China Open 2019

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The penultimate event before "The Big One" at Sheffield. This event has mixed feeling for the players, I would imagine. It has so much money involved that it cannot be ignored. But it can either make a player sharp or tire them out before the most important event. With that in mind, I think looking at the outright market would call for a different kind of approach.

In the early rounds of this event it's the first to 6. This rules out Selby in my opinion, so in the top half it's quite open. We also have to take into consideration players like Day and Gilbert who are fighting it out for World Championship spots. In the top half I am drawn to initially is Higgins but I just think he will use it as a warm up and not take it masively serious. Instead, I will look to the value of Hawkins and Maguire. Hawkins got to the final last year and despite having a very tricky match-up against Lu Ning, if he wins that he has a good chance. His price is purely based on the fact he faces Neil Robertson and potentially John Higgins but at 20/1 I think he has every chance. Maguire isn't really somebody I like to back no more as he is far too up and down but at such a big price he has a chance and has a decent record here, getting to the semi-finals a couple of times.

In the bottom half take your pick. Very open. I like Bingham as he is the kind of player who scraps for everything and will play every tournament 100%. I also like Dave Gilbert who will need a decent return here to make sure he has World Championship status. Other than those two, Sijun and Hoatian both look dangerous.

2pts B.Hawkins to win the China Open 20/1 Skybet
2pts S.Bingham to win the China Open 20/1 betvictor
1pt S.Maguire to win the China Open 50/1 betvictor
1pt D.Gilbert to win the China Open 66/1 bet365
0.5pts L.Haotian to win the China Open 200/1 ladbrokes
0.5pts Y.Sijun to win the China Open 125/1 ladbrokes

 

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This event gets underway in the early hours so the first matches begin at 1.30am being in China of course. Looking at the first round there isn't too much to get excited about in the early hours but abit later there are a few worth watching. One that starts in the morning at 6.30am is Ali Carter against Kurt Maflin and I think Maflin is overpriced. Ali beat Maflin 6-0 the last time they played but they have shared 2 wins each at the head-2-head. We don't really know of Ali's form at the moment because he withdrew from the Gibraltar tournament and was very poor against Williams in the Players prior to that. He beat Alann Taylor to qualify here 6-3. You couldn't say we have seen him in-form since the Grand Prix where he made the final.

Kurt Maflin is playing some decent stuff right now. He beat Hugill in the previous round here and Ashley played some great stuff including a 140 break. He had a good Gibraltar event where he got to the last 16 and lost to eventual champion, Bingham. Carter hasn't really performed in the China Open in the past couple of years and it just sways me on a possible upset here.

Also around this time, a battle of the Chinese commences as Li Hang takes on Yuelong. These two have never played eachother surprisingly, but I think Li Hang should be the favourite in my opinion. At 11/10 I will back him. He has had some nice results recently beating Robertson back in Ireland and pushing Higgins close not long ago. Mei Xiwen faces Marco Fu at 11.30am and I will be backing Xiewen. He is a very good up and coming prospect and he beat Fu 4-1 when they last played. The value is surely on Xiwen. 

Sam Baird is really hitting the ball well right now. His form is good and you'd have to say the form is better than Brecel's, who to me just seems like he is playing in his local pub every time I watch him. I will go with Baird on that one. I will also punt on Vafaei who is another player who looks to be the better of form against Milkins. 

2.5pts K.Maflin to beat A.Carter 2/1 bet365
2.5pts Li Hang to beat Z. Yuelong 11/10 ladbrokes
2.5pts M.Williams (-4.5 frames) to beat H.Chandle 11/10 bet365
2.5pts M.Xiwen to beat M.Fu 21/10ladbrokes
4pts S.Baird to beat L.Brecel 15/8
5pts H.Vafaei to beat R.Milkins 6/5 coral