The one remaining first round match and the entire second round gets played out at the Wuhan Open on Wednesday as we play down to the last 16 of the first Chinese ranking event since the Covid lockdown.
We’ve seen a number of big names bite the dust this week already so there is an opportunity for some outsiders to deliver the goods but the bigger names who have made it to this stage will sense a big chance to go deep in a big event.
Morning Session
The one remaining first round match will be played in this session as the English Open champion Judd Trump gets his quest for successive titles underway when he takes on Oliver Lines for a spot in the second round later in the day. Ryan Day is the other top 16 player on show in the first session of the day. He will play Wu Yize in the second round while the other matches see He Guoqiang taking on Gong Chenzhi, Xu Si facing Xiao Guodong, Ben Mertens meeting Lyu Haotian and the English Open finalist Zhang Anda taking on Noppon Saengkham.
Afternoon Session
Mark Allen is the big name in second round action in the afternoon session on Wednesday. He has a date with the World Championship semi-finalist to get the better of. European Masters winner Barry Hawkins is also back in action in this session. Jamie Jones will be his opponent while home star Zhou Yuelong will face Liam Highfield, who will be buoyed by beating Neil Robertson in the previous round. The other matches see Xing Zihao playing Stephen Maguire, Tom Ford taking on Robert Milkins and Yuan Sijun facing Ashley Carty.
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Evening Session
Ronnie O’Sullivan will be the headliner in the evening session. The Shanghai Masters champion takes on Pang Junxu for a place in the last 16 while two Essex players meet for a spot in the next round when Stuart Bingham meets Ali Carter. Two more talented players will be on show on one of the outside tables as Jack Lisowski faces Sam Craigie. Martin O’Donnell will look to follow up his win over John Higgins in the previous round when he faces Aaron Hill while Matthew Selt will be waiting for the winner of the earlier match between Oliver Lines and Judd Trump.
Betting
I’ll go with a couple of bets over the course of the day with the first of those coming in the form of Noppon Saengkham to beat Zhang Anda. Zhang played brilliantly well at the English Open last week but this match begins at 3am UK time on Wednesday, roughly 54 hours after Trump potted the final ball in that tournament to beat him. That is a tough ask. Zhang will have had to recover mentality from the blow of losing his first ranking final, one which he was in control of at 7-3 up and then he will have had to drag himself to China for this event. We’ve already seen a semi-finalist and a quarter finalist of that event get bashed up and I just refuse to believe Zhang will be able to perform at his best here. Sanegkham would have every chance of winning this even if it was best vs best but the fact I don’t see it being I think the Thai is a good thing at 7/10 here.
The other bet I like is the 10/11 on Tom Ford to beat Robert Milkins. Milkins hasn’t really got going this season and needed a deciding frame to overcome Hammad Miah in the previous round. Ford might have been benefitted from an early exit at the English Open last week. That certainly looked to be the case when he took care of Cao Yupeng in the previous round, winning that match 5-1 with a couple of centuries. That comes a couple of weeks after he had a fairly acceptable run at the British Open and he just looks in better touch than Milkins right now. I’d have Ford a slight favourite based on form and I like him at 10/11.
Tips
Back N.Saengkham to beat Z.Anda for a 3/10 stake at 1.70 with William Hill
Back T.Ford to beat R.Milkins for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back them here:
