England’s Barry Hawkins will be hoping to bounce back from a tough few weeks when he plays his first match of the China Open on Tuesday against Sam Baird. The 38-year-old reached the final of the Welsh Open at the start of March but lost a close contest against Scotland’s John Higgins.
He was then knocked out in the second round of the Gibraltar Open before being dumped out of the Romanian Masters during the first round. The eighth seed is 4/9 favourite to beat Baird while he is priced at 16/5 to win 6-2. Scotland’s Stephen Maguire will take on Ireland’s Fergal O’Brien,while Kurt Maflin faces China’s Yan Bingtao. Higgins is also back in action after his Welsh Open success and is expected to overcome Martin O’Donnell.
Mark Joyce and Graeme Dott will also do battle in what could be the match of the day on Tuesday. Joyce is 11/10 to win, with Dott priced at 7/10 after some impressive form of late. One man they will not be facing in the second round is England’s Allister Carter after he lost in the first round to Gary Wilson on Monday. He was beaten 6-4, as was Liam Highfield in his contest with Lu Haotian.
Joe Perry made the second round after beating Chris Totten 6-0 while Mark Williams is also through after beating Thepchaiya Un-Nooh 6-1 during Monday’s morning session.