Cazoo British Open (inc qualifiers)

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The qualifiers for the Cazoo British Open 2022/23 get underway tomorrow. 6 days of qualifiers with the main event taking place late September. We have 8 matches a day and there are a couple I like in tomorrows action.

The first bet for me is Zhang Anda to beat Stephen Hendry, on the handicap. In an ideal world I would have liked -1.5 but the -2.5 gives Hendry one frame. I think Anda wins the match and I'm not sure how much longer Hendry will keep this re-attempt at Snooker going, too. If it was purely a question of him getting back into the practice room to get to, at least the level of the likes of Dale, Doherty etc then he would be there by now after a year but if we look at pure results, he won his 3 of his first 6 matches, but only really played decent against Jimmy White, at the Worlds. In fact in his other 2 wins, just one break of 60 combined both matches.

However, recently, 6 matches lost in a row for a combined frame score of 29-5. He got 2 frames against Yang and 3 against Li Hang. Funny enough, he played decent against Li Hang and I wanted to see how he would play this season. He has lost his only match against Joyce though, 5-0 and without a break of 50+. Anda for me 4-1.

My next bet will be Li Hang to beat Liam Highfield. Not many of the players take the Championship League very seriously but Highfield lost all 3 of his matches and 2 of them were losing against Ben Mertens and Xu Si. He should be winning both of those matches. He then went and performed well against Mark Williams in his first real event of the season but again, he lost, in a deciding leg. It's a hard one to call his form but 4 losses from 4 now and he's playing Li Hang, who looked in decent nick. Hang has also played in the Championship League (W1, D1, L1) and that loss was also against Mark Williams. It's the break building that edges me to Hang though. Centuries in every match bar his first, and 2 centuries and a 73 in his 5-3 win over Steadman. I feel like Hang will come into this with the better form and momentum. I'll stick this bet in a 4-fold along with the previous bet, Anda, on the handicap, Hugill and Jianbo to provide an upset against Jackson Page, who went out in the 1st round of this last year and comes into this with a small lack of form.

5pts Z. Anda (-2.5 frames) to beat S. Hendry 11/10 bet365
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0.5pt 4-fold - Anda (-2.5 frames) / Hang / Jianbo / Hugill 19/1 bet365

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I have to wonder about betting scandals in matches like the one I'm watching here. Jianbo 2-0 up and flying and starts missing the kind of shots a pub player could make. Its very odd. Makes you wonder. Good to see Anda do the business and win 4-1 though for the main bet.