The opening day of the World Grand Prix is a short and sweet affair with just the evening session on Monday as the show recovers from The Masters last week and builds up to another big week in the snooker season.
Four matches form the schedule but even though we are hot off the heels of The Masters, we don’t have to wait for the big names to come out to play. Three top 16 players are in action on Monday evening as well as a couple of other appealing talents.
Main Table
Mark Allen is the top seed in the draw this week and given that he exited The Masters early last week he is rewarded with the chance to open up the show here in Cheltenham in the first match on the main TV table. You would think being the top seed will have given Allen a draw to ease his way into the tournament but he has landed Dave Gilbert in the first round. When they are done the Australian star Neil Robertson will be on the main table. The 15 seed this week has a first round clash with Xiao Guodong to overcome.
Special Offer
Sign up for a Boylesports account and bet £10 to get up to £20 in free bets! Perfect offer for this tournament! Click the image below for this great offer! New accounts only. 18+ T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware.
Table Two
The beauty about the leading 32 players on the season so far making up this field is that the action is strong wherever you look this week and that is the case over on table two on the opening night. The first match on show sees Zhou Yuelong going up against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in a battle between two classy Asian players. When they are done the two home men clash when Masters semi-finalist Jack Lisowski goes up against the man who won the Gibraltar Open last season in Robert Milkins for a place in round two.
Betting
Given that there are only four matches on the opening night card the bets over the course of the evening are slim in the way of pickings really but one which does catch my attention is over 5.5 frames in the match between Neil Robertson and Xiao Guodong. The last time we saw Robertson was in the first round of The Masters last week when he was visibly ill and probably hasn’t had a lot of time on the practice table since then. That might not make him vulnerable here but it is likely to mean we don’t see him at his best.
Guodong has had a pretty consistent season without anything special but to be fair to him he has lost a couple of deciding frames and run into Judd Trump and Mark Allen in good form in three of the events as well. A potentially weak Robertson might be easier for him to live with. He actually goes well against a fully fit Robertson though in fairness. While they were a few years ago, the last three meetings between these two have gone to a deciding frame, including when they met in this tournament in 2019. We don’t need a deciding frame for the over 5.5 frames bet to land, 4-2 either way will do and if Robertson is still off colour I think we’ll get to frame six before this one concludes.
Tips
Back N.Robertson vs X.Guodong – Over 5.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 1.85 with Betway
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2023
