Chris Wakelin vs Junhui Ding Prediction: Wakelin to qualify for the next round

In the round ⅛ of the Wuhan Open, Chris Wakelin will play Junhui Ding. The two players are coming off a strong number of performances. How will this game unfold?

Chris Wakelin has been decent in recent matches and will look to keep things running. In his last matches, Chris Wakelin had three wins, defeating Kai Wai Cheung, Haris Tahir, and David Lilley in games that ended 6-2, 1-5, and 5-0, respectively. However, Chris Wakelin has only lost two of his last 12 matches, coming against Mark Allen and Neil Robertson. While he is the underdog in this game, he will look to step up, be at his best and show character as he looks to keep things running. 

Junhui Ding is playing so well now and will look to keep things running. In his last matches, Junhui Ding had three consecutive matches, defeating Robbie McGuigan, Xu Si, and Sijun Yuan. In the meantime, the prior encounters to those wins saw Junhui Ding lose four straight matches against Stuart Bingham, Allen Burden, Ronnie O’Sullivan, and Aaron Hill. While he comes into this game as a favorite, we can expect him to show character, play at the top level and move to the next step of this tournament. 

Chris Wakelin looks very decent, and looking at how good he has been recently, it is tough to bet against him. While Junhui Ding is favored here, the Chinese has not been at the top level, and there are questions about how well he could perform here. Take the Wakelin to win here, a game that should end with a few frames.