The first week of the World Championship comes to a close on Friday when the second round of the tournament continues with the two matches that started on Thursday continuing and another two getting underway inside the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
There will be no fewer than three former champions on show over the course of Friday as well as two Masters winners and two of the brightest young talents in the game on what really does look a brilliant schedule.
Day 6 Recap
Just the two matches concluded on Thursday and they were the two remaining first round matches which saw just the third qualifier make it into the second round when Noppon Saengkham saw off an out of sorts Luca Brecel 10-5. The other winner on the day was Judd Trump. He overcame a very unlucky Hossein Vafaei 10-4. Two second round matches got underway and we saw vintage Mark Williams who ended up 7-1 ahead of his protégé Jackson Page while Stephen Maguire edged a fantastic first session against Zhao Xintong and takes a 5-3 lead into the second session on Friday.
In Play Betting
Those two matches are the only ones that are in play at the present time. There are no bets to be had in the match between the two Welshmen, Williams and Page given the advantage that Williams has opened up and how well he is playing. You will be asking him to maintain his intensity against a man who he clearly has a lot of time for if you are siding on the big handicaps and that is too risky. I feel like I should get involved in the Xintong vs Maguire match but I think there is a lot of mileage in that and they don’t finish until Saturday so we can revisit that then.
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Mark Allen vs Ronnie O’Sullivan (Friday 10am, Friday 7pm & Saturday 2.30pm)
The standout clash of the second round gets underway on Friday and will conclude on Saturday afternoon when the Northern Ireland Open winner Mark Allen takes on the six-time champion of this event in the new world number one Ronnie O’Sullivan.
These two are fantastic to watch and both looked in pretty good order in their opening match so this should be a great game. It might be that for much of their second session they will have the Crucible to themselves because it is the Williams and Page match which will run alongside this one and there is a good chance Williams will be on the verge of winning heading into Friday evening if he hasn’t already wrapped things up. That makes me think this will be a tight match with the pair of these two bringing the best out of each other. You can get over 21.5 frames at 3/4 which means we need 13-9 or closer either way. I don’t see this one being won any easier than that so that is my first bet on Friday.
Mark Selby vs Yan Bingtao (Friday 2.30pm, Saturday 10am & Saturday 7pm)
The second match to get underway on Friday will see Mark Selby continuing his title defence against a man who many believe will get his hands on this title one day and maybe not too far into the future either in the form of Yan Bingtao.
Bingtao showed when he won The Masters that he can take down the big titles and although that was won behind closed doors he is definitely a player to watch. You only need to look at the record of Selby around here to know his credentials in this tournament so at their best we would be set up for a cracking contest. The problem for Selby is that he isn’t at his best and probably won’t be here either. To be fair to him he made three tons in his first round win but his long game was all over the place and you can’t compete at this level without a long game. Bingtao was brilliant in his first round win. He knocked in nine 50s and two tons in beating Chris Wakelin 10-8 and has won the last three meetings with Selby. I fully expect him to make it four on the spin against a Selby who understandably isn’t at his best.
Tips
Back M.Allen vs R.O’Sullivan – Over 21.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 1.75 with Boylesports
Back it here:
Back Y.Bingtao to beat M.Selby for a 3/10 stake at 2.38 with Bet365
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