The Champion of Champions begins on Monday and it does so with Group 1 on the menu in Bolton as four men battle it out for the first spot in the semi-finals at the end of the week on what should be a decent start to the event.
We start with the best on Monday with Judd Trump the headline attraction in the group. As ever we have the two group semi-finals over the best of seven frames in the afternoon and the group final over the best of 11 in the evening.
Judd Trump vs David Lilley
The opening match of the tournament looks like a bit of a mismatch on paper as the number one seed Judd Trump takes on the World Seniors champion David Lilley but with Lilley not even being a professional on tour any longer there is probably a bigger gulf here than there was between David and Goliath.
It would be one of the biggest surprises in the history of this tournament if Trump doesn’t win this match. He isn’t always brilliant in the early stages of an event but Lilley still isn’t completely experienced and comfortable in these one table setups and that is a massive advantage which Trump has on his side. Trump has plenty of scoring power and he will have the better safety game too. Unless you want to back Trump to win this one 4-0 there isn’t really anything that stands out here.
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Stephen Maguire vs Ryan Day
The other group semi-final looks like being much the better match on paper as Stephen Maguire goes up against the Shootout winner Ryan Day in a match where I think it is fair to say both have a little to prove having not really been seen much in the business end of events this season.
Maguire only gets in here on his world ranking and that shouldn’t really be the case because he is good enough to be winning tournaments each season. In truth, since he stormed to that Tour Championship victory shortly after the sport returned after the pandemic, he hasn’t done a whole lot and he might be vulnerable against a Ryan Day for whom an appearance here is a bonus given that it comes about as he won the Shootout. Day hasn’t had too bad a start to the season having made the final group of the Championship League and he recently qualified for both European events, something Maguire failed to do and he also lost to Mark King in the held over qualifying match in the English Open. I sense Maguire isn’t on top form at the minute and will have a small bet on Day who at least brings winning confidence to the party.
Group Betting
It is hard to look anywhere other than Judd Trump in this group. To be fair, if I am wrong about Maguire and he shows enough to beat Day in the second semi-final then he’ll be playing well enough to trouble Trump over the best of 11 frames in the group final but without being disrespectful to the other two I do think Maguire is the only man who can deny Trump a place in the semi-final and even then he’d need to show more than we’ve seen so far this season.
In saying that, Trump isn’t exactly cooking on gas at the minute but in the last two tournaments he has lost to Mark Allen who scored like a dream for five frames and Mark King who spoiled the game. I don’t really see a spoiler in this group so even though Trump has a few more gears to go to I just don’t see him getting beat. I’m in no rush to back him at 1/3 though even if we can be pretty sure he will definitely be in the final.
Tips
Back R.Day to beat S.Maguire for a 3/10 stake at 2.20 with Betfred
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