9th July 2012
Walden vs Cope Betting: Ricky Walden's excellent run of results can continue against Cope
Wuxi Classic champion Ricky Walden is playing some excellent snooker at the minute and he will be hoping that can continue when he takes on Jamie Cope in the opening round of the Australian Goldfields Open in Bendigo on Monday. Cope will be looking to push for his top 16 place back so will need a win here but Walden is quite understandably a 4/7 favourite with BetVictor.
Ricky Walden’s good form wasn’t just in the Wuxi Classic as straight after that he went to Thailand and made it to the semi finals of the Six Red World Championship where he lost to the eventual champion Mark Davis. In the Wuxi Classic, aside from his amazing match with Joe Perry in the last 16 he was relatively untroubled which is a sign of how well he is playing. Tiredness could creep in at some point but I wouldn’t expect it to be here.
Jamie Cope came through his opening match in the Wuxi Classic when he beat Martin Gould but then he was given a bit of a pasting by Mark Selby in the second round. However if Cope keeps making it to the last 16’s of competitions then his place in the top 16 again can’t be too far away. I still think Cope goes for too many shots though which is fine against lesser players but he gets picked off by the top players.
I think we have to consider Ricky Walden as a top player now. He was a semi finalist in the UK Championship last season and has already won the Wuxi Classic and made the semi finals of the Six Reds this season. Jamie Cope can pot a lot of balls but the problem for him here is Walden is scoring so well, perhaps not in centuries but with breaks high enough to win frames, to really punish him. I expect Walden to win this and win it a shade cosily.
Back R.Walden (-1.5 frames) to beat J.Cope for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Blue Square
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Author: 'Arry Allsports
