the last eight when he takes on Scott Donaldson, who might be thinking his name is on this trophy.
Donaldson was 5-0 down to Stuart Bingham in the final round of qualifying for this event but recovered to win 6-5 and then he ran into an absolutely terrible Mark Allen in the first round here which turned out to be the plum draw. There was nothing in the Ding win over Xu Si in the opening round to suggest that this is a nice draw though so the Scot is going to need to find a huge improvement. That might happen because he was clearly emotional at the beginning of the match with Allen and you would imagine those emotions won’t be as close to the surface here. Ding has no real form to go by this season but there is something about this place which gets his juices flowing so he’ll fancy the job here. Based on what we’ve seen in this tournament and the lead up to it I would be very surprised if Ding doesn’t win this match and win it well but he is my outright pick for the tournament so I’m happy to watch him do that without getting involved in the contest.
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Evening Session
John Higgins vs Shaun Murphy
The main table will be occupied by two former champions in the evening session on Thursday when the recent International Championship finalist John Higgins faces the British Open winner Shaun Murphy in the standout tie of the round.
These two men are both class acts who have operated close to the top of their game at times this season and that makes for a very juicy contest here. Higgins cruised past Ben Woollaston in the opening round with some good scoring suggesting that he is hitting the ball nicely. Murphy was equally as comfortable against Lyu Haotian in that first round and he made five 50 breaks along the way as well so all the signs are that we are in for a decent contest here, one which it would be a surprise to nobody if this goes close and even all the way to a deciding frame. These two met at the International Championship last month where Higgins won 6-2 and on a table which is playing a lot tougher with tighter pockets therefore bringing the better match player into play, I think odds against on Higgins is the way to play this one.
Elliot Slessor vs Barry Hawkins
The last second round match over on table two takes place on Thursday evening and will see the finalist of a year ago, Barry Hawkins, looking to make it back into the last eight when he takes on the much improved Elliot Slessor.
Slessor took care of the world number two Kyren Wilson in the first round but it is hard to judge how good a performance that was because ‘The Warrior’ was bang ordinary in the match, as evidenced by the woe is me interview he produced after the match. Hawkins did what he was expected to do in the first round when he eased past David Lilley who always looked like he would be the ideal dance partner for him. This feels like a tougher assignment for Hawkins and it will be interesting to see how he copes with it and whether Slessor is good to get the better of him or just caught Wilson at the right time. I wouldn’t put anyone off Slessor here but Hawkins tends to play his best stuff over the longer formats so it might just be that the prices are about right.
Tips
Back J.Higgins to beat S.Murphy for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Boylesports
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