The second day of the Champion of Champions sees the world number one Judd Trump looking to make it through to the semi-final of the tournament as another group of action is played out inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes on Tuesday.
Neil Robertson came through on the opening day of action on Monday and four real class acts will battle it out to join him on Tuesday in what should be a really good group, high in quality and very competitive to keep us entertained as we approach another lockdown.
Judd Trump vs Stuart Bingham
The opening match of what looks like being a wonderful day of action on Tuesday sees the world number one and newly crowned English Open champion Judd Trump taking on the current holder of The Masters in Stuart Bingham in an all-English battle.
This one will be interesting in terms of the form because Trump has been in good nick this season and Bingham not quite so. I saw Bingham question the tweak to the seedings for this tournament on Twitter which suggests to me he didn’t want to be playing someone above him in the rankings, a sign that his game isn’t in the best shape. I’m not convinced Trump is in full flow at the minute but when he has been pushed in recent times he has generally come up with the goods and I sense something like that will happen here. The world number one is plenty short enough though but there is nothing in Bingham’s form to suggest he should be backed.
Shaun Murphy vs Dave Gilbert
The second group semi-final on Tuesday sees the Welsh Open champion Shaun Murphy going up against the last man into the field in the form of Dave Gilbert, who will be looking to take advantage of playing with the house money here.
Murphy has been active enough in recent times. He made the semi-final of the European Masters last month and ran well enough in the Championship League and won’t have gone back to Ireland so is likely to have spent some time on the practice table in the venue. Gilbert hasn’t been in great touch since the restart. He wasn’t brilliant at the World Championship and he hasn’t really got going this season either. He played some pretty average stuff in the Championship League last week.
I think Murphy is the one to be on here. He is the more consistent of the two at the best of times anyway but Gilbert wasn’t even in the field until Friday night so how much preparation he’ll have done for this remains to be seen. Even if he has prepared his form has gone missing and while I’m sure it will come back at some point until there are signs of it I can’t really get involved in him here. I expect Murphy to win this with a bit in hand.
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Group Betting
I don’t think the final is necessarily guaranteed to be Judd Trump against Shaun Murphy because that would be disrespecting two class acts in Stuart Bingham and Dave Gilbert but I think we’ve had enough tournaments recently to get a decent hold on the form and there is no doubt the big two are the ones who are in the best form. The semi-finals are only the best of seven though so it wouldn’t be a total shock if there is a shock along the way.
Assuming the final dos play out to be Trump against Murphy then you’ve got to think the world number one will come out on top in a best of 11 even if he hasn’t been completely at his best recently. Trump has never got his hands on this title so he’ll have some inner motivation to do that here which could be significant. The final is likely to be a high scoring final regardless of who is in it but I can’t really oppose Trump, although I’m happy leaving him alone at the prices.
Tips
Back S.Murphy (-1.5 frames) to beat D.Gilbert for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Coral
Back him here:
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