Joe O'Connor vs Zak Surety Prediction: Quality will be the difference here

Although the qualifiers involving the top 16 seeds will be held over and played at the Waterfront Hall, the 2023 Northern Ireland Open Qualifier will take place at the Ponds Forge International Sports Centre in Sheffield, England, from the 17th to the 20th of October. Joe O'Connor will face Zak Surety in one of the matchups that take place on day one. In the meantime, Joe O'Connor is a heavy favorite to win this match, whereas Surety is expected to enter as the underdog. 

This contest will begin with Joe O'Connor as the favorite, and the Englishman will be rooting his heart and soul for a victory. In the meantime, in contrast to how the odds of victory are presented in this section, Joe O'Connor has not been performing at his peak recently since he has been defeated in each of his most recent three matches. In those contests, his opponents were Jack Lisoswki, Liu Hongyu, and Stephen Maguire, and the scores of those matches were 3-4, 4-1, and 5-2, respectively. In the meantime, Joe O'Connor had beaten Dean Young, Jimmy White, and Siripaporn Baipat in previous bouts before those losses, picking up victories over each of them. The Englishman does, however, now have a chance of going back to his best as he aspires for a position in the main tournament of this Northern Ireland Open. Therefore, we anticipate Joe O'Connor to be in top form and to give it his all in order to secure a victory in this day-one matchup.

After a successful run that included four victories between the end of June and August, Zak Surety is currently winless in all of his recent matches. The opponents that Zak Surety faced in the matches in which he was victorious were Alfie Davies, Ryan Day, Michael White, and Jiang Jun, and the scores of those matches were 3-0, 3-5, 2-4, and 4-5, respectively. In the meantime, Zak Surety has now been victorious in none of the most recent matchups that have reached five matches. In fact, his most recent loss came at the hands of Matthew Selt in round 1/32 of the British Open, in a match that ended 4-1. While he should at this point have very high expectations of qualifying for the main tournament of this Northern Ireland Open, we anticipate that Zak Surety will approach this match with his best strategy, demonstrate relentless strength, and be in his perfect shape. 

In this situation, I believe that quality will prevail, as I anticipate the level of play on both teams to be the deciding factor. Due to the high quality of play that Joe O'Connor has displayed, I believe that he will emerge victorious in what has the potential to be a riot.