Zhang Anda vs Liam Pullen

🔥 Zhang Anda has claimed victory in both of their previous head-to-head encounters: earlier this year, he got the better of Pullen 4-2 at the Welsh Open, while in 2023 he prevailed 6-3. However, Zhang's recent outings have been hard-fought—at the British Open, he edged Chris Wakelin 4-3 before falling to Stan Moody by the same scoreline, and at the English Open he narrowly lost to Mark Selby 3-4. Pullen, meanwhile, cruised through Northern Ireland Open qualifying, dispatching Paul Norris and Ben Woollaston with identical 4-0 wins.

Zhang holds a clear class advantage and has already found the formula for beating this opponent twice, but his latest matches have consistently gone down to the wire. Pullen arrives in solid form himself and has shown he's capable of taking multiple frames even against vastly more experienced pros. So, despite Zhang entering as the favourite, this match could well go to a sixth or even seventh frame. Both previous head-to-heads also saw strong resistance from the Englishman. The pick: over 5.5 frames.