The final match of the first round of The Masters sees the world number one and former champion Mark Selby taking to the baize to take on the extremely competent and experienced Stephen Maguire in a classy looking encounter.
Selby has been all the way in this tournament a number of times, although his better results were at Wembley more than here. Maguire will be pleased to be back in the tournament and will be looking to cause a big shock as far as the world rankings are concerned.
Get double winnings on your Australian Open bet (as a free bet) if your player loses the first set but wins the match at Boylesports! All customers! Click the image above to bet. 18+ T&Cs apply.
Mark Selby
It is beginning to become a real concern how poor Mark Selby’s recent record in the United Kingdom is. Given how long he has dominated the world rankings, you would think he has gone very well on home soil but that is not the case. He hasn’t won a title in the UK since he landed the world title in 2017, some 18 months or more ago now.
The world number one has shown signs of difficulty this season. I wouldn’t say he has struggled necessarily but the odd extra mistake that we are not used to seeing have crept into his game and cost him at times. Selby is a class act though and already has a title to his name this term having won the China Championship. He’ll be looking for a fourth Masters title this week.
Stephen Maguire
There is no doubt that snooker’s biggest underachiever is Stephen Maguire and it really is about time he put that right. A player of his undoubted quality should have more ‘Triple Crown’ titles to his name than just one UK Championship. He is astute tactically and while he goes for his shots he gets most of them when he is going well and he certainly doesn’t wilt on the big stage.
The Scot hasn’t won a title for a while but he has had plenty of good tournaments. He has run into Ronnie O’Sullivan when he has been playing well on a couple of occasions which hasn’t helped his quest for silverware but the fact he is in the top 16 without a big title highlights how strong his consistency has been in recent times.
Head to Head
I would imagine Mark Selby holds a large head to head lead over most of the players on the tour but that is not the case with regards to Stephen Maguire. He does lead the Scot but it is only 13-12 with a draw mixed in for good measure. Selby has won the last two meetings to reassign himself with the lead in their personal battle. Selby does have a slightly clearer edge in the total frames. He leads 92-85 on that statistic which suggests that his wins are a shade more comfortable than Maguire’s. Selby has won both their previous meetings in The Masters.
[the_ad_group id=”3624″]
Betting
I’m expecting another close match here between two very accomplished players. I don’t think Mark Selby is right on top of his game for whatever reason at the minute, but the one thing that we do know about him is there is plenty of fight in him no matter how he is playing. There has been enough to suggest that Maguire is playing well so this should turn into a real lengthy battle.
Neither of these players go down without a fight. They are both prepared to take on the big shots needed to stay in the game and whichever way I look around this one I just don’t see it being won any easier than 6-4 unless one player enjoys a significant run of the ball throughout the match. Generally over this length that sort of thing evens itself out and I fancy it will do so again here.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back it here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2019
