The first round of The Masters finishes on Wednesday with the final two match of the last 16 taking place inside the Alexandra Palace. The first of those comes in the afternoon as Shaun Murphy takes on Ali Carter for the right to face Judd Trump in the quarter final.
These two men are regulars in this tournament and both have had their moments in it so they should be used to the environment which should see us get a decent first match of the day.
Shaun Murphy
This is a tournament that is likely to hold a lot of memories for Shaun Murphy as it is the one he won to complete the Triple Crown when he landed this title back in 2015. Since then though he has had more of a hate relationship with the event rather than a love one as he has been beaten in the first round both times, to Mark Allen and Barry Hawkins respectively.
It is hard to remember a year when Murphy has arrived at The Masters in better form than he has shown this season however. He crowned the campaign by winning the Champion of Champions which would have been extra special as he beat Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final. He has also made three other ranking finals including the UK Championship last month.
Ali Carter
You would have to say considering he is a local lad the record of Ali Carter in this tournament is quite poor. In 10 years he has only progressed beyond the first round on two occasions and for someone of his class that is a surprise. The flip side of that is he has rarely been ranked in the top eight so he would have been an underdog in most first round matches.
Carter had a good 2016-17 season but this term has not gone as well thus far. He has only made one major semi-final in this campaign and could do with a run of form not just for ranking purposes but also for his own confidence. It won’t be long before the World Open comes around again where a huge chunk of money comes off his ranking and will have him under pressure to stay in the top 16.
Head to Head
These two have met 31 times in their careers and although a number of their battles have come in the Championship League it is Carter who has had the better of things. He has won on 18 occasions with Murphy successful on 11 and they have drawn a couple. They are no strangers to tight contests either. Away from the Championship League five of their last six have been won by two frames or fewer.
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Betting
This should be an entertaining way to begin the day and the recent evidence between the two suggests that we are likely to get a close battle. That is how I see this one going just because of the magnitude of the event and the class of the two players on show.
With that in mind the over 9.5 frames looks a natural bet. The equivalent line would have landed in five of their last six major tournament meetings and so the 13/10 on over 9.5 looks a fairly obvious play. Another obvious play is over 1.5 centuries. We’ve seen tons galore so far this week and with both having played in the Championship League last week they should be nicely oiled to score well here. I’ll take overs on the frames and the centuries.
Tips
WON – Back Over 9.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.30 with William Hill
Back it here:
WON – Back Over 1.5 centuries for a 4/10 stake at 2.63 with Bet365
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