Chris Wakelin vs Kyren Wilson Prediction: A competitive encounter

At York Barbican in York, Chris Wakelin will play Kyren Wilson in this round ⅛ of the Uk Championship. The two players had a strong start in this tournament and will hope to show character. Who wins here?

Chris Wakelin will hope to continue where he stopped following a win over Matthew Selt in his first game of this tournament. However, the Englishman lost to Junhui Ding in the final of the China International Championship which ended 7-10 in a prior game. Yet, Chris Wakelin has won six of his last seven matches, defeating John Higgins, Mark Williams, Shaun Murphy, and Zak Surety in that run. Coming in as the underdog, we expect Chris Wakelin to be at his best, and approach this game with his best strategy. 

Kyren Wilson's last encounter was against Stephen Maguire in the first round of this competition. In that game, Kyren Wilson secured a 6-0 win coming within 11 frames. However, Kyren Wilson has lost twice in recent games, coming against Junhui Ding and Mark Williams. Yet, Kyren Wilson found successes against Luca Brecel and Barry Hawkins, games that ended 4-1, and 2-6, respectively. Heading into this game, Kyren Wilson will hope to be at his best as favorite, show character and quality for the next round. 

Kyren Wilson was flawless and I expect him to be at his best again. However, Chris Wakelin is expected to be at his best too as he has been very competitive lately. This is going to be a closer game than it looks on paper, as I do not expect Chris Wakelin to struggle. I will back Chris Wakelin to close the odds at the end of the match, while the total number of frames is high.