The last 16 of the UK Championship concludes on Thursday with some big names in action at the Barbican Centre in York looking to make it into the quarter final of the prestigious event.
In what is rapidly becoming a tournament of surprises two more former world champions bit the dust on Wednesday when Peter Ebdon and Shaun Murphy were shown the door. Another ex-world title holder Mark Selby safely made it through and he’s now the tournament favourite.
Two more former champions of the world look to make it into the last eight on Thursday when John Higgins and Neil Robertson are back on the baize in their last 16 matches.
The last couple of days have been a bit poor from a betting point of view so hopefully the four matches on Thursday will yield better results. Handily there are a few bets I like so I’m going on the attack.
Robertson is the highlight of the afternoon session. He takes on Stephen Maguire for the right to face either John Higgins or Jamie Burnett in the last eight.
Robertson was involved in a dramatic match in the last round. I still don’t think he’s on top form but credit where it is due the 145 break he made against Un-Nooh was brilliant but with an ounce more luck and composure the Thai would have been much closer at the end.
Robertson wasn’t the only one scoring well in the previous round. Maguire slammed in runs of 125 and 127 as well as a couple of other big scores in what was a really good match against Mark Davis.
I think Maguire has a real chance in this match. He’s won the last three between these two in proper competitions and the way he is scoring Robertson’s long game is going to be under pressure throughout.
Eventually that pressure can tell so I’m happy to back the Scot to win and having banged in a couple of centuries in the last round and a couple of 97s in the first round he’s clearly scoring well. With that in mind I’ll have a punt on Maguire notching another ton here too.
In the other match in the afternoon session Liang Wenbo looks to follow up his win over Judd Trump when he takes on Tom Ford. The winner will play Marco Fu in the quarter final on Friday.
This is another match I fancy some decent breaks in. In the 18 frames Ford has won in this tournament he has made 15 breaks of 50 or more while Wenbo has had 10 or more so both are scoring well this week which leads me to thinking the 4.5 50+ break line could be a touch on the low side.
Going into the evening session and I guess all eyes will be on the all-Scottish battle to see if John Higgins can continue his progress in the tournament. Jamie Burnett stands in his way here and to be fair he has played really well in the competition so far.
Higgins has won their last four meetings pretty comfortably and it would be a surprise if he doesn’t come through this one too but I’m going to give Burnett the respect he deserves and not take Higgins with a 2.5 frame cap even though I can see a 6-3 or so win.
The other match does yield a handicap I like though. It sees Martin Gould taking on a Northern Irishman for the second time in three days. Having beaten Mark Allen on Tuesday, Gould faces Joe Swail on Thursday with David Grace awaiting the winner.
I’m still not sure how Swail has made it this far but credit to him for doing so. The fact he has only made three breaks over 50 in the last two rounds has to be a concern for the Outlaw and his fans because it is hard to beat Gould without scoring.
The reason for that is the quality of Gould’s safety game which has improved immeasurably. That hasn’t come at a detriment to his scoring though as he has scored five breaks of 50 or more in two of his three matches.
That will mean there will be a lot of pressure on Swail’s safety and at some point I expect that pressure to create a crack, a crack that Gould can exploit to come through with a bit to spare.
Back S.Maguire to beat N.Robertson for a 3/10 stake at 2.80 with Betway
Back S.Maguire Over 0.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Bet365
Back T.Ford vs L.Wenbo – Over 4.5 50+ breaks for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Paddy Power
Back M.Gould (-1.5 frames) to beat J.Swail for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Coral
