Betfred World Championship qualifiers previews, news and tips

Third qualifying round
Starts 5pm Tuesday

Matthew Stevens is one of the best players never to have won the World Championship and, with time running out in his distinguished career, there may be signs that the Welshman is giving the Crucible qualifiers more application this season.

Stevens meets Tian Pengfei with the prize being a place at the Crucible for the Betfred-sponsored finals. And while Stevens' fellow Welshman Ryan Day came up well short in his bid to deny Tian - he was hammered 10-3 - the Chinese ace may find it tougher doing against the dual Crucible finalist.

Stevens has looked at or near his brilliant best in seeing off Thor Chuan Leong and talented Chris Wakelin in his first two outings at Sheffield's English Institute of Sport. He compiled breaks of 116, 111, 74, 67, 63 and 52 in ousting Leong and 143, 79, 68, 60 and 57 when denying Wakelin 10-7.

Tian had runs of 125, 89, 62, 58, 54 and 54 in the course of dumping out Day, but was less impressive when posting figures of 55, 54, 52 and 50 in an admittedly easier task of defeating Soheil Vahedi 10-5.

If Stevens can maintain his focus and belief, he could be playing well enough to thwart Tian. Ding Junhui's mate has won two of his three meetings with Stevens, but two were close and the Welsh Dragon may be value to draw level.

Zhao Xintong can be considered against Matt Selt, but the Indian Open champion will have been well advised by the legendary Stephen Hendry for this task so prospective Zhao punters should be careful.

Recommendation
M Stevens
1pt 10-11 Coral, Ladbrokes

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