Tuesday's World Championship first-round predictions & snooker betting tips

Free snooker tips, best bets and analysis for day four of the Betfred World Championship on Tuesday.

Where to watch

BBC & Eurosport, from 10am Tuesday

Best bets

Over 15 frames in Yan Bingtao v Chris Wakelin
10am
1pt 4-6 Betfred

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh to have highest break v John Higgins
2.30pm
1pt 21-10 Betfred

Matthew Stevens + 2.5 frames v Jack Lisowski
7pm
2pts 8-11 Betfred

Yan Bingtao v Chris Wakelin

Yan Bingtao could fancy his chance if he gets a second-round crack at Mark Selby in this year's Betfred World Championship after the defending champion and top seed afforded numerous chances to his opponent Jamie Jones in the first round in Sheffield.

But Chinese 22-year-old Yan first has to navigate what might prove a trickier than expected date with Chris Wakelin in the last 32.

Yan, who was crowned Masters champion last year, is obviously likely to stamp his class on the match. But it may not do to underrate Wakelin, who played some fine snooker to deny Jamie Wilson, February's European Masters champion Fan Zhengyi and Jimmy Robertson in the recent qualifiers to earn his passage to the finals.

It's 1-1 in Yan and Wakelin's personal series, but interestingly the Warwickshire native posted seven of the eight biggest breaks in those two clashes. And considering the fine form Wakelin has been showing he could pose further problems for Yan, so back the clash to last for at least 16 frames.

John Higgins v Thepchaiya Un-Nooh

Thepchaiya Un-Nooh has given John Higgins a game in all but one of their last five meetings and punters may find a betting angle on their Crucible opener by backing the hugely talented Thai to compile the highest break in their first-round encounter.

Theppy, who posted breaks of 136, 129, 107, 106 and 100 in a 6-1 pasting of Stephen Hendry in this season's UK Championship, made the biggest single contribution in his only previous Betfred World Championship meeting with Higgins when lodging a run of 121 in the first round in 2018.

Higgins has not always been the quickest of starters in Sheffield and it's worth taking a chance at decent odds that the Scot may not be at his sharpest among the balls against Un-Nooh, one of the game's fastest operators.

Jack Lisowski v Matthew Stevens

After years of underachieving, Matthew Stevens could have woken up to the fact that time is fast running out to file genuine attempts to improve on his two World Championship runner-up berths from the early Noughties and the Welshman looks to be going to the Crucible this year with his most complete A-game for some time.

If that is the case it could spell trouble for his seeded opponent Jack Lisowski, who pretty much knows only one way to play and that's to attack.

Of course, Lisowski's potting game would probably more often than not be enough for him to defeat the seasoned Carmarthenshire native, but 2000 Masters hero and 2004 UK Championship winner Stevens is without question one of the better players never to have captured a professional world title.

Lisowski has won two of his three previous meetings with Stevens. But after the Welsh Dragon silenced Gerard Greene and Sam Craigie in the recent world qualifiers before fighting back magnificently to deny two-time Crucible runner-up Ali Carter a place in the finals, he looks to have a genuine chance of pulling level in his series with Jackpot.

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