JOHN HIGGINS began the defence of his Wyldecrest Welsh Open crown yesterday with a victory but the Scot was pushed right to the wire by newcomer Jack Lisowski.
Three-time world champion Higgins beat the 19-year-old tour debutant from England 4-3 to set up a last-16 meeting with another Englishman, Dave Harold.
My money will go on the Wizard of Wishaw retaining his title but he's not in action again until Wednesday.
Welshman Mark Williams, who looks like he has found his best snooker again, is in last-32 action on Tuesday against Hong Kong's Marco Fu.
Twice a world champion and current world No.2 Williams is priced 8-15 with bet365, totesport, boylesports, Betfred, Blue Square and 888sport. Fu, the world No.15, is 13-8 at Stan James.
Australian world champion Neil Robertson is also in action and is 4-11 with totesport to see off Nigel Bond from England.
Bond, a World Championship runner-up in 1995 and now aged 45, is enjoying a resurgence in form and won the recent non-ranking Snooker Shoot-out event.
Robertson should edge this one but the shorter seven-frame format certainly gives Bond, still clearly the man with the Golden Cue (sorry), a chance of victory and might be worth a few quid at 5-2 with boylesports, Blue Square, 888sport and William Hill.
Tuesday night also sees an all-Scottish battle between another former world champion, Graeme Dott, and Jamie Burnett. Dott is 8-15 at Stan James, with Burnett 33-20 at Bodog.
Welsh Open outrights: Higgins (5-1, boylesports, Betfred, Paddy Power), O'Sullivan (6-1, Betfred, Paddy Power), Ding Junhui (7-1, boylesports), Mark Selby (8-1, totesport, boylesports, Betfred, Paddy Power), Mark Williams (8-1, totesport, Paddy Power), Neil Robertson (8-1, totesport, boylesports, Paddy Power), Ali Carter (16-1, totesport, boylesports, Betfred), Mark Allen (18-1, totesport), Stephen Maguire (22-1, Paddy Power) and Graeme Dott (25-1, totesport, boylesports).
Don't forget to stick mrfixitstips.co.uk in your browser for regular Welsh Open updates.
