After one of the most dramatic days in UK Championship history on Tuesday we’re down to the last 16 of the second biggest tournament in the game and the first half of that round will be played over two sessions of action on Wednesday.
Tuesday saw the exit of Judd Trump. He lost 6-4 to Liang Wenbo having led 4-1 at one stage while Mark Allen also bit the dust losing by the same scoreline to Martin Gould but the real drama came in the Neil Robertson-Thepchaiya Un-Nooh match where the Thai missed the final black for a 147 and what would’ve been a nice Christmas bonus of £44,000. Ouch.
The tournament really picks up a level from here on in. We’re down to just the two tables which gives the arena more of a big event look and the focus and profile of each match raises with that set up. That should ensure we see some decent snooker.
The afternoon session sees Peter Ebdon taking on David Grace while on the other table Mark Selby faces Dechawat Poomjaeng. Both matches are over the best of 11 frames still.
David Grace has done really well to get this far and having begun the event at 80 in the world rankings the £12,000 he has earnt will make a significant difference to his prize fund and standing in the game but I would be surprised if he keeps his run going.
The Yorkshireman has only made two breaks of 50 or more in each of his three matches so far and we’re getting to the stage of the event where the cream will rise to the top so he will need to score a lot heavier than that to get anything from this.
Ebdon in contrast has already slammed in three centuries and a raft of other decent runs and after beating the world champion in the previous round he will be absolutely buzzing at the minute. We know he will give his all in every shot here which is a nice position to have money on and I think he’ll be too good for his lower ranked opponent here.
Mark Selby is a very warm favourite in the other match. It will be interesting to see how Poomjaeng goes in this match because he must surely have been thinking he was heading for the exit door when he trailed Mark Joyce 5-0 on Tuesday night.
Amazingly the Thai found something in the ultimate last chance saloon and only afforded his opponent 66 more points in the six frames that followed to seal a quite remarkable 6-5 win.
Poomjaeng wasn’t the only one completing a great escape in the previous round. Mark Selby came from behind five times in his deciding frame win over Jamie Jones and must feel equally as fortunate as Poomjaeng to still be in the competition.
You would think Tuesday’s win will have taken a lot out of Poomjaeng so this becomes a no bet match for me especially with Selby not in the greatest nick in his last match either.
Looking into the evening session and the headline match sees Shaun Murphy taking on Marco Fu in what looks like a high quality match. Murphy’s long game in his win over Ben Woollaston on Tuesday was quite immaculate but Marco is going along almost unnoticed but he is playing some good stuff. I’m on Fu for the quarter so there’s no need to get involved again here.
Luca Brecel faces Matt Selt on the other table in a match between two talented players yet to get where they should be in the game. I’ve a feeling Brecel is playing the better of the two this week.
Certainly his performance against Robin Hull was the best either have produced so far in this tournament in terms of scoring and dominance and if the Belgian is in that form here he can book his spot in another major quarter final.
Back P.Ebdon (-1.5 frames) to beat D.Grace for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Ladbrokes
Back L.Brecel to beat M.Selt for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Skybet
