The second round of the World Championship continues on what promises to be another wonderful day of snooker inside the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Saturday as we have three more sessions of play to enjoy.
One man booked his place in the quarter final on Friday and over the course of the day on Saturday two more will join him while we have three more matches going off on their journey so there is lots to look forward to.
Day 7 Recap
It was quite a dramatic day inside the Crucible Theatre on Friday. Luca Brecel was the first man into the quarter finals when he came through against Mark Williams 13-11 to give us our first winner of the round. Three other matches saw action on Friday. Mark Allen is on the verge of victory over Stuart Bingham. He needs just one frame when they come back for their final session as he leads 12-4. Neil Robertson is in a bit of strife trailing Jak Jones 10-6 after the second session of their match and he will need his very best to come through on Saturday afternoon. The other match sees Ronnie O’Sullivan 6-2 up on Hossein Vafaei in a match where the bad blood prior to it spilled onto the baize.
In Play Betting
There are three matches currently in play and they will all see action on Saturday but I’m not sure there is a lot of betting potential in them. Mark Allen will beat Stuart Bingham it is just a case of when. The one match which might get interesting is the one between Jak Jones and Neil Robertson but I don’t see the Australian turning a 10-6 deficit around. 9-7 there could be a case that he is favourite but 10-6 and with Jones showing no signs of faltering that looks a test too big. I don’t see Hossein Vafaei pulling a 6-2 deficit to Ronnie O’Sullivan back either. Vafaei showed his hand with that brainfreeze break and will pay the price so I’ll leave the in play stuff.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Anthony McGill vs Jack Lisowski (Saturday 10am, Sunday 2.30pm & Monday 7pm)
The first of three matches to get underway on Saturday does so in the morning session and sees two stablemates meeting when Anthony McGill looks to follow up his win over Judd Trump in the first round when he takes on his good friend Jack Lisowski.
Lisowski made the quarter final of this tournament last year and will know his section of the draw is opening up nicely with both Trump and Shaun Murphy out of the way and Robert Milkins anything but convincing. That might add extra pressure on him but you sense he is maturing enough to deal with that. McGill loves it here and having taken out Trump in the previous round he has opened the draw up for himself and will now be wanting to take advantage of that. I sense this is one of those matches which won’t be won and lost by the past or away from the table, the better player in the three sessions will win but I’ll watch the first one and then assess the situation from there.
Gary Wilson vs Mark Selby (Saturday 7pm, Sunday 2.30pm & Monday 7pm)
The last two matches to begin on Saturday do so in the evening session and will also be played across three days of action and the main spotlight will be on Table Two where the former champion Mark Selby goes up against the Scottish Open winner from this season in Gary Wilson.
These two met here in this round four years ago and surprisingly it was Wilson who won 13-10 which will give him confidence going into this match. If he can get into a rhythm and a flow then he is capable of beating anyone in the game with his relentless scoring but when he is slightly off it he can be vulnerable and we saw both sides of that in the first round against Elliot Slessor, although to be fair Wilson held his nerve to come through 10-8. Selby also had to battle in the opening round and came through by the same score against Matt Selt who played very well in defeat and he looked in very good order. I sense this one is going to be quite close. I think Selby will get over the line but Wilson is playing well enough not to get swamped and while Selby might pull away in the end I don’t think that will be until the final session. I think over 21.5 frames will land in this one.
Robert Milkins vs Si Jiahui (Saturday 7pm, Sunday 7pm & Monday 1pm)
Over on Table One two potential outsiders to go deep in the tournament will meet for a place in the last eight when the Welsh Open champion Robert Milkins takes on the Chinese player Si Jiahui over the best of 25 frames.
Si Jiahui made another name for himself in the opening round with a second win over Shaun Murphy in a Triple Crown event, holding his nerve to stave off a Murphy fightback to win 10-9 in a wonderful match. Milkins also won a deciding frame to make it through here but he had to go about things the other way round, needing to overturn a 7-2 deficit to Joe Perry in the match which was messed up by the idiot ruining the table during their first session. You sensed Milkins carried the pressure of expectation into that match with him but might well feel that he is free rolling now having thought he was out at 7-2 down. Si Jiahui is gaining a lot of admirers and actually goes into this match as the favourite despite having never played a best of 25 match before and him being ranked 61 places behind his opponent in the world rankings. I think the odds are the wrong way around here. I expect to see much more like the best of Milkins in this match and over this distance I think that will be enough for him to come through.
Tips
Back G.Wilson vs M.Selby – Over 21.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 1.83 with BetVictor
Back it here:
Back R.Milkins to beat S.Jiahui for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Bet365
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023
