Luca Brecel will be hoping to rediscover his early-season form ahead of the 2018 World Championship as he prepares for his first-round match at the Gibraltar Open on Saturday. The Belgian started the season in fantastic fashion with victory at the 2017 China Championship – his maiden ranking tournament win – and he progressed nicely for the next couple of months. A run to the semi-final of the World Open last year was followed up with a quarter-final appearance at the 2017 Shanghai Masters and many were tipping the 22-year-old for big things.
However, the ‘Belgian Bullet’ has struggled for form in 2018 and early exits have come at the World Grand Prix, Welsh Open, Shoot-Out and The Masters. With the final ranking event of the season getting underway at the Crucible in April, time is running out for the world number 13 to fine-tune his skills and he will be hoping for a positive display at the Gibraltar Open. Seventh-seed Brecel will take on Martin O’Donnell in the first round on Saturday at Victoria Stadium and this will be the first meeting between the pair.
The Dilsen-Stokkem-born star is the firm 1/3 favourite to advance to the next stage of the tournament while his English opponent, who reached the semi-final of the Shoot-Out this year, is priced at 21/10. Elsewhere, Welshman Ryan Day, seeded ninth for the event, also kicks off his campaign on Saturday against China’s Xu Si. Day, who triumphed at the Riga Masters last year, is 3/10 favourite to pick up the win whilst his opponent is the 23/10 outsider to cause an upset.