The quarter finals of The Masters comes to an end on Friday evening when the last of the matches in the round takes place at Alexandra Palace in London. This match sees Joe Perry taking on Ding Junhui for a place in the semi-final where the winner will meet either Mark Selby or Barry Hawkins.
Joe Perry
Perry went into this tournament with an indifferent record in the event and also some really poor form by his standards but you wouldn’t have thought it had you seen him for the first time in his first round match. He produced a barrage of scoring and some good match play at the right time and took Stuart Bingham apart.
Perry mentioned afterwards that he had lost the win at all costs mentality for snooker but that certainly didn’t go against him in that first round match and if he can play with the same freedom and quality in this match he will have every chance of making it into a first Masters semi-final.
Ding Junhui
Since winning the tournament back in 2011, Ding’s record in this tournament is very ordinary and while he won in the first round you would be stretching it a bit to say he played well. He did make a ton and but for a misjudgement on the fifteenth black might have had a maximum break but the rest of the time he looked average.
You get the feeling these days that if Ding can play from the front he will be ok but if he has to battle it out or if he is struggling at any point the fight isn’t in him and that has to be a concern here. Given how well Perry scored in the first round Ding will have to score well here else this could be another early exit for him.
Head to Head
In all competitions these two have met 18 times and Ding has an emphatic 13-5 advantage although Joe Perry may well not need reminding that he has won the last two between them. They’ve met twice in this tournament. Ding won their first meeting in 2004 while Perry gained revenge two years ago.
Betting
Given what we witnessed in the first round Joe Perry looks a big price to me. I say that because Ding just looks so shackled at the minute and with that in mind I’m going to take the Englishman to come through here.
Perry has already mentioned how he is giving himself a more relaxed attitude and that worked a treat in the first round. He has won the last two meetings with Ding which should boost his confidence further and with the pressure largely off him Perry can deliver the goods against a Ding who has looked out of sorts for far too long.
Tips
WON – Back J.Perry to beat D.Junhui for a 3/10 stake at 2.88 with BetVictor
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