The second quarter final of The Masters sees two previous winners of the event battling it out when Stuart Bingham continues his title defence with a clash against the 2015 champion Shaun Murphy inside the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes.
The fact that both men know what it takes to come through the draw is entitled to make this a tight battle but when you consider the draw has opened right up in this half of the bracket it might be even more competitive than before.
Stuart Bingham
There was always a feeling that the form of Stuart Bingham going into this event would count for little now he is here purely because the inspiration of defending this prestigious title is in play, and that is largely what we saw in the first round when he overcame the challenge of Thepchaiya Un-Nooh. You wouldn’t call it a perfect performance and from 5-1 up things were getting a little hairy at one stage, but he got the job done in the end.
Although you couldn’t argue that Bingham was at his best in that contest, he still make a ton and four other decent breaks and was well on his way to a maximum at one stage. The one thing which needs to be pointed out is that is that his opponent played right into his hands with some of his shot selections, but you can only pot the balls that you are left and Bingham certainly did that. The feeling is that he will need more here if he is to continue his title defence.
Shaun Murphy
When it comes to assessing Shaun Murphy it isn’t actually the easiest thing to do. On the face of it he looked to be in stunning form in his first round win over Mark Williams but each time he was beginning to look like he was moving through the gears he would play a sloppy shot or come up with a win which nobody saw coming. You’d like to think that was purely rust after the Christmas period, but he acknowledged that it is something that has held him back for a while so maybe it is a mental thing.
For all he looked to be cueing it like a dream, Murphy only had three breaks over 50 to show for his efforts in that match so there certainly needs to be some improvement in his scoring if he is going to make it through to the next stage. You would like to think that will come naturally if he continues to cue the way he did in that opening match. He is the most seasoned winner left in the top half so deep down he will know what an opportunity he has to add to his Triple Crown haul.
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Head to Head
These two players have faced each other on 11 previous occasions with Murphy coming out on top in six of them to the four of Bingham. They have also played out one draw in that time as well. Murphy’s edge is reflected in the frame tally where he has 73 frames to the 64 of Bingham. Interestingly their last three matches were all played over multiple sessions, two of which went to a deciding frame while Bingham won their most famous meeting 18-15 in the 2015 World Championship final. This will be their first meeting since 2016 so how much bearing on the contest their past meetings will have remains to be seen. This will be their first meeting in this famous tournament.
Betting
Some bookmakers can’t split these two and while I understand why I’m hoping the better form of Murphy over the course of the season will stand up here given that I am on him outright. I’m not going to back him in the match though because at the same price I think the better bet is to take the over 9.5 frames in a match that I struggle to see being won easily, and being anything but a tight and extremely competitive affair.
They might have been four years ago but their two previous meetings both went to a deciding frame over longer distances than this which reflects how evenly matched their games are and how clearly each man enjoys the battle against the other. I do think Murphy is slightly the stronger right now but he has this tendency to switch off and keep his opponents in the match for longer than they deserve to be in them for. Both men went beyond 9.5 frames in their first round efforts and can do so again here.
Tips
Back Over 9.5 frames for a 3/10 stake at 1.91 with Boylesports
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