The second round of the qualifying competition for the World Championship continues in Sheffield on Thursday when another 12 players get their campaign underway against a player who came through the first stage.
Slowly but surely we are getting players who could well qualify for the Crucible out onto the baize so the quality and intensity is only going to rise from here on in, especially with so many playing for their tour future not just the chance of qualifying for the biggest tournament of the year.
Morning Session
Martin O’Donnell is the highest ranked player on show in the morning session. I’m sure he will admit this has been a wretched season for him but if he can win three matches this week that will all be forgotten. The first of those comes against Michael White who looked rejuvenated in the first round and could be dangerous here. Sunny Akani is the other higher ranked player taking to the baize in the morning session. He has a date with Zhang Jiankang for a place in the third round.
The other two matches both see veterans of the tour looking to move to within a couple of wins of qualifying for the Crucible. Andy Hicks had a good run at the UK Championship earlier in the season and he’ll be looking to begin another positive run when he takes on Zhang Anda while Fergal O’Brien will be aiming to make up for a fairly poor season by his standards when he takes on the Welsh amateur Liam Davies who had a good win in the first round.
Afternoon Session
Joe O’Connor is clearly the highest ranked player on show in the afternoon session and he will be a warm favourite to see off a Barry Pinches who did well to come through the opening round but will need an improvement to go much further in the competition. Robbie Williams is the next highest ranked player in action in the afternoon session. He faces the World Seniors champion David Lilley who will be looking to be the first player ever to hold both the senior and professional world titles at the same time.
There could well be a match for the purists on show on Thursday afternoon when the Chinese player Tian Pengfei goes up against a Lee Walker who got better the longer his first round match against Reanne Evans went on. The other match in this session sees Ashley Hugill looking to make good progress in the competition when he takes on Dean Young, who surprisingly got the better of Ben Hancorn in the opening round.
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Evening Session
Thepchaiya Un-Nooh will headline the evening session in what is a period of play where life on tour is at stake for a number of players on show. The Thai is one of those so he’ll need to beat Andrew Pagett to make sure he remains a professional for next season. Michael Holt is in a similar position so he will be under all sorts of pressure when he takes on Hammad Miah in what should be a win for the former Shootout champion but Miah can be tough to beat.
Mark Joyce hasn’t had anything like the season he would have envisaged when it began and he will be looking to put that right when he takes on Louis Heathcote, who the same words can be said about but who has a win under his belt to boost his confidence. The other match on the night sees the former world finalist Nigel Bond on show. He meets Lukas Kleckers with the German looking to become the first player from his country to grace the Crucible Theatre.
Betting
Lukas Kleckers is a player who is on the rise and the fact he has had a match on these tables to get used to the conditions and get any early World Championship nerves out of his system is no bad thing. He meets Nigel Bond for a place in the third round and that is a match I like the German in. I think since the turn of the year Kleckers has found something in his game and looks to be a player who is coming to the boil after a couple of years of learning the ropes.
Kleckers beat Gary Wilson to qualify for the Turkish Masters and Michael Georgiou to make it into the Welsh Open. He was beaten by Ronnie O’Sullivan and Michael Holt in those events but he was competitive in both matches and probably should have won them both. This is an easier test than those two. Bond won a couple of matches in Gibraltar but I think his best days are well behind him. Kleckers will know this is a great chance to make the third round and I expect his stronger scoring to get him there.
Tips
Back L.Kleckers to beat N.Bond for a 3/10 stake at 2.00 with Coral
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