World Snooker Championship

World Snooker Championship Day 8 Tips: Don't bank on an easy Selby win

Snooker player Anthony McGill
Anthony McGill has a superb Crucible record

Paul Krishnamurty updates the second round matches in-play and previews the three matches starting on Saturday...

  • Trust Jones to finish off Robertson

  • Selby and Wilson to go long

  • McGill tipped to edge out Lisowski


We've got a feast of action to look forward to on Saturday at the Crucible. Neil Robertson on the brink of another shock Crucible defeat, this time to Jak Jones. Ronnie O'Sullivan continues against Hossein Vafaei, while three more matches get underway.

Regarding O'Sullivan, it is hard to see anything other than a comfortable win. The greatest front-runner of all-time doesn't generally throw away 6-2 leads.

Jones has the bottle to finish the job

As for Robertson, he's a 5/2 chance to overhaul Jones from 10-6 down. While one should never write off a player of his calibre, those odds don't appeal. He played poorly last night and Jones has bottle in spades.

Daily treble (pays £10.80 to a £2.00 stake)

Jak Jones @ 2/7

Anthony McGill @ 11/10

Back Over 21.5 Frames in Selby/Wilson @ Evens

Lisowski v McGill has the hallmarks of a cracker, which could well go down to the final frame. Jack starts slight favourite, as his superior position in the game would justify, but I'm not convinced normal rules apply at the Crucible.

McGill boasts outstanding Crucible form

McGill is the definition of a Crucible specialist. His record here is leagues ahead of the rest of his form. He was quite superb in knocking out Judd Trump and clinical when given chances. He should get plenty against Lisowski, and seems more likely to take advantage than Noppon Saengkham did in the first round.

Back Anthony McGill @

11/10

The head-to-head sample is small and mostly old, but it is slightly notable that McGill leads 3-1. In terms of styles, I suspect Jack represents his favourite type of opponent. Back the single at 11/10 and use this in the daily treble, along with Jak Jones at 2/7.

Wilson no pushover for Selby

I remain very sweet on Mark Selby's chances of a fifth world title, but I doubt he'll have it all his own way against Gary Wilson. The latter pulled off a big shock when they met in this round four years ago and has become much more established at the top level since.

Back Over 21.5 Frames in Selby/Wilson @

Evens

We saw against Matt Selt how Selby frequently makes harder work than expected against inferior opponents. He must start favourite, given a 7-1 career lead, but I doubt this will be one-sided so back Over 21.5 Frames at even money.

Back Robert Milkins to win 13-9 @

12/1

Finally, while Rob Milkins v Si Jiahui is a hard match to call given the latter's potential, I think the market is wrong to make the 20-year-old favourite. After all, Milkins has been in the best form of his career over the past year. Try a correct score combo on 13-9 and 13-10.

Back Robert Milkins to win 13-10 @

10/1

*Follow Paul on Twitter @paulmotty

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