The quarter finals of the World Championship draw to a conclusion inside the Crucible Theatre on Wednesday and by the end of the day we will know the four men who will go down to the one table situation to play out the remainder of the tournament and try to pocket the £330,000 first prize.
Tuesday recap
We have already found out one of our semi-finalists albeit a day before we were meant to as Ding Junhui walloped Mark Williams 13-3 on Tuesday. It was one of the most impressive performances of the tournament by Ding and although Williams had tip issues and played into the hands of the Chinese player, you have to give Ding credit for how ruthless he was.
That leaves us with three matches which are carried over to Wednesday. Mark Selby will take a 10-6 lead into his final session with Kyren Wilson. Only he will know how he leads 10-6 because he was shocking in their second stanza on Tuesday evening.
In the other matches John Higgins came from 3-1 down to take a 5-3 overnight lead against Alan McManus while Marco Fu took advantage of a jaded Barry Hawkins and he will resume on Wednesday with a healthy 7-1 lead.
Wednesday morning
Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson will conclude their quarter final in the morning session. You’ve got to think Selby will get over the line now but if he doesn’t improve and the situation has given Wilson a nothing to lose attitude which allows him to relax then he could still get back into that one and make it interesting like we saw a couple of matches do in the second round.
There are no bets to be had in the remainder of that match. I’ve already got two bets which aren’t in great shape in that match but a Wilson fightback could at least give us a chance of the centuries if not him actually win.
John Higgins had the poor session I feared he might have in his first session with Alan McManus but amazingly he came out of it with a 5-3 lead and you’ve got to think he won’t be as bad on Wednesday and I’m expecting him to power clear now.
It has to be said that I expected that anyway and McManus proved me completely wrong. I wrote him off against Ali Carter and it cost me and I’m reluctant to do it again so I’ll sit the morning session out.
Wednesday afternoon
Barry Hawkins has got it all to do in his match with Marco Fu after a really poor first session but I kind of expected that comedown after such a momentous win on Monday night. He’s had the chance to have a bit of kip and with this match not resuming until the afternoon he can get his game sorted out in the morning and still have a say here.
I’m not silly enough to go against Fu here although it must be said he can wilt under pressure so if Hawkins can find a 6-2 win in their second session he could yet put the wind up the man from Hong Kong but I’m expecting Fu to win from here.
I’m expecting Hawkins to be a whole lot better on Wednesday though. Generally he’s miles better with his back against the wall than when he’s running away from an opponent and that could be key here. Hawkins has the Crucible record to suggest he’s not done yet and matches between these two are historically tight.
That all suggests to me that while expecting Hawkins to win is likely to be folly, him winning the second session isn’t actually as unlikely. Hawkins has to win the session to have any chance of winning the match. 4-4 would leave him 11-5 behind and he’s not winning from there but Hawkins has come too far to let this go without a fight. I think it is worth chancing that he wins more of the next eight frames than Fu.
Tips
WON – Back B.Hawkins to win 2nd session vs M.Fu for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Boylesports
Back him here:
