There have been wins, but no easy ones — that is what matters here. Wakelin dropped four frames to Tom Ford, while Zhang Anda took Zhao Xintong to a decider and won 6:5. This is a good backdrop for a bet on a long match: neither player looks like someone who should be expected to dispatch their opponent in eight or nine frames.
Chris Wakelin
Wakelin is currently 13th in the rankings and has already shown in China that he can comfortably handle long matches. At the China Open, he began with a 6:4 win, while before that he lost only 5:6 to Mark Williams at the Shanghai Masters. Two of his last three best-of-11 matches have gone to at least 10 frames.
Zhang Anda
Zhang Anda has a similar story. He knocked out Zhao Xintong in the first round (6:5), then lost to Jack Lisowski at the Shanghai Masters (4:6). There was another 6:4 result against Daniel Wells in China Open qualifying. The Chinese player has enough quality to compete for frames even against strong opponents.
Chris Wakelin vs Zhang Anda Prediction
There is no major gap in quality here, and the match is played to six wins. A 6:4 or 6:5 scoreline is enough for Over 9.5, and both players have recently been involved in just such long matches. Therefore, we are taking Over 9.5 frames.
