The final of the Tour Championship is a repeat of the Players Championship decider from a couple of years ago as Neil Robertson takes on Ronnie O’Sullivan for the last of the Coral Snooker Series titles for the season inside the Venue Cymru in Llandudno.
O’Sullivan made history during that final in Preston when he compiled his 1,000th century break and he will be hoping for successive titles here. Robertson looks up for the fight so we should be in for a cracking final over three sessions on Saturday evening, Sunday afternoon and Sunday evening with the first to 13 being crowned the champion.
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Neil Robertson
Given everything that has gone on in his life over the last week or so, enormous credit must go to Neil Robertson for his run this week. He looks in the mood to win major titles at the minute having won the Welsh Open last month and almost following that up with the Players Championship crown. This would act as a perfect boost ahead of the World Championship for him.
What I’ve liked about Robertson this week is how he has got stronger the longer the matches have gone on and over a three session final here, that could be significant. He has always looked strong when the pressure has been on and that is a definite positive heading into this final. We know Robertson can score so if he can stay strong throughout this final he’ll have every chance.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
The Rocket goes in search of successive Coral Snooker Series titles here having produced a near flawless display to see off Neil Robertson in the final at the Guild Hall in Preston a couple of weeks ago. O’Sullivan has shown his fighting qualities in this tournament too, coming from 6-2 down to Judd Trump in the semi-final. His reaction after winning that epic contest told us everything about how much he wants this.
If there was a question mark about Ronnie heading into this final it would come in the form of his long game, which has not really looked on it this week. That said though, when he really needed his cueing to stand up and be counted in the final frame against Trump it was there in spades. If he has it to start off with here he will take a lot of stopping.
Head-to-Head
There isn’t a huge amount I need to add on from the head-to-head section I wrote for the Players Championship final. O’Sullivan won that final 10-4 having won the first session 6-2 to extend his record over Robertson to 16 wins from 25 matches in all competitions. He has now won the last three meetings between the two. They have played four finals in their careers and O’Sullivan’s win in Preston levelled the score at 2-2 for them.
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Betting
I’m going to go with two bets in this final because I really don’t see a damp squib over the three sessions. If one player does have a poor session they have time to recover and that should make for a close enough contest. Neil Robertson sounded like he was going to take the match to O’Sullivan judging by the way he was talking on Friday evening and as a result I like over 21.5 frames here. Both three session matches these two have played against each other have ended 13-10 and that’s the sort of scoreline I’m expecting here. Both men look in fine fettle so I’m happy to be on the over here.
I’m also happy to be on the over in the 50 breaks as well because unlike some matches this week I don’t expect to see too many safety battles. In 14 frames in their final in Preston there were 14 50+ breaks and given that I expect us to go way beyond 20 frames in this final there would be plenty of scope for passing the 17.5 line set for the 50s here. Both these men love to get in and score heavily and even back door 50s at the end of frames is a possibility here with both macho enough to want to show the other who is boss. I like the overs here for sure.
Tips
WON – Back Over 21.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with William Hill
Back it here:
Back Over 17.5 50+ breaks for a 4/10 stake at 1.91 with Betfair
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