We begin the second round of the World Championship qualifiers on Sunday where the bulk of the 32 matches in the round kick off and some of them even finish on what is yet another massive day of action at Ponds Forge.
By the end of Sunday evening we will know the identity of the first set of players who will battle it out for a spot at the Crucible at the end of next week as the tournament really starts to hot up now.
Saturday review
It was a bit of a sad day on Saturday as one of the all-time greats Steve Davis bowed out of the tournament at the first time of asking. The Nugget was seen off ruthlessly by Fergal O’Brien and went down 10-4 but did himself no harm.
There are comfortable wins for Ding Junhui, Liang Wenbo, Dominic Dale, Mark King as well as Ali Carter, Cao Yupeng, Matt Selt and Zhou Yuelong so the latter stages of this event is going to involve some big players.
Sunday morning
The first ten matches set off on their journey at 10am on Sunday with the former world champion Graeme Dott among those in action. He takes on Noppon Saengkham in what could be a titanic tussle throughout the course of Sunday.
As of yet we’ve not got details of the streamed matches but there aren’t really any matches which stand out from a big name point of view apart from Dott. Robert Milkins, Michael Holt and Alan McManus are all in action first up in the morning.
In truth the odds look just about right for most of the matches in this session and unlike in the first round where we saw a number of total blowouts I’m expecting the tension, the drama and the closeness of the matches to really intensify for this round and the final one.
That puts me off taking handicaps in this session especially on the favourites for whom it is going to be all about the winning rather than the impressing here but there are a couple of players who I think will win who can combine to make for a decent looking double.
Anthony Hamilton is the first of those. He was in decent form in beating Syd Wilson in the previous round and but for some bad luck and some carelessness he could easily have had two maximums having broken down on 80 and 104 on his way to the Holy Grail.
Hamilton goes up against Chris Wakelin on Sunday and Wakelin too played well in seeing off Ben Woollaston but in truth Woollaston wilted quite badly in the second session and although Wakelin put some decent runs together I don’t expect Hamilton to miss out on the sort of chances that Woollaston did.
I’ll double Hamilton up with Jimmy Robertson who was a man on a mission in the first round when he dispatched of the amateur Tyler Rees without losing a frame. Robertson scored sensationally well in that match and he is looking well set to really push for a place at the Crucible on that form.
In fairness his opponent Stuart Carrington played well in the first round but this is one of those matches where there are levels between the opponents and I’m expecting that to be shown on the green baize throughout Sunday.
Sunday afternoon
Some of the bigger names are in action in this session with the likes of Matthew Stevens, Ken Doherty, Dave Gilbert and Anthony McGill all looking to make their way to within one win of a place in the main draw for the World Championship.
I’m not taking anything in those matches although I will keep a close eye on them, as I will all the matches in this session with the potential to readdress them heading into Monday’s final session.
There is one other big name in action though and that is Luca Brecel and I’m going to take him on here. Brecel won in the first round but he didn’t play very well at all and is apparently suffering from a strong illness. Given that he played on Friday he hasn’t had much chance to get rid of that illness so this could be a struggle for the Belgian.
In fairness while Brecel has reached some finals and latter stages of events in recent times he hasn’t always played well but he has battled his way through. It sounds like he is going to need to do that again here.
Liam Highfield isn’t the best player in the world, far from it, but he was on a maximum in the first round having cleared all the reds and blacks before missing on 120 so he must be hitting the ball nicely if he is capable of that.
With Brecel possibly not 100% and Highfield looking to be cueing well there has to be the chance of an upset here and I’m happy to get involved on the Englishman at a shade under 2/1 there.
Tips
WON – Back A.Hamilton to beat C.Wakelin x J.Robertson to beat S.Carrington for a 4/10 stake at 2.56 with Boylesports
Back them here:
WON – Back L.Highfield to beat L.Brecel for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with Coral
Back him here:
