Luca Brecel faces veteran Lee Walker in the Riga Masters on Friday and the youngster should be able to claim the win. Brecel’s career perhaps hasn’t progressed as quickly as many expected after he became the youngest player to qualify for the World Championship at the age of 17 five years ago, before then reaching the last eight of the UK Championship the following season. The Belgian’s appearance at the Crucible earlier this year was his first since that record-breaking moment and he fell at the first round, where he somehow managed to lose out to eventual semi-finalist Marco Fu despite taking an early 5-0 lead.
Brecel, now 22, has found a bit of form of late however, and he heads into his meeting with Walker on the back of wins over Ronnie O’Sullivan and Shaun Murphy. The pair have met twice before with Brecel winning both meetings, although one was a Snooker Shoot-Out match that follows a different format. Walker, 41, is probably coming to the end of his career and he hasn’t been involved in the main draw at the Crucible for 13 years. The Welshman did qualify for 10 ranking events last season after a few years in the wilderness but Brecel should have too much quality in their Riga clash. Brecel is 2/5 to claim the win and Walker can be backed at 9/5. Brecel has a tendency to make fast starts when he is in form and as this match is a best-of-seven frames he could secure an early finish, so the 11/2 on a 4-0 Brecel win is worth a mention.
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