Simon Dalton presents his prediction for the 2024 World Snooker Championship match.
Barry Hawkins
You can’t imagine a world championship without Barry Hawkins. He’s played a lot of games this season, but one of them is special. He beat Judd Trump (9:6) in the European Masters final. He would reach semi-finals and quarter finals of various tournaments trying to avoid long breaks in his practice. Barry Hawkins has perfect form. He’s ready for this tournament.
Ryan Day
Ryan Day has never reached anything like Barry Hawkins. Ryan has made 5 century breaks in the qualifying tournaments, which is almost a quarter of the century breaks made by him this season. Hawkins doesn’t have a big advantage in the head-to-head games, but it’s unlikely to help Ryan Day.
Barry Hawkins – Ryan Day prediction
Barry Hawkins missed the previous world championship, now he’s focused on this tournament. Hawkins is 10th in the century breaks world ranking. He’s able to make a couple of century breaks in the opening game. This is supposed to be a long match as Ryan Day knows his opponent well, having a lot of head-to-head games.