The 2nd ranking event of the season begins this week as the inaugural edition of the Xi’an Grand Prix gets underway at the Qujiang E-Sports Centre.
After the low-key Championship League followed by the invitational Shanghai Masters this will be the first knockout tournament for all the tour players and with a prize fund of £177,000 for the winner this tournament is a great chance for players to take an early lead on the one year list.
@DSSnookerTips
Snooker Odds
0.5pts Each Way – Ding Junhui To Win Outright – 18/1
1pt – Ding Junhui To Win Quarter 1 – 9/2
My first pick in the outrights is Ding Junhui. Ding had a very good season last year, and despite not lifting a trophy he still managed to finish sixth on the one year list reaching two finals and a semi as well as a further four quarter-finals, and now sits eighth in the rankings.
Always a threat in China with the home crowd behind him and has already won seven ranking events here. Earlier this year he reached the final of the World Open, beating Murphy, Vafaei and Robertson along the way.
The top seed in this quarter is Kyren Wilson who could easily struggle a little this season with the new title of World Champion and has already had a poor start to the season with a 6-0 defeat to Zhou in the Shanghai Masters.
2pts – Neil Robertson to win Quarter 2 – 7/2
Robertson has had a poor couple of seasons by his standards which have seen him drop to 27th in the rankings but he still has the quality on his day and he looks to be putting a lot of effort into climbing back up the ladder.
Showed improvements towards the end of last season losing out in a semi-final deciding frame to Ding Junhui in the World Open and again missing out narrowly in a high-quality World Championship qualifier against Jamie Jones.
This season he’s made an unbeaten start with seven points to win his Championship League group and losing just three frames in his three qualifying matches.
The draw sees a potential second-round clash against Ronnie O’Sullivan. He’s won five of his last seven meetings against “The Rocket” and is more than capable of beating him in a best of nine which would make him clear favourite to reach the semi finals.
0.5pts Each Way – Pang Junxu to win Outright – 80/1
1pt – Pang Junxu to win Quarter 3 – 14/1
Pang is a player I’ve always rated highly and odds of 14/1 looks good value for him to reach the semis this week in my opinion.
He’s been showing his quality consistently, winning against very good players and climbing up the rankings to comfortably secure his tour card, now sitting 29th.
Only lost one match so far this season with good wins over Gary Wilson and Mark Allen in the recent Shanghai Masters.
He’s already beaten Michael Holt to qualify for this event and he’s heavy favourite to beat amateur Paul Deaville in his 1st round match this week. Winning this one would leave him just 3 wins away from a payout here.
1pt – Shaun Murphy to win Outright – 12/1
My final outright pick is Shaun Murphy. Murphy has made a very good start to the season, won five of his six Championship League matches and both qualifiers 5-1.
In the Shanghai Masters he had very good wins against John Higgins, Zhou Yuelong and Mark Selby before losing out to Trump in the final.
Looks to have a good draw this week, and Carter losing his qualifier means he’ll avoid any top 16 players until at least the quarter finals.
Check out the rest of our Snooker Betting Tips here.
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Publish date : 2024-08-17 09:16:06
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Author : pksportsnews
Publish date : 2024-08-17 10:20:45
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