The Masters has reached the quarter final stage at the Alexandra Palace with all four matches being played over Thursday and Friday at the London venue.
Remarkably seven of the eight seeds made it through the first round so we have a high quality last eight line up and the matches probably come no better than Thursday’s opener.
That sees the world number one Mark Selby taking on the main man Ronnie O’Sullivan for a place in the semi-final.
O’Sullivan came through a really exciting match with Mark Williams on Tuesday afternoon. O’Sullivan slammed in two centuries in a 6-5 win but at one stage he trailed 4-2 so to come through was a very good achievement.
It is fair to say he is going to need to improve on that performance here but having shrugged off the competitive rust it would be a surprise if there isn’t a bit more pep in the Rocket’s performance. Although he wasn’t at his best from distance in the first round he looked as good as ever in the balls.
Selby was really good in the first round. Admittedly Ricky Walden was lacking confidence and visibly so but Selby was ruthless and in the first four frames especially he was scoring like a dream. It was actually the best I have seen him play in an awful long while and if he can repeat that throughout this match he’ll take some real stopping.
The good thing with Selby is we know even if he isn’t on top form he can still win whereas I doubt O’Sullivan can win this match unless he is at his best. The Rocket is unlikely to be at full pelt here so I’ll take Selby to win the game.
The evening quarter final on Thursday sees Mark Allen looking to book his spot in another semi-final when he takes on Barry Hawkins who will be looking for a place in his first semi.
Allen looked in very good touch in beating Shaun Murphy in the opening match of the tournament on Sunday and what was more impressive was how ruthless he was against a very good friend. That bodes well for him long term this week.
Hawkins saw off Joe Perry in the first round but there were just signs at 5-3 up that he was beginning to wobble but Perry couldn’t take advantage. It wouldn’t be the first time that a player has finally ended a long losing streak at a venue and then went on to win the tournament but he will have to improve his earlier performance if that is to be the case here.
I liked what I saw with Allen on Sunday and with him being the better player of the two so far this season and in my eyes the stronger all round I think he will come through. He showed in the quarter final last year he can play awful and win which is encouraging but if he plays well the margin of victory will only be bigger. I’ll take Allen to cover a small handicap.
Back M.Selby to beat R.O’Sullivan for a 4/10 stake at 2.30 with BetVictor
Back M.Allen (-1.5 frames) to beat B.Hawkins for a 4/10 stake at 2.10 with William Hill
