After Ronnie O’Sullivan cruised through to the Champion of Champions semi-final by winning Group 3 on Monday it is time for Group 1 of the invitational event to be played out on Tuesday with four of the very best players in the world battling it out for a place in the last four.
The defending champion Neil Robertson, former world champion Stuart Bingham, Shanghai Masters winner Ding Junhui and the reigning World Open champion Ali Carter are the men who make up this group and you only need to look at the names to know this is going to take some winning.
Neil Robertson vs Stuart Bingham
The first match of the day has the potential to be really good. Neil Robertson hasn’t shown his best form in recent tournaments but it is well known how much he enjoys this tournament so he will be up for this one. Stuart Bingham has been in excellent form recently and he’ll be looking to continue that.
If it wasn’t for Bingham’s recent travel exertions I would be all over him in this match. As it is I’m still going to back him as much for his excellent 5-2 head to head record over the Australian as anything but current form has to play a part too. If Bingham isn’t too tired I expect him to win this. Usually he copes with the travelling quite well and I’ll pay to see if he does that here.
Ding Junhui vs Ali Carter
This is an interesting match. Has Ding been mentally hurt by that beating he took in the International Championship final? I think he might have been and the last time I remember that happening was in the final of The Masters at Wembley and it took him ages to overcome that.
That should play into Carter’s hands and I tried to take advantage of that by backing him outright. I really do think Carter has every chance in this match but having taken him outright I don’t need to take him again so I’ll sit this one out hoping the Captain can come through safely.
Group Outright
Ding Junhui is a favourite for this group but I can’t be having that. Neil Robertson is only narrowly the second favourite but I’m not convinced I want to be on him either. I think Bingham beats Robertson but whether he’d have enough petrol in the tank to go on and win a best of 11 match later in the same day against Ding or Carter I have my doubts.
As I’ve said above I’ve already backed Ali Carter outright so I’m not really going to get involved in this group again but I certainly would recommend Carter at 11/2 for those who didn’t follow my outright advice.
Tips
WON – Back S.Bingham to beat N.Robertson for a 4/10 stake at 2.25 with Unibet
Back him here:
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