Ricky Walden vs Ben Woollaston Prediction: Walden is ahead in this one

As one of the four competitions that make up the Home Nations Series, the Northern Ireland Open is a professional ranking snooker tournament that takes place in Belfast. The competitors fight for the Alex Higgins Trophy, which is named after the late world champion, who was born and bred in Belfast. Mark Allen of Northern Ireland is now the undisputed champion, having successfully defended his title in 2021. The current record for the most titles is three, which Judd Trump achieved between 2018 and 2020. 

Ricky Walden's most recent match was a defeat in the first round of the English Open, and it was against Matthew Selt, ending with a score of 3-4. However, prior to that loss, Ricky Walden had won four consecutive matches, with the victories coming against Jordan Brown, Jiang Jun, Hammad Miah, and Graeme Dott in matches with respective scores of 4-0, 6-1, 2-4, and 4-3. In the meantime, Ricky Walden has reclaimed his position as the favorite in this competition. The Englishman is anticipated to perform at a high level here in the hopes of regaining his previous winning form.

Ben Woollaston has not been performing well as of late, as evidenced by the results of his most recent matchups and recent contests overall. Ben Woollaston comes into this match on a losing run of three defeats and already having lost four of his last five matches. During that period, the only time he was successful was when he defeated Oliver Brown in a match for the Wuhan Open Qualification by a score of 5-2. Ben Woollaston will now have great aspirations for this one as he intends to advance to the next round of this competition; nevertheless, he will need to approach this match differently, demonstrate class, and give this match everything he has in order to come out on top.

In their previous encounters, these two professional snooker players have always played a very close and competitive match. Nevertheless, it is noteworthy that Ricky Walden has consistently come out on top. Ricky Walden is going to win this one as well, especially since the form of both teams leading up to this match is taken into consideration. Given that this game is going to be a close one and that Woolaston is certain to cover the run line as well, betting on the over is certainly an option that should be taken into consideration.