An entertaining week of snooker at the Guild Hall in Preston comes to an end on Sunday when the World Grand Prix final takes place. Barry Hawkins will take on Ryan Day for the title and the £100,000 first prize which will open up many more tournament opportunities down the line.
The final will be played across two sessions and over the best of 19 frames and should provide a fitting finale to what has been a decent week of snooker.
Barry Hawkins
In terms of the men he has beaten to get into this final there is no denying that Barry Hawkins deserves his place in this final. He has seen off Kyren Wilson, Judd Trump, Neil Robertson and Liang Wenbo, all top 16 players, to make it to this point so he certainly hasn’t had an easy route into the title match.
Clearly when faced with a route to the final like that Hawkins will have needed to play well and that is exactly what he has done. The way he demolished Liang Wenbo in the semi-final was particularly appealing given that he has let a few big leads go in big matches in his career but a couple of centuries and a 90 odd break was an emphatic answer to those problems.
Ryan Day
Given that it has been the season of the veteran first time winners so far Ryan Day could be forgiven for thinking that his name is already on the trophy. It isn’t of course but there have been instances this week when maybe that claim could be strengthened. First of all Stuart Bingham missed more easy pots against him than he would all season and then Marco Fu gave up a frame despite Day needing four snookers.
Day has generally scored well in this tournament and if he can handle the occasion then he is entitled to be in with every chance here. His safety will need to be bang on it though and his shot selection spot on as well but he is here on merit.
Head to Head
If we exclude Championship League matches, which we should do, then these two have met on 14 separate occasions with Ryan Day having come out on top on nine of those with Hawkins claiming five wins himself. Hawkins won their most recent meeting in the last 16 of the English Open.
Betting
You have to make Barry Hawkins the favourite as he has been here before, done it and got the t-shirt but Hawkins has already lost one final he was expected to win this season when Mark King got the better of him in Belfast so we shouldn’t be sticking the title around his neck just yet.
I fancy this will be a tight final. Both men are scoring well and playing well and their matches generally are close. Prior to that match in the English Open their previous three ranking event matches had gone to a deciding frame and while I’m not sure if this will go all the way there is enough margin in the 16.5 frames line to suggest we will go past that.
You get the feeling neither player will be comfortable holding the lead in this final which should ensure it remains tight by the end even if it isn’t that way throughout so overs on the frames looks the logical call to me.
Tips
WON – Back Over 16.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.05 with William Hill
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