The Welsh Open is down to the quarter final stage with eight players left in the tournament all having their eye on the Ray Reardon Trophy and plenty of side riches which could come with it over the weekend.
The four matches all get played across two sessions of action on Friday with three of the quarter finals on the main table and one on the second table. By the end of the day we’ll know our semi-finalists for the weekend.
Afternoon Session
Shaun Murphy vs Yuan Sijun
The first quarter final in the afternoon session sees the maximum man Shaun Murphy going up against one of the three remaining Chinese players left in the draw in Yuan Sijun for a place in the semi-final on Saturday.
Murphy knows what it takes to not just reach the semi-final of this tournament but to go all the way in it and he looks in the sort of form to do exactly that once again. He is in the position where he will not face another top 16 player until the final so he has a great chance of going all the way in this event. Sijun is getting to unchartered territory with him having only gone past this stage of a ranking event once in his career. This is his second quarter final of the season though so he shouldn’t be written off, not least because the three previous meetings between these two have been close affairs. Murphy looks to be cueing extremely well this week but Sijun has beaten Stephen Maguire and Jack Lisowski this week and merits respect on that so I’m happy to leave this one alone.
Tian Pengfei vs Ronnie O’Sullivan
The second quarter final in the afternoon session sees the surprise package Tian Pengfei going up against the world champion and multiple time former winner of this tournament in Ronnie O’Sullivan in what is a big match for the latter.
O’Sullivan needs to win this match and then the semi-final to make it into the Players Championship next week. He is a huge favourite for this match even though he hasn’t played anything like his best snooker this week. That has largely been down to trust issues with his tip and cue but what has been impressive about the Rocket is the application he has showed. He claims he doesn’t care about wins and rankings and everything but usually in these Home Nations events in the early rounds he throws his cue at everything. That wasn’t the case this week though which makes me think he’s determined to qualify for next week. Pengfei ended the hopes of John Higgins on Thursday evening and Ali Carter earlier that day so he must be hitting the ball sweetly to come through those two opponents. He has a win over O’Sullivan in the past so he shouldn’t lack belief like some of Ronnie’s opponents do. Something tells me that Pengfei is value in this but it is hard to take on O’Sullivan at this stage of a tournament.
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Evening Session
Robert Milkins vs Mark Allen
The pick of the quarter finals is the one on the main table in the evening session when the man of the season Mark Allen looks to make it through to a sixth semi-final of the campaign when he goes up against a confident Robert Milkins.
Allen is a country mile clear in the one-year rankings which highlights just how good a season he is having and he’ll fancy his chances in this match but I’ve mentioned a few times recently that Milkins is playing some nice stuff. There is more than just a semi-final spot up for grabs for these two men. The winner here will remain on course for the £150,000 BetVictor bonus. If Allen wins this match he will be guaranteed it while if Milkins wins he will be two wins from it. A win for Milkins would pretty much qualify him for next week. My gut feeling is Milkins is playing well enough to win this but we’ve seen Allen modify his game to nullify the opposing threat this season and he could easily do that here. I’m happy not to be involved here.
Joe O’Connor vs Pang Junxu
There is one quarter final on the second table on Friday evening and it sees the Scottish Open finalist Joe O’Connor looking to pretty much secure his spot at the Players Championship next week when he takes on Pang Junxu who is in a second quarter final of the month.
Junxu came unstuck against the eventual champion Ali Carter in Germany earlier in the month and he’ll be looking for a better outcome here but I think this one is all about O’Connor, a player who has shown good form already this season and who hasn’t lost a single frame in his last two matches. Junxu has done enough to come through since beating Kyren Wilson in his held over qualifying match at the start of the week but he hasn’t really scored brilliantly and that might be his downfall here because I don’t expect him to win too many tactical battles against an O’Connor who has a very good all-round game. O’Connor has shown at the Scottish Open that he can navigate his way deep in these events and he has good memories of this tournament because he made his breakthrough when he made the semi-finals of this event four years ago. I think he’ll get through to that stage again here too.
Tips
Back J.O’Connor to beat P.Junxu for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
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