One of the best days in the sporting calendar is the final of The Masters and that will be played out at the Alexandra Palace in London on Sunday. Ronnie O’Sullivan will take on Joe Perry over the best of 19 frames across two sessions to determine the champion and the winner of the £200,000 first prize.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
It took a while but the real Ronnie O’Sullivan was forced to make an appearance in the semi-final on Saturday. Marco Fu really laid it down to the Rocket and after a tip change O’Sullivan responded in style taking the best the Hong Kong man had to offer and repelling it with some heavy artillery of his own in what was a wonderful semi.
O’Sullivan will be looking for a record breaking seventh Masters title in this match. He has won the title six times in the past and in five of those finals he has won he has dropped no more than four frames. He is adept at battering players in Masters finals and you just know he will be out to do that again here.
Joe Perry
Perry arrived in London in shocking form and didn’t expect much from the tournament and as luck would have it he has produced his best ever performance here. He cruised into the semi-final against his best mate Barry Hawkins and looked down and out in that match at 2-5 before he got a snooker he needed to make it 3-5 and then went on to win 6-5.
Given that he didn’t expect much this week and the fact he probably feels he should be out now having needed a snooker to stay alive on Saturday night it wouldn’t be a surprise if Joe Perry is freerolling now. The scheduling did him no favours though as his semi-final didn’t finish until 11.30pm and this final begins just 13.5hrs later.
Head to Head
These two have been up against each other 15 times in the past with O’Sullivan triumphing on 13 occasions to the two of Joe Perry. O’Sullivan is on a run of seven wins on the bounce against Perry too. They have met in The Masters twice in the past and O’Sullivan won on both occasions.
Betting
The statistic I can’t ignore going into this final is the one that Ronnie O’Sullivan has won five of his six Masters titles by winning the final 10-4 or better. That is pretty crazy and unless you think Joe Perry has the belief not to mention the quality to keep O’Sullivan close you would have to think O’Sullivan wins this with a bit to spare.
It is all starting to fall into place now. O’Sullivan has found his scoring boots again and has that swagger back and he will be the fresher of the two heading into the final. I hope for Perry’s sake the final isn’t quite as one sided as the one last year but I don’t see him reaching more than five frames before O’Sullivan creates Masters history.
Tips
Back R.O’Sullivan (-4.5 frames) to beat J.Perry for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Betfair
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