After 2 days at the World Qualifiers we've had some fantastically tense finishes both on Tuesday evening and Wednesday afternoon which just sums up what these matches are all about and just gives us a flavour of what to expect in the remaining 6 days at Ponds Forge.
There are some very important matches coming up in round 2, with the likes of 6 time World Champion Steve Davis having to win to keep his tour place, amongst others. So, here's a quick preview of the matches taking place, or at least starting on Thursday:
2nd Round of Qualifiers: (Picks in bold)
Dechawat Poomjaeng Vs Zhang Anda - Zhang Anda played very well on Tuesday beating Andrew Pagett 10-2 and he has a great chance here against Dechawat Poomjaeng, with Poomjaeng not quite being as consistent this season.
Steve Davis Vs Craig Steadman - There's a lot of pressure on Steve Davis to win this to keep his hopes of staying on tour alive, but this won't be an easy game against Craig who battled well in his final session on Tuesday. You still have to make Steve favourite though.
Jimmy Robertson Vs Liam Highfield - Liam Highfield played some decent stuff yesterday in an easy win against Abumdas, but he'll probably need to improve a bit to beat Jimmy Robertson who's had another average season.
Anthony McGill Vs Thanawat Thirapongpaiboon - Thanawat finished well yesterday with 2 brilliant breaks from 8-8 against Sanderson Lam in what was not an easy match, and he'll need to take the form of the final 2 frames there into this one against McGill who is a very good youngster who I've tipped to qualify.
Alfie Burden Vs Barry Pinches - Barry Pinches played well yesterday against Hammad Miah in a convincing win, and he will give Alfie Burden a very good game there, but Burden is a decent and consistent player and I expect him to win.
Rod Lawler Vs Kyren Wilson - Kyren Wilson had a good win yesterday against Chris Norbury who was also playing well, and he had a very good first session in that match. Rod's season has tailed off a bit since the German Masters, and Kyren has a brilliant chance to beat him here.
Andrew Higginson Vs Martin O'Donnell - Martin O'Donnell demolished Shane Castle yesterday 10-1 with 3 centuries and 2 other contributions of 90+ so he was clearly playing brilliant snooker there, some of his best since joining the tour. Higginson has had quite a poor few years, losing a lot of games that he really should be winning on paper, so Martin has a fantastic chance.
Kurt Maflin Vs Daniel Wells - Daniel Wells made a great comeback from 8-3 and 9-8 down to beat Ryan Clark 10-9 yesterday and he produced some good snooker from 8-3 to 8-8, but he will need to continue this way to have any chance against Kurt Maflin who I think should really qualify for the Crucible this year.
Peter Lines Vs Cao Xin Long - Cao Xin Long had a nice win against Jamie O'Neill, and this match against Peter Lines could well be a very long and close match that could go long into the night.
Alan McManus Vs Paul Davison - Paul Davison just managed to hold out against Chris Wakelin in a decider on Tuesday with Wakelin coming back from 7-2 down. Paul will certainly need to tighten up tomorrow to beat the experienced McManus.
Aditya Mehta Vs Christopher Keogan - Keogan played well on Tuesday to beat Leslie, but Michael didn't play very well there it seemed and Mehta will provide a much bigger challenge for the clearly talented amateur in the 2nd round.
Jamie Jones Vs Joel Walker - Onto the afternoon starts and we start off with one of my tips to qualify in Walker, who reeled off 3 straight frames to beat Taylor 10-8 in round one. Jones hasn't had a great couple of years on the circuit sliding down the rankings, and I certainly think he's here for the taking for the talented young Walker.
Marcus Campbell Vs Alex Borg - Alex Borg came back from 8-5 to beat James Wattana 10-9 today, but I really don't feel like he played that well and the experienced and consistent middle-ranked Campbell will probably be a bit too good in this one.
Jamie Cope Vs John Astley - John Astley battled hard in a lengthy 10-9 win against Sam Baird, which is a very good win for him, and Cope certainly has struggled this year so he's very much there for the taking again. It could well be another decider for John, but this time I don't think he'll have the same luck if Cope can turn up and raise his game a bit.
Tom Ford Vs James Cahill - This will be a very close game between Cahill, who had a very good 10-4 win against Gary Wilson, and Tom Ford, who hasn't had a great season with his form and is there for the taking if Cahill can repeat his round one performance. Still fancy Ford's experience to pull him through.
Yu De Lu Vs Luca Brecel - Brecel has been suffering with flu this week, but he still managed to beat a poor Lee Page 10-8. However, De Lu has been in good form in the last month and if he can carry that on, I think he'll be too much for Brecel in round 2.
Mark Joyce Vs Chen Zhe - Chen Zhe had a good 10-8 win against Parsons in round 1, but he hardly looked convincing there, while Mark Joyce has been in decent form over the last month or so and I certainly expect him to beat the weaker Chen Zhe here quite comfortably.
Rory McLeod Vs Michael Wasley - Michael Wasley also didn't make it very easy for himself against Sydney Wilson and he had to scrape over the line. There have been signs meanwhile in the last month or so for Rory that his game is starting to improve a bit, having had a very poor season otherwise. His experience and calm streak might be a bit much for the young and slightly hot-headed Wasley.
Liu Chuang Vs Robbie Williams - Liu Chuang has had a simply awful season this time around and has been lucky that he will stay on tour via the AOoM route because he is well down on the money list here. Meanwhile, Robbie had a good win today against Lu Haotian and he's played a lot better this season than Chuang has, and will therefore be a big favourite to win.
Pankaj Advani Vs Li Hang - Li Hang played very well in the first session of his comfortable win against Yotharuck today, while Advani's second half to the season hasn't been brilliant and with Hang playing some good stuff in round 1 and at a fair few other points this season, I have a sneaky feelin that he can snatch a tight win here.
Tian Pengfei Vs Robin Hull - Finally, Robin Hull did play some good snooker to beat Tony Drago easily in the end, but Drago once again became his own worst enemy and didn't put any pressure on Hull at all. This match against Tian will be about 100 times harder by comparison with Tian being fired up in the back half of this season, playing good snooker and having some very good results to boost his money ranking position that will need one more win here to secure his spot for next season.
Either way, it's another superb day of snooker we have in store here with plenty of twists and turns as these fantastic best-of-19 frame World Championship qualifiers continue at Sheffield's Ponds Forge.
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