Snooker: China Open

[kevshat]

This is the last tournament before the world championships and it begins on Monday. Wildcard round on Monday so in essence the event begins for real on Tuesday. It's all live on Eurosport and will hopefully provide some decent betting opportunities.

[kevshat]

Re: Snooker: China Open 2 outrights for me on this. 1pt ew S.Maguire to win China Open 14/1 Totesport (1/2 1,2) I backed Stephen Maguire in the Masters and I was close to landing place money despite Maguire never looking like he had any form behind him. I think he'll go well this week. I don't like using the Championship League as a form guide but Maguire made the semis of it last week so at least he's got a few match wins behind him. He now practices at a new club in Glasgow where John Higgins and Alan McManus practice so he's getting solid match practice and that has to help. His quarter of the draw holds no demons. It's competitive but there's no Higgins, O'Sullivan or Selby to worry about. Should he make the semis then the winner of quarter 1 will be tougher but over 11 frames I don't mind that. The time has come for Maguire to show the form that took him to number 2 in the world and if he does that here then this 14/1 will look big come next Sunday. 1pt ew M.Fu to win China Open 50/1 Betfred (1/2 1,2) 2pts M.Fu to win 4th Quarter 8/1 Betfred Again I'm wary of using Championship League form as gospel but it's the only form we've got to go by to an extent given that we've not had a ranking event for 2 months. Marco Fu won the Championship League in midweek and won it in style. He made 4 centuries over the two days and in the semi final against Maguire he won 3-0 with a lowest frame winning break of 94. He won the deciding frame of the final with a 134 total clearance so he must be cueing well and should be full of confidence as well. That's half the battle won for Fu. When he's cueing well and in form and confident he's a tough nut to crack. He needs a big event here having had a poor season and he'll want some ranking points to take to Sheffield with him. His quarter isn't easy with Higgins, Williams and Murphy in it but Fu's close to a home player this week so he'll carry the support and if his game is in good shape it would be no surprise if he was to come through this draw and make the 8/1 for the quarter and 50/1 outright look very big.