The Champion of Champions continues inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Wednesday when another tasty looking group gets played out in the behind closed doors setting as four more tournament winners battle it out for a spot in the semi-final.
Neil Robertson is awaiting the winner of the group in the semi-final on Friday and with four players on show all having won a tournament since the restart, there is every chance this could prove to be the best of the four groups.
Mark Selby vs Luca Brecel
The first match on show on Wednesday sees the recent European Masters winner Mark Selby going up against the man who won the first tournament after the first lockdown in Luca Brecel, who prevailed in the first of the two Championship League events in the second half of 2020.
That immediately suggests that both men will be suited to the format so this one looks likely to come down to who performs the best on the day. Selby has been in great form throughout this season having won the European Masters and made the semi0finals of the English Open where it took a special Neil Robertson performance to beat him. He also made the final day of the Championship League last week. Brecel has offered up some decent performances this term but some ordinary ones too which is in keeping with his career to date.
Selby is playing so well at the minute that it is hard to see him not winning this match but he is pretty short in the match betting so the best way to play him is to take him to cover a 1.5 frame handicap. Brecel can be a little loose for comfort and we know Selby will have no problem in tying him up and feasting on the chances that he is left. Selby has been playing competitively for a while whereas it has been a couple of weeks since we last saw Brecel. That might be the overall difference here so I like Selby to win no worse than 4-2.
Kyren Wilson vs Stephen Maguire
The second semi-final in this group sees the most recent tournament winner in action in Kyren Wilson when he takes on the player who came out on top in the Tour Championship earlier in the year in Stephen Maguire in another appealing match.
Wilson has been playing good snooker for a while having made it to the final of the World Championship at the end of last season and then dominating the final day of the Championship League last week. Maguire won the Tour Championship with a blitz of big scoring shortly after the restart but I think it is fair to say that we haven’t seen anything like the best of him in this behind closed doors setup since then as there is a real feeling that he is struggling to get himself motivated in the different surroundings.
I like Wilson in this match but I’m already on him outright so I don’t really need to back him especially as he is pretty short to win this one anyway when you consider that Maguire can certainly be competitive if he can get himself going again. I’d probably side with Wilson on a handicap if I was betting on this match but as I’m on him outright I’m happy enough to leave this one alone.
Special Offer
OPEN AN ACCOUNT WITH 888SPORT AND BET £10 TO GET £30 IN FREE BETS PLUS A £10 CASINO BONUS! PERFECT OFFER TO USE ON THIS TOURNAMENT! CLICK THE IMAGE BELOW TO JOIN. USE CODE 30F. NEW ACCOUNTS ONLY. 18+ T&Cs apply (See image for significant terms). Gamble Aware.
Group Betting
That is very much the case in the group betting as well. The odds and the form would suggest that the group final will be between Mark Selby and Kyren Wilson but we’ve already seen a match in the first two groups not go to the form book so that might suggest that it isn’t guaranteed that the two favourites will meet to decide the group. Even if they don’t, much like Tuesday it is hard to see one of the other two players winning both matches.
I backed Wilson outright because I thought he would come out of this group and given that Neil Robertson isn’t the worst opponent for him in a potential semi-final there is no reason to go against my original thought in this tournament. If it is a Selby vs Wilson final then we’re looking at one which will go beyond 9.5 frames but we have no way of backing that at the minute so I’ll leave the group betting alone.
Tips
WON – Back M.Selby (-1.5 frames) to beat L.Brecel for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
Back him here:
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2020
