The opening day of the World Grand Prix sees just one session of action inside the Morningside Arena in Leicester on Monday evening as four matches take place to get the first ranking event of 2024 up and running.
We might have a shortage of matches over the course of the day but we do have the best player of the season so far on show as well as a pretty decent support cast on what should be a decent night of snooker.
Main Table
We open up the tournament with the number one seed Judd Trump. The winner of the English Open, Wuhan Open and the Northern Ireland Open will look to make it into the second round at the expense of the last man into the field in Jamie Jones, who could feel he is on a free roll here and could be dangerous if he does. When they are done the second match on the main table will see the man who would have been gutted at exiting The Masters in the quarter final on Friday night in Mark Selby taking on a Chinese qualifier in Yuan Sijun, who is another who could be playing with freedom here.
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Table Two
Away from the main attention of the night we will have two matches on table two and they look much more competitive than the main table action. The first match sees the Chinese player Lyu Haotian going up against the former Shootout champion Chris Wakelin, who has already made the final of the Northern Ireland Open this season. When they are done we have what could be a feisty clash between two strong competitors as Hossein Vafaei goes up against Matt Selt for a place in the second round.
Betting
I’ll start the week off with the one bet which comes over on table two where I think the odds against on Chris Wakelin to beat Lyu Haotian is worthy of taking. These two have met three times this season and actually it is the Chinese player who has won two of those meetings, and won them well, 5-2 in Wuhan and 6-1 at the International Championship. Those meetings were both in China where Haotian would have been motivated. Their meeting in England, at the English Open qualifiers, Wakelin won 4-1.
Most of the form of Lyu was delivered in the early part of the season. He has gone quiet since the middle of October whereas Wakelin reached the quarter final of the Scottish Open last month. Another important factor could be that Wakelin played in the Championship League prior to The Masters and won a group beating Mark Selby in the final and also beating Kyren Wilson, Ryan Day, Gary Wilson and Ali Carter over the two days. That should give him plenty of confidence and I think he is value to come through here.
Tips
Back C.Wakelin to beat L.Haotian for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Unibet
