Anthony McGill v He Guoqiang: Prediction, tips, odds & how to watch

We have reached the third-round of World Championship qualifiers and just two more victories are needed to land a spot at the Crucible Theatre. 

Anthony McGill reached the semi-final of the Sheffield showpiece in 2020, where the Scot lost a final-frame decider to Kyren Wilson. 

The 33-year-old made the last eight of last year’s World Championship, but such is the competitive nature of the snooker tour, McGill hasn’t been able to secure an automatic spot at the Crucible and the Glasgow potter must win two qualifying matches to secure his place in this year’s showpiece event. 

McGill will face He Guoqiang in the third-round of the qualifiers, with the Chinese cueman beating Scotland’s Ross Muir in the previous round of qualification matches. 

It’s the best-of-19-frames at this stage of the event, which could well create some late-night drama as we move one step closer to finalising the field for the World Championship. 

Anthony McGill v He Guoqiang odds

Anthony McGill – 2/7
He Guoqiang – 5/2

Anthony McGill v He Guoqiang tips

He Guoqiang +3.5 handicap @ 4/6

McGill is one of the big-hitters competing at the qualification stage of the World Championship, and the Scot is just 66/1 to lift the Crucible crown, despite not yet booking his spot in the Sheffield showpiece.

The Glasgow potter is a two-time ranking event winner, having lifted the Shootout and Indian Open crowns, but the 33-year-old has saved his best performances for Sheffield. 

McGill beat Jack Lisowski, Jamie Clarke and Kurt Maflin on his way to the semi-finals of the 2020 Sheffield showpiece and the Scot was just one frame away from making the final when losing 17-16 to Wilson. 

He made the last eight of the World Championship in 2015, 2021 and last year and, on that form, McGill is going to be a challenger for the title, never mind his third-round qualification contest against Guoqiang.

However, this season’s performances have been below par. The Glasgow potter failed to qualify for the European Masters, British Open and Wuhan Open, the two-time ranking event winner lost in the first-round of the English Open and UK Championship, and such is that poor run, McGill wasn’t eligible to compete in top ranking events such as the Players Championship, Tour Championship and World Grand Prix. 

Perhaps, the prestige of the World Championship and longer format will bring out the best in the Glasgow potter, but that’s a lot to take on trust and Guoqiang looks capable of being competitive. 

The 23-year-old won his first match as a professional when beating Elliot Slessor in this season’s British Open and the Hunan cueman went on to reach the quarter-finals of that event. 

Guoqiang followed that by making the third-round of the English and Wuhan Open, and while those aren’t spectacular performances, the list of players that the 23-year-old has defeated is strong. 

Mark Williams, Barry Hawkins, Wilson, Ryan Day and Hossein Vafaei have all fallen to Guoqiang in the current campaign and that suggests that the Chinese won’t be intimidated when taking on McGill. 

Supporting Guoqiang on the handicap makes plenty of appeal against an out-of-form opponent. 

He Guoqiang to beat Anthony McGill @ 5/2

It could also pay to have a small play on Guoqiang to win the match. Clearly, the ability of the Chinese cueman is still partially masked, given that this is the 23-year-old’s first season on tour, but it’s possible that he could have plenty more to offer. 

Muir led Guoqiang 6-4 in the second-round of qualifiers, but the way that he finished that match indicates that he could cause McGill plenty of problems. 

The Chinese cueman made breaks of 52, 66, 74, 79, 88 and 93 to win six of the final eight frames of the contest with Muir, and far from faltering as the winning line approached, Guoqiang appeared to grow into the game and produced his best snooker in the second-half of the match. 

McGill is heavily fancied by the prices, but this has been the Scot’s worst campaign for a good few years and there are no guarantees that the best version of the Glaswegian will show up against the capable Guoqiang.

Anthony McGill v He Guoqiang how to watch and TV channel

Selected qualifying matches for the World Snooker Championship will feature on bet365's Live Streaming service, whilst eurosport.com and discovery+ will also be providing coverage across all 10 days.

The final two days of qualification (Judgement Day) will also be shown live on the WST's official YouTube channel.

This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.