The first round of the Wuhan Open near enough concludes on Tuesday apart from the match which features the new English Open champion Judd Trump who has been given a little longer to get to China after his exploits in Brentwood.
We saw some big names on show on Monday and a number of them are back on the baize on Tuesday looking to make it into the last 32 of the first Chinese ranking event to have been held since lockdown.
Morning Session
We have five matches to enjoy in the morning session with the British Open finalist Mark Selby being on the main table. He will go up against the home player Xu Si for a place in the second round. There is one other streamed table this week and on that will be the Thai ace Thepchaiya Un-Nooh who takes on Matthew Selt who was a quarter finalist in the English Open last week. That leaves us with three matches which sees the Shootout winner Chris Wakelin facing Lyu Haotian, Ben Mertens meeting Dominic Dale and Ishpreet Singh Chudha facing off against the talented Sam Craigie.
Afternoon Session
Neil Robertson has been very quiet by his high standards so far in 2023 and he begins his quest for a first title of the calendar year when he faces Liam Highfield. That will be on the main table while over on the streamed offering we will see the German Masters winner from last season, Ali Carter, going up against Jamie Clarke. Five other matches take place in this session. The European Masters champion Barry Hawkins is on show when he meets Sanderson Lam. Zhou Yuelong will look to make progress on home soil when he faces Anthony Hamilton while the former Welsh Open winner Jordan Brown meets the Chinese amateur Gong Chenzhi. Michael White takes on Xing Zihao and Alfie Burden faces Ashley Carty in the other games.
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Evening Session
The evening session is lit up with star names with Ronnie O’Sullivan being the biggest of them. He will be on one of the main tables when he takes on the veteran Mark Davis for whom this is a bit of a stinker of a draw. Ding Junhui will also be on one of the main tables when he takes on his countryman Yuan Sijun. John Higgins could be a little jaded given that he was in the English Open until Saturday. He meets the man he took care of in the quarter final in Essex in Martin O’Donnell while Stuart Bingham takes on Daniel Wells. Si Jiahui will look to progress in a home event when he meets Jak Jones in the other game.
Betting
There isn’t a huge amount that I like over the course of the day but the one bet I will take a chance on comes in the last of the three sessions as Yuan Sijun takes on Ding Junhui in a match where the 2/1 on the outsider could just be a little on the big side. Ding was still involved into the latter hours of Friday evening in the English Open last week and has had to get over to China and play his held over qualifying match since then and at some point I suspect that will catch up with him.
Yuan Sijun was only on the plane 24 hours ahead of Ding but those hours can be crucial when it comes to jet lag. Importantly he has been able to rest since getting to China as this is his first match of the week. Sijun took care of Tom Ford and Robert Milkins before going down to eventual champion Judd Trump at the English Open. He isn’t in the International Championship so this is a big week for Sijun. Ding was beyond terrible in that quarter final on Friday night and if the mistakes he made there creep in here, which if jet lag or the sheer volume of activity over the last few days catch up with him they easily could, then the outsider could take this down at a perfectly decent price.
Tips
Back Y.Sijun to beat D.Junhui for a 3/10 stake at 3.00 with Bet365
