A high quality week of snooker draws to a close on Sunday when the final of the Players Championship is played at Venue Cymru in Llandudno with one of Marco Fu or Judd Trump walking off with the £125,000 first prize.
Those two meet over the best of 19 frames across two sessions of play on Sunday with the winner getting a timely boost ahead of the World Championship.
Marco Fu
It might be that Marco Fu feels he is freerolling in this final. That is because he looked down and out when he trailed Ding Junhui 5-3 in the semi-final but he recovered strongly to edge out his Asian rival and make it into this final. That was the first time all week that Fu has been under pressure from the scoreboard so his response was encouraging.
Fu has already been in a final this season and he won it when he beat John Higgins in the Scottish Open so he shouldn’t have any issues with the occasion or anything and with him scoring well when the chances present themselves he is entitled to feel confident heading into this tournament decider.
Judd Trump
I don’t think it is exaggerating it too much to suggest that Judd Trump has been the best player this week. I don’t just say that because of the calibre of player he has beaten but more the way he has beaten those opponents. On his way to the final he has beaten Ronnie O’Sullivan and Ali Carter in the last two rounds and done it with confidence.
We all know Trump has plenty of scoring power and of course we’ve seen it this week, he wouldn’t be here in this final if we hadn’t, but it is Judd’s safety which has impressed me the most and if that part of his game is good in this final he should have every chance of coming through given the way that he is scoring.
Head to Head
The two have met 12 times in official proper competition with Judd Trump winning eight times to Fu’s four but Marco Fu won’t need reminding he won their last match which was a classic at The Masters in January in a 6-5 win which contained five centuries and nine more 50+ breaks.
Betting
I think this could well be a close final. We saw at The Masters that Marco Fu can take the best of Judd Trump and respond in kind and that is what we might see again in this final. Which way the final goes is up for debate. I personally think the day off might swing it in Trump’s favour but not strongly enough to bet on it.
I do like a bet on the 50+ breaks though. Although this table isn’t playing the easiest I do believe we’re going to see an open final. Both men like to get the balls open and dish them up and while there will be the odd frame where the balls don’t go right I think there will be many more where solid breaks are produced. In a final which could easily have 17-19 frames the 12.5 50+ breaks line looks achievable.
Tips
WON – Back Over 12.5 50+ breaks for a 4/10 stake at 1.83 with Paddy Power
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