The quarter finals of The Masters begins on Thursday with the opening two last eight clashes taking place over the course of the day. The afternoon match sees the former finalist Kyren Wilson taking on the man who made the semi-final on debut last year in Dave Gilbert.
Neither of these men have managed to get their hands on this particular piece of silverware so that will be a great incentive for them to fight for a win here which will see them return to the last four. That should ensure a decent clash.
Dave Gilbert
Given the last minute change of opponent that he had in the first round, Dave Gilbert came through nicely against Joe Perry. He raced into a 5-0 lead with a bunch of 50+ breaks and then withstood a bit of a fightback to get over the line for a 6-2 win. You got the feeling that was big for Gilbert and his fragile confidence moving forward but at the same time it needs to be stated that he wasn’t given the biggest test and may well need to find more to come through here.
Gilbert has started to show a liking for the bigger events having made both the World Championship semi-final and the last four of this tournament over the last 18 months or so. We know he has the cue action and the scoring power to compete at this level but his fragile confidence and indifferent temperament is always an issue. On top form he can be a match for anyone but even after his win in the opening round you sense he isn’t anywhere near his best game.
Kyren Wilson
Kyren Wilson was in the same boat as his opponent here in that he had a last minute change of opposition in the first round. He took on Gary Wilson who was probably more prepared to compete than Perry was against Gilbert as he had played in the Championship League last week. Therefore the fact Kyren brushed him aside 6-2 having trailed 2-1 at one point was very much to his credit. He did so with a couple of centuries as well.
Even though he made a couple of tons and was playing really well by the end of that match, you got the impression there was even more to come from Wilson. He isn’t daft either. He will know that with the exception of O’Sullivan all the other fancied runners and riders have exited the competition so there is a chance for him to win his maiden Triple Crown event over the next few days. It usually takes a decent performance to beat Wilson, which is also to his credit.
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Head to Head
These two men have met on four previous occasions with both of them having won two matches each. Wilson won their first two battles, the biggest of which came in the final of the German Masters, while Gilbert has won their last two including a World Championship encounter. Gilbert holds a narrow 27-26 lead in the frame count but you would expect that with him having won their longest match in terms of format. This will be the first time they have met at The Masters and also their first meeting over the best of 11 frames so there isn’t a lot of historical form to go on here.
Betting
You would imagine given the frantic nature of the build up to their first round matches that there is plenty of improvement in both these players for this encounter but I think Kyren Wilson starts off on the better footing. Although Gary Wilson wilted against him the longer their match went on he put up a competitive effort for five frames or so whereas Joe Perry never showed up against Gilbert until he was 5-0 down and he wasn’t going to win from there.
When you factor in that Wilson is the better player of the two and is more experienced in this kind of events and getting to the business stages of the tournament I have to think that the world finalist of last season is the one to be on here. There is a slight question mark over the pressure of expectation but he has carried that pretty well in the past. Wilson can win a scoring clash or a scrappy one. I’m not convinced Gilbert can win the latter so it is Wilson for me and with a bit in hand.
Tips
Back K.Wilson (-1.5 frames) to beat D.Gilbert for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
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