Snooker / Paul Krishnamurty / 04 October 2009 / Leave a comment

Slow starter Ebdon is no sort of bet against Wenbo

"Even at his peak, Ebdon was usually a slow starter to the season, preferring to concentrate on the world championships over his ideal longer match format. As Ebdon has rarely shown his very best in best of nine matches, it's very hard to make a case for him this week."

Besides a surprise win in March's China Open, all the evidence from Peter Ebdon's 2008/09 season pointed towards a player in terminal decline. In contrast, his first round opponent Liang Wenbo has just reached his first ranking final and looks a man very much on the up.

Even at his peak, Ebdon was usually a slow starter to the season, preferring to concentrate on the world championships over his ideal longer match format. As Ebdon has rarely shown his very best in best of nine matches, it's very hard to make a case for him this week.

Those tendencies, plus the fact this pair know each other's games well from practice sessions, enabled Wenbo to emphatically win their latest encounter 5-1. That result in the recent Shanghai Masters was a virtual repeat of last season's 5-0 whitewash at exactly the same stage.

[1.6] about Wenbo looks a solid bet for favourite backers, and in anticipation of a comfortable win, anything around [2.0] on the Chinese player giving away 1.5 frames start also looks fair value.

Tags: Grand Prix Snooker, Liang Wenbo, Peter Ebdon