The Indian Open 2019

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Starts in a few days. Draw to come. I haven't covered the Shootout as it's like a coin-flip.Bingo snooker.

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The fastest player on tour won the fastest tournament on tour, Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. If I had known Thepchaiya is such a quick player I would have had some belief in him to go far in Watford. He just played his usual fast stuff and won the hole tournament. His 6min 139 break in the semi was very impressive as it broke the Shoot-out highest break record.

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We have a few wildcard type matches in a few of these ties. Here is the first round

Round 1 draw :

J.Higgins/A.Hugill Vs D.Jones
H.Vafaei Vs D.Dale/A.Padhy
M.White Vs J.Cahill
D.Gilbert Vs E.Slessor
H.Akbar Vs L.Hang
A.Carty Vs J.Perry
P.Ebdon Vs B.Woolaston/S.Shrikrishna
S.Craigie Vs L.Wenbo
S.Bingham Vs P.Lines
G.Wilson Vs J.Astley
Y.Bingtao Vs G.Greene
L.Ning Vs L.Highfield
M.Selt Vs T.Ford
J.Swail Vs J.Lisowski/H.Jain
F.O'Brien Vs O.Lines
R.Hull Vs S.Vahedi
A.Hicks Vs L.Yuan
E.Sharav Vs M.Georgiou
L.Simmonds Vs M.Xiwen
Z.Yuelong/L.Rawat Vs L.Haotian
T.Un-Nooh Vs M.Holt
A.Ursenbacher Vs G.Dott
P.Davison Vs M.Davis
Y.Sijun Vs T.Leong
L.Brecel Vs I.Burns
D.Kadian Vs A.Higginson
C.Steadman Vs Z.Yong
J.Robertson Vs S.Donaldson
R.McLeod Vs A.Hamilton
S.Baird Vs Z.Xintong
C.Wakelin Vs S.Carrington
L.Walker Vs S,Murphy/L.Vatnani

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Outright Preview :

Looking at the outright market for this tournament it looks wide-open in parts. I really think that Bingham will be looking to win this event. He is in really good form and just didn't perform against Robertson in the final of the Welsh. I would expect him to come through that top half but the value isn't there.

I will take Lisowski in the top half. On his day he beats anybody and there are signs of his form returning recently. I will also take a small outsider chance on Sam Craigie. Sam beat Akani 6-2 in the China Open a week ago or so, and looked in good form hitting 5 50+ breaks. He has also had a good run at the Welsh Open and is a big price.

In the bottom half, I will take Luca Brecel, who is another one showing signs he is ready to win an event. He looked very confident in the Shoot-out and prior to that there was signs in the Masters he was back. He also looked good last week in beating Andy Lee 6-1 in the China Open Quallies.I will also take a couple of big outsiders here in Sijun and Xintong. Both look a real raw talent and are close in my eyes to breaking it big in an event.

3pts J.Lisowski to win the Indian Open 11/1 Betfred
2pts L.Brecel to win the Indian Open 25/1 Ladbrokes
1pt Z.Xintong to win the Indian Open 33/1 Betvictor
1pt Y.Sijun to win the Indian Open 33/1 bet365
0.5pts S.Craigie to win the Indian Open 11/1 Betfred

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that last bet on Craigie, his odds are 66/1, not 11/1. ^^^

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Day 1 Preview :

The matches kick-off at 5.30am (UK time) so I will have a look at Day 1 tonight. Lu Ning takes on Liam Highfield and I think the value is on Ning. I would have this as the other way around and Ning as the favourite. He is a good player who is having a good season. Never played Highfield before, but just on recent form, you would have to take Ning.

Ferg O'Brien takes on Oliver Lines. These two met only 2 weeks ago at the Welsh Open and Lines won 4-2 and scored 2 centuries. Since then, he got 3 50+ in the China Open when beating Tom Ford 6-2 also. He looks a man in form right now and although Ferg is scoring well too, that h2h tips it to Lines when he is odds against.

Matt Selt faces Tom Ford in the afternoon. h2h shows Ford has won the last 2 between these two and the last match in 2017 5-1 however, Ford looks very low on confidence at the moment and Selt looked very good in the China qualifiers. I think this match will be a close one and the 11/10 on Selt makes sense. 

I'm also going to take Michael White on. He looks so short of confidence it's crazy. He looked to enjoy the shootout and I think that makes sense really as it looks to be the concentration that causes him the issues. To lose 6-1 to Thor Leong is just shocking and Thor didn't get one break above 50 in that match, so although you wouldn't say Cahill is a fantastic player, I'll be taking the handicap as a punt.

Finally, Shawn Murphy at times this season has looked shambolic, so I am going to take a half point punt on his opponent Lucky Vatnani. I would take the handicap, but I think Murphy will either win easy or struggle and lose. 

2.5pts L.Ning to beat L.Highfield 11/10 bet365
2.5pts O.Lines to beat F.O'Brien 11/10 Coral
2.5pts M.Selt to beat T.Ford 11/10 bet365
2pts J.Cahill (-1.5 frames) to beat M.White 9/4 betfred
0.5pts L.Vatnani to beat S.Murphy 12/1 willhill

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Nice, all winners bar Vatnani, but that was always a wild punt. 

Day 2 Preview :

One of the early matches tomorrow (UK Time) is Ursenbacher against Graeme Dott. Dott is actually the highest ranked player in this quarter but he certainly isn't playing like it. Knocked out of the China Open by Greene a week ago and Beaten 4-0 by Higgins and also losing out in the German to Georgiou fairly early it's not the Dott of old. Ursenbacher however, has started the year well. After a blip at the German where he lost to Trump slayer Jones, he ran well at the Welsh, getting to the Last 16 and then last week performed well in the China Open beating Matthew Stevens. Value is with Ursenbacher.

Also in the morning, Jimmy Robertson faces Scott Donaldson and I'm siding with Donaldson. He has a very good record against Jimmy winning the last few including a 4-0 win last out. He also has the better form, so although this is probably a coin-flip type game on paper, the form should have the odds the other way around. Robertson lost 6-3 to Ashley Carty last week and didn't even register a 50 break and even when he beat David Lilley here in the quallies, he struggled to win. Donaldson, however, beat Castle 6-1 and got to the Quarter-Finals of the Welsh.

4pts A.Ursenbacher to beat G.Dott 7/4 Coral
3pts S.Donaldson to beat J.Robertson Evens Bet365

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A winner with Donaldson and a void on Ursenbacher. Not entirely sure what happened in that match. I've seen a score of 4-0 to Dott around, but my bet on Ursenbacher was voided, so I would imagine it was a W/O. so 5 out of 6. Just looking at the 1,30pm matches and I will take on Murphy. I have to, he just isn't performing atall. McLeod also tempts me purely by the awful form of Hamilton.

2pts L.Walker to beat S.Murphy 5/2 Betvictor
2pts R.McLeod to beat A.Hamilton 6/4 bet365

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Ugh, McLeod seems to be a real troll for me. Another pants performance from him. Walker should have been 2-0 up against Murphy and for him not to even get to a deciding frame is poor. What you get when you bet on a guy who has fewer centuries than his age  

Day 3 preview : 

In the morning we have Andy Hicks taking on Eden Sharav. Sharav actually surprised me in beating Georgiou despite being the favourite and surprised me even more by coming back from 2-0 down to win. I think Yuan made Hicks look better than he was today and for me, Sharav is the better player he. I think he'll win with a couple of frames to hand. Also kicking off early is Lu Ning and Yan Bingtao. Lu Ning is playing some really nice stuff right now and I fancy him to continue that form here. He played Bingtao only a couple of weeks ago and that match went to a deciding frame and it wouldn't surprise me to see that happen again. Bingtao just doesn't look right at present and he should have beat the likes of Greene by more than a deciding frame. He isn't scoring heavy enough and if he falters here, Ning could mop up.

I am going to be taking on Hamilton again tomorrow morning. I think Xintong is looking really good in his scoring right now and I think if Hamilton falls behind it could end up a 4-1/4-2 job here. Hamilton did perform marginally better than I thought he would against McLeod but with the biggest break of 75 and that being the only break above 50, I think it's a different league here.  Next, we have Shootout winner Un-Nooh facing up against Graeme Dott. Dott got a bye in the last round as Ursenbacher didn't make the match which means he comes here without a feel for the tables and short of form. Much like the reason I was going to lay him against Ursenbacher, 

In the afternoon matches, I am going to once again lay Shaun Murphy (shock) I would have preferred him to play Carrington if I'm honest but Wakelin is playing well enough and it helps to know Wakelin beat Shaun 6-0 last year at the German Masters. Shaun just does not look interested. He sits in his chair not even watching the table and today he should have been 2-0 down and if that happens he probably loses. Against Lucky, he gave him multiple chances too. If he performs like that then I think Wakelin wins. 

2.5pts E.Sharav (-1.5 frames) to beat A.Hicks 11/10 Ladbrokes
3pts L.Ning to beat Y. Bingtao 15/8 Coral
2.5pts Z.Xintong (-1.5 frames) to beat A.Hamilton Evens Coral
2.5pts Un-Nooh to beat G.Dott 11/10 Ladbrokes
2.5pts C.Wakelin to beat S.Murphy 9/5 Betfred
0.5pts C.Wakelin to beat S.Murphy 4-0 20/1 Bet365


 

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Couple of good results in there with Wakelin and Ning but Un Nooh was shocking. Profit on the day though I suppose. Just the one tomorrow as we get to the business end. Not a great deal of value for me but I like the looks of Olly lines against Selt. They are both playing well right now, but I actually think Lines has the better form despite being the underdog. He also won the last h2h 4-2 last year.

4pts O.Lines to beat M.Selt 5/4 Ladbrokes

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Ugh, a deciding frame. I am going to take Selt on again. He has a much more in form player today and it's Lu Ning (who I was so close to backing against Bingham) Neither scored heavy in their last round matches today, but Ning still won today despite Bingham having a pretty decent scoring game. Will take Ning

4pts L.Ning to beat M.Selt 5/4 Paddypower

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3-2 up Ning! Ah well, so looks like Selt Vs Haotian or Hamilton final. Nothing really interests me in the final. I will look on to the Players Championship