The World Open second round takes place out in Yushan on Tuesday as the last full field tournament prior to the World Championship continues at a pace and by the end of the two sessions of play just 16 men will remain in contention.
We have seen a number of players bite the dust in this event already so there is an open look appearing to the draw with a few big names licking their lips at the chance of a smoother path through to the bigger stages of the event.
Afternoon Session
The defending champion and world number one Judd Trump continues his title defence as the main draw on Tuesday afternoon. He has a tasty encounter with Joe O’Connor to navigate while elsewhere in the session the maximum man Shaun Murphy will continue his quest to get enough ranking points to ensure he automatically qualifies for the World Championship when he meets Thepchaiya Un-Nooh in what should be an eminently watchable match. John Higgins is the other top 16 player on show. He will take on Robbie Williams for a place in the last 16.
That leaves us with five other matches in this session with Wu Yize a home player looking to make it through to the next stage of a home event. He will meet the man who took care of Mark Allen on Monday in David Lilley. Elliot Slessor will also be on show in this one and he meets another giant killer in the form of Liu Hongyu, who saw off Mark Selby in the first round. Jimmy Robertson goes up against Aaron Hill in one of the other matches while there is a huge chance for the players involved in the two remaining games as Antoni Kowalski plays Michael Holt and Zak Surety takes on Duane Jones for a place in the last 16.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Evening Session
The world champion Kyren Wilson will be the headline attraction in what is a decent looking evening session on Tuesday. He will go up against the home star Zhou Yuelong who will be aiming to get back to where he was a couple of years ago. Ding Junhui will look to continue his quest for a second home tournament win of the season after claiming the International Championship. He takes on Hossein Vafaei in the pick of the matches in the session. The other appealing one is Ali Carter against Jock Lisowski.
Barry Hawkins is the fourth top 16 player on show in this session and he will look to get the better of Ben Woollaston. We have an all-Chinese battle on home soil as well when Tian Pengfei gets his campaign underway having had a bye in the first round. Pang Junxu is his opponent while the Shootout champion Tom Ford is another looking to make progress. He meets Daniel Wells in a part of the draw which has really opened up. Ryan Day plays Louis Heathcote and Stan Moody takes on Xu Si in the other two matches.
Betting
There is a lot of talk about Stan Moody at the minute and you can see why. Every defeat he has suffered since the Northern Ireland Open has been in a deciding frame but one of those was to Xu Si in the International Championship and I think that result can be repeated here. There is no doubt that Moody is improving and he looks like he will fulfil the potential that he has got but in China with motivation on home soil I like Xu Si here.
Xu Si had a good win over Robert Milkins in the previous round where he flew out of the traps and scored like a dream up until the interval before falling over the line a little bit but having reached the International Championship semi-final earlier in the season we know that he relishes home conditions and he could take a bit of beating here. For all that Moody has played well this season and been unlucky with deciding frames, he hasn’t been deep in a tournament this term and I’m not sure that changes here.
Tips
Back X.Si to beat S.Moody for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Bet365
