Wednesday January 15th 2025
Kyren Wilson V Zhang Anda - 13:00
Reigning world champion Kyren Wilson kicks off the action this afternoon against China’s Zhang Anda. Wilson has been a brilliant world champion and has performed impressively during the season but won’t get it all his own way as we have seen Anda produce some top-quality displays over the past 2 seasons.
The pair have come up against each other very few times but it is the lower-ranked Anda with the slight advantage (3-1). That will give him confidence coming into today.
It's been an uninspiring season to date for Anda, he has reached the latter end of tournaments on very few occasions and has been unable to emulate his standout season of 2023/2024.
His record at Ally Pally will no doubt concern him though. (1 appearance, 1 defeat). He has however moved up to 10th in the world, his highest-ever ranking.
He faces an uphill task today as he faces world champion Kyren Wilson. Having claimed his first world title last season, he has continued to impress this term winning the Xi'an Grand Prix & Wuhan Open.
He seems to have taken his game to a new level over the last year and is a live contender to get back in the winner's circle this week.
I don't expect a landslide victory this afternoon but I'd be surprised if Wilson wasn't to progress with a couple of frames to spare.
Prediction: 6-4 Wilson
Luca Brecel V Chris Wakelin - 19:00
Bringing the last 16 to a close is Luca Brecel and debutant Chris Wakelin. On paper it may be hard to look past the Belgian Bullet progressing but Wakelin has shown over the last 12 months that he is more than capable of mixing it with the best on tour. His shoot-out triumph in 2023 a career highlight for the Englishman.
It's been an impressive season so far for Wakelin making the final of the International Championship, semi-final of the English Open and quarter-finals in both Wuhan and the Scottish Open resulting in him reaching his highest ever world ranking. 15.
He will however have to produce his best form to defeat prestigious talent Brecel this evening. Since winning the world title, Brecel has largely gone missing and struggled to make latter stages of events.
He has lately begun to find some form and reached the final in Riyadh before Christmas. But if he can rediscover the form that sealed his World Championship victory in 2023, it’s hard not to see him progressing to set up a match with Kyren Wilson.
Prediction 6-3 Brecel
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