Betfred World Championship snooker Thursday match previews & free tips

Preview, tips and analysis for day seven of the 2020 Betfred World Championship snooker at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield on Thursday.

When to watch

BBC & Eurosport, from 10am Thursday

Best bets

Mark Selby -2.5 frames v Noppon Saengkham
1pt 4-7 general

Judd Trump -4.5 frames v Yan Bingtao
1pt 4-5 Betfred, BoyleSports, Sky Bet

Day seven preview

Mark Selby v Noppon Saengkham
10am

Punters face some tougher picks in the second batch of Betfred World Championship second-round starters.

Mark Selby bids to step up on an unremarkable 10-6 first-round win over Jordan Brown. And while his last-16 opponent Noppon Saengkham has seldom played better, it shouldn’t be forgotten that the Leicester cueman is a former world number one and multiple Crucible hero.

Going over the total frames at 20.5 was considered given how well Thai Saengkham performed in his 10-4 victory over Shaun Murphy. But after the Magician’s substandard effort, punters should be careful not to group Selby with Murphy.

Selby was a superb world champion, winning the title three times in the middle of the last decade, and against an opponent he has tended to beat comfortably, we could see better from the Jester in round two than in his Crucible opener against Jordan Brown.

With that in mind, backing the favourite to oblige before the qualifier wins 11 frames could be the way to go.

Judd Trump v Yan Bingtao
2.30pm

Defending world champion Judd Trump leads Yan Bingtao 5-0 in their meetings and the outsider will do well to inflict a first defeat on the Bristolian on this occasion.

Yan made heavy weather of getting over the line against inexperienced Elliot Slessor in his opener. Winning matches at the Crucible means a great deal to the Chinese players and the extra pressure is unlikely to help Yan’s cause.

Not for the first time at the Crucible, Trump got out of jail in his opener when fighting back to thwart Tom Ford 10-8. But Trump is likely to be a more relaxed operator over the best of 25 frames and that, too, doesn’t augur well for his opponent.

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