Barry Hawkins and Ryan Day meet on the opening morning of the Riga Masters in a repeat of last year’s World Grand Prix final. The 2013 World Championship finalist The Hawk enjoyed another strong campaign during 2016-17, with his victory in Preston the highlight, while he also reached four other semi-finals, including at the Crucible. Day’s 10-7 defeat at the Guild Hall, was the bright spot as he too enjoyed a decent year, where he also made the last four in Gibraltar.
Hawkins has had a slight edge when these two have met previously during their careers, with 14 wins to his opponent’s 11. He has in fact won their last four meetings and is 4/7 to add to that record in the Latvian capital, with Day priced at 7/5, after being knocked out at this stage 12 months ago. This year marks Hawkins’ first trip to Latvia and both he and his opponent know the winner will face Robert Milkins in the second round later on Friday, after the Englishman was handed a walkover following the withdrawal of China’s Wang Yuchen.
As their record suggests, these two usually play out fairly tight matches and it is rare that they fail to take frames off each other. In a best of seven match, over five frames is 8/15, while exactly five is priced at 5/2. Hawkins is 15/4 to win 4-3 on Friday morning and 10/3 to triumph 4-2, with Dynamite priced at 5/1 to win 4-2 and 9/2 for a 4-3 victory.