Stephen Hendry v Anda Zhang will truly be a David v Goliath match as seven time World Snooker Champion Hendry, takes on Anda Zhang in what will be the Chinese players World Snooker Championship début. Zhang is nicknamed “Mighty Mouse” and stands just 5 foot 3 inches tall so it may even look like David v Goliath!

Anda Zhang had to fight his way through the qualifiers winning four matches to qualify for the World Snooker Championship draw beating John Parrot, Andrew Higginson and Ricky Walden en route to the finals. His most impressive victory was against Ricky Walden by 10 frames to 8, particularly because Walden was provisionally in the top 16 before the tournament began.

The match will get under way on the 17th of April, the first day of the World Snooker Championship and will be one of the most highly anticipated matches to begin on the 17th. Matches also getting underway on the first day include; John Higgins vs Barry Hawkins, Joe Perry vs Michael Holt, Mark Allen vs Tom Ford and Mark Selby vs Ken Doherty. The match will be best of 19 frames and conclude the following day on the 18th of April.

Zhang is very much an unknown quantity having just burst onto the scene having made a name for himself primarily in non-ranking events. One of his biggest challenges will be remaining composed in the Crucible Theatre and having the character to keep on going even if he goes a few frames down early in the match. The kind of character Shaun Murphy displayed in the 2009 World Snooker Championship final when he beat Hendry 13 frames to 11. During the match Stephen Hendry achieved a rare 147 break equalling Ronnie O’Sullivan’s record in the process and becoming only the second player to chalk up two maximum breaks in the Crucible Theatre. However, Murphy stayed focused on his own game and won the match despite suffering one of the biggest psychological blows in snooker.

Stephen Hendry Vs Anda Zhang Odds

Despite Stephen Hendry’s experience in the Crucible and his consistently high standard of snooker the bookies are being fairly conservative with their odds for the match. The best odds on Anda Zhang winning the match are 3/1 which isn’t very good value for money considering the Zhang hasn’t played in the Crucible and is yet to prove himself against many top-class players such as Hendry.

Stephen Hendry Odds

Below of some of the Stephen Hendry odds for the Scotsman to win the match:

• BetFred Odds – 1/4
• Sporting Bet Odds – 2/9
• Victor Chandler Odds – 1/4
• Paddy Power Odds – 2/7
• Ladbrokes Odds – 2/9
• SkyBet – 2/9

Anda Zhang Odds

Below is a selection of the current odds on Anda Zhang winning the match:

• BetFred Odds – 3/1
• Sporting Bet Odds – 3/1
• Victor Chandler Odds 11/4
• Paddy Power Odds – 12/5
• Ladbrokes Odds – N/A
• SkyBet – 3/1