The opening day of the World Championship is headlined by the defending champion starting out on his quest to make a successful defence of the title in one of five matches which get underway inside the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Saturday.
Only one of the five matches concludes on the opening day but we get to see 10 players start out on their quest for the world title with two or three genuine contenders for the tournament on show right from the start.
Luca Brecel vs Dave Gilbert (Saturday 10am & Saturday 7pm)
The first match of the tournament sees the tradition being kept when the defending champion gets us underway as Luca Brecel begins the defence of his world title when he goes up against a dangerous qualifier in Dave Gilbert.
Brecel looked in very good shape here last year having previously never won a match in this venue prior to turning up 12 months ago. He will hope he continues in that vein and to be fair his run to the Shanghai Masters final and Riyadh Masters final shows that he can still shine on the biggest stages. Gilbert can do that too though and he looked in very good touch in the qualifying and suggested that he has been putting a lot of work in ahead of this tournament and it showed on the baize. I’ve a feeling Gilbert will win this, nothing to do with the curse which we’ll hear so much about on Saturday, but more because he looked good in qualifying and comes here sharp. He is my outright bet though so I don’t really want to go in again but I wouldn’t put anyone off backing him.
Zhang Anda vs Jak Jones (Saturday 10am & Sunday 10am)
Over on the other table first of all is the Chinese star Zhang Anda who will be at the Crucible Theatre for the first time in eight seasons. He meets the man who made the quarter final on his debut here last year in Jak Jones.
It will be interesting to see how Zhang Anda goes here. He had a brilliant first half of the season but since the turn of the year, with the exception of his run to the final of the Players Championship, he has done little of note and you sense he is a seed who could be vulnerable in this opening round. Jones certainly hasn’t backed up his run to the last eight here a year ago in the way he would have wanted this season but he looked good in the qualifying competition where he made it past Zhou Yuelong winning the last eight frames from 4-2 down to win 10-4 and made nine breaks over 50 in that match. If he has that sort of form with him here, and given it was only three days ago you would imagine he will, then I think he is in good shape to come through this one at an acceptable price.
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Judd Trump vs Hossein Vafaei (Saturday 2.30pm & Sunday 2.30pm)
The pick of the matches on the opening day of the competition sees the second favourite for the tournament in Judd Trump going up against one of the most dangerous qualifiers in the event in Hossein Vafaei in a blockbuster clash.
We know that Vafaei doesn’t fear anyone. Whether he is good enough to beat the very best on this sort of stage remains to seen. The one thing which will give Vafaei confidence here is that Trump still doesn’t have a brilliant record in the Triple Crown events and by and large his best snooker comes at the end of the tournament rather than the beginning of it. That is the challenge for Trump. He needs to play well from the off but he looked in ordinary nick at the Tour Championship, surprisingly given what he has won this season. I don’t think Trump is a great bet here but I’m prepared to watch the first session and assess where we are before committing to anything.
Ali Carter vs Stephen Maguire (Saturday 2.30pm & Sunday 7pm)
Two men who are no strangers to the Crucible Theatre meet over on the other table in the afternoon when Ali Carter begins his World Championship campaign a few months after narrowly missing out in The Masters. He faces Stephen Maguire who is back here having missed the final stages a year ago.
Carter won the German Masters last season and has been to two big finals in this campaign and has previously been to the final here as well so he is in good nick on arrival in Sheffield but at the same time he has just come off the very top of his form recently and took that absolute battering by Ronnie O’Sullivan at the Tour Championship. Maguire wasn’t someone going into the qualifiers who you thought was guaranteed to come through but he did make it here and now he probably doesn’t have a huge amount to lose. We know that Maguire can be dangerous on his day so this should be a great contest but it is another that I’d like to see the first session play out and assess where we are at before I commit to a bet.
Tom Ford vs Ricky Walden (Saturday 7pm & Sunday 7pm)
There is only one match that gets underway in the evening session with the Brecel match finishing on the other table. That sees a Tom Ford who is seeded in this competition for the first time, going up against Ricky Walden, who is a seasoned campaigner in Sheffield.
The fact that Ford is seeded in this tournament without having won any silverware tells us how consistent he has been over the last two years so he deserves to be seeded but it will be interested to see how he deals with that expectation and pressure. Walden had to come through a cliffhanger with Mark Davis in the final qualifying round so he arrives here battle hardened and ready to launch a good campaign here. Walden has been to the semi-final in this tournament in the past but as I’ve said Ford is clearly playing the best snooker of his career. I think we’re all set for a cracking contest here and a close one between two men who are fairly evenly matched. I think over 16.5 frames is the way to attack this one.
Tips
Back J.Jones to beat Z.Anda for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back T.Ford vs R.Walden – Over 16.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 1.90 with Betway
