Masters Snooker Day 2 Tips: Lisowski rated best bet of the opening round

• O'Sullivan has strong claims of eighth title

• Brecel on the up but faces daunting task

• Lisowski napped against struggling Higgins

Day two at Alexandra Palace sees two of snooker's Class of 92 enter the fray. Ronnie O'Sullivan takes on Luca Brecel in the afternoon session, followed by John Higgins vs Jack Lisowski.

First, let's look at the Rocket and his bid for an eighth Masters title. As alluded to in my tournament preview, I'm quite keen on his chances. The only reason he didn't make the staking plan was affordability. (It makes no sense to back both O'Sullivan and Selby from the same half of the draw).

A useful early test of Brecel's title claims

Instead, Brecel got the nod as an each-way pick, in the hope that he can pull of an upset here and become a serious title contender. The word 'hope', as opposed to 'expect', is critical.

Make no mistake, the Belgian is a growing force to be reckoned with. A supreme natural talent who is now learning the art of matchplay. Based on how he played en route to the English Open final before Christmas, he can certainly win or contend very seriously for a major.

It remains to be seen, however, whether he can live with Ronnie at anything like his best. I suspect that nowadays we will rarely see Ronnie peak outside the majors, but that peak standard remains as good (and unbeatable) as ever. The Masters, in London, has probably been his very best major over the years.

Attacking style could leave Brecel vulnerable

Given that they've only met three times - O'Sullivan leads 2-1 - the head-to-head is virtually meaningless. My instinct is that Brecel may be just the type of opponent Ronnie enjoys playing. Open, attacking, bound to leave plenty of chances.

Therefore, I shall resist the temptation to take any more of a chance on an upset beyond that outright bet on Brecel. For the daily double, try O'Sullivan to win 6-2 at 5/1.

Daily double (pays £24.00 to a £0.5 stake)

Ronnie O'Sullivan to win 6-2 @ 6.05/1

Jack Lisowski to win 6-3

In total contrast, there is no fence-sitting regarding the evening match. Jack Lisowski is probably my most confident bet of the first round. Merely saying that reflects a big change in my analysis of both players.

Lisowski is improving rapidly

At the 2018 World Championship, Higgins destroyed Lisowski 13-1. That humiliation was an indictment of Jack's failure to compliment his tremendous potting and break-building skills with basic strategy. A master tactician and match player like Higgins was bound to teach him a lesson.

However, while Lisowski is still not the finished article, he has undoubtably improved in the meantime and that showed when losing by just the single frame in last year's World Championship quarter-finals (having already dumped Neil Robertson out). At the last major, the UK Championship, he was arguably the best player in the tournament and again only went down in a deciding frame at the semi-final stage.

Higgins enduring a terrible season

Those efforts point to a big run this week, whereas that cannot be said about Higgins, who has been way below his best this season. The only two occasions he's gone past a last-16 involved winning one match in small-field invitationals. He's been beaten in ranking events by the likes of Daniel Wells, Robert Milkins and Yuan Sijun.

That is very out of character and demonstrates a self-professed lack of confidence right now. Of course the New Year and a major could prompt a comeback, and it is encouraging that he won six out of eight matches at last week's Championship League. Even there, though, Higgins wasn't in stellar breakbuilding form, hitting only 13 fifty breaks in 33 frames.

My prediction here is that Higgins will leave too many chances, and ultimately be outscored by the younger man. I make Lisowski clear favourite.

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