Snooker / Paul Krishnamurty / 08 October 2009 /

Journeyman opponent should hold no fears for Ebdon, says Paul Krishnamurty

Writing off Peter Ebdon in the last round proved costly, and I'm not going to make the same mistake again. When the former world and UK champion lost the first two frames against Liang Wenbo, it looked like another early season failure, but true to his character, Ebdon bounced back.

In claiming the next five frames on the spin, Ebdon wasn't really outstanding, but he was very efficient and anything approaching that level of form will be enough to progress to the quarter-finals at the expense of a very limited opponent in Mark Davis.

It's eight years since Davis last reached a ranking event quarter-final, something he's only ever achieved twice during a moderate career. At no.47 in the world rankings, Davis is the very definition of a journeyman and its hard to see why he should go into this match with any great expectations. He did well enough in his opening match to win via a deciding frame, but was helped by a strangely subdued performance from Marco Fu.

Even if Ebdon isn't at his peak, he will surely have too much tactical nous and experience to win this match with something to spare. [1.84] about the favourite giving away 1.5 frames start looks a sound investment in my view.

Selection: Peter Ebdon @ 1.84 (-1.5 frames) (vs Davis)

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