The first round of the Welsh Open draws to a close inside Venue Cymru on Tuesday when the other 16 matches take place across three more sessions of action as we get deeper into the final Home Nations event of the season.
Those players who didn’t feature on the opening day on Monday will come out and get their tournament underway on Tuesday and that includes a number of big names on another busy day of snooker in Llandudno.
Morning Session
Two class acts are on the two main tables in the morning session with The Masters champion Shaun Murphy being first up for the day on the TV table. He meets the Chinese player Ma Hailong for a spot in round two. Over on the other table, Barry Hawkins will get a campaign underway which will see him looking to go one better than he managed in the UK Championship and German Masters recently. Sanderson Lam will be the man looking to end his week prematurely.
Afternoon Session
Ronnie O’Sullivan is slated to be the headline draw in the opening part of the afternoon. He is due to take on the home player Jamie Clarke for a place in round two. That will leave Ryan Day as the man who will open up the afternoon on the second main table. He takes on the Belgian youngster Ben Mertens while one of the players of the season so far, Wu Yize, meets Scott Donaldson while the other game sees Lyu Haotian facing off against Joe O’Connor in a match which is big regarding ranking implications.
The world champion Kyren Wilson will head up the second part of the afternoon on the TV table. He faces Marco Fu in what is one of the pick of the first round matches. Over on the other main table two home players will meet when Jak Jones takes on Matthew Stevens for a spot in the second round. Elsewhere, Dave Gilbert goes up against the former winner of this tournament in Jordan Brown while Matthew Selt opens up his campaign when he takes on Ricky Walden who has had quite a crazy couple of weeks.
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Evening Session
As was the case on Monday, we have a full slate of games in the first part of the evening session on Tuesday and it is the former champion Luca Brecel who will headline it when he meets Stuart Carrington. The former Shootout winner Chris Wakelin will be over on table two when he meets Michael Holt. Noppon Saengkham gets his campaign underway against the home amateur Dylan Emery while Hossein Vafaei meets Fan Zhengyi in a sleeper for the best match of the day.
Two matches are saved for the TV tables for the second part of the evening and it will be Ali Carter who graces the main table. He faces off against Rory Thor who is quietly having a decent season lower down the rankings. Over on the other table Jack Lisowski begins his latest quest at a maiden ranking event title when he takes on one of the few amateurs who managed to come through the qualifying section in Joshua Cooper.
Betting
Dylan Emery has had a decent week. He has qualified for this tournament courtesy of a win over the Scottish Open champion Lei Peifan and then he went onto the Q Tour event over the weekend and made the final there, going down in a deciding frame to Liam Highfield in the final so the Welshman brings a lot of winning form into this first round clash with Noppon Saengkham, a player he beat in this tournament a year ago.
In fact, Emery has won both of their proper meetings so the Thai will hold no fear for the young Welsh player. Saengkham has won both of their matches in the Shootout but we can’t use that as a form guide. Saengkham had a good run to the quarter final of the Scottish Open but either side of that he certainly hasn’t pulled up many trees. He is a bit sporadic at the best of times and I think he could be vulnerable against an in form Emery who is overpriced whatever the form of Saengkham.
Tips
Back D.Emery to beat N.Saengkham for a 3/10 stake at 3.20 with Bet365
