Shaun Murphy is already into the Shanghai Masters final and on Saturday we will find out who he will face in it when the second semi-final gets played out featuring the two biggest box office draws in the game as Ronnie O’Sullivan takes on Judd Trump.
O’Sullivan will be looking to take his title defence to the final match by winning this semi-final whereas Trump will be looking to start to back up a brilliant season by making the final of his first tournament of this campaign. We’re set for a cracking semi-final.
Ronnie O’Sullivan
Ronnie O’Sullivan has been cleaning up the big invitation tournaments for a while now and he’ll be looking to move one win away from a fourth straight Shanghai Masters. I think it is fair to say that we haven’t seen the Rocket at his best so far in this tournament and that is a bit of a surprise when you consider that he appeared in the Championship League to shake off a bit of rust. Even without being at his best though he has cruised into this semi-final.
He has taken care of two Chinese players in the tournament to date. He beat the amateur Zhou Jinhao in his first match and then proved too good for Ding Junhui in the quarter final and now he will be out to show he has what it takes against arguably two of the three best players in the game in the last 18 months or so. Generally when O’Sullivan gets to this stage of a competition he goes on and wins it and that will be the aim from here on in.
Judd Trump
This is the first tournament of the season for Judd Trump who chose not to play in the Championship League to get his campaign underway so when you consider that he has been untroubled in this tournament so far you have to give him a lot of credit for that. We know that he has become a winning machine over the last 12 months or so and if he can take down this tournament from here then it would be a real statement of intent for the campaign ahead.
Unlike O’Sullivan, the quality of opposition that Trump has beaten can’t be questioned. Mark Williams remains a top class operator and Trump disposed of him comfortably enough while Si Jiahui is the rising star in the game and he was put to the sword as well so Trump looks in good order. This is a rare tournament which Trump has never got his hands on the trophy in and that is likely to be a huge motivation for him over this weekend.
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Head-to-head
These two men have met on 30 previous occasions in their career and it is Ronnie O’Sullivan who leads their past battles 17-13. His advantage is equally as great in the frame count of those matches with him leading 199-180 in that department, largely courtesy of having won the last five matches the two have played. This will be their second meeting in the Shanghai Masters with O’Sullivan having won the 2017 final here 10-3. That was one of eight meetings that they have had over the best of 19 frames. O’Sullivan currently leads those battles 6-2 while the Rocket has won six of their seven previous semi-finals. History is very much with him.
Betting
Ronnie O’Sullivan has won the last five matches between these two and I’ve seen little to suggest that he can’t win this one as well. He has won those five outings pretty comfortably as well. The last five results have been 6-3, 18-13, 10-6, 10-7 and 4-1 and that has all been at a time when Trump has been winning tournaments so I think that is significant here. Unlike a number of players who face O’Sullivan, I don’t think Trump is beaten before he begins but I do think he gets beaten here.
In truth there hasn’t been a huge amount between the two this week in terms of their play. O’Sullivan has cruised through, scoring when he has had to, while Trump has done the same but he has ridden his luck a little more and used that to his advantage. O’Sullivan just looks much more at home in this tournament to me, you would expect that given that he has won this tournament for the last three years, but I do think it is apparent and that makes me think that O’Sullivan wins here but I’d rather a bit more juice on the price so I’ll take him to win 10-8 or better at odds against.
Tips
Back R.O’Sullivan (-1.5 frames) to beat J.Trump for a 3/10 stake at 2.10 with Unibet
