A dramatic, hectic and pulsating week at the Welsh Open which has provided shocks by the bucket load has delivered what should be a mouth-watering final on Sunday. Judd Trump will face Stuart Bingham over two sessions and the best of 17 frames at the Motorpoint Arena in Cardiff for the last Home Nations title of the season.
Judd Trump
You have to hand it to Judd Trump. He has made this final despite not ever really looking settled or playing at his best and he has admitted as much in his post-match interviews. Barry Hawkins in the quarter final aside you would say he has had a smooth run to the final but you can only ever beat what is in front of you in this game.
Trump wasn’t brilliant against Scott Donaldson in the semi-final and from 4-1 up he almost let the Scot back in but managed to close it out for a 6-3 win which was about right on the balance of play. Trump is developing a B game which is capable of being competitive and we’ve seen the evidence of that this week.
Stuart Bingham
You have to admit that Stuart Bingham’s route to the final has been a pretty smooth one too. Robert Milkins ranked 32 is the highest ranked player he has met in the tournament and that was in the semi-final so the draw really opened up for the former world champion but you still have to take advantage of that and he has.
He was majestic against Milkins in the semi-final. He scored heavily throughout and offered little in the way of chance to his opponent. It has taken a while over the last couple of weeks but the first four frames in his quarter final and the six in his semi-final where some of the best snooker Bingham can play which bodes well for him here.
Head to Head
These two have met in serious competitions on 11 previous occasions and Trump leads 6-5 so there isn’t a lot between them. Bingham has won two of their last three including the 2015 World Championship semi-final epic which went to a deciding frame.
Betting
I think Stuart Bingham enjoys playing Judd Trump these days and the bigger the match the better he seems to play in. I mentioned above how he won that World Championship semi-final against him and he has also won a Premier League final against him too.
Although both have shown some frailties this week I would argue that Bingham has shown the better form in the last couple of rounds and the way he was scoring in the semi-final he has to be overpriced in this final.
Bingham began the week out of nick but you know with the amount of snooker that he plays that he will get himself in tune eventually and he looks to have done that. That isn’t to say Trump can’t or hasn’t but he doesn’t seem fully confident to me. I expect the final to be pretty close but when push comes to shove I fancy Bingham to get over the line.
Tips
WON – Back S.Bingham to beat J.Trump for a 4/10 stake at 2.63 with Boylesports
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