Sunday's World Snooker Championship predictions and snooker betting tips: Williams highly likely to impress again

Where to watch the World Snooker Championship

BBC and Eurosport, 10am, 2.30pm & 7pm Sunday

Best bets

Ding Junhui to beat Hossein Vafaei
2pts 8-13 Hills

Mark Williams -2.5 frames v Jimmy Robertson
2pts 4-6 bet365, Coral, Ladbrokes

World Snooker Championship day two predictions

Ding Junhui v Hossein Vafaei (10am)

Many observers expect Hossein Vafaei to trouble and possibly upset Ding Junhui in their World Championship opener and the Iranian qualifier is certainly a useful performer.

Their head-to-head series is tied at 1-1, but those matches were contested in 2020 when Ding was more in the wilderness after failing to improve on his 2016 Crucible final loss to Mark Selby.

But after a victory in the 6 Red World Championship in early March, his first title of note since 2019, Ding seems to be producing his most meaningful snooker for years.

That Thailand triumph should have boosted the Chinese legend's confidence going to the Crucible. Despite his emotional vulnerability, a peak-performing Ding, a happy family man these days, still remains capable of capturing a world title.

Ding is still a great player - a trio of UK Championship victories and a Masters triumph tell us that.

And if he is back to anywhere approaching his best, then Vafaei, even allowing for his own sound temperament and ability on the baize, is unlikely to pressurise Ding the way Ronnie O'Sullivan, Judd Trump and even Barry Hawkins have done at the Crucible down the years.

Vafaei compiled century breaks in both of his previous outings against Ding, and he had too much consistency for Jackson Page and Andrew Pagett in the qualifiers.

But this still looks a big opportunity for Ding, one of the heaviest scorers the game has ever seen.

Mark Williams v Jimmy Robertson (2.30pm)

Mark Williams has been rather quiet on the baize in recent months, but he is expected to be well prepared for his tilt at a fourth Crucible crown.

His first-round opponent, qualifier Jimmy Robertson, has never beaten the Welsh Potting Machine in ten previous meetings and that trend is highly likely to continue.

Williams reached the semi-finals in Sheffield last year, but he arguably produced the best snooker of the tournament, posting 16 tons in four rounds.

He has been handed a decent early draw in this year's marathon so has a big chance of again going deep at the Crucible.

Williams didn't have enough to deny Judd Trump in the Masters final in January when contesting his only title match this season. But while the 48-year-old may struggle to improve on his display in last year's flagship event, he has been getting better with age.

Most bookmakers ask Williams to give up 3.5 frames on their handicaps, but backing the favourite to successfully concede Robertson a start of 2.5 is preferred.

Robertson silenced two decent performers in Ben Mertens and Anthony Hamilton in qualifying. But he has never even got close to defeating Williams and given that the seed has won 47 of the 60 frames the pair have played, an upset is not anticipated.

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