The first round of The Masters draws to a close at the Alexandra Palace in London on Wednesday evening when the last two men to get their tournament underway so do in front of what is sure to be a huge crowd.
Shaun Murphy meets Barry Hawkins over the best of 11 frames for a place in the quarter final on Friday afternoon against either Mark Selby or Mark Williams.
Shaun Murphy
I guess the general perception of Shaun Murphy’s season is that he isn’t having the best one but that is only because of how good he is because plenty of people would be delighted to have made three big semi-finals. He won’t have liked losing in them but just making finals these days is a very hard thing to do.
Murphy’s record in this tournament is pretty good. He won the title in 2015 and since the tournament moved to Alexandra Palace he has really flourished. Last year when he lost to Mark Allen in the first round was the only time he hasn’t made at least the semi-finals of the tournament at this venue so there is something about the place that clearly inspires him.
Barry Hawkins
The Hawk put to bed his poor record in the tournament last year when he made the final having never previously come past the first round of the event in five attempts. He will have been disappointed not to turn up in that final but the big occasion has got the better of many top players. That is something he’ll aim to put right here.
It has been an up and down season for Hawkins so far. Things had been very quiet for him until the Home Nations series began but it has turned around for him since. He made the semi-final of the English Open and the final in Northern Ireland. He has warmed up for this tournament with some good runs in the Championship League.
Head to Head
These two are no strangers to each other having met on 12 occasions. Murphy has a dominant record over his foe here having won nine of those previous 12 meetings. Their most recent match came in the Championship League which Hawkins won 3-1. This will be their first meeting at The Masters.
Betting
I think this is one of the hardest matches of the first round to predict. There isn’t a result which would surprise me really whether it is Murphy in a tight one or Hawkins in a close game or even either to win easily so I’m not going to get involved in the match outcome.
One of the themes this week has been the number of centuries we have seen. 11 of the 12 players to have played so far have made tons which highlights both the quality on show here and how well the table is playing. These two know their way around the black spot so over 1.5 centuries should have every chance of landing once again.
Tips
Back Over 1.5 centuries for a 3/10 stake at 2.75 with Paddy Power
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