ALI CARTER has looked a man possessed in attempting to become only the third man to successfully defend his Welsh Open title and he looks an extremely good bet at 4-5 to see off home favourite Ryan Day and progress to the semi-final.
'The Captain's' form had been patchy leading up to this event, but he has only conceded three frames in overcoming Mark Davis and Neil Robertson, and looks a different player to the one we've seen in previous tournaments this season. There must be something about the Welsh air that brings the best out of him.
Day, who is looking to salvage his own poor form, scraped past Tony Drago in the first round and fought out a scrappy 5-3 win over Stephen Hendry, making just one break of over 50 in the process. In fact, in the 17 frames of snooker he has played thus far, Day has only made two knocks of 50-plus, while Carter has two centuries to his name, and I just cannot see how this will be anything other than a Carter win.
Mark Williams has maintained his decent form from the Masters in bulldozing his way past Fergal O'Brien and Andrew Higginson, but I think he will meet his match in STEPHEN MAGUIRE on Friday. And at 11-10 with Boylesports and Stan James, the Scottish ace could serve up some cracking value.
I may have tipped up Robertson before the event began, but I also gave a decent mention to Maguire and his performance against Barry Hawkins in the second round was a vast improvement on his narrow 5-4 escape against Dominic Dale. The Scot has gone too long without a victory on the Tour and at 10-1 with Boylesports he is still worth a punt on the outright market.
That just leaves RONNIE O'SULLIVAN who is 4-9 with Betfred and Skybet to defeat Mark Allen. There were the usual doubts about whether Ronnie would be up for this event after losing his Masters crown to Mark Selby, but he has been in impervious form so far in dropping just one frame and he looks a cert to fend off the the Ulsterman.
Allen played well at the Masters and has carried that over to south Wales and his 5-2 defeat of Matthew Stevens was a good victory considering how well the Welshman played – Stevens compiled two century breaks in defeat. But the way O'Sullivan brushed aside the dangerous Jamie Cope with consummate ease suggests he is not a player to lose faith in just yet.
