Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar

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The latest major of the season gets going on Monday when most of the game's top stars head out to Haikou for the 3rd running of the World Open. Mark Allen defends his title this week and with Sheffield creeping ever closer we can expect everyone to be getting everything they can out of their game in preparation for the big one. Eurosport take the coverage this week. Draw, format and schedule here: http://www.snooker.org/res/index.asp?event=285

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar Tournament preview: 1pt ew S.Bingham to win World Open 25/1 Skybet (1/2 1-2) Stuart Bingham went out to China early to acclimatise to conditions in the latest Asian PTC and he acclimatised nicely because he won the tournament. Bingham has been in good nick all season having made the final of the Champion of Champions and the semi final of the UK Championship not to mention the final of the Shootout too so he has plenty of winning momentum behind him and with a tournament win boosting his confidence further Bingham looks a good bet this weekend. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/world-open-betting-stuart-bingham-can-continue-his-good-form-in-china

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar 1st Quarter preview: 1pt R.Walden to win 1st Quarter 10/1 Boylesports Ricky Walden is another in this quarter and he must’ve been tearing his hair out recently. He has looked in very good form for a while but keeps on running into Ronnie O’Sullivan but that won’t happen in this tournament so he is worth taking in this quarter at a crazy double figure price. Walden has won in China before so the conditions don’t bother him and we saw last season that he plays well at this time of year. At 10/1 he looks a very big price in this section. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/world-open-betting-ricky-walden-looks-overpriced-in-the-top-quarter

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar Monday early previews: 4pts B.Hawkins (-1.5 frames) to beat M.Selt 4/6 Bet365 I’m sure Matt Selt will give as good as he gets in this match but the extra quality and experience of Hawkins should see him come through this one with a bit in hand. I was really impressed with Hawkins in the Welsh Open where his form reminded me of how he was playing in the World Championship last season. If that form has remained on the plane to China he’ll come through this unscathed. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/hawkins-vs-selt-betting-barry-hawkins-can-ease-through-haikou-opener 3pts T.Un-Nooh (+2.5 frames) to beat S.Maguire 4/5 Coral Un-Nooh isn’t the greatest player in the world but he can score heavily when he is given the chance and the fact he has nothing to lose coupled with the fact that Maguire may not be quite at his best in this match I think the Thai can cause the Scot problems if not actually beat him. Un-Nooh has the scoring power to win three frames so him with the start looks fair to me. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/maguire-vs-un-nooh-betting-maguire-could-be-made-to-work-in-world-open-opener

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar Monday later previews: 4pts X.Guodong (-1.5 frames) to beat P.Advani 5/6 Unibet Guodong carries a lot of form and momentum into this tournament with him and by virtue of the fact he is also at home as well I think there is plenty to like about the Chinese youngster. Advani is competent but he’s been losing to some very low ranked players in recent times, players who haven’t necessarily been in any form either and that is a concern. Give all that is with Guodong in this match I’ll take him here. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/guodong-vs-advani-betting-xiao-can-get-off-to-a-good-start-at-home 3pts M.White (-1.5 frames) to beat A.Mehta 11/10 Paddy Power Michael White will be the first to admit he hasn’t had a good season but he came alive at this point last year and there’s no reason why that can’t happen here. He has found himself a nice draw in this match and one that he’ll be looking to take advantage of. A good week of practice should have boosted his confidence so I expect him to have a bit too much for his Indian opponent. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/mehta-vs-m-white-betting-michael-white-can-kick-start-season-in-world-open-opener

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar Tuesday previews: 3pts C.Yupeng to beat M.King 6/5 Stan James You’d have to think Yupeng will be more at home in the conditions here having come from China. The conditions are a lot heavier and they do take some getting used to so that is in the home player’s favour here as is the home crowd who will be willing him to do well. King is experienced enough to deal with the crowd but if he is a little rusty he could be open to being taken out by a player who has shown in the past he is very competent. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/yupeng-vs-king-betting-cao-yupeng-can-surprise-mark-king-in-haikou 4pts D.Dale (-1.5 frames) to beat M.Leslie 4/5 Bet365 I don’t foresee too many problems for Dominic Dale in this match. He is in good form and the only matches he is losing at the minute are to the very top players in the game. No disrespect to Michael Leslie but he isn’t one of those so I would be surprised if the Spaceman doesn’t breeze into the second round of this tournament. He is worth backing to win no worse than 5-3 in this one. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/dale-vs-leslie-betting-dominic-dale-can-cruise-into-the-second-round-in-china 3pts Y.Delu to beat M.Stevens 6/4 Coral These two met in the UK Championship earlier in the season and Stevens only came through that one 6-5 so with Delu’s run in the Asian PTC warming him up nicely for this tournament I expect the roles to be reversed here and I think the Chinese youngster has every chance of dumping out the two time world finalist here. Stevens will need to find some of the magic he created last year in this event else he could make a much quicker exit than 12 months ago. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/stevens-vs-delu-betting-yu-delu-can-see-off-stevens-in-first-round-of-the-world-open 4pts J.Perry (-1.5 frames) to beat K.Maflin 11/10 Coral Perry beat Maflin 5-1 in Berlin in the German Masters earlier in the season and with the way he played in the Welsh Open I would expect something similar in this match. Maflin might make it a little tighter but I still think Perry will have too much for the man from Norway. Perry looks good in all departments right now and he should have no trouble making the Last 32 from this one. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/maflin-vs-perry-betting-joe-perry-can-prove-too-good-for-maflin-in-china

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar Wednesday previews: 4pts M.Allen vs M.Williams - Over 7.5 frames 5/6 Paddy Power I think this will be a close match. It is a match both men really need to win with time beginning to run out to book automatic spots at the Crucible and that in itself is likely to ensure it remains relatively tight. Both players know their way around the table but both can be guilty of missing easy balls so I expect this one to go all the way, or very close to it. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/allen-vs-williams-betting-two-quality-players-can-go-all-the-way-in-china 3pts N.Robertson (-3.5 frames) to beat R.McLeod 6/4 Paddy Power Robertson has played 14 frames against McLeod in their last two meetings and McLeod has only won one of them so I don’t hold out much hope for him here unless he suddenly finds some frame winning breaks. They haven’t looked like coming for a while though whereas you feel Robertson is going to fill his boots every time he walks to the table. I would imagine Robertson should ease through here. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/mcleod-vs-robertson-betting-robertson-can-ease-past-mcleod-once-again

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar Thursday previews: 4pts J.Higgins to beat J.Trump 11/10 Paddy Power For all Trump’s improvements through winning the Championship League last week his highest break against Stevens in the last round was just 49 and he’ll need to improve on that to get the job done here. Higgins played well in the previous round and has been playing well for a while now. He has a very good record over Trump including last month’s Welsh Open win and I expect Higgins to win this one too. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/higgins-vs-trump-betting-john-higgins-can-see-off-trump-again-in-china 4pts S.Murphy vs D.Junhui - Over 7.5 frames 5/6 Paddy Power Both these men are playing good stuff at the minute and I expect this one to be a very close match. Their recent previous meetings have all been close including their latest one at The Masters at the beginning of the year. Murphy is hitting the ball brilliantly at the minute while Ding is in incredible form this season so while something will have to give in this one I don’t expect it to be before an eighth frame is completed. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/murphy-vs-ding-betting-two-class-players-can-play-out-another-tight-one

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar well done kev! followed u on both..some come back from higgins being 4-0 down:ok

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar Friday previews: 4pts S.Murphy vs G.Dott - Over 7.5 frames 5/6 Skybet I think this will be another close match between two men who know how to scrap it out but who can both score heavily when the chances present themselves. Dott scored very well in the previous round which suggests his game is in good shape and we’ve seen throughout 2014 that Murphy’s game is in good nick and we’ve seen it again this week. I don’t think much will separate these two in this one. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/dott-vs-murphy-betting-little-likely-to-separate-former-world-champions 4pts M.Allen vs J.Higgins - Over 7.5 frames 4/5 Bet365 Something has to give in this quarter final. Mark Allen has never been beaten here while Higgins clearly never knows when he’s beaten if the last round is anything to go by. The five frames Higgins put together to comeback against Judd Trump were five of the best he’s played in a while and if both are playing to that standard here it will be tough to separate them. I think this will go beyond 7.5 frames before it is won. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/allen-vs-higgins-betting-pick-of-the-quarter-finals-unlikely-to-end-prematurely

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar Saturday previews: 4pts M.Selby vs M.Fu - Over 9.5 frames 11/10 Paddy Power These two are fairly evenly matched. Clearly at their best Selby is better but both know their way around a snooker table. They both have a very high standard tactical game and they can both score when they get in the balls so this should be a hard fought semi final and based on the week so far it should be a high quality semi final too and everything points towards it having over 9.5 frames. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/selby-vs-fu-betting-opening-semi-final-can-be-tight-throughout 4pts M.Allen vs S.Murphy - Over 9.5 frames 11/10 Paddy Power I see another close match in this second semi final. Two of their last three meetings have gone the distance and I don’t think too many will be surprised if this one does too. Both men fight for every ball in every frame but both love to open the balls up and ram in big breaks and I expect to see a lot of big breaks in this match. They’re both in good touch so expect this to end 6-4 or 6-5 either way. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/allen-vs-murphy-betting-second-semi-final-should-be-another-close-match

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Re: Haikou World Open - 10-16 Mar Final preview: 5pts M.Selby (-1.5 frames) to beat S.Murphy 11/10 Paddy Power I don’t think Selby’s good record over Murphy is a surprise. Selby’s B game is a lot better than Murphy’s and when Murphy doesn’t play well he can leave the table wide open and leave himself open to counter punches, as we saw a couple of times in his semi final. Mark Selby is very robotic in his approach but his no risk attitude makes him hard to beat and I expect him to grind down Murphy here. Full preview here: http://www.punterslounge.com/selby-vs-murphy-betting-mark-selby-can-have-too-much-for-murphy-in-final