The first round of the World Championship qualifiers concludes on another busy day of action on the green baize on Saturday as Friday afternoon’s matches play to a finish in the afternoon and the last 10 matches start in the morning before finishing in the evening session.
Friday review
We said in our preview of Friday’s action that there were plenty of one sided matches expected and that is largely how it played out. We saw a 10-0 win, a 10-1 win and a couple of 10-2 wins in the matches that were played solely on Friday and in those being carried over to Saturday Cao Yupeng leads 9-0 and a couple more players lead 7-2.
One match which is close that carries over is the Robin Hull vs Barry Pinches match where Pinches actually leads 5-4 which is a surprise. I was hoping that would have moved the Shootout champion’s price to something backable but he is still odds on despite trailing so I’ll leave that alone.
That was the only thing that interested me in the games which finish on Saturday afternoon so I’ll look at the other games on Saturday for a bet.
Saturday preview
We’ve been saved some of the biggest names for last in this tournament as Ding Junhui, Mark King and Steve Davis are all on the baize throughout Saturday. Ding should cruise past an amateur who is likely to be way out of his depth while Davis will hope to cause problems for Fergal O’Brien in what I think is called ‘one for the purists’.
As with Friday there are a number of matches expected to be pretty one sided with Xiao Guodong, Liang Wenbo and Alfie Burden all no bigger than 1/10 to win their matches so finding value in this session isn’t too easy but there is one bet I like which is handy.
Ashley Hugill made a huge name for himself when he took care of Neil Robertson in the qualifying for the German Masters earlier in the year and if he has that sort of form with him he could easily take care of Jamie Cope without even needing to worry about a handicap. Just recently Hugill took a couple of frames off Joe Perry in a European Tour event to show he can play this game.
Jamie Cope looked like he was going to resurrect his career with some solid looking performances at the beginning of the season but he has fallen in a bit of a hole again since then and has only won two matches since the end of the Shanghai Masters back in September which clearly isn’t good.
Cope’s confidence must be shot to pieces again and the last thing he needs is a match where the pressure is on him as an overwhelming favourite. That can’t possibly be a good thing so I fancy Hugill can really put it to Cope here. He might not win but I think the amateur can make it to seven frames before he loses, if he loses at all.
Tips
Back A.Hugill (+3.5 frames) to beat J.Cope for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back him here:
