The last four players to get their World Championship campaign underway do so inside the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Wednesday as the first round of the final tournament of the snooker season continues towards a conclusion.
It is on Wednesday where we get to see the likes of the world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan and the former champion John Higgins for the first time this week while plenty of other stars return to conclude their opening round match.
Day 4 Recap
It turned into quite a dramatic day on Tuesday with the two matches that finished both going to a deciding frame. It was the player who trailed 5-4 going into the final session who won both matches too. Si Jiahui was the first to make the turnaround when he came through to dump out the Tour Championship winner Mark Williams 10-9. The evening was all about another veteran and a Chinese player and this time it was Robert Milkins who came from 5-4 down to beat Pang Junxu 10-9. Four matches had their first session played too. Kyren Wilson needs just two frames to see off Dominic Dale when they return while Mark Allen is 7-2 up on Robbie Williams. In the other two matches Jack Lisowski leads Ding Junhui 5-4 and Ryan Day is up on Barry Hawkins by the same score.
We didn’t place any bets on day four of the competition as there was nothing I fancied but it was still a good day for us as we had the bet on Robert Milkins to win running for us from Monday and he delivered the goods in a nervy decider to get us back in front for the tournament with a couple of wins to cancel out the two losses with a little bit of profit to play with for the remainder of the competition.
In Play Betting
There are four matches currently at the halfway point although only two of them carry any betting potential because there isn’t anything to be had with Kyren Wilson 8-1 up and not losing from there while I don’t expect Mark Allen to be pegged back from 7-2 in front either. I think the match between Ding Junhui and Jack Lisowski is tricky to call too unless you like a break market. At 5-4 to Lisowski you would think it goes deep but they are both good enough to run off a burst of four frames and take the match away from the other.
The other match could offer some potential though. Ryan Day leads that 5-4 but having led 5-2 there is a school of thought that he might feel as though he is behind heading into the second session but Hawkins really struggled in the middle part of that session, which is largely in keeping with the second part of his season. His only run to a quarter final at a ranking event since the International Championship was at the World Open and then at the Tour Championship he was 7-1 down before he gave it a go at getting back at Ali Carter, similar to how he has started this match. I’m not convinced he is on top of his game and if Day can make a decent start here and maintain or increase his advantage at the interval I think he’ll last home.
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Ronnie O’Sullivan vs Jackson Page (Wednesday 2.30pm & Thursday 1pm)
The main focus on Wednesday afternoon will be on Table Two where Ronnie O’Sullivan will begin his latest quest for an eighth world title when he goes up against a similarly naturally talented cueist in the form of Jackson Page.
Page had a decent enough run on his debut here a year ago and came through qualifying pretty well with some really good scoring and a couple of breaks which caught the eye. The Welshman doesn’t have the greatest record against O’Sullivan it has to be said but if he is going to get a good shot at him it probably is in the first round of a tournament where he might catch the Rocket cold. O’Sullivan will know the pressure and expectation is on him in this match and he doesn’t always cope perfectly with that. I still think O’Sullivan wins this but he gives his opponents enough chances these days that Page might be able to stay closer than the odds and handicap lines suggest. In the last month or so, Page has made the semi-final of the World Open, beating John Higgins and Mark Selby along the way and come through qualifying for this. I think he can give O’Sullivan an early challenge before he might fade but by the time he does I think he’ll have covered a 4.5 handicap line.
John Higgins vs Jamie Jones (Wednesday 7pm & Thursday 7pm)
The last of the first round matches to get underway and then conclude sees the man who denied Neil Robertson entry into the main draw on show as Jamie Jones takes on another former world champion in the form of John Higgins.
It will be interesting to see what we get from Higgins here. The last time we saw him he was chatting about coming to the end and potentially retiring. That was straight after a defeat in the Tour Championship though so I don’t really believe any of that but it is a sign that he wasn’t happy with his game I daresay for a while at the time. If he struggles in the early stages here and keeps Jones interested then he could easily come up short in a match where I don’t think this is as straightforward for the Scot as the odds would suggest. Jones will have taken plenty of confidence from his win over Robertson in the final qualifying round, especially when that got tight at the end, and having been to the Crucible before he will know there is nothing to fear. I think the 3.5 frame handicap on the side of the underdog is at least a frame too big here.
Tips
Back R.Day to beat B.Hawkins for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Back J.Page (+4.5 frames) to beat R.O’Sullivan for a 3/10 stake at 1.95 with Betway
Back J.Jones (+3.5 frames) to beat J.Higgins for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Betway
