The second round of the World Championship snooker qualifiers draws to a conclusion on Monday when the matches yet to begin will be played in full in the morning and evening sessions while those games which started on Sunday afternoon will play their final stanzas in the afternoon.
At the end of Monday we will know the identity of the 32 players who will battle it out on Tuesday and Wednesday for the 16 spots up for grabs at the iconic Crucible Theatre.
Sunday recap
As the standard heightens the matches were always going to be a lot closer and that is the way it proved on Sunday. Four of the matches which played to a finished ended either 10-8 or 10-9 with the 10-9 winner being part of our double on the day in Anthony Hamilton.
The double was completed when Jimmy Robertson eased through 10-5 while there were also wins for Kurt Maflin, Michael Holt, Robert Milkins and the veteran Nigel Bond.
In the matches carried over to Monday there are 7-2 leads for Matthew Stevens, Ken Doherty, Jack Lisowski and David Gilbert while Dechawat Poomjaeng has a 6-3 lead over the Shootout champion Robin Hull. Our bet in that session, Liam Highfield, trails 5-4 overnight.
Monday morning
Among the players playing their entire second round matches in full on Monday are Ding Junhui and Ali Carter. Both men are on the live stream tables as you would expect and all eyes will be on them to see if they can come through.
Ding faces Ross Muir while Carter takes on Cao Yupeng so both will be expected to come through but we’re getting to the stage where both can feel the Crucible and the pressure will ratchet up from here.
Prior to beating the amateur Rodion Judin in the previous round, Yupeng had lost his last nine matches on the tour which has to be a concern. Although he won that match 10-0 last week his opponent wasn’t up to much and even then Cao only had three breaks over 50 which isn’t a particularly great standard.
Carter was equally on easy street in the previous round and he banged in a couple of centuries in that match too. Carter has the bit between his teeth to make it to the Crucible and I don’t see him slipping up. In fact with the form Cao has been in I’m expecting the Captain to fly through the first session and ease to victory in the second one.
On the other tables Ryan Day, Peter Ebdon, Liang Wenbo, Kyren Wilson, Mark King, Dominic Dale and Xiao Guodong are all in action and if they all come through we will have some thrilling matches in the final round. They’re all fairly short prices and while they are probably accumulator potential I’ve a feeling one of them will let us down which isn’t ideal.
The other two matches see a clash in styles with Chinese players who like to get the balls open and get on with things taking on steadier players who know their way around the table tactically and have the ability to make life difficult.
The first of those matches is between Fergal O’Brien and Zhou Yuelong and I have to say I fancy Yuelong to come through. Yuelong would be a great addition to the World Championship and the way he is scoring I believe he can come through this one.
There will be scrappy frames in this match and Fergal will probably win the majority of those but the one visit frames have to go in favour of the youngster. I believe there will be more of the one visit frames so I’m going with Yuelong there.
In the first round Li Hang made it through all the reds and blacks on his way to a maximum break attempt which shows that he is cueing well and he faces a nice match against Mike Dunn on Monday.
Dunn is a solid player but he isn’t going to blow Hang away with a burst of scoring but that is exactly what the Chinese player has the potential to do against Dunn. Over this distance I think Li Hang’s scoring power will be too much and I fancy him to make it a third win over Dunn in three meetings.
Monday afternoon
There were a lot of one sided matches in the first sessions of the games on Sunday afternoon and as a result there isn’t a lot of betting opportunities for the matches which conclude in the afternoon session here.
Despite holding a 5-4 lead Anda Zhang is still the outsider to beat Mark Davis but I’ve a feeling Davis might still turn that one around having finished the first session the better of the two so that is a no bet game.
We’ve got Highfield going for us in the afternoon and hopefully he can turn things around and the three we take in the morning session can come through in the evening.
Tips
Back A.Carter (-4.5 frames) to beat C.Yupeng for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
WON – Back Z.Yuelong to beat F.O’Brien for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
Back him here:
Back L.Hang to beat M.Dunn for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Betfred
Back him here:
