James Cooper previews the early action action at the German Masters, including World Champion Kyren Wilson.
Snooker betting tips: German Masters
2pts Chris Wakelin (-2.5 frames) to beat Hammad Miah at 8/11 (General)
2pts Cheung Ka Wai (+3.5 frames) against Kyren Wilson at 10/11 (Sky Bet, Star Sports)
1pt Artemijs Zizins to beat Zhou Yuelong at 11/5 (bet365)
Six losses and nine defeats represents around a par season so far for Miah but he finds himself down in 95th spot on the one year rankings.
Two qualifying wins against Chris Totten and Matthew Stevens to make the Tempodrom was a welcome boost for Miah but he’s understandably a big price to advance against CHRIS WAKELIN.
It’s been another excellent campaign for Wakelin, who qualified for his first Masters this month and while he came unstuck at the first hurdle against Luca Brecel, a 6-3 score doesn’t really do the game justice.
Match sharpness may also be a factor, with Wakelin having played 60 matches this season (including the Championship League) while Miah has played just 16 times this term.
I have the gulf in class between the pair a littler wider than the market, with Wakelin’s single-frame supremacy (70% to Miah’s 30%) making him around a 4/7 chance to reach five frames before Miah can register three.
With that in mind, the 8/11 available in several places looks appealing.
Despite the obvious disappointment of losing in the Masters final, it was another very productive week’s work for Kyren Wilson, who is cementing his position as the regular second favourite in outright markets.
While outplayed by Shaun Murphy in the final, Wilson displayed his usual gritty resolve in the evening session to make it competitive.
An opening tie against Hong Kong rookie CHEUNG KA WAI should be an assignment Wilson passes but 10/11 quotes on Wai +3.5 frames appear a shade disrespectful when you look at his performances since graduating to the main tour.
Wai has already recorded impressive victories over experienced campaigners Marco Fu and Anthony Hamilton in qualifying for this and also got the better of Stephen Maguire at the beginning of the season.
It’s true that Wai has had the odd heavy defeat along the way, too and the main table at this fantastic arena is slightly alien territory for him.
In the hope he can cope with that, though, I make Wai around 8/11 to get at least get a couple of frames on the board.
The final match of interest is a harder match to price up, with Zhou Yuelong chalked up at 2/5 against ARTEMIJS ZIZINS (11/5).
For a player of his break-building prowess, Yuelong hasn’t been able to take his form to that next level having looked a ranking winner-in-waiting for quite a while now.
This season has been particularly disappointing, reaching the quarter-final stage just once in Shanghai.
Zizins burst onto the scene from nowhere at last year’s Q School, graduating in what his first attempt to gain professional status aged just 17.
Given his lack of top-level exposure, the Latvian has created a really good impression so far, edging Matt Selt 5-4 in what was a well-publicised decider having fluked match ball to qualify for this.
Zizins can boast a 55% win-rate this term, while his more illustrious opponent Yuelong is down at 41% in all competitions.
With that in mind, the teenager looks a good bet to spring a surprise in this relatively short best-of-9 encounter.
Published at 1502 GMT on 26/01/25
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