The opening match of the 2018 staging of The Masters sees the world champion Mark Selby in action. He takes on the former champion of this tournament in Mark Williams in what looks like being a tasty encounter to begin proceedings at Alexandra Palace.
These two men are very experienced in this tournament and in the one table format that it provides so we should get a match of high quality to get the competition underway.
Mark Selby
The world champion goes into this tournament off the back of a quiet first half of the season by his standards. He won the International Championship but we are used to him having two or three titles by this stage or at least a number of major finals to his name but that hasn’t been the case in this campaign.
He warmed up for this event with a run in the Championship League last week where he won his group to make sure he is in the winners group later in the year. I don’t know how much we can read into that but match practice can be no bad thing, neither can winning. He is a three time winner of this tournament but has not made it past the quarter final since 2014.
Mark Williams
The veteran Welshman is still producing the goods even at this stage of his career and he ended a bit of a drought in terms of ranking event titles earlier in the season when he landed the Northern Ireland Open title. He showed in that event the poise and precision under pressure that has been the hallmark of a wonderful career.
That tournament victory confirmed, if it needed confirming, that Williams is not here to make up the numbers. He has a genuine chance of winning this tournament as he is playing some of the best snooker he has played in a long time. He is also a former champion of this tournament but he hasn’t won a match in it since 2013.
Head to Head
These two have met 30 times in their career previously and their overall record could not be closer. They have 15 wins each which reflects the competitive nature of their matches. They have met twice this season and have a win apiece. This will be the third time they have met in this tournament. Selby has won both of their previous meetings in it, including a 6-5 win in the first round here last year.
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Betting
These two generally bring the best out of each other and we usually get excellent matches from them as a result. Their encounter here last year was a terrific match which went the distance and Mark Williams would have won it but for a kick in the deciding frame.
Since then they have played out matches ending 10-8, 6-4 and 5-3 so the close nature of their battles has continued. I expect this one to continue that trend and over 9.5 frames looks the right way to play the opening match of the tournament.
Tips
WON – Back Over 9.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.20 with Paddy Power
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