The opening match of The Masters should have seen the world number one Judd Trump in action but his withdrawal from the tournament has given Kyren Wilson the honour of getting the tournament up and running when he takes on his namesake Gary Wilson at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
Both these players have seen their section open up with the two Covid-19 withdrawals and they will be looking to take advantage of that and make their way into the latter stages of the biggest invitation tournament of the campaign.
Kyren Wilson
After making the world final at the end of last season I think most judges were expecting Kyren Wilson to really kick on this term but apart from his win in the first of the Championship League events to take place, that hasn’t really happened. Certainly it hasn’t happened to the extent he would have liked. He has made six quarter finals this season thus far but he’s seeded to get there so it is hard to get excited about those results.
To be fair to Wilson he has run into a couple of big performances along the way but it has been noticeable that the longer a tournament has gone on the odd error or two has crept into his game and that has cost him. He has been playing in the Championship League this week so we know his cue arm will be nice and warm but it will be interesting to see if those errors stay in his game, especially as he is a favourite in this contest.
Gary Wilson
It has to be said that Gary Wilson is the very definition of the term playing with the house money this week. As third reserve before Anthony McGill didn’t fancy the job he was unlikely to be involved here but fate has worked in his favour and he has gone from admitting he hates the game and is a bit depressed on Twitter earlier in the week to playing in the second biggest event the sport has to offer. We saw Ali Carter take advantage of a back door entry last season and Wilson will be out to do likewise here.
It hasn’t been a good season for Wilson so far. He has only been past the first round in one of the major events and needs to get a head of steam up for the second part of the campaign because he will lose the huge amount he won when making the semi-final of the World Championship two years ago at the end of the season. While his form hasn’t been great, he did make a 143 in the Championship League last week so the quality is still there.
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Head to Head
These two men have only met once in a major event in the pro ranks which was in the UK Championship back in 2014 when they played out a deciding frame which Kyren Wilson won. Usually we wouldn’t use the Championship League as a form guide but given that they only met in it on Thursday it feels like it has a bit more relevance here. Wilson won that match and hit that 143 break on his way to a 3-2 win so he’ll have that on his side but in truth there isn’t a lot of historical background to this contest.
Betting
I think this match might be closer than the odds suggest. I say that because Gary Wilson is on a complete freeroll and can play without any pressure on him whatsoever, which is probably no bad thing based on how he was feeling last week. All the pressure is on Kyren Wilson here but it has been clear all season that he isn’t firing on all cylinders, although the one thing we know about him is he’ll fight and scrap until the death of any match.
That makes me think that over 9.5 frames is the way to go here at a tasty 6/4. We probably can’t read too much into their 2014 meeting but it did go to a deciding frame as they did in the Championship League last week and if this one goes 3-2 at any stage then you would think we are well on the way to going beyond the 9.5 frames. Opening matches in this competition are usually competitive affairs and with the dynamic around this one I’m expecting no different.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 2.50 with William Hill
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