We are down to just two men remaining in the China Open final and the two in question happen to be legends of the game as the current world champion Mark Selby takes on the former world champion Mark Williams over the best of 19 frames for the title.
Williams won’t just be playing for the title. He will be playing for an automatic qualifying spot in the World Championship so this match is huge for him even more than it is for Selby.
Mark Williams
The Welsh star went into the tournament knowing he had to win the title in order to qualify automatically for Sheffield. In that regard he has been drinking at the last chance saloon all week and the bar remains open for a while longer for him. He certainly deserves his place in the final on merit too.
Williams has come past former world champions in John Higgins and Shaun Murphy and by coming from 4-1 down against Higgins to win 5-4 he probably thinks he is free-rolling now although whether he can be in the situation he is in remains to be seen. At least if Williams doesn’t win this match he will be in good form heading into the qualifiers next week.
Mark Selby
The Jester from Leicester will head into the defence of his title in Sheffield off the back of a solid run here whether he wins or loses this final. I don’t think Selby has been at his best this week but the thing with him is he doesn’t need to be at his best to win big matches and he has shown that time after time.
If you was looking for a reason to oppose Selby here you could very well argue that he has had a generous draw with Kyren Wilson in the semi-final the only top 16 player he has faced so far. That was quite a tussle which indicates that the world champion might not be at his very best here.
Head to Head
These two men have met 17 times in the past and it is Mark Williams who has the edge in their battles. He leads 9-8 which is a decent guide to how the match could go. Their last meeting came at The Masters in January when Williams would have won but for a horrendous kick in the deciding frame but in the end went down 6-5.
Betting
I think Mark Williams has got better this week and being so close to qualifying automatically for the World Championship he certainly isn’t going to lack for motivation. Mark Selby wins many titles but he doesn’t often dominate finals, he usually has to come through epic tussles and I suspect he might well need to do that here.
Whenever Williams faces Selby it is clear that he fancies the job. Whether it is his ability to pot his way out of trouble from distance or just his relaxed appearance something inspires the Welshman against the world number one. I don’t know whether Williams can get the better of Selby here but I do believe he can win at least seven frames.
Tips
WON – Back M.Williams (+3.5 frames) to beat M.Selby for a 4/10 stake at 1.73 with Boylesports
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
