Snooker betting tips: Preview of the opening matches in the Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters

Snooker betting tips: Saudi Arabia Snooker Masters

2pts Liam Davies to beat Ken Doherty at 9/10 (Paddy Power)

1.5ps Mohammed Shehab to beat Jimmy White at 11/10 (General)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

With all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, the £2.3 million Saudi Arabia snooker masters commences in Riyadh on Friday.

The fact that the victor will trouser the same prize fund as Kyren Wilson did for winning the sport’s flagship event in Sheffield will raise a few eyebrows but with snooker so top-heavy in prize fund and non-ranking event opportunity, this tournament is a welcome boost for the middle and lower echelons of the game.

Furthermore, I like the fact that the whole event is housed at the one arena, so no qualifiers played several weeks before the main event along with held over matches.

The event is tiered so it’s those at the foot of the ranking list competing against each other along with local wildcards and amateur top ups.

For those with intel on the level of the local players, there are probably some excellent bets to be had given how difficult it is to price those matches up but unfortunately my scope isn’t that extensive so the focus is on the first-round matches with more established form lines.

First up is LIAM DAVIES against Ken Doherty, an intriguing clash of generations and joint favourites with most firms.

Well-touted from an early age, Davies has had to be a little patient as his junior contemporaries Stan Moody and Liam Pullen graduated to the main tour a year earlier.

For reference, I’d say that pair had solid if unspectacular debut seasons, claiming the occasional excellent scalp along with the inevitable disappointing defeat.

With his qualifying matches for Wuhan and the British Open held over, Championship League aside, Davies has played just the one match so far this term, losing 5-3 to Ricky Walden.

Doherty on the other hand has played three qualifiers and while a big outsider in two of them, he lost all three against Neil Robertson, Stephen Maguire and Xu Si respectively.

Another final appearance in the World Seniors Championship confirms Doherty is still a major force in that company and while he’s still very capable of winning matches on the main circuit (he’s accepted his invitational card for the season) I feel this is the sort of match Davies will hopefully win more often than not as his professional career progresses in earnest.

I also like the fact that Davies has beaten Fergal O’Brien twice in World Championship qualifiers which confirms that he’s more than capable of mixing it with the wily old campaigners and when pricing this up, I had the youngster as clear favourite, around 8/11.

The other match I like the look of is MOHAMMED SHEHAB against Jimmy White, primarily as in contrast to the layers, I make the former slight favourite to win the tie, certainly on form in the last year or so.

Given the standard of snooker in recent times, it was some achievement for Shehab to gain a tour card via the global Q Tour having performed with real credit on the Middle East wing of that circuit.

A 10-6 win over the aforementioned Moody in Sheffield qualifiers this spring was a superb performance and he was locked at 8-8 with Tian Pengfei in the next round before losing the final two frames.

Shehab is 0-2 this term, losing 5-4 to Dominic Dale before a disappointing 5-1 reversal against David Lilley but his game is seemingly in pretty good shape when you look at 2024 as a whole.

Keeping his tour card by right was a superb achievement for White in 2022/23 but last season, in truth, was a bit of a shocker.

Given the nature of the draw in many tournaments, you can get a spate of really difficult first-round matches when down the rankings but White managed just the two wins all campaign.

Along with that, he will have been bitterly disappointed by his performance in the World Seniors in May.

This campaign has started a little brighter, pushing the ultra-talented Si Jiahui close before beating Dominic Dale 5-3 to qualify for Wuhan.

A 4-0 defeat against Chris Totten does confirm that the Whirlwind is liable to throw in the odd shocker and while it’s never easy assessing form from other tours/regions, I think Shehab is a touch of value at 11/10 in this best-of-seven clash.

Posted at 1130 BST on 29/08/24

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