Ronnie is no certainty against promising Swiss

Ronnie O’Sullivan resumes his bid for an eighth UK title on Sunday and at odds of simply 1.111/9, many regard him as a near-certainty to progress to the last-32.

I strongly disagree. In Alexander Ursenbacher, the Rocket faces the most effective younger prospects. The solely time they met beforehand, the Swiss participant received 4-2 and he is undoubtedly improved within the 22 months since that Welsh Open encounter.

Plus O’Sullivan is removed from bombproof in the intervening time. Yes, he reached the NI Open last however did not carry out anyplace close to his greatest and repeatedly needed to come from behind.

Back Alexander Ursenbacher 2u @ 9.28/1 Place order to lay 6u @ 3.02/1

Ursenbacher appears to be like an splendid buying and selling possibility – take 9.28/1 pre-match with a view in the direction of laying again for thrice the stake if shortening to 3.02/1 at any stage. This might be achieved by taking a 2-0 or 3-1 lead (possibly much less), or taking the match to a decider.

Highfield could make Selby work

As Lukas Klekkers proved final week, Mark Selby can by no means be outlined as a certainty. Uniquely amongst elite gamers, the Jester is a perennial gradual starter who is often taken to the wire by vastly inferior opponents.

Highfield falls into that class however has received two of their seven earlier encounters. When they met at this stage final yr, Selby received 6-3 and by the identical scoreline over the identical distance three months earlier.

Back Mark Selby to win 6-4 1.2u @ 11/2
Back Mark Selby to win 6-5 0.8u @ 8/1

Backing Selby for slender victories is a tried a examined technique. This combo on 6-4 and 6-5 pays round 3.711/4.

Back Sunny Akani for the 2.5 Frame Handicap 4u @ 5/6 (v Williams)

Sunny Akani practically pulled off an upset for the ages within the 2017 renewal when shedding 6-5 to Ronnie within the last-16, and the Thai proved it was no fluke in 2018. Apparently devoted to apply, he has turn out to be a formidable match participant.

That is a essential ability against Mark Williams, whose ringcraft wins so many matches within the early rounds. As final season, the Welshman is not in nice type and misplaced to the same commonplace of opponent in Dominic Dale final week.

2 unit double

Tian Pengfei for the +1.5 Frame Handicap @ Evs (v Lisowski)
Jordan Brown @ Evs (v Jones)

Finally a double on matches from the surface tables, paying 4.03/1. Jordan Brown is one other glorious matchplayer, progressing quick, and is most popular to Jamie Jones. Tian Pengfei might be the worst kind of tactical opponent for Jack Lisowski so take him to win 5 frames through the handicap.

Follow Paul on Twitter @paulmotty