It is semi-final Saturday at The Masters with both matches being played in one potentially fantastic day of snooker at Alexandra Palace and by the end of it we will know the two men who will battle it out for the prestigious crown on Sunday.
The opening match sees the defending champion Ronnie O’Sullivan in action. He takes on the man of the moment Marco Fu in what could be an amazing match if both are at their best.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Ronnie O’Sullivan has come through the draw into this stage of the tournament but you would be stretching things massively were you to suggest he has looked good at any point. Liang Wenbo was a ball away from knocking O’Sullivan out in the first round and then Neil Robertson was on course to do the job at 3-3 in the quarter final only to run into three frames of obscene bad run of the ball which the Rocket capitalised on.
There is no doubt in my mind O’Sullivan will have to improve in this match but he doesn’t look comfortable with his game. That strut isn’t there and maybe he actually does lack confidence and belief this time after years and years of claiming it only for our eyes to tell us something different.
Marco Fu
Where do you start with Marco Fu at the minute. Not long after his scintillating win in Scotland the man from Hong Kong has remained at that level here so far. He has touched off Judd Trump in a thriller and seen off the not so limited challenge of Mark Allen in a pretty one-sided quarter final so far this week.
The numbers Fu is putting up is amazing. Bearing in mind he has only won 12 frames this week he has already knocked in four centuries and nine 50+ breaks so his scoring has been machine like. He has got in from distance and his safety has been bang on too and you get the feeling he is right up for this job.
Head to Head
These two have met on 27 previous occasions with O’Sullivan having won 16 matches to the eight of Fu. They have also drawn three times as well. Ronnie has won their last five meetings, the most recent of which was the semi-final of the UK Championship which he won 6-5 after Fu had missed a golden chance to beat him. They have met once in The Masters which was in the quarter final in 2015. O’Sullivan won that 6-1.
Betting
O’Sullivan is the peoples champion and he will have the crowd right behind him but I was in the arena for both their quarter finals and Mark Allen had plenty of support against Fu and that didn’t rattle the Hong Kong man which was promising.
Quite simply on the form of this week Marco Fu has to be the bet. He is scoring like a dream and you only have to look at him around the table to see confidence is absolutely flowing through him. It all seemed like a bit of a struggle for O’Sullivan and he never truly looked settled to me. I’m with Fu on form here.
I’m also with him on the highest break as well. In their meeting in the UK Championship last month Fu had the three highest breaks of the match until O’Sullivan won the decided with a 130 break, a break he should have been denied the chance to make as Fu should have beaten him by then. I’ve highlighted Fu’s scoring above whereas O’Sullivan only has one ton this week which is his only break above 90 so far. Fu has the highest break of the tournament already and he can have the highest break in this match.
Tips
Back M.Fu to beat R.O’Sullivan for a 4/10 stake at 2.80 with Paddy Power
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WON – Back M.Fu Highest Break for a 4/10 stake at 2.40 with Betfair
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