The first round of the World Open ends in a two session Tuesday as those yet to get their main tournaments underway begin their quests for a major title out in China.
Some of the biggest names in the game are on the baize on Tuesday which makes for a good day of action and plenty of betting opportunities across the two sessions.
Monday Recap
It was a mixed day to begin the tournament on Monday as we lost one of our outrights and one of our matched bets failed too. Marco Fu was the outright who bit the dust while Jamie Cope failed to convert a 3-1 lead and ended up losing 5-3 to Alan McManus annoyingly.
On the flip side of all that Mark Williams sailed into the second round and we came out of the match bets on the day in slight profit after Kurt Maflin came from 4-2 down to see off a much better Michael White than I expected him to face.
Morning Session
Two of the biggest names in the game are on the televised table in the morning session when Neil Robertson and Judd Trump are in action. Robertson faces Ian Burns while Trump goes up against the local hope Yu Delu. I don’t expect either to lose and this isn’t the round to be taking on handicaps so I’ll leave those games alone.
Shaun Murphy is another huge name in action but he is on one of the outside tables when he faces another Chinaman in Cao Yupeng. Murphy has to give up a massive handicap in that match but Yupeng is competent so I’ll leave that one alone as well.
Of the other five matches there is only one I like from a betting point of view and it sees Matthew Selt taking on Matthew Stevens. Selt hasn’t done a huge amount this season yet so he could be there for the taking a little here.
Stevens has already played a match this week where he slammed in two centuries in a wildcard round match. That is very much a positive as is his run in India where he looked good before he lost in the second round to Stuart Bingham in a high quality match. That all gives him the edge here on form so I’ll take the Welshman in this one.
Afternoon Session
The televised tables sees Ding Junhui and John Higgins in first round action. They take on Robin Hull and Oliver Lines respectively. Ding has already played a match this week which might give him the edge over Hull whereas Higgins’ overseas experience might shade it against Lines. Either way there isn’t a lot that interests me in the matches betting wise.
Mark Selby and Ricky Walden are two more big names but such is the quality of this session they are resigned to the outside tables as well. I expect Selby to ease past Alfie Burden but the prices look about right whereas Walden’s season hasn’t got going yet. Even then he should have too much for David Grace. The prices look about right in these matches as well.
There are four other matches in action in this session and one of those interests me as Liang Wenbo takes on James Cahill. Surprisingly this isn’t on the TV tables but I still don’t think Wenbo will lose. He was very good in his held over qualifying match on Monday and a repeat of that performance will be plenty here.
Cahill deserves credit for beating Li Hang to make it this far but Wenbo is a serious step up on him and having not got much experience of big events in China there is a chance Cahill could be a little overawed especially with what crowd there will be likely to be with the Chinese player. Wenbo is used to all that and I expect him to build on Monday’s form and complete an equally comfortable win here.
Tips
Back M.Stevens to beat M.Selt for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Boylesports
Back him here:
WON – Back L.Wenbo (-2.5 frames) to beat J.Cahill for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Paddy Power
Back him here:
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