The second match in The Masters on Monday sees Judd Trump taking on Liang Wenbo in a battle of the stablemates in the first round of the lucrative tournament at the Alexandra Palace in London.
Neither man has really achieved what they should have done in this event. Given how good he is and how established he is you would have to say Trump’s record is poor. Both will be out to put that right this year.
Judd Trump
It has been a solid enough season so far for Trump but with his belief, skills and the expectation that he puts on himself I would imagine he might not be quite as happy as he could be. He has a title in the bank which is never a bad thing. That came at the European Masters and he lost in the final of the Shanghai Masters and most recently he made the last four in Scotland.
It is quite incredible that Trump has never made the final of this tournament. He has gone out in the first round on three of the last four years which when you think his ranking is high enough that he would be playing someone lower in the rankings is quite a surprise. I’m certain he’ll be out to show the London crowd what he’s got here.
Liang Wenbo
This will be the third time Liang Wenbo has competed in this tournament and he is still looking for his first win in it. You would have to say the draw is yet to be kind to him in this event. Two years ago he met John Higgins in the first round and lost 6-4 while last year he drew Ronnie O’Sullivan and lost 6-5 having missed a black to win.
Last season Wenbo came here in excellent form having landed the English Open but this season has not gone to plan. He is yet to go past the third round of any ranking tournament and so he needs to find something here to set himself up for the second half of the campaign. One thing we know about Liang is he can rise to the occasion.
Head to Head
There have been 11 previous meetings between these two in the past if you include the Championship League and Trump only leads 6-5 so Wenbo is an opponent he struggles to deal with. Their biggest match came in the English Open final last season which Liang won. Wenbo also has a 6-4 win over him in the UK Championship but it was Trump who won their last two meetings including 6-3 in the International Championship earlier in the season.
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Betting
This should be an open and attacking match. These two men both like to get in the balls and score and you wouldn’t say that their safety games are a real strength or anything like that. They know each other pretty well and I’ve a feeling their styles will gel for an entertaining match.
We have seen some incredible matches involving Trump when it comes to scoring power in this tournament. I remember him exchanging a huge number of centuries with Neil Robertson here in the past and I fancy we’ll see at least a couple from this pair too. Scoring big is their strength and on a table that looks to be playing perfectly we should see plenty of big breaks here.
Tips
WON – Back Over 1.5 centuries for a 4/10 stake at 2.00 with Paddy Power
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