The quarter finals of The Masters conclude inside the Alexandra Palace on Friday with the third match of the four looking like being an absolute belter as the world number one Mark Selby takes on Judd Trump in what is the pick of the games on paper.
Selby showed incredible form in the first round against Stephen Maguire while Trump overpowered Kyren Wilson so both look in wonderful touch which should ensure the match lives up to the huge billing.
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Mark Selby
The world number one and three time champion in this tournament, Mark Selby, made three centuries in his 6-2 win over Stephen Maguire in the first round and having had a couple of other 90 breaks he could easily have had five centuries. He isn’t known as a devastating scorer so the fact he put in that kind of scoring suggests that he is feeling good about his game right now.
Selby doesn’t have the best record in this tournament at Alexandra Palace but I think we have to take that with a pinch of salt after that opening match. The trick for him now is to replicate that but that was certainly a performance which suggests that he could be the man to beat over the remainder of this tournament, even allowing for O’Sullivan still being in it.
Judd Trump
All eyes were on Judd Trump going into the first round, because there is a bit of a rivalry being talked up between himself and Kyren Wilson, and having lost their recent battles you got the feeling that Trump was eager to win the match as much for who he was beating as his progression in the tournament. He played a very solid match and laid a marker down for the remainder of the tournament.
He picked his shots well but when he was in the balls he was fluent. You knew Trump wanted to win quite badly because he didn’t try any naughty snooker until the match was won. It will be interesting to see how he approaches this one. Trump was talking about believing in himself after his first round win so I get the feeling he will come and take the game to Selby here.
Head to Head
In all competitions these two have met on 24 previous occasions. Selby holds a narrow lead at 13-11 but amazingly it is Trump who has a four frame advantage at 74-70 which suggests the matches that Trump wins he does so by a comfortable margin. The last two times these two have met over the best of 11 frames Trump has won 6-1 and 6-2 which will give him some confidence. This is the first time they will have met in this prestigious tournament.
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Betting
Many bookmakers can’t split these and I can see why because both men showed some excellent form in their first round matches but there is something about Judd Trump that I like at the minute. He won well in Northern Ireland and ran into a couple of monster performances since then. Trump has revealed he has practiced all over Christmas and I don’t think he’ll mind being the outsider here.
Selby played very well against Maguire in the opening match and if he scores like that here he will be very dangerous but we would have to suggest that is going to be unlikely and I wouldn’t be surprised if the world number one regresses to his previous form this season, which hasn’t been the best. I expect this to be close but Trump is overpriced at 11/10.
Tips
WON – Back J.Trump to beat M.Selby for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Boylesports
Back him here:
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