The final of the UK Championship will be a rerun of the Champion of Champions finale from last month when Shaun Murphy takes on Ronnie O’Sullivan over the best of 19 frames for the title inside the Barbican Centre in York on Sunday.
Both men are previous winners of this tournament so they are playing for another major title and a serious pot of money which will no doubt come in handy with Christmas fast approaching.
Shaun Murphy
There is no doubt that Shaun Murphy has taken a lot of confidence from his win over O’Sullivan in Coventry last month. You can tell that not just from the snooker he has played this week but also the manner and purpose he has walked around the table with and the quality he has hit the ball. He looks in a good place going into the final.
Murphy has only dropped five frames in his last three matches so if anything he is getting better as he goes along. He put together a devastating 45 minute spell against Ryan Day that was near perfect snooker and you get the feeling he is going to take a lot of stopping in this final if he gets anywhere close to that standard.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
A lot of credit has to go to Ronnie O’Sullivan this week. He hasn’t been anywhere near his best but unlike in the past when he would have jacked it in and got out of there as quickly as he could, he has knuckled down and forced his way through into this final. He has had a soft draw which has helped but he can never be ruled out in these matches.
I think O’Sullivan will have to up his game if he is to win this final but the interesting thing during the Murphy semi-final was when they switched back to the BBC studio, Ronnie was in the background practicing away so we know he is going to be up for this match. Amazingly Murphy is the first top 16 player he has played all tournament.
Head to Head
These two have now met on 15 previous occasions with O’Sullivan having 10 wins to Murphy’s four. Murphy won their most recent meeting in the final of the Champion of Champions last month over this exact same distance so although O’Sullivan has had their better of their past meetings there is no reason why Murphy won’t be confident going in here.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
These two are used to competing in finals this season. Ronnie O’Sullivan will be taking part in his fifth final of the campaign already while Shaun Murphy will be in his fourth so this should be a cracking encounter.
Finals can be different beasts but I don’t see this one being any different from the form of the week so far given how used to playing in them both men are. With that in mind my money has to be with Murphy here. He has been in awesome form in the last three rounds whereas O’Sullivan has admitted he has struggled with his game.
After his win in Coventry last month, Murphy will believe he can win this match and that is enough for my money to side with him.
Tips
Back S.Murphy to beat R.O’Sullivan for a 4/10 stake at 2.88 with Ladbrokes
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2017
