The final of the German Masters takes place on Sunday in the very un-German like venue of the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes where for the second ranking event in succession Judd Trump will battle Jack Lisowski for the title.
Trump saw off his good friend 10-7 in the final of the World Grand Prix just prior to Christmas and the pair will battle it out for the latest title in the BetVictor Euro Series and the rather nice £80,000 that comes with winning.
Judd Trump
There rarely seems to be a tournament these days where Judd Trump doesn’t have his back against the wall at some point, whether he ends up winning the event or not, and whatever happens in this final we can add this competition to the list as he found himself 5-1 down to Barry Hawkins in the semi-final. To his credit he then found his best snooker, reeling off three tons in succession to get himself back to 5-4 before feeding on the nerves of his opponent to get over the line.
That semi-final showed us that Trump isn’t firing on all cylinders this week but it also showed us that he can perform under the very highest pressure and after a miracle escape like that, the world number one will now be extremely confident that he can make the first ever successful defence of the title. Despite losing the UK Championship final last month, Trump has an outstanding record in finals, something else that will give him confidence here.
Jack Lisowski
Prior to the World Grand Prix the season had been a pretty ordinary one for Jack Lisowski but having made the final there, he has followed suit here and looks to be playing some of the best snooker he has done for quite some time. If anything, he may well have played even better this week than he did in the World Grand Prix and in Luca Brecel, Stuart Bingham and Tom Ford he has seen off some dangerous challengers to make it to this final.
Lisowski has scored really well this week. He has 17 50s and a century to his name. I guess if you were being ultra-critical you would have liked him to convert more of the 50s into tons both for his own confidence and to really announce to his opponent that he is mean and in the mood. Ultimately though you don’t get bonus points for tons but he does need to make sure he wins frames in one visit here. A good start will help too as in the three proper finals he’s been in he has got off to slow starts and not been able to recover.
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Head to Head
As you would expect given his status in the game, Trump holds the head to head advantage between these two men. He has won eight of their 13 meetings with Lisowski winning on five occasions although with Trump winning the last three they were level at 5-5 not so long ago. Trump has a significant advantage in the frame count where he heads his good friend 56-41. This will be just the second time they have met in a final with the first one being that World Grand Prix clash last month. That was the best of 19 frames so this is their first battle over the best of 17.
Betting
Those who have followed our selections all week will have a nice slip for Jack Lisowski to win this match at 12/1 as we backed him before a ball was hit. I’m happy to let that ride. I actually think this could be his time and even if it isn’t he has already delivered on the 6/1 place part of the bet so we’re in profit for that punt whatever happens here. Those not on Lisowski could do worse than take the 3/1 on him to win this final although obviously anyone who is on him already need not bother doing that.
I think the way to play this final is to expect a close battle. Lisowski let Trump get away from him in their World Grand Prix final and I think he’ll come out of the blocks in a better order here, especially as his semi-final was nothing like as taxing. Trump always performs well in a final so even though I have a suspicion he’ll go down I don’t think he’ll go without a fight and if he is trailing by some way a few winning line nerves from Lisowski might allow Trump to get a bit closer, this would be Jack’s first title after all. Over 14.5 frames is 11/10 in this final so 9-6 or closer either way wins and I like the score to be in that range whether I’m right about Lisowski winning or not.
Tips
Back Over 14.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
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