UK Championship day three predictions and snooker betting tips: Wakelin can leave Selt in the shade

Where to watch the UK Championship

Live on BBC, Eurosport and Discovery+ from 1pm & 7pm Monday

Best bets for day two of the UK Championship

Chris Wakelin -1.5 frames on handicap v Matthew Selt
1pm Monday
1pt Evs Betfair, Paddy Power

Jak Jones -1.5 frames on handicap v Luca Brecel
7pm Monday
1pt Evs Betfair, Paddy Power

UK Championship day three predictions

Chris Wakelin is enjoying a breakthrough season on the World Snooker Tour, highlighted by his run to this month's final of the International Championship which saw him move into the top 16 of the rankings for the first time.

The 32-year-old beat three former world champions – Shaun Murphy, Mark Williams and John Higgins – en route to the final in Nanjing, so his confidence should be soaring and he will likely have too much for fellow Englishman Matthew Selt in their UK Championship opener in York.

Selt has not been beyond the second round of any of his last five ranking events – he has failed to even qualify for two of those – and he was comprehensively beaten 3-0 by Wakelin when they last met in the Championship League earlier this year.

With Wakelin in the form of his life and Selt not at his best, it could pay to side with the 15th seed to triumph with something to spare on the handicap.

While the seeded player can progress in that match, that may not be the case when 2023 world champion Luca Brecel, who has struggled for form ever since his Crucible success, takes on Jak Jones.

Brecel is yet to go deep in any tournament this year, including when losing to Jones at the British Open in September, while he was beaten by teenage world number 72 Jiang Jun in qualifying for the International Championship.

Jones, meanwhile, made the quarter-finals of last week's Champion of Champions, and after winning his last two matches against Brecel, he can do so again by at least a two-frame margin.

Click for more free bets and betting offers from the Racing Post

Commercial notice: This article contains affiliate links. Offers are handpicked and come from operators our experts have first-hand experience of. Opening an account via one of these links will earn revenue for the Racing Post, which will be used to continue producing our award-winning coverage of horseracing and sports betting.