The first round of The Masters is half way through but it continues with two more matches on Tuesday at Alexandra Palace with no fewer than three former world champions in action.
The day is all about the return to big time snooker for Ronnie O’Sullivan. It isn’t just him on show though. Mark Williams and Mark Selby also grace the green baize as does the former world semi-finalist Ricky Walden.
O’Sullivan meets Williams in the first game of the day in the afternoon session. This has all the hallmarks of being a great game and it has plenty of intrigue about it.
Will O’Sullivan be on top form on his return to the big time? Can Williams roll back the years to the days when he won this title? One thing is for sure Williams will be giving it his all here having not been in this tournament since 2013.
We saw in the Championship League last week that O’Sullivan might have been away from competitive snooker for a while but he was in excellent touch there and Williams will be hoping the Rocket doesn’t have that form with him here.
Williams has been dogged by a shoulder injury this season. He’s gone well in the European Tour events this year but the major tournaments he has disappointed in. Williams has been quite public with the fact he may never win another tournament again but his form over the last 18 months as a whole suggests that is hogwash.
Williams has a really poor record against O’Sullivan and in the quotes he has been giving in the lead up to the match he knows it. I’ve a feeling this might be closer than the odds suggest but I do fancy O’Sullivan to turn it on in front of his adoring London fans and he could be hard to stop here.
The evening match sees Mark Selby begin his quest to regain the title he has won three times when he takes on a man with a pretty poor record in this tournament in the form of Ricky Walden.
Walden has only ever made it to one quarter final in this tournament and he had to have Barry Hawkins fade badly from in front to give him that. Even then it was a bittersweet moment for the Marathon Man as he was dumped out in emphatic style by Ronnie O’Sullivan in that quarter final clash.
Selby has made this tournament almost his own in recent years although he went out in the first round last year to eventual champion Murphy which might make him more determined here. Not only has Selby won this title three times he’s lost in two more finals so he loves it in London.
Walden’s record against Selby is better than Williams’ against O’Sullivan but it still isn’t brilliant and until we see Walden perform to his best in this tournament we’ve always got to think he is vulnerable especially against the elite players who are used to the environs of this event so I’m with Selby here.
The handicap lines look about right to me and I never like taking too big a line because of the quality in this tournament and the drama it often produces so instead I’ll just double the two up to win on the day.
Back R.O’Sullivan to beat M.Williams x M.Selby to beat R.Walden for a 5/10 stake at 1.81 with William Hill
Blog snooker YTD: +3.9pts
