World Snooker Championship 2024 Sunday Round 1 Tips: Back O’Connor in first of two bets

Snooker tipster Dean Strand (@DSSnookerTips) returns with his World Snooker Championship 2024 Sunday Round 1 Tips looking to pot two winners after making three predictions for the opening day.

You can also check out Dean's World Snooker Championship Betting Tips preview where he offered up a 10/1 outright winner.

2 pts - Joe O’Connor to beat Mark Selby @ 18/5

Joe O’Connor is the only debutant at this year's World Championship and gets his campaign underway against friend and practice partner Mark Selby.

It can be tough to predict how a player will handle the occasion of playing at the Crucible for the first time, but O’Connor is a player I feel has a good temperament for the event.

He’s had a disappointing times of it this season after his best ever campaign last year, but he still reached the final of the recent Championship League event and has a tendency to raise his game against the top players, beating the likes of Stephen Maguire, Luca Brecel, Mark Allen, Neil Robertson, Mark Williams and Ding Junhui over the last two years.

Selby’s record at the Crucible is a very strong one, but there’s no doubting he’s not as strong these days as he used to be, with his only ranking final this season coming back in October.

In his latest match at the Tour Championship, he was so disappointed with his performance he stated if his form carried on like that he’d be retiring, claiming it was one of the worst games he’s played as a professional.

2 pts - Shaun Murphy -3.5 handicap vs Lyu Haotian @ 13/10

Murphy hasn’t had the best of seasons but he’s a player who enjoys the big occasions, a former winner of this event and three-time runner-up.

He was beaten in the first round by Si Jiahui last year, but Si put in a brilliant performance and Murphy certainly didn’t play bad, with three centuries in a 10-9 defeat.

Haotian, on the other hand, seems to struggle a little in the bigger matches.

He has only won one match at the Crucible and that was back in 2018. His most recent attempts here have seen first round defeats to Stuart Bingham (5-10) and Mark Allen (2-10).

He won’t have good memories facing Murphy either. The last time the two met two years ago, Murphy ran out a 5-0 winner and the time before that, he won 6-1.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Murphy rediscover some form this week and 13/10 for a -3.5 handicap looks a decent price to me.

You can follow all Dean's latest Snooker Betting Tips on our dedicated Betfred Insights page.