The final of The Masters is an all-Essex contest as Ali Carter meets Stuart Bingham for the biggest invitational tournament in the game and the second Triple Crown title of the season inside the Alexandra Palace on Sunday.
The two men will fight it out over the best of 19 frames across two sessions of action as the look to win the Paul Hunter Trophy for the first time. This chance might not come along again for these two so they will both be desperate to take the opportunity in front of them.
Ali Carter
Everybody knows the story behind Ali Carter and his health over the years so for him to be in a Masters final is a huge thing and he’ll be looking to take advantage of that. His story just to get into this tournament is a pretty incredible one as well given that he is only here courtesy of Ronnie O’Sullivan not taking up his invitation and he has certainly made full use of the opportunity so far in making it to this final.
Carter started the tournament with a fine win over Mark Selby before taking care of a disappointing John Higgins and then produced his best showing so far to come through against Shaun Murphy in the semi-final. It is a good sign that he is getting better with every match and also the way he has closed out the last two games has been encouraging as well. All of that free roll talk is null and void now. This is a major final. There is no free rolling now.
Stuart Bingham
Given the poor record Stuart Bingham had in this tournament coming to Alexandra Palace this year, Stuart Bingham probably can’t believe his luck that he has made it through to this final. To be fair to him he has had a couple of opponents who simply haven’t shown up against him but that is no concern of his. He has played well in the main and when he has been given chances he has taken them, and that’s the aim of the game in fairness.
Mark Williams offered up no opposition in the first round but it might be a sign of where Bingham is actually at that he fell 4-1 down to Kyren Wilson in the quarter final before a five frame burst got him through. A combination of an opponent who wasn’t at his best and some insane flukes saw the Essex man power past Dave Gilbert in the semi-final to set himself up for a crack at what would be a second Triple Crown victory to go along with his world title in 2015.
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Head to Head
These two have met on 17 previous occasions and it is Bingham who has the very slightest of edges having won nine to the eight of Carter. It is a little more one-sided in the frame count though with Bingham leading 81-69 on that score. These two have only met once in the main draw of The Masters and Carter won that in a wildcard round some years ago, coming through in a deciding frame. Bingham is on a run of six wins over Carter and they have all been big margin wins too which will give him confidence.
Betting
This is a final which could go either way but I thought there were one or two tell-tale signs in the semi-finals which could give us a clue as to how this one will play out. Stuart Bingham seemed to baulk a little when the finish line came in sight in his last four clash and needed a couple of amazing pieces of fortune to fall over the line. I contrast that to Ali Carter who in the last frame he won did it in one visit and with authority which is a big thing.
I’m not sure about destiny or anything like that but if such a thing does exist then you would think it is on the side of Carter here. Whether it does or it doesn’t though, Carter has played well this week. He has more than mixed it in the safety department and although he is yet to hit a ton in the competition, his scoring has improved the longer the week has gone on. I accept Carter is the outsider in this final but the match feels a lot closer than the odds suggest. I’ll take Carter in this one.
Tips
Back A.Carter to beat S.Bingham for a 4/10 stake at 2.38 with Bet365
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