The Cazoo Tour Championship continues on Wednesday when two more of the best eight players in the world grace the green baize inside the Celtic Manor Resort in Wales when Mark Selby takes on Kyren Wilson in the third quarter final.
We have already seen Ronnie O’Sullivan and Neil Robertson make their way through to the semi-final of this event this week and on Wednesday we find out the opponent in the last four for the Australian ace.
Mark Selby
Whenever a long format event shows itself on the calendar Mark Selby is immediately respected. That might be even more the case this season because his form for much of it has been excellent. We’ve always known about his grit and determination on the snooker table but this season he has taken his scoring to a whole new level. He is playing more aggressively and a touch quicker and looks much the better for it.
That has already led to him winning the European Masters and the Scottish Open, the latter where he trounced Ronnie O’Sullivan in the final, and the final of the Shootout. He has also made three other semi-finals so this has been a good season for the ‘Jester from Leicester’. It will be a great season if he goes two steps further than last year at the Crucible next month and he’ll look to go there with a good run here under his belt.
Kyren Wilson
Mark Selby isn’t the only player with an eye on Sheffield. Kyren Wilson was beaten in the final of that tournament last season and is building a good record there and will be hoping that this is his year when it comes to being crowned the world champion. He certainly has the game for it and that game is improving all the time. His cue ball control is visibly a lot better these days and given that he ticked every box prior to that, he’s entitled to be right in the mix both here and at The Crucible.
Wilson has only won one title this season and hasn’t been brilliant in too many other tournaments it has to be said, but anyone who has made it into this event has to have had a consistent campaign. His win came in the Championship League towards the beginning of the season and since then a semi-final at the recent Players Championship is the best he’s done. He has made a bunch of quarter finals though so you sense his game is ready to explode in a big way.
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Head to head
Wilson might be ready to explode but he could do without being reminded of the head to head record between these two which sees Selby having won all six of their previous meetings away from the Championship League and the Shootout. The first three of those were all comfortable wins but they were before Wilson established himself. Since then their matches have been tight, with the tightest of them being the Champion of Champions quarter final this season which Selby won 6-5 having trailed 4-0 and 5-3. Their only two session match was in the semi-final of the 2018 China Open which Selby won 10-8. They also played out a 6-4 in that tournament the year before. History is very much with Selby here.
Betting
I was considering backing Kyren Wilson to win this match and while I’m not too often put off by head to head records, I am concerned at the way he lost that quarter final in the Champion of Champions. Wilson was playing well that day but just collapsed in a heap from 4-0 up. I don’t like to say that it shows he can’t beat Selby but it is very much a concern that it might be the case. I certainly wouldn’t be backing him to get over the line in a tight one as a result of that.
I do think we’ll get that tight match though. These two play the same game and I expect a bit of punch and counter punch about this one. There will be safety battles and tactical periods and then there will be a few scoring frames as well. Selby probably does the tactical side a bit better than Wilson but Wilson scores better than Selby. That all combines for a long match and a late night in my eyes. Over 16.5 frames is only 4/5 for this one but it looks extremely likely.
Tips
Back Over 16.5 frames for a 4/10 stake at 1.80 with Boylesports
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