It is second round day at the Xi’an Grand Prix on Wednesday with all 16 of the matches taking place across two sessions of snooker on a day which should be full of top quality action as we get to the stage where the money starts going up nicely.
We have had some shocks over the course of the week so far but at the same time a number of big names have made it through to the last 32 and they will all have an eye of going very deep in the event from here on in.
Afternoon Session
The world number one Mark Allen headlines the show in the first of the two sessions on Wednesday. He plays the home player Xiao Guodong who had a good win over Stephen Maguire in the previous round. Judd Trump has started the season brilliantly well and he’ll be looking to extend that when he goes up against another home player in Lyu Haotian while Mark Williams will also be looking to make it through when he takes on Chris Wakelin. Gary Wilson is the next highest player on show in the session and he meets Dave Gilbert while Jak Jones will look to make the last 16 when he takes on Jack Lisowski in a good looking match. Barry Hawkins and Ryan Day are both in the mix to get into or remain in the top 16 and they face off in this session while Sunny Akani will look to build on his win over John Higgins when he faces Jimmy Robertson and Si Jiahui takes on Gong Chenzhi.
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Evening Session
The world champion Kyren Wilson headlines the show in the second of the two sessions. He has a date with Ricky Walden to overcome. While that is going on Ronnie O’Sullivan will look to make it into the last 16 of another ranking event when he goes up against Yuan Sijun. Mark Selby and Shaun Murphy are the other top 16 players on show on Wednesday evening. They meet Pang Junxu and Dominic Dale respectively. Stuart Bingham will be looking to start this season where he left off in the last one. Xu Si is standing in his way while Hossein Vafaei will meet Graeme Dott. The other two matches see Matthew Selt taking on Hammad Miah and Daniel Wells going up against Thepchaiya Un-Nooh.
Betting
Sunny Akani hasn’t lost a match since he has been back on the tour. He has played four and won the lot but I think something has to give because there is a reason why he dropped off in the first place and why he is only just back on now. There is also the potential for a huge comedown here having beaten John Higgins on Tuesday in a fairly high profile game to being out in the car park almost in a much lower intensity clash here.
That should suit Jimmy Robertson who is used to being in the outskirts of the arenas. While Robertson hasn’t pulled up any trees or massively impressed over the course of the season to date, he is a solid player who generally gets the job done when he is up against the lower ranked players. He also tends to improve the longer he is in a tournament so that all makes me think that the 6/5 on a Robertson win here could be a little on the high side.
Tips
Back J.Robertson to beat S.Akani for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Bet365
