The final of the Players Championship will see two men looking to secure their first major UK ranking title when Mark Allen meets Ricky Walden in Manchester.
Both recorded solid wins over game opponents in the semi-final and now they will meet over two sessions on Easter Sunday and the best of 19 frames to determine who is the champion and with it be £100,000 better off.
Ricky Walden was first into the final after he saw off Barry Hawkins with a very convincing and high quality performance in their semi-final. Walden saw the finish line a little bit at 5-2 but up until then he had been almost flawless and oozed confidence.
Mark Allen wasn’t quite so impressive in the early stages of his semi-final with Shaun Murphy but from 4-2 down he showed good character to come through and win four on the bounce to see Murphy off 6-4.
If the best player of the week is to take the title then Walden is going to win this final. He has scored no fewer than five centuries so far in the event and has looked so good in doing it. This is probably the best he has looked since he made the World Championship semi-final three years ago.
Allen is a gritty competitor who has we saw in the semi-final never gives in but over this distance you would think the better player will win. Allen had a look of falling over the line and relief on his face after his semi-final and I just get the feeling that all the demons he’s been fighting this week on the table are taking their toll mentally.
Walden looks the fresher of the two and that is no surprise because he is playing the better of the two as well. I think he goes into this final in better shape and on everything we’ve seen this week he is the most likely winner. I’m a huge Mark Allen fan but Walden at odds against looks too good to ignore here.
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