The last of the quarter finals in The Masters sees the former champion Neil Robertson taking on a man who has been beaten in the final of this fine tournament in the past in Barry Hawkins on Friday night inside the Alexandra Palace in London.
Hawkins overcame a disappointing Shaun Murphy in the first round while Neil Robertson showed good resolve to dump out the world champion Mark Williams to book his spot in this intriguing quarter final.
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Barry Hawkins
I expected to see a good game from Barry Hawkins in this tournament. He usually delivers the goods in the second half of the season but in truth he was nothing special against Murphy, he was just fortunate that the Scottish Open finalist had a bit of a mare and never got going. Hawkins will definitely need to play much better if he is to come through this match.
We know he has the game to do that. He has a wonderful safety game and his touch in and around the black spot is extremely underrated but he does tend to need some confidence to be firing on all cylinders and I would be surprised if he got any of that from his first round performance. Sometimes winning a match can free up the mind though. He’ll need it to.
Neil Robertson
From 3-1 down to Mark Williams in the first round, Neil Robertson played a wonderful match and reeled off five frames on the spin to power his way into the quarter final. You can look at that win one of two ways. It was a concern that he was 3-1 down in the first place, and actually one pot away from being 4-1 down, but it was a positive that he remained calm under pressure and found his best game with his back against the wall.
What I liked about Robertson’s win in the opening round was that he won a couple of scrappy frames, and against Mark Williams those are the frames I wouldn’t have given him much of a hope in. He usually likes to get the balls open and make big breaks. I expect him to look to do that here and pile the pressure on an opponent who could be low in confidence.
Head to Head
Including tournaments like the Championship League, these two have met on 21 past occasions with Robertson holding an 11-9 lead. There has also been one draw between the pair as well. It is slightly more obvious in the frame count where Robertson leads 75-65 but it is Hawkins who won their last match. That was in the semi-final of the China Open towards the end of last season. This will be their first meeting in The Masters.
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Betting
It is hard to look beyond Neil Robertson in this match. He played some excellent snooker in the first round when he was behind so if he gets off to a better start here there is every chance he could power clear of Barry Hawkins in this quarter final. Hawkins has a fair bit of fight about him but he wasn’t playing all that well in the opening round.
I sense that missing this tournament last year did not sit well with Robertson and as a result he looks to have the bit between his teeth this time around. He was playing the better snooker of the two coming into the tournament and he certainly played better in the opening round. I’ll take the Australian on the form book here.
Tips
WON – Back N.Robertson to beat B.Hawkins for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
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